"Argh, damn Magnus!"
On the Kuja Pirates' ship, the Perfume Yuda, Gloriosa rolled back and forth on a soft, wide bed, hugging a pillow.
Every so often she would squash and knead the pillow flat, as if it were a certain thickheaded man.
When had Gloriosa ever suffered this kind of humiliation?
As Empress of Amazon Lily and captain of the Kuja Pirates, Gloriosa had caused a sensation the moment she debuted, attracting countless pirates' and Marines' attention, the dream woman of many men on sea and land.
Yet someone like her, who had personally thrown herself into a man's arms, had been brushed off by Magnus.
"What does he mean I cannot compare to Shakky?"
Gloriosa gnashed her teeth, squeezing the pillow.
"That little brat has no chest and no hips. How could she possibly compare to me?"
"Unless…"
"That guy is into younger girls?"
Sprawled on the bed, Gloriosa let her imagination run wild. She never realized that she had been the one who had planned to capture Magnus using her charms, but after that first contact, it was the uninterested Magnus who had captured her attention instead.
People were like that. The harder something was to get, the more you wanted it.
If Magnus had been easily swept off his feet, then no matter how strong or important he was, he would have been just another man under her skirts in Gloriosa's eyes.
But his indifference had triggered her rebellious streak instead.
So what if he was king of the world?
She refused to believe there was anyone alive who could be completely unaffected by her charm.
Especially since Magnus was not some lonely old bachelor.
He had women, plenty of them.
If Magnus had all those women, that meant he was not only lecherous but also fickle. So if he liked women that much, what did it mean that he felt nothing for her?
Most infuriating of all, Gloriosa had not seen even the slightest hint of desire in his eyes. To him, she might as well have been some unimportant passerby.
Unacceptable.
The Kuja Pirates had already sold off all their loot. Thanks to Magnus being on the island, their trip to Sabaody had been incredibly smooth, aside from Shakky being abducted at the beginning.
Even the Marines still stationed on the island pretended not to see them.
"Do not cause any complications."
That had been the order from the higher ups to the soldiers left on Sabaody.
Forget ordinary soldiers.
For the past week, there had not been a single Celestial Dragon to be seen on the archipelago. Normally, quite a few Celestial Dragons liked nothing better than touring Sabaody and basking in the worship of the people below.
Outwardly, the World Government could not admit that they were worried some Celestial Dragon might offend Magnus and get butchered.
So they claimed that the bubble gondolas connecting the Red Line with Sabaody were under maintenance.
As for how long the maintenance would take…
That depended on how long Magnus stayed on Sabaody.
The Kuja Pirates could have left already.
But with Shakky still in Magnus's hands, the warriors of Amazon Lily chose not to. They normally only operated in the first half of the Grand Line, but they did not mind building a friendly relationship with Magnus.
If Petveira, the vice captain and previous empress, had not held them back, a whole group of Kuja warriors would have gone knocking on his door already.
This was the king of the New World they were talking about.
The Kuja Pirates only ruled a single island in the Calm Belt, but Magnus ruled the entire New World and stood head to head with the World Government.
As the new empress, Gloriosa only needed to think about how to make Magnus fall for her.
As the former empress, Petveira had a lot more to consider.
Still, they could not keep dragging this out forever.
In the end, Petveira decided to visit Magnus together with Gloriosa to ask what his intentions really were.
And to see if he had laid a finger on Shakky.
Magnus might be king of the New World, and the Kuja Pirates might only be local rulers of a single region, but if he had actually done something that monstrous, they would not let it go.
When they arrived at Magnus's temporary base, Petveira and Gloriosa thought they had run into another Kuja crew.
Out in front of the base, Ripley was throwing punches.
Her growth had slowed, but sixty years old for a giant was like being a twenty year old girl for humans.
The fact that it was hard for her to grow much stronger in the short term did not mean Ripley's journey was over.
Her Devil Fruit was already awakened.
What she needed to train now were her physical skills, her body, and her Haki.
Not to mention that if she wanted to "compete" with Magnus in bed, she could not afford to be short on stamina.
At the same time, because she came from the remote island nation of Elbaf, Ripley felt the most familiar to the Amazon warriors, like a clanswoman living far from home.
Still, Petveira and Gloriosa both knew that the woman in front of them, who was roughly their height and radiated wild vigor with every motion, was actually a great pirate with a bounty of 215 million and a giant to boot.
Her Mini Fruit let her shrink down to human size.
As for why she preferred that size…
"Because I like being held in the captain's strong arms."
That was what Ripley had said to a reporter during a news interview.
It had also been the first confirmed proof that Magnus's relationship with his female crew went beyond simple camaraderie.
Pirates usually hid their families.
For men who lived and died at sea, exposing their loved ones was the same as handing their weakness to the enemy.
Unless someone had no blood and no tears, there was no way they could stay indifferent while watching someone important fall into an enemy's hands.
But Ripley had still made her relationship with Magnus public.
Because Magnus was strong enough.
And because she was strong enough.
Aside from that handful of top monsters you could count on one hand, someone like Ripley, with a bounty over 200 million, was already among the elite of the elite.
In another world, people would jokingly call that level "Emperor's right hand" class.
The second in command of a Yonko.
A fighter at that level could at least hold out for a while even against the very strongest. Unless someone like Magnus, Im, or Harald, who were all much stronger than an ordinary Admiral, personally took the field, no one could take Ripley down in an instant.
Someone that strong could openly declare to the world:
"I am White King Magnus's woman."
The provocation pushed Toki and Stussy into adding extra training for themselves. Even if they could not reach the pinnacle, they refused to be dead weight in Magnus's hands.
Only Lily chose to lie flat and accept it.
This crewmate who had been at Magnus's side the longest had already hit her limit. If she wanted to grow stronger, she would have to improve her ammunition, making her bullets hit with even greater force.
For top level pirates, the standard was advanced use of Armament and Observation Haki. Once Lily had already achieved future sight with her Observation Haki, if she could make her bullets hit as hard as internal destruction Armament, she would have top pirate level strength.
Her way of compensating so far had been Explosive Rock.
By loading Explosive Rock into her bullets, Lily had made the Admiral level Sebastian suffer a painful loss in the battle on Sphinx with Sebastian and Cybas.
But since most of the Explosive Rock was guarded by the Marines, getting it was next to impossible.
So Lily had no choice for now.
The blonde spent her days reading books and newspapers, and occasionally showing off her body, restored to youthful glory thanks to her youth potion, to tease Magnus.
So when Petveira and Gloriosa arrived, they were greeted by the sight of two women whose beauty matched their own, one radiating wild charm and the other elegant maturity with every move.
Mature Lily mirrored Petveira.
Wild Ripley mirrored Gloriosa.
The instant they saw Lily and Ripley, the two Kuja women understood why Magnus had felt nothing for the empresses of the Kuja Pirates.
He already had better at home. Why go looking elsewhere?
"You are looking for the captain?"
One look at their outfits and bearing, and Lily and Ripley knew these two were warriors from the Kuja Pirates.
While Petveira and Gloriosa sized up Lily and Ripley, Lily and Ripley did the same in return.
Their verdict:
No threat.
Petveira hardly needed a closer look. She was the former empress of Amazon Lily. She looked young, but her true age was already past thirty, and even she had lost out to Gloriosa.
Gloriosa, on the other hand, might one day join their little circle, but if she thought she could monopolize Magnus, she was dreaming.
That was what they meant by "no threat." It was not that Gloriosa could never become one of them, but that even if she did, she would only be one more in the group.
"The captain is not here right now. He went to Mary Geoise to have a chat."
Ripley's words made the two visitors jump in shock.
"Mary Geoise?"
"To have a chat?"
You had to admit, Magnus's courage matched his skill. For an ordinary pirate, even if they did manage to break into Mary Geoise, the World Government would not waste too much effort chasing them down.
But Magnus was not ordinary.
Right now the World Government wanted nothing more than to crush him. In that situation, going to Mary Geoise was basically walking into a trap.
Yet he went anyway.
Im's obsession with the scientists from Mechanism Island had exceeded Magnus's expectations.
That meant his guess had been right.
Im had captured the scientists from Mechanism Island specifically to deal with him.
If conventional siege tactics could not kill him…
Then why not use an attack large enough to erase an entire island in one stroke?
Once he realized that, Magnus knew he could not stay on Sabaody.
If the attack came from top level fighters, his Observation Haki's range was wide enough that he could sense them and get everyone off Sabaody before they were surrounded.
But if it was an instant, wide area attack…
Magnus was not sure he could get everyone off the archipelago in just a few seconds.
If he could not.
Then he would just drag the Celestial Dragons down with him.
He refused to believe Im would really blow up her own home if he stayed on Mary Geoise.
And so, Im fell into a fury again.
"Damn it, damn it, damn it!"
If Magnus had been in front of her, Im would have carved him into pieces with her sword already. But what she had in front of her was only a photograph of Magnus, so she shredded that instead.
Stab you, stab you, stab you.
In her head, Junko could not help adding a mental caption to Im's actions, but on the surface she still wore a calm, respectful expression.
She had always acted deferential toward Im, and she still was now, but for some reason, seeing Im like this made it feel like the woman's majesty was shattering bit by bit.
Im, wrapped up in her own emotions, did not notice.
"Saturn, is it ready yet?"
Grinding her teeth, Im stared as if she could see Magnus strolling around Mary Geoise.
"Lord Im, we are almost there."
"Do not give me vague answers!"
"At most one month."
When Jaygarcia Saturn, the Warrior God of Science and Defense, staked his reputation on it, Im's expression finally eased a little.
"Hurry."
She did not want to drag things out with Magnus for even one more moment.
She did not believe he would stay in Mary Geoise forever.
Once the Heavenly King was fully charged, she would trigger it the instant Magnus left Mary Geoise, no matter where he appeared.
They already stood at the top of this world.
But even above them, there was still something called the ancient weapons.
Unless someone had an immortal body like her…
No one could survive a direct hit from the Heavenly King.
"!"
Im's eyes flew wide open.
"How dare you!"
A figure suddenly fell from the sky, landing on the balcony among the flowers. Then, in full view of both Im and Junko, he sat down on the railing.
Their Conqueror's Haki collided.
Im herself had been the one to crush Magnus with her Conqueror's Haki five years ago. He had not been able to resist at all back then.
But now…
Boom.
Their solidified auras slammed together, and the shockwave rolled over the entire Holy Land. Countless Celestial Dragons fainted on the spot the instant they felt that overwhelming pressure.
Over in the audience chamber, the Five Elders turned pale.
But it was too late for them to rush over.
"I was planning to wait for the final battle and finish you in one go, but I guess a person's worst enemy is their own curiosity."
"At first it was just a guess."
"But now…"
Magnus sat on the balcony, looking down at the two figures in the garden with a booming laugh.
"So the king of the world is a woman."
Even with a white cloak covering her, Magnus could still see the youthful face under Im's hood. Eight hundred years had passed. She had ruled this world for eight centuries.
Yet time had left no trace on Im at all.
That ended today.
"You wanted to use the Heavenly King to kill me? You are too late. Acropolis Port was your last chance. In the end, you just did not have the guts."
"That is why I will win, and you will lose."
"Im."
"Your era is coming to an end."
(End of Chapter)
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