Chapter 180: Misunderstanding
Hancock's desperate attempt to evade caused Rhodes's hand—originally reaching for her shoulder—to deflect slightly, instead catching her bathrobe.
Even tightly secured clothing would have been torn off by Rhodes's grip, let alone an already loosely tied robe.
RIP!
Hancock tumbled backward onto the wet stone floor.
One hand instinctively covered her chest while the other moved to preserve her modesty. She glared up at Rhodes with an expression of utter humiliation and fury, her face flushed crimson.
Hancock's silky black hair had come undone during the intense exchange, now draped messily across her collarbone and shoulders. Her porcelain skin glistened with a mixture of water droplets and perspiration from their brief but fierce battle.
"..."
In the awkward silence that followed, hurried footsteps finally echoed through the palace corridors, accompanied by the worried voices of Hancock's sisters calling out to her.
"Are you calm now? Can we talk properly?"
Rhodes asked, still holding the torn bathrobe.
"What is there to discuss?!" Hancock bit out through clenched teeth, her beautiful face etched with anger.
"I came here to make a deal with you."
Rhodes couldn't help but notice how Hancock subtly shifted her position, maintaining an angle that kept her back hidden from his direct line of sight—even in this vulnerable state.
"A deal?!"
Hancock remained visibly irritated. Who the hell conducts business negotiations while someone's bathing?!
"Yes. And stop being so guarded. I'm here about the Hoof of the Soaring Dragon on your back."
Rhodes got straight to the point.
Hancock, however, completely froze. At the mere mention of the Celestial Dragons' slave brand, her body went rigid. A wave of primal fear washed over her—her hands fell limply to her sides, eyes becoming vacant and unfocused, as if haunted by terrifying memories she'd desperately tried to suppress.
It seemed the trauma had left an even deeper psychological scar on Hancock than Rhodes had anticipated from reading the manga.
Rhodes approached slowly, unabashedly taking in her exposed beauty, before draping the torn bathrobe over her trembling form—at least providing some coverage.
Such an unexpectedly gentle gesture cleared some of the fog from Hancock's mind, though she still instinctively twisted away, unwilling to let Rhodes see the mark burned into her back.
"For a reasonable price, I can help you remove that brand. Completely."
Hancock's vacant eyes suddenly blazed with desperate hope. If that cursed mark could be removed, she could finally sever all ties to that nightmare!
"As long as you—"
Rhodes was about to state his terms when he heard the door beginning to creak open, someone about to enter.
He glanced at Hancock, who remained barely covered and clearly in no state for company, then shook his head.
"Deal with your sisters first. I'll return shortly."
With that, he opened an Air Door and stepped through, vanishing completely.
Almost immediately after his departure, Hancock's two younger sisters—Boa Sandersonia and Boa Marigold—burst into the bathing chamber.
They were shocked by the mess—water everywhere, broken tiles, the destroyed bathrobe—and upon sensing Hancock's location with their Observation Haki, they rushed over.
"Sister! Were we attacked?!"
Marigold and Sandersonia approached, horrified to see Hancock slumped on the floor with her robe torn. They frantically grabbed spare clothing and began dressing their older sister while shouting at the female guards outside to remain at their posts and let no one enter.
"We heard sounds of combat and came as fast as we could. Where's the enemy?"
Sandersonia demanded.
The battle between Rhodes and Hancock, while seemingly lengthy in description, had actually lasted only a few minutes.
Hancock remained silent, her expression troubled.
Marigold's heart sank seeing her sister's state. She asked carefully, her voice barely a whisper:
"Sister... was the mark... discovered?"
Given Hancock's current condition and the destroyed bathrobe, the likelihood was terrifyingly high.
Sandersonia's expression also changed, and she looked at Hancock with anxious fear written across her serpentine features.
"..."
Hancock finished dressing with her sisters' help. Hearing their questions, she glanced toward where Rhodes had disappeared, her expression heavy with conflict.
She'd initially thought perhaps she could rally the Kuja warriors together to overwhelm Rhodes through numbers, but she hadn't expected that man to possess such mysterious spatial abilities—making him effectively impossible to trap.
"That man said... as long as I..."
Hancock trailed off, her thoughts swirling.
She would pay any price to remove the brand—but if the price was her body, her freedom, selling herself to another master...
Could she bear to add new shame just to erase the old?
"Sister, what should we do?"
Sandersonia and Marigold saw Hancock's conflicted expression. Not knowing that the Celestial Dragon's mark had been exposed, they looked panicked and lost.
"Don't worry. That man will return."
Hancock came back to her senses, looking at her two beloved sisters who'd endured the same hell she had. Her eyes softened with protective affection.
"We'll face this together."
At that moment, an elderly voice spoke from the entrance.
"That man? Who are you talking about?"
Hancock and her sisters turned to see a short, elderly woman regarding them with sharp, serious eyes. It was Gloriosa—also known as Elder Nyon or "Granny"—the former-former Emperor of Amazon Lily who'd returned from the outside world.
"It's the newly appointed Warlord."
Hancock's voice was subdued. Having just had her deepest trauma exposed by an outsider, she found she didn't much care about maintaining her usual haughty demeanor.
"The Dragon Slayer, Rhodes?"
Elder Nyon paused, gripping her serpent staff tightly. She didn't ask why Rhodes was there—instead, she got straight to practicalities:
"How strong is he?"
A dangerous glint shone in her eyes. If the secret of the Celestial Dragon's brand was discovered, her first instinct was to silence the witness—permanently.
"I'm no match for him."
Hancock hated admitting it, but facts were facts. "Even my Mero Mero abilities were completely ineffective against him."
"WHAT?!"
Elder Nyon and the two younger sisters looked utterly incredulous, as if they'd seen a ghost.
They knew Hancock's charm abilities intimately. Even Vice Admirals from Marine Headquarters struggled to resist it—yet this young Warlord was completely immune?!
"And he possesses some kind of spatial manipulation ability. He can appear and disappear through doors that materialize from nowhere."
Hancock had finished dressing as she spoke—now wearing her signature outfit: a revealing purple qipao with a high collar and leg slits that reached her hips. Her thick, lustrous black hair cascaded carelessly down her back, her brows slightly furrowed in an expression that was simultaneously beautiful and troubled.
"This is problematic. The enemy holds all the initiative..."
Elder Nyon spoke gravely, feeling a deep sense of crisis building.
And almost at that very moment—
A door suddenly materialized on the wall beside them, and a young man in white pushed it open and stepped through.
Almost instinctively, Sandersonia and Marigold tensed to attack—
But Hancock stopped them with a raised hand.
She looked at Rhodes with complicated emotions warring across her face. Before this man who seemed to see through all her carefully guarded secrets, Hancock's usual arrogance had completely evaporated.
"Well... have you considered my offer?"
Rhodes asked calmly.
"I... I will..."
Hancock's eyes trembled violently, moisture gathering at the corners.
In her mind, the only thing a man like Rhodes could possibly want from her was obvious—her body. The world's most beautiful woman. The Pirate Empress herself.
If it were only herself at stake, Hancock would never debase herself by adding new shame merely to erase the old. But...
She glanced at her two younger sisters, then thought of all of Amazon Lily—the countless women and children who lived here, all of whom would be devastated if the truth about their beloved Empress came to light.
The look in her eyes slowly hardened as she steeled herself, as if reaching some terrible resolution.
Just as she opened her mouth to speak—
"I just want access to Amazon Lily's Haki training methods. You don't need to make such a dramatic face about it. And obviously I won't share your secrets with anyone."
Rhodes said matter-of-factly.
"...Eh?"
The massive gap between expectation and reality left Hancock's rosy lips forming a perfect 'O' of surprise.
Her brain seemed to momentarily stop processing.
That's... that's all he wants?
(End of Chapter)
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