Chapter 58: An Invitation, By Force
The port island bustled with the mundane commerce of the Grand Line. Docked among trading vessels and fishing boats was the distinct, serpentine shape of the Perfume Yuda, flagship of the Kuja Pirates.
On the deck, Boa Hancock, the Pirate Empress, was holding court. Before her, across a short stretch of water, a Marine warship sat impotently. Its commander, a Rear Admiral, and his entire crew were entranced, their faces slack with adoration, weapons forgotten.
Hancock struck a pose, one hand lifting her lustrous black hair, the other forming the beginning of a heart shape at her chest. Her voice was a honeyed drip of condescension. "A forced summons? But I am so very beautiful… surely you will forgive me if I decline?"
"Forgive! Absolutely forgive!" the Rear Admiral babbled.
"Who needs a summons?! We serve at your whim!"
"Hancock-sama is supreme!"
"Anything for you!"
Hancock's internal sneer was a glacier. Pathetic. All men are worms.
Her fingers began to close the heart. Mero Mero Mellow…
"Found you at last. Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock."
The voice was flat, conversational, and cut through the hypnotic atmosphere like a shard of ice. It came from the dock, not the ship.
Hancock's enchanting pout vanished, replaced by instant, seething irritation. "Who dares address me so familiarly?!" she snapped, turning.
"S-Sister!" Marigold stammered, her eyes wide with alarm. "It's… it's a Marine Admiral!"
The Kuja warriors reacted as one, bows drawn, razor-tipped arrows aimed at the lone figure holding what looked like a hand-scribbled map.
Hancock's glare intensified as she recognized the face from wanted posters and news reports. "You! You're the one who imprisoned my benefactor and that… that straw-hat fool!" Her voice dripped with venom.
Levi ignored the hostility, tucking the map away. "Rude. But expected. You received the World Government's mandatory summons for the Warlords, correct?"
"I received it," Hancock hissed, her composure slipping back into practiced allure. "But I have no desire to attend. You see, I'm simply too—"
"I don't see," Levi interrupted, his tone bored. "And I don't care. I'm here to ask: will you come willingly to Marineford? Or do you wish to test how quickly a Buster Call can reduce Amazon Lily to glass and ash? It's not far from headquarters, is it?"
The allure shattered. Hancock's face went pale with rage. "You dare threaten me?!"
"I'm stating facts," Levi corrected. "It's a forced summons. The 'force' is implied. Also, we're on a schedule. The Red Hair Pirates just redecorated Marineford. We don't have time for your theatrics."
Hancock was momentarily speechless. Being interrupted was a novel, infuriating experience. "What is your intention?!" she finally managed.
"My intention," Levi said, as if explaining to a child, "is to make you understand the 'force' in 'forced.' As long as I deliver you, my task is complete. Fleet Admiral Sengoku can't complain about the method."
Before Hancock could process the sheer audacity, Levi's demeanor shifted. It was minuscule—a slight narrowing of the eyes.
Then, the world changed.
A pressure unlike anything Hancock had ever felt—denser than the deepest ocean trench, colder than the void between stars—slammed down from the clear sky. It was Reiatsu, but to her, it felt like a Conqueror's Haki of impossible, blasphemous magnitude. The air itself seemed to thicken into black syrup. The bustling port noises vanished, swallowed by the oppressive silence.
Hancock's breath caught. Her perfect posture faltered. This… this can't be! What is this monster?!
In that frozen, terrifying moment of spiritual paralysis, a single, focused tendril of that black energy—invisible to all but Levi—lanced out.
Thwip.
It struck the base of Hancock's skull with surgical precision.
The Pirate Empress's eyes rolled back. Her imperious expression went slack. She crumpled forward, her magnificent fall toward the deck arrested only when Levi appeared beside her in a blur of motion no one could follow.
He caught her, slinging her unconscious form over his shoulder with casual ease. The terrifying pressure vanished as suddenly as it had come, leaving the port gasping, the Marines blinking in confusion, and the Kuja warriors staring in horror.
Levi looked at the stunned Sandersonia and Marigold. "I'll be borrowing your sister. The odds of her survival are high, assuming she doesn't do anything exceptionally foolish." He adjusted his grip, a thoughtful frown crossing his face. "Hmm. This mission was simpler than anticipated. And the shoulder-carry… adequate."
"YOU BASTARD! RETURN OUR SISTER!" Sandersonia roared, her body beginning to expand with her Snake-Snake Fruit powers.
Levi didn't engage. With a single, powerful push of his feet against the dock—a movement that cracked the stone—he vanished. Not as speed, but as a disappearance, leaving behind only a dissipating after-image and the furious, helpless screams of the Kuja Pirates.
His method was crude, utterly devoid of diplomacy, and guaranteed to create a legendary grudge. But it was, as he assessed, efficient. The 'invitation' had been delivered.
One unconscious Pirate Empress, acquired.
(End of Chapter)
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