Amazon Lily—literally, the Island of Daughters. An island populated exclusively by women, home to the nation called Amazon Lily.
Despite the name, these women didn't exactly "lily" their way into reproducing internally. The story went that women who ventured out to sea would sometimes return pregnant, and—perhaps due to genetics—every child born here was a girl.
With nowhere else to go, Shakky—queen two generations before the current one—returning to the island was perfectly natural.
"We're here." Shakky leaned down and patted the sleeping Yimi.
No response. She seemed to be dreaming about something tasty, and gave Shakky a gentle nibble.
Shakky pinched one of Yimi's cat ears and blew into it.
"Mew! Mew mew mew mew mew!" Yimi bolted awake and launched a flurry of swats at her.
"Ha ha, sorry, sorry. Sleep too long now and you won't be able to fall asleep tonight." Shakky fended off the meow-meow punches while turning her gaze toward the Marine warship in the distance. "A Marine ship here? What's going on?"
The current queen of Amazon Lily, Hancock, shouldn't have tolerated a Marine vessel anywhere near the island. On closer inspection, the ship appeared to be decorated with quite a few statues—or more precisely, Marines who looked as if they'd gazed upon Medusa herself, their expressions frozen in lovestruck adoration.
This was the power of the Amazon Lily queen, the woman recognized as the most beautiful in the world, who also happened to hold the title of Warlord of the Sea: Boa Hancock. The Love-Love Fruit.
The fruit itself carried an inherent charm effect and could petrify anyone who felt desire toward her. Her beauty—or rather, the sheer potency of her allure—was so overwhelming that she could get away with practically anything and still be forgiven.
They didn't head directly for Amazon Lily's settlement.
The island's upper echelon—Hancock and her sisters, at least—weren't fond of men. This wasn't aimed at Rayleigh specifically; he was something of a savior to Hancock. But given the Marine ship docked outside, it seemed best not to disturb her for now.
Rayleigh set down the oars and stretched his arms, surveying the forest before them. "Let's camp here for a few days. Should I build a cabin first?"
"Camp here?" Yimi was less than thrilled.
Rayleigh pressed a hand on her head. "I don't know where you picked up such rumors, but the Yonko aren't so fragile that they'll get taken out in the few days you're away... Stop pulling my beard!"
The old man was spouting nonsense again. The cat trusted her own eyes more. To this day she still didn't know what the third Yonko she'd killed had even looked like.
Shakky gently pried her away. "Even if you want to go to the New World, you need a ship. Just settle down and train your Haki for now."
The Red Line's exterior was a ring of land encircling the entire world, towering into the clouds and nearly indestructible in its thickness. Mary Geoise sat atop it. To cross it, you either rode the government's elevator or went underwater through Fish-Man Island. There was simply no other route.
Yimi's Love Train could ignore water pressure entirely and let her swim through on her own, but that was without factoring in speed—she could hardly expect those little legs to paddle the whole way.
Amazon Lily was also one of the best places to train Haki. Every warrior on the island was a seasoned Armament Haki user.
Whether Rayleigh actually wanted to show off his carpentry skills or genuinely intended to spend two years teaching Yimi Haki, the old man set about building a wooden cabin in the forest. Yimi, with her tiny arms and tiny legs, naturally had no intention of helping.
Rayleigh sighed. The kid was so absurdly strong that she had zero motivation to learn Haki. If only he could humble her while the move she'd used to beat Akainu was on cooldown this week—but his old bones could handle a fight just fine; they just couldn't take a beating like Kaido could.
"If you've got nothing to do, go pick some fruit. Or hunt down a few beasts for dinner." Rayleigh assigned her a task.
"Trees everywhere..."
She picked up a straight stick off the ground and headed into the depths of the forest, her new stick-sword at the ready.
"Don't get your clothes dirty!" Shakky called after her—just a simple reminder, since Yimi wasn't wearing her beginner combat gear but the children's outfit Shakky had bought her on Sabaody.
"Mew mew, mew mew mew, mew mew mew..." Humming an unrecognizable tune, the cat laid waste to every fragile plant in sight with her newly acquired stick-sword.
"Mrrow?" This particular meow didn't come from Yimi.
Her ears twitched. She trotted toward the sound on her little legs. Ever since arriving in this world of endless water, she hadn't seen a single member of her own kind—probably because everyone in this world had turned into cats.
A small orange tabby with tiger-like markings, wearing a tiny hat that marked it as someone's pet.
"Mew." Yimi waved hello.
"Mew mew?" The tabby's eyes went wide.
In all its years, this was the first time it had met a human who could talk.
Yimi: "Mrrow~" The universal signal for "give me food."
"Mew!" The tabby turned around, motioning for
her to follow.
Yimi chased after it. Animals in this world had physical abilities far beyond anything in the modern era—this little orange tabby kept running without rest, leading her deep into the forest. And as a cat from Earth, Yimi had to keep shunting the fatigue in her little legs off to Golden Lion Shiki somewhere in the distance.
The forest wasn't large. Before long, a city came into view—
"Who left a little kitten in the middle of my—"
"Mew!" The tabby that had been guiding Yimi was punted aside by a kick.
"—path?"
Yimi stopped in her tracks, her small mouth falling open. She turned to stare at the offender.
A woman, about six foot three, wearing a qipao. A snake with a skull on its head trailed behind her.
Pirate Empress Boa Hancock. She'd just returned from an encounter with the Marines on her way home—they'd ordered her to participate in the war against the Whitebeard Pirates, threatening to strip her Warlord title if she refused. Apparently the Marines had captured one of Whitebeard's division commanders and was determined to execute him publicly.
Already unhappy about the Marines setting foot on her territory, Hancock had turned the whole lot of them into stone statues.
"I'm so sorry, that was my fault..." A heavyset woman hurried out to scoop up the orange tabby.
"Please be more careful next time." With that brief remark, Hancock turned her gaze toward the little figure who had suddenly appeared.
Small as the child was, she hadn't been drawn in by Hancock's beauty in the slightest. In fact, she was hissing at her, every strand of fur on her tail bristling.
"You're a Yonko, aren't you!" Yimi jabbed a finger at her nose.
Anyone who bullied cats was no good!
Hancock narrowed her eyes. "Why does this child look familiar?"
She crouched down and gently tilted Yimi's chin up to study her.
A tall, blue-green-haired snake woman leaned in and whispered, "Sister, the newspaper said she killed Celestial Dragons. They're calling her the Fifth Emperor. Her bounty is two billion..."
"So it's you. Why are you here?" Hancock pinched Yimi's chubby cheek, her icy expression softening considerably.
"Bite you!" Yimi, who had precisely zero goodwill toward her, chomped down on Hancock's hand.