"Sister, I think I see..."
"See what? Stop stuttering!"
On the deck, Hancock frowned slightly upon hearing Sandersonia's voice.
"It looks like Auntie Shakky and Rayleigh..."
"Hmm?"
Even Hancock was momentarily stunned. Why on earth were those two on a Marine warship?
"Were they captured?"
"No, they don't seem restricted at all. In fact, they're chatting with a Marine Vice Admiral," Sandersonia replied, observing through her binoculars.
This left both Hancock and Marigold completely perplexed.
"Sister, look..." Marigold spoke up after a moment. If those were indeed Shakky and Rayleigh, would stealing the ship be a bad idea? After all, those two were benefactors to the three sisters.
"Ignore them. No matter who is on board, I shall take this warship back today. As for Shakky and that old man Rayleigh..."
"Shakky can come with us; we'll drop her off at the Sabaody Archipelago."
"As for that foul man Rayleigh, he can swim back himself. A distance like this should be easy for him!"
...
'My sister really is as willful as ever.'
Sandersonia and Marigold were speechless. They figured they would just apologize to Shakky and Rayleigh in private later.
Sigh!
A few minutes later, as the two ships were about to make contact, both began to maneuver simultaneously.
One pivoted sharply to the left; the other veered sharply to the right.
One engaged reverse propellers while the other used auxiliary reverse wheels, combined with the control of the Sea Snakes. Both ships performed a drift-like maneuver across the surface of the sea before colliding starboard to starboard.
Behind Sean, in addition to the field-grade officers, about fifty marines had gathered.
Despite having four companies of nearly two hundred marines on board, plus four hundred and fifty conscripted recruits, why were only fifty gathered?
It was because Sean knew Hancock far too well. Ordinary people didn't have the right to stand before her; otherwise, they would turn to stone before the fight even began.
Numbers were meaningless. The only thing that mattered was the ability to resist Hancock's power.
Consequently, a few minutes ago, Sean had issued an order: anyone who was a "truly strong-willed man" was to stay on deck. Anyone who felt they weren't "strong-willed" enough was told to stay in the cabins.
Thus, out of the four companies, only about fifty marines remained.
However, Sean knew perfectly well that these fifty were merely people who 'believed' they were truly strong-willed, or those who felt they were brave enough to resist. He suspected at least forty of them would still fall victim to her charm.
If it were truly that simple to resist, Momonga wouldn't have seen his entire crew turn to stone in the original story, nor would he have had to resort to self-harm to stay conscious.
Aside from the ordinary marines, two others were quite confident: Vivi and Nami.
According to Nami, it was simple: 'Are you joking? My sexual orientation is perfectly normal. How could I possibly be captivated by a woman?'
Vivi, on the other hand, was purely curious. She wanted to see just how beautiful the woman known as the most beautiful woman in the world actually was.
For some reason, Sean had a feeling Nami would regret this...
As for the field-grade officers, Lucci, Kaku, and Jabra had come along. Sean wasn't worried about Lucci and Kaku; those two were definitely "iron-willed" men.
But Jabra? He was unreliable.
Sean had zero confidence in him. Although he had tried to warn him, Jabra had insisted on staying, so Sean let him be. With Sean there, the worst that could happen was that Jabra would be petrified for a little while; it wasn't like he would die.
'Click... click... click... click...'
Once the two ships stabilized, the sound of high heels tapping against the deck rang out. Then, a figure blurred past, landing on the bow of the warship.
Who else could it be but Hancock.
"I quite like this warship. Now, I order you all to jump overboard. I shall tow it back to Amazon Lily!"
Her upper body leaned back to an extreme angle, her left hand on her hip, and her right hand extended, pointing down at the ground.
Fine, the classic "looking down" pose. Sean was finally seeing it in person.
"I say, Shakky, is that pose exclusive to Hancock, or is it a specialized technique every generation of Empress learns? Or perhaps it's Empress etiquette that you passed down?"
"Don't talk nonsense! I can't do that!" Shakky denied it immediately, her face darkening. It was far too embarrassing.
'Splash...'
Sean wanted to tease Shakky a bit more, but before he could speak, a series of splashes echoed across the water.
He looked back.
Good grief. Out of fifty-plus marines, only three remained. The rest had jumped into the ocean.
'Hey, what happened to the "truly strong-willed men"?'
"Nami, calm down!!"
In the next moment, Vivi's voice rang out.
Sean's face darkened. As expected, Nami was unreliable. Vivi was clinging to her from behind in a death grip, while Nami was struggling violently, trying to break free so she could rush to the side and jump overboard.
Honestly, in a certain sense, Hancock was terrifying.
Unable to watch any longer, Sean delivered a swift chop to the back of Nami's neck.
But was it over?
Far from it.
Now that Nami was handled, things went sideways with the field-grade officers.
Kaku suddenly leaped up, used Moonwalk to move through the air, and with a loud 'splash', jumped overboard.
Conversely, Jabra stood there as if nothing had happened.
This left Sean bewildered. Why was Jabra fine, but Kaku had a problem?
However, now was not the time to question that.
"Hancock, do you know the consequences of attacking a Marine warship?"
"I can't help it; I simply love this ship too much. As for the consequences, I'm sure the Marine will forgive me... because I am simply too beautiful..."
Recovering from her disdainful pose, Hancock shifted into a coy, shy expression.
Instantly, Sean felt the energy spurred by the Love-Love Fruit intensify.
'Splash, splash, splash!'
Three more splashes sounded behind him. He didn't even need to look back to know.
Unbelievable. The marines were completely wiped out; not a single one could resist.
It seemed that upon returning to the base, he would need to train them not just in strength, but in willpower as well.
As he thought this, Sean glanced at Jabra again. This guy was actually still fine.
How strange!
However, in the next moment, Jabra spoke a sentence that gave Sean an instant epiphany—and simultaneously caused Hancock to suffer a complete mental breakdown.
"Vice Admiral Sean, this woman is ugly enough as it is, yet she's still striking that pose. Being both ugly and pretentious is just disgusting, isn't it?"
'Pfft...'
That single sentence nearly caused everyone standing there to spit out a mouthful of blood in sheer shock.
As for Hancock, she actually staggered, nearly collapsing to the ground.
Sean, however, quickly realized why Jabra was completely unaffected.
After all, considering the kind of woman this guy liked in the original story... tsk tsk.
Perhaps, in Jabra's eyes, Hancock truly was an ugly woman. On the contrary, someone like Marigold might actually be his type.
Who would have thought that such a bizarre sense of aesthetics would actually play a crucial role here?
Speaking of which, as the branch commander, Sean felt he should consider the personal lives of his subordinates more. After all, a balanced mix of men and women usually leads to higher work efficiency, right?
Unfortunately, the girls currently at the branch were all "too ugly"...
He really needed to find a few "beautiful" female soldiers.
Sean nodded, convinced that this was an excellent idea. He would make the arrangements as soon as they returned!
While he was lost in these thoughts, Hancock was trembling violently.
She wasn't shaking from fear, but from absolute rage.
Ugly?
Disgusting?
Good grief, this was the first time in her life someone had ever spoken to her like that!
"Love-Love Beam!"
Crossing her arms in the shape of a heart, she unleashed wave after wave of heart-shaped beams of light, firing them directly at Jabra.
But as the attack engulfed Jabra, nothing happened.
"You woman! You're so ugly, yet you have the nerve to throw all these hearts at me. Isn't that just disgusting?!"
As he spoke, Jabra actually shuddered with revulsion.
The scene...
Everyone froze, plunged into a dead silence.