Chapter 17
The trip to the grand line was uneventful, except for the part where they crossed into the grand line itself. They had headed directly south, through the calm belt, and then the ship was hit with utterly insane weather that Yoruichi was not prepared for.
She was in her human form, a cat’s feet not being good enough for the shaking of the ship. “What the fuck is this place?!” she yelled over the roar of one of 3 tornados within 100 yards of them, with 10s of more in viewing distance. Yoruichi was in shock. Garp had told her about this place, but the stories didn’t do it justice.
She weaved through the group of marines on board, getting closer to Garp who was laughing on his platform at the front of the ship. When Yoruichi got closer, Garp grinned happily at her and asked, “So? What do you think? Is Paradise living up to its name? Bahahahahah”.
Yoruichi jumped up and slapped him in the back of the head, roaring angrily, “You didn’t tell me it was like this! 5 minutes ago, it felt like we crossed into the dryest desert ever, and now we are surrounded by physically impossible tornados!”
Garp waved a hand, brushing her off. “Bah, its not that bad usually. For one, this is Paradise. If you think this is bad, you should see the other size! Hailstones the size of sea kings! Waves that wash islands away. Most of this weather is caused by our closeness to the red line. It will calm down once we get out of range.” Turning to face the crew, he called out a few orders as Yoruichi grumbled to herself, crossing her arms glumly. “It better stop. This isn’t natural, man.” She mumbled to herself.
Yoruichi had little experience on a ship, so she felt kind of useless. Bogard had said it would probably take a week to get to their destination, Marineford, when they crossed into the grand line. Initially, she didn’t believe him, but seeing this weather, she could understand.
“What does ‘close to the red line’ have to do with it anyway?” Yoruichi asked, looking at Garp’s face that was filled with anticipation.
Garp looked askance at her and scratched his head. “Uhh. Something to do with magnetic fields and the massive size of the red line. Basically, a very large island.” He said a bit hesitantly.
Yoruichi just nodded her head, shelving the information with the rest of the stuff about the grand line. She then bolded the grand line stuff with the name CRAZY, and underlined it multiple times, before shoving it into the recesses of her mind, hopefully to never think of again.
5 minutes of calm later, a marine came running up to Garp.
“Sir!” the marine saluted, “The Fleet Admiral is calling. He asked for you.”
Garp humphed, getting up from a lawn chair he had gotten from somewhere. He followed the marine below decks, presumably to the communications room. A few minutes later, Garp came out from below decks, shouting orders.
“Bogard! Go get the eternal pose to Amazon Lily. Sengoku wants us to inform her of a meeting.” Garp shouted at his right hand man.
Said man looked a bit confused at the order, which in turn confused Yoruichi. ‘Amazon Lily..? Isn’t that the home of one of the warlords? Hancock, I think?’ she thought to herself, focusing her hearing on the conversation that Bogard had started with Garp.
Huddled in a corner near the door to the officer’s cabins, Garp and Bogard were now talking in hushed whispers.
“Sir, doesn’t Tsuru usually inform her? You know how she gets.” Bogard whispered harshly.
Garp chuckled mirthlessly. “Yeah. But Tsuru has to go wrangle Doflamingo again and is nowhere close enough to inform her in time. She at least respects me, so Sen’ asked me to do it.” He replied.
Bogard groaned a bit, which surprised Yoruichi, the chronic eavesdropper. ‘He must hate going there.’ She chuckled internally.
Bogard complained, “Do you know how hard it is to lug all of these idiots to a safe place every time we see her? A quarter of the decks always get holes in them!” he said, his voice raising to a harsh whisper.
Garp just slapped him on the back, and said “You do fine anyways, you always do.” Now laughing openly, Garp started walking away.
Bogard’s hands flew up into the air in helplessness, shouting after his boss “That’s not the point!” He grumbled a bit more, visibly agitated, before he walked into the cabin area.
Yoruichi got up from her spot on the railing next to Garp’s lawn chair and followed him inside. She found him in his own cabin, digging through a cabinet that was filled with what she knew as log poses, but they were in an hourglass like container.
Walking over, she curiously asked, “What are these for? They look different from the ones you showed me.”
“These” Bogard replied, half his body in the cabinet, searching for something, “Are eternal poses. Ah! There you are.” He came out holding one of the poses, showing to Yoruichi.
She looked closer, and she could see the name ‘Amazon Lily’ engraved in the top, and a needle pointing somewhere west.
“These Eternal Poses are locked to a specific island’s magnetic signature, allowing for you to navigate directly to it.” Bogard continued. “As I am the navigator of this ship, I have to plot a course. So, if you will excuse me.”
Bogard turned to his desk, equally as spartan as the rest of the room, now that she looked around. The only thing different was the desk was filled with maps of various shapes and sizes. Bogard grabbed one, and started drawing on it, mapping out a course.
Yoruichi sat in a chair next to the desk, crossing her legs and arms as she sat. “So, why do you hate going there so much?” she asked.
Bogard didn’t stop drawing, but he did start grumbling. “Damn crazy woman…. Making my life miserable….”
Yoruichi raised a brow at that statement. She leaned forward, and put her feet flat on the floor, elbows propped on top of her knees. Her hands were cupping her chin. She said “You aren’t talking about me, are you?” she glared a bit at the man, who had looked up a bit startled at her comment?
“You?” he asked, “Sometimes. Not this time though. Boa Hancock on the other hand…” he trailed off, a somewhat horror filled gaze coming across his nondescript features. “So much work, every time….” Yoruichi reached over and poked him in the temple pretty hard, sending the tall man almost sprawling out of his chair.
Once he righted himself, he said “Thank you for that. Always get lost in bad memories.” He shook his head a bit, then continued. “Boa Hancock has had some very bad experiences when she was younger. Due to them, she has a very bad impression of men. So bad that when she was offered the position of Warlord, one of the conditions of her accepting was to ban men from her island entirely. She will personally hunt down and kill any man that ever steps into her territory.” He finished his talk with a grimace, likely thinking about marines that have been killed.
Yoruichi leaned back again, tilting her head. “Why are we supposed to head there then? I’m the only woman on this ship.” She asked.
Bogard sighed, putting down his pen and standing up. He picked up the map and turned to face her. “Usually, Vice Admiral Tsuru does this. Since she is dealing with someone else, and is much too far away, we have to do it. She respects Garp, and will tolerate the rest of us because of it.” He spoke. He turned to the door and mumbled “Though usually it ends up with all of the crew petrified anyway.” He walked out of the door, Yoruichi following behind, lost in her thoughts.
‘Well, this will be fun’ she thought. ‘Wonder if I can draw dicks on Garp’s face when he gets petrified.’
Yoruichi delivered a lightning quick punch to the back of a seaking’s head, crushing right through the skull and covering her hands in brain matter. She flash-stepped back to the ship, having finished her brief fight. When she got back, she watched as some of the crew harpooned it and drew it in for harvesting.
She turned and walked over to where Garp was standing on the other side of the ship, wiping his fists off with a towel which were covered in gore, much like hers. She reached for his towel and snatched it out of his hands, wiping her much smaller hands off quickly before handing it back to him.
She stood next to him and watched as the crew got to work harvesting Garp’s own seaking, which unlike hers, now had no head at all.
Facing out to the ocean, she said “I thought you said that sea kings couldn’t notice this ship because of the seastone.”
Garp just laughed, his usual response to most of her questions. “You are right, mostly. Seakings can’t see us with the seastone, but they aren’t stupid. They can see the water moving around the ship, and they can’t see anything moving the water. They have come to learn that means there is a ship there.”
He threw the towel into a bucket filled with water, and started walking to the front of the deck to his lawn chair. While walking, he continued his explanation. “The first time we crossed over, we were not there for long enough for them to really take notice. This time, we are sailing with the calm belt. Much more time for them to notice us.” He said, putting his jacket on the back of the chair, and laying down.
Yoruichi hopped up on the railing next to him, leaning back on a post that was there, tying ropes from the sails to the ship.
She asked another question. “So, why are we in the calm belt anyway?” she asked, looking around at the completely still water.
Garp smiled, putting his hands behind his head. “Because, miss kitty, Amazon Lily resides in the calm belt. You should have sensed their ship out there, right?”
Yoruichi nodded, turning her head almost 180 degrees to her left, looking at something with her spiritual sense that was far enough out to not see. It seemed to be a pirate ship with many presences on it, all of which had Haki. 3 of the presences were much larger, with one of them having a radiating presence, unlike anything she had felt before.
“Yeah.” She said, turning to look at Garp again “I sensed them days ago”. They had been sailing for 3 days, two of which they sailed on the edge of the calm belt, and the last was inside it.
“Those are the Kuja pirates.” Garp said, “They are what Boa Hancock’s crew is called. The only reason they haven’t attacked us already is because they know we are marines. And marines usually have a message.”
They both relaxed in their positions, staring out into the early afternoon sun shining across the water. An hour later, she sensed the ship speeding up, and she finally noticed they had seakings attached to the front of it, pulling it through the calm belt.
Garp got up and stretched, saying with a yawn “Well, looks like they’re coming. Get ready for some fun, since they will probably start swinging as soon as they see we aren’t women.” He paused and glanced at her. “Well, most of us anyway.”
Yoruichi nodded her assent and got up herself. She heard Garp bellow behind her to his men, “Prepare defensive measures! They’re coming. You know the drill.” There was a collective groan from the marines, but they all moved to comply with his orders.
She started tightrope walking on the railing, as Garp walked down the stairs, continuing to issue orders.
When they got to the deck proper, she commented, “Is this not the first time they’ve been here? They seem to know what is happening.”
Garp harrumphed, crossing his arms across his broad chest. “Yeah, this ain’t the first time, and won’t be the last, either. Hancock only follows the orders of three people. Tsuru, Me, or Sengoku himself. Any time none of us can get here, we have to call her personally and tell her someone is coming, so they don’t end up dead.”
Yoruichi nodded her head absent mindedly, more focused on her spiritual senses, as the people on the ship became clearer. She could sense that all of them had Haki, and two of the three larger presences felt snakelike, and the third, felt weird. Almost like it was radiating positive feelings and drawing them into itself.
Garp and Yoruichi watched as the ship inched closer, the snake sea kings pulling their boats becoming increasingly visible. It took them almost half an hour to get within distance of physical sight, and another half an hour for them to get within talking distance.
One the ship got within distance, Garp ordered all of the marines off of the deck except himself and Bogard, and Yoruichi hopped up onto a railing near the platform at the bow of the ship, her feet swinging in the air of the port side.
The ship front of her, was a large red and black galleon with two sails, and an almost palace-like structure built on the deck. The front of the ship had two green seakings, which looked like snakes. They both had brown manes like Rain’s, but a lot thinner. There was a massive symbol of a skill with snakes spiraling out of it on the sail, entirely in black. The back of the ship had paddlewheels, which were spinning and pushing the ship through the water.
Only Garp, Bogard, and herself remained above deck, with Bogard acting as a helmsman to keep the ship steady. The ship pulled up aside theirs, the outer rails of the Kuja ship about 10 feet below her own spot. The snakes passed her and turned to look at her. They both hissed a bit, before turning away.
Yoruichi then looked at all of the people on the deck. Every last one of them were women, of every shape and size imaginable. Small, extremely tall, rail thin, or morbidly obese. Each of them were wearing what she thought to be the weirdest amalgamation of outfits, but somehow in the same style.
Some were wearing leopard print that looked straight off the leopard, others were wearing plain cloth, some had belts on, but the one thing they all seemed to agree on was the long white cloaks with yellow epaulets on them, similar to marine officers, as well as no matter the cloth, design, or size, all of them were wearing bikinis.
Yoruichi slightly frowned in thought, ‘That can’t be an entirely sane decision, can it? I mean, I haven’t been on a ship, but wouldn’t that just give them so much sunburn that they wouldn’t be able to move? At least some of them look tanned.’ She scanned the women for the three presences she had felt earlier.
She found two of them, the snakelike ones standing on a second deck, near what was probably their helm. Both were utterly gigantic, towering over even the likes of Garp.
‘They must be like 15 feet tall, huh.’ Yoruichi thought. One of them was green all over, green hair, green clothes, green eyes. She was also normally proportioned for a fit woman, with little fat on her body. Her disproportionate sized head is what confused Yoruichi, but in the year she had spent exploring she had seen some weird people, so she just chalked it up to ‘stuff I don’t think is normal but everyone else does’.
The second one looked like a Valkyrie had a child with a giant that happened to do strongman. She had long red hair, along with pink clothes, and she looked like she wrestled sea kings, and then ate them when she was done.
‘Seriously, what is it with that woman?! Her tits are huge, but somehow her stomach buts both of them to shame!’ Yoruichi thought incredulously.
Many of the women had noticed her, Yoruichi’s positively petite body sitting on the rails, legs swinging like a kid at the park. She gave them all a wave and proceeded to search for the last presence.
A moment later, she found it inside the palace built on the ship. She sighed exasperatedly, bemoaning what was potentially an extremely arrogant person. ‘Who the hell builds a palace on their ship anyways? It does fit her title of ‘pirate empress’ but damn, gaudy much?’ Yoruichi grumbled internally, before her head flicked over to where Garp was standing, arms crossed alone on the deck.
He cut an imposing figure, any sign of the normally laid back and jolly man completely gone. He had a permanent scowl that seemed to be welded into his face, looking like a bear that had just been poked.
The Kuja ship stopped aside theirs, one of the massive women stepping forward, the green haired thin one.
She declared, in somewhat of a pompous tone, “You are in the territory of the Kuja empire. Surely you know of the agreement between us and your government. Declare yourselves!” she shouted. There was a chorus of agreement from the other pirates.
Garp just stood there scowling.
A momentary standoff ensued, before Garp finally spoke.
“Do you really have to do this Sandersonia? We both know who each other is. Where is Hancock. I have a summons she needs to see to.” He growled, obviously irritated.
Yoruichi watched the interaction unfold, thought whirring. ‘Garp must really dislike these guys.’ She thought. She continued to watch in silence.
The other large woman stepped forward. “The Snake Princess does not wish to see you, Marine Hero. You have also not declared your reason for appearing here. You know our rules. Yet you came anyways.” She stated, the polearm on her back coming out of it’s harness to slam on the deck. It shook the ship a little, causing the calm waters to start rippling a bit.
Garp just sighed, and stepped forward. A threatening air had appeared around him, almost like Yoruichi’s own spiritual pressure. He roared, “Boa Hancock, I do not have time for your games. Get out here, before I make good on my promise of the last time we met!” His voice thundered, obviously intended to reach into the palace on the ship adjacent to them.
The women on the ship looked a bit stunned at his bellow, but only for a moment. They all started basically rioting, insulting Garp, his audacity, mainly his audacity to talk to the ‘Snake Princess’ like that. It was loud enough that Yoruichi had to artificially tone her hearing down, so she wouldn’t get ringing in her ears.
That all stopped when the doors to the palace opened, swinging inward, and an extremely attractive woman stepped out. She was a taller than most woman, except for the two giants up above her, though she was shorter than Garp. She had flowing black hair, let down, with two shorter pieces framing her delicate face. She wore a cape just like the rest of them, but her other clothes were different.
She had a red crop top on, that showed more cleavage than even Rangiku Matsumoto usually did, that had flowing sleeves that ended in a kimono style garment around her wrists. Her lower body was covered by a skirt, similar in red coloring, but with a green symbol that matched the one on the flag of the Kuja ship. It almost looked like a flower at first glance. To top it off, she had red heels, and golden snake earring framing her face.
‘Damn she’s pretty,’ Yoruichi thought. ‘I wonder what she does to keep her hair so lusciously glossy. It looks really nice.’
She glanced over the other pirates on the ship, finding it slightly hard to tear her gaze away from the beautiful woman. All of the pirates had hearts in their eyes, acting all swoony and cheerful at the woman’s glorious presence.
She forced herself to look over at Garp, as she could smell a bit of blood in the air. She could see with her keen eyes that his fingers were digging into his palms. She wondered why. Obviously, you look at the most beautiful woman in the world.
The woman, obviously the Snake Princess, stepped onto one of the snakes attached to the front of her ship. She had completely ignored the women fawning over her.
Once on top of the snake’s head, she pointed to Garp’s ship, and it moved its head to act like a transport and bring her closer to Garp.
After a few moments, she was now above Garp, who was now looking up at her, hands still digging into themselves. They were pretty much right above Yoruichi, with the snake’s shadow casting over her.
The Snake Princess spoke, her regal and melodious voice ringing out. “Why is it you have disgraced me with your presence, Marine Hero? I do not wish to dirty myself by associating with the world government much more.”
Garp had visibly snarled, uncharacteristically of him. “The only thing I ever come here to do, snake. A meeting has been called to decide on a new Warlord, as the Wandering Warrior has been defeated.”
Yoruichi narrowed her eyes at that. ‘He was defeated? When did that happen?’ she pondered, thinking of the implications. The Wandering Warrior, or Markus El Ramia, was a man who used pretty much every weapon he could get his hands on and went around fighting anything and everything that sailed the seas. He hailed from the south blue, and had fought everything from monkeys, whales, seakings, to marines and pirates alike.
He had caused such a ruckus 3 years earlier, when he single-handedly fought off multiple rear admirals, and their entire crew for 2 days. Alone. He had gained a $250,000,000 berry bounty after that incident and was given the title of Warlord not long after.
Yoruichi shook her head, feeling herself get a bit of a headache for some reason.
She moved a bit to the side, so she could still see Hancock. She watched as the woman who definitely deserved her title as most beautiful woman in the world tilted her head in surprise.
“Oh really?” Hancock said, her eyes glimmering wonderfully in the light. “How did that happen? Last I heard he was quite rambunctious.” She laughed lightly, the tinkling sound rolling over everyone in hearing distance.
Yoruichi smiled a bit at the sound. She watched as Boa Hancock looked around a bit, and spotted her, in her new position perched on the lowest sail boom.
Boa turned to face her fully and smiled at her. “Oh? Who is this? What is a woman like you doing on a ship full of these disgusting creatures, especially those of the World Government.” Hancock sneered at that last piece, her beautiful face cracking.
Yoruichi felt saddened at that, her heart rearing to destroy whatever had caused the wonderful visage in front of her to crack. Her head was starting to feel like something was trying to escape.
Hancock continued, extending her hand toward Yoruichi, saying, “Why don’t you come join us, become a Kuja. Leave these creatures behind, and come home.”
Yoruichi almost started nodding her head, her thoughts going a mile a minute. ‘Yes, I should join her. It’s such a wonderful idea, become a Ku-‘. Yoruichi’s mind ground to a halt in an instant, the situation she was in finally registering in her mind, as she finally noticed the now shouting Rain in the back of her head.
“Snap out of it you foolish woman! There is a trick of the mind at play!” Rain roared in her mind, the headache of her mind pushing away the fog she now recognized.
‘What the fuck was that?’ Yoruichi asked Rain. She had started diving into her own mindscape, to see what was going on. Although she could appreciate the beauty of Boa Hancock’s figure, she did not act like her usual self. ‘Why was a pretty much fawning over her in my head?’
She heard Rain’s grumbling reply, “It seems that woman has an ability like Aizen’s Zanpakuto. It was very subtle. I could see a pink gas spreading in the mindscape, but didn’t really care, as it was quite thin. It only became a problem when that woman started speaking. Whatever is in her voice amplified the spreading and exasperated the density of the fog.”
Yoruichi found herself in her mindscape, looking up at the almost fully covered pink skies. She could still see some white clouds, which were now going around and purging the pink gas.
She turned to Rain, who had lost some more weight. He now looked like a very overweight lion, but he was now functional.
“She must have a devil fruit” Yoruichi said. “All of them have unique presences to them.”
Rain nodded in agreement. “Yes, My thoughts as well. What do you want to do about it?”
Yoruich frowned, and said with a bit of anger creeping in her voice, “After Aizen, Kisuke, Tessai, me, and the Visored all tried to raise our mental defenses. I guess the test run wasn’t that good after all.” Yoruichi said.
She then cracked her knuckles and looked directly at the lion. “Want to help me teach her a lesson? I really do not like it when people mess with my head.”
Rain chuckled, the deep sound more like thunder. “Of course. It is never a good feeling when one’s home is taken over. You may use me.”
Yoruichi grinned a little, before her mind was back in her body. She had only been inside her own head for a few seconds, and she looked around. Boa Hancock had now moved onto the deck proper, having gotten off the snake. She had completely ignored Yoruichi after probably seeing her zone out, like most of the woman’s other victims.
She looked over at Bogard, who she now realized she hadn’t been paying attention to whatsoever. She was a bit shocked to see that he had a knife stuck through his hand, pinning it to the wheel.
She scowled, ‘They must know about her devil fruit, then. Pain is what brought be out of the haze, and probably keeps them grounded. Wonder why they didn’t mention it?” she thought irritably. She stood up from her crouched position on the lower boom and hopped down onto Garp’s platform at the bow.
Stalking forward, a hunter’s calm poured over her. Frown firmly in place, she walked down the steps, staring holes into Hancock’s back.
Said woman had come to a stop in front of Garp, who hadn’t moved. His hands were now visibly bleeding, the blood running down his arms.
Hancock put an arm on her hip, and stated “I do not care to go to any meeting the World Government would put on, even if it is to elect a new Warlord. You will leave. But first, you will give me all of your cargo, and you will then be let go.” she finished imperiously.
Now that Yoruichi was paying attention with her spiritual sense, she could feel the power of the woman’s devil fruit in the air. When she spoke, it seemed to vibrate a bit.
‘It probably increases people’s feelings toward her, which isn’t hard since she is very attractive. Her voice is then used to act upon those feelings, compelling them to do things most normally wouldn’t. Like voluntarily giving up all their supplies in the middle of the ocean.’ Yoruichi pondered on how Hancock’s devil fruit worked, as she slowly made her way forward.
None of the Kuja could see her, as she was too short, and the ship heights were too different. They were all still staring lovingly at their ‘princess’ anyways.
Garp growled, “Girl, I don’t care if you want to go or not. Sengoku is telling you to attend.” He was visibly gritting his teeth, partially at her audacity to basically starve all his men to death, and at the ‘pheromone’ like feeling he likely had.
Hancock smiled, a delicate thing that promised arrogance and disdain for those around her. “I would not care what you think anyways. Besides, the Fleet Admiral will forgive me anyways, as he always does. After all, I am Beautiful.” She finished her little speech, basically boring her gaze through Garp’s skull.
Garp growled, an animalistic part of him rising to the challenge the woman was giving his old friend. “Get. Off. My. Ship. Hancock. Or I will throw you so far into the ocean, you will drown days before your crew can find you.” His voice rising, almost to a roar.
Boa Hancock just waved at him dismissively. “Oh, if you must insist. Always a bore, dealing with the marines. Tsuru is the only one I even respect out of you three. She at least, has standards.” She said, drawing the last word out. She twirled around in a dramatic fashion, cape billowing. She started walking back to the snake that was still parked where she had left it, head stuck out next to the railing.
When Hancock got closer to the edge, she looked down with a sneer on her face. “Who left these things out here?” A few feet in front of her, were a few cats playing with a coil of rope that was left about.
It was not uncommon for cats to be present on ships, they help with rodent infestations, especially on larger ones. Many marine vessels have some, usually a family of them. Even Garp, with his adamant advocacy for dogs, had them.
Yoruichi was at the bottom of the stairs, staring at the woman a bit incredulously. She then watched in a bit of shocked disbelief as the woman’s leg went back and shot forward.
‘What the hell? She isn’t going to kick the cats, is she?’ Yoruichi had grown a bit fond of them, sometimes sleeping in the ball of fur the cats usually could be found in, down in the hold of the ship.
When she was sure Hancock would not stop her actions, she flash-stepped forward, leg shooting out. She reappeared instantly in front of Hancock, her almost bare foot catching the woman’s heeled shoe right at the top of the ankle, where it connects to her calf.
She smirked a bit at the almost imperceptible grimace Hancock made when their legs connected.
‘You may be pretty, you crazy bitch, but I worked hard for these legs’ She grinned to herself. Yoruichi scowled up at the woman, who was over a foot taller than herself. “Were you seriously about to kick a cat?” she asked, eyes narrowing at the woman.
Boa had a bit of surprise on her face. She said, almost disbelievingly “Oh? You snapped out of it? Most don’t have the willpower, and those that do have to harm themselves anyways.” Hancock looked down her nose at the smaller woman.
Yoruichi retorted, “If you are going to be a guest on someone else’s ship, even after you invited yourself on, the least you could do is be courteous to its inhabitants.”
She then pushed Hancock’s foot away from the cats, which were now cowering in terror behind Yoruichi.
Hancock frowned and said. “They will forgive me, like all else do. I do not wish to hurt you, and one I have extended an offer to join me to. I will only say this once. Get out of my way.”
Yoruichi now had a feral grin on her face, feeling her fighting spirit rising. “Make me, bitch.” She growled, her catlike instincts coming out.
Hancock huffed, cried, “The nerve! If you wish to die today, I will fulfill that wish.” She then stuck her hands out, making a heart shape at Yoruichi.
“Love-Love beam” she called, and Yoruichi could sense the energy of the devil fruit exiting her arms, and coming out in a visible pink heart.
She pushed Hancock’s leg away, using it as leverage to backflip out of the way of the heart beam.
‘That thing felt weird. Better not get hit by it.’ She thought. Her hand went to her Zanpakuto, as she leaned forward. Hancock went to aim again, calling out her attack once more “Love-Love bea-“ She choked on the last word, as Yoruichi had flash stepped behind her, her now drawn sword at Hancock’s neck.
Hancock froze up, extremely bad memories coming back.
Yoruichi ground out, “Don’t think I don’t know how your powers work. Speaking makes it worse. So why don’t you just shut up for a bit.” She was a bit angry from earlier, Hancock’s manipulation of her mind bringing back memories and feelings of hopelessness from Aizen’s own manipulations.
Hancock threw her head back, forcing Yoruichi to dodge. Both of them separated, and they backed off across the empty deck of Garp’s ship.
Said man, was now leaning against the wall of the cabin entrance, grinning at the fight happening.
“Yoruichi” he called out “Sengoku had this ship specially outfitted to survive me. Go nuts.”
Yoruichi glanced over at him and shared his grin. She then turned back to Hancock, who was glaring at her. “You gonna back down?” she asked, already knowing the answer.
“Weaklings like you need to be put in their place, girl.” Hancock answered. Yoruichi now noticed that Hancock had a snake following her.
‘When did that thing get here?’ she thought to herself? ‘Looks weird to. What kind of snake wears a skull?’
Hancock pointed a finger at her, her thump going up. “Love-Love pistol” she said, a smaller beam shooting out much faster at Yoruichi.
The purple haired woman simply leaned her head to the side, causing the beam to fly past her into the open ocean. Yoruichi propelled herself forward, Rain singing out in a reverse grip as she slipped between the repeatable fire of Hancock’s attacks. She got within striking distance within a single moment, going for a swing at the woman’s right side.
Hancock Raised her leg, black Haki covering it up to her knee. She caught the blade on the top of her leg, and Yoruichi kept going forward, ending up behind the taller woman.
She had to jump in the air to dodge the fast snake strike however, as apparently it wasn’t just decoration. She stuck herself to the lower part of a sail’s boom, looking down at the now irritated woman below her.
Yoruichi smirked, saying snidely “Guess the ‘weakling’ isn’t that weak after all, huh.” She grinned, looking down at Hancock’s leg. Her calf had a shallow cut on it from where Yoruichi landed a hit.
“Try a bit harder, I haven’t tasted blood in a long time.” She heard Rain growl excitedly into her mind.
‘Gone with the royal talk now?’ Yoruichi replied, sending mental images of her laughing at the large cat.
Rain grumbled, “When the time calls for it, This one will act accordingly.”
Yoruichi chuckled, and pushed off her position, rocketing down to the deck. She went for an axe kick, which the woman forced her to abort from with another Love-Love beam.
Yoruichi forced her body to fly back to her original position, focusing on Hancock who had followed her.
‘She’s pretty fast, isn’t she.’ Yoruichi thought. ‘Too bad I’m faster’ she grinned, as she sidestepped the axe kick Hancock seemed intent on returning her. Hancock’s kick thudded to the ground, Haki covered limb barely causing a scratch on the surprisingly tough wood.
Yoruichi sent a liver palm strike at Hancock’s side, catching her and sending her flying with a surprised ‘Oomf’.
She waited for Hancock to recover from where she had collapsed against the stairs leading to Garp’s platform, and oh was she angry.
Hancock had a snarl on her face, red in anger. “You will pay for that, you slippery cat.” Hancock extended her arms wide, head looking to the skies, and screamed “Love-Love wave!” An utter wall of pink aura burst out from Hancock, causing Yoruichi’s eyes to widen. She flickered out of view in a flash-step. A moment later, Yoruichi turned to face the ship that was a few hundred yards away from her, the blast zone of the wave engulfing the ship entirely.
“Damn” Yoruichi said to herself, sheathing Rain, and putting her hands on her hips. “That was probably her most powerful yet. Garp might not want that to happen again though. Can’t imagine what that did to the crew.” Yoruichi flickered back onto the ship, hiding her presence in her somewhat common spot on the lower boom.
She looked down at Hancock, who was standing around with her hands on her hips, smugly examining the scene. She said, “That must have worked. Now, where is that statue so I can crush it.” Hancock started wandering around for a few seconds, obviously looking for Yoruichi’s statue.
Yoruichi glanced around for Garp and Bogard, but didn’t see them. Extending her spiritual sense, she could feel them below decks with the rest of the crew.
Yoruichi waited until Hancock was underneath her and let herself fall off the boom. She clasped her hands together and reinforced her limbs. She sent a powerful blow to the back of Hancock’s head, which the woman barely tilted out of the way, causing it to land on her shoulder.
Yoruichi heard a scream of pain, and felt something crack underneath her hands. She didn’t let Hancock get settled, the shock of pain giving the werecat the advantage. She landed on the deck and jumped at Hancock again, who was trying to put distance between them.
Hancock sent a roundhouse kick at the smaller woman, which she vaulted over then sent a jab straight at Hancock’s face. Hancock blocked with her elbow, throwing a spartan kick out at Yoruichi which she blocked with both arms. It sent her back a few yards, and she had to leap to the side to dodge another rain of love-love pistol shots.
Yoruichi almost instinctively reached out with her right hand and caught the lunging snake by the throat. She glanced at its now quickly purpling face, and then threw it directly at Hancock.
Not expecting that, Hancock accidentally hit her snake with a shot, and Yoruichi’s eyes widened in surprise as it turned to stone instantly.
‘The fuck? Is that what Garp and Bogard are afraid of?’ she incredulously thought to herself.
Rain took that moment to comment, “Its almost like those medusa myths from the Material World” he said.
“Huh…” Yoruichi said out loud a bit dumbly. ‘You might be right. That might be her devil fruit. Doesn’t matter though. She’s too slow to hit me.’ That train of thought was cut off as she heard “Soru” and had to limbo duck under a leg as it came whistling right where her head used to be, completely shrouded in black.
Yoruichi did a back handspring, flipping a few times until she settled a distance away.
“Whew” she said, wiping imaginary sweat from her brow. She grinned at the now trembling in anger woman. “Luckily this ‘weakling’ is faster than you. That might’ve taken off my head.”
Hancock ground out, “That was the point.” Hancock then extended both her hands in a pistol shape, shouting “Love-Love pistol” again. Yoruichi easily slipped through the beams of pink, their speed not seeming to increase all that much, even though the woman herself could be much faster.
She appeared behind Hancock in a flash-step, and let a roundhouse kick loose, sending Hancock flying.
This time she went to the cabin door area, crumbling to the ground.
Yoruichi just stood there, grinning madly at the woman. “Is that all you got? You were talking so much earlier, I thought there would be more.”
Hancock brushed some blood off her mouth, and said “You want more, do you? Well here you go then.” She stood up, and a visible pressure came out from her.
Yoruichi stumbled a bit, not expecting at all for someone to be able to do something so similar yet so different to her Spiritual Pressure.
Soul Reaper’s pressure was more of a natural consequence of getting more powerful. They had to reign it in or it would cause damage to the surroundings. This, however, seemed more like an active choice to dominate another.
In the brief moment Yoruichi stumbled, she felt a gust of wind appear in front of her, and her senses picked up Hancock’s presence within reach.
‘That’s not good’ she thought, desperately trying to regain control of her muscles in the milliseconds it would take before Hancock hit her. She didn’t succeed, and Hancock’s fist smashed into Yoruichi’s temple, sending her head, and the rest of her body with it, flying to the ground.
She didn’t make It all the way there, as Hancock’s knee caught her in the chin, sending her soaring a few feet into the air. She landed on Garp’s platform, almost crushing his lawn chair.
She laid on her back for a few seconds, breathing a bit heavily.
‘Well, that was certainly something’ She thought. ‘It felt like she paralyzed me for a second.’ She sat up, and brushed her mouth, blood coming off on her hand.
She looked up at Hancock, who was making her way up the stairs at a slow, but what she probably thought was a dominant pace. Inevitable, in a sense.
Yoruichi just shook her head at the woman’s dramatics. She pushed herself to her feet, and rubbed her temples. “That hurt, you know.” Yoruichi said, looking at the raven haired woman.
“That was my intention.” Came the reply. Hancock now had a disdainful expression on her face, what Yoruichi was belatedly remembering Garp mentioning over a year ago when he explained Haki to her.
“Conquerors Haki, right? I heard only a select few people have that.” Yoruichi said offhandedly.
Hancock stopped across from her, crossing her arms.
“Yes, it is a particular gift to kings and conquerors.” Hancock said imperiously. “You will bow before me because of it.”
Yoruichi laughed lightly in disbelief, more of a scoff than anything. “You should really stop laying it on so thick, you know. Acting like that is only good if it seems natural. Right now you are coming off as someone who tries too hard.” Yoruichi paused and cracked her knuckles. “Here, let me show you.” She said, before whispering ‘Shunko” and a burst of Kido blew her jacket to pieces. She was now left in her black jumpsuit, which was entirely backless, and did somewhat of a good job covering her front.
‘I went with my old version, since I can’t seem to get that one part of it down.’ She thought, looking at Hancock’s surprised expression.
“What,” Yoruichi said sarcastically. “Did you think you were the only one with tricks here?”
Not waiting for a response, Yoruichi disappeared, leaving a visible afterimage behind.
She appeared directly behind Hancock, close enough to whisper “behind you” in the woman’s ear. She disappeared again as Hancock whirled around, and landed in the center of the platform. “Sekienton” she said, and red smoke blasted out of her spot on the deck.
She then blended her presence into the smoke and watched somewhat gleefully as Boa Hancock started spinning in all directions trying to find her.
“You see, Hancock,” Yoruichi said, spreading her voice with a simple Kido technique that didn’t even have a name. “Acting is all about the presentation. You are selling the story you are trying to portray. You have that part down. What you don’t have, is the self-perspective to see what is realistic.” Yoruichi paused, and flash-stepped directly in front of Hancock. She grinned at the surprised woman whose eyes widened, and she left an afterimage in her dodge of the love-love beam that came flying toward her. It hit, causing the image to disperse, and Yoruichi who was again behind her, whispered into Hancock’s ear. “And what is fake.”
She left herself close to the taller woman who had spun around again, arms reaching out already in motion to eject some sort of love-love attack. Yoruichi reached out, her hands going underneath Hancock’s own, palms up. She swirled the Shunko energy in a hard spiral, causing an electrical shock to appear between the two women’s limbs.
Yoruichi grinned to herself as she sensed the devil fruit energy disappear. ‘I was right, it does affect them. Though only momentarily.’ She thought triumphantly, having had that hypothesis since she had tested things with Luffy. She had just not found a devil fruit user to use it on since then.
She could feel the devil fruit’s energy in Hancock’s body flowing back into her limbs. Obviously, she would have to do it often, but she could disrupt devil fruit powers.
Grinning over at Hancock, who was now holding her arms close to her body.
“Howd that feel?” she said inquisitively.
Hancock looked at her in shock. “What the hell did you do to me? It felt like I was in the ocean, but also not. It seemed like my devil fruit power was afraid of you.” Hancock whispered, more to herself than anyone else.
Yoruichi kept grinning, and replied “Well, isn’t that good to know. Lets finish this, shall we?” She lunged forward, her leg going for a low sweeping kick at Hancock’s knee. Hancock instinctively blocked, her Haki covering her shin, but Hancock was not expecting Yoruichi to hit her with a blast of white electric looking energy.
She was sent tumbling head over heels until she crashed into the railing, which somehow stayed intact.
Yorucihi looked appreciatively at the ship. ‘I got to ask what this thing is made of, its tough as hell. Id probably have to hit it really damn hard to crack it.’ She thought to herself, reminding herself to ask Garp later.
She walked over to Hancock, who was now sitting against the railing, breathing heavily. “Who-Who are you?” Hancock asked, coughing a bit.
Yoruichi crouched down next to the woman, who was obviously not going to fight any more. She stuck out her hand, and said, “Yoruichi Shihoin, Former 2nd Division Captain of the 13 Guard Squads, and executive head of the Stealth Force.”
She grinned at the woman, who was looking at her incredulously. “What? Never had a little fight with friends before?” She kept her hand outstretched, waiting for something.
Hancock just started at the petite purpled haired woman in disbelief. “Why are you being nice to me now?” she asked, partially not wanting to know the answer.
Yoruichi scoffed at her. “Bah. Who said I’m not still mad at you. I just got over it during the fight just now. You know you put out a subtle mind control drug, right?” she said, smiling down at the blue-eyed woman.
Hancock’s eyes narrowed. “What do you mean, mind control drug?” she asked confused, her brow furrowed.
Yoruichi’s brows went up. “You don’t know? Your devil fruit, whatever it is, makes you give off this aura that’s similar to a gas. It will infiltrate the minds of those around you and make them like you more. When you talk it enhances the effectiveness of it. Your love-love beams, or whatever you call them, are concentrated blasts of it.” Yoruichi explained. “Kinda surprised you didn’t know that. You seemed to know what effect it had on people, the way you tried to get Garp to hand over all his stuff.”
Hancock just slowly shook her head, her mind whirling. “I just. I just thought people obeyed my words because they were attracted to me. I never thought there was other reasons.”
Hancock reached up and grabbed the offered hand. Yoruichi helped the taller woman stand, which when she put pressure on her left leg, the one that got hit with Shunko, she grimaced in pain.
Yoruichi looked down in surprise. “Oh. Thought I didn’t hit you that hard. Here, let me.” Yoruichi crouched down, reaching her hands out. She used a bit of Kaido application to speed up the healing process of Hancock’s leg.
The process for repairing material world injuries was a bit different than soul reaper injuries. One could only speed the healing process up in living beings, whereas the soul reapers could just replace lost matter with more Reishi.
It took a moment, but there were very slight ripples on Hancock’s skin, as it started to look a bit like she was electrocuted, which wasn’t that far off. Yoruichi’s Shunko acted similarly to electricity but didn’t have as much heat. It left marks, but usually didn’t burn all that much.
“There” Yoruichi stood up, brushing her hands. “Almost done. Should heal fully in a day or so.”
Hancock just stared at her in even more disbelief. “You certainly have a lot of ‘tricks’ in that bag of yours, don’t you.” Hancock said after a moment.
They both chuckled together. A moment later, Hancock continued. “Why are you being so nice to me, again? You never answered that part.”
Yoruichi just turned around, headed back to the top deck. Looking over her shoulder, she said, “Once you get good enough at acting and subterfuge, you can see behind the masks of some others.” She smiled at the taller, black-haired woman, who still looked like a bombshell despite going through a fight. “You seemed like you needed a friend.” Yoruichi turned around and kept walking, headed down the stairs.
Boa Hancock stood frozen on the platform, mind whirling with a mess of emotions and thought. “Friend, huh?” She mumbled, “Might not be so bad.” Hancock followed Yoruichi down to the deck, thinking about the situation that she had landed herself in all the way.
Thanks for the chapter, and don't worry about us. Education first!
Nice chapter!
Thanks for the chapter!