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Chapter 55: The Will To Survive III

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Not far from Seizon No Hono, there was an Island. On the Island, there was a palace. 

In the Palace were more than a dozen individuals. The princess was seated on the throne. Her vessels or perhaps advisors were not far from her. A bunch of her people were a bit away with their heads down.

Standing at the foremost of those people was the same lady Yovan talked to before, and her name was Ran. She was ready to stand trial for her failure.

"You lost to a man?"

"Yes..." 

"You all lost to a man?"

"Yes!"

"So you lost to a man?"

"Yes?"

"And by man, you mean a man?"

"Yes...!"

"Why did you lose to the man?"

"Becaus..."

"Silence! That was a yes and no question!"

"Huh?? Yes?"

"I see, it seems that you've really lost to a man... And that's deserving of punishment."

"Yes!" 

Her words seemed to be the words of the gospel, words of absolution, "But deserving of even more punishment is the man... Or pig should I say?"

And so the princess stood up, and things moved along as she was soon on a basic galleon with a pink mansion structure in the middle. Instead of a figurehead, two Serpents were tied to the front, where they steer the ship.

Those Serpents are actually Yudas, ferocious and poisonous type of sea serpents. They live in the Calm Belt and are so dangerous that they are one of the few creatures that Sea Kings will not attack, though people on this ship were apparently able to domesticate them.

Their Jolly Roger or symbol was a black skull mark with Nine serpents extending from it in a wavy shape.

Even with their perfect understanding of the surroundings, it took them more than a week to lie eyes on Seizon No Hono, the colossal black ship trimmed with gorgeous golden lines.

They could also see its Jolly Roger... It was nothing but a dot, a golden dot. Yovan had some ideas before on what his Jolly Roger should be, but alas, he threw those thoughts away.

He first thought his Jolly Roger would be something like wings around a moon, or something to do with crows, but... There was something stopping him, so he personally painted a dor on their emblem.

Just a dot along with the Crew's title... The Strangers. It was somewhat fitting but also missing something.

Before the princess' very eyes, the Ship flared vast dark wings, seemingly made of feathers before flying into the sky.

Some of her crew were absolutely speechless, but the princess only eye the person that didn't leave along with the Ship.

On a cloud of feathers was standing a man. It was really a man, made clear only by his body because he was wearing a silver mask.

So the Princess stood up as her ship made its way to the cloud of feathers, and she sought confirmation, "Is this the man?"

"Yes!"

The princess noted something as her Ship stopped before the man. He was taller than her. She was a very tall lady, reaching 191 Cm in height but he seemed to be more than two dozen Cm above that.

That created a situation where she have to look up to him. So she walked up to the head of the ship and jumped on one of the Yuda serpents' heads, "Much better." Now she can look down on him.

"Huh????" Yovan was absolutely confused, 'Do all these people have a screw loose in their heads??'

It really made him wonder, just like he had to wonder the obvious, 'Is this who I think she is?'

"So I heard you made an offense, and it made me wonder if you love death?" The princess wondered with her head a bit high, looking down on him as much as possible.

"Could it be that you're one of the warlords of the sea... Let me think, Boo Hanock?" Yovan eyed her up and down before remarking though he caught his mistake directly after as opened his notebook.

"Hmm, let me see, page 68, ah, right, Boa Hancock, wasn't too far off." Yovan nodded, feeling his memory getting better, surely.

Indeed, before him was the Pirate Empress Boa Hancock, the captain of the Kuja Pirates and the only female Warlord of the Sea, also known as the Snake Princess of Amazon Lily.

Her stature as one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea means she has tremendous power and influence. The warlords are after all a selection of seven powerful and notorious pirates allied with the World Government.

"Boo Hanock?" Boa Hancock muttered in shock, remaining silent for a while. 

The sounds of heartbeats could be heard in such a menacing silence because the ones even more shocked than Boa were her crew. Someone misremembered her name.

"Is everyone such a weirdo nowadays?" Yovan frowned, feeling speechless. He simply didn't understand what the fuck was happening anymore.

The poor guy just wanted to see who he accidentally provoked, but instead, he came upon a bunch of weirdos. 

Why can't everyone just be normal like him? Just torture yourself every day and you will learn true serenity.

"Fufufu... Fufufufu... Hahahahahahaha, you must've misspoken, right?" Boa let out a chuckle, diving into her delusions. The day someone misspells her name would of course never come!

"You will be forgiven! I will allow you to die relatively peacefully..." She didn't wait for him to answer because she wanted to hear none of it, "If you kneel right about now."

"I don't get it? How did I survive on an abandoned Island for months and come out sane while everyone else has a screw loose for apparently no reason?" Yovan murmured to himself, seeming in deep thought.

"Wait... Is it a curse? I will certainly get the curse also with my luck... the curse of the Sea. Hm? Could it be that I already have it? But I'm not a weirdo at all. I'm perfectly normal... Right?"

Boa's facial expression was twitching while looking down on the weirdo, her smile having trouble staying on.

If ignoring her wasn't enough, Yovan eyed her with curiosity and asked, "Hey Boo, Do I look like a weirdo? I'm not like you, right?"

Yovan would only have to side-glance to see literally mouths falling to the floor in shock. Each and every one of Boa's crew was overdosing on stupefaction.

"Am I not beautiful?" Boa asked as she looked Yovan directly in the eyes, speaking eerily calmly.

"Hm? Yeah? You're certainly gorgeous, someone I'd want to paint." Yovan shrugged, not seeming too affected by her beauty.

And damn if her beauty is not something to be affected by because Hancock is considered the most beautiful woman in the world. 

She is very tall and slender with long black hair that extends past her waist with locks of hair that frame her face down to her chin and shows off her high forehead, dark blue eyes with long, voluminous eyelashes and pale skin. She has a narrow waist and very large breasts.

She was wearing a revealing Ice-blue V-neck blouse that showed much of her chest and a loose sarong that exposed her long, slender legs with the green symbol of the Kuja adorned on it, along with a white cape sporting epaulets more commonly found on the jackets of high-ranking Marines, and dark blue high heel pumps.

Befitting of her title as the most beautiful woman in the world, Yovan felt burning inspiration to paint just looking at her.

"Of course," Hancock calmly nodded, before preaching to the world, "So I hope you understand my plea and forget that you even exit and that this even happened because none of this happened... For I am beautiful."

Yovan wasn't sure whether he traumatized her somehow, but her actions certainly say as much.

"Mero Mero Mellow!" Hancock spoke as she formed a heart with her hands and fired it, releasing a heart-shaped beam from them. 

Yovan's reaction to it was a shield of feathers forming before him, not because he underestimated her or anything, but because he couldn't react much.

The beam was way too fast even with his high Observation Haki, and even stranger was the fact that it went through his shield unobstructed, seemingly intangible. 

And then nothing happened, it just washed over him and vanished, leaving Yovan confused because he knows little to nothing about her, but Hancock's obvious shock made it clear that something should've happened... Her powers didn't work on him.

Either way, Yovan transformed into his crow form and vanished into the distance, leaving behind a few words, "Just leave us alone you weirdo."

"I..." Hancock remained frozen on the serpent's head, utterly confused, "Why didn't it work? It's blasphemy!"

Her Devil Fruit is Mero Mero No Mi, a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit that allows a range of attacks which use emotions of lust or perversion to transform opponents into stone.

The variety of its usage includes the one she just used against Yovan. Anyone with impure thoughts, mostly towards Hancock hit by this beam will be turned into a stone statue.

But almost all Devil Fruits have weaknesses. One can be immune to her powers if they block out their "dirty thoughts", such as by feeling strong fear or pain, or if they simply aren’t attracted to her, such as a blind man not knowing how beautiful she is.

Or one can simply have such strong willpower that they can completely ignore her charm. Yovan did so without really intending to. His willpower allowed him to keep a clear mind.

If that wasn't enough, Yovan is always in pain. His fucked up body that is on the verge of death is always forced to struggle for survival, somehow.

He got used to it by this point, so he could ignore it and act like he feels nothing with his sheer willpower alone.

Moreover... Yovan's body is nothing but skin and bones. His state doesn't exactly allow him to have any impure thoughts... Immunity is an understatement to his very special case, but he's not a weirdo...