Chapter 283: Mocking the Five Elders
Meeting Roy's utterly cold, emotionless eyes, Hancock felt as if an ice pick had been driven into her heart.
In that moment, she finally understood—this man truly didn't see her as anything more than dirt.
Cold sweat instantly soaked through her red dress, sending chills down her spine.
Those beautiful eyes, once as haughty as a queen's, now held only terror and panic.
Unable to even stand steady, she stumbled backward, her trembling fingertips scratching at the ground. Like a drowning victim vainly trying to grasp onto something, she desperately wanted to escape the nightmarish man before her.
Roy closed in step by step, looking down at her from above. His voice was bone-chillingly cold: "The shadow of your enslavement in childhood has made you use arrogance to mask the fragility in your heart."
Hancock's pupils shrank abruptly, as if her most secret, hidden scar had been torn open in public.
"SHUT UP!!!"
She roared, nearing a total breakdown. Trembling, she raised her hand and fired multiple attacks!
"Pistol Kiss!!!"
"SWISH-SWISH-SWISH-SWISH—!!!"
Several pink heart-shaped bullets shot toward Roy like lightning!
Roy merely waved his hand, as if brushing off dust. The bullets shattered like fragile porcelain, completely useless.
He didn't stop walking at all. His cruel voice continued to fall, as if peeling back every inch of the cracks beneath her disguise:
"As the ruler of Amazon Lily, being deified for so long has given you the vile habit of expecting to be looked up to."
Hancock gritted her teeth, activating her ability with both hands simultaneously!
"Slave Arrow (Toriko no Ya)!!!"
Countless pink arrows poured down like a torrential rain, nearly sealing off all space for evasion!
However, Roy didn't even bat an eyelid. Wrapping his right arm in Armament Haki, he swung it violently!
"BOOM!!!"
The massive boom shook the heavens!
The rain of pink arrows exploded in mid-air, turning into a sky full of colorful motes of light—beautiful but fragile—dissipating in the blink of an eye.
Amidst the dust and smoke, Roy's icy words smashed down like an iron hammer: "Your charm? It's nothing but an illusion granted to you by a Devil Fruit."
"You rely on the rule that 'beauty is power' and are accustomed to people bowing before you."
"But in my eyes, you are absolutely nothing."
At this moment, Hancock's mental defenses collapsed completely.
Her body trembled as she slumped to the ground. Her red dress spread out around her, her fingertips hanging powerlessly by her sides.
That once fearless, beautiful face now held only terror and defeat, like a shattered porcelain doll.
Roy stopped in his tracks, looking down at her coldly, his tone devoid of any warmth: "Undo the petrification."
Hancock's lips trembled. She wanted to shake her head, but hesitated.
She refused to yield, even if it meant her last breath.
"CRACK!!!"
The sound of bone snapping suddenly rang out!
Roy stomped down violently, crushing his foot heavily onto her lower leg!
"AHHH—!!!"
Hancock let out a bloodcurdling scream. Her hands desperately clawed at the ground, her face contorted in agony!
Roy looked down at her, his voice calm: "My patience for pirates... is limited."
The voice wasn't loud, but it plunged the entire plaza into a deathly silence.
Issho's pupils shrank slightly. King Riku, Rebecca, and the others were also stunned in place.
—They recalled the rumors.
That Marine Vice Admiral... every time he went out to subjugate pirates, he never left any survivors.
In the distance, Shakky finally struggled to climb out of the ruins, looking at everything before her with a face full of regret.
"I shouldn't have brought her... I shouldn't have let her get dragged into this conflict..."
"He is simply... not someone Hancock can fight."
Voice hoarse, she shouted loudly: "Hancock!! Undo the petrification!!!"
Then she looked at Roy, her voice raspy: "Vice Admiral Roy! I beg you to let her go..."
"She is a Shichibukai! She didn't actively hurt anyone, I was the one who dragged her into this battle!"
Hancock trembled all over, but eventually, she still raised her hand. A pink heart-shaped halo spread out from her palm.
"...Petrification: Release!!!"
The pink light scattered, rapidly sweeping across the entire city!
In the plaza, in the alleys, at the port—the citizens and soldiers who had been petrified were restored to normal one by one as if a spell had been broken. They opened their eyes, looking around in bewilderment.
However, Hancock, slumped on the ground, had long since lost the strength to struggle anymore.
She lowered her head. Her red lips trembled, and tears slid down silently, dripping onto the shattered ground.
In that moment, she finally understood—
Everything she had once proudly relied on was so laughable in front of a true powerhouse.
Roy looked down at her coldly for a long moment, then slowly withdrew his foot from her lower leg.
The spot where the bone had snapped was dripping with blood, a shocking sight.
Seeing this, Shakky scrambled over, stumbling and crawling, to pull Hancock into her arms and protect her.
She held her very tightly, as if afraid that if she was a step too late, the man before them would thoroughly crush her to pieces.
At this moment, Hancock's entire being had already crumbled and collapsed from the inside out.
Those queenly eyes that once looked down on the world were now left with only emptiness and a glazed stare. She couldn't even feel the intense pain in her leg.
"He... so easily... crushed my pride..."
"The 'strength' I always believed I had, in front of him... is not even as good as a phantom bubble..."
She sat blankly in place, like a walking corpse.
Right at that moment—
"Buru buru buru... Kacha."
The Den Den Mushi on Roy's chest suddenly rang, breaking the momentary deathly silence.
He frowned, slowly taking out the Den Den Mushi to answer it.
The next second, the Den Den Mushi's appearance rapidly changed—
White curly hair, a bushy beard, and a cold, majestic face appeared on it.
It was exactly one of the Five Elders—St. Jaygarcia Saturn!
A voice followed, its steadiness revealing unquestionable authority: "Roy, let her go."
The plaza instantly plunged into a dead silence.
Roy narrowed his eyes and smiled faintly. His tone was full of mockery: "To think even the Five Elders were alarmed..."
"This Shichibukai really is 'special', isn't she?"
"...The... The Five Elders?!!"
Hancock's expression changed drastically. Her pupils shrank wildly, and her whole body trembled.
"How is that possible... The Celestial Dragons... the symbol of supreme authority..."
"Why... for me?!"
Beside her, Shakky, King Riku, Rebecca, Viola, and others in the know instantly turned deathly pale upon hearing the name "St. Saturn," cold sweat sliding down their foreheads.
They knew very well what that name meant.
St. Saturn seemed to have sensed Roy's poor mood as well. His voice remained steady: "Previously, you already threw one Shichibukai behind bars."
"If you act again and send a second one away, the impact on the 'Shichibukai System' will be too great."
Roy sneered, his expression disdainful, making no secret of his contempt: "They're just mere pirates. Can't you just replace two of them?"
This sentence struck the ears of everyone present like a thunderclap!
—He actually completely disregarded even the Five Elders!
Hancock stared blankly at Roy, her entire being as if nailed to the spot, unable to move.
This man before her, who had snapped her leg with a single stomp and shredded her dignity with a few words... actually spoke so casually to the Five Elders?
"He's not afraid of the Celestial Dragons at all..."
"Roy... what kind of existence is he exactly?" The intertwining fear and humiliation in her heart pushed her to the brink of collapse.
In the distance, King Riku and the others were also dumbfounded, their faces full of shock: "Is this the confidence of a top-tier powerhouse?"
"Even the supreme authority of the World Government... he dares to confront them head-on..."
The other end of the Den Den Mushi was silent for a moment before St. Saturn spoke again, his voice deep:
"Roy, we have never denied your strength and contributions."
"But—the 'balance' of the world is equally important."
Roy sneered, scoffing dismissively: "Balance?"
"Relying on a bunch of pirates?"
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