Chapter 109: Self Preservation Is the Most Fatal Flaw
Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 66.
Marine base.
Orders had come down from above.
Lines of Marines poured out of the base and fanned across the archipelago, boots pounding on mangrove roots as they launched into frantic patrols.
At Marineford, warship after warship slipped its moorings and surged out of the harbor, bows cutting toward the waters around the Red Line and Mary Geoise. Every vessel carried the same command from headquarters.
Hunt down the escaped slaves. Seal the seas around the holy land.
Across the world, it was as if someone had kicked a hornet nest.
No, not as if. The World Government really was a hornet nest that had just been smashed open.
In the first half of the Grand Line and in the New World, major Marine branches G1, G2, G3, G4, and G5 all dispatched fleets, moving swiftly to encircle the waters on both sides of the Red Line.
A mysterious figure had set Mary Geoise ablaze, cut down multiple Celestial Dragons, and released every slave in the holy land.
It was a catastrophe.
Years later, when Fisher Tiger would scale the Red Line and ravage Mary Geoise, the result would be almost identical.
Roy had essentially pulled off Tiger's achievement ahead of schedule, and he had not even shown his face.
The Celestial Dragons were livid. Mary Geoise was in ruins, piles of rubble and ash and smoke where mansions had once stood, the slaves were gone, the culprit had vanished, and they did not even know who to blame.
As for how many slaves actually escaped?
Roy did not care.
Back then, Tiger had not worried about that either. Anyone who wanted to live would run for their lives with everything they had.
They would flee along the Red Line in either direction, toward the New World or back toward Paradise.
Roy had opened the cage. From there on, it was up to them. In this era, survival was something you could only grasp with your own hands.
At most, a few Marines would quietly look the other way and pretend they did not see the dark heads bobbing in the waves.
That was exactly what Roy had done.
And what a few "ignorant" Marines were doing more than anyone else.
...
Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 13.
Shakky's Rip Off Bar.
The beautiful owner lounged behind the counter, cigarette pinched between two fingers. Her elbows rested on the polished wood, her posture relaxed as she tilted back and studied the children and the female slaves sitting before her.
Phew.
Shakky exhaled a lazy stream of smoke and gave Rayleigh a helpless look that said very clearly, This is your fault.
Rayleigh met her eyes, grinned shamelessly, picked up his glass, topped it off, and downed it in one smooth swallow.
From his attitude, you would never guess he had just dragged a whole mess of trouble back to the bar. That, more than anything, was what gave Shakky a headache.
Outside, Marines were rounding up escaped slaves all over Sabaody, chasing leads and rumors, looking for whoever had set Mary Geoise on fire. No one had uncovered the truth yet, but the scale of the operation spoke for itself.
After all, the heavy hitters of Marineford had all been mobilized.
…
Roy watched Shakky, eyes slightly wide.
On the way here he had roughly calculated the timeline in his head.
According to Hancock, she was twelve this year. That meant it was year 1505 of the Sea Calendar.
The year the future Empress was sold to the Celestial Dragons as a child.
Which meant Shakky should be forty five right now.
But the woman in front of him looked far younger than she did when she first appeared in the "original story." She looked like she was in her twenties at most, a sleek, elegant beauty behind the bar.
Rayleigh, you lucky old man.
But… why had Rayleigh led him and Hancock to Shakky's place?
Roy was curious. Just as curious as he had been in the original timeline about why they had helped Hancock and her sisters at all.
"Kids, did you run here from 'there'?" Shakky asked.
Her tone was light, but the way she said "there" told Roy everything. She meant Mary Geoise.
She had chosen her words carefully for the slaves' sake.
The pirates in this world were not simply evil. Not all of them.
Roy understood. He nodded, accepted the drink she slid across the counter, then immediately pushed the glass toward Hancock.
"Thanks for taking us in, beautiful lady, brother. Really… thank you for giving us shelter."
First he thanked Shakky, then he planned to thank Rayleigh. A little sweet talk never hurt.
Rayleigh glanced over with a strange look.
Why had the boy called Shakky "beautiful lady," but called him… brother?
Right. He was fifty nine. "Brother" really was not quite right anymore. "Uncle" would be more accurate.
And he and Shakky were very clearly a couple.
This little brat had definitely seen that, but had decided that calling him uncle out loud would be rude.
Old Rayleigh offered a polite smile, then lowered his head and went back to his drink, already deciding he was going to make this annoying kid's life harder later.
So slick with Shakky, huh? We will see how smooth you are when I am done with you.
"So, what are your plans?" Shakky asked.
She passed another glass over. Roy took it and, without missing a beat, handed it off to Sandersonia and Marigold.
He sighed inwardly.
He would win Hancock over sooner or later.
Marry her.
Then Sandasonia and Marigold really would be his sisters in law.
Cough. It was just a matter of time…
Shakky could not help smiling. She shot Rayleigh another look, feeling that this kid was a bit like Rayleigh in his younger days, back when he had sweet talked her into falling for him.
Except this boy was far too young.
He was already charming girls like this now. What was he going to be like when he grew up?
"?"
Rayleigh twitched under Shakky's stare.
Why are you looking at me like that?
…
"Where are we going?"
"Where are we going?"
The question overlapped.
Hancock stared at Roy, head down, and asked in a small voice.
Roy had the exact same question.
What were her plans?
Sandersonia and Marigold looked at their big sister blankly.
Shouldn't they be heading back to Amazon Lily?
What was wrong with her? She had been burned once already and she still wanted to run around chasing danger?
Sure, Roy was handsome, with a nice voice, strong as a monster, and strangely gentle.
But where had their proud big sister gone?
Roy, for his part, was no less confused.
He had saved Hancock… but was this really the same arrogant, narcissistic, strength worshipping Hancock from the stories he knew?
It sounded strange, but when she was young, Hancock really had been like that.
Her time as a slave had only deepened her hatred of the Celestial Dragons and twisted something in her heart.
That trauma had taken her pride and turned the volume up as far as it would go.
That was how she had become the arrogant, willful, brutally dismissive Empress of Amazon Lily.
In truth, five parts of that persona were an act, and five parts were the product of a violent shift inside.
Her pride, though, had never changed.
But now…
Hancock, your persona is crumbling, you know that?
[Affinity with Boa Hancock increased by 20!]
Hancock peeked up at him, pursed her lips, then quickly dropped her gaze again. Her fingers fidgeted with the rim of the glass as she stole a sideways look at Roy.
This… is this what conquering someone through pure presence looks like?
Roy put the mental notification together with Hancock's tiny movements and understood at once.
This was not a character error.
The girl had developed a massive crush on him.
Showing up when someone was in need was one thing. Appearing out of nowhere in the absolute darkest moment of their life? That was something else entirely.
Compared to Luffy blocking the brand on her back for her, Roy's rescue had cut even deeper.
Shakky handed him another drink and Roy took a sip, mind whirling.
What was he supposed to do? He needed help.
The first time in his life someone had chased him, it had been a girl named Tsuru.
He had not chosen her.
Now, for the second time, the girl pursuing him was… a young Boa Hancock.
He was… a little rattled.
All right, a little excited too.
"Where can I even go…" Roy muttered, lowering his head and shaking it.
He was not pretending.
Toki was still drifting along the river of time somewhere. Roy himself was stuck in a child's body. He did not dare reveal himself easily in front of his sworn sister Linlin before he grew up again.
He did not want to risk being hammered into the floor on sight.
Right now, he really had nowhere to go.
Elbaf?
There was no girl he wanted to chase over there.
"Brother Roy, do you have nowhere to go?" Hancock asked softly.
She felt brilliant in that moment.
Why not invite Brother Roy to her homeland?
If she used a little charm, coaxed the Amazon Lily empress, begged a bit… maybe she could talk them into taking him in.
Look at that. Hancock had fallen.
The proof was right there in her rapidly dropping IQ.
"That name sounds so familiar…" Rayleigh mumbled.
Roy. Roy…
He knew he had heard that name somewhere before, but could not quite place it. The impression was faint, blurred by years of sailing and booze.
<><><><><>
[P@treon Christmas Discount: 20% OFF]
[Check Out My Patreon For +40 Advance Chapters On All My Fanfics!]
[[email protected]/FanficLord03]
[Every 100 Power Stones = +1 Bonus Chapter]
[Join Our Discord Community For Updates & Events]
[https://discord.gg/MntqcdpRZ9]