Chapter 131: Roy's Chuunibyou And His Heart Laid Bare
Sanji looked up in confusion, eyes flicking between the panicking Horus, Hancock's dark expression, and his master's calm face.
The little cook had no idea what was going on.
Roy, however, did. He could already picture the future Sanji.
Meet a girl.
Instant nosebleed.
That kind of thing could only be blamed on his upbringing.
If Sanji had stayed on his original path, he would have boarded the Orbit passenger ship as an apprentice cook. Later, Zeff, returning from the Grand Line, would have crossed paths with that ship. Zeff would have come to rob the treasure, Sanji would have blurted out his dream on impulse, and then the shipwreck would have happened.
Zeff, who shared that same dream, would have saved Sanji. The two of them would have been stranded together on a rocky islet in the middle of the sea for a long time.
Later, the cooks Zeff hired for the Baratie
Paddy, Carne, and the others,
They were all former pirates.
Of course there would be a few dirty minded fools mixed in among them.
Sanji had probably picked it up from that environment.
"Sanji, go into town and buy some ingredients. I will teach you how to cook later," Roy said with a wave.
"Okay, I will go right away!" Sanji grabbed the money and ran off, eyes shining. Training was one thing, but cooking was what truly made him happy.
The boy clutched the money and sprinted toward the village.
"Hancock, come this way. I will explain," Roy said.
He sounded calm, but under the surface he was anything but. Even so, he turned obediently and walked off the path.
"I will listen to what you have to say," Hancock replied through gritted teeth. She forced a smile, but it was a cold one.
Still, since he was clearly going to come clean, she would at least hear him out.
Roy walked along a country lane with the thundercloud Horus cradled in his arms. The cloud, who had been chattering non stop moments ago, was now completely silent and stiff.
Horus had finally understood something about his handsome new master.
He was nothing like Master Toki.
His temper was probably not very gentle at all.
The little thundercloud was now terrified, afraid he would be ripped to shreds at any moment.
Hancock walked behind Roy, watching his back and giving him that cold, patient smile that said,
Let us see what you do now.
She was not stupid.
A talking cloud suddenly appeared out of nowhere, calling Roy its master, then casually mentioning that it had another master as well.
Hancock had already made the connections.
Rayleigh had told her that Roy came from decades ago. The old man had been too lazy to pry into Roy's secrets, too lazy to ask questions. He just wanted a quiet retirement and no trouble.
But Hancock had not forgotten a single word.
She just chose not to bring it up.
She liked this man, that was all.
And the bond between them now was deeper than it had ever been.
In her heart, he was the most important person.
Was this Toki Roy's childhood friend?
A girl who grew up with him?
A childhood sweetheart?
Hancock's imagination ran ahead on its own. If Roy could have heard it all, he would probably have been speechless.
"Hancock, do you want to hear the story of another pitiful person?" Roy asked with a sigh as he looked at the orange grove ahead.
Without even realizing it, he had wandered into someone else's orchard.
He could not just blurt out the bare facts. He had no experience in handling this kind of situation, but even he knew that would be too crude.
"Oh? Who is pitiful?" Hancock shot back. "I think I am quite pitiful. Young Sanji is quite pitiful. Your childhood was pitiful too. The stories you tell Sanji are probably…"
Roy's face darkened. "You were eavesdropping..."
He forced himself to let it go with a shake of his head.
"Anyway, she was as pitiful as you."
"Heh. Then what?" Hancock sniffed. "Do whatever you like. I will admit defeat and take your name for today."
"This sea has a long history of something barbaric," Roy said as he stepped between the orange trees. "The buying and selling of slaves."
Hancock's heart lurched.
The word alone made her chest tighten.
Instinctively she moved closer to him.
Her mind flashed back to that nightmare place.
Mary Geoise.
The cage.
The cries of slaves echoing through the night.
She wanted to reach behind her and wrap her arms around herself, to cover the brand on her back, the Dragon Hoof. If her arms were long enough, she would have hidden it with both hands.
"I am sorry. I should not have mentioned it," Roy said quietly.
He pulled her into his arms as her body trembled and her teeth ground together in hatred for the Celestial Dragons.
"You, you bastard," Hancock snapped, struggling against him.
The slave pens of Mary Geoise were to her what the Ohara tragedy was to Nico Robin.
An unhealed wound in the deepest part of her heart.
"Then I will not say anything," Roy murmured.
He held her a little tighter.
This is my fault. I am an idiot. I deserve a beating.
You can rest first.
"I will accept whatever punishment you give me later."
"No. Say it," Hancock said.
She shook her head, resisting the urge to close her ears. She had already guessed part of the truth the moment she heard the word "slave."
Roy had first asked if she wanted to hear about pitiful people, and then he brought up slavery.
So Toki was probably another unfortunate woman, kidnapped and sold, rescued by Roy the same way Hancock had been.
Hancock understood at once.
Roy had always been like this. Soft hearted, unable to turn a blind eye, stepping in when he saw women in chains.
Had he not saved so many slaves later on as well?
If he had not been that kind of person, she would never have met him.
If Roy had been someone else entirely, someone cold blooded and ruthless, driven only by ambition and power
He would have descended from the sky, killed the Celestial Dragons, CP0, the guards, and Hancock and the others in one clean sweep.
After eliminating everyone who knew too much, the emotionless Roy would have slipped away into the night without a trace.
Hancock shivered.
If that had happened, they would not be here now.
"Go on," she said at last, her voice softer and more accepting.
"Back then, it was almost the same as when I met you," Roy said.
"I saw women locked in iron cages, being shipped off to be sold. I felt sorry for them, so I stepped in and saved them."
"And then? You saved some pitiful people. How did you end up becoming that cloud's master?"
Hancock gave a cold snort that did not quite hide the hurt underneath.
Cute plus one.
Brutal minus one.
Roy let out a breath he had been holding.
As long as she was still willing to talk and only threw a small tantrum, it was manageable.
"Hancock, do you know what is truly the most despairing thing?" he asked.
"I was kidnapped by traffickers, locked in a cell, branded with a slave's mark. Then I was lucky enough to meet you."
"Yes," she whispered.
Roy nodded. "But there are different kinds of despair in this world."
"For Toki, being captured and sold was not the worst part, because I rescued her before it was too late."
"The real despair came later, when she went back to the town she used to live in."
"The lively streets were still there. But everything else had changed."
"The past was gone. The people she knew were gone. Every familiar face had vanished."
"No matter where she went, she felt out of place. She would see people laughing together and chatting happily and feel like she did not belong anywhere in that picture. Like she was the one extra person who did not fit."
"That feeling of isolation, of being alone in the middle of a crowd, can rot someone from the inside out."
"Humans are social creatures."
"Everyone wants to interact with others. To be praised by their parents. To enjoy the quiet joy of being alone with someone they like. To be envied a little by their peers and complimented by their colleagues."
"Most of our feelings anticipation, praise, envy, worry, longing, anger all come from interacting with other people."
"People crave those emotions, those connections. But at the same time, they are terrified of disappointment."
"This need has always been part of being human, from ancient times until now."
"In simple terms, it is emotion."
"Some people break down just from being iced out by classmates, or bullied in silence. So imagine what it feels like to be cut off from the whole world."
"That kind of isolation."
"That is a fear that can swallow a person."
Hancock shuddered again.
She remembered the endless days in that dark, damp cell.
The whispers of exhausted slaves, drifting through the walls.
The hoarse screams of people being tortured in the next cell, or even farther away.
The choked sobs.
Those sounds had wrapped around her like a nightmare, night after night.
They did not leave scars on the skin, but the damage they did to the heart was terrifying.
Toki must have been in terrible pain too.
Hancock's chest tightened with sudden sympathy.
Or rather, with a sharp, aching sense of empathy.
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