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  --xLOVEx--

  A surge of raw, overwhelming power flooded Coby’s senses as the Haki activated, his entire body radiating with newfound energy. He could feel the immense pressure building around him, and before he k, the atmosphere in the arena shifted drastically. His aura exploded outward, an invisible force spreading from his body like a tidal wave, hitting everyone in its path.

  "I TOLD YOU TO STOP!" Coby bellowed, his voiing across the arena as the full force of his queror’s Haki was unleashed.

  Marigold’s grip on his body immediately sed, her eyes wide with shock as the Haki tore through her defenses. Sandersonia, still holding Margaret’s statue, froze in pce, her mouth agape as the sheer force of Coby’s willpower overwhelmed her.

  The crowd, which had been cheering wildly just moments ago, went silent as dozens of Kuja warriors fainted, colpsing to the ground, uo withstand the iy of Coby’s aura. Even Hancock herself was stunned, her eyes narrowing in disbelief as she watched the se unfold.

  Marigold’s tail fell away from Coby entirely, and Sandersonia gingerly pced Margaret’s statue ba the ground, her body trembling as she took several steps back, visibly shaken.

  "You…" Marigold rasped, trying tain her posure. "You have… queror’s Haki?"

  Sandersonia, still reeling from the force of Coby’s power, nodded weakly. "How is that possible? Only those with the potential to be a great king possess it…"

  Coby checked Margaret’s statue, sing it for any cracks. Thankfully, it was intact. With a sigh of relief, he carried her carefully outside the arena. As he set her dowly, he straightened up, his eyes log with the Boa sisters, who were still stunned by his queror’s Haki outburst.

  "From now on, I’ll fight with everything I’ve got," Coby said firmly.

  Sandersonia’s shock faded into a cold grin. “He ’t trol it. It’s just raw spirit.” She flicked her emerald hair, which began to twist and harden, transf into snake-like appendages. "Let’s show him what real power looks like." Her hair formed into venomous sheir bodies as hard as steel, writhing and ready to strike.

  Marigold’s body lit up, engulfed in bzing fmes as she stepped forward with a menag gre. "Yoing tret challenging us," she growled, her tail coiling arouhe heat from her fmes scorg the grouh her feet.

  The crowd roared iement, anticipating a more intetle. But to Coby, it was time to drop the act. He wouldn’t hold baymore.

  As Marigold lunged forward, her fming fists aiming for his chest, Coby disappeared in a blur, using Shadow Step to dodge her attacks with ease. His movements were fluid, almost like he was dang arourikes. Sandersonia attempted to catch him off guard with her steel-hard snake hair, but Coby sidestepped every attack, moving too quickly for them to nd a hit.

  The sisters were formidable, but Coby was faster. He darted between their strikes, nding quick blows when he found openings. Each hit sent shockwaves through the arena, causing the crowd to gasp in awe.

  Finding the perfeent, Coby dashed forward, smming his fist into Sandersonia’s midse. The force sent her flying backward, her body crashing intold. The two sisters stumbled, momentarily disoriented.

  Coby saw his ce. With a swift kick, he pushed Sandersonia toward Marigold, the force of the blow sending both sisters tumbling toward the edge of the arena. Sandersonia’s back was dangerously close to being exposed. She grabbed onto the edge of the spectator seats, her face t in panic as her clothes burned from Marigold’s fmes.

  She gasped, feeling the heat searing her skin. Her clothes were turning to ash, and her back—her most guarded secret—was on the verge of being exposed to the crowd. Sandersonia gripped the edge with all her strength, struggling to hold on.

  Coby leapt onto her back, c it with his body, shielding her from the spectators. The fire burned into him, searing his skin, but he didn’t budge.

  "You devious man!" Sandersonia thought, her mind rag. She believed he was trying to push her into the spikes below. "Mari, finish him!"

  Marigold hesitated, her eyes narrowing as she watched the se unfold. Coby’s body was the only thing standiween her sister’s bad the crowd. If she attacked, she’d expose Sandersonia’s secret. Coby whispered calmly, “You don’t want ao see your back, right? So sit still. I’m c it.”

  Sandersonia froze, shocked by his words. For a moment, she thought he was trying to trick her, but there was no mali his voice. He roteg her?

  Hancock, watg from her throne, rose to her feet, her voice cutting through the tension. "The fight is over!" she decred, her tone anding. "Leave the area befordon’s eye reveals itself."

  The crowd, sensing the urgen her words, began to scatter in panic, carrying the unscious warriors with them as they fled the arena.

  The Boa sisters were left speechless as Coby tio shield Sandersonia’s back, despite the pain from the fmes. Marigold lowered her guard, extinguishing the fire around her.

  Sandersonia, her voice shaky with fusion, asked, "Why are you helping me? We’re oppos, right?"

  Coby, remembering Luffy's words, responded, "What you don’t want others to see has nothing to do with ht." He was quiit to himself that he wasn’t as noble as Luffy. He was copying his captain’s response, but for his own reasons.

  As Sandersonia ed a cloth around her chest and back, hiding the exposed mark, both sisters returo their normal forms, visibly more at ease. They turo Hancock, bowing their heads in apology. Coby, still calm despite the tension, stood up and g Hancock.

  "So, are you my oppo?" he asked, log eyes with her.

  Hancock shook her head slightly. "No, that won’t be necessary. I don’t feel like it."

  Coby nodded. "Alright, if that’s the case, you undo their petrification? They didn’t know I was a man. I tricked them because I was hurt and scared."

  Hancock rose gracefully from her throne, a sly smile crossing her lips, turning into something more pyful. "I undo it, but you said you needed a boat to return to your crew, didn’t you? I’ll only grant one wish. Either take the boat and abandon them or I’ll undo their petrification."

  In her mind, she was testing him, curious to see his true nature. Was he selfish, like most men, or was there something more? 'Show me your true nature, man!'

  Coby let out a small sigh, then grinned and bowed slightly. "Then undo the petrification. Thank you."

  Hancock, along with Sandersonia and Marigold, stood there in shock. Gloriosa, watg from a distance, was equally surprised. "Without a shred of hesitation... A man with that kind of Haki lowers his head to help those three?"

  Coby turned back toward Margaret, Sweet Pea, and Aphendra, their stone forms still in the arena. Hancock flicked her fingers, and a soft glow washed over the statues. The petrification faded, and the three women blinked in fusiourning to life as if nothing had happened.

  Later, in the pace, Coby sat with Marigold and Sandersonia, waiting. The two sisters had calmed down and thanked him for proteg their secret. "We owe you," Sandersonia said, gng at him, still perplexed by the events.

  Coby waved his hand dismissively. "No need for that."

  Suddenly, Hancock’s voice called from behind a curtain. "You may enter."

  Coby stood up and walked through the grand doors, stepping into Hancock’s private chambers. The sight that greeted him stopped him in his tracks. Hancock stood before him, her upper body naked, her fwless body illuminated by the soft light filtering through the windows.

  Coby ched his jaw, doing his best to stay posed, biting his tongue as his eyes iently traced her figure. Hancock was undeniably beautiful, every inch of her. "This is not what I was expeg. I was thinking more of a reward than this. Why are you naked?"

  Hancock stood tall, her expression unreadable as she faced Coby. She wasn’t used to this sort of indifference, especially from a man. Still, she sighed and spoke in a calm tohat was very rude, but to be ho, expected.” Without hesitation, she turned around, exposing her bare back.

  Coby's eyes immediately nded on the mark engraved into her skin. The shape was undeniable—a symbol he reized fully but still acted oblivious. "This mark… you said I had seen it before. Well, take a good look now. Do you know what this is?" Her voice was steady but ced with something deeper, something almost vulnerable.

  Coby furrowed his brow as he examihe mark. "No," he admitted, "It’s different. A fishman friend of mine, Hachi, had a sun tattoo on his forehead."

  Just then, a voiterrupted, breaking the tension in the air. "If you don’t know, I will tell you."

  Hancock’s eyes widened, and she whirled around, startled. "Elder Nyon! How did you get in again?"

  The elderly woman ignored Hancock’s outburst, her face calm and collected. She stepped forward, looking directly at Coby. "You’ve seen the depths of this man’s heart yourself, Hancock. Be at ease and tell him everything." Nyon then shifted her attention fully to Coby. "You’re the pirate Coby, the Copy Ninja, aren’t you?"

  Coby gave a brief nod. "That’s correct."

  The elder smiled slightly, though there was no warmth in it. "You’re quite easygoing for someoh such a notorious reputation. A few days ago, at Sabaody, your captain, Monkey D. Luffy, sent a Celestial Dragon flying with a punch. A man unafraid of the so-called gods." She paused, log eyes with him, her voice calm but firm. "And as for you, Vice-Captain Coby, the Copy Ninja, you kicked that Celestial Dragon’s father in the head, disfiguring his face, punched his sister, and knocked her unscious. Her face became unreizable." Nyon’s tone was dead serious as she tinued. "In respoo that, the gover sent an admiral and a fleet, yet somehow, your crew mysteriously escaped."

  The room fell into silence as Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold stood in utter disbelief. The severity of what Nyon had just said hung thi the air. Hancock, who had been posed up until now, suddenly covered her face with her hands.

  "Is it true?" she asked, her voice shaking. "Did you raise your hands against the Celestial Dragons?"

  Coby gave a wide grin, unbothered by the weight of his as. "They hurt our friends. I don’t give a shit about them."

  Hancock shivered slightly, still hiding her face behind her hands. Her voice, though shaky, carried a mix of awe and disbelief. "I had no idea an idiot like you still existed in this world. Someoh nard for their own life, challenging heaven itself… just like he did."

  Hancock, her eyes locked on Coby’s face, started to expin the meaning behind the mark on her back. "This mark... is called the Hoof of the S Dragon. It's the symbol of the Celestial Dragons, branded oo show their ownership. My sisters and I—" Her voice faltered for a moment as she g Marigold and Sandersonia, who stood silently behiheir expressions dark and pained. "We were sves ooys for those so-called gods."

  They had been taken as children, forced into svery uhe rule of the Celestial Dragons. Their lives were filled with torment and suffering, treated as little more than toys for the amusement of their captors. Even the Devil Fruit powers they wielded now were a result of the twisted games the Celestial Dragons pyed with their lives, gifting them powers only to exploit them further.

  The memories were fresh, cutting deep into their hearts even after so many years. As they spoke, their voices trembled with the weight of the pain they had carried for so long. It wasn’t just the physical abuse they had endured, but the psychological torment—the feeling of being owned, of having their lives reduced to mere eai for the cruelest of men.

  Tiger Fisher, the legendary Fishman, had freed them, leading a rebellion against the Celestial Dragons that had saved tless lives. The scars of their e remaihough. Most Fishmen had covered their own hoof marks with the symbol of the sun, branding over their painful past. But for Hancod her sisters, the mark had stayed, a stant reminder of their suffering.

  The story was almost unbearable to tell, their voices crag as they recalled the worst moments of their captivity. Tears streamed down their faces as they remembered the s, the whips, and the ughter of their captors, as if the pain was still fresh in their minds.

  The atmosphere was suffog, thick with the tension of past pain. Hancock’s voice grew quieter as she turned her back to Coby, her shoulders slumped slightly. "And now you know, Coby. Do you despise me after learning that I was once a sve?"

  Coby didn’t hesitate, his answer cutting through the air. "I told you before, I hate those Celestial Dragons. They're the ones I despise, not you."

  Hancock turo face him slowly, her eyes soft, filled with something almost fragile. She wiped away the few tears that had gathered at the ers of her eyes, a small, grateful smile f on her lips. "Fufufu, I’ve taken a liking to you, Coby." She took a deep breath, her regal posture returning as she posed herself. "Tell me where you want to go, and I will lend you a ship to take you there."

  Coby grinned, feeling the weight of the situation lighten slightly. "I o get back to Sabaody Archipego. My crew’s waiting for me."

  Hancock gave a nod, her expression now fully posed once again, though the warmth in her gaze remained. "Very well. I will arrange for a ship to take you there." She turold and Sandersonia, who had alsaiheir posure. "Make the preparations. We owe him that much."

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