The double doors were violently thrown open. Hancock strode into the room, her lovely face masked in a dark, ominous shadow. Behind her, Sandersonia and Marigold followed with thoroughly helpless expressions written all over their faces.
"My dearest, are you alright?"
Aeridar rose from the sofa, a warm smile gracing his lips as he stepped forward to greet her. "Lately, quite a few clowns have been trying to stir up trouble. That was already the third incident today!"
Ever since the World Economy Newspaper published its latest bombshell, the Big Mom Pirates had officially declared war on the Chris Pirates, explicitly revoking their recognition of the Clifford Kingdom's status as a neutral zone. Consequently, unrest had begun fracturing various regions across the kingdom.
Because the declaration had struck like a bolt from the blue, many subordinate crews and factions aligned with or friendly toward the Big Mom Pirates received no prior warning. Trapped without a chance to evacuate beforehand, and with the Chris Pirates aggressively launching a purge of Big Mom's underground assets, these stranded factions chose to spark chaos within the Clifford Kingdom. Riots weren't merely contained within the central royal capital of Nakor; they were erupting throughout dozens of surrounding towns and villages.
As a designated neutral zone ruled by pirates, the Clifford Kingdom naturally drew a highly complex, transient influx of people from every corner of the globe on a daily basis.
Furthermore, unlike the relatively contained layout of Dressrosa, the Clifford Kingdom spanned the entirety of Brady Island, a massive landmass housing a population of over ten million. Beyond the sprawling metropolis of Nakor, the territory was peppered with dozens of independent towns and settlements. This vast geography was precisely why Aeridar had invested so heavily in expanding the Chris Investigation Bureau; it was an absolute necessity for internal surveillance.
Fortunately, through the tight coordination between the stationed kingdom garrison and the field agents of the Chris Investigation Bureau, these minor insurgencies were being systematically crushed almost as soon as they flared up.
"Don't bother thanking me. It was nothing!"
Enel sat cross-legged on an adjacent sofa, casually munching on an apple while dismissively waving his hand toward Hancock.
While Enel's exceptionally potent Observation Haki couldn't wrap around the entirety of Brady Island just yet, extending his perception over the royal capital of Nakor was a simple task. The entire metropolitan area remained firmly under his omniscient watch.
Typically, the moment his perception picked up a sign of localized rioting, Enel would simply use a Den Den Mushi to direct nearby combat executives to suppress the threat. After all, Nakor was the royal capital, one of the most prosperous and densely populated cities in the world. He couldn't exactly rain down divine pillars of lightning whenever a brawl broke out without causing massive collateral damage to innocent civilians.
He had only personally intervened this time because Hancock happened to be nearby. Otherwise, Enel wouldn't have lifted a finger.
Regrettably for him, Hancock had been desperately searching for a punching bag to vent her pent-up frustrations. With Enel prematurely vaporizing her target, her unresolved malice instantly found a brand-new direction.
Her beautiful face remaining completely expressionless, Hancock bypassed a somewhat bewildered Aeridar entirely, closing the distance toward Enel in a series of swift, predatory strides.
"Hey... what do you think you're doing?"
Sensing that something was deeply amiss, Enel swallowed his mouthful of apple, eyeing the approaching Empress with a look of mounting suspicion.
"Go to hell! You bastard!"
Hancock let out an icy bark, her stunning eyes blazing with pure fury. Sweeping her slender leg outward, she unleashed a devastating whip kick. It traveled with blinding speed, tearing through the air and generating a howling gale of kinetic pressure.
Startled by the sudden onslaught, Enel didn't hesitate. His body instantaneously elementized, transforming into a crackling bolt of blue electricity that materialized several meters away.
BOOM!
In that microscopic fraction of a second, the wide Redwood sofa he had been lounging on was violently cleaved in two, kicking up a shower of splintered debris.
Though the heavy wooden sofa had been shattered into two distinct segments, the jagged edges along the impact fracture had completely transformed into pale, brittle stone, webbed with deep, structural cracks.
Glancing back at the petrified remains of the sofa, a cold sweat broke out across Enel's brow. The crazy woman had actually infused her Devil Fruit ability into the strike. Had that kick connected with his flesh, a substantial portion of his body would have been permanently turned to stone!
"You damn woman! Have you lost your mind?!" Enel roared, his teeth baring in a furious, agitated snarl.
Standing by the doorway, Aeridar, Sandersonia, and Marigold were left completely dumbfounded. None of them had anticipated that Hancock would launch a lethal assault against Enel without a word of warning.
Aeridar, in particular, was utterly at a loss as to what had triggered such a spectacular display of rage.
"I am thoroughly displeased! Since you dared to rob me of the target meant to alleviate my wrath, then you shall bear the full brunt of my fury in their stead!"
Hancock glared at Enel, her beautiful eyes overflowing with venomous intent.
The moment the words left her lips, Hancock lunged forward to close the distance. Her body launched into the air, executing a flawless, high-speed 360-degree mid-air spin as her heel plummeted toward Enel's skull.
"Damn it! You absolute lunatic!"
Caught completely off guard, Enel hastily extended his hand. With a sharp gesture of his telekinetic control, the heavy golden staff resting on a nearby weapon rack flew into his palm just in time to intercept the blow.
BANG!
The petite foot clad in a crimson high heel collided heavily with the solid golden staff. The resulting shockwave unleashed a violent gust of wind that instantly flipped the surrounding furniture, sending decor crashing across the floorboards.
Enel's expression shifted instantly. The floorboards beneath his feet splintered into kindling as Hancock's raw, overwhelming physical strength forced him to slide back several meters. Simultaneously, the golden staff in his grip began rapidly turning to stone, snapping cleanly into two useless blocks of petrified metal.
The sheer potency of Hancock's Love-Love Fruit was terrifying; regardless of the target's composition, whatever her physical strikes touched was instantly subjected to absolute petrification. It was no wonder Enel refused to let a single blow touch his actual flesh.
"Enough!"
Seeing Hancock preparing to launch a follow-up assault, Aeridar finally intervened. With a low command, he used his high-speed displacement to materialize directly beside her, firmly grabbing her shoulder to halt her momentum.
The very next second, just as Aeridar opened his mouth to deliver a stern reprimand, Hancock's lower lip trembled. Her beautiful eyes instantly brimmed with unshed tears, embodying the very picture of a tragic, heartbroken beauty.
"Where is that little wench, Pudding? Are you keeping her hidden away because you don't want her to bow before me, your true Queen?"
"You threw a tantrum over that?!"
The lingering annoyance bubbling within Aeridar instantly dissolved, leaving him on the verge of laughing out loud.
"Hmph!"
Hancock turned her face away with a deep pout, her tone laced with profound grievance. "To wage an all-out war against that old hag Big Mom over a single woman... You men are all the same, constantly discarding the old the moment someone new catches your eye!"
Aeridar shook his head in sheer amusement, quickly stepping in to clarify the misunderstanding. "This is truly a massive misunderstanding on your part. My interest in Pudding is strictly professional; her Memory-Memory Fruit ability is an absolute necessity for the ongoing research projects led by Dr. Dalt and the other scientists!"
Gently wrapping a hand around her slender waist, he pulled her close, a soft smile playing on his lips. "When it comes to pure, unadulterated beauty, who could possibly compare to you? The undisputed, most beautiful woman in the entire world, Boa Hancock."
Hearing his earnest explanation, Hancock realized she had completely jumped to conclusions. A brilliant crimson blush rapidly crept up her flawless neck, her heart fluttering like a trapped bird against her chest.
By now, Enel had pieced together the real reason behind her explosive outburst. Looking at the couple wrapped in each other's arms, he spat on the floor in sheer disgust.
"Tch~ What a tedious, superficial woman!"
Glaring at them with lingering resentment, Enel grumbled irritably, "Next time you two have a lovers' quarrel, keep my name out of it. If you come at me again, I won't hesitate to strike back!"
"Hmm?"
Hancock's affectionate demeanor vanished in an instant. She cast an incredibly frigid, predatory glare right back at Enel.
That single look sent a shiver straight down Enel's spine. Without a second thought, his body dissolved into a blinding arc of electricity, racing toward the open balcony at terminal velocity.
Almost simultaneously, Hancock tore herself away from Aeridar's embrace. Moving like a projectile fired from a railgun, she launched a flying kick straight through Enel's elementized lightning form, her heel embedding itself heavily into the reinforced concrete wall directly behind him.
BOOM!!!
A deafening explosion rocked the room.
The thick, fortified structural wall was blasted wide open by her sheer kinetic force, leaving behind a massive crater several meters in diameter. A massive shower of fractured boulders tumbled over the ledge, plummeting down from the twenty-second floor of the high-rise tower.
"Who asked you to be so damn meddlesome?!"
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