The battlefield had become a massive, uncontrollable meat grinder, devouring lives every passing second.
At its center, the clash between Akainu and Whitebeard shook heaven and earth. Aokiji and Kizaru's attacks, kept Whitebeard occupied from multiple angles, while Marco and Kizaru's aerial duel above was like two bolts of lightning colliding midair.
Amid this chaos and noise, the area where the Seven Warlords of the Sea stood seemed strangely calm.
The Pirate Empress, Boa Hancock, stood proudly on a jagged slab of ice.
Her stunning beauty seemed out of place on such a blood-soaked battlefield. Her tall, graceful figure carried the poise of a queen even in the midst of smoke and ruin.
Yet her attacks were as lethal as they were elegant, and, unmistakably, biased.
"Slave Arrow!"
Her slender fingers brushed against her lips, releasing a glowing pink heart. From it burst countless heart-shaped arrows, raining down not on the Marine, but on the pirates under Whitebeard's command!
Those struck, man or woman alike, froze instantly. Their bodies turned gray and stone-like from the feet upward, their last expressions frozen in shock… or infatuation.
"Hmph. A bunch of hideous insects, daring to stain the battlefield where I stand."
Hancock snorted coldly, raising her chin like someone sweeping away trash.
Her attacks were efficient, precise, every shot took an enemy out of commission, easing the pressure on the nearby marines.
Many of the soldiers began glancing at her with admiration, and an increasing amount of infatuation.
But when her gaze swept across the battlefield and locked onto him, the straw-hatted boy dashing recklessly across the ice, desperate to reach the execution platform, the icy sharpness in her eyes melted instantly.
They filled with warmth, worry, and overflowing affection.
"Luffy…" she whispered softly, her cheeks glowing faintly pink.
Just then, a squad of marines moved to form a shield wall, blocking Luffy's path.
"Stop Straw Hat!" their officer shouted.
Hancock's eyes turned cold again, now brimming with fury.
"How dare you stand in Luffy's way… Unforgivable!"
In a blur, she vanished, reappearing beside the squad in a graceful arc.
"Perfume Femur!"
Her long, perfect leg whipped through the air, not at their shields, but straight at their bodies!
Wherever her heel struck, flesh, weapons, and armor turned to stone in an instant, and shattered under the impact!
Screams erupted.
"Lady Hancock! W–Why are you attacking us?!" one terrified marine cried out.
"Because you're an eyesore."
Her reply was ice-cold, utterly unbothered, a world apart from the gentle murmur she had spoken moments ago.
Another wave of pink light shimmered at her fingertips.
"Slave Arrow!"
This time, the heart-shaped barrage struck another group of marines attempting to flank Luffy from the side, turning them to stone as well.
In that instant, the situation became clear: One of the Seven Warlords, the Pirate Empress herself, had openly turned on the Marines, all for the sake of Monkey D. Luffy.
She now attacked anyone who dared stand in his way.
At the same time, Sanji had just helped move a group of severely wounded men to a makeshift medical zone.
Wiping away sweat and blood, he finally took a breath, then froze as his eyes caught sight of Hancock's dazzling "Perfume Femur" and her flowing black hair.
Time seemed to stop.
His pupils widened into perfect pink hearts.
The cigarette slipped from his lips unnoticed.
The noise, the blood, the danger, all vanished.
There was only her: the goddess on ice, breathtaking and untouchable.
"A-ahhh~~~ Wh-what… divine beauty…"
Sanji's voice trembled with awe.
"She's like a goddess descended from the heavens… That gaze, that grace, that-uhhh!"
Before he could finish, his noses erupted with blood like a fountain, spraying several meters into the air.
He went limp, collapsing backward with a blissful, idiotic smile plastered across his face, mumbling dreamily:
"Love… has ravaged my heart… even if she turns me to stone… I'd gladly accept…"
"Sanji!"
Potts, who was carrying supplies nearby, panicked and rushed to catch him.
"Are you hurt?!"
He looked frantically for injuries, only to find Sanji drowning in his own nosebleed, his expression completely lovestruck.
Following Sanji's dazed gaze, Potts spotted Hancock as well.
Even he couldn't deny her beauty, though not nearly to that extent.
With a helpless sigh, he shook Sanji's shoulders.
"Sanji! Wake up! We're in the middle of a war! And she's fighting the Marines!"
But Sanji was lost in his own world, deaf to reason, struck down not by fists or bullets, but by love itself.
In sharp contrast to Sanji's "blissful coma" was Koby, hiding in the corner of a collapsed wall.
He crouched low, hands clamped over his ears, trying to block out the deafening explosions, screams, and chaos.
But the sounds pierced through everything, echoing endlessly in his skull.
Each thunderous blast made his body jolt.
He buried his head deeper between his arms, trembling uncontrollably.
Through a crack in the rubble, he could see bodies collapsing on the ice, blood spreading in crimson streaks, shattered limbs scattered everywhere.
He saw high-ranking marines, once so strong and commanding, falling like paper before Whitebeard's captains.
He saw Akainu's magma consuming life without mercy,
Aokiji's ice freezing men solid in an instant…
Terror, cold and suffocating, flooded his chest until he could barely breathe.
His teeth chattered uncontrollably; his face was pale as chalk.
Sweat drenched his uniform.
"N-no… no… I don't want to die…"
He whimpered, voice breaking, tears and snot mixing down his cheeks.
"Why… why must there be war… Everyone's… everyone's dying…"
He thought of Helmeppo, his friend from the East Blue, somewhere out there in this hell, unsure if he was even alive.
He thought of Luffy, that bright, sun-like figure, still fighting desperately on the field…
While he himself cowered here, a trembling mouse in the ruins.
"Stand up, Koby! You're a marine!"
A faint voice echoed from deep within, the voice of his dream, his will to be a hero of justice.
But fear drowned it out again.
"It's useless… I'm too weak… If I go out there, I'll just die…"
He shook his head frantically, curling up tighter, his body shivering from both terror and the chill in the air.
"I'll be killed… definitely… killed…"
The smell of blood and burning flesh filled his nose, twisting his stomach until he nearly vomited.
The cowardly marine Koby, such a stark contrast to the brave soldiers fighting and dying on the front lines, could barely keep from wetting himself…
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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