The battle continued.
Compared to Hathaway's relaxed composure, Hancock, who was suppressed, felt extremely irritated.
This couldn't even be called a battle; it had completely turned into some dangerous dodgeball game.
However, Hancock had no other choice but to endure the nausea and persist, constantly praying that Hathaway's Haki would quickly deplete.
In this high-paced, tightrope-walking rhythm, Hancock's senses were amplified to the extreme, and suddenly, her ears seemed to catch a sound.
The sound grew clearer and clearer, like the knocking of hell, yet it came from the sky.
Hathaway's attack frequency also dropped, and Hancock didn't seize this opportunity to close the distance; the two gradually stopped fighting.
"...Hashire Sori yo!"
"Kaze no yo ni!"
"Tsukimihara wo HO HO HO!"
"Padoru Padoru!"
Is that singing? Hancock frowned. No, is it a mental attack transmitted through sound?
It was clear that the singer was very happy, but the sound was obviously not right; Hancock felt her own heart becoming quite agitated.
Hathaway felt a bit awkward, especially seeing Hancock's wary expression, believing the sound to be some kind of attack.
It was getting closer and closer; something massive was approaching. The difference in life-level immediately made Hancock react.
The newcomer must be Nero.
She hadn't fully arrived yet, but the aura she inadvertently revealed made Hancock lose all desire to continue fighting.
And listening closely, the feeling in this song... is it Conqueror's Haki?
Can't win!
It's simply impossible to win!
How could such a monster appear in this world?
Tired, let's just destroy it.
Hancock gave up struggling. How could she possibly escape from such an unnamable entity?
She only hoped that if Nero took her away, it would be for her own use. If resistance was futile, she wanted to choose a beautiful one.
Hancock chose to completely give up before Nero truly arrived; fighting was out of the question.
She heard Nero was a yuri. So, it should be reasonable for the world's most beautiful woman to try the world's second most beautiful, right?
Hancock never doubted her charm, especially with the power of the Mero Mero no Mi; almost no one, male or female, could resist her beauty.
Hancock was completely lost in her fantasies... Hathaway looked at Hancock, who was first crying with a long face, then shyly covering her face, and felt utterly confused.
However, it seemed the other party also had no intention of fighting anymore. They had had their match, and Nero had arrived, so it was time for the discussion phase.
And Kuina, who had been secretly watching the battle from inside the ship at some point, also sensed Nero's aura and consciously went to prepare tea.
One minute later, a crimson meteor fell from the sky, and the three-meter-tall Little Dragon Person Nero, carrying Eneru, landed on the deck.
"Umu, I have arrived!"
Releasing Eneru from his Strong Man mode, Nero flashed a V-sign to Hathaway. Nero, with Ryugu Palace completed, was in a very good mood at this moment.
Hathaway, for some reason, merely nodded slightly in greeting, not enthusiastically welcoming Nero as usual.
At this moment, she was pondering a question: if the Little Dragon Person Nero flew forward at her speed, the sound arrived a minute earlier.
So, how far did Nero's singing actually travel?
If Nero had been singing all the way, then had an incident no less severe than the Red Blood Demonic Calamity already occurred along the way?
Thinking of these things, Hathaway felt completely unwell.
If this continued, the whole world would know Nicuss's biggest secret, His Majesty Nero's weakness—singing.
And if His Majesty Nero knew her singing was truly terrible, she might spend more time overcoming it, or perhaps become enraged out of shame?
Either way was troublesome.
Honestly, the confidentiality of this particular matter had always been well-maintained, and the Golden Grand Theater always had a steady flow of customers.
Even that bigmouth Morgans had been properly warned and dared not report carelessly in this area.
At this point, the only option was to try Doflamingo, that King of the Underworld. His Majesty's favor was so great; if he couldn't even handle this small matter, then this time it wouldn't be solved with just one eye.
Having thought it through, Hathaway raised her hand and introduced to Nero, "This is Boa Hancock, the current King of Kuja. She seems to have a small misunderstanding with us."
Eneru, in Strong Man mode, used his staff as a crutch, tottering towards the railing. Hathaway was afraid he would fall off.
Beside her, Hancock also simultaneously completed her self-strategy. As Eneru walked away, she also saw Nero, who had exited Little Dragon Person mode, behind him.
Her attitude immediately changed from 'I can' to 'I totally can!'
"Nice to meet you... Ne-Nero-sama!" Hancock covered her flushed cheeks with both hands, speaking shyly.
"Are you Hancock? Umu, I feel like you look a bit familiar?"
However, Nero's words made Hancock's face turn pale. Her previous fantasies had been too beautiful, causing her to somewhat forget that Nero represented the Celestial Dragons.
In her panic, Hancock didn't notice that if Nero was there to capture her, why would she need Hathaway to introduce who she was?
"If you're going to capture someone, just capture me! Let Sandersonia and Marigold go; they've already gone astray!"
Hancock spread her arms, blocking the direction of Amazon Lily.
"Sister..."
The two on the shore, skilled in Observation Haki, also heard Hancock's words and knew their sister was trying to protect them, but her words were truly difficult to describe.
"Umu, has my reputation become so bad?"
Nero's face was covered in black lines, and at the same time, she remembered why Hancock looked familiar.
"You escaped from Mary Geoise with that idiot Tiger before, didn't you?"
So that's how it was. Hathaway understood the whole story in an instant and knew the source of this Pirate Empress's hostility.
There had already been enough trouble on this trip; they were here to vacation on Amazon Lily, not to cause destruction along the way.
So Hathaway also interjected into their conversation, pretending to be surprised, "Is that so, Your Majesty? I didn't expect you to be the savior of the King of Amazon Lily. It seems this vacation will be quite wonderful!"
"Sa-savior...?" Hancock was bewildered.
"Umu, I've done so many good deeds; it's perfectly normal to encounter a few such people when out and about!"
Nero's eyes sparkled. Encountering such things when out and about was truly face-saving.
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