"An hour from now, whether you agree or not, I'll take you away."
Vane already has Baccarat and Monet, so it's not like he's thinking with his lower half and kidnapping her just for this queen consort's looks.
What he wants is her Hypnosis-Hypnosis Fruit ability. This kind of bizarre power has wonderful uses in many places—much more to Vane's taste than something like the Spring-Spring Fruit.
"I won't lie to you. On the surface, our identities are pirates wanted by the Navy. In the shadows… we really are doing things the Navy wants."
"I admire your Fruit ability very much."
"Just now, the grudge between you and them has been completely made public. Unless you kill everyone here, the Holy Church Nation definitely won't have a place for you anymore."
The Hypnosis-Hypnosis Fruit hasn't been developed by the queen consort to the point where she can control tens of thousands with a single glance. Forget tens of thousands—she can't even control a few hundred.
Before, the reason she could hypnotize so many church knights was by relying on the Sacred Tree as an anchor point; they were hypnotized voluntarily.
"Aren't you afraid I won't go with you?"
"At first you might be a bit unwilling, but you only have hatred for this island and no attachment. Go out and see more—maybe you'll come around."
For someone who still has feelings for their homeland, Vane wouldn't be very confident. But someone like this queen consort, who has only hatred—that's another story.
"In one hour I can kill a lot of people."
"After hearing your story, I don't have much sympathy for these people. Please, go ahead."
The queen consort rubbed her face. From that furious, distorted expression, it turned into one where the corners of her mouth were sharp and she couldn't suppress her excitement.
"I… I've wanted to do this for a long time, hehahaha… Before, I was afraid that if I killed too many at once, I wouldn't be able to control those knights."
"You, you lot!"
The queen consort's voice carried magic and instantly took control of ten knights.
"Heyahaha~~ First, kill all the clergy!"
Clergy—especially those who've lived from three years ago until now—there are definitely no innocents among them.
"No! I won't be a priest anymore!"
"Save me, save me, Your Majesty!"
These clergy usually only knew how to collect taxes. How could they run faster than ferocious knights? And with the Rocket Team pirates blocking them, they were soon cut down one by one under the guns of the hypnotized knights.
"More than eighty priests… not worth regretting."
Vane was very curious how this woman, whose mind was already a bit broken, would continue.
"How should we play… I know, hehahaha~"
The queen consort's eyes turned into spirals as she controlled fifty knights in one go.
This should be her limit for making ordinary people fight without fear.
Most powerful people also have stronger minds… idiots aside, and of course those who can use Haki are probably even harder to hypnotize.
...
At this moment, those civilians started trying to flee the Holy City.
Unfortunately, the equally neurotic Moria was very interested in the princess's operation and directly used a huge swarm of shadow bats to block the city gate closest to them.
The design of the Holy City is a long, broad corridor, with two city gates at the head and tail. The other places have small side doors for entry and exit, but the church had brought this on themselves—they had already closed those side doors in advance.
The other big gate leads toward the Sacred Tree. Here, there's the crazed queen consort, and the collapsed Sacred Tree blocking the way.
Some people even began to beg: "Your Highness the Queen Consort, I admit my mistakes to you. Please forgive our sins. We really didn't expect this."
"Yeah, we didn't want to either… it was just the atmosphere back then."
The queen consort ignored their pleas.
"Don't worry too much. As long as these fifty fall, I won't make another move. Thirty thousand versus fifty—you'll definitely win… after all, you're so united."
"It just requires some people to be sacrificed. You're all united believers—sacrifice should be very easy for you, right?"
What the queen consort was toying with was human nature.
Fifty knights against thirty thousand people—if those thirty thousand could unite even a little, even without weapons, they could subdue these knights very quickly.
It's just that the first ones to rush up would have a very high chance of dying.
These people weren't willing to sacrifice themselves for others. Their "unity" was only aimed at killing those who couldn't resist.
When faced with the threat of death, the vast majority only think of themselves.
"Don't come over! You bastards, don't push me!"
"Let's go together—there are so many of us, we'll definitely win!"
"I'll go first, my ass! If you want to go, go yourself!"
Even if a few people wanted to resist, they were quickly swept along by the mainstream urge to flee.
The fifty controlled knights moved. The order they received was indiscriminate slaughter.
They charged into the crowd and swung their knight lances tirelessly. Blood and death began to spread. People busy fleeing even caused stampedes.
"Heyahahaha~~ Weren't you supposed to be so united! Where's that momentum from when you burned the demon together! Why isn't it working now!"
She had hidden for three years. During that time she hadn't stopped taking revenge, but she always felt stifled.
Now she understood why. This kind of public judgment, tearing off these people's false skins—that was the most satisfying revenge.
"You should be mentally prepared. They might counterattack very soon."
In war, there's the tactic of surrounding three sides and leaving one open. If there's a way to escape, people won't fight to the death. Right now, the Holy City is a huge cage. It won't be long before they realize there's nowhere to run.
People driven into a corner can easily burst out with powerful resistance.
The queen consort excitedly bit her thumbnail.
"My revenge—has already been completed."
Still acting crazed. Could this woman's mind really be breaking? After long-term repression, when the mind suddenly gets free, it's normal for behavior to become a bit unhinged.
...
After the fifty knights plunged into the crowd and slaughtered for a while, they were finally slowly swallowed by the masses.
"Too many people died."
This was the most deaths Vane had seen since going to sea. It should be over a thousand, with at least more than a third dying from stampedes.
The rest were killed by the tireless knights.
Besides the dead, there were also some who had mentally collapsed. Faced with more than a thousand corpses, it's easy for one's mind to break.
"It's over!"
Vane chopped the queen consort on the back of the neck with a hand strike, knocking her unconscious, and took the opportunity to obtain fragment items.
Vane said loudly, "Those of you who survived by luck—starting today, you need to understand one thing: gods are fake, but demons can appear at any time."
The Rocket Team left, leaving behind a blood-soaked Holy City.
Presumably, it won't be long before Vane's personal bounty, and Moria's personal bounty, will both rise.