Amazon Lily – Throne Room of Stone Serpents
Boa Hancock sat alone.
Her posture was regal, but her gaze wandered.
For the first time in her life, she felt… conflicted.
Lucien's words haunted her like a whispered lullaby. She hated them. She hated him.
And yet…
She remembered the heat of his eyes. The promise of power without shame. His touch—not tender, but terrifyingly honest.
Hancock had once been a slave.
Lucien? He owned the world and asked her to sit beside him.
That difference burned like poison in her blood.
Her sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold, watched her in silence.
"She hasn't eaten," Sandersonia whispered.
"She won't," Marigold replied. "Not until she decides."
At the edge of the palace, the Kuja warriors murmured nervously. Half of them had begun wearing House Donquixote's crest beneath their cloaks.
A silent infection.
No blood spilled. Just allegiance.
Mariejois – The Mask Returns
Mireille stood barefoot in Lucien's garden, the mask from Wano held in her gloved hands.
Lucien turned it slowly.
"No words. No name. No aura. It's like the Void Century carved into wood."
He touched it—and the air hummed.
Raisa stepped forward, her voice calm. "It reacts to you. As if it knows your blood."
Lucien smiled. "Because I know the truth that others pretend to forget."
He lifted the mask.
Paused.
And placed it on a marble bust instead of wearing it.
"Let the world wonder what it means," he said. "Mystery frightens more than violence."
Reverie Preparations
News spread quickly:
House Donquixote will attend the Reverie.
No formal invitation. No permission. Just a statement.
And none dared challenge it.
Saint Garlin tried to object—he even rallied two old families. But one of those estates burned down three days later. "A lightning accident," the papers claimed.
Garlin knew better.
And so did the Five Elders.
But still, they allowed it.
They needed to know what Lucien would do.
Amazon Lily – The Decision
That night, Hancock stood at the edge of the cliff.
Below her, the sea whispered secrets.
Behind her, her sisters waited.
Then she dropped something into the ocean.
It was the decree from the World Government, demanding her attendance at the Reverie.
She burned it before it hit the waves.
And from the folds of her robe, she pulled something else:
Lucien's proposal scroll.
Signed it.
With blood.
Donquixote Estate – Nightfall
Lucien read the returned scroll with a blank face.
Then closed it and placed it beneath a rose crystal weight.
Raisa, seated nearby, asked, "She agreed?"
"Yes."
"Will she serve?"
"No. She will belong. Slowly. Beautifully."
Mireille leaned against the window, watching Cipher Pol agents drag corpses from an alleyway.
"Should we eliminate her sisters? For leverage?"
Lucien chuckled softly.
"No. Hancock doesn't love them. She protects them out of guilt. I'll make her love something else."
He turned toward the mirror, adjusting the collar of his formal robe.
Then, calmly, coldly, smiled at his reflection.
"Let the world's kings gather. I will be the one they bow to next."