"What do you think of that man, Snake Princess?"
As Leo was escorted out, Gloriosa stepped into the Empress's chambers and asked quietly.
"What happened to calling me 'Your Majesty'?"
Hancock leaned back lazily on her pet snake, Salome, her palm covering her face as she replied coldly.
"Enough already," Gloriosa said, tapping her golden snake-headed staff on the floor with a sharp clack clack.
"That boy is gone. There's no one else in this room. Must we still keep up the formality between us?"
Hancock slowly lowered her hand.
At some point, her eyes had filled with tears.
It took all her strength to stop them from slipping through her fingers.
"He was rude to me! I ought to throw him out!"
She couldn't even maintain her usual royal pronouns like "This Empress" or "Your Lady"—her voice cracked, like a kitten hissing and clawing to protect itself.
"Enough!"
Gloriosa didn't indulge her tantrum. As the woman who had brought Hancock and her sisters back from the Celestial Dragon's grasp and raised them on Kuja Island, no one knew their emotional fragility better than she did.
They were three broken girls once—escaping from hell, wrapped in thorns to survive in a cruel world. Their pride was a shell, a mask of strength forged by trauma.
And now, Leo had touched the softest part of Hancock's soul.
Of course she couldn't help but waver.
"Bring back Sandersonia and Marigold. We have serious matters to discuss."
Gloriosa read her perfectly.
The girl who always masked her emotions with arrogance had completely lost her composure.
She was no longer thinking clearly.
Only pride had kept her together until now. Without her sisters' support, who knew how long this state would last?
"Also—what is that boy doing right now?"
Gloriosa wasn't called the former, former, former Empress for nothing. She was still sharp, still politically savvy.
She hadn't just ordered Leo escorted away to protect Hancock's dignity—she had also arranged for him to be watched.
Despite her years of seclusion, many villagers still obeyed her without question.
A nearby warrior stepped forward to report.
"That man… it seems he's giving a speech."
"What?!"
Gloriosa's eyes widened.
This wasn't just some smooth-talking drifter.
Leo had already persuaded both a Celestial Dragon family and Boa Hancock with nothing but words.
Now he was speaking to the sheltered women of Kuja Island—girls who had never even seen a man before, raised in isolation, protected from the outside world.
His honeyed tongue could seduce the whole island if left unchecked.
"This is bad…"
She hesitated, but didn't rush out.
Right now, the Empress couldn't be left alone.
If she made an impulsive decision—like taking the entire Kuja Pirates and setting sail with Leo—the entire island could be thrown into chaos.
Even if the Amazon warriors were stirred by passion, the Empress was the key. Her action was the island's direction.
But Gloriosa had no idea—Leo's influence was stronger than she feared...
---
Outside the Empress's Palace
"I assume Granny just wanted me escorted out, right? Is it okay if I look around a bit?"
As soon as he left Hancock's chamber, Leo dropped the formal act and flashed a friendly smile at the round-faced Kuja warrior assigned to escort him.
"Um…"
She hesitated.
She wasn't stupid.
The fact that Leo had entered the Empress's palace and didn't get turned to stone… or thrown to the leopard… meant he had at least earned a shred of Her Majesty's trust.
So it was hard to reject him outright.
But the Kuja Tribe was a sealed nation.
Ordinary warriors weren't allowed to see the outside world. They lived peacefully, isolated. Only warriors who accompanied the Empress on expeditions had glimpsed the sea beyond—those were the ones Leo needed to reach.
The truth was, getting them to accept his ideas didn't necessarily conflict with their loyalty to Hancock.
Leo wasn't stuck in black-and-white thinking anymore.
"If you don't follow me, you're my enemy."
"If you accept my ideas but won't leave with me, you're a traitor."
"If you leave with me but still care about Hancock, you're a double agent."
That kind of dualism… was for children.
He understood the complexity of people.
Even he had his selfish thoughts and inner contradictions.
Let alone pirates—men and women driven by desire and survival.
After a pause, the warrior agreed to let him stroll the island.
They walked slowly through the pathways of Kuja Island, like tourists on a scenic walk.
"I'm Leo," he said with a smile. "What's your name?"
"I'm Lan, a combatant of the Kuja Pirates. You… how do you know the Empress? We've never seen you before."
Leo immediately understood.
A pirate crew was more than a captain and first mate.
You needed navigators, doctors, helmsmen, cooks… and most critically: combatants.
Smaller crews were made mostly of fighters.
Larger ones—like Whitebeard's—had whole divisions of combat squads.
The Kuja Pirates were unique—functioning more like a national militia than a traditional crew. Every warrior was elite, handpicked, likely proficient in Armament Haki or Observation Haki.
"I can't say much about that. Sorry."
Leo changed the subject quickly.
"By the way… where exactly is Amazon Lily? Which Blue is it closest to—East, West, North, South?"
He was genuinely curious.
But he forgot—this wasn't the era where the Marines could freely navigate the Calm Belt.
The location of Amazon Lily, hidden deep within the Calm Belt, was a state secret.
Lan's expression hardened. She immediately fell silent.
Leo realized his mistake and tapped his forehead in frustration.
Another slip.
Like the protagonist of Re:Zero, sometimes modern habits were hard to break.
He carried so many secrets from the One Piece world, he forgot others were equally protective of their secrets.
This… was their very foundation.
Their survival.
It was no wonder Luffy's accidental arrival caused such a stir back then—it was the very first time anyone had breached the secrecy of Kuja Island.
It was a secret worth killing to protect.