"Quick, quick…! It's Vice Admiral Garp! He's coming straight this way!"
"Shit…! Just looking at him gives me chills! That presence… it's like the sky itself is falling on us! He must've already found out!"
The surviving marines on the coast looked up, hearts pounding. The ship with the dog-shaped figurehead was approaching like a beast.
On the deck, Garp wore a face twisted in pure rage, and a pressure emanated from his entire body that made their skin crawl.
"V-Vice Admiral Momousagi…" a marine reported. "T-this is bad! Vice Admiral Garp is already here! What are we supposed to tell him…? How do we explain this?!"
Gion glanced at him sideways, barely reacting.
"I know… But don't lose your heads. Keep looking for Tiberion."
"Understood!"
Taking a deep breath, Gion immediately headed for the port to receive Vice Admiral Garp.
However, upon arriving, she realized the port had been completely destroyed. But before she could go any further, about ten meters away, a figure shot through the sky: Garp had leapt from his ship and landed directly on solid ground.
His gaze was like that of a wild animal about to unleash its fury.
"…Who was responsible?" he asked in a low voice.
Gion straightened up instantly, standing respectfully, even though the pressure radiating from Garp made her feel like an ant.
"V-Vice Admiral Garp, I am deeply sorry… We failed to contain the battle in time, and as a result, your hometown was almost completely wiped out. However, all the residents were evacuated and are safe. For now, there are no casualties."
As if that detail was the only thing stopping him from snapping entirely, Garp closed his eyes for a moment.
"So this disaster… was caused by you Shichibukai and Tiberion Hanma?" he pressed.
If it had been any Vice Admiral other than Gion, he probably would've beaten him to death already.
Gion nodded and explained thoroughly.
"Technically, Vice Admiral, the battle broke out primarily between Tiberion Hanma and Bartholomew Kuma. The final explosion that destroyed the village was caused by what appears to have been a self-destruction protocol embedded in Kuma's body."
?
Garp frowned.
"This reeks of Vegapunk…"
Then he fixed his gaze on Gion again.
"And what about Tiberion? Is he dead?"
"We still don't know for sure. We're still searching. He was at the very center of the explosion. According to the information, his body structure is abnormal: his bone and muscle resistance is so extreme that even an explosion like that might not have destroyed him completely. His soft tissue may have been damaged, but we don't have confirmation."
Garp clenched his teeth, and his killing intent surged like a volcano.
"If he's still alive… I'll kill him with my own hands!"
Gion took a deep breath, trying to hide the faint satisfaction swelling in her chest. Perhaps, finally, she could be rid of Tiberion for good.
"Are you alone? Where's Tokikake?" Garp asked brusquely.
"…Tokikake was severely injured by Tiberion. He survived, but the medics believe he might be left in a permanent vegetative state."
"…"
Garp stomped the ground, leaving a crack that spread like a spiderweb.
"Damn it! Tiberion… that bastard deserves nothing but death."
It was at that moment that a desperate shout cut through their conversation.
"VICE ADMIRALS! We found him! There's an arm here!"
With that call, Gion, Garp, and several marines rushed to the spot.
On the ground, among rubble and chunks of stone, a charred fragment stuck out. But once it was fully uncovered, everyone realized it wasn't Tiberion's.
It was a piece of Kuma's arm.
…
At that same moment…
Elsewhere in the area, Hancock descended among the debris with tense steps, her eyes searching desperately—until something invisible stopped her in her tracks.
!
The air was still dusty, but a presence reached her.
That scent…
It wasn't just blood or ash.
It was him.
Tiberion's pheromones saturated the atmosphere. A concentration so overwhelming it seemed to have merged with the earth itself.
And she needed no further proof.
"T-Tiberion-sama…!" she murmured, and without thinking, she quickly dropped to her knees among the rubble, her trembling hands digging, tearing through the dirt with her flawless nails.
She didn't care if her nails broke. Or if her hands got filthy. Or if her dress was torn at the edges.
She just kept digging and digging.
Until, between a block of stone and a layer of smoldering earth… she found him.
First, she saw a strand of red hair covered in ash… then a face… and at that moment, her heart stopped.
"Ah… ah… n-no… no…" she stammered, falling back on her knees as a wave of panic rushed up her spine.
Tiberion's body was there… what was left of it.
He was completely naked, his skin blackened in several places. The right side of his face had been torn away, exposing part of his cheekbone and jaw, and where his right eye should have been, there was only a smoking hole.
His entire right arm was a skeleton, with melted tendons dangling like sticky threads. The hand had been reduced to a bony fist, with no trace of flesh or skin.
His left leg was flayed up to the knee, exposing the shiny femur, splintered at its midpoint. From the groin to the thigh, the skin hung in shreds, revealing torn muscles and tendons that twitched with spasmodic convulsions.
His chest had been partially crushed, although, by some miracle, the area around the abdomen and heart remained intact, as if something had shielded it at the last second.
"…"
Hancock froze.
Neither her mind nor her love-struck heart had been prepared for this.
"T-Tiberion-sama…" she whispered, "P-please… don't… don't die… not yet…"
The tears came without permission.
"I-I… I still… still haven't become your woman…!"
Her hands trembled as she reached out to touch him, but stopped when she saw how the flesh on the side of his chest peeled away just from the slightest contact.
A sob escaped her lips.
For the first time, she felt a pain so real, so intimate… that her pride crumbled to dust.
If he died…
If that man, the only one who had made her heart tremble, the only man who had ever made her truly feel something, disappeared from the world without even having kissed her…
"W-what's the point in living…?" she murmured through tears, her voice cracking into a thread as the unbearable weight of that possibility crushed her chest.
She was about to collapse over his skeletal body… when something changed.
A warmth emerged from the open wounds.
The exposed bone of his right arm… began to slowly cover itself.
First came steaming nerves, stretching from the nearby edges like living threads intertwining in a deliberate pattern. Then, muscle fibers crept in from within, twisting around the tendons, gradually reconstructing what had once been nothing but bare bone.
In the leg, the marrow of the femur started to get coated by a viscous tissue that spiraled outward, as new layers of muscle clung to the bone.
"I-incredible…" Hancock whispered, eyes wide and flooded with tears, "What kind of body… does this man have…?"
Tiberion's face, once barely recognizable, began to regenerate: the exposed areas were covered with granulating tissue, his cheekbones began to take shape again, and even eyelashes started to appear alongside the fresh skin emerging centimeter by centimeter.
"He's… he's coming back!" she cried out in ecstasy, and her once fragile voice now rang with reverent resolve, "Tiberion-sama… you are… truly worthy… of my heart!"
But then, her gaze hardened.
Judging by the speed of his regeneration, it wouldn't be immediate. At that pace, he would need at least thirty minutes before he'd be able to move again.
Thirty minutes during which his body would remain vulnerable.
Thirty minutes… in which anyone could try to finish him off.
And she understood it with absolute clarity.
"I won't allow it…"
She stood up.
Her man… was clawing his way back from the brink of death, and she would make sure no one got in his way.
Luckily, with Jinbe and Shirahoshi, maybe… just maybe, she could buy enough time.
But just at that moment…
A distant sound shattered the silence.
A marine, from an elevated position, managed to catch a glimpse of Hancock's faint movement. His gaze sharpened… and his eyes widened in horror.
"I-I FOUND HIM!" he shouted in astonishment. "Tiberion Hanma is there… with the Empress!"
The echo of his cry spread in all directions.
"W-What!? With the Empress!?"
In less than a second, hundreds of marines turned their gaze toward Hancock's solitary figure, standing tall beside Tiberion's still-regenerating body.
"AIM!"
The sound of hundreds of safeties unlocking and cannons rotating rang out in unison. All of them pointed at her.
And yet… Hancock didn't move an inch.
She didn't spare them a single glance. Not one of those marines was worthy of her attention.
Because the truly dangerous ones weren't those ordinary soldiers.
Her gaze slid briefly toward Garp… whose Haki still pulsed in the distance like a contained storm.
Then, toward Gion… and finally… toward Doflamingo, who still hadn't withdrawn from the battlefield, likely still waiting for a chance to exact revenge—with interest—for everything Tiberion had done to him.
Yes, the rest didn't matter.
Only those few could become a real threat.
"My husband…!?" came Shirahoshi's childish voice. "Is he with the Empress?"
From the other side of the field, the enormous princess stood tall, her eyes shining with joy.
Not the presence of the marines, nor the imminent danger, nor the shouted warnings could stop her.
"Kyaaaa~!" she squealed, launching herself forward with all her speed, while the soldiers fled in terror to avoid being crushed.
Seeing her, Hancock raised her voice:
"Shirahoshi! Hurry! Control the Sea Kings! We'll meet above the sea!"
With that, she embraced Tiberion's body.
Her arms wrapped around his wounded torso with utmost care, lifting him as if carrying a fragile corpse… still warm from his rapid regeneration.
And she held him against herself with tenderness.
"I've got you, Tiberion-sama…" she murmured, resting her forehead against his barely reconstructed face. "No one will touch you as long as I draw breath."
And then she ran.
Her long legs moved with unnatural speed, her heels snapping with the very first step, but she didn't stop.
She ran straight toward the coast, carrying his injured body in her arms.
She knew they wouldn't last half a minute on solid ground.
But on the sea… With Shirahoshi and the power of the Sea Kings, everything would change completely.
"OPEN FIRE! DON'T LET HER ESCAPE!"
Gion's voice rang out powerfully as she regained her composure.
"RAT-TAT-TAT-TAT!"
The automatic rifles spat bullets without pause.
But Hancock had already moved.
Her eyes gleamed as she activated her Observation Haki, and her figure began to slip through the hail of bullets with an unreal grace.
"We're not hitting her at all! It's like she can see them coming before we even shoot!"
"So what are we supposed to do? Wasn't Tiberion Hanma already dead? I saw it with my own eyes—his body was nothing but bones!"
"That guy isn't normal! If his head and heart are still intact… then he could still be alive."
"So that's why the Empress is risking her life like this? For him…?"
"…I don't know, but… as much as envy eats me up, I can't shoot her. She's too beautiful… if I ever hurt her, I'd never forgive myself."
"IDIOT!"
"GET YOUR HEAD OUT OF THE CLOUDS! With your aim, you couldn't even graze a strand of her hair! Keep shooting! If the Vice Admiral finds out you're drooling over her, he'll throw us all into a cell. Focus!"
Meanwhile…
"Jinbe-sama, what should I do now?!"
Shirahoshi trembled, almost on the verge of tears. Her eyes frantically scanned the area, where the sound of gunfire and shouting made her sick. She had never been in anything like this. It was all too much… too terrifying.
"Calm down, princess," Jinbe reassured her, never stopping his stride. "Follow my lead and listen to the Empress. We need you to control the Sea Kings and guide them to the coast. With your help, this could all change."
He immediately understood what Hancock had in mind, and without hesitation, moved to the front to clear a path through the chaos.
Shirahoshi swallowed hard… but then she thought of him.
"Yes… yes… understood, Jinbe-sama."
She wiped her tears with her hand and, with all the fear still pounding in her chest, pressed her lips together and nodded. For her husband, she had to be strong. For him, she had to try.
And just at that moment…
Garp and Gion moved!
________
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