"Ah?!"
Boa Hancock flinched when Mislanda suddenly started wiping the dirt from her face.
But before she could back away, he reached out and held her still.
"Don't move."
His calm but commanding tone froze her in place.
She stood quietly, her heart pounding as he gently wiped her face clean.
After a few minutes, when the grime was gone and her true beauty was revealed, Mislanda nodded in admiration.
"As expected of the woman known as the most beautiful in the world," he murmured.
Hancock was around seventeen—slightly younger than Mislanda—but already breathtakingly beautiful.
Give her a few more years, he thought, and she would be absolutely irresistible.
Feeling his unabashed gaze, Hancock's cheeks flushed crimson. She shyly turned her head away.
"All right," Mislanda said, putting the cloth away, "let's talk about something serious."
"You remember Peony, right?"
Peony—that was Shakky's original name, back when she was still the queen of Amazon Lily.
At the mention of that name, Hancock's eyes lit up immediately.
"Her Majesty the Queen? Benefactor, you mean her?"
Years ago, when the Boa sisters were captured by slavers, Shakky had still been queen—and the captain of the Kuja Pirates.
Anyone from Amazon Lily would recognize that name instantly.
"That's right," Mislanda nodded. "That's her."
"In fact…" he smirked slightly, "you could say we're kind of related."
"My old man is with Peony. So she's… sort of my stepmother."
"Eh?!"
Hancock's eyes widened in shock.
"R-Really? Then… you're the Prince?"
Prince?
The word made Mislanda pause for a moment. Then he actually chuckled.
When you thought about it… it kind of made sense.
If Shakky was the queen of Amazon Lily, and Rayleigh—his adoptive father—was her partner, then by extension…
He really was a prince!
"Ha," he laughed, "I suppose you could say that."
Then his expression hardened slightly. "Wait here for a bit. I'll take you all away soon."
With that, Mislanda walked over to the ruins of the slave prison.
He placed his right hand on the cracked ground.
BOOM!
Dark energy erupted from his body, surging down through his arm and into the Red Line below.
It spread beneath the earth like veins of black lightning, covering the entire ruined area.
When it was done, he withdrew his hand, a cold smile playing on his lips.
"Let's leave the World Government a little present. I hope they'll like it."
Satisfied, Mislanda returned to the three sisters.
He waved his hand, summoning a swirling black vortex beside them.
"Don't be afraid," he said. "I'll take you somewhere safe."
Before they could respond, the vortex expanded and swallowed them whole—vanishing into darkness.
Holy Land – Mary Geoise
At that moment, panic had erupted in the holy city.
The World Government had received a distress call from the slave prison, and now the elite agents of CP0 were being mobilized.
Dozens of men in black suits assembled under their commander's lead.
These were not ordinary agents—
To serve in Mary Geoise meant you were among the best of the best.
Each of them had mastered Rokushiki, the Six Powers of the Navy.
They moved with blinding speed, using Soru to race across the Red Line.
Within minutes, they arrived at the prison's location—
and froze.
"The… prison?" one of them stammered. "Where's the prison?"
All that remained before them were broken walls and scorched rubble.
The massive slave complex—once sprawling across the Red Line—was gone without a trace.
The only things left were bodies.
Some belonged to guards, others to slaves.
But most were the latter.
"Damn it!" the leader snarled. "Track them down! Don't let a single one escape!"
He gritted his teeth in panic.
If the Celestial Dragons' property—their slaves—escaped, the nobles would turn their rage on CP0 itself.
And when the Dragons were angry, no one was safe.
But just as they prepared to move out—
BOOM!
The ground suddenly trembled.
In the next instant, all of them collapsed to their knees!
Even the strongest among them felt an invisible force crushing them toward the earth.
Those with weaker bodies were flattened instantly, pinned to the blood-red soil.
"What—what's happening?!"
The leader strained to move, bracing himself with one hand on the ground.
Even with his strength, he could barely resist the pull of that terrifying force.
Cracks spread across the crimson surface like spiderwebs, and black smoke began to seep out from beneath the ground.
The suffocating miasma quickly enveloped the entire group.
"What is that?!"
"Ahhh—!!"
Sensing mortal danger, the leader roared and transformed—
his body expanding, muscles bulging, fur sprouting from his skin until a massive tiger stood where a man once was.
A Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit: Tiger Form user!
With his newfound strength, he barely managed to break free of the pull and leap upward, using Geppo to escape into the air.
He had survived—
but the others were not so lucky.
"Help! Please! I don't want to die!"
"Sir, save us!"
Their desperate cries filled the air, but the black fog only swirled faster and faster.
Then, with a horrifying crunch, the mass of agents was crushed inward—
flesh, bone, and blood fusing together in a grotesque heap.
The red soil of the Holy Land grew even redder.
From above, the tiger-man trembled.
If he hadn't escaped in time… that would have been him.
"Damn it," he growled, his voice shaking, "who did this?! Who?!"
His roar echoed across the ruins.
"Looking for me?"
A calm voice sounded right behind him.
The CP0 agent froze, then slowly turned around.
A black vortex had appeared in midair behind him—
and stepping out from it was a tall man in black.
Mislanda.
"Well," he said lightly, "I was planning to leave already… but since you came looking for me, I suppose I can stay a little longer."
His eyes gleamed with amusement as he stared at the transformed tiger.
"A Devil Fruit user, huh?" he said with a grin. "What a pleasant surprise."
[Target identified: CP0 Agent – Motley. Zoan-type Cat-Cat Fruit, Tiger Model. Power Level: Diamond.]
Everyone knew that the Dark-Dark Fruit possessed one particularly terrifying ability—
It could extract the power of other Devil Fruits.
And Mislanda had mastered that ability perfectly.
Which meant that today…
he was about to acquire two new Devil Fruits.
A wicked smile spread across his face.
Black smoke coiled around his right hand, the air itself warping from the energy.
Motley shuddered violently, sensing death itself creeping toward him.
"Rankyaku!"
With a roar, he slashed out with his leg, sending a blade of compressed air slicing toward Mislanda.
He knew if he didn't strike first, he might not even get the chance to move again.
But Mislanda was faster.
Before the air blade even left his foot, Mislanda appeared in front of him in a blur of darkness—
and clamped his right hand around the tiger's throat.
His grip tightened, black energy swirling violently between his fingers.
"Your power…" he said coldly,
"…belongs to me now."
~~--------------------------
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