26 Sparring Session

The open area inside the mansion now stood two figures, Imai, and Boa Hancock who were getting ready to fight each other. Nico and the Kuja pirates all spread apart, giving them as much space they needed.

The two faced each other in a tense silence, they circled around, and sized each other up. There was a mixture of caution and determination to defeat the latter.

Boa Hancock could hear her own heart beat due to her sheer concentration and anticipation of what Imai was going to do. She had trained her hand to hand combat for years, she was strong even without her devil fruit ability.

However, the opponent in front of her had trained even harder and longer than her.

Suddenly, Boa Hancock lunged forward, throwing a powerful punch that was easily blocked by her opponent. But she didn't stop there, she went for a quick horizontal kick towards the side of Imai's head.

Imai redirected the kick downwards by pushing her shin with the palm of her hands. It was a swift and subtle technique that required precision.

From the two attacks, Imai analyzed Boa Hancock's fighting style. She had a quick and agile fighting style which allowed her to attack her opponent swiftly while making herself difficult to hit. But she also had a similar fighting style.

Imai dashed forward and aimed her punch towards her opponent's liver, Boa Hancock was able to block the attack but she also stumbled backward. She winced at the pain of her elbow which surely had a small bruise.

Imai gave no time for her to recover, she went for a swift kick towards her opponent's midsection. This time, Boa Hancock wasn't able to block or dodge it in time. She took the hit and fell backwards.

"Big sis!"

"Damn it!"

The two continued to exchange blows, they dodged, and blocked each one of their attacks. The room echoed with the sounds of flesh hitting against flesh as the two continued to send punches and kicks towards each other.

*POW*

Imai stumbled back and placed her palm on her cheek where the punch had hit her. She glanced towards Boa Hancock in surprise and smiled.

"That's the first time in a while that I've been hit in the face." Imai smiled as she rubbed her cheek. "Good job and feel proud of yourself."

Boa Hancock looked at her fist and replied, "T-thank you?!"

"Haha, let's continue then. You're not done yet aren't you?"

"Of course not!"

The fight continued to go on. They felt determination and the excitement from fighting each other. Boa Hancock was slowly learning and being able to catch Imai's attacks. She had injury marks all over her body from the amount of hits she took.

The damn kicks and punches hurt like hell, it was like a monster with immense strength had hit her. She was surprised she was able to keep fighting.

As the fight wore on, both combatants began to show signs of fatigue. Sweat poured down their faces as they continued to trade blows, each one determined to come out on top.

Finally, Imai saw the slight mistake that Boa Hancock made. She had learned too forward causing her to be unbalanced and leave an opening for her. She took the chance and landed a devastating punch to Boa Hancock's stomach which sent him stumbling to the ground.

There were gasps and worrying looks from the audience but they subsided when they saw Boa Hancock's smile.

"I lost." she said with a sigh.

Imai wiped a sweat from her forehead and helped Hancock get up, "You're amazing. If you didn't make that mistake, I think you would have defeated me or ended up in a draw."

"It's my turn to say that you praise me too highly. I'm sure you didn't even use your full power there."

"Well, I tried my best."

"Thank you for the amazing fight, I learned a lot. It seems I have a lot more to learn and perfect."

"Don't bring yourself down, like I said, you're amazing. Your battle instincts and prowess are top notch. So is your reaction time, it's scary fast. The way you're able to move your body and attack, I'd say you're a genius." Imai said as she patted her shoulder.

"T-thank you." Boa Hancock replied as she turned away, her cheeks flushed red due to the barrage of compliments.

Imai chuckled and turned away, "I'm going to go take a breather, I'm tired. Also Hancock, I kind of like you."

"H-huh?" Boa Hancock was shocked by the sudden confession. Her heart raced due to the fact that it sounded so pure. She hovered her hand over her mouth and secretly smiled as she watched the two figures walk away.

For the first time, her heart was moved, and had possibly developed a liking to the Fifth Emperor.

The audience was shocked as they watched the fight. They could see the smiling faces on the combatants as they traded blows with each other. Their movements were as if they were dancing in sync, similar to two ballerinas perfectly matching with each other.

But this was a battle, not a ballerina dance.

They couldn't tear their eyes off the battle. Even Nico was too focused looking at the battle and didn't notice one of the Kuja pirates gripping her hand tightly and had a worried expression on her face.

Once the battle was over, they were somewhat sad that their empress had lost the battle. But they accepted it, after all, the one she had fought was the Fifth Emperor.

All of their worries washed away when they saw their empress's smiling face, it seemed the two had talked for a little before Imai had left along with Nico.

The Kuja pirate looked to her right and didn't even notice Nico was gone and was left with a puzzle expression.

They were left confused when their empress covered her mouth and her cheeks were dyed pink.

They only had one question in their mind.

'What happened?'