101 A Fatal Destiny
Dressrosa, King's Plateau.
Back to the Present.
"And that's what happened, darling. The national tribute should be on its way now towards you. You can receive it in Fishman Island and wait for us. Sandersonia and Marigold are cleaning up the rest of the Don Quixote Pirate crew... I have Donquixote Doflamingo in front of me, turned into stone."
Hancock sat at the entrance of the main palace hall of Dressrosa with the rest of the Kuja Pirates, healing one another after what was perhaps one of the most difficult fights they had in the New World. One in which they were victorious nonetheless.
"That is good to know. They're looking for... eh..." Veyron's voice drifted, recalling in her story that she said Marigold had been told about the Pirate's plans by somebody.
"Someone... I don't remember her name, but someone told Marigold and Sandersonia about Dressrosa's inhabitants being controlled by Doflamingo. They wanted to take the throne, but to be acknowledged by the world government, they wanted to bribe them using the national tribute."
Hancock drifted as well; she tried to recall the memory of that person, but nothing came to mind; perhaps it was an unimportant memory.
"Why would he even want to be king? A pirate..."
"There is a chance he has some shady business going on and doesn't want the Marines or the Cipher Pol meddling in. We've met dozens of such officers in the New World. Also, wasn't that what Crocodile intended to do in Alabasta?"
"..."
They spent three years with the man of sand to the point he could be labelled as one of their retainers; he even underwent the same training that Robin did. Veyron thought that Crocodile was deep down not a bad individual as he had helped Luffy in Marineford.
"I have been going from country to country for these few years in the New World, darling... and I haven't seen a single one of the revolutionary teams in here. Monkey D. Dragon must be playing games in paradise. Freeing such places is the job of us Liberators, right?"
"You make me proud; I was just telling Prim now you resemble more of a pirate than I do."
With the atmosphere turning warm, Hancock started playing with her hair and blushed, fidgeted even, "Do you remember your end of the deal in your alliance with Amazon Lily, right darling?"
"I do."
"Then what is our baby going to be in the future? A pirate, a king or an inventor?~ or maybe mine could be a pirate, Sonia's an inventor and Marie's a King?"
Coming back from the New World after such a wonderful voyage, Hancock, it was time for her to rest as her husband reaped the profits of her journey. All of her ships were packed up with treasures, Devil Fruits, and more that she had collected over the years.
She didn't intend to come out of Amazon Lily for a while, not before partaking in some 'maternal' duties.
"Uh huh, professions are done. Do you have names already?~" Veyron flirted back. From the other side; she could hear some rustling movements were taking place; he was likely preparing to set off to Fishman Island.
"We can think of them later... for now, we should be working hard to make them, don't you think, darling...? It is time we go along with our little promise. I know Sonia has been very 'eager' as of late."
"I will arrange that! We're departing to Fishman Island now, don't be late!"
"Kacha~."
The Empress giggled at her husband's eagerness that didn't lose to Sandersonia's or herself.
After hanging up, she sighed at both of her sisters taking their time. The statue of the angry Doflamingo was in front of her, a good bargain she intended for her husband to use against Kaido.
'But fighting you had indeed given me a lot of surprises... to the point that I wonder if keeping you alive is a wise move.'
It took merely ten seconds of consideration.
BANG!
With a swift motion of her hand coated in Armament Haki, she shattered Doflamingo's statue into thousands of pieces, killing the threat once and for all albeit reluctantly. If there was some spoil she would have hoped to get, that was his Devil Fruit.
"Better safe than sorry... there will be other means to deal with Kaido. Doflamingo, you are too dangerous to keep alive."
"Hebihime, do you need first aid?"
"I'm okay, Ran... focus on healing everyone else; we won't be spending a lot of time here. Once we confirm that all of the Donquixote Pirates are dead, the Royal Family of Dressrosa can comfortably take back their throne."
"Then we will prepare the fleet to sail soon."
Just as she was walking to the door of the palace, she suddenly felt weak, and a strong migraine kicked in.
!!!
"Hebihime!" The same girl helped her up, but Hancock waved her hand, thinking it was nothing too serious.
"I-I'm okay... it must be my heart missing darling too much."
She used the communicator to ask her sister why she was taking so long.
"Marigold? Have you found any more of the executives?"
"I think that was all, big sis. They're all dead. Only that guy Trebol and also the woman with the Snow Logia... I thought he was dead but I can't find his corpse. They may have fled the island already."
"Keep looking and be careful. A single day we will stay here. What about the citizens?"
"The citizens of this kingdom are frightened; those that survived locked themselves in their houses and they're not coming out no matter what, that's for the best."
"Have you found that person from before?"
"What person, big sis?"
"The one that told you... the one that asked for help!"
"I don't remember such a person."
"R-Really?"
"I have only met the king Riku Doldo. It seems his only daughter, Scarlett, died during the incident..."
"O-Only daughter? If I remember correctly... no, it must have been my imagination. Come back quickly with whatever remains of the royal family. Hubby is waiting for the two of us in Fishman Island; I just spoke to him."
"Alright~ wait a minute... there is another survivor, it is a young girl with green hair, she's crying."
...
"MARIGOLD! GO AWAY!!!"
Sandersonia, now transformed into a toy and in the hands of a green-haired young girl, tried to warn her sister. She wanted to move, coil, battle, speak! but she couldn't do anything!
'This girl's power is too dangerous, what can I do?!'
Marigold came by with her gorgeous humanoid form, trying not to scare off the little girl; she picked her up.
"What's wrong with you, girl? There is no need to cry."
"WAAAAAA!!! MOMMY!!!!"
"You want your mommy? Where is your mommy?"
"G-G-G-Got you!~"
!!!
It was the most wicked of smiles, the most evil of intentions. The next second Marigold transformed into a toy... completely in disbelief and without the slightest idea of what just happened.
'N-No...'
She looked at the other toy, a beautiful puppet, and realized the ploy.
'I HAVE TO TELL BIG SIS!'
But it was all for nought.
The green-haired girl kept crying and crying, trying to conceal her laughter with tears as she walked to the palace, through the concerned Kuja Pirates and onwards towards the vulnerable Empress of Amazon Lily.
In the shadows two individuals concealed, two bastards who were more than sure that they had no way of defeating this crew, their only way was to use this secret card of theirs.
Sugar.
"W-What was I doing here...?" The migraine was getting worse. Hancock didn't understand why it suddenly felt like there was a gaping hole in her head that was getting larger and larger.
Her first instinct was to call Veyron; something was not right. But then she saw a green-haired girl crying at the door of the palace, holding three puppets.
The girl in particular looked at the cluster of broken pieces of rocks that had been Doflamingo and faltered for a second before crying with even more intensity and rushing towards her.
"WAAAAAA!! MOMMY!!!!"
The girl extended her arms as if looking for comfort; Hancock tilted her eyebrows; she wasn't particularly fond of children.
"Ran... pick up this girl, she must have lost her parent-."
WHOOSH!
It was then that to her disbelief the girl kicked the air and moved at ridiculous speeds towards her, making her gasp.
Her Observation Haki kicked in, but it was too late... all that was needed was a touch.
When the fourth toy fell on the ground, Trebol and Monet both smiled diabolically behind the main gate.
"We have avenged you, Doffy!"
All the Kuja Pirates got on guard upon seeing two individuals rush in and begin a massacre.
Hancock, Sandersonia, and Marigold couldn't believe what was happening. Their eyes saw in disbelief how the members of their crew got slaughtered with only a handful of them managing to flee as the green-haired girl continued to laugh and cry both at the same time.
And worse, they couldn't possibly know the implications.
They believed blindly that their almighty husband would come flying like a thunderbolt upon not hearing from them in some time.
They couldn't possibly conceive that their beloved husband... had already forgotten them.
