"Empress..." Gloriosa looked at Hancock, her face flushed, and thought to herself, 'She can't be...'
"Hahaha~ Hancock, welcome to the alliance!" Aeridar's face lit up with a broad smile, and he promised, "Don't worry, no matter what goods you need, I can have them delivered for a trade. I'll definitely make Amazon Lily stronger."
Just as he promised, even Gloriosa smiled.
As they were talking, Hancock's face suddenly turned pale. She lowered her head and whispered, "What do you... think of a Celestial Dragon's slave?"
When Hancock said this, Sandersonia and Marigold's faces also turned pale as if they were recalling some unbearable memories.
"This matter..." Gloriosa's expression also changed drastically. She looked at Hancock in disbelief, never expecting her to bring this up.
'The critical moment has arrived!' Aeridar's heart tightened. He had to think carefully before answering this question. If he answered well, then he would be her man, and there would be no more place for Luffy.
"In my hometown, there's a saying: 'A hero is not judged by their past'," Aeridar said with certainty. "A person is not judged by their birth or past, but by their future deeds. So what if they were once a slave? Fisher Tiger was still regarded as a great hero by the fish-men and the slaves he liberated."
"Well said!" Gloriosa praised loudly. "What a great saying, 'A hero is not judged by their past'."
Hearing Aeridar's words, the pale faces of the Boa sisters regained a little color.
Suddenly, Hancock raised her fair hands, and with a flick of her wrist, she removed her clothes... Ahem, the rest is up to your imagination (I can't write any more, it will be censored).
Gulp.
For a moment, Aeridar was captivated by the scene in front of him, and he almost drooled. Seriously, taking off your clothes just like that? Do you have to be so intense? I'm a normal man, not a saint!
Salome twisted her long body, turning Hancock's back to Aeridar.
"If you don't want to talk about it, then don't," Aeridar said, feeling a little heartbroken. He knew.
"No." Hancock reached back and brushed her waist-length black hair aside, revealing her back. On her smooth back was a brand mark that had been burned with a hot iron. "The Hoof of the Soaring Dragon! The coat of arms of the Celestial Dragons! A mark of a 'lesser human' that is branded onto the people raised by the World Government and can never be erased. We three sisters used to be..."
At this point, Hancock's voice choked with tears and hatred. She couldn't continue. Sandersonia and Marigold also looked pained and sad.
"...slaves to the World Nobles!" Hancock lowered her hand, and her black hair fell back to cover her back. She spoke with great difficulty about her past. "When I was 12, we three sisters were abducted by human traffickers from a Kuja ship and sold. Since then, it's been a horrible past that I don't want to remember."
"Noooooo!" Sandersonia cried out, holding her head.
"Sandersonia-nee, calm down!" Marigold quickly hugged Sandersonia.
"The memories will always come back," Hancock said, biting her lip as tears fell from her eyes.
Hearing and seeing this, Aeridar was deeply moved. What he saw in the anime was completely different from what he felt in person. This was why Aeridar did all kinds of business but never got into the human trafficking business.
However, Aeridar said nothing. He knew that sometimes, it was better to just let people express their grief. Since she was willing to tell him all this, it was better for him to be a good listener, quietly listening to her until she was finished, and then comfort her.
"It was a tragic past without a shred of hope. I only thought about how to die. But then, four years later, something happened that shocked the world." Salome draped the coat that had slipped off over Hancock's shoulders, then twisted her body so that Hancock was facing Aeridar.
Gulp~ Aeridar's eyes were dazzled by the sight of Hancock's chest, and he swallowed again.
"No one dared to defy the Celestial Dragons. It was a law as solid as iron in this world. But then, a man climbed the Red Line with his bare hands and single-handedly infiltrated the Holy Land Mariejois where the Celestial Dragons lived!" As Hancock spoke, Aeridar felt as if he was transported back in time.
"That man was the adventurer who later led the Sun Pirates, Fisher Tiger! To liberate the slave town where the fish-men were abused, he tried his best to turn the world upside down. Even though the fish-men hated humans, he treated all the slaves equally and liberated all of them, regardless of race. We also escaped with our lives. We owe him an immeasurable debt of gratitude."
"Even though Tiger liberated a large number of fish-men to the sea, the brand of being a former slave would not disappear. Tiger, who was now an enemy of the World Government, formed the Sun Pirates with those people and set sail for the outer sea."
Following Hancock's words, Aeridar said slowly, "As if to remove the curse, Fisher Tiger changed the Celestial Dragon brand on their backs into the mark of the sun. It was a mark to make it impossible to tell whether or not they were once slaves. Jinbe has one on his chest as well."
"It's a pity that Fisher Tiger still died at the hands of the Marines," Gloriosa said with regret.
"Heroes always die young. Fisher Tiger was attacked by Marine troops and was seriously wounded. When he needed a blood transfusion, he refused human blood and eventually died from blood loss. The Sun Pirates also split into several groups," Aeridar told Hancock the information he knew.
"I see... It seems he could no longer love humans." When Hancock learned that Fisher Tiger had refused human blood and died, she murmured the exact same words that Fisher Tiger had said before his death.
"That's fate!" Aeridar said with emotion, and he thought to himself, 'Just like how I came to this world.'
"When we were slaves, we were forced to eat the Love-Love Fruit and the Snake-Snake Fruits for the amusement of others. It was only with the power of these fruits that we could deceive the country and keep this secret."
Suddenly, large tears dripped from Hancock's eyes. She sobbed, "I don't want anyone to know about our past. Even if we have to deceive the entire country, we won't show a single flaw, and we won't be controlled by anyone. We're truly afraid to open our hearts to others. We can't help but be afraid."
"Please, don't tell anyone!"
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