Perhaps her feminine sixth sense had activated, but Hancock felt something familiar about this woman's expression when she said "Naruto Uzumaki."
As if she saw it often, though she couldn't recall it for the moment.
"Don't get in the way."
Hancock declared, striking her signature Empress pose. She disliked this woman and wasn't even interested in saying another word to her.
After saying this, she directly ignored Stussy and walked toward the island's interior.
Behind Hancock, dozens of Amazon warriors skilled in Haki closely followed their queen.
They weren't the inexperienced chicks on Amazon Lily who had never been to sea or experienced battle.
Even though countless eyes were watching them now, these Kuja Pirate warriors showed no fear, all walking forward with heads held high.
Even the two sisters who had always wanted to stop Hancock now put on the proper demeanor of guardians in front of outsiders.
"Speaking of which, Empress, did you also receive Linlin's invitation? Without an invitation, you can't really be considered a guest."
Stussy blocked Lucci and others who wanted to explode, watching Hancock ignore her and leave directly while asking with a smile.
"Invitation? I have as many of those things as needed."
The tall second sister Sandersonia pulled out a small stack of invitations from her revealing outfit and tossed them into the air.
White paper scattered like catkins, along with the Big Mom Pirates' face falling to the ground.
Seeing this scene, Stussy squinted slightly and said nothing more.
With Boa Hancock interfering, it looked like the World Government's plan would have problems. Her group might really have to take action to help.
At least they had to show an attitude.
Since the tea party would officially begin tomorrow, along with Big Mom's engagement banquet.
So today, the important guests who should arrive had basically all arrived.
Those still remaining at the dock were just some subordinate forces of the Big Mom Pirates.
After personally witnessing two "Ministers" being easily defeated by the Empress, they naturally had no intention of standing up for them.
Don't let the Empress's reputation in the New World fool you into thinking it wasn't impressive.
But she was still a Seven Warlord of the Sea on the same level as Doflamingo, "Tyrant" Bear, and Hawkeye.
The power or strength of these individuals wasn't something these small fry could provoke. They'd better just quietly watch the show.
Anyway, Big Mom definitely wouldn't turn a blind eye to this.
Perospero, whose big move had been casually broken by Hancock earlier, hadn't left. Even as the Kuja warriors approached his area, Perospero didn't retreat a single step.
"Boa Hancock, it looks like you really don't care about your own country."
"You actually dare to come cause trouble when Mama is holding a tea party."
"Just wait. As long as Mama takes action, she can easily destroy your Amazon Lily."
"When that time comes, every one of you..."
Perospero's expression was vicious. He wasn't just putting on a fierce front.
Others found it difficult to attack Amazon Lily because of the Calm Belt environment, but this wasn't a problem at all for Big Mom, who could create Homies at will.
Threatening family and companions was also what the Big Mom Pirates were most accustomed to doing.
But today, when applied to Hancock, it didn't work.
Before he could finish speaking, she interrupted him.
"Tell me, am I beautiful?"
Hancock was 1.9 meters tall, but her presence crushed the three-meter-tall Perospero.
She was completely unmoved by his threats, instead looking at Perospero with those deep black eyes.
"You... you..."
Hearing Hancock's inquiry, Perospero's attention instantly focused on her face.
Even as an enemy, Perospero couldn't deny Hancock's charm against his conscience.
Because of Big Mom's "universal love" for various races, most of Perospero's dozens of siblings were oddly shaped freaks with different appearances.
Those who could be called "good-looking" could be counted on one hand.
But this didn't mean Perospero's aesthetic sense had changed accordingly.
The Empress could be said to be among the most beautiful people on this ocean. Those who could compare to her could be counted on one hand.
Before Perospero could answer, a pink light completely enveloped him.
Mero Mero Mellow!
Perospero's thoughts instantly stopped, and he followed in Oven's footsteps.
The current Hancock was completely different from her original fate line.
During the long time spent with a certain man, to give her sufficient self-protection ability, that guy had trained her quite a bit.
That detestable man didn't treat her, a great beauty, as a woman at all.
Not only did he use insane training plans learned from who knows where to train her.
Even during sparring, he held nothing back. When he said fight, it was definitely real fighting.
If Hancock hadn't been exceptionally talented, she might not have survived that training period.
But paying these costs had yielded results.
Now Hancock didn't need to make that heart-shaped gesture with both hands to freely release the Mero Mero Fruit's light.
Her startup was much faster than before.
Besides this, her use and control of various types of Haki could also be called top-tier.
From escaping the Celestial Dragons' clutches at sixteen to this year at twenty-nine, a full thirteen years had passed.
Every single day, she hadn't slacked in training her strength.
If you asked what supported her,
It was a dream.
Someday, Hancock would find that stinking man who broke his promise and left her at home.
Then she would use the strength she'd cultivated through bitter training all these years to beat him up thoroughly.
After that, she'd lock him up on Amazon Lily and make him obediently be her "consort."
A very domineering dream, now close to realization.
Without Oven and Perospero's obstruction, the Kuja Pirates were like entering an uninhabited land on Cake Island's periphery.
Most of Big Mom's children were currently arranging the banquet venue or rushing to prepare food needed for the wedding.
As the strongest among all ministers, Katakuri not only had to ensure Orochimaru stayed under his watch but also coordinate everything.
"Why hasn't Perospero come yet?"
Katakuri asked his sister Brûlée nearby. This job should originally have been hers.
"I don't know, Brother Katakuri."
In front of Katakuri, Brûlée, who looked like an "old witch," still maintained girlish qualities.
Actually, her original appearance had been decent. She was just disfigured by an attack as a child, plus later had a large amount of lifespan extracted for angering Mama, leading to her current appearance.
Seeing that Doflamingo had already arrived at the scene but Perospero was nowhere to be seen, Katakuri felt somewhat uneasy.
Something was wrong.
Soon, his premonition came true.
Brûlée communicated with some Homies through mirrors and learned everything that had happened at the dock.
She quickly relayed this to Katakuri.
"Brother Katakuri, should we report this to Mama?"
"You go, Brûlée."
Katakuri suddenly stood up, looking toward the distance without turning back.
"They're already here."
Brûlée looked in the direction Katakuri was facing.
There, Empress Boa Hancock's figure had appeared, with dozens of Amazon warriors behind her with bows drawn and arrows nocked.
Each arrow was covered with Haki. As long as the Empress gave the order, they would attack without hesitation.
"Watch this guy later."
He indicated to Brûlée with his eyes to find a chance to take Orochimaru away from the scene.
Then Katakuri turned around, looking at Hancock ahead and shouting loudly:
"Empress, turn Perospero and Oven back, and I can still spare your life."
As the "perfect creation" and "undefeated myth" of the Charlotte family, his every word and action represented the entire Big Mom Pirates' attitude.
At the same time, in front of so many tea party guests, even for the Big Mom Pirates' honor, he couldn't make any compromises.
If possible, Katakuri didn't want a battle to erupt directly here either.
After all, once fighters of their level started battling, the commotion would definitely be huge.
He inconspicuously glanced at Orochimaru nearby, who showed no fear on his face and was still looking at the opposition with curious eyes.
At least they couldn't affect this guy.
The moment after saying this, Katakuri's Observation Haki, which could briefly foresee the future, had already transmitted the next scene to his brain.
Perfume Femur!
A kick wrapped in Haki came to Katakuri at extremely fast speed. So fast he couldn't even "mochi-fy" his body in advance to avoid it.
When Katakuri faced ordinary enemies, he could often rely on his superior Observation Haki plus the "Mochi-Mochi Fruit's" characteristics to achieve "pseudo-elementalization" like Logia fruits, thus ignoring enemies' physical attacks.
"Squared Mochi!"
But the Empress was completely different from enemies he'd faced before. Her speed was so fast that even if he reacted, he couldn't disperse the corresponding body part in time.
He only managed to use Armament Haki to harden his mochi arm, trying to block her kick.
Bang!
Where their attacks collided, a shockwave spread in all directions.
Hancock's strength wasn't much less than Katakuri's. She had built up momentum for this kick, while Katakuri was responding hastily.
The result was that the five-meter-tall Katakuri was directly kicked away.
Fortunately, Brûlée reacted quickly, grabbing Orochimaru's collar at the moment before the attack's aftershock arrived and bringing him into the mirror world.
Otherwise, just this unknown AOE effect would have been enough to seriously injure both of them.
This scene made the surrounding spectators' jaws nearly drop.
That was Katakuri, Big Mom's strongest Sweet Commander.
The shock among Big Mom Pirates members was even more exaggerated.
"It looks like you don't intend to accept my suggestion. This is somewhat troublesome."
Katakuri walked out of the dust cloud without any injuries, which greatly reassured his younger siblings.
Great. Katakuri was still that Katakuri, the Charlotte family's undefeated legend.
"Troublesome? Then let's not deal with it!"
"Have Naruto Uzumaki come out to see me."
Hancock's words made Katakuri frown slightly.
She came for Naruto?
Looking at her murderous appearance, Katakuri instinctively thought she was here for revenge.
Whether out of friendship with Naruto or as a member of the Charlotte family, he couldn't allow guests to be handed over to others.
"Come on."
Knowing it would probably get serious next, Katakuri simply unleashed his awakened state. Instantly, the surrounding ground all turned into white mochi.
"Muso Donuts."
Don't let Katakuri's technique names fool you into thinking they were funny. Their actual effects weren't to be underestimated.
With his will, two huge mochi masses flew into the air, then two giant hands made of mochi extended from them.
"Power Mochi!"
Following Katakuri's movements, those giant hands also became the elongated shape of his earlier "Squared Mochi," then thick Armament Haki covered them.
The pitch-black giant fists smashed toward the Empress ahead.
Facing an attack where a single finger was thicker than her thigh, Hancock showed not even half a trace of fear.
"Great Perfume Femur!"
This time, Hancock's long legs were covered with Conqueror's Haki.
Conqueror's Haki infusion. She, Boa Hancock, could do it too!
With her running start and spinning momentum, she kicked toward that giant fist.
Both sides were deadlocked in mid-air for less than a second before ending with Hancock's "Great Perfume Femur" directly petrifying and kicking apart that giant fist.
After one kick shattered the Power Mochi, Hancock had no intention of stopping.
Spinning in mid-air with the momentum, she raised her other leg, trailing black-red lightning as she kicked out.
When Katakuri saw his giant fist easily kicked apart by her, he already realized he and the Empress weren't opponents on the same level.
At least the skill of Conqueror's Haki infusion—he hadn't mastered it yet.
To put it bluntly, perhaps only Mama in the Charlotte family could defeat her.
But for Mama's honor, Katakuri didn't choose to retreat. Instead, he continued attacking forward with his remaining giant arm.
But next, the brief future observed by Katakuri's Observation Haki shocked him greatly, and he hurriedly tried to stop.
Whoosh...
A figure appeared between Hancock and Katakuri.
It was the person involved. Mr. Naruto Uzumaki.
He extended his left hand, easily blocking Katakuri's attack, then turned to look at the long-unseen Hancock.
"Yo, Hancoc..."
Haki Aromatic Heavenly Kick!!
Without any hesitation or delay!
The Empress changed moves mid-air, quickly spinning once in the air, then kicked out with even stronger Haki on her foot.
This was the higher-level close combat secret technique she'd created during years of training.
Because of the Conqueror's Haki barrier between her foot and Naruto's face, they didn't actually touch.
But this kick still solidly hit Naruto's head.
Under Katakuri's shocked gaze, Naruto's face distorted from the tremendous force.
Then he was kicked flying sideways.
Katakuri even began doubting his own eyes.
That was a powerhouse who could fight Mama one-on-one and even gain the upper hand!
Having been single his whole life, he didn't understand:
There was a relationship called "hitting shows affection," "scolding shows love," and "when love reaches its limit, use your feet to kick."