You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
As long as I reach 200 dollars on my Patreon, I will post 10 extra bonus chapters per month in batches of 5 for that month. If I reach 300 dollars then I will post 15 extra bonus chapters in batches of 5 for that month. If I reach 400 dollars then I will post 20 extra bonus chapters in batches of 5 for that month. So come and support me.
**[Chapter Cover Story: Big News 1 – “A New Day Begins Work”]**
**[On the vast blue Sea, news birds spread their wings, their pouches filled with freshly printed newspapers. Not far behind them, among the mountains, a teapot-shaped airship is docked, with a balloon displaying the abbreviation for “World Economic News.”]**
—
The massive red ship, dragged by two gigantic serpents at the bow, slowly navigated a river cutting through the island’s interior, heading toward a huge circular City gate in the mountain wall.
On both sides of the river stood two tower-like buildings. The female guards stationed there shouted, “Open the gate! Snake Princess has returned!”
With a loud bang…
The massive City gate blocking the river opened from both sides, revealing a small glimpse of the Women’s Country behind it. The houses built into the mountainside exuded an entirely different atmosphere from the natural, primitive environment outside the City.
The large ship, filled with female warriors, sailed down the river into the City. On the opposite banks, two ports bustled with the Nation’s citizens.
They had varied body types, yet wore similar outfits— some were dressed in clean and efficient warrior attire, while others, like Hancock, wore floral robes with exposed shoulders, adorned with lace trimmings.
The Nation’s female citizens warmly cheered the approaching red ship, shouting, “Welcome back!”
“Snake Princess, did the trials go well?”
“What did you bring back?”…
The female warriors on deck responded enthusiastically, waving and laughing, “Though we’ve returned a bit early, we’ve brought back quite a haul!”
Indeed, besides the animals they hunted using their archery skills, they had even hauled aboard the carcasses of beasts slain by the mysterious figure on the island, which hadn’t seemed dead for very long.
Nothing should go to waste!
Hancock showed little interest in the shouting from the side of the ship, but it was strange to her that Snake Princess, who would usually stand at the bow responding to the Nation’s citizens, was conspicuously absent. This made her curious.
When she found Snake Princess inside the cabin, she saw her staring out the window, lost in thought.
“I’m fine,” Snake Princess snapped out of her daze, gently patting Hancock’s cheek with a smile. “Thank you for your concern.”
“When did I ever say I was concerned about you?” Hancock asked with her hands on her hips and looked puzzled.
One of the attending female warriors scolded her, “Hancock, how can you speak so rudely to Snake Princess?”
“I didn’t mean to…” Hancock blinked her large eyes pitifully at her, which immediately softened the warrior’s heart. She gently replied, “Oh, I see… We all make mistakes sometimes…”
“Ha ha! Hancock, you really are my little ray of sunshine,” Snake Princess laughed heartily, pulling Hancock into a hug.
Hancock struggled desperately, nearly suffocated in the embrace.
Back in Kuja City, within the palace. Amid the greetings of the maids, Snake Princess entered the grand hall, where she encountered an elderly woman in her fifties.
The older woman was surprised, “So that’s what all the noise was about… Snake Princess, why did you return so early this time?”
“We encountered something unexpected on that island…” Snake Princess flicked her cloak and turned, sitting down on the Emperor’s throne. Her massive snakes coiled behind her chair, hissing quietly as they rested.
The elderly woman was even more perplexed, “What sort of unexpected event could cause you, Snake Princess, to return early? Did you… perhaps run into a giant Sea King?”
However, Kuja’s ships, being carried by those two massive serpents, were immune to attacks by Sea Kings.
If that wasn’t the case, it was hard to imagine what kind of unexpected event on that island could be too much for the mighty Snake Princess, the Nation’s strongest warrior, to handle…
Not to mention her rare Haoshoku Haki! Even just relying on her Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) and Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), Snake Princess could resolve most troubles on her own.
Snake Princess, with one leg crossed elegantly over the other, rested her delicate hand against her cheek, pondering, “Suzuran, as the former Empress’s advisor, you should have seen that kind of writing before, correct?”
The elderly woman, Suzuran, hadn’t fully grasped the situation yet and was taken aback, “Could it be—”
Seeing Snake Princess nod slightly, Suzuran was shocked, “Tritoma, are you saying… that you found one of those stones on Rusukaina Island? That’s impossible! Our people from Kuja have visited that island many times… and we’ve never discovered anything like that!”
“Calm down, Suzuran,” Snake Princess replied solemnly. “We didn’t find one of those stones…”
Suzuran sighed in relief, “Oh, thank goodness! That sort of troublesome thing is better left undiscovered!”
“Instead,” Snake Princess continued, “We saw a line of that script… on ‘that tree’…”
“That tree? The one at the only safe location… So it was just a line of writing… What?!” The elderly Suzuran jumped in shock, “Don’t joke around! There shouldn’t be anything on that tree, right?! How could there be writing carved into it, and in that kind of script no less!!”
“Didn’t I already tell you…” Snake Princess gently raised the fingers resting against her cheek, her warm eyes now veiled in shadow. “To calm down?”
Elder Suzuran shivered as if hit by a fierce wind, nearly fainting from the shock. She coughed twice, “Y-Yes… I’m much calmer now…”
—
The two massive City gates slowly closed.
They formed the huge Kuja pirate emblem.
At the center was a skull, surrounded by nine long snakes arranged in a spiral, which from a distance resembled a cluster of writhing snakes.
The black armor quietly hovered in the air outside the island.
From the portal in the chest of the floating City fortress, Robin looked up at the island’s mountain wall, where the giant characters for “Kuja” were carved.
Above them were three enormous Orochi heads, each with three snake heads. That made nine, just like Kuja… Were all the women of this Nation obsessed with symmetry? Robin couldn’t help but ponder.
She glanced over at Liam, who was sitting beside her, still staring silently at the now-closed City gate over the river.
“What’s on your mind?” Robin asked, “Are you thinking about how to sneak in?”
She roughly knew that the power called Haki could sense the presence of Liam’s ghost.
That’s why Liam hadn’t let his ghost follow the ship directly into what appeared to be the Kuja Nation.
Liam pondered, “I never noticed before, but now that I look at it… I feel like I’ve seen this Kuja emblem somewhere before.”
“…” Robin said, “Not noticing before just means that you *have* seen it before…”
But had Liam really seen the Kuja emblem before?
It seemed like he knew something…
Robin remembered how he seemed to know a lot about her situation back then—about Ohara, and even things that should have been known only to her, Kuzan, and the now-deceased Saul. Like the fact that she and Saul were friends, something Liam had somehow known as well.
“That’s not what I mean,” Liam said as he tapped the fortress, “Hey, Black, what do you think?”
At that moment, something drifted down from above. To the two of them sitting at the fortress’s portal… well, only Liam could see it. From his perspective, it looked like a giant black curtain had dropped down in front of them.
The massive black curtain flew toward them and, after entering the range of the Shiro Shiro no Mi (Castle-Castle Fruit) surrounding the fortress, it shrank rapidly, transforming into a faceplate that flew into Liam’s hands.
After donning the mask, its eyes glowing white, Liam saw the “memory footage” projected by ‘B.I.B.’ He couldn’t help but clap his fist into his palm, “Of course! That’s why it seemed so familiar, but I just couldn’t place it…”
Robin, beside him, was completely confused, having no idea what Liam was talking about.
But what Liam saw before him was a page from the SBS of *Pirate King*, volume 65, drawn by the World-creating God Oda-sensei, depicting each Straw Hat member’s pirate flag emblem.
The design of Robin’s emblem was strikingly similar to the Kuja emblem.
…
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
As long as I reach 200 dollars on my Patreon, I will post 10 extra bonus chapters per month in batches of 5 for that month. If I reach 300 dollars then I will post 15 extra bonus chapters in batches of 5 for that month. If I reach 400 dollars then I will post 20 extra bonus chapters in batches of 5 for that month. So come and support me.
You can read ahead up to 30 chapters on my patreon and I’ve also activated (date to date) subscription model on my patreon https://www.patreon.com/marvel6395
Support me on Patreon for extra chapters