Facing

"What? You rescued slaves from Mary Geoise?" Hancock said in astonishment. "How come I never heard about this?"

"Oh, it seemed those people in Mary Geoise covered it up as an earthquake?" Yota said nonchalantly.

"Ever since that incident, the Marines and the World Government haven’t even raised my bounty!"

"This is the first time I’ve learned that if you do something big enough, even the World Government and the Marines will help cover it up for you!"

"The great earthquake in Mary Geoise was your doing?" Hancock’s eyes nearly bulged out of their sockets, displaying a classic Pirate World reaction.

"To be precise, the great earthquake in Mary Geoise was caused by a battle between me and someone else." Yota shook a finger as he spoke to Hancock.

"You’re not joking, are you? As far as I know, that battle left an enormous sloping gap in the Red Line! Even now, ordinary people can climb that slope all the way up to Holy Land Mary Geoise!"

Although Mary Geoise was located in a relatively low section of the Red Line, it was still several thousand meters high! And the Red Line itself was incomparably hard, far sturdier than ordinary earth and stone.

Moreover, since the Red Line was called a continent, its width naturally could not have been small—at the very least, it had to span dozens or even hundreds of kilometers.

Under those circumstances, creating a slope that ran all the way to the sea, stretching for nearly ten thousand meters, was something no human could possibly accomplish.

"That’s right. That slope was blasted out by my final strike. I even lost a life because of it." Yota nodded.

For a moment, Hancock did not know what to say. Deep down, she even suspected Yota was spouting nonsense, but when she looked at the sea chart in his hand, she began to doubt herself.

If Yota were lying outright, there was no need for him to produce so many witnesses, was there? And if she failed to see anyone when the time came, wouldn’t his lie be exposed immediately?

Yota had not thought that much about it. He did not care whether Hancock believed him or not. He only hoped the Kuja Pirates could take in some of the slaves.

"Since you were once a slave of the Celestial Dragons too, I trust you more. If you happen to meet anyone from the Revolutionary Army, you might as well have them develop some people there too."

"Of course, I suspect some may have already left. After all, even if some people became slaves, they still had family members they cared about."

"Just do your best."

After saying all that, Yota noticed that Hancock had fallen silent, and he could not help feeling a little puzzled. "What’s wrong? Did I say something wrong?"

"You didn’t say anything wrong. I just wanted to ask you… did you really attack Mary Geoise? That place… how did you dare go there?"

Yota immediately understood. He shook his head and said to Hancock, "Have you heard of elephants in zoos?"

"When elephants are young, many zookeepers tie one of their legs with a thin hemp rope. At that time, because the elephants are still so small, no matter how they struggle, they cannot break free from the rope."

"As the elephants gradually grow up, they struggle less and less, because they believe that no matter how hard they struggle, they will never break free from that rope."

"Thus, when the elephants have fully grown, a single thin hemp rope is often enough to bind them completely. By then, although they could easily snap that rope, they have already lost the courage and confidence to break free."

Hancock’s expression shifted unpredictably. How could she fail to understand what Yota meant? Yet she only murmured, "You don’t understand. They’re World Nobles…"

"I rescued many slaves." Yota’s voice turned cold. "They told me that being a slave under the Celestial Dragons meant suffering every kind of torment. They said they would rather die and be done with it."

"At the time, I had a question. Since they were not even afraid of death, why were they afraid of the Celestial Dragons instead of daring to die together with them?"

"Among those slaves, aside from some who lacked even the strength to tie up a chicken, there were even figures like Giants and Great Pirates with bounties in the tens of millions! If they had truly gone all out and fought to the death, then even if the Celestial Dragons had bodyguards at their sides, it was not impossible for them to take them down together!"

Then, Yota turned his gaze toward Boa Hancock. "Perhaps those slaves had a thousand different reasons to convince themselves, but in truth, they were all just excuses. The only reason was that all their courage and confidence had been worn away—they had been completely enslaved in mind!"

"Stop it!" Hancock cried out, clutching her head in both hands.

After a moment, Hancock, her face already covered in tears, looked up at Yota. "You don’t understand anything…"

"No, I understand very well. They were simply conditioned." Yota sneered. "The marks on your back may have been removed, but the marks in your heart have never disappeared."

"I’ll ask you one question. If the Celestial Dragon who enslaved you back then appeared before you now, would you kill him?"

Hancock’s whole body trembled, and a trace of confusion appeared in her eyes.

Would she kill him? Or would she tremble in fear, just like she did now?

"I… I don’t know…"

"All right. Those three words, ‘I don’t know,’ already answer the question." Yota shook his head helplessly.

"With your current strength, even if a hundred Celestial Dragons stood before you, you could slap them to death one by one."

"Then what exactly are you still afraid of? Are you afraid the Celestial Dragons will capture you again and make you a slave?"

"To put it bluntly, with your current strength, as long as you don’t cause trouble, even if the Celestial Dragons gave that order, the Marines probably wouldn’t carry it out."

The next morning.

Yota’s words had not completely pulled Boa Hancock out of the shadows, but at least he could sense that the Amazon Lily Queen had begun to face her own heart.

The proof was that the aura Hancock had once possessed—one that was all surface-level, sustained entirely by arrogance and narcissism—had now become much more restrained, giving her a deeper, more composed air.

Clearly, his words that had pierced her heart had had some effect.

When a grown elephant truly began to awaken and tried to break the shackles in its own heart, it would not be long before it snapped that thin hemp rope.

Boa Hancock’s childhood trauma and fear of the Celestial Dragons had once suppressed the hatred in her heart. But once she cast off that psychological shadow, resisting the World Government would likely have to be put on the agenda.

As for what kind of flower the seed he had planted would bloom into, Yota waited with anticipation.