Chapter Text
Hancock Boa wasn't exactly the sort of woman known for her patience. She was known for her beauty, her power, her commanding presence—but not for abiding inconveniences that came her way. No—those she crushed under her heel until things started going her way again.
But it was a little difficult to grind such an intangible problem under her boot. She scowled at the transponder snail, who looked back at her with its wobbly eyestalks without a care in the world.
She hadn't been able to get a hold of Crocodile OR Doflamingo for some time now. All communication with their channels had seemingly gone completely dead, and all she could pick up was static on the airwaves.
"How absolutely wretched," She sniffed with a toss of her hair over her shoulder. "For the both of them to vanish after heading to the same place is absurd."
"Could something be blocking the communication?"
The person who asked, standing by her side looking out at the sea with her, wasn't one of her kuja warriors. The blonde with the burn scarred face was dressed in what Hancock had decided to refer to as 'the dress', an emergency reserve outfit kept on the Nine Snakes in the rare occasion that the Kuja found one of the creatures known as 'man' and didn't immediately decide to pitch him back into the sea.
A loose and draping Kuja cloak over a body-obscuring dress patterned in lily flowers buttoned up to the neck with shapewear carrying the appearance of small breasts. A measure of propriety to keep all but those in the direct know from having to find out a man was on board.
Most Kuja still feared the men of the world. Hancock couldn't blame them—the world was a cruel place. And she—well. If it wasn't for her darling Luffy, and the sometimes irksome men of Cross Guild, she wouldn't have resorted to the use of 'the dress' for their visitor. It was only the pleading of his partners and the claimed connections that spared him at first, as it was.
"It could be. But it's not quite—" It was simply as if nobody was picking up at all. "it's reaching them, but they won't answer."
"That's… troubling. I don't like it. You said Luffy would be on that island?"
Hancock nodded, her lips drawing tight as she gently flicked her earring back and forth with her fingertip.
"It was reported to me that Luffy's ship, the Sunny, was headed towards Elegia for this 'Uta Concert'. Which means he's very much there and I should very much like to make sure he's okay. I've heard tell of it over and I'm not altogether sure I trust it."
She paused. "---and I suppose I'd like to check on the others as well."
He nodded. Sabo. Luffy's brother. Hancock could imagine why he was so worried about a communication issue given how desperate things were when she picked up him, and his handful of crew.
The only thing on Hancock's mind had been Amazon Lily. Cross Guild could wait until it was safe. Her home, her people, they were all in danger from the heavy hand of the World Government who hated them for their connection to piracy.
The Marines were dispatched to subjugate the Kuja—to enslave them and ransack their home for anything the Celestial Dragons deemed worthy of their attention. She'd set out at once with her loyal sisters and her crew to intercept and destroy them for daring to lay a hand on Amazon Lily now that they considered her and the Kuja 'fair game' with the Warlord's dissolution.
It was only when the sky lit up with a nauseating and blinding light like a second sun that her attention was finally overtaken from her silent and brooding fury. As the light waned, burning her eyes, the Mother Ocean became angry.
Her fury burned like Hancock's, tossing the Nine Snakes around its waves as she barked every order she could to keep them from going under in the sudden hostile waves.
There was supposed to be an island nearby, but she didn't see it on the horizon.
Instead she saw a single ship, tacking into the wind for all it was worth, taking on water as smoke rose from the air.
Hancock's eyes widened, and she wheeled with a point of her imperious hand and an order to divert to the sinking ship and to pull what could be saved from the wreckage. The instinctive fear that had welled inside her at the flash of light clawed at her ribs as she took a sharp breath and directed her Kuja to cut through the ocean's fury.
There were five survivors. Well four and… something else. He wore the face of the man she had once known as a fellow Warlord of the Sea, but there was something wrong with him.
"It was part rescue mission," the blond man with the burn scar explained to her when she boarded their sinking ship. "He was being held in Mary Geoise, but something terrible's been done to him."
Mary Geoise. That had been one factor that had saved the lives of the men among them. They were Revolutionary Army— the parties responsible for the incursion into the sacred land that had only barely been reported in the paper.
The second— they had recognized her.
"You're Hancock, aren't you? My brother told me about you."
Hancock was happy to be torn from the warped visage of her former comrade—Kuma the Tyrant—turning instead to pour the full force of her stoney glare upon the young man.
"Your brother is familiar with me?"
That in and of itself was noteworthy. Even as one of the most worldly Kuja, Hancock didn't make it a habit to get to know any men she didn't have to. The Warlords were her first exception, and Luffy the second, leading to a sudden rise in male encounters since she'd met him.
Encounters like— the young man's face suddenly flashed through her memory. It was distinctive, certainly distinctive, and she'd seen it before.
"You're that young man who was helping out with that whole mess with Bullet and the Pirate Festival, aren't you? The one who was close with my husband!"
"Yes, Luffy! That's my brother!" the young man explained to her, earnestly. "He said he spent two years with you on your island, and that you're engaged to be married. Thank you for keeping him safe during that time... when I couldn't."
Hancock's hand covered her mouth to hide the wide smile on her face. He didn't need to say anything more. He knew of her engagement. He knew of Luffy's time with her as she protected him and helped him heal—the evidence spoke volumes.
She believed him. "But of course. It was my honor as the Pirate Empress to care for and love him as much as I was able."
Her eyes fell to the two women talking quietly a little further behind the young man—a pair of redheads, one with a striking and well-toned figure and a hardened look to her face, a bandage only barely covering a smattering of burn scars against her cheek, the other slight of frame but clearly strong—looking up at her with wide and expressive eyes.
Isuka and Koala, she'd been introduced.
"It's a pleasure to finally meet you. Luffy spoke of you on Amazon Lily."
"The pleasure's all ours," Sabo said, giving a bow. "I know it's hardly usual, but we'd be deeply grateful for any kind of assistance in this predicament. For the sake of my brother and because– there are people who need to know what happened here."
Hancock smothered her smile enough to lower her hand with a quirk of her lips.
"But of course. It's not a matter I divulge lightly, but I know well the horrors of the Celestial Dragons and the temple to cruelty they call 'Mary Geoise'. The word must get out—and I will help you, but I want you to understand something men."
It was enough to send the young man who was trying to quietly shrink as small as possible behind Sabo into a twitch, leaving him stumbling to his feet with a hiss of breath. "Yes ma'am! I'm listening, ma'am!"
Sabo nodded, putting his arm around the other man after he helped him to his feet. "We're at your mercy, ma'am."
Hancock chuckled under her breath.
"I won't throw you men to the sea on virtue of your connection with my fiance, and on the strength of your character." She pointed. "But know that men who cross me are turned to stone along with their wicked hearts. If you sail with me—you understand that well."
Isuka chuckled in the back. "Sounds like even Luffy's brother is on thin ice," she murmured. "That's the pirate empress for ya."
Hancock smiled thinly. "So firstly—you gentlemen will have to wear the 'dress' of Amazon LIly to avoid making my crew uncomfortable. Some among them aren't used to the company of men yet, even with our dealings with Cross Guild. So you'll wear what I order you both to wear."
Sabo doffed his hat. "A small price to pay, empress."
Sabo had told her that they'd been returning to the island that was the Revolutionary Army's secret home. And that what looked like a stormcloud had gathered in the sky.
There was a great light. And the island was gone.
An entire island—wiped from the face of the earth by some great storm that was far from a force of nature. The Revolutionary Army turned to a sinking crater in the sea.
It turned Hancock's stomach but time was short. A second tragedy was still looming.
So she'd directed the ship to Amazon Lily once more with the incident sitting like a pit in her stomach, and the cloying fear of just what sort of atrocity had been committed. The whys, the hows—they were all a horrible mystery that plagued her all the way through the brutal liberation of her land.
The brutal annihilation of the Revolutionary Army. The marine assault on Amazon Lily.
Yes. She could see why losing communication made Sabo worried.
It was the same reason concern clenched her heart tight in her chest.
"We'll have to divert ourselves to check on them. I wasn't planning on going back to headquarters until I'd seen Luffy anyway."
"It'll be good to see him again." Sabo nodded. His voice stayed light but she watched his fingers clench around the ship's rail.
It would be good to see him again, it'd be good. Her lips tightened into an approximation of a smile. It'd be fine. They'd be simply enjoying the unsettling little music concert. And may mother ocean and all the gods protect the Grand Line from her wrath if they weren't.
When Crocodile finally had managed to track down the Donquixotes he had not been thrilled to discover that their surveillance expert Violet was seriously out of commission. That was no fucking good. That pointed to their trouble with communications being a real fucking problem and not something with an easy fix.
He was, however, absolutely thrilled to get to Jinbei– calm, sensible Jinbei, alone without Straw Hat there– to start explaining Cross Guild to him, and why they hopefully didn't have to be at each others' throats. And without Buggy there to whine about the One Piece, too! What a huge stroke of luck.
It was on Jinbei's advice that they'd taken the conversation outside. Just in case Straw Hat got impulsively violent when he saw them. With Straw Hat Luffy, who fucking knew? The first time Crocodile met the kid he'd been throwing punches before Crocodile even knew what was happening.
Apparently he'd already made peace with Doflamingo, but with the Straw Hat kid who fucking knew?
Who fucking knew what to expect. Not him. Not Doffy's family. Not even Jinbei, who was on the kid's crew.
So they were outside, and when Straw Hat rolled up Crocodile felt like a deer in the headlights. He was sweating, though no one saw it, given how instantly he reabsorbed it into his skin.
Straw Hat stopped. And he stared at him with those big, dark eyes, as wide and unknowable as the sea itself.
And everybody went quiet and still while they all waited to see what he was gonna do.
And then Straw Hat grinned, that big, stupid, disarming grin of his, and waved at them all excitedly.
"Hey!! Croco! Hawk Guy! Smokey!! Are you here for my sister's concert, too? I guess she's pretty famous!"
Crocodile felt a little faint. The gamble had paid off.
He raised his hand– not his hook– and waved back.
Luffy thought of himself as someone who was pretty flexible. Someone who was pretty good at rolling with the punches. What with being stretchy and everything it was practically a talent. So when he saw Croco, Hawk guy and Smokey standing around with Jinbei and Yamato and the Donquixote guys… especially after the day he had just had… it was just kind of whatever. Almost normal.
Honestly he was mostly wondering at this point who wasn't friends with Crocodile. Cause like, Vivi was for sure, and Robin probably even if they had a complicated history, and Mingo who was now sort of his friend through the transitive property of Traffy was apparently Croco's friend.
And Croco had saved his life at Marineford for sure.
So like. He was cool with Croco. That was fine. And Zoro seemed to adore Hawk guy as much as he wanted to beat him. They spent two years together and Luffy was a little jealous of that. So Hawk guy was fine.
Smokey was a little less of a known element but he didn't seem to be trying to arrest anybody, and there were definitely people to arrest if he was going to. So Luffy quickly decided Smokey must be okay, too.
Anyway, aside from Hawk guy he'd already beaten everybody there up. He could do it again if he had to.
But hopefully there wouldn't be any reason for that, and they could just have a good time.
Everybody seemed to be waiting for his reaction. The Straw Hats had frozen, so had the conversation around the door as everybody turned to look at them.
He had to get this right, as captain. He put on his biggest grin, and waved to them.
"Hey!! Croco! Hawk Guy! Smokey!! Are you here for my sister's concert, too? I guess she's pretty famous!"
Croco, grumpy old man that he was, waved back at him. "Straw Hat! About time you joined us."
"Give me a break, it's been a busy day! I didn't expect to see you here– though Vivi's probably pretty happy to see you, huh?" He turned to grin in Vivi's direction. She did look pretty excited, she had a big smile crossing her face and was practically vibrating with the ironclad restraint to not tackle hug him from across the room.
"You didn't tell him I was gonna be here, Doffy?" Crocodile grumbled.
Mingo laughed that crazy little giggle he always had. "Like the kid said! It's been a busy day!"
Did everybody call him Doffy these days? Should Luffy switch? Mingo suited him more though.
Robin watched idly as Smoker sized her captain up from Crocodile's side. His eyes were scrunched in that particular way that she recognized from Alabasta—not anger, exactly, but a tension.
Maybe he was simply unsure of how to react to seeing his longtime on-again off-again rival, his quarry, when clearly so much had changed for him. It'd have to have, otherwise why would Smoker, the marine, be standing side by side with his old enemy? The man he locked away in Alabasta?
She was about to open her mouth when Vivi clearly couldn't take it anymore—she launched herself bodily in a sparkle of starlight to tackle hug Crocodile with a grin. "Croc!! It's so great to see you! I've missed you! And hey too, Smoker!"
"...." Smoker huffed out a breath of smoke. "Vivi. I see you didn't wind up getting dragged back to Alabasta. Good."
Robin decided to keep quiet for the moment, and observe how this played out.
Crocodile chuckled, and slung his arm around Vivi as she tackled him. "Hey, Viv. Missed you too. Happy to get such a warm welcome, honestly."
Jinbei, meanwhile, regarded Luffy. "Captain, how did things go with Uta? Do you have any information?"
Luffy shook his head. "Uta said she thinks it might be somebody's devil fruit doing something weird, I guess."
"That makes a fair bit of sense," Robin mused. "devil fruits are notoriously tricky. It could be simple as one canceling another out."
An arm sprouted to rub her chin as she smiled over at Vivi and Crocodile with a little wave of her free hand.
Mihawk made a low 'hm' sound as he shifted to cross his arms over his bare chest. "I'd agree with that if it weren't for our own discovery."
With a squeeze of Crocodile's arm, Vivi chewed her lip. "O-oh?"
"Could still be a devil fruit admittedly, but I gotta wonder," Crocodile grumbled. "We can't get anything on transponder that isn't Uta."
Luffy looked at Robin. "What's that mean?"
Robin tilted her head to the side as her finger brushed along the curve of her chin. "....it means that all signals are being jammed on this island. The only thing that exists per the transponder— is Uta. It means it's a rather large signal blockage, captain."
It still could be a devil fruit. That was the easy, sensible answer, but the question then became 'how' and 'why', and 'how purposeful'. Often the key questions to ask in these sorts of situations, and often innocuous in their answers.
But something didn't feel right. There was something that felt off in the air, and it gave her the sense that the answer wouldn't be one she liked to hear.
At least there was quite the group here, it was nice to see Crocodile again after their little reunion after Dressrosa.
"I knew this concert was fishy," Smoker murmured. "Losing all transponder signals ain't great. Especially with the Navy enroute to turn this concert into a bloodbath."
"Yeah, wait, hey, Smokey, aren't you with the navy?" Luffy demanded, hands on his hips.
"Oops," Smoker said dryly, "I got on the wrong ship."
"Huh?" Luffy stared vacantly at him, lengthening his neck to stare more closely.
Crocodile snorted. "He's fucking with you, Straw Hat. Smoker's on our side now."
That was a surprise. Smoker and that second of his, Tashigi, had long been stalwart opponents. They'd stood strong as the force of justice that seemed intent on chasing them all about the Grand LIne.
And now they were apparently pirates?
Smoker laughed roughly before he nodded. "That's right, Straw Hat. I've gone Pirate—I hit my fucking limit on what I could excuse as 'justice', and the lot of us cut ourselves free of the marines."
"Oh?" Luffy blinked and then he grinned. His long arm snapped out and he grabbed Smoker's hand to give it a shake. "Congratulations then, that's great!"
A dry, snide voice cut into the festivities from the doorway.Caesar Clown. "I hate to interrupt, but I thought you'd want to know that Violet's awake."
Smoker's half smile faded at the mention of Violet's awakening, but he shook Luffy's hand with a low laugh. "....we'll have a drink to celebrate it, Straw Hat."
Robin turned her attention to the door with a nod. "Thank you. Can we speak with her?"
Caesar nodded. "Well obviously but please only like, I don't know, five or six of you at a time, it's a small room."
Robin chuckled low under her breath as the image of the entire group—the gaggle of them, looming Donquixotes and Crocodile, and Smoker—and the Straw Hats, all jammed in the small kitchen jostling for space.
She couldn't help the small smile that spread across her lips, and the soft, barely audible chuckle as the figments of her imagination jostled for space.
When they'd entered the room, Violet was sitting up with her arms curled around her knees and her forehead pressed against them. She was breathing—shaky, soft breaths as her brow furrowed in quiet confusion.
Luffy, arms crossed, promptly demanded the answer to the question he was sure was on everybody's minds. "So what the heck happened, huh?"
Mihawk huffed a soft sound—maybe it was approval? Maybe he thought it was funny. It was kind of hard to tell.
Violet looked up with a thin smile. She looked tired. "Getting right to the point per usual, Luffy. It's nice to see you again."
"Nice to see you again too," he huffed. He watched as Mingo knelt down beside her and brushed his fingers over her face. It was hard to read his expression behind his glasses, but it reminded him that maybe he should clarify his position anyway. "Mingo and I worked things out while you were asleep."
"I'd hoped you might, if you had half a moment to talk," She mused before she nuzzled her face against Mingo's hand. "I'm alright, Doffy. I promise. I've got some—unpleasant news, though."
"Worried you might say that." He trailed his fingers through her hair for a moment before giving her some space. "Well, let's not keep Straw Hat waiting then. What kind of unpleasant news?"
Luffy could see the way her fingers lingered on his arm as he stepped away before they folded on her lap. "Elegia's cut off from the outside world."
She closed her eyes. "It's in a sort of—bubble. There's the concert venue and the surrounding island—and I cannot sense anything outside of it. Not only that, but I'm actually having a bit of trouble seeing here, in general, as well as seeing into the minds of others."
"Ah…bother," Mihawk murmured.
"A bubble?" Crocodile demanded gruffly. "Why the hell are we in a bubble?"
"Oh, that one's obvious!" Finally, a question that Luffy could answer. He smacked his palm with his fist.
All eyes were on him now, especially the piercing stares of MIhawk and VIolet, who's uncanny eyes stared him down in anticipation of an answer.
Croco leveled his gaze at him too. "Well, Straw Hat? What's obvious?"
"If we're in a bubble, it must be one of Uta's songs! She used to be able to make people like, live in them, kinda, while she was singing! I guess she's gotten a lot better at it!" Luffy laughed, thinking of how much it had always annoyed Uta that people fell asleep when she sang, even if she was the one putting them in a trance.
Mingo laughed, too. "Well, that certainly explains it!"
"You didn't think you should mention this earlier, Straw Hat?" Croco demanded.
Luffy blinked at him. "No? Why would I?"
Violet blinked slowly, and then she started to laugh with MIngo. "We're living in a song…no wonder I can't see. No wonder people are a mystery to me now!"
Mihawk tilted his head. "That's a unique ability. Are we transported to some 'song' world, or is this some vivid illusion?"
Luffy thought about it. Admittedly, he had no idea exactly how much her powers might have grown. If everybody at the concert was there, probably quite a bit!
"If it's like when we were kids, then we're all probably asleep!"
"What?" Croco didn't look happy about that. "We're asleep? So our real bodies are just, what, laying around on the island somewhere?"
"Yup!" Luffy laughed, remembering waking up after his face had made a print in the dirt. "You worried a bug's going to crawl into your mouth, old man?"
"I think he's more worried about the marines who are coming, Straw Hat," Mingo suggested.
Mihawk nodded.
"Indeed. Luffy, Emperor Luffy—" he closed his eyes "if we're asleep here, it means we're all but defenseless when the marines encircle this island and burn it to cinders."
Violet hissed softly through her teeth, before she smiled. "Well. If we're all just asleep, that's a small matter to fix isn't it? She's a sensible girl, and your sister. If we just tell her the danger, she'll release us from her spell."
Luffy frowned. As weird as it was to talk to all these guys, they were kinda right. It seemed like Uta just hadn't thought about the consequences of her dream concert. That was alright. It'd be easy to warn her.
"Yeah, we can just talk to her!" Luffy nodded. "Pretty silly of her not to realize that she was the one causing the problem with your vision, though."
Crocodile lingered by the door with Mihawk while Luffy was gathering up a little party to go talk to Uta again.
"I don't like it, Hawky."
Mihawk frowned sharply, leaning against his shoulder as he murmured in a low voice. "Neither do I, Crocodile. I don't believe she could have simply forgotten about the risk her powers pose. Not with the way she's deliberately goading the World Government."
"Exactly." He pointed at Mihawk with his cigar. "And that's why we're gonna go along with Straw Hat instead of waiting around here to find out what the hell is up."
"You want to confront his sister?" Mihawk asked with a note of amusement. "That's my captain, alright."
As the moon rose over Elegia island, Uta looked out over concert grounds— still, and quiet. They were in a state of respite, of divine rest under the glow of the moon and in the beauty of a still night filled with dreams of a better world.
A new genesis cast in silent, pale moonlight. It filled her with a thrum of warmth, a shot of excitement as she imagined it. It was almost as intoxicating as their cheers, and the smiles on their faces.
She spread her hands out towards the tents and the small clustered groups on their campgrounds, her smile inching wider on her face. This was the shape of salvation— a salvation she'd bring to the entire world as she wiped the Great Pirate Era from the face of it.
This was her song of liberation, after all.