The Resolve To Love No Matter What

30 minutes after Luffy left her alone, Hancock sat under a tree near the flower field.

"...I wonder if Luffy is free of the flower effects by now."

She had decided to stay away from Luffy until he was back to normal. Her reason for doing that was because she don't want to upset him further. No. That was just an excuse she told herself. The truth was she couldn't handle the pain of abandonment and chose to run away from the reality that was in front of her.

No one was aware of this weakness more than Hancock herself.

"Sigh. Why did it turn out like this? I just wanted to capture Luffy's heart and attention. Was it wrong for me to want that?"

Hancock started to recall the events of their short date. She has been doing this nonstop for a while now. She smiled whenever she remember how gentle Luffy was and sulked whenever she recalled his sudden aggressive attitude towards her.

"...I guess it was wrong of me to use a side effect to my advantage."

Hancock also constantly told herself she got what she deserved. She used a clearly odd Luffy to her advantage and now karma was biting back at her. That was the argument Hancock has been constantly repeating to herself.

"Ah, this is so pathetic. It's only my third day and Luffy already hates me!"

Hancock held her head in her arms and shouted in frustration.

"No, that isn't right. It's the side effect of the flower. That Luffy was a fake, the real Luffy cherishes me!"

Hancock finally started to cheer herself up.

"So what if he's a little angry? He's still the Luffy I love! I won't be defeated by something as measly as a flower!"

As if remembering herself, Hancock quickly stood up.

"I'm not one to back down so easily. I like challenges, and making Luffy fall in love with me is the biggest challenge of them all. I came here for the purpose of accomplishing that. So, I can't back down now!"

Hancock quickly followed the path Luffy took when he left her.

"I am Boa Hancock! Empress of the Kuja Tribe! The woman feared around the world as the Pirate Empress!"

Hancock recalled the title she wanted the most in the world, and with a fearless smile declared to the world.

"And above all, I am the future wife of Monkey D Luffy! I am the future Pirate Queen!"

After reconfirming her resolve, Hancock hastily sought Luffy out. It didn't take long for her to find him.

In fact, it was pretty obvious if you checked your surroundings even a little.

There was a section of the island that was freshly destroyed. In that area lay countless broken trees, countless corpses of different kinds of beasts, and a trail of bones.

"......"

Hancock saw the beast that caused this meaningless destruction.

"Luffy."

Sitting around a fire, surrounded by blood stain snow, and munching on freshly cooked meat, was of course Luffy.

In the short time he separated from Hancock, he had ransacked a section of the island.

She didn't know if it was also a side effect of the flower, or if it was proof of his strength. But, Hancock knew one thing.

The current Luffy was no different from a beast.

"Huh? What do you want?"

Luffy sensed Hancock's presence and spoke to her coldly. However, Hancock didn't falter.

"I'm here to see you."

"Huh? Didn't I say I didn't want to see your ugly mug?"

"Yes, you did but I have no obligation to listen to anything you say."

The veins in Luffy's face started pulsating.

"Oi, woman. That's some attitude you got there."

He stood up and walked over to Hancock. He looked her in the face and glared at her.

Hancock returned a glare of her own.

"I won't listen to anything you say. You fake."

Luffy got even angrier. He looked like he was going to explode any minute now.

However, Hancock still didn't back down. Even though it pains her to glare at him, she was also angry at the fact that something like a flower could cause a rupture in their relationship.

To Hancock, the current Luffy was an existence she couldn't accept.

"You're sick and not in your right mind. So, I'm going to stick to you even more than before. Whether you like it or not."

Hancock was looking down on the current Luffy. He realized that.

"Then if you won't listen, I'll just force you to."

With an angry voice, Luffy entered Gear Second.

Seeing that, Hancock also entered a fighting pose.

"I really don't want to fight you, but if I leave you alone like this you'll get yourself killed."

There were numerous dangerous beasts on this island. Luffy himself said, that he was wary of a lot of them. However, the current Luffy lacked awareness. This means it's highly likely that he'll pick a fight with an opponent far stronger than him, and could end up severely hurt; or worst-case scenario, dead.

That was something Hancock couldn't allow to happen no matter what.

Even if Luffy comes to hate her, she didn't care. She would still love him unconditionally.

With such a resolve Hancock stood before Luffy.

"......"

The two silently glared at each other, and just when they were going to spring at the other.

"Something's coming?!"

They could sense something enormous rushing towards them. It didn't take long for it to make its presence known in the air.

"BZZZZZZZZZ!"

"What the hell is that?!"

Floating in the air, and projecting a huge shadow on the ground, was a gigantic Winter Bee. However, this Winter Bee was extremely different from the ones Hancock saw before.

First of all, it had two stingers, a white one and a golden one. Its fur was a perfect mix of white and gold. It's wings were rainbow-colored. And the strangest feature of all was a crown-shaped mark on its abdomen.

"Oh, you're finally here, Queen!"

Luffy who spot the monster, spoke joyously.

"Finally here? Don't tell me you called that thing here?"

"Why else would it be here?"

Luffy answered in a sarcastic tone.

"That's Queen. The queen bee of the Winter Bees. The last time I fought it, I was also killed in an instant. Old man Rayleigh had to save my life."

Luffy displayed a savage and angry smile, unbefitting his face.

"That was humiliating! So I killed a few of her children to call her out!"

Unlike normal bees who protect their queen, Winter Bees were protected by their mother, who also acted as their queen. The quickest way to lure her out was to kill several of her children, however-

"Are you insane?! I can tell just from looking at that thing, that it's extremely strong!"

"Shut up, and don't get it my way!"

Luffy who was already in gear second, coat his limbs in Haki and rushed towards the giant bee.

But before he could even throw a punch, the bee disappeared.

"Huh? It vanished?"

Luffy was dumbfounded, that's when-

"Luffy, its attacking from your left!"

Hearing Hancock's warning, Luffy quickly glanced to his left but it was too late.

"BZZZZZZZZZ!"

The queen bee golden stinger quickly extended, and pierce Luffy in the side.

"Guh?!"

Luffy groaned and coughed up blood before falling to the ground.

Seeing that, the bee disappeared and reappeared again. This time it was planning to impale him from the front.

The retracted stinger quickly extended, but this time-

"How dare you do that to Luffy?!"

Hancock dashed forward and redirected its aim with a kick.

The stinger was logged into the ground, and the bee was momentarily stuck.

"Get lost!"

Not missing that opening, Hancock delivered an even more powerful kick at the bee's head.

The force of the kick blew the bee away, and the stinger that was stuck broke off.

"Luffy!"

Hancock hastily rushed to Luffy's side.

"Ugh....D-Didn't I tell you not to get in my way?"

Luffy groaned and forced a voice out. Hancock could see that he was bleeding heavily.

She immediately ripped a part of her dress and wrapped it around Luffy's wound.

"This will lower the bleeding for now. We need to move away from here, and search for some medical herbs."

Without waiting for him to complain, Hancock lifted Luffy over her shoulder and started to run.

The reason why she urgently left the area, made itself clear moments later.

*Explosion*

"BZZZZZZZZZ!"

The queen bee, who seemed even angrier, started to wreck the forest with its stingers. It even created strong wind with its giant wings that uprooted some of the trees.

"It moves so fast that it's like it can vanish in thin air. I can barely track it with Haki. It looks Luffy's Haki couldn't keep up with its speed."

She looked at the bee and started to analyze it.

"It can retract and extend its stinger. Its wings cause strong wind, and it seems highly intelligent...It's an extremely dangerous creature."

She ran with all her might. However, the queen bee soon spotted her.

It didn't chase her, it just positioned its body in the air as if aiming at them.

"Is it going to extend its stinger again?! Can it reach this far?!"

But the queen bee did something even more surprising.

It shot its white stinger as if firing a gun.

"Wha?!"

Hancock quickly evaded the giant bullet stinger, while holding Luffy.

By the time she turned around, the queen bee already had a new white stinger.

"Isn't that just cheating?!"

The queen bee continuously fired its stingers at the fleeing Hancock, until she was no longer in range.

"She's not pursuing us?"

Hancock couldn't understand why the angry bee stopped its pursuit but felt lucky that it didn't. It didn't take long for Hancock to return to the cave that she slept in with the injured Luffy.

Surprisingly, he didn't make one complaint while they were running.

"Luffy, I'm going to gather some medicinal herbs. Stay here until I get back."

Hancock who was about to run out of the cave was stopped by a slight pull on her dress.

"Luffy?"

She turned around to look at what was the matter.

"D....Lea...ne"

"Huh? Sorry, I couldn't hear you."

Hancock taught Luffy was feeling too weak to speak louder and drew closer to him.

"....Don't leave me alone.

He spoke softly.

Hearing that caught, Hancock off guard.

" I won't be long. I only need to collect some herbs, and-"

"No! Don't leave me alone! I'm scared!"

"S-Scared?"

Hancock, who has never seen Luffy afraid of anything before, stared at him in shock.

And then she saw it.

".....Blue."

Luffy's eyes turned blue once again. It was a sign that he had another mood change.

"Please, don't leave me alone. Ms."

While staring at the timid Luffy in wonder, one thought floated in Hancock's mind.

'...This is surprisingly cute.'