Some time earlier, Nine Serpent Island.
"Who threw this cigarette butt?"
Hancock frowned deeply, her face clouded with anger as she surveyed the citizens of Nine Serpent Island with a cool, indifferent gaze that carried an innate authority.
Wherever her gaze fell, faces turned pale.
Nine Serpent Island was no secluded paradise, but a closed and primitive pirate kingdom.
In this primitive land that preserved its fierce traditions, anyone who dared offend the king's authority would never come to a good end.
What was more, Boa Hancock, the king of this generation, bore the legendary aura of the "Snake Princess." Her terrifying petrification power was precisely the "curse" feared by every citizen of Nine Serpent Island.
Thus, no one dared face Snake Princess's questioning directly. Even the powerful female warriors who wielded Haki did not dare meet the anger hidden in Hancock's eyes.
Silence filled the surroundings.
The anger in Hancock's eyes grew stronger.
As the pampered, exalted Pirate Empress who was admired by all, Hancock would never tolerate anyone offending her dignity—not even with a cigarette butt.
The air froze to the point where it became hard to breathe. At last, a faint, timid voice emerged from the crowd:
"Snake—Snake Princess."
"The girls on our island shouldn't smoke..."
"What did you say?"
Hancock looked over coldly, then shouted sternly:
"No one smokes? Then did this cigar fall from the sky?"
"I—I..."
The Nine Serpent female warrior who had just spoken up immediately broke out in a cold sweat. Under Hancock's intimidating stare, she went limp like dough.
Getting this angry over half a cigar did seem rather like making a mountain out of a molehill. It was hardly ladylike.
But...
"Snake Princess is beautiful even when she's angry!"
Even in such a tense atmosphere, the citizens of Nine Serpent