At this moment.
Two enormous green-scaled sea serpents pulled a black ship with red sails across an eerily calm sea.
This was the Calm Belt between the South Blue and the latter half of the Grand Line.
About a hundred nautical miles (≈185 kilometers) from Amazon Lily.
Women clad in white capes and, for the most part, bikinis stood with bows on their backs and snakes of various colors wrapped around their waists.
They walked casually across the deck in high heels, completely unaffected by the ship's swaying.
From time to time, their sharp eyes swept across the surrounding waters, as though they were on guard against something.
They were the female warriors of the former Kuja Pirates, now known as the Snake Princess Guard.
"Still no Sea Kings?"
The current Snake Princess Empress, Toritoma, emerged from the cabin holding a broad-bladed saber, her crimson cape swaying behind her.
(Reference image from her childhood)
However, the obvious displeasure in her voice made the atmosphere on deck grow stifling.
The female warriors knew that Toritoma had come out to vent the pent-up anger in her heart. She wanted to slaughter a few Sea Kings for fun.
Yet who would have thought that throughout the entire journey—
They had not encountered a single Sea King. Or rather, none of them had dared show themselves nearby.
That was actually quite rare. The Calm Belt was the Sea Kings' nest.
Some of the female warriors even suspected that Snake Princess Toritoma's killing intent was too intense, frightening off the perceptive Sea Kings from approaching the ship.
But no one dared say it aloud.
Toritoma could be considered the most hot-tempered empress in history, and most people on Amazon Lily feared her.
"If it comes to it, throw a few bombs into the water. I