The Kuja Pirate Ship was a pirate vessel pulled by two ferocious sea serpents, allowing it to sail freely even without wind. Their deadly venom kept even the Sea Kings of the Calm Belt from provoking them.
Unlike other ships, it had no cabins or anything of the sort. Only an enormous palace stood on its deck. Inside its main hall, an exceptionally slender woman reclined across a large bed, with a huge serpent coiled around her to serve as a backrest.
The woman had beautiful black hair, parted down the middle to reveal her forehead. Two straight sections framed her temples, occasionally obscuring her cheeks and lending her an elusive beauty. The long, neatly arranged hair behind her sometimes fell over her shoulders to the front, adding a touch of charm to her dignified bearing. Though her hair was long and loose, it still left her ears exposed. Their slightly pointed tips, rather than rounded ones, further suggested that she was not a woman to be trifled with.
Her slender, level brows tapered at the ends, and her slightly deep-set eyes gave an immediate impression of depth. Double eyelids accentuated the beauty of her large eyes. Her lashes were noticeably long, their thickness enhancing her beauty and making it all the more striking whenever she deliberately played it up.
Her eyes had a distinctive, elongated shape, with more rounded lower contours that emphasized both the outer whites and her large pupils. Even without being round, her eyes were remarkably large. A deep blue gleam shone in their depths, making them utterly captivating.
As beautiful as a celestial maiden.
Any man who saw this woman could only describe her that way. And the only person who possessed such an exquisite face was the Pirate Empress. Her reputation as the most beautiful woman in the world was no exaggeration; it was the genuine truth. Every feature of her face was beautiful, and their proportions were perfectly balanced. She was a beauty among beauties.
A pair of golden, snake-shaped earrings hung from her earlobes, befitting her status as the Empress of the Kuja. Though large, they did not seem excessive, instead giving her face a fuller appearance.
The Empress of the Kuja also possessed a pair of utterly perfect legs. From her reclining posture, the proportions of her thighs and calves were exceptionally harmonious, without the jarring contrast of thin calves and full thighs, or the scrawny look of legs that were thin all the way down. Their graceful shape was the result of years of exercise.
She stood 1.93 meters tall, and those slender, perfect legs alone accounted for 1.4 to 1.5 meters of that height. Her legs alone were considerably taller than Bai Ina...
The Pirate Empress lay languidly on the bed. Even simply reclining on her side brought out her boundless charm.
"Elder sister, Marine Headquarters has sent another telegram asking us to intercept the Revolutionary Army's transport unit."
Accompanied by a slightly rough, husky female voice, a woman with wavy green hair and a head twice the size of her body entered the hall.
"They never stop!"
The Empress's voice was mature, with a distinctive pitch. Both its timbre and tone fell in the middle-to-upper female register, and even her displeasure carried an utterly captivating, queenly air.
"How tiresome. Ignore them. I only became one of the Shichibukai because I liked the title. That does not mean I must obey their orders."
The green-haired woman, Boa Sandersonia, chuckled and nodded. She felt no dissatisfaction whatsoever with her elder sister's willfulness, because her sister was the most beautiful woman in the world. Whatever she did, she would be forgiven.
"Elder sister!"
Just then, another woman entered from outside the hall. She was enormous and heavyset, with orange hair. She was another of the Pirate Empress's younger sisters, Boa Marigold.
Marigold walked in with a somewhat grim expression and a trace of killing intent in her eyes. "We've spotted a warship ahead. It may be here to hurry us into intercepting the Revolutionary Army's transport unit."
Humm-
At those words, the Pirate Empress's expression darkened. An invisible pressure immediately spread through the palace. Though her reclining posture had not changed at all, to those watching, she suddenly seemed overwhelmingly imposing, chilling them to the bone.
"They have a death wish!"
With those icy words, the Pirate Empress slowly rose from the bed, and the huge serpent followed close behind her.
Click, click, click...
Her high heels struck the floor one step at a time. They were merely ordinary footsteps, yet they made people feel as though their hearts were being crushed beneath her feet.
"You have some nerve, coming all the way here to hurry us along."
With a cigarette between her lips, Ran glared darkly at the Marines on the opposing warship's deck and berated them coldly. Having already jumped to conclusions, every one of the women assumed the warship had come solely to press them into intercepting the Revolutionary Army's transport unit.
"What does she mean by that?"
Looking bewildered, Sa Kaiyang asked the teammate beside him.
"How should I know? Anyway, where's that Empress you mentioned?" As he spoke, the teammate began brazenly scanning the crowd, looking thoroughly sleazy...
Everyone else who had heard about her, Sa Kaiyang included, looked much the same.
The expressions of the Kuja Pirate Ship's crew all darkened.
Click, click, click...
Footsteps seemed to strike directly against everyone's hearts. Though not particularly loud, they rang out with extraordinary clarity, making everyone aboard the warship frown involuntarily. Their bodies shuddered as if by instinct, and an inexplicable heaviness welled up from deep within them.
Is this Conqueror's Haki?
Hidden in the crowd, Bai Ina could not help marveling inwardly. Even the almost imperceptible trace of Haki carried in those footsteps made him feel pressured. He could clearly sense that this pressure would affect his ability to fight.
If the Empress unleashed her Haki at full strength, Bai Ina could not guarantee that he would still be standing there.
Creak.
The palace doors suddenly swung open. Two enormous figures emerged, one to the left and one to the right, then took their places on either side of the entrance like guards.
The Pirate Empress stepped out of the palace, her expression cold and haughty.
"Who, exactly, has the audacity to block my ship's passage?" Even as she spoke, the Empress kept walking, heading straight onto the head of the enormous serpent at the bow and pointing a delicate finger at the warship.
The huge serpent immediately turned toward the warship, finally hovering above it. Its eyes looked down from on high at the Revolutionary Army members, who stood frozen on the deck.
"You truly are persistent. To be frank, I have no intention of intercepting any Revolutionary Army." As she spoke, the Pirate Empress glanced at the supplies piled on the deck, then continued in her cool voice, "And I want every last bit of the supplies aboard your ship."
"Ah, she's so beautiful!"
"So this is the Pirate Empress?"
"She really is gorgeous!"
"..."
"What are you waiting for? Hurry up and carry all our supplies over to the Empress!" Sa Kaiyang's eyes instantly turned into a pair of hearts as he shouted at the teammates on deck, his face filled with infatuation.
"Yes! We'll bring them over right away!"
"Lady Empress, wait for us!"
"How can a woman be this beautiful?"
"I'd give her anything..."
"..."
"..." Bai Ina's face instantly darkened, and the corners of his mouth twitched uncontrollably as he watched. He had risked his life to seize those supplies, yet one sentence was all it took for these bastards to give everything away...
P.S. Pfft, Xiao Jiao swears I absolutely wasn't trying to pad the word count. I just wanted to capture the Empress's beauty, and before I knew it, I'd written this much. But in my opinion, even two thousand words describing her beauty wouldn't be too much... Because the Empress is the most beautiful woman of all, and any word describing beauty can be applied to her...
P.S. Happy Lunar New Year's Eve, everyone! Once I post this, I'll get back to writing... Actually, there are some things we should all just keep to ourselves, but... I'm seventeen. Yep, to all the older brothers and sisters out there, I'll leave it up to you... Your little brother wishes you a happy New Year.
As for anyone younger than me... Shoo, go play somewhere else. I haven't even received any red envelopes myself...
Pfft, just kidding. Happy Lunar New Year's Eve to everyone reading this! May you reunite with your families, enjoy the Spring Festival Gala, eat dumplings, and have great fortune in the Year of the Rooster!!!
P.S. 2: Oh, right, let me recommend a friend's book, an original anime-style novel called I Don't Want to Be a Boy. It's a pretty funny read.
Before you continue