They Were My Family

On the other side, Hancock went straight to the prison and dismissed all the guards, as she always did.

"What?"

Hancock looked haughtily at Bai Ina in the cell. "I heard you had something to say to me, brat?"

"Do you really think that's likely?"

Bai Ina replied with a blank expression. He genuinely couldn't understand what this Shichibukai was thinking. For the past month, she had come here every day to ask pointless questions.

It was driving Bai Ina crazy, and he naturally didn't have a very pleasant attitude toward the Pirate Empress.

"Why wouldn't it be?"

Hancock didn't seem to mind. Instead, she asked, "Brat, how was the curry for breakfast? I had it specially prepared for you, my prisoner."

"What do you want from me?"

Bai Ina swore that in either his past or present life, he had never met such a troublesome woman. If she wanted to kill him, she should just get on with it. Why keep coming every day to ask such pointless questions?

Was there some execution tradition among this warrior race that required them to learn everything about the condemned before killing them?

And why did a prisoner get fresh water to wash his face and fresh oranges every day?

Was the curry rice he ate every day a final meal?

Or was this standard treatment for prisoners on Amazon Lily?

"What do you want from me, exactly?"

Bai Ina's expression grew colder. He met the Empress's eyes and said icily, "What will it take for you to let my men's ship leave? My homeland desperately needs those supplies."

"What do their lives have to do with me?"

Hancock scoffed, then regarded Bai Ina with interest. "Besides, I'm a pirate. Have you ever seen a pirate give back something she's already taken?"

"You..."

Bai Ina was at a loss for words.

Hancock gave him a charming smile, then took off her high heel again and dangled it lightly in front of him, her expression oddly amused. "Of course, if you get down on your knees and beg like a dog..."

"I'll do it."

"..."

The entire cell fell silent. Hancock's foot froze in midair as she stared blankly at Bai Ina's impassive face.

"You... You... What did you say?"

It took Hancock a moment to stammer out the question.

Bai Ina looked at her coldly. "I said I agree."

He couldn't wait any longer. Only two months remained before the six-month deadline. If he didn't get the supplies back soon, the battle in the Goa Kingdom was bound to turn against them.

He had no other choice. Every day of delay meant an unknown number of Revolutionary Army members would die. Under the circumstances, he could cast aside his pride and everything else.

"I can stay here and let you do whatever you want to me, but I hope you'll let my men take those supplies back."

Hancock frowned. At last, she pressed her lips together, a cold look appearing on her face. "Are those people really that important to you? Important enough for someone as proud as you to beg me like a dog?"

"They are."

Bai Ina nodded without hesitation, a flicker of nostalgia crossing his face. "People only understand how precious something is after they've lost it. After my teacher died, for some reason, I kept pushing them away. I don't really know why, but... I do care about them, after all. To me, they're my family, the most important people in my life!"

"..."

Hancock remained silent for a long while. She slowly slipped her pale foot back into her shoe, glanced at Bai Ina, then left the prison without looking back.

"Ah..."

Watching Hancock leave, Bai Ina sighed heavily, his face full of bitterness. "I guess it really won't work. But then again, I don't know why that woman is keeping me here, but it must be so she can keep torturing me. Why would she give up the supplies she's already taken just for a prisoner?"

"Big Sister..."

As soon as Hancock stepped out of the prison, she saw Elder Nyon and the Boa sisters waiting outside.

"Big Sister... Are you feeling all right?"

Sonya stared at Hancock, whose face was rosy and showed no sign of illness, her expression full of disbelief.

Hancock froze at the question, then remembered that she had been bedridden earlier. She turned to Elder Nyon in confusion. "Elder Nyon, what exactly was the illness I had? You said earlier that every Empress in the past, except you, died of it."

"Love sickness!"

Elder Nyon thought for a moment before answering. "You've fallen in love with the man in the prison. Knowing you'd be away on an expedition for half a year without seeing the one you long for left you so troubled that you fell ill."

"Fallen... fallen in love with that man?"

Hancock's cheeks flushed. She glanced toward the prison and murmured, "So this is what love feels like?"

"Then what should I do now?"

Elder Nyon replied without hesitation, "Keep him here. I absolutely won't let you repeat the history of the Empresses before you."

"That's right. Keep that ba— that man here. We absolutely can't let him leave," Sonya and Goldie said without hesitation. Although men were forbidden on Amazon Lily, that was only when Hancock wasn't involved.

If the people of Amazon Lily had to choose between Hancock dying and breaking tradition, every one of them would choose to break tradition without hesitation.

That was the charm of the world's most beautiful woman, the Pirate Empress Hancock.

Hancock, however, looked conflicted. She slowly shook her head. "I can't do that."

"What?"

The three of them were startled. Elder Nyon hurriedly asked, "Why not? Even if he doesn't want to stay, you can force him to. With your charm, I'm sure any man would fall in love with you!"

"He's different!"

Hancock slowly shook her head. "There's no place for me in his heart, and I don't want to see him... unhappy. Bai Ina is genuinely worried about his friends back home. I don't want to make him sad or cause him pain."

"How is that possible?" The three of them stared in disbelief. They couldn't imagine what kind of man could ignore Hancock's charm and not fall in love with her.

"But..."

"There are no buts. I've made up my mind. I'm letting him go." Hancock gritted her teeth and firmly cut off Elder Nyon's attempt to persuade her.

The three women's expressions changed, but when they saw how determined Hancock was, they didn't know what else to say.

"Ah, maybe I have a way to make that man fall in love with you, Big Sister!"

Goldie suddenly cried out excitedly.

"What way?"

Everyone, including Hancock, turned to Goldie expectantly.

Goldie didn't keep them in suspense. She pulled a bottle filled with pink liquid from her robes. "We seized this during our last expedition from a pirate crew made up entirely of women. I heard them say that if you give the man you like even a tiny bit of this potion, he'll fall madly in love with you." She scratched her head awkwardly. "I thought it was fascinating, so I kept it. I never expected I'd actually get to use it."

"Really?"