Storytelling

Since he had misspoken, he said no more. Completely relaxed, he followed Ran around Nine Snake Island.

Nine Snake Island was not small. The urban areas and outskirts in particular had more than enough space to accommodate these ordinary Amazon warrior women.

Everyone on Nine Snake Island was a soldier, and even ordinary people trained in Haki from childhood. Their competitiveness was simply incomparable to that of the Four Seas beyond the Grand Line. Even though Nine Snake Island remained isolated in the Calm Belt, if it were placed in the fiercely competitive South Blue, few pirates would dare set their sights on them.

He saw Amazon warriors take to the arena at the slightest disagreement, trading blow after blow until blood flowed. He also saw ordinary civilians living peaceful lives—craftsmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, farmers, people practicing their fists...

This place seemed to possess every characteristic a nation should have, except that they were all women...

He suffered inhuman levels of gawking along the way. Many Amazon warrior women put down their work to come watch him.

That revealed two things. First, many female warriors truly came from a closed-off nation and had never seen an ordinary adult man. Second, no man had ever come to this place...

Then how did these Amazon warrior women reproduce? Did the state assign them spouses, then confiscate the boys afterward?

Unlike Luffy, who was down-to-earth and had yet to receive an official identity, the one accompanying him was Ran, a combatant of the Kuja Pirates. Ran held no low status and counted as one of the officers in the Kuja Pirates. With her by his side, Leo was spared quite a bit of trouble.

The Amazon warrior women were beautiful to admire from afar but not to be approached, and their treatment of him was entirely different from how they treated Luffy.

He was somewhat troubled. Officers as experienced as Ran might not necessarily agree with his ideas. They had seen great storms and waves, killed without blinking, and faced pirates, thinkers, and Marines alike. They would not spare someone simply because he was right, and his sweet talk might not be enough to move them.

These ignorant little lambs, on the other hand, seemed easier to "deceive."

But with Ran keeping him apart from them, he had no way to chat with them or get down among the common people. His eyes flickered, and a plan had already formed.

"I'm a little hungry. What food do you have in your country of women?"

"My appetite isn't big. Just find somewhere for a quick bite." Having laid the groundwork in advance, he followed Ran into a roadside restaurant.

At once, a huge crowd of Amazon women followed them inside, observing him as though he were a monkey. Ran did not stop them. As long as the Empress did not forbid such observation, they could simply pretend the women did not exist.

With her here, surely they would not dare offend him.

"Ren, make him some Gorgon Spire Cheese Noodles." The two sat at a table, and Ran called loudly to the proprietress.

Aside from Hancock, the Amazon women of Nine Snake Island were all named after flowers. For instance, Sandersonia meant lily of the valley, Marigold meant marigold, and Gloriosa meant calla lily. Most other names followed the same convention, with translation being the greatest difference.

A thoughtful expression appeared on Leo's face.

If that was the case, then Shakky, who ran a couples' business with Rayleigh on the Sabaody Archipelago, was probably also from Amazon Lily—or had once been...

Without realizing it, he had uncovered another little secret. Feeling pleased, he smiled.

"Hey, this male's pretty good-looking." One woman was equal to five hundred ducks; there were probably more than fifty thousand ducks in this room. Even someone as physically weak as him could clearly hear the women's slightly loud whispers.

However, he did not strike up a loud conversation with them. After his earlier slip of the tongue, he had probably already left a bad impression in Ran's mind. If he shook off Ran now and made contact with them, she might overreact.

He did not want to test what it felt like to take a punch infused with Armament Haki.

The proprietress soon brought over a plate of things that looked a little like cream puffs. Their outsides were crisp while their insides were tender, golden and crunchy, making them instantly appetizing.

While serving the food, the proprietress named Ren looked Leo up and down as though he were some rare beast. In truth, the other Amazon women in the restaurant were doing the same; they simply were not looking at him from so close up, so directly, or so boldly. Ren was the first.

"This wine is on the house. I won't charge you for it." She set a bottle between Leo and Ran, though it was unclear whether she was speaking to Ran or Leo.

Clearly, it was a bribe for Ran. Ran sighed, picked up the bottle, pulled out the cork, and gulped down a large mouthful. She wiped her lips, looking exceedingly bold and heroic.

Ren took the opportunity to sit on the other side of the bench. Resting her chin on her hand, she asked, "Where are you from, handsome?"

Leo glanced at her, picked up a cheese pastry, and tore it open. The golden cheese inside stretched in strands amid the tender meat, making it look extremely appetizing.

He politely nodded and smiled. "I was shipwrecked on the Grand Line and ended up here. Thank you for saving me."

"This man seems pretty polite."

"Yeah, and he's quite handsome too."

"It's just that his strength doesn't seem like much."

"He doesn't need to fight anyway. He can just stay home and look after children."

"I've got my eye on him! Don't fight me for him!"

As Ren began speaking with him, the women's whispers grew louder and louder. The commotion seemed to press inward from all directions toward the center of the circle.

Leo did not care in the slightest. Compared to slave revolts against the Celestial Dragons, this sort of commotion was practically routine; compared to the oppression of the Celestial Dragons, it was even less worth mentioning. His expression did not change as he ate the cheese pastry. It was indeed delicious, though a little dry. He did not mind that Ran had already drunk from the wine, snatched it over, and took a gulp himself.

This slightly sweet liquor resembled rum and had a strong kick, at least thirty percent alcohol. Still, he could handle it.

"Handsome, since you came from the Grand Line, you must have experienced plenty of adventures. Why not tell us about them and broaden everyone's horizons?" Ren watched him eat and drink while signaling to her young assistant. The assistant immediately understood. A man this rare was eating in their shop; charging people just to come see him would be enough to earn her a fortune.

The assistant immediately darted out the door to spread the word, while Leo's eyes lit up.

This was like being handed a pillow just when he felt sleepy.

He noticed Ran's eyes light up as well. The Kuja Pirates merely robbed pirate crews passing through their territory and did not know much about the Grand Line. She wanted to hear stories about the Grand Line too.

Wasn't that convenient?

He cleared his throat and began, "In that case, I'll tell you a story I actually experienced..."

PS: Guess which story it is.