Telling a Story

Chapter 008: Telling a Story

Having misspoken, he said no more and relaxed, trailing behind Lan as they wandered through Nine Snake Island.

Nine Snake Island was not small, especially the town and its outskirts, which had ample space to house these ordinary Amazon warrior women.

Every person on Nine Snake Island was a soldier, and the common folk trained in Haki from childhood. Their fighting strength was utterly disproportionate to the Four Seas outside the Grand Line. Not to mention that Nine Snake Island sat in the Calm Belt, aloof from the world—even in the most cutthroat region of the South Blue, few pirates dared to provoke them.

He saw Amazon warriors who, at the slightest disagreement, would leap onto a fighting ring, fists meeting flesh until blood flowed. He also saw peaceful commoners: craftsmen, blacksmiths, carpenters, farmers, fist-practitioners...

It seemed to possess everything a nation should have—except that every single person was a woman.

On the road, he suffered an inhuman degree of staring. Many Amazon warrior women set down their work to gawk at him.

This conveyed two things: first, many of these warriors were indeed isolated from the outside world and had never seen an ordinary adult male; second, no man had ever set foot here...

So how did these Amazon warrior women reproduce? Did the state arrange spouses, then confiscate the male children?

Unlike Luffy, who was down-to-earth and lacked any formal status, his companion was Lan, a combatant of the Kuja Pirates. Lan held a respectable position, ranking among the Kuja Pirates' officers. With her by his side, Leo could avoid a great deal of trouble.

The Amazon warrior women were to be admired from afar, not approached closely—a treatment completely different from Luffy's.

He felt somewhat troubled. In truth, seasoned officers like Lan didn't necessarily agree with his ideas. They had weathered countless storms, killed without mercy, and faced pirates, thinkers, and Marines alike as opponents. Being right wouldn't make them spare his life, and his silver tongue might not sway them.

But these naive little lambs seemed much easier to "trick."

However, with Lan isolating him like this, he had no way to chat with them or get down to the grassroots. So his eyes rolled, and a plan came to mind.

"I'm a bit hungry. What food do you have in this women's kingdom?"

"I don't eat much. Just find someplace casual to grab a bite." He set his precaution in advance. Lan led him to a roadside eatery and walked in.

Instantly, a throng of Amazon women followed them inside, observing him like a monkey in a zoo. Lan didn't stop them. As long as the Empress didn't object, she would treat them as if they didn't exist.

With her there, they surely wouldn't dare to offend him.

"Ren, get him a Gorgon Spire Cheese Noodles." The two sat at a table, and Lan called out loudly to the innkeeper.

Aside from Hancock, all the Amazon women on Nine Snake Island were named after flowers. For example, Sandersonia meant Lily of the Valley, Marigold meant Calendula, Gloriosa meant Calla Lily, and most others followed this naming convention—at most, translation differences.

Leo's face showed a thoughtful expression.

If that was the case, then Shakky, who ran a couple's shop with Rayleigh on Sabaody Archipelago, was probably also a member of Amazon Lily—or had been one once...

He had inadvertently uncovered another little secret, and his heart felt a bit pleased. He smiled.

"Hey, this male is pretty good-looking." One woman equals five hundred ducks; this room probably had fifty thousand ducks' worth of noise. Even someone as weak as him could clearly hear the women's slightly loud whispers.

But he didn't chat loudly with them. After his earlier slip of the tongue, he had likely left a bad impression on Lan. If he shook her off to interact with them now, it might provoke an overreaction from her.

He didn't want to take a punch from Armament Haki to test it.

The innkeeper soon brought up a plate of something that looked a bit like cream puffs. The outside was baked crispy and tender, golden and crunchy, looking appetizing enough to make anyone hungry.

As she set it down, the innkeeper named Ren scrutinized Leo from head to toe, as if looking at a rare beast. In truth, the other Amazon women in the restaurant were the same, but none had looked at him so closely, so directly, and so hotly—Ren was the first.

"This is a drink on the house. No charge." She slapped a bottle of liquor between Leo and Lan, addressing neither of them clearly.

Obviously, this was a bribe for Lan. Lan sighed, picked up the bottle, pulled out the stopper, and took a big gulp. She wiped her mouth, looking very bold and unrestrained.

Ren took the opportunity to sit down on the other side of the bench, propping her chin up and asking, "Where are you from, young man?"

Leo glanced at her, tore open a cheese pastry, and inside, golden cheese mixed with tender meat instantly stretched into strings, looking very appetizing.

He nodded politely and said with a smile, "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 handsome too."

"Just doesn't seem very strong."

"Doesn't matter, he doesn't have to fight. He can just stay home and take care of the kids."

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

The women's whispers grew louder as Ren struck up a conversation with him, the commotion pressing in from all sides toward the center of the circle.

Leo paid it no mind at all. This kind of uproar was practically routine compared to a Celestial Dragon's slave revolt, and a mere trifle next to the oppression of the Celestial Dragons. He ate the cheese calmly—it was indeed delicious, just a bit dry. He didn't mind that Lan had already drunk from the bottle; he grabbed it and took a swig himself.

This slightly sweet liquor, like rum, had a strong aftertaste—at least thirty percent alcohol—but he could handle it.

"Young man, since you came from the Grand Line, you must have had plenty of adventures. Why not share some to broaden everyone's horizons?" As Ren watched him eat and drink, she signaled to her young assistant. The assistant caught on immediately—this rare man eating in their shop was enough to charge admission and make her a fortune.

The young assistant promptly slipped out to spread the word, while Leo's eyes lit up.

This was exactly what he needed—a pillow arriving just as he was getting sleepy.

He noticed Lan's eyes also lit up. Clearly, the Kuja Pirates only plundered pirate crews that passed through their territory and didn't know much about the Grand Line. She wanted to hear stories from there too.

What a coincidence.

He cleared his throat and began, "Since that's the case, let me tell you a story I personally experienced..."

PS: Guess which story it is.