In the bedroom, the light had gone completely out of Hancock's eyes. She looked dead.
Ten minutes passed. Then twenty. Then half an hour.
A finger twitched on the arm hanging over the edge of the bed.
"Mm..."
A soft groan escaped her. Then the waves of agony coursing through her body jolted her awake. The piercing pain in her neck nearly made her faint again.
"What happened to me?"
Hancock instinctively reached for her throat. Her hand came away covered in blood.
After examining her injuries, only one thought remained: How am I still alive?
Her neck had nearly been severed, deep cuts covered her body, and worst of all, her heart had been completely petrified.
After a moment of confusion, Hancock steadied herself. She was a Shichibukai, after all, and far more accustomed to the extraordinary than most people.
Though she was baffled, she soon realized that her petrified heart was the reason she had survived.
It seemed to have locked her life in place, holding her on the boundary between life and death.
Just as Hancock tried to sit up, a cold voice sounded.
"So this is the Stone Heart. I'd only heard of it once. I never thought it really existed."
Werther walked slowly into the house, studying Hancock with surprise.
The instant she saw him, every hair on Hancock's body stood on end. Terror engulfed her.
She tried to sit up, but her body had no strength.
"What is going on? You damned man, I—"
Blue light flashed, and Werther appeared before her.
He coated his forearm and hand in Armament Haki. Lightning crackled around his arm as he drove it straight into Hancock's chest before she could react.
His arm pierced her breast and plunged deep into her chest.
"Ah!"
A harrowing scream tore