I Was That Beautiful

"Marigold's figure—even that huge belly can be tucked away, right?" Sandersonia asked.

"I don't want to change anything." Hancock looked too shy to raise her head. "As long as I can stay by Saint Sanming's side, I won't leave him even if it's hell! Ah..." Whenever she got shy, she couldn't help trying to cup her face in her hands, only for the spikes on her helmet to pierce her palms.

By Amazon Lily's customs, once a girl decided she liked someone, she would refer to herself as "this one" to clearly express her affection. If the other person did not object to the form of address, it meant he was willing to accept her feelings.

"Hancock, you possess Conqueror's Haki." Miming lifted Hancock's hand and wiped the blood from her palm. Hancock's hands were simply too beautiful. Her fingers were so fair and slender, and all of it was natural. The Love-Love Fruit merely magnified a person's inner beauty and repaired flaws. It wasn't as though anyone who ate the Love-Love Fruit could become as beautiful as Hancock.

"If Lord Miming says I'm that beautiful, then I am." Hancock looked so blissful she seemed ready to melt, and she nearly put her hand against her face again.

"You need to train properly before you can control your abilities." Miming reminded her that she could accidentally petrify the people around her, so she had to develop this power to its fullest.

"Yes." Hancock immediately perked up. "To remove this mask as soon as possible and serve my master, I'll train with all my might!"

"Actually, the fact that you sisters ate these three Devil Fruits must have been fated by heaven." Miming looked at the two Boa sisters. It was truly pitiful, especially for anyone who had seen what they originally looked like and had watched two beautiful girls turn into this ghastly state.

"Boa originally means anaconda, a giant snake. You came from Amazon Lily, so you already had a close connection with snakes."

"But I feel the Love-Love Fruit isn't as simple as it appears." Miming said, "Its characteristics remind me of Medusa."

"Medusa?"

"Yes. In legend, she had a human head and a snake's body, with venomous snakes for hair—a snake-haired monster. I once heard a legend that Medusa had been a beautiful girl who was pursued by many men. She even boasted that she was more beautiful than a goddess. When the goddess heard that, she flew into a rage and turned her into a snake-haired monster. Anyone who saw her would turn into a stone statue, and only Medusa's tears could restore them."

"Eh? There's a legend like that?" The Boa sisters had never heard of it.

But from the sound of it, Medusa possessed the power to petrify people and had been the most beautiful girl in the world.

Hancock gave an arrogant snort. "Even a goddess had to envy my beauty!"

Miming and her two sisters all thought, You're Medusa, without a doubt. Did this mean the right Fruit had been eaten by the right person?

"What I mean is that all of you have obtained the power of snakes. The Love-Love Fruit actually possesses the attributes of a snake demon. Its true power may be stronger than that of a Paramecia." Miming said, "All of this was destined to happen."

"Indeed." Sandersonia said, "We came from Amazon Lily. There are many snakes on our island. Our surname, Boa, means a giant boa—in other words, a great snake."

Marigold nodded. Put that way, perhaps it truly was heaven's will.

"Perhaps you can ask Cairns for more advice on using the Snake-Snake Fruit's abilities." Miming crooked a finger at Cairns, who was guarding the area in the distance.

"Eh, me?" Cairns immediately came running over.

"Cairns is also a user of a Beast-Beast Fruit. But he doesn't lose his human form. That's because he's very powerful and has controlled the Dog-Dog Fruit's abilities to the point of using them at will." Miming snapped his fingers. "Isn't that right, Cairns? Could you demonstrate? Come to think of it, I've never seen you use your Devil Fruit abilities."

Among the upper echelons of the Celestial Dragons, the main families generally rewarded their CP0 members by having them eat Dog-Dog Fruits. There were many kinds of Dog-Dog Fruits, just as there were many breeds of dogs, and their abilities differed slightly as well. But their shared characteristic was clear: loyalty to their masters. That was why CP0 had never produced someone who resented his master after being punished, nor had it ever produced a traitor.

"I'm a user of the Doberman Fruit." Cairns explained, "The beast-like features you see are actually just the power of the lowest level of a Devil Fruit. When you're like this, unable to control even which parts of your bodies transform, you haven't truly mastered your own power at all."

As Cairns spoke, his head suddenly became a dark, doglike head.

"Beast Head." Cairns pointed at his own head. "This is the simplest form. It strengthens the senses of a beast, including abilities humans don't possess, such as a sixth sense. Users of dog-type Fruits have greatly enhanced senses of smell and hearing, making them well suited for tasks such as tracking and hunting. So slaves basically have no chance of escaping CP0's pursuit on land."

Cairns had given them a hint without meaning to. Miming and the Boa sisters nodded together. They needed to take this into account in their escape plan as well.

Actually, Cairns looked rather cool with a dog's head. Dobermans had heads that looked somewhat wolf-like, making him resemble the underworld god Anubis. But standing next to Anubis, Cairns would at most look like his servant.

"Next is Beast Body." Cairns crouched on the ground. His head returned to normal, but his body became that of a gigantic dog.

Miming froze, then burst into loud laughter along with the Boa sisters. It was simply too comical! A burly man with rugged features had suddenly become a dog's body...

Cairns wasn't angry at all. He said, "This form is useful too. It's suited for running at high speed for long periods and can serve as a mount. In this form, I can also stay comfortably in harsh weather conditions, and my wounds heal much faster than usual."

"Next are partial transformations and specialized enhancements."

Cairns returned to human form and extended his palm. "Dog Claw."

Many paw pads suddenly appeared on his palm, while his fingernails became large and hard.

Miming and the Boa sisters all cried out in amazement. Those paw pads looked like they would feel quite comfortable to strike, as if he were wearing gloves, making it difficult to injure Cairns. But they would be bad news for his enemies, because the paw pads could be hardened with Armament Haki at any time, and he also had claws sharper than blades.

"With claws like these..." Cairns bent down, and with a series of swift motions, dug a hole in the ground and vanished into it. "I'm excellent at digging!"

"Are they only for digging holes?!" Miming and the Boa sisters shouted in unison.

"Dog Tail Form." Cairns turned around. "Though it can't be seen."

Dobermans were generally docked.

"It can't be seen?!" Miming and the Boa sisters were dumbfounded. What use was that?

"I'll pretend it's there." Cairns looked completely serious.