"Uh... Sister, you're being too harsh. Mr. Rayleigh is our savior, we should at least show him some respect..."
Meanwhile, as Hancock ran down and loudly questioned Rayleigh, Sonia and Marigold, who had regained their strength and returned to their original forms, tugged at Hancock's sleeve and whispered something to her.
"Respect? My tone was harsh? Marigold, Sonia, are you on my side or not? If so, then you are not allowed to interrupt me while I am speaking..."
Hancock couldn't tolerate her two sisters speaking up for someone else, not even their former master and savior. So she turned around and sternly rebuked them.
"Yes..." Upon hearing this, the two could only stand helplessly behind her and stop trying to dissuade her.
"Hahaha, Snake Princess, you're still the same as before, so arrogant and wicked. You even treat your benefactor like this?"
Although Rayleigh's words contained criticism of the Snake Princess's attitude, he did not show any dissatisfaction on his face, because he knew that this was the woman's nature and could not be changed. Moreover, although her attitude was very bad, she did not actually use any excessive methods, or even directly expel him, which was already considered good.
"Hmph, if you don't state your purpose, I will definitely deport you!"
Hancock turned her face away, giving him no friendly look, and spoke to him in a tone full of hostility.
"Hahaha, let's talk about this in the city. Although we can discuss it here, I can't guarantee how long they'll stay unconscious. If things leak out, it won't be good for you either."
You're right, aren't you, Snake Princess?!
Rayleigh laughed heartily but didn't immediately reveal his purpose to them, saying instead with a hint of mystery.
"Hmph, come with me..."
Upon hearing this, she still didn't give him a friendly look, but her attitude softened slightly as she turned around and said, "I'm going to walk straight towards the passage leading to the palace, leaving everyone with only a graceful and charming back view."
"Yeah, you should come too, Gloriosa, and Luffy- kun, you should come along as well. This whole thing is related to you..."
Seeing that Snake Princess had already made her stance clear through her actions, Rayleigh nodded to her back and then called out to Granny Nyon in the audience and Luffy in the arena.
"Um, wait a minute, Uncle Rayleigh... I still need to save them, I need to get that woman to release them from their stone statue state!!"
Granny Nyon agreed without hesitation and jumped down to their side, while Luffy turned his gaze to Marguerite and the other two who had been turned into stone statues and spoke to them.
"We can have the Snake Princess turn them back later. Our matter is the most important thing right now."
Rayleigh glanced at him casually, said something, and then walked over.
"Alright then, I'll have that woman turn them back later. I'm so sorry, just a little longer, I'll have her turn you back soon, please wait for me..."
Luffy glanced back at them and silently said something to himself before following them.
"Alright, there's no one else here. You can speak here now, Rayleigh. State your purpose clearly, or I won't let you off the hook!!"
In the blink of an eye, the group arrived at Hancock's bedroom. Hancock sat directly on Salome without offering him a chair and began to question him.
"Yes, sister..."
Seeing this, Marigold and her sister felt that their sister was being too rude and disrespectful, but they didn't want to argue with her. So they each brought two chairs for Rayleigh and Granny Nyon to sit on, and the Snake Princess did not stop them.
clatter...
The two sat down on the chairs that Marigold and Sonia had brought, leaving Luffy standing alone.
"Alright, now that everyone's here, I'll get to the point. I'm here not only to see Luffy, but also to see your Hancock. I'm sure you already know that the Navy is going to execute Fire Fist Ace in two weeks, right?!"
After sitting down, Rayleigh stated his purpose directly.
"Yes, I know. You must have seen the warships docked outside when you arrived. They're here to pick me up, but I haven't agreed to it!"
Hancock responded without the slightest fluctuation in her heart.
"What? Uncle Rayleigh, what did you just say? You mean Ace is going to be executed? When did this happen? How come I didn't know?"
Meanwhile, Luffy was standing next to him, heard the news that Ace was going to be executed and jumped up, excitedly asking him what was going on.
"Yes, that's why I came to see you. Didn't you know? The Navy released the news the day before you arrived at Sabaody Archipelago; the matter has been widely discussed for quite some time now!"
Rayleigh first answered his question, then continued talking to himself.
"Originally, I didn't want to get involved in this mess, but if that guy hadn't intentionally leaked information to me..."
After Rayleigh finished speaking, Luffy and the others all turned their attention to him.
"Hmm, what's wrong with you all? Why are you all staring at me? Is there something on my face?"
Seeing that everyone's eyes were on him, he asked in confusion.
"Mr. Rayleigh, who was that guy you just mentioned? And what is your relationship with Fire Fist Ace that has gotten to you?"
Everyone present knew Rayleigh's identity; the fact that the former vice-captain of the Pirate King would be alarmed at this moment was both shocking and puzzling.
"Um, Uncle Rayleigh, I also want to know why you know about my relationship with Ace, and why you came all the way here to find me. And who exactly is that guy?"
Luffy didn't immediately connect Ace's Pirate King bloodline to his relationship with this Pirate King's vice-captain; he simply asked him why he knew about this and came to find him.
"Hmm, didn't you know? Speaking of which, he's from the same generation as you all, the new Shichibukai, Luo Chen..."
He told me to investigate Fire Fist Ace's background, and that's how I learned about his connection to me. As for how I knew you were here, well, that was told to me by the person involved. That Shichibukai told me your location after he sent you all flying.
He seemed quite anxious; I wonder why he seemed to be intentionally letting you off the hook. Otherwise, do you really think you could escape Sabaody Archipelago so easily after defeating Celestial Dragons?
"Not to mention that I've kept your Admiral occupied, even that brat named Sentomaru is enough to give you trouble, not to mention that man named Luo Chen, even I can't see through his true strength."
Rayleigh answered all of Luffy's questions, starting from the Sabaody Archipelago, about why he was so lucky to escape with his life from the Admiral Shichibukai, and Sentomaru others.
"So that's how it is. So that bear-like guy was helping us..."
Bang...
Luffy slammed his fist on the floor, his expression complex.
"It's all my fault for being too weak; I couldn't even protect my companions. If it weren't for him, we would have..."
Luffy seemed to be able to imagine how dark the outcome would be without Kuma and the others. He couldn't finish speaking before his emotions subsided, and he lowered his head, looking at his fists, lost in thought.
"Wait a minute, Rayleigh, what did you just say? This man actually hit Celestial Dragons? And the man who told you about this is Shichibukai named Luo Chen, right?"
While Luffy was feeling down, Hancock seized on a word Rayleigh had just said and asked him again to confirm it.
"Yeah, this kid and his crew are a bunch of greenhorns who don't know how terrifying the Celestial Dragons are, yet they dare to offend them so easily. They even caused a huge disturbance in the Sabaody Archipelago, so much so that the Navy couldn't stand it anymore and sent Admiral Kizaru to capture them."
If it weren't for the lucky encounter with the Shichibukai Tyrant Kuma, he probably wouldn't have escaped. Oh, by the way, he suddenly appeared here because he was summoned by Kuma's power. If that's the case, I hope you can forgive him, after all, I still need Luffy's help!
Rayleigh offered to absolve Luffy of his sins.
"Very well, since he has already done such a thing, then I will forgive his rudeness, after all..."
Hancock kept replaying the words "Luffy injured Celestial Dragons " in her mind, pondered for a long time, and then sighed and said.