Anime Girls are Moist

Chapter 1121 1,120: The Empress that softens quickly...

Crossing through space felt like drowning.

Everything around him—the sound of wind, the warmth of sunlight—vanished, replaced by absolute silence and a sensation of weightlessness.

He was falling through nothingness… or rising. Direction didn't mean anything in this place.

A moment later.

His feet touched solid ground.

A salty sea breeze hit him head-on, carrying the tropical island's signature sweet, cloying fruit scent—mixed with a faint tang of fish.

Rei Ao opened his eyes.

Amazon Lily.

Compared to the last time he'd left, a few things had changed.

The watchtower by the harbor had been raised by another section. Two Amazon warriors stood at the top, bows on their backs and spears in hand, their gazes sweeping the sea like hawks.

The coastal defenses had clearly been reinforced. Wooden palisades had been replaced with stone walls, and burning torches were planted along the top—even in daylight.

There was gunpowder in the air.

Rei Ao lifted an eyebrow.

His figure flickered, and he disappeared from where he stood.

Amazon Lily Palace, council hall.

Hancock sat on the throne.

There was less of the Empress's lazy, luxurious glamour, and more of a battlefield commander's sharp edge.

Below the throne stood her two younger sisters, Sandersonia and Marigold.

Farther down were the Kuja officers—over a dozen of them, all women, every face grim.

"A Navy branch fell yesterday."

Marigold pointed to a mark on the sea chart.

"The first half of the New World is in total chaos now."

"What about the World Government?" someone asked.

"The World Government is gone."

Sandersonia said, "To grab territory, the pirates are tearing each other apart."

Hancock rested her chin on one hand, tapping the armrest lightly with her fingertips.

She didn't look at the chart. Her gaze was fixed out the window.

From her seat, she could see Amazon Lily's coastline—the white beach, the emerald jungle, and farther out, that endless, restless sea.

"What are Kaido and Big Mom doing?"

"They've formed an alliance."

Marigold's voice was dry.

"They've split up the second half of the Grand Line. Yesterday's reports say they've already taken a lot of islands."

A sharp inhale went through the hall.

Hancock's nails dug into the armrest. The wood gave a faint crack.

She stood.

Her clothes outlined her tall figure—narrow waist, long legs—but no one dared appreciate it at a time like this.

"The World Government is gone. The Celestial Dragons have fallen. That sounds like good news, right?"

Hancock descended the steps. Her heels struck the marble, crisp echoes ringing.

"But power doesn't disappear. It just flows from one bunch of bastards… to another, even worse bunch."

She stopped by the window, her back to everyone.

"The Navy wants to rebuild order, but without the World Government's logistics and money, they can barely even pay their soldiers."

"Pirates want to be kings—but a pirate's nature is to plunder and fight."

"Right now this sea has no rules and no bottom line. They're seizing territory, seizing resources, seizing people."

She turned around.

Sunlight poured in behind her, gilding her in a halo—but her face was cold.

"What does Amazon Lily have? Women, warriors, and the 'Daughter Island' name."

"In a pirate's eyes, we're a fat cut of meat. They'll come. It's only a matter of time."

"Then we fight!"

Sandersonia clenched her fist.

"Let those filthy men see what Amazon Lily is made of!"

"Yeah! Fight!"

"Protect our home!"

The hall erupted.

Fire burned in the warriors' eyes—ferocity born of being cornered, and the women's stubborn resilience that had kept this land standing for centuries.

Hancock looked at them.

Her lips moved as if she wanted to say something. In the end, she only nodded.

"Prepare for war. All warriors from fifteen and up, and under fifty, stay on full-time standby. Triple the harbor watch, and expand the jungle trap zone out to five nautical miles."

She paused. "And move the children to the caves at the island's center. Stock three months' worth of food and water."

Orders went out one after another.

The officers acknowledged and hurried away, footsteps rushing.

Soon, only Hancock and her two sisters remained in the council hall.

Marigold hesitated, wanting to speak but holding back.

"Say it."

Hancock walked back toward the throne. She didn't sit—only leaned against the armrest.

"Big Sister… can we hold?"

Hancock didn't answer right away.

She looked out the window. From this angle, she could see the training ground, where young girls were practicing archery.

The hum of bowstrings carried through the glass—buzzing, like some massive insect beating its wings.

"I don't know," she said.

It was an honest answer.

Sandersonia panicked. "But—"

"No 'but.'"

Hancock repeated words someone had said not long ago.

"Even if we can't hold, we still have to. This is our home."

The moment she finished, she felt something. Her body stiffened slightly.

A familiar presence seeped into the air.

Faint—like the earthy smell in the wind before rain, or the scorched bite after lightning strikes the ground.

Hancock turned.

Rei Ao was leaning against the doorframe. Who knew how long he'd been watching.

He was still in that simple black coat, hands in his pockets, posture so lazy it looked like he was sunning himself in his own backyard.

"Pretty tense atmosphere," he said.

Marigold and Sandersonia instinctively shifted into fighting stances, but the moment they recognized him, they let out a breath.

"Rei Ao-sama!"

Hancock lifted a hand. "You two, go out."

Her voice trembled a little—not from fear, but from something else.

The sisters exchanged a glance, saluted, and withdrew. The door closed.

The hall fell quiet.

The distant twang of bowstrings, the nearer crackle of torches, and between the two of them—a thick, sticky silence that stretched like taffy.

Hancock moved first.

Step by step she came down the stairs, her heel-taps slightly off-beat.

When she was three steps away from Rei Ao, she stopped, lips pressed tight, chin raised—the Empress's standard pose, proud to the point of arrogance.

But her eyes betrayed her.

Rei Ao saw something melting inside those beautiful dark-brown pupils.

First the ice cracked. Then warm water rose, misted over… and finally the dam broke.

Hancock lunged at him.

She crashed into his chest with enough force to make him step back half a pace.

Her arms locked around his neck, face buried into the hollow of his shoulder, her breath scorching hot—burning through the fabric against his skin.

Rei Ao patted her back.

"Been a few days and you missed me that much?"

Hancock didn't answer.

She only hugged tighter, fingers digging into the muscles of his back, nails scraping along the ridges of his spine.

She was trembling—small and constant, like a little animal that had been left out in the cold.

Rei Ao let her hold him for a moment, then slid an arm under her and lifted her up.

Hancock cooperated immediately, wrapping her legs around his waist, hanging off him completely, face still buried.

"You've lost weight."

Rei Ao bounced her lightly in his arms.

"War prep," Hancock muttered.

He carried her toward the throne.

He didn't sit in the chair—instead, he sat on the steps.

Hancock naturally straddled his lap, and only then did she finally lift her head.

Her eyes were red. She wasn't crying, but her lashes were wet.

There was exhaustion on her face, and the kind of grievance that only shows up after a long-awaited reunion.