I'm Not Interested in Devil Fruits

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Hancock abruptly lifted her hands from her face, revealing her stunningly red face, filled with astonishment. 

Heaven knows what kind of humiliation she had endured to gather the courage to ask that question. 

But in response, these two... they reacted like this? 

Liam and Robin hadn't expected Hancock, who had been avoiding the topic like an ostrich, to bring it up herself. 

"Well, it's a bit strange, but it's just an interest or hobby, is it really that impressive?" Liam said indifferently. "There are plenty of weird people in the world, some even have distorted tastes and enjoy bizarre things... right, Captain Jolyne?" He turned to Robin. 

"Huh?" Robin looked confused. 

"But... isn't this really strange?" Hancock's face was still flushed, and seeing how calm these two were, she felt terribly conflicted. Her beautiful brows furrowed as she bit her lip and said, "I'm Hancock! How could I...?" She closed her eyes and lowered her voice, whispering, "How could I like having my body controlled by someone?" 

'She said it out loud…' Liam and Robin both thought, 'It's really hard for her…' 

"You can't put it that way," Liam analyzed. "Sometimes, when a person lacks something, they unconsciously develop a fondness for it. You see, Hancock, from the moment you were born, you awakened Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki), Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), and Haoshoku Haki, right? The immense power others desire, you had naturally and effortlessly... maybe because of this, you have a certain curiosity, maybe even an addiction to the feeling of being controlled...?" 

'This explanation is so weird!' Robin felt embarrassed, and Hancock gave him a deadpan look. 

Liam shrugged, "Or maybe it's just innate! Actually, your particular hobby is really hard to trigger, haven't you noticed? Back then, you clearly felt uneasy and even a little scared by the events in 'The Room;... don't interrupt!" Hancock was about to retort, but Liam stopped her, "This proves that you're not a masochist; it's just the feeling of being 'controlled'! To achieve this with you, it's quite difficult— if you didn't have the Medusa fruit." 

"And the Medusa fruit is yours, so you're not actually controlled by the snake venom— your blood is the antidote." Liam said as he grew more convinced of his own reasoning, "In other words, the conditions to trigger this hobby are: one, the Medusa fruit; two, the ability to switch Devil Fruits; three, people like Jolyne and me who you trust, and who won't do anything excessive while controlling you... If any of these were missing, even if this is an inherent hobby, you might never discover it..." 

As he spoke, he noticed Robin was looking at him with a helpless expression, lightly shaking her head. 

"Did I say something wrong?" 

"The premise was wrong from the start," Robin pointed out, "It's not just the Medusa fruit that can control Hancock's body... Did you forget? Long before Hancock got the Medusa fruit, you had already controlled her body." 

"Really?" Liam asked, confused. 

Hancock blinked her large, beautiful eyes. 

Robin reminded him, "Hancock's first voyage." 

Liam thought for a moment. 

He was puzzled, "That shouldn't count, right? My hypnosis on her had conditions— only when she was poisoned or couldn't move, and needed to fight, would her body act on its own and fight for her..." 

However, when Hancock returned with the Kuja Pirates over three years ago, she had never mentioned that part of her voyage. 

At the time, Liam saw that she was unharmed, so he didn't ask much. After all, hypnotizing a little girl didn't seem like a particularly proud moment. As long as she was fine, that was all that mattered. 

"That voyage, Hancock almost got captured by slave traders." Robin reached out and gently ran her hand through Hancock's straight, flowing black hair. "If it weren't for the hypnosis you used on her, she'd probably still be..." Robin glanced at Liam, who looked stunned, "... yeah, she'd still probably be a slave to the Celestial Dragons." 

Just hearing this from Jolyne, and recalling the events in 'The Room', Hancock couldn't help but shudder, the terror from that time still so vivid. 

She couldn't help but ask, "Jolyne! How did you know about this?" 

"Snake Princess told me," Robin replied calmly. 

Hancock took a deep breath, gritted her teeth, and said, "How come she tells you everything? I'll...!" 

A weak image of Snake Princess flashed in her mind. Hancock softened, closed her eyes, and shook her head, not continuing. 

Robin continued, "So, I think Hancock developed this subconscious attachment to that special state because of that experience... It gave her a sense of security in being protected." 

"Me? Needing protection?!" Hancock's voice suddenly shot up as she stood up abruptly. 

Robin looked up, "Your mind may deceive you, but your body doesn't. You probably never thought you'd be afraid of anything, but back then, you were terrified. Weren't you?" 

Hancock opened her mouth, but then slowly sat back down. She wanted to argue, but the shadow of that terrifying experience still lingered. 

"You think you don't need anyone to protect you, but..." Robin didn't finish her sentence, her gaze conveying her unspoken meaning, making Hancock blush once again. Robin added, "But as Giorno said, it's just an interest that was made possible because of the Medusa fruit and his ability to switch Devil Fruits... If you don't want to, we won't do it anymore. It's not a big deal, so don't overthink it." 

Even though Jolyne was a year younger than her, it was Jolyne who was comforting her... Hancock's breathing quickened as if her clothes might tear from the strain. 

She blushed, pressed her lips tightly together, stared at Giorno and Jolyne for a while, then silently got up and left the room.

In the cabin, Liam and Robin exchanged looks.

"She didn't say no, so... does this mean...?" Liam stroked his chin. "Is she saying 'I want to play again in the future'?"

"Maybe..." Robin yawned. "I'm a bit tired."

"Then rest for now," Liam said, not dwelling on it. "I'll go grab something to eat, I'm starving!"

Once Liam's footsteps faded away, Robin lay down on the bed, hugging the blanket, rubbing her hair, and burying her face deeply in the pillow.

...

Two Huge Snakes pulled a red ship toward an island, slowly approaching the shore.

"How strange, a ship... ah! It's a pirate ship!"

"A pirate ship?!"

The people of the small town looked at the massive canvas on the side of the ship. When they saw the distinctive snake-haired skull symbol, they were even more shocked. "That symbol... could it be the Kuja Pirates, the pirates from the women's country?!"

"Women's country?"

"A country of all women... is such a paradise real?!"

Some of the younger people, hearing this, immediately perked up, unable to resist heading toward the shore where the pirate ship was docking. Their sharp eyes quickly spotted the slender female warriors on the deck.

"How beautiful..."

"All women..."

"It's a pirate ship full of women! I really want to board it..."

All the young people were starry-eyed, some even drooling in excitement.

A more experienced woman, holding a spoon, came over and scoffed, "Keep dreaming! The so-called women's country... any man who goes there dies! Also, I heard that the Kuja Pirates forbid any men from boarding their ship..."

"What about that person?"

A man in a vest pointed toward the red pirate ship that had docked at the shore, where a young man's figure emerged from the bow of the deck. No matter how you looked at it, that handsome guy must be a man!

"So handsome..." The woman mumbled, and the spoon in her hand dropped with a clatter.

"This island isn't very big..." 

On the deck, Liam raised his hand to look around. Naturally, his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) spread across the small island, and instantly, the layout of life on the island— the concentration and distribution— formed in his mind.

Like most islands in this world, the island's center was dominated by a main city, probably the royal city. Along the coast, there were five small villages scattered about, with the larger ones being small towns, and the smallest likely just a fishing village.

"Let's restock for a bit," Hancock said, stepping out of the cabin and giving a brief order.

Though they were pirates, raiding a small island town like this was less efficient than just buying supplies.

The currency on Kuja Island was the snakehead. The pirates, whether raiding ships or merchant vessels, only brought back supplies for Kuja and whatever they needed for their own journeys. As for the Belly (money), it was just waste paper to them...

Robin smiled and said, "Then I'll take the opportunity to grab some books."

She had come out this time to buy some books to read.

As she spoke, petals began to swirl around her. One by one, graceful clones formed, as if they were walking out of her body, with each humanoid petal converging into a perfect clone of Robin.

At first, she created twenty clones, but only half of them were made to look exactly like "Jolyne Cujoh"—so she scattered the remaining ten clones, turning them back into petals.

The surrounding Kuja warriors watched with curiosity, admiration, and awe as they observed the Flower-Flower Fruit (Hana Hana no Mi) abilities on display.

The ten flower clones, under Robin's control, moved back and forth, looking around, making subtle motions. Three of them became clearly stiff, with a somewhat dazed look.

"Looks like you can only perfectly control seven clones at most," Hancock evaluated.

"If it's for combat, it would be even fewer," Robin shook her head. Even after years of training, multitasking like this was still a difficult task for her.

She waved her hand, dismissing two more flower clones, which scattered into petals.

The five remaining flower clones looked at each other, smiled at Liam and Hancock, then went to Robin's body to each take some Belly to carry.

Robin, in her original form, patted Liam on the shoulder, "Mind if I borrow your Kenbunshoku Haki?"

"Sure," Liam said as a shadow emerged from his body.

Robin raised her hand, entwining a bit of Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) around her palm, easily taking off B.I.B.'s helmet and putting it on her head. 

The Stand armor wasn't a real physical entity, so she wasn't concerned about it messing up her hair. Using B.I.B. to copy Liam's Kenbunshoku Haki, Robin quickly captured a rough layout of the towns on the island.

One by one, the five flower clones left the Kuja Pirate ship, heading in different directions toward various towns, without a word exchanged between them.

"We should go too," Robin said, smiling as she followed Liam and Hancock down the ship.

The townspeople stared with their mouths wide open, watching these flower-like women descend from the pirate ship. They thought they must be dreaming. It would be such a wonderful dream if it were true...

'(End of Chapter)'