Chapter 88 - 88: Just a minute away from you.

…

Two people could be seen walking down an unusual forest somewhere in Amazon Lily, a rather peculiar island to say the least. The first one was a rather handsome black-haired young man with a pitch black monkey tail, dressed in plain clothes and a white coat draped over his shoulders. Which could only be seen as a miracle, cause he was still alive after stepping in the "The Amazon Lily". The sharp contrast of black with white, with some gold, coupled with a black sword, which seemed to suck the light around itself, hanging around his waist made him rather heroic. 

The other one was a strikingly beautiful black-haired girl akin to a goddess with her hair flowing down her shoulders like a waterfall made her truly a piece of art hand carved by the gods themselves. They were both standing at a near similar height, with the young man surpassing the girl by a centimeter or so.

The people in question were of course, Edam and Hancock who could be seen walking down a man-made (or more like a woman-made) way which led them to the border of the island.

Both of them were chatting quietly... well it was more-like Edam was re-accounting his adventure and during the time they were not together, because the other party was a bit too shy to actually initiate a conversation but whatever...

"The government is pressuring you to become a Shishibukai…" Edam repeated softly with a pondering and confused face.

"Hmm, *sigh* since they can now sail on Calm Belt, they now have a way to threaten my brethren," Hancock replied with a frown on her face before she added.

"I- I cannot let them have their way… Since they have a small fear of me, I have to use it to my advantage and get an upper hand…"

Edam didn't say anything and just listened on as he took a glance at her nervous face. 'The fate of an entire tribe huh…She is already shouldering so much, even my responsibilities as a Navy Captain sounds like a joke in front of hers…'

"So... I'm sorry If- If we become en..enemi-…" She said sadly and couldn't bear to finish her sentence but still tried to.

But before she could even finish it, a hand moved to her head, and started to ċȧrėss it gently to her surprise.

"There there…" He smiled at her caringly.

Hancock's face flushed as she averted her eyes to the side.

Seeing this Edam smiled wryly and took back his hand off her head.

"Ah, sorry… a-ha-ha… couldn't resist it…"

"N-no... Your just... a bit careless." Frustration, happiness, and worry were all present in her voice. As she ended her sentence in a meek voice.

Edam chuckled wryly at her words. "Well… these are bold words coming from you after what you did earlier…" he said with a small smirk on his face.

Of course, her face cutely turned red again…

"You..!! How can you speak about this like that… meanie..." She looked down and whispered with a mosquitoes-like voice that no one could possibly hear, especially the last word, but too bad for her, Edam's ears were extremely acute and sharp and so he easily heard her as he turned his head around and laughed at this.

'H-He heard?!'

Hancock's mind was in a mess of hazy and pinky clouds, and her temperature seemed to be rising again the more she lost herself in her thoughts.

She, who was usually extremely cold and indifferent to everyone and everything seemed to be losing her means every time she talked to him.

'... Sigh, I have to get myself together !' She told herself that and waved her hands at her face, feeling a bit hot.

"Hmm? You still have a fever?" seeing her fanning, Edam blinked curiously and leisurely moved his hand to her forehead, trying to get her temperature.

Her eyes grew wide again before she lightly shook her head with a small sound coming out. "H-Hn…"

…

Meanwhile, behind the two, a giant green-haired girl, dressed in a bikini and an old grandma were quietly following them. 

They were obviously Elder Nyon and Sandersonia.

Elder Nyon didn't say anything at all during this small walk and would only look at the two while shaking her head, sighing there and now.

'Sigh, what will the world think of this… Young man, I hope you have what it takes to fight against them…'

And then there was Sandersonia, whose eyes would wander around the surrounding forest,  eyeing for any potential threats and whatnot.

Hancock would always have escorts made of her best Kuja warriors as well as her two sisters, of course.

But as they had a surprise guest today, there was only Sandersonia as a cortege. If you were to count in Edam, that would be two, but he was more like worth a thousand, in this case, a beauty's bodyguard indeed.

Anyway, as she continued to watch out for threats, she noticed something…

...The forest was calm, way too calm…

The thing is… it has never been so calm before and that was way too strange.

They were nearly at the border of the island and which would result in beast roaming around freely and attacking anyone In sight, but today was different. It was quiet to the extend which the forest felt errie, making an uneasy feeling starting to bud in her heart.

It was calm… like never before.

The only logical reason she could think of with this strange phenomenon was the young man in front of her walking relaxingly along with her sister.

It was true that she herself felt strangely 'suppressed' with a feeling of threat looming on her whenever she stood near him.

'I'm really curious how strong he became…' She remembered how fast he moved earlier and completely bypassed her Observation Haki to successfully sit on their own ship to everyone's shocks.

'But… most of all…'

'Stop acting like that !' She pinched her eyebrows together in frustration and embarrassment as she looked and listened to her sister and him talking.

'Sigh… what about our law that no man should set a foot in here…? Sigh… whatever I guess it's too late to think about that…'

She sighed as they continued on their way…

…

They finally arrived at the border of the island where Zaz and the others were accommodated.

Accommodated was a big word though… they didn't really have a proper guest house but anyway…

All of them had gone through the training camp where they had to survive on their own, so being thrown in the forest like that was trivial at most, for them.

In fact, they were adapting with ease.

Zaz was speaking with Mariegold.

"Hmm, our ancestors are said to have fought alongside the Minks tribe…" Mariegold said.

"Oh, really? We have some record of this too…" Zaz replied with a smile.

While, Leo, Mickey, and Donny were training together.

Shion and Inue were fishing and teaching the small All-hunt Grount how to fish happily while Kuina was swinging a piece of wood and Raffe was lifting some huge rocks.

And funnily Nekoe was competing with some Kuja warriors at shooting arrows with her bow in various patterns.

...

"Oh Edam!" Zaz saw him arriving from afar and called him as Edam nodded back.

"Yo Captain, you want a fish?" Inue, Shion, and little Grount asked as they showed a huge-looking fish.

"Oh, good catch!"

After making sure that they were okay, Edam first apologizes to them and then started to discuss with Hancock about the treaty and how they should handle it.

*An eternity later*

They were both sitting around a table at a peaceful place not that far away from the ship and the others.

"Hmm…" Edam had a pondering expression hanging on his face for a few minutes with his hands resting underneath his chin as he looked directly into her eyes.

Hancock was looking at him nervously and would sometimes avert her eyes but then immediately look back into his eyes.

They looked like a professor reprimanding a student instead of two equal parties.

The objective given although seems to be difficult at first glance was quite simple in fact.

Edam was just told to make Hancock sign the piece of paper…

But the thing is, there were two papers.

One was a paper that was preferable to make her sign, while the other paper was a backup plan in case the Empress was to vehemently refuse the first one, although it shouldn't be the case.

And of course, the second paper held more privilege than the first obviously.

The first paper stated that the Navy will be forbidden from entering inside a three kilometers radius from Amazon lily and that all the citizens from Amazon lily will be considered as pirates.

Another thing is, he was actually teasing her, she seemed to think that he was the kind of guy to do his work perfectly as he was told to.

Seeing this, and perfectly understanding her thoughts, Edam couldn't help but laugh inward and tease her a bit, after all her face when she was nervous was so adorable.

It was only after having had his fill that he...

...Edam shamelessly gave the second paper to her without negotiating anything.

"Alright, Ahem, I accept the conditions. The Navy is forbidden from approaching the island in a full eight kilometers radius… and your citizens won't be considered as pirates."

Hancock's face lit up beautifully and then exclaimed.

"Thank you so much!"

"Well, you're welcome…" Edam replied uncaringly.

With that said he ink a special Marine's stamp and stamped the document while Hancock signed the treaty with a pen.

With the paperwork finished, Edam started a random topic and both of them began to talk like there was no tomorrow.

Well, it was more like him talking while she listened on. Throughout the conversation, she would bȧrėly talk and would only smile faintly and listen to his many culinary adventures.

…

"Hey, Edam…" Zaz interrupted their conversation

Hancock and Edam who were discussing glanced at him.

The girl was a bit unhappy while the latter looked at Zaz with curiosity.

"What is it Zaz?"

"We received a call, we are requested to go back immediately after the treaty…"

"Sigh… can't we just skip it?"

"Uh, it's grandpa Garp who called…"

"Oh…"

The place fell into a deathly silence...

So much that Zaz began to sweat… 'Damn, she wants to kill someone and that's probably me and I'm certain of it too…' he could nearly see her dark-blue eyes turning darkly pink.

"Sigh… well…" Edam reflected on it for a moment before he stood up and looked at Zaz "Alright, get the ship ready then."

Time flew by and the ship was ready to sail again.

Edam was still on the ground as he sent his goodbye to the three sisters and the grandma.

"Haha, what a pity, if I had the right ingredients I could cook an even better hotpot you know…"

"Really? Th-then next time-..." Hancock first wanted to say but slowly came to whisper in a small voice. 'Next time? But will there be a next time though?' a sad thought made its way in her mind.

On the sides, Elder Nyon who was observing Hancock's face calmly opened her mouth to speak.

"Ah, right…"

"I forgot to say it but, young man…" Gloriossa looked at him in the eyes.

"...?" Not just Edam but all three sisters looked at the granny surprisingly.

"As you know she's sick, and even though the fever is temporarily gone it will inevitably be back for sure. As I said it earlier it's your fault so…"

"If you're a man, take your responsibilities and come back soon…"

"Hmm, of course!" Edam was stunned for a second but then nodded energetically before turning toward Hancock.

"Next time I will cook you an even delicious hotpot trust me!" Edam smiled and patted his ċhėst.

An imperceptible smile made its way to her face.

"Well, see you guys next time…" He waved at them before going toward the ship.

But before he stepped in, 

"...Oh right…"

He stopped in his trail as his left hand came to rest on his sword hanging and he closed his eyes for a moment.

"...?" Both the Kujas and the Rainbow's look at him weirdly.

Opening his eyes, a faint smile managed to make its way on his face.

…

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Sorry for the late, my fault.

'Cause I always forget, here.

discord.gg/UN6Zk9y

You can come and well you know… play around, or make suggestions there maybe who knows…

Edit by: Star and Typical ✌