One Piece: I am the Empress, and the more sycophants I have, the stronger I become.

Night fell completely over this strange floating island, and the stars shone brightly against the unpolluted sky, but no one had time to appreciate them.

High in the sky, Hancock and Shiki the Golden Lion confront each other across the distance.

The two men were still visibly agitated, and the air was thick with the smell of gunpowder and a faint stench of blood.

Just as Hancock was taking a deep breath, preparing to deal with Shiki's possible next outburst.

Suddenly, without warning, Shiki's violent aura dissipated. Like a deflated balloon, he took a few heavy breaths and then waved his hand impatiently.

"Stop fighting! Damn it, it's getting dark, and I'm starving! Eating is the most important thing!"

This sudden declaration of truce even startled Hancock, who was already on edge.

She looked at Shiki's nonchalant attitude, as if the battle that had almost destroyed the world was just like exercise after a meal, and a subtle expression appeared on her beautiful face.

She could sense that the other person wasn't putting on an act, but genuinely...

He was exhausted, or rather, the pain from his old injuries made it impossible for him to continue the high-intensity fighting.

At the same time, a system notification sounded in her mind:

[Ding! Special Opportunity Mission: The Lion's Approval Completed!]

[Mission Reward: A random Devil Fruit (lower-tier Float-Float Fruit - Light Feather Fruit) has been sent to your system space!]

The Light Feather Fruit? A lower-ranking fruit than the Float-Float Fruit?

Hancock focused her mind on the system space and saw the phantom of a Devil Fruit, surrounded by a faint white aura and with a somewhat thin surface pattern, appear within it.

Compared to the terrifying ability of the Golden Lion to manipulate the archipelago and make everything weightless.

The effect of this inferior fruit is probably limited to making the user or a small area of ​​objects lighter and briefly levitating, greatly reducing its value.

Something is better than nothing...

Hancock was inevitably a little disappointed, but she quickly came to terms with it.

Given the difficulty of the mission, getting a free fruit is already an unexpected bonus, and it might come in handy in the future.

She suppressed the surging blood and qi within her body and the soreness spreading through her limbs, forcing a calm and collected expression onto her beautiful face, and spoke with the arrogance still carried by a Shichibukai.

"Oh? Senior Golden Lion is giving up already? It seems we haven't decided a winner yet?"

Upon hearing this, Shiki reacted as if his tail had been stepped on, and immediately stiffened his neck, roaring fiercely but inwardly.

"What's the point of talking about winning or losing! If I didn't have this piece of crap on my head, I would have cleaved you into eight pieces with a single Lion's Roar: Thousand Cut Valley! Back when I fought Roger at Et Wall, it was an earth-shattering battle..."

He began to boast endlessly about his glorious achievements in the past.

How to contend with Roger Whitebeard, how to command a fleet of thousands, how to be full of vigor and ambition...

They tried to use their past glory to cover up their current embarrassment and weakness.

Hancock floated quietly in the air, her white skirt fluttering gently in the sea breeze, listening to Shiki reminiscing about the glorious past with great enthusiasm.

She neither interrupted nor refuted, but occasionally a faint, ambiguous smile would appear at the corner of her mouth, carrying a mixture of pity and sarcasm.

She knew very well that this old lion could only boast in words.

Shiki's enthusiasm waned as he boasted until his throat became dry.

Hancock spoke at the opportune moment, her voice cool and clear, cutting straight back to the main topic:

"Since Senior Golden Lion is tired, then let's end it here for today. However..."

She changed the subject, her beautiful eyes looking directly at Shiki.

"What about our previous bet? Surely you're not... planning to renege on it, are you?"

Her words were soft, yet carried an invisible pressure.

Shiki's face instantly turned extremely ugly.

Of course he wanted to renege on his promise. Making the Golden Lion agree to three things unconditionally was worse than killing him.

But he just boasted so loudly, if he were to turn his back on us now...

If word gets out, he'll completely lose face, although he doesn't seem to have any face left anyway.

He looked into Hancock's tired yet still sharp eyes.

Sensing the opponent's unfathomable strength and how troublesome they were, and rubbing his aching head, he weighed the pros and cons in his mind.

We definitely can't fight them anymore.

If you refuse to pay, the other party will definitely not let it go, and then it will be another mess...

After hesitating for a long time, Shiki finally seemed to have all his strength drained away. He irritably scratched his messy blond hair and said in a bad mood.

"Alright, alright! I, Golden Lion, keep my word! But three things are too many! I'll grant you one request at most! One request that doesn't violate my principles! Is that alright?!"

He practically yelled out the compromise, feeling incredibly frustrated.

Hancock chuckled inwardly as she watched Shiki's pained yet forced-to-compromise expression.

She knew this was the maximum value she could extract from this smelly, stubborn old lion.

Pushing too hard may backfire.

"One request... fine."

Hancock pretended to ponder for a moment, then nodded slightly, acknowledging the result.

"In that case, I will remember this request. I hope that when the time comes, Senior Golden Lion... you won't make any excuses to refuse."

She did not make the request immediately, reserving this precious promise for any eventuality.

Shiki gave a heavy snort, which was taken as tacit agreement.

He really didn't want to spend another second with this shrewd woman; he felt that if he said a few more words, all his secrets would be exposed.

He turned around, cursing as he flew towards his main island, his figure quickly disappearing into the night.

Only after Shiki's presence completely disappeared did Hancock slowly descend from the sky, her feet landing on the soft cloud ground, her body swaying slightly.

Arya and Robin immediately stepped forward to help her up.

"Lady Snake Princess, are you alright?"

The two asked with concern.

Hancock waved her hand to indicate that she was fine, but her pale face and slightly rapid breathing showed that she was extremely exhausted.

"It's nothing, just a little tired."

She looked in the direction Shiki had left, her eyes deep.

"Although we were unable to completely subdue him, obtaining a promise from a legendary pirate made the trip worthwhile."

She felt the newly acquired [Light Feather Fruit] within her body, and the priceless promise in her arms.

A genuine smile finally appeared on his lips, a tired yet satisfied one.