Amazon Lily, Nine Snake Island.
The lingering glow of the setting sun cast its rays upon the golden palace roofs, bathing this isolated nation of women in a melancholic orange hue.
Upon the throne, the new Empress, Torch Lotus, rested her hand on her forehead, her brows furrowed with worry, her gaze vacantly fixed on the outside of the hall.
“Snake Princess’s condition… has it still not improved?” An aged voice came from the side.
Gloriosa, leaning on her snake staff, slowly approached, her wrinkled face filled with concern as she looked at Torch Lotus, a hint of guilt flashing in her eyes.
Roger died at fifty-three; now she, the first Empress, was also old.
Especially after losing her spirit, the aging was particularly pronounced.
“You ask me?” Hearing Gloriosa’s words, Torch Lotus suddenly looked up, her voice choked.
“You and Shakky-jie left without a word back then, dumping the heavy burden of Nine Snake entirely on my sister!
She bore it alone for so many years, and now, it’s great, you’ve returned, but she…” Her words stopped abruptly there.
Because, in truth, she blamed herself for these words as well.
She had always believed her sister was very strong, so she also followed Gloriosa and Shakky to the New World.
And Snake Princess would always look at her with a gentle expression and say, “Go ahead! Nine Snake has me!”
But now, that gentle and strong woman had fallen.
“Torch Lotus.” Gloriosa was silent for a moment, then sighed deeply: “When we left back then, it was to find a new path for Nine Snake.
The situation in the New World is complex, and we had no choice but to…”
“Enough! Stop making excuses! It all boils down to men, doesn’t it? I know that very well!”
Torch Lotus interrupted sharply, tears welling in her eyes, “Besides, what’s the use of saying all this now?”
“My sister… she’s dying!”
Silence fell in the hall, with only Torch Lotus’s suppressed sobs echoing.
Snake Princess, Nine Snake Island’s strongest warrior, the only female Grand Swordsman on the sea, was now bedridden due to lovesickness.
Her vitality was draining away at a visible rate, and no one on the entire Nine Snake Island could cure this “illness.”
“Perhaps…” Gloriosa slowly closed her eyes and whispered, “We should consider seeking help from outside.”
“Seek help?” Torch Lotus sneered, “Have you forgotten Nine Snake’s rules? Men who step foot here are to be killed without mercy!”
“Rules are dead, people are alive.” Gloriosa looked up, her gaze deep, “It’s time to let Snake Princess leave.”
Torch Lotus’s pupils contracted, and her breathing suddenly became rapid.
“Are you saying to let my sister be like you were back then?”
“This is the only way, otherwise, Snake Princess won’t last another week.”
.........
Three days later, at dawn, in the waters off Nine Snake Island.
The White Gull broke through the thin mist and slowly sailed into the Calm Belt; the sea was as calm as a mirror.
Gern stood at the bow, black blade eight desolations hanging diagonally at his waist, his gaze fixed on the gradually clearing outline of the distant island.
“Vice Admiral Gern, are we really going to land directly?” Tesoro frowned.
“Nine Snake Island is… not very friendly to outsiders, especially men.”
“Don’t worry!” Gern’s lips curved slightly: “They will ‘welcome’ us.”
“Gern, Gern!” Libo leaned over the ship’s rail, her rabbit ears excitedly perked up as she asked curiously: “Is it really a country entirely of girls?”
At the same time, on Nine Snake Island’s watchtower, a female warrior was routinely patrolling the sea.
When she clearly saw the small Marine warship gradually approaching, she decisively and urgently sounded the alarm.
Immediately, a sharp bell echoed across the island, breaking the morning’s tranquility.
“Marine attack! All hands to battle stations!”
The alarm spread like ripples, and Nine Snake Island’s defenses instantly erupted into activity.
Countless female warriors surged from all directions towards the coast, bows strung, spears tightly gripped, their gazes vigilantly locked on the warship.
“Quickly go notify Lady Torch Lotus, the Marine might not come with good intentions!”
Inside the palace’s side hall, Snake Princess’s residence.
Torch Lotus was guarding her sister’s bedside, carefully wiping the sweat from her forehead.
The swordswoman older sister who used to flirt with Gern back then, now had faint breathing and a face as pale as paper, clearly in the terminal stages of her illness.
“Sister, how could someone as strong as you, who detests love, fall because of a man…”
Torch Lotus looked at the pillow beside “Snake Princess,” a hint of pain flashing in her eyes, but it was quickly replaced by determination.
Suddenly, hurried footsteps came from outside the door; a female warrior knelt on one knee, her voice filled with panic.
“Lady Torch Lotus, a Marine warship has been spotted off the coast, and their target is Nine Snake Island! All warriors are on high alert, please give your command!”
“Marine?” Torch Lotus frowned, her hand movements momentarily pausing: “The Kuja Pirates haven’t recently gone out to provoke them, what are they here for? Never mind…”
She stood up, donned her outer robe, and said coldly: “Pass down the order, prepare to meet the enemy.
If the other side dares to make any rash moves, sink them directly!”
“Yes!” The female warrior accepted the order and left.
After giving instructions, Torch Lotus looked back at Snake Princess, and whispered: “Sister, I’ll be back soon.”
With that, she strode out of the room and rushed towards the coastal defenses.
Nine Snake Island, coastal defenses.
Gloriosa stood at the very front, narrowing her eyes as she gazed at the distant White Gull, her heart filled with doubt.
“This is just a small Marine warship, without a Sea Stone bottom, how did they cross the Calm Belt and reach Nine Snake Island?”
As she pondered, Torch Lotus arrived with a squad of elite warriors.
She glanced at the warship and snorted coldly: “Just a small boat, daring to approach Nine Snake? Give the order, prepare, sink it directly!”
However, no sooner had her words fallen than the female warrior responsible for lookout suddenly trembled all over, and the telescope in her hand dropped to the ground with a “thud.”
“Lady Torch Lotus, we might not be able to sink this ship.”
“What do you mean?”
“Because…” The warrior turned her head, her face ashen, her voice almost squeezed out from between her teeth: “The person on the ship is…”
“Heaven Tremor!”
Nine Snake Island’s coastal defenses instantly fell into a deathly silence.
“Heaven… Heaven Tremor?!” Torch Lotus’s pupils abruptly contracted.
The Marine legend who arrested the Pirate King Roger!
The man her sister yearned for day and night!
“How could it be that man!?” Gloriosa snatched the telescope away.
She saw Gern at the bow of the warship, wearing a black shirt under a coat of justice, with black blade eight desolations at his waist.
His medium-length black hair fluttered in the sea breeze, and he had a smile on his face.
After confirming the figure at the bow, Gloriosa’s aged face showed complex emotions, and she murmured softly: “It really is him…”
The Marine who personally arrested the love of her life…
“Heaven Tremor” Gern Reginald Sigma!!
“Heaven Tremor…” Torch Lotus gritted her teeth, her chest heaving violently.
Anger, unwillingness, worry… all emotions intertwined in her eyes.
Finally, she suddenly raised her hand and shouted sharply: “All hands to battle stations! Do not let them approach Nine Snake by a single step!”
“Wait!” Gloriosa quickly pressed her arm, “Torch Lotus, calm down! Our rash attack will only provoke him!”
“Provoke?” Torch Lotus sneered, “He caused my sister to become like that, and I’m still afraid of provoking him?!”