In One Piece, as Hashirama Senju

[99] A Lantern of Hope

Chapter 99: A Lantern of Hope

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The entire Amazon Lily was in chaos. Even Marguerite was feeling guilty now. After all, the Snake Empress had been abducted by the evil man, Hashirama Senju, who assaulted her when she was bathing.

"Men are so disgusting!"

"What cheap tricks did he use to defeat her?"

"She was obviously vulnerable, she was taking a bath, for god's sake! She wasn't expecting an attack."

"What were the guards doing?! Isn't it their responsibility to keep the Empress safe in the bath?"

"Hey, why are you blaming the guards? It's obviously the man who's at fault!"

"Such lustful creatures a man in. To assault the kind and gentle Empress when couldn't defend herself..."

Marguerite and her... accomplices could only stay silent as the others bad-mouthed their first man blatantly.

At the same time, a search was happening on the entire island, starting from the residential area to the forest outside. Not even a corner was left out.

Yet, they couldn't find their Empress and her abductor anywhere.

* * *

Hashirama was not in Amazon Lily anymore. He wasn't sure when Boa Hancock would wake up, and he would also have to talk things out with her, so hiding somewhere in the Amazon Lily wasn't optimal. Since people searching for him would find him soon.

He needed some time, so he flew to a nearby island. There were quite a few around here, including the one where Luffy trained in the time skip. Obviously, that's not where Hashirama was right now, due to the amount of uselessly aggressive beasts there. He was on another island close by, where there were less dangers.

It was a common forest island with a beach surrounding it. He was on the beach, camped under the shade of a tree. With a fireplace in front of him, he was cooking a large ostrich by tying it up on a plank of wood and rolling it around the fire. He hadn't yet cooked it, since the ostrich was alive still, and he wasn't planning to torture the innocent bird by burning it alive.

In fact, he wasn't planning to kill it. He wasn't a vegan, but it felt useless to kill this birdie when he could produce an endless supply of meat. The visit to Boin Archipelago did him well. He was just scaring the little thing because it dared attack him out of the blue when he dropped here.

"Learn to respect people, little bird."

Hashirama poked the tied bird with a stick, making it shake in fear, yet it still screeched at him.

"How rude."

Hashirama yawned and poked it again. This wasn't animal abuse; he was just teaching the birdie the cycle of life. He will let it free after Hancock wakes up.

As if hearing his inner voice, the woman in question showed signs of waking up.

Hashirama heard the rustling of leaves and turned his head backward. There a woman was laying on a puddle of soft leaves that had a large leaf laid over it. A pair of banana tree leaves were laid over her chest, and her lower waist, to cover her private part. They were tied from the back, so they shouldn't fall even if she stood up.

Hashirama himself wore similar clothing. Though for him it was just a pair of short pants.

He fully turned around to face her since she might attack. He faced the world's hottest woman as she woke up from her beauty sleep, which had lasted a total of four hours.