'She woke up so quickly.'
'This woman is truly remarkable.'
'It's no wonder that this woman in the original book could elicit comments from Sengoku like that.'
'If this woman develops further, perhaps she will indeed become the Empress of the Sea.'
'Sure enough, it's necessary to include this woman in the team,' Rifan mused, raising his eyebrows as he looked at Hancock in surprise.
He didn't push Hancock too hard, but he hadn't expected her to wake up so quickly. Hancock's performance made Rifan realize her potential, sparking a desire to recruit her as a member of the captain's subordinate pirate group.
"Here is..."
Hancock frowned beautifully. As she saw Sandersonia's worried expression, memories of her previous battle with Rifan flooded back. She quickly rolled over from Sandersonia's arms and fixed her eyes on Rifan with a serious gaze.
"Rifan!"
Hancock gritted her teeth and assumed a fighting stance once again.
"Don't get too excited, Hancock, unless you want to end up on the ground like you were a moment ago," Rifan warned. "Also, maybe you should consider protecting what's behind her now?"
Rifan smiled, raised his hand, and threw Marigold's body, wrapped in a sail, towards Hancock and Sandersonia.
Upon seeing this, the two sisters quickly caught their younger sibling, ensuring the sails remained wrapped around Marigold, concealing the 'Mark' from the view of the Nine Snake Pirates' elite fighters.
"Marigold-sama, are you all right?"
"Excellent, the curse behind Marigold-sama didn't activate. We're all safe."
"That Rifan, did he see Marigold-sama's curse and wrap her in a sail?"
"But if he saw the curse behind Marigold-sama, why wasn't he petrified?"
"He wasn't petrified by Snake-hime before, perhaps this formidable man has a special ability to resist curses."
The fighters of the Nine Snake Pirates exchanged their thoughts with each other, bringing relief to Hancock, Marigold, and Sandersonia. They had not glimpsed the 'Mark' behind Marigold.
"This man... he saw that thing," Hancock thought, her brow furrowing elegantly as she examined Rifan closely. Marigold and Sandersonia wore similarly complex expressions.
"How about it, three of you? Can we have a civilised conversation now?" Rifan asked with a gentle smile, addressing Hancock and her sisters.
Now that he entertained the idea of assimilating the Nine Snake Pirates into a pirate group under the Black Pearl Pirates, Rifan sought to resolve previous conflicts with Hancock and establish a positive relationship. After all, the sea was vast, and they might not encounter each other again so easily.
"A conversation?" Hancock pursed her lips and regarded Rifan suspiciously. Sandersonia leaned down to explain to Hancock what had transpired during the moments she had been unconscious.
Upon hearing that Rifan possessed Conqueror's Haki, potentially as powerful as Mikita or even stronger, and could subdue the entire Nine Snake Pirates in an instant, Hancock's pupils visibly contracted.
Besides their brief contest with Rifan, Hancock was acutely aware of the unfavorable situation she faced. After all, Rifan was a man who could resist her allure.
"Do you wish to talk? Well, in that case, you and I can retire to this empress room for our discussion."
"To those who are still awake, clean up the battlefield."
"And if you don't want to be turned to stone by the curse, don't approach this empress room."
"Furthermore, don't impede that man over there."
After leaving these instructions, Hancock turned and headed towards the cabin. Sandersonia lifted Marigold and followed Hancock's lead, while Rifan, still smiling, addressed the Nine Snake Pirate fighters who were keeping a watchful eye on him. He then followed Hancock.
…
—•—|Rifan Live Broadcast Chat Room|—•—
[Eagle Audience: This guy Rifan, is he trying to develop the Nine Snake Pirates into his subordinate pirates!?]
[Green Pheasant Audience: Subordinate Pirates? Wait, this guy Rifan has indeed obtained the authority to develop other pirate captains into subordinate pirate captains!]
[Camel Audience: No way, the empress is Shichibukai after all, and she is still the emperor of a country, how could she be willing to become Rifan's subordinate captain?]
[How is that impossible, she is willing to become the Seven Warlords of the Sea of the World government, which shows that she is not so proud that she has no boundaries.]
[If Brother Rifan gives enough, it is not impossible for her to become part of the Black Pearl Pirates. ]
[Goat Audience: If the Empress becomes Rifan's partner, she will also be strengthened by Rifan's resources. To be honest, there are indeed many things that Rifan can give her. ]
[Chollima Audience: If a Shichibukai, the emperor of a country becomes the power of the Black Pearl Pirates, this man Rifan will be completely ahead of other reincarnators.]
[Hehe, Brother Rifan is already ahead of other reincarnators, okay?]
[Green Pheasant Audience: I'm so envious. Behind the empress is the country of women. Is this guy Rifan going to have a country's beauties?]
[Eagle Audience: As expected of you upstair, we are all thinking about the power that Rifan can get, but you are thinking about the beauty that Rifan can have!]
[Kangaroo Audience: I'm curious about what the curses were mentioned by the pirates of the Nine Snake Pirates. Do Hancock and the others have any special curses?]
[Eagle Audience: It's better to have, and it's the kind of strong curse that can curse Rifan alone. ]
[You're dreaming too much, haven't you seen Brother Rifan's calm face? Even if there is a curse, with many Devil Fruit abilities he has, I'm sure it can help him resist the curse. ]
[Goat Audience: Indeed! But I'm quite curious about the curse, and I don't know if I can learn more about it later. ]
[Goat Audience:: Wait...Why is the screen black?]
[Maybe it's because that Marigold is showing the curse, that thing seems to be behind her, if she wants to show it, she may take off the sails on her body, which will also trigger the black screen mechanism in the live broadcast room. ]
[Eagle Audience: Is there a possibility that Rifan has been cursed that kill him?]
[Green Pheasant Audience: There is indeed such a possibility. In the follow-up, the three sisters of Empress Hancock felt that Rifan could not be defeated by conventional power, so they used this powerful curse that might kill Rifan. ]
[Continue to fantasize and leave a message in the live broadcast room, the people upstairs, if you don't mind being slapped in the face later. ]
---
—•—One Piece Dungeon World—•—
Nine Snake Pirates Ship.
Boa Hancock's room.
"I'm in."
Rifan, who was a few steps behind the three Hancock sisters, arrived at the door through the silent passage.
Due to Hancock's orders, the other Kuja Pirate fighters chose to stay far away from Hancock's room. On the one hand, they were afraid of being affected by the "curse" behind the three sisters.
But Rifan didn't have such worries; he knew that behind the three Boa was the 'Celestial Dragon Hoof'. The so-called curse was nothing more than a lie they made up because they didn't want the Amazon lilies to know the fact that they were caught as slaves.
"I said, do you have to be so bare-chested, Marigold?"
"If you were a little thinner, I might appreciate your current posture a little more. But now you, forget it."
Rifan glanced at the room where the sails had been taken off, and looked at Marigold, Sandersonia, and Hancock with a serious face, then raised his hand and closed the door tightly.
"Rifan, did you really see what's behind me?" Marigold ignored Rifan's teasing words but asked Rifan solemnly.
"Well, I did see it, is that a problem?"
Rifan knew that the live broadcast room had been blacked out because of Marigold's situation. Therefore, he didn't have the slightest scruples about talking about the 'Mark'.
"Why did you help me earlier? How do you know that I don't want the rest of the Kuja Pirates to see what's behind me?" Marigold continued asking.
"I helped you because I have no intention of being an enemy of the Nine Snake Pirates. As for how I know they don't want to see what's behind you... After all, you three sisters are the rulers of a country and the Empress sister. I don't think a country would want someone with that kind of mark behind them to be ruler."
Rifan said, turning his head to look at Hancock and Sandersonia. When the two heard Rifan's words, their bodies visibly trembled.
'How did he know?!' Both Hancock and Sandersonia were full of doubts at the moment.
"Rifan, what are you talking about? This Mark, only I have it. My sisters don't have such a thing."
After Marigold was surprised, she wanted to cover up for both Hancock and Sandersonia.
"Well, it seems that I misunderstood." Rifan saw the flustered expressions of the three of them but didn't contradict Marigold's words. Instead, he continued: "Marigold, I'm curious. Since you are so unwilling to let others know what is behind you, why don't you think of a way to deal with it? A fighter like you shouldn't be afraid of pain, so why didn't you dig out the flesh and blood from your back?"
Rifan found a stool and sat down, curiously asking Marigold about his doubts. This was also the doubt he had in his heart when he read and watch the original work of One Piece. You must know that the Golden Emperor Tezolo was also a slave of the Celestial Dragons, and he also had an ugly tattoo like the "Celestial Dragon's Hoof" on his back. However, in order to cover up the tattoo behind him, he left a huge pentagram-like scar on his back. Rifan thinks that Hancock and others can do the same. It is impossible to have good skin on the back just because of beauty.
"It's useless, Rifan! You don't understand this stuff. It's a real curse. Even if I dig out some of the flesh and blood on my back, although it can subside temporarily, when that part of the flesh and blood injury recovers, its shape will appear on the scar again. No matter how much flesh and blood is dug out of the back, it will appear again and again."
Marigold pursed her lips and said tremblingly. It seemed that the way Rifan suggested had been tried before, but she chose to give up because of repeated failures.
"A real curse? There is such a thing. This thing, shouldn't it be a phenomenon caused by some kind of Devil Fruit ability?"
Rifan raised his eyebrows, quite surprised. Rifan understood that the One Piece World had many cursed Devil Fruits, like Bonney's age fruit, Ain's regression fruit, or the child's fun of Sugar and so on. Therefore, Rifan could still understand if it was said that the "Celestial Dragon's Hoof" was a curse caused by some kind of devil fruit.
"Well, your answer solved one of my doubts. No wonder so many people from the former Sun Pirates dared to get another tattoo on themselves. They wouldn't want to go through similar pain to dig out that part of their body." Rifan nodded slightly and spoke.
"You know about the Sun Pirates?" Marigold widened her eyes and looked at Rifan in disbelief.
"Why can't I know?" Rifan smiled and raised his head with interest. "No! It's just... there should be very few people who know about it. Rifan, you were rescued by Fisher Tiger in the Red Line riot 13 years ago, right?"
"How could it be? I was never caught by human traffickers and sold to Celestial Dragons. If I really had that thing on me, I'm not going to ask why you didn't get rid of it. By the way, Marigold, why don't you get a new tattoo on your back like the Sun Pirates did? This shouldn't be too difficult for you, right?"
Rifan looked at Marigold seriously and asked.
"Hmph, that's just trying to cover up! Even if it was replaced with other tattoos, it's still there, it never goes away!"
Hancock clenched her fists, almost gritting her teeth as she spoke these words.
Hearing this, Rifan looked at Hancock meaningfully. Although Hancock did not admit that she also had the "mark," she was clearly feeling the weight of the situation.
Like Hancock, Marigold and Sandersonia also clenched their fists, and their bodies began to tremble uncontrollably.
Seeing this scene, Rifan couldn't help shaking his head regretfully. The slave mark really had a great impact on the three sisters.
'Speaking of which, if this thing can be eliminated. It should be able to play a big role in promoting the Kuja Pirates to become the affiliated pirates of the Black Pearl Pirates.'
Thinking of this, a light flashed in Rifan's eyes, and he suddenly said to Marigold: "Marigold, I have some special ability. I don't know if you are interested in letting me try to remove the 'curse' behind you?"