Things calmed down on the unknown island that could no longer hold any life as half of it was burnt down and the other half was turned into stone. Nevertheless, it was allowed a last dinner where Rayleigh sat together with the four ladies and Veyron.
"You know they have awakened their devil fruits, don't you?" Rayleigh began after having a chunk of fish.
"What do you mean 'awakened' is that...?" Both Veyron and Primrose were clueless as to what he was talking about, more so the Boa sisters.
"Awakened devil fruits are extremely rare... it happens when the user hits the maximum degree of compatibility with their fruit. In the case of Zoan users, this..." Rayleigh pointed at both Marigold and Sandersonia who had already gone back to their human forms.
"Increase of physical strength to an abnormal level, a change of personality resembling that of the animal they represent and a hybrid appearance between human and animal that's much much stronger, awakened zoans are not a joking matter, they're some of the most dangerous individuals in the sea" He affirmed sternly.
"So that's what happened... the first time the girls underwent that transformation was two months ago" Primrose recalled the day like it was yesterday. She had been trashing both of her daughters during a sparing session, and it looked like they had enough of being left behind by both her and Hancock.
"We also lost our rationality for a while and became mindless beasts, we destroyed that island on our own and even fought each other at some point... if not for Veyron helping us train our will, perhaps we would be gone now" Marigold sighed, although she was broadly content of her newfound power... thankfully that small island had no life in it because the aftermath was the unprecedented destruction that only an exploding volcano and an earthquake together could bring.
"Not only that, you have awakened your fruit as well, Hancock".
"Me?" Hancock pointed at herself, sitting next to her 'hubby' and attending his every need.
"You turned the sea into stone... if I remember correctly, for anything to be turned into stone, they must have feelings for you or see you as attractive".
"That's right, but... since I'm extremely beautiful, isn't it normal for anything to be turned into stone by me?" The young lady held her chest as if offended that he doubted the capacity of her beauty.
"..." Rayleigh flinched and one of the glasses of his glasses shattered, 'Hit me now'.
"Hahahaha!" Veyron laughed audibly with a confused Hancock looking at him in confusion, wondering what was so funny. The sisters and mother giggled, her confidence seemed to have gone through the roof during the past year.
*cough!*
"That may be the case, but I'm more willing to bet that your paramecia has awakened. It has the effect of influencing the outside world, even outside your body, as you have shown so far. Not only that but your conqueror haki is also advanced, you can impregnate it in your every attack and cause internal destruction. Primrose, what sort of crazy training did you make them undergo?"
He didn't say it, but even Primrose had given him a surprise, holding off her three most- daughters with just her masterful usage of Kuja Martial Arts and Conqueror Haki. He could say with confidence that she had left Shakky in the dust with that display.
"It wasn't me, Rayleigh... he trained me as well, I wasn't this strong a year ago" The Empress pointed at Veyron who was calmly eating his fish and listening to the conversation as if it didn't concern him.
Rayleigh crossed his arm and tapped his finger, waiting for an answer.
"It is like this".
...
"So basically, you made them resist your Haki daily, all day until they managed to at least stand up against your will. If they passed out, you'd put them on a stick in front of the sea, naked and humiliated".
"That's right".
"Should I call the Marines on your ass?".
"There is no need to exaggerate, Rayleigh! This is my mother's extra patented training for Conqueror Haki. It worked with me, so it surely had to work with them as well~".
Rayleigh regarded the lovely Hancock and gorgeous Primrose who were both biting their lips and shivering, it was obvious the training left some scars that would never be mended.
'Mihawk? If it is that lunatic then I can believe it...'
"So? How long has this gone for?"
"The training has already finished, we have been going from island to island for the past year and haven't returned to Amazon Lily once. I left everything in charge of Gloriosa" Primrose added, "Hancock and the girls' birthday was two weeks ago".
"Then why are you still here?".
"Now that I think about it, there is no reason for us to be here~".
"Mom!" Hancock stood up abruptly, facing her mother who was still giggling.
"The three of you haven't been able to defeat me, which means I shall remain as the Hebihime for the near future".
"No way! Mom you know I'm close to defeating you! I just need a few more months!" Hancock knew all she needed was time, It was a battle royale where they'd all fight each other for the title, but Primrose was so strong that the sisters all felt they needed to take her down first.
They may match her will, they may match her strength. But they couldn't match her technique and experience. Primrose was a powerhouse and Veyron could testify to that. He was sure she was easily the level of a marine admiral while her daughters were touching the threshold but not quite there yet, the difference was in combat experience, Primrose had engaged in fights all her life, and arguably she was even better than Veyron in this regard.
"Why are you so adamant on becoming the empress, Hancock?" Rayleigh was a bit confused, he knew how Amazon Lily worked and usually whenever a new Empress was appointed it was because the previous was either incapacitated or abandoned Amazon Lily, like Shakky's case.
A member of the Kuja Pirates rarely challenged their empress during their lifetime. And yet Hancock was very adamant about doing this.
"T-That..." Hancock realised the predicament she was in, especially when sensing her mother's glare. They knew they were both competing to be 'his' wife, but in Primrose's case, that wasn't something she could shout to the skies with pride.
*Cough!*
Sandersonia and Marigold interjected, "We have our reasons, old man. In any case... it is true, I want to test myself against powerful foes now!".
They fought against Veyron and got trashed every time, he wasn't even using his sword, but they knew he didn't count, they needed to test themselves against 'real' opponents.
"I guess that's right... It is time we test ourselves against real powerful opponents. Let's have a duel, Rayleigh!"
Veyron growled and Youbi flew into his hands, coated in armament Haki and ready to rock n' roll. He pointed it at the deadpanning Dark King, seeking a duel.
Veyron thought it was about time to go to Skypea and give the 'God' some greetings, but first, there was an opponent in front of him that he had wanted to fight from the beginning.
'Go suck your motha, kiddo. Like... literally!'.
Those were words Rayleigh would never say out loud, but he outrightly rejected the notion of fighting that little monster who did nothing but become stronger year after year, he already felt depressed enough with how strong Veyron was at that age and the fact he had the 4th Haki too.
"No, I only came all the way here from Sabaody to give you something".
Rayleigh handed him something over, it was a den den mushi, to be specific, a den den mushi that held a resemblance to someone he cherished lovingly. All the girls looked at it and Primrose's brows twitched for a moment, she could feel a storm coming.
"Mom!? Where did you get this?"
The den den mushi had a hat and looked exactly like Mihawk.
"It was sent by Shanks, packages sent from the new world take a lot of time to arrive here. To make the call just press this button here".
"Pero pero pero pero~"
"Pero pero pero pero~"
"Kacha~".
"Who is this?"
When he heard her voice, his whole countenance changed into that of sheer pure happiness... two years apart and all he could do was miss her.
"Mom, it is me!"
"Veyron... I was longing to-"
It was then that Hancock pulled the den den mushi away from his ear and talked to it enthusiastically, naively thinking she'd live past this mistake.
"Mother-in-law!~ how are you?!" (Hancock)
Her intentions were friendly, utter respect for the person who had saved her life back then in Marie Geoise, the desire to show herself as the proud fiance of her boyfriend... she was sure Mihawk would be happy about it.
"..." (Mihawk)
'I am dead!' (Veyron).
'We- you are dead!' (Rayleigh).
"I don't know who you are and what you're doing with my son, but you better prepare yourself because I'm coming there right now! Kacha~" (Mihawk)
A dead silence hit the world as dark clouds began to conglomerate. The sea monsters around the shore started to retreat in haste. The birds in the sky migrated to another ecosystem.
It was their natural instinct telling them; if they didn't get the f*ck out of here... then they will wish they were fished and cooked instead.
"Are? I think mother-in-law couldn't recognise my voice" The confused princess turned around to look at her sisters, boyfriend, mother and Rayleigh who were all pale white like a sheet of paper.
She had no idea she just put a rope around everyone's neck.