"What? You rescued the slaves from Mary Geoise?" Hancock said in surprise. "Why have I never heard of this?"
"Oh, the people from Mary Geoise seem to have covered this up as an earthquake, right?" Shin said indifferently. "It seems like, since that incident, the Marines and the World Government didn't even raise my bounty!"
"This is the first time I've realized that if I do something too significant, even the World Government will help me cover it up!"
"You caused the earthquake in Mary Geoise?" Hancock's eyes widened in shock, her expression straight out of a classic scene from One Piece Manga.
"To be precise, it was my fight with someone that caused the earthquake in Mary Geoise," Shin said, shaking his fingers.
"Are you joking? As far as I know, there was a huge trench carved into the Red Line because of that battle! Even now, people can hike up that path to reach the Holy Land of Mary Geoise!"
Although Mary Geoise is in the lower part of the Red Line, it is still several kilometers high, and the Red Line itself is far harder than ordinary soil and rock. Additionally, the Red Line is massive, spanning hundreds of kilometers.
"Yes, that trench was caused by my final attack, and I lost my life because of it," Shin nodded and said.
Hancock didn't know what to say for a moment. She even suspected Shin was exaggerating, but after looking at the chart in his hand, she started to have doubts.
If Shin were lying outright, why would he provide so many eyewitnesses? And if no one had seen it, wouldn't his claim be easily exposed?
Shin didn't dwell on her skepticism and didn't care whether Hancock believed him or not. He simply hoped the Kuja Pirates would help rescue some slaves.
"Because you were once a slave of the Celestial Dragons, I still believe in you. If you meet people from the Revolutionary Army, perhaps you can guide some of them to develop their strength."
"Of course, I suspect some may have already left. Even if they were once slaves, many still have families they care about."
"Anyway, just do your best."
After speaking for a while, Shin noticed Hancock had grown silent. He frowned slightly. "What's wrong? Did I say something inappropriate?"
"No... I just want to ask you—did you really attack Mary Geoise? That place... How did you dare to go there?"
Shin suddenly understood something, shook his head, and said, "Have you ever heard of elephants in a zoo?"
"When elephants are young, their caretakers tie their legs with a thin hemp rope. At that stage, because they are small and weak, no matter how much they struggle, they can't break free."
"As they grow, they struggle less and less, believing that no matter how strong they become, they still won't be able to escape."
"So, even when they reach adulthood, a thin hemp rope can still hold them in place. By then, even though they have the strength to break free, they have already lost the courage and confidence to do so."
Hancock's expression darkened. How could she not understand what Shin meant? But she still said, "You don't understand. They are world nobles..."
"I saved many slaves." Shin's voice grew cold. "They once told me that being a slave under the Celestial Dragons is pure torture—worse than death."
"That made me wonder: since they no longer feared death, why were they still afraid of the Celestial Dragons? Why didn't they fight back?"
"Among them weren't just helpless people—there were giants, infamous pirates with bounties in the tens of millions. If they had truly fought with everything they had, even if the Celestial Dragons had guards, it wouldn't have been impossible to take them down!"
Shin's gaze locked onto Boa Hancock. "Maybe those slaves had thousands of reasons to justify their inaction, but in truth, they were all just excuses. The real reason was that they had lost their courage and confidence, completely enslaved in mind as well as body."
"Stop talking!" Hancock shouted, clutching her head.
After a while, with tears in her eyes, she looked up at Shin. "You don't understand anything..."
"No, I understand completely. Isn't this just domestication?" Shin sneered. "The mark on your back may be gone, but the ones in your heart have never disappeared."
"Let me ask you—if the Celestial Dragon who enslaved you appeared before you right now, would you kill him?"
Hancock trembled, uncertainty flashing in her eyes.
Would she kill him? Or would she, just like now, shiver in fear?
"I... I don't know..."
"That answer alone tells me everything." Shin sighed. "With your current strength, even if a hundred Celestial Dragons stood before you, you could crush them in an instant."
"So what are you afraid of? That they'll capture you and enslave you again?"
"To be blunt, with your power now, as long as you don't recklessly provoke them, even if the Celestial Dragons issued such an order, the Marines would likely ignore it."
The next morning.
Shin's words hadn't completely freed Boa Hancock from her past, but he could tell she had begun to confront it.
The proof lay in her aura. Once purely arrogant, built on vanity and narcissism, it now carried a restrained, deeper presence.
Clearly, his words had struck a chord.
When an elephant finally awakens and begins to struggle against its restraints, it won't take long before it snaps the tiny rope binding it.
The Boa Hancock of yesterday suppressed her hatred because of the psychological scars from her childhood and her fear of the Celestial Dragons. But if she manages to shed that fear, she may soon consider resisting the World Government outright.
Shin would wait and see what kind of flowers the seeds he planted would bloom into.
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