Hancock had no idea what "kiting" meant, but she perfectly understood Bardock's strategy: whittle the enemy down with long-range attacks. She ducked into the cabin and retrieved her own weapon—a beautifully crafted bow and a quiver of arrows.
Bardock raised an eyebrow. 'Why isn't she using her Devil Fruit powers?' he wondered, though he knew this wasn't the time to ask.
"Take out their ranged fighters first," Bardock instructed, aiming down his sights. "Then we'll slowly pick off the rest."
"Hmph. You don't need to tell me that," Hancock scoffed.
The two of them unleashed a relentless barrage. The pirate crew quickly began to buckle, forced to watch their comrades drop one by one without even landing a scratch on their attackers.
"Hurry! Fall back into the cabins!" the pirate captain roared. "If we're inside, they can't see us! They can't shoot what they can't see!"
The captain had resorted to the ultimate coward's strategy: the turtle tactic. By using the ship's thick wooden bulkheads to block the snipers' line of sight, he planned to wait it out until the attackers got bored and left. Unless, of course, the attackers were stupid enough to board them. If they did, it would be the perfect chance to strike back. They were just two brats, yet they had slaughtered so many of his men. He would make them pay.
"Bring the boat closer," Hancock ordered, not pausing her assault for a single second.
Thwack!
Her arrows punched cleanly through the thick wooden hull of the galleon, instantly followed by agonizing screams from inside the cabins.
Bardock's eyes widened. "Wait, you already know Observation and Armament Haki?!"
"Of course," Hancock said haughtily. "On Amazon Lily, we train from childhood. I awakened my Haki when I was twelve."
"Seriously? Do you have any secret tips?" Bardock asked eagerly. "I've been trying to follow Shanks' advice for a whole month, and I still haven't felt a thing."
Hancock actually stopped shooting, lowering her bow to give him a deadpan stare. "Listen to yourself. You want to awaken Haki in a single month? Who do you think you are? Even with lifelong training, it took me years to achieve it. You need to humble yourself and put in the actual work."
"Alright, fair enough," Bardock sighed. "How many enemies are left? Do you have enough Haki to clear them out?"
Hancock smirked. "I can shoot like this all day."
'Alright then, Captain Kuja, Steve Boa Hancock,' Bardock quipped internally.
With his turtle tactic completely shattered, the pirate captain was drowning in absolute despair. He never imagined that a casual decision to prey on a small boat would bring utter annihilation to his crew. If he had known it would end like this, he would have just stayed in his hometown and been a fisherman.
"Are there really pirates this weak in the New World?" Bardock muttered, lowering his rifle. "They didn't even put up a decent fight. I still have so many backup plans I didn't get to use."
"True strength is rare," Hancock replied dismissively. "Trash like them litter the seas. We've wasted enough time. Keep flying the boat."
"Hold on, we haven't looted them yet!"
"I'm not going over there. Two-bit pirates like them blow their stolen cash the second they get it. They won't have any real treasure." Hancock wrinkled her nose in disgust.
Bardock didn't mind her refusal. He happily leaped over to the galleon alone. Whether they had actual treasure or not didn't matter; he just loved the dopamine rush of looting fallen enemies.
As he searched cabin by cabin, Bardock couldn't help but marvel at the sheer utility of Haki. His Fiery Golden Eyes gave him absurd dynamic and telescopic vision, but he didn't have X-ray sight. The moment the pirates had hidden behind the walls, his sniping was neutralized. Hancock, however, had simply used Observation Haki to pinpoint their exact locations and laced her arrows with Armament Haki to blast right through the bulkheads.
"One, two, three, four..." Bardock counted the holes in amazement. "These wooden planks were practically paper to her. Her arrows punched through four layers of hull and still retained enough lethal force to one-shot these guys."
"Ah, found the captain," Bardock muttered, looking down at a body slumped in the hallway. "Yikes, five arrows. What a brutal way to go. Tch, Hancock was right. This guy is totally broke. Whatever, let's check the captain's quarters."
The moment Bardock turned his back, the "dead" captain's eyes snapped open. Gritting his bloodstained teeth, he swung his heavy cutlass violently at the back of Bardock's neck. He had been playing possum.
'Idiot. You should have attacked earlier,' Bardock scoffed internally. He had noticed the captain faking his death the moment he searched the room. The pirate was bleeding out rapidly and clearly just wanted to take someone down with him.
As the blade inched closer to Bardock's neck, a gleam of savage triumph flashed in the pirate captain's eyes.
But in the next split second, everything stopped. An arrow suddenly punched straight through the captain's skull from outside the ship. A moment later, Bardock casually raised a single, golden-furred finger to block the descending blade.
Utter awkwardness hung in the air. Seeing how weak the dying captain was, Bardock had fully intended to pull off a badass, Aizen-style "blocking a sword with one finger" flex. Instead, Hancock had stolen his kill, completely ruining his cool moment.
By the time Bardock returned to his sloop, his pockets weren't exactly overflowing with treasure. Still, it wasn't a total loss. From the captain's quarters, he had salvaged a local nautical chart, an Eternal Pose pointing to the Prodence Kingdom, and the ship's logbook.
As the Monkey King lifted back into the sky, Bardock opened the logbook and began flipping through the pages.
"Hey, why didn't you use your Devil Fruit powers during the fight?" Bardock asked casually.
Hancock's face instantly darkened. "How do you know about that? I never told you I ate a Devil Fruit." Her tone was dangerously low, making it explicitly clear that if he didn't give a good explanation, she was going to attack him.
"Did I not mention it?" Bardock blinked innocently. "Oda told me. He said Boa Hancock is the Most Beautiful Woman in the World. He also mentioned you ate the Love-Love Fruit and could turn people into stone."
"No, you did not mention that," Hancock snapped. "And if I ever run into this Oda, I'll turn him into a stone statue that can never speak again."
Despite her harsh words, her expression noticeably softened. The corners of her lips even twitched upward slightly. It was glaringly obvious that being called the "Most Beautiful Woman in the World" had deeply pleased her.
"So you really can turn people into stone?" Bardock pressed, his inner nerd taking over. "Can you turn them back? If someone is petrified, does their biological time stop? Like, if someone is critically injured and about to die with no doctor around, could you turn them to stone, safely transport them to a hospital, and un-petrify them for surgery? Would that save their life? And what if—"
At first, Hancock genuinely pondered his rapid-fire questions. Then, her brow furrowed. Finally, utterly annoyed, she cut him off. "Are you ever going to shut up? If you're so curious, why don't I just turn you into stone and find out?"
"Ah, I'll pass. I have a boat to fly," Bardock chuckled. "Still, it's a shame you didn't test it out on all those pirates earlier."
A heavy silence fell over the boat.
"I hate this power," Hancock finally said, her voice quiet and bitter. "It just constantly reminds me of... bad memories."
Bardock looked at her. "All the misfortune in this world stems from a lack of strength. Since you already possess this power, why not master it to make yourself undeniably strong? Become so powerful that misfortune takes a detour when it sees you coming."
"Shut up," Hancock muttered, looking away. "Just fly the boat."
"There's an uninhabited island up ahead," Bardock announced later that afternoon. "We'll set up camp there for the night. I'm starving, I need a massive feast."
"Then I'll go hunt us some prey!" The moment the boat hovered over the island, Hancock leaped down into the jungle.
Bardock parked the Monkey King on the beach and hopped off to stretch his stiff limbs. By the time he had set up the campfire, arranged the cooking utensils, and prepped his spices, Hancock had already returned, casually dragging a massive grizzly bear behind her.
"You're in for a treat today," Bardock grinned, rolling up his sleeves. "Get ready to experience my cooking."
After a flurry of roasting and seasoning, the two of them devoured the meat, leaning back against the sand with completely satisfied stomachs.
"Hey, Hancock," Bardock spoke up, enjoying the post-meal lethargy. "Can you use the flowing Advanced Armament Haki yet?"
"Not yet, but I'm getting close," she replied. "Why? It's not like you even know basic Armament yet."
"My Beast Form gives me insane physical defense," Bardock explained, sitting up. "I want to test my absolute limits. Try hitting me."
Hancock stared at him like he had lost his mind. "I have never heard a more idiotic request in my life. If I end up breaking your ribs, don't go crying to me."
"Deal! I promise I won't complain," Bardock laughed, stretching his arms. "Let's digest our food first, then we'll start."