"Get out of my way, Brownbeard!"
The frenzied pirates carried the looted supplies on their backs as they ran toward the dock. Brownbeard didn't want trouble falling on his head—the other party's bounty was 91 million Belly higher than his.
Besides, he also wanted to see how Sleeping Island would deal with these mad pirates.
Rumble—Boom!
The ground beside the road exploded apart, and a massive serpent made of large, translucent crystal blocks burst forth.
Crystal Onix's size was no longer the same as when it first appeared. After absorbing an energy stone that belonged to it, its body had begun evolving toward a super-sized Onix form.
"What audacious fools, daring to do such a thing while I am on duty. If this draws Vane's reprimand, even dying a thousand or ten thousand times would never be enough to cleanse your sins, you wretched vermin."
Standing atop Crystal Onix's head, Hancock rebuked the pirates in an incomparably arrogant posture.
Whether it was Brownbeard's crew watching from the sidelines or the frenzied pirates themselves, everyone was stunned. Anyone who saw such an enormous crystal serpent would be shocked beyond words.
Big Mom would probably show a look of intense desire—after all, she was a collector.
"A beautiful woman! Move aside now, or I'll let you taste my bounty—"
"Noisy!"
Hancock had no interest in knowing the bounty of this ugly pirate or his underlings. All she intended to do was capture them and throw them into Confession Prison.
"Slave Arrow!"
Crystal Onix lowered its head, giving Hancock a perfect angle.
A rain of pink arrows shot out.
The pirates who were struck instantly turned into white stone where they stood. Some tried to defend themselves with shields, but when the pink arrows hit the shields, even the shields transformed into heavy stone.
"M-Monster!"
A few scattered pirates who hadn't been petrified saw their powerful captain turned to stone before the beautiful woman without any ability to resist. Their courage shattered instantly, and they fled in panic.
Crystal Onix swung its tail, deftly coiling around the fleeing pirates and lifting them into the air.
"Wooo—"
Crystal Onix used Slam…
It simply whipped the bundled pirates violently against the ground. A plain and simple attack, yet devastatingly effective against them.
Being smashed like that was excruciating—the kind that broke bones. Compared to that, turning into stone and being restored later with an intact body seemed far preferable.
"Remember to level the ground before you head back."
Hancock leapt down from Crystal Onix's head, while Crystal Onix returned underground the way it had come.
"Hancock-sama, we're here to support you!"
"Have the troublemaking pirates been captured?"
The female crew members under Hancock hurried over from the direction of the dock.
There weren't many sailing missions from Sleeping Island at the moment. Moria, Bonez, and Hancock's teams had been arranged by Vane to rotate duty maintaining order at the docks and in Midnight Town.
It was precisely so that if an incident like today occurred, someone would be specially assigned to swiftly apprehend the culprits, preventing greater losses to Sleeping Island.
"These scum have already been turned to stone. Tie them up and send them to the prison."
Under Hancock and her two younger sisters' leadership, the female crew had a strong Amazon Island style—bold and rough in their conduct.
Even their clothing style was distinctly Amazon-like. If these pirates hadn't been turned to stone, being carried away by so many boldly dressed women might have counted as a reward.
"We've successfully captured the troublemakers. I must report to Vane-sama. Vane-sama will definitely pat my head and praise me."
Coincidentally, today was also Hancock's last day on duty. The rotation changed once a week, and the next person on duty was Bonez.
Bonez was an honest and easygoing man. Hancock casually found a reason to have him come half a day early for the handover.
Then the captured pirates were escorted to Confession Prison.
Confession Prison was already holding quite a number of inmates. With increased population flow came more people committing crimes.
"Ah! Spare me! I was wrong, I was really wrong—just don't let me fall asleep!"
"I'd rather be whipped! I'll do labor reform—just don't make me sleep!"
Pleas echoed from within the prison. This was the result of the hypnotic punishment established by Warden Selibe.
Many could not withstand the deep torment inflicted upon their minds. They confessed voluntarily, even preferring physical suffering over it.
"Without Captain Vane's approval, you'd better stay obediently inside the prison. Isn't it nice here? No labor, no physical punishment. You just have to sleep peacefully. Sleep… sleep…"
Selibe's eyes glowed faintly. Several criminals with bloodshot eyes finally gave in and collapsed into sleep.
"What kind of dream should I set for you… Let's make it seven layers. First layer, drowning. Second layer, burning to death. Third layer, the guillotine…"
As Selibe continuously tormented criminals, her abilities kept developing as well. Those who fell into her hypnotic dreams would enter extremely realistic dreamscapes, and she could simulate extraordinarily vivid experiences of death.
With multi-layered dreams, the victims would reincarnate endlessly within death itself. By the end, even if they awakened, they would struggle to distinguish whether the real world was truly real.
Those with strong Observation Haki or Armament Haki had somewhat greater resistance to this ability.
A truly terrifying ability user—that was Vane's evaluation of Selibe.
She felt somewhat like a genjutsu ninja from Naruto. Moreover, very little information about Selibe existed in the outside world. If one day she appeared before the masses, she could cause large numbers of the weak to defect and attack their own companions.
As for powerful individuals—like a Vice Admiral—she could probably forcefully control one.
A guard came to report: "Warden, Snake Pillar-sama has sent over a batch of prisoners. One of them is a pirate with a 91 million bounty."
A 91 million bounty!?
That was an excellent experimental subject. The highest-bounty prisoner she had encountered since taking office. Just thinking about it made her excited.
"Quickly receive them. Prepare a special cell for the one with the highest bounty! I want to see how long he can endure!"
...
Source Mountain.
That was the name Vane gave to the only small mountain range on Sleeping Island, inspired by the fact that it was the source of all the island's rivers.
It had now become Vane's dedicated training ground.
This mountain range rose no more than three hundred meters above sea level, and it stood on a spring island. Logically, even in winter, its peak shouldn't be covered in snow.
Yet now, everything above two hundred meters on Source Mountain was blanketed in silver-white snow, with wind and blizzards raging endlessly.