Chapter 57: Annoyance and Purity
_________ POV Narration _________
Enel didn't spend more time in the lower levels of Impel Down after giving Shiryu that warning.
It was true that Enel planned to take a part of Blackbeard's crew if things didn't work out. But Shiryu and Blackbeard were the two people that Enel planned to kill.
Blackbeard's death was needed for Enel's plan to work out, and Shiryu was a person with a track record of betraying authority, someone that Enel knew he wouldn't be able to lead.
All of the pirates in Blackbeard's future crew were sadistic and vile, but Shiryu was especially so, as he also happened to be an actual psychopath.
Enel had pondered his future options many times, and he found himself unable to relate to or associate with people like Shiryu.
He didn't care if the people he hung around were villains, or if they were particularly immoral. As long as he could use them, then it was all equalled out in the end.
However, Enel simply didn't know if he could reliably use someone like Shiryu. And since Shiryu was also not an enjoyable company, Enel had no reason to even attempt to keep him around.
Inside, he hoped that the former Head Jailor would take his advice to heart and not join up with Blackbeard.
Blackbeard was a tricky person, so Enel figured he'd probably find a way to escape Impel down even without Shiryu's help.
But, in the end, it wouldn't matter either way. Both of them would simply become just two more corpses littering the grounds of Marineford during the upcoming Summit War.
At least Enel was able to scout out the prison a bit. He thankfully also didn't need to care about having an escape plan after leaving the prison, as the gates of justice couldn't hold him back in any way.
Enel could easily fly over them, or destroy them if it was truly needed.
The Rear Admiral walked all the way back to his ship, not trying to look for Luffy and just letting the future play out as it was bound to.
He didn't bother telling Magellan of his departure either, as he didn't want to speak to a toilet door...
Hancock was already waiting for him at the docks, she looked at him with annoyance, as she had an angry scowl on her face when seeing him.
"You sure took your time, mister 'We need to get to Marineford this week'" She said while tilting her head backwards again. Enel didn't bother gratifying her childish jab with a response.
He simple clapped his hands and rebuilt his boat, including his usual beach chair/ throne.
Hancock simply walked inside and entered her room below the deck, and Enel just did his own thing, grabbing a newspaper with his earlobes and randomly skimming through it while whistling.
The rest of the journey should've gone rather quietly, or at least that was what Enel hoped.
But Hancock seemed to have other things on her mind.
"Typical male... Lazing around all day and reading newspapers." Hancock stood by Enel's beach chair and started nagging him.
"What do you want me to do? Speak to you? Not horribly interested in that..." Enel decided to answer, mostly out of boredom.
They were currently a day away from Marineford, so he had some time left to waste with her.
"Hmph, why would I care what you are doing!" Hancock once again raised her chin up high as she seemed to think that she was somehow winning an argument.
"... Then why the fuck are we having this conversation?" Enel's cold and frustrated response was a bit different from what she was expecting though.
The Pirate Empress was used to men always doing whatever they could to appeal to her, even marines were the same. But Enel seemed to disregard her for sport.
There was no appreciation to be found in his gaze as he stared at her, just annoyance.
This behaviour was what made Hancock want to talk more to Enel.
But she wasn't exactly prone to making conversations, so they were stuck on her nagging him and him telling her to fuck off repeatedly.
This went on for a bit until Enel started outright ignoring her.
This only further exasperated problems, as Hancock made it her hourly mission to make fun of something about Enel.
"What's with the earlobes?! Are you some kind of religious freak?"
"What a tacky suit, I hope you aren't expecting to impress anyone with that!"
"What's with all of this gold?!? Showing off your wealth? Are you trying to compensate for something?"
"Why is your stupid coat so stained?! I guess there is no honour among marines after all!"
Most of her jabs were answered by Enel turning a page to his newspaper.
By the time they reached Marineford, Enel had read over the same newspaper well over 16 times, just so that he could efficiently ignore Hancock.
Though he could still hear her... 'Maybe I should just throw her in the sea.' He had had that thought quite a few times, but at least he had managed to control himself till the end.
Enel landed in the middle of Marineford, and started heading directly to Sengoku's office. Hancock followed suit, doing her best to get a response out of Enel.
It was an odd sight for outsiders, the woman considered the most beautiful in the world dragging behind a Rear Admiral and being obviously ignored at every step of the way.
Many of the marines tried to approach her, only to be turned to stone as she didn't like men getting close to her...
Although... Now that she also took a second to look at the situation a bit, she was technically the one pursuing Enel constantly.
That thought made her stop in her tracks as if petrified by her own devil fruit. Enel also stopped, he turned around and waited for her to start walking again.
He didn't know if she had any idea where Sengoku's office was, so he had to lead her there at least.
"Get moving, Sengoku called for you," Enel said as he started walking slowly, waiting for the woman behind him to snap out of her daydreams.
After noticing that she was simply not budging, Enel simply walked over to her, grabbed her wrist and started dragging her off.
This did manage to break the Empress out of her stupor... She almost instantly tried to turn Enel to stone, only for her ability to fail... 'What?!? Why isn't my Mero Mero beam not working on him?!'
Unfortunately for her, Enel was well past the age where he let his hormones control his thoughts.
Although Hancock's appearance was beautiful, he had always been the type that would appreciate beauty, not lust after it.
In the end, Hancock let herself be led by the wrist all the way to Sengoku's office, while her thoughts were all over the place and she tried to wrap her head around the man that was dragging her around.
She had tried to use her Mero Mero beam on Enel a few times. Enel just ignored the pink hearts that sometimes passed by his head, although he was getting a bit frustrated with them.
If anything, one wouldn't be able to tell that Enel was dragging the most beautiful woman if one looked only at his face. He looked more like he was dragging around a sack of potatoes.
Hancock simply gulped, she looked up at Enel, who easily towered over her, and she finally took her arm back.
Enel didn't bother to hold her tightly, she could've broken off at any point, she had just been too flabbergasted to do that though.
"Never touch me again!" Hancock shouted, making Enel just shrug as he opened Sengoku's door, and proceeded to continue ignoring the Empress.
Hancock simply narrowed her eyes as she thought to herself... 'Why is someone like him... Just as pure as my Luffy?!?'
A rather great misconception. Luffy was simply ignorant when it came to women, while Enel was simply uncaring. But the both of them did have something in common, both of them had greater concerns.
Luffy was busy with his dream of becoming the Pirate King, and currently rescuing his brother. Enel was busy with his own problems, as well as his plan of uncovering the world's secrets.
Both of them were driven, but only Luffy could be called somewhat 'pure'. Enel was rather the opposite. His age brought him experience.
Hancock had no way of knowing that though, she was simply torn in her own little world.
In the end, she walked into Sengoku's office with a cold gaze, and choose to not think about Enel anymore. 'He's just a marine anyway...'
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Hope you liked the chapter!
The war is right around the corner :))
And Hancock just hates the MC's guts, by the way, this isn't some weird love thing right now.
Could develop into one later depending on the poll, but for now, it's just her wanting to get a rise out of him to prove herself right in regards to him being nothing more than an ape.
If u want to support me look up VeganMaster on Patre_on, you'd also get 10 chapters in advance (or 5 depending on tier)