Chapter 4: Tender Moments
Staring at her opponent across from her, Boa Hancock can not help but feel the sliver of annoyance that she feels. Throughout the entire time that they've battled one another, her Devil Fruit has only worked on him through touch and even then it was not enough to hinder her. She knows that he harbors lustful thoughts about her, she has seen him look at her like all other men have when not fighting. At this rate she will be forced to use her magecraft, something that she has been avoiding due to her not being as familiar with it as her Devil Fruit and her Haki.
"What's wrong, Empress. It isn't like you to be this subdued." comments the man as he inhales a mouthful of smoke, and despite her not wanting to admit it she agrees.
She's usually more lively. However, this entire situation has caught her completely off guard. First the deal with the Voice that she assumed to be a dream, then the new abilities and memories that are now part of her, and last but not least the fact that despite her new companions finding her attractive, she knows that her Devil Fruit, her most utilised ability, will barely work on the majority of them.
"Oh, nothing's wrong." she says as she nonchalantly flicks her luscious black hair behind her. "I was simply thinking that the warm up is over."
With a grin growing on his face, Ramiel exhales the smoke "Bring it." he challenges.
"Very well." she replies as she imagines a cobra launching itself at its prey and her magic circuits active. "Don't blink, or you might miss this." she says with a smirk as she looks him in the eyes, her eyes turning from their normal blue to a beautiful lavender with rectangular pupils.
"Heh, well…" begins Ramiel before his eyes widen and his body becomes stiff and begins to petrify. "Mystic Eyes of Binding?" wonders her opponent as he uses his magical energy to reverse the petrification just as she launches herself at him.
Sending a Haki enhanced kick at her opponent, Hancock watches with glee as her Mystic Eyes slows him down enough for her leg to smash into his jaw and send him flying towards a wall. Being a skilled and experienced combatant, her opponent recovers easily and comes to a sliding stop before crashing into the wall even as she appears next to him and smashes her fist into a kidney.
"No." says her opponent as his aura negates the damage of her attack and he counters with a punch of his own towards her stomach. "Mystic Eyes of Binding aren't this powerful. These are Mystic Eyes of Petrification." he says as she weaves around his attack and proceeds to smash her knee onto the back of his head.
"Are you wondering how someone in the modern era possesses them?" she says with a laugh as he blocks another kick from her, causing his arm to turn to stone.
"Tch, what a nuisance." he answers as he hops away from her and dodges another kick. "Between your Devil Fruit and your Mystic Eyes you're a pretty annoying opponent to fight." he says as she chases him.
"Ah, your tongue slipped. I'm sure that you meant beautiful." she says flirtatiously as she looks him in the eye and attempts to smash her foot into his solar plexus, only for it to go through his body as if he were a mirage.
"Fine, you want a battle between Mystic Eyes? I'll give you one." says her opponent from behind her. Barely dodging his punch, Hancock twists around and distances herself from him with a set of backflips.
"Empress, I'd like to introduce you to my world's equivalent to the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment." he says as she looks into his now slitted pupils.
"Mystic Eyes of Enchantment don't create illusions." she answers.
True, however the reason why I called them the equivalent to the Mystic Eyes of Enchantment is due to the type of species that mostly possesses them." he says as his body explodes into a swarm of multicolor butterflies.
Sensing the incoming danger from her left, Hancock vaults over her opponent and kicks his head, only for him to explode into a murder of crows that surround her. Before the crows can touch her, a pillar of fire erupts around her body, burning them to ashes even as she tries to smash her heel into her opponent's temple.
"Kenbunshoku Haki, truly a useful ability." says Ramiel as he catches her foot. "Let's see how high your mastery of it is." he says as his body seems to dematerialise as he launches himself at her.
The following clash stretches Hancock's combat capabilities to their limit as her senses become a liability, forcing her to rely solely on Kenbunshoku Haki. Despite her high mastery of the Haki she finds herself slowly placed on the backfoot as Ramiel takes advantage of every slipup where she follows any of her senses other than her Kenbunshoku Haki, the only thing stopping her from taking much damage being her aura. Eventually however her aura flickers off and she begins to feel the full brunt of his hits.
Dodging a kick while ignoring the sound of an approaching fist, Hancock smashes her fist into what she believes to be her opponent's left pectoral. Pressing her brief advantage, Hancock smashes her foot onto his stomach before sending another kick towards his head. Stumbling forward as her foot is dodged, Hancock hears the crackling of lightning before a fist is smashes on her back sending her into a wall.
As she pulls herself from the wall, she feels a strong hand on her shoulder keeping her in place. "Don't move." whispers Ramiel in her ear.
"What are you doing?" she questions with a hiss as she glares at him over her shoulder.
"I messed up." he says as he takes off his vest just as she feels the wind on her back. Her uncovered back where she was branded as a slave.
Grabbing the vest from him and quickly donning it before the others can see, Hancock turns to face him with a glare as she employs the full power of her Mystic Eyes and Devil Fruit.
"Hancock…" calls out Ramiel as his body begins to turn to stone starting with his hands and feet.
"You saw." she says through gritted teeth. "You saw my uncovered back. You saw my shame, I can't let you live after that. No one can know." she says.
"I can't say that I understand how you feel, I've never suffered like that. Nor can I tell you how you should feel and act, but I can't allow myself to die. Even if it would make you feel better." says Ramiel as his eyes seem to glow and the petrification slowly reverses. "All I can tell you is that I don't care." he tells her as his body returns to normal.
Still glaring at him and trying to petrify him, Hancock asks him to elaborate.
"I don't care that you were a slave. It doesn't make you weak in my eyes, in fact it's the opposite. I'm Haitian for crying out loud. My people led the most successful slave rebellion in history." he says. "Anyone who can go survive something as painful, traumatising, and demeaning as slavery has my utmost respect." he explains with bow of his head.
As he looks back up at her, Hancock stares into his eyes in search of the lies only to find none. She looks for the mocking and dehumanizing looks that she's familiar with from the Celestial Dragons only to find nothing but respect. Closing her eyes, Hancock takes a deep breath before turning around and walking out of the training room. Not caring where her feet take her, Hancock walks away from the room, away from the man who can say ridiculous things like that with a straight face, and more importantly away from the only man who makes her uneasy and uncertain.
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Sitting on her bed after her first full day in this new world, Emma is willing to admit that not only has she been quite bitchy lately, but she's also been wrong about Ramiel Prince. He isn't a mindless brute that only thinks with his lower half. In fact he actually seems intelligent, and like he commented during their first group meeting, he loses nothing by accepting the deal with the Voice. Perhaps it's due to her having just survived the Genoshan Genocide before being transported here, but she has been reverting back to her more villainous personality around Ramiel.
As the thought of the Genoshan Genocide enters her mind, Emma activates her second mutation and the reason for her survival, her diamond form. She had acquired the second mutation when the sentinels had arrived on Genosha and began slaughtering the mutants there, Emma had turned into an unbreakable diamond, allowing her to survive. Ever since then it's become something of a habit for her to remain in this form whenever she is alone despite it stopping her from accessing her telepathy. The comfort and sense of safety that the form provides her far outweighs the discomfort of not having her telepathy available to her.
Before her thoughts can further sink into unwanted territory, a knock at her door shakes her from her thoughts. Making her way to the door, Emma opens the door to find Ramiel standing in front of her with his hands in his pants pockets.
"A late night rendez-vous, how scandalous Mr. Prince. What would Esdeath think." says Emma with a teasing smirk as she takes the opportunity that Ramiel presents in order to free her mind from her previously dark thoughts and memories.
"Let's not start a misunderstanding here. My life is already too close to an anime protagonist's, no need to make it more blatant." he says with a roll of his eyes. "I came here for a different reason."
"I hope that you didn't come here for sex. I assure you that I'm not as easy as the general, flaring your power will not make me drop my panties." she says with the smirk still on her lips.
Rather than answer her, Ramiel simply looks into her eyes as if searching for something.
"Can I help you?" she asks uneasily, having rarely been placed in such a situation where she feels her secrets being unraveled before her.
Releasing a mouthful of smoke with a sigh, Ramiel envelops her shoulders with an arm before pulling her into a one armed hug and gently placing her head in the crook of his neck, allowing her to smell his soap and feel his toned muscles through his form fitting turtleneck shirt.
"There's nothing wrong with being a survivor." he says, and she knows immediately that he is speaking of the Genoshan Genocide.
"I didn't just survive, I ran." she answers even as she feels her eyes burn with unshed tears. "I should have stayed to search the island, there could have been other survivors. But instead I took a deal offered to me by an unknown Voice and ran." she says.
"And there's nothing wrong with that." he answers. "You've been through a lot and the fact that you can still go on with that same drive and sanity is a testament to your strength. You're one of the strongest people that I know of, but sometimes it's ok for the strong to be weak, it's ok for the strong to have a moment of weakness and let someone else be strong." he says.
"Are you offering?" she asks jokingly while part of her hopes that he answers yes. She's tired of being strong, tired of being a survivor, and more importantly tired of losing people, especially her students. She's lost more students than the X-Men, making her wonder why her. She's not the one sending out her students to fight world ending threats, so why are her students the one to die.
"I would offer." says Ramiel, shaking her from her depressing thoughts. "However, you're not the type of person to simply let someone else shoulder your problems for you." he says, and she can't help but internally curse at how right he is. She hasn't let anyone shoulder her problems for her since college. Too many betrayals and too many people offering before they came to collect her 'debts'.
"Still, that doesn't mean that you have to shoulder it alone." he says, once again shaking her from her thoughts. "Currently you're surrounded by people who can at least partially understand what you're going through. It can be anyone else, it doesn't have to be me. Black Canary is a psychologist and trained to be a psychiatrist, Tsunade has lost people close to her, and all of the others can relate in some way. Well, except for Esdeath." he says while adding the last part jokingly.
Reluctantly pulling herself from his comforting hug, Emma looks up at him "And what about you?" she asks.
"What about me?" he responds with a raised eyebrow.
"Are you going to shoulder your problems by yourself?" she asks.
"What problems?" he replies. "I have a new lease on life while surrounded by some of the most beautiful women in the omniverse. What problems could I possibly have?" he asks.
"Don't be a hypocrite Ramiel. You haven't properly processed your death and are still internally dealing with problems from your previous life, I don't need my telepathy to know that." she tells him, causing him to slightly wince.
"Let's change the subject. I came here to ask you for a favor." he says, causing her to narrow her eyes at him before acquiescing with a nod.
"Don't think that this conversation is over." she tells him, causing her to receive a sheepish grin in return. "Now tell me, why are you in front of my door at this late hour?"
"With all of us possessing new memories of new lives that also come with new abilities, I was wondering if you could help us acclimate to our new memories until we can refer to them as easily as we refer to our original memories." he tells her, making her pensive.
"You want me to help the others acclimate to their new memories. Clever, it'll make it so that they don't slip up in front of the natives while also making the new abilities second nature." says Emma. "I'll do it." she tells him.
"Thank you Emma, I owe you one." he replies.
"Yes, yes you do." she says before dismissing him.
As she closes the door and returns to her bed, Emma can't help but think about how wrong she was about Ramiel. He certainly isn't a mindless brute, nor does he only think with his lower. In fact she finds him to be quite kind.
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AN: Sorry for the late chapter, but I was sick and then busy when I finally got better. We got to see Emma Frost and Boa Hancock's povs. Since I've never watched One Piece nor read the manga, tell me what you guys think about my portrayal of Boa Hancock. I would really appreciate the feedback. As usual, tell me what you guys think of the chapter and don't hesitate to comment.
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