Warm Memories and Brotherly Bonds

Chapter 45: Off to the Infamous Underwater Prison

"How could you do something like that?!" Sanji demanded furiously at Zoro, who was putting his swords away.

"What's the problem? She wasn't real," Zoro reminded him hotly, "It's that same monster that we've been fighting all along! You were just standing there with that perverted look on your face! She was gonna kill you!"

"But she was so sexy!" Sanji wailed out, reaching out his hands, as if he thought that Hancock would come to him.

After the fake Boa Hancock had appeared, she had easily charmed Sanji, as well as some of the other Straw Hats like Brook and Usopp. Franky and Nami had to snap themselves from their stupefied states before they were able to start fighting back. Zoro, Robin, and Chopper were the only ones who were left unaffected by slime Hancock's charms and went straight for her. Like Ace had promised, they could attack her while they were in this place and it helped to vent some of their frustrations on something... yet that slime was more life-like than its previous incarnations.

Zoro had been the first to go after her, naturally, while Robin did her best to restrain her. Though she was glad that she could finally touch the creature, the slimy skin made her recoil at such a touch. Chopper transformed into his Kung-Fu Point and was about to go charging in after Zoro before Sanji tackled him to the ground.

"WHAT THE HELL DO YOU THINK YOU'RE DOING?!" he demanded in outraged, "ATTACKING A PURE ANGEL LIKE THAT! YOU ARE WITHOUT A DOUBT GOING TO HELL FOR THIS!"

"THAT'S NOT REALLY HER!" Chopper yelled back, trying to get up as Nami gave Brook and Usopp hard slaps to wake up.

"I don't care! For even though she may not be my beloved Hancock, I won't raise my hand against a lady!" he called dramatically.

"SANJI! JUST DO SOMETHING!" Nami yelled, holding up her staff and sent a black cloud over to try one of her lightning bolts. The battle went on from there... until at long last the slime disappeared into the darkness.

"I can't tell you how glad I am that thing took you out first," Zoro snarled at him. While Sanji was doing his best not to fight back, fake Hancock took care of him fairly easily, sending him crashing to the ground and knocked him out. Sanji was sporting a heavily bloody nose and two black eyes... thought they weren't sure if that kick was the only thing responsible for the nosebleed...

"But hey, at least we could hit the thing," Franky pointed out, hitting his hands together so that they made a loud clanking noise. "I can't tell you how much easier it is to fight something when you can actually touch it."

"Yes," Brook sighed, a little regretful that it wasn't the real Hancock that was there. "But it makes we worried. It was much more—real—than ever before." He then put his hand over his ribcage where he could feel the hurt bones from when she kicked him.

"Well, if we want to fight back then we have to pay the price for it," Zoro said, spitting out onto the ground. "At least most of us want to fight..." he added darkly with a glare at Sanji. Why couldn't Kuma send him to Amazon Lily and have those girls get rid of him for them?

"You honestly rather just stand there and let something that even just looks like a woman hit you?!" Usopp yelled at him.

"I can't help it!" Sanji cried out. "She's so beautiful even when she's not really here!"

"I am really, really getting sick of all this," Nami sighed and no one could argue with that. They were all wondering if they should just knock him out again when the memory reappeared rather quickly. The memory came back and they were standing in front of the doors that led to the palace, with Elder Nyon and Luffy coming up the walkway towards it.