Chapter 12

While Hancock was serious, Tanzo was having the best time of his life. He had never seen such a beautiful figure before. His little brother woke up again. Gloriosa also noticed Tanzo's gaze, but ignored it because every man had the same reaction when they saw Hancock.

Usually, anyone's fear of death overwhelms the lust in anyone, but the reason Tanzo was getting horny every time he saw Hancock is because the key part of his plan was to get captured. It wouldn't work if he was locked in some prison or killed by Hancock. That's the whole reason he kept talking to Hancock about the curse.

Tanzo said in his head 'As I said before, I am never overconfident. I know that you hate being controlled, but I also hate being controlled.'

Tanzo walked closer to Hancock and examined the mark. He touched the mark, which made Hancock jerk up and shout "What are you doing?"

Tanzo didn't reply and just ran his fingers over the mark. He then said to her "They must have really pressed it in. These burns are severe, but since you were able to feel my hands, you are lucky. They didn't get to your nerve endings below the skin. It should be cured and your skin will be back to normal."

Tanzo then turned to the other two sisters and said "You guys should also see if you can feel something where the mark is. If you can't then, even after I am done removing the mark you won't be able to feel anything there."

The sisters felt their backs and were relieved to know that they could still feel things in that area. Tanzo then said "Ok, I am going to need a scalpel, a shallow bathtub long enough to fit your whole body, and gloves."

Marigold looked confused and Tanzo replied "What did you think? Did you expect any magical power or devil fruit power. Arrange them as soon as possible. I will clean myself by then."

Hancock started wearing her clothes and said "They will be ready."

Tanzo then said "Also, my lover is still flying near the island. I would like to call her to the palace, if you are ok with it."

Hancock immediately agreed and sent Tanzo away. She was only thinking about getting rid of the slave mark that she didn't care about anything else at that time.

Tanzo went to the roof of the palace and signalled Reiju that the plan worked out. Reiju saw the signal and flew to the roof. When she landed, she immediately hugged Tanzo and said "I was really scared when you were taken to the palace all chained up. Are you hurt?" looking for any visible injuries.

Tanzo replied "I am fine, and the deal is done. She agreed to teach me haki."

Reiju then asked Tanzo in a low voice "When are you going to give them the antidote?"

Tanzo replied "After learning haki. Since it is a slow poison, they won't see the symptoms for five years."

This is the reason for Tanzo's confidence. Reiju puts poison on his body and it is a poison that easily evaporates and the vapours are enough to poison anyone. Tanzo got captured because he could get closer to Hancock and poison her. Tanzo already took the antidote to be safe.

He obviously wouldn't tell her that until his life was in danger. That's the reason Tanzo wanted to wash himself before the treatment. He needed to get the poison off his body.

Tanzo and Reiju went to the palace and a member of the kuja pirates led them to their room and showed Tanzo to the bath. Tanzo cleaned himself properly and wore clean clothes for the operation.

The reason he is doing things like he is preparing for surgery, is because it is similar to one. He entered the room with the bathtub prepared and Hancock completely naked with her sisters. Tanzo was now completely professional. He said to Hancock "Let me tell you what I will do. Before that, I want everyone to leave the room."

Tanzo waited for Marigold and Sandersonia to leave the room, who didn't leave the room until Hancock asked them to. After they left, Tanzo said "So, here's what I am going to do. I have a special liquid that stimulates growth. I will remove parts of your burnt skin slowly and allow new skin to grow there. I am skilled enough to know where to cut."

Hancock just nodded because she didn't understand a lot of it. Tanzo then said "Take off all your clothes and get yourself a bendable pipe. I will prepare your special bath by that time."

Hancock went out and ordered someone to get her the pipe while Tanzo prepared the liquid Tanzo stole from Germa Kingdom. It is the same blue liquid Judge used to heal Reiju.

Hancock then brought the pipe and Tanzo said "Keep that in your mouth for air. Your back needs to be facing up. I can't give you anesthesia because you will end up drowning. So, try to stay conscious and bear the pain."

Hancock nodded and did as he said. Tanzo then started the procedure. He cut off the burnt skin slowly along with a little unaffected skin. He did this to make sure the regenerated skin doesn't have scars.

It took a while, with Hancock constantly moving in pain while Tanzo occasionally comforted her by talking to her or holding her hand. It manages to calm her down when he holds her hand and assures her that it will be over soon.

Finally, after the whole treatment was done. Tanzo said "I am done. You can look in the mirror if you want." Hancock didn't respond until Tanzo pulled her out to check if she was awake. She didn't respond for a while and then woke up, coughing out a small amount of the blue liquid.

Hancock looked at Tanzo and asked in a soft voice "Is it over?"

Tanzo replied "Yes. You can look in the mirror if you want." Hancock immediately went to the mirror and looked at her back. She was still trembling while she was moving her hair. After she saw that it was actually removed, she immediately touched her back to check if she wasn't dreaming or imagining things.

Tanzo looked at her happy face and said "See, I told you I will remove the mark without any scars. How do you feel?"

Hancock immediately burst into tears and fell to the ground. She said "You don't know how many years that mark has haunted us. I occasionally get nightmares and every time I look at the mark while taking a bath, it reminds me of the time in that hell. Thank you...thank you....."

Tanzo didn't say anything for a while and then walked towards her. He carried her to her bed and Hancock surprisingly didn't say anything. He placed her on the bed and said "I will call your sisters and have them get you food. You will be weak for a while, but it shouldn't be more than two hours. Also, if you still fear the celestial dragons, what I said before is actually true. I can get you a celestial dragon as your slave without any trouble."

Hancock smiled for the first time in front of him and said "You don't have to. As I promised, I will teach you Haki. We will start tomorrow."

Tanzo turned to leave, but remembered something and said to Hancock "Also, your sisters will have to wait to get their slave marks removed. It is the only card I have in hand in my favour, while there is still risk to my life. I will heal them after I learn Haki. Now take some rest."

Tanzo then left the room, not before getting rid of the blue liquid, and asked Sandersonia standing outside to get Hancock some food. He then returned to his room and spent the remaining time with Reiju.

The next day, Tanzo woke up to the knock on the door. He slowly woke up making sure not to wake up Reiju and opened the door. Marigold was standing in front of him with an ugly expression and said "Sister asked me to get you to the forest for your haki training."

Tanzo yawned and replied "Let me wash up. Just tell me how to get there and I will go there myself."

Marigold gave the directions and left. She had a disgusted expression on her face, which makes sense because Tanzo refused to remove the slave marks of the sisters.

Tanzo then got ready and went to the forest. When he went to the training location, Hancock was already waiting there sitting on a rock. Tanzo said "Sorry about that. Hope I didn't make you wait too long."

"I also arrived a few minutes ago. Don't worry about that. Let's start training." Hancock replied. Tanzo would have believed her if she wasn't erasing something on the soil with her leg. Tanzo just smiled at her actions and they began training.

Before that, Hancock started explaining about haki and how to sense it for the first time. She said "Everyone on the island starts with observation haki, because it is the easiest amongst the three. Armament haki requires you to channel your haki. As for conqueror's haki, there is no known method to find out if anyone has conqueror's haki. It usually manifests when the user is emotionally triggered. So, we just have to wait for it. Remember one important thing before we start training. Haki is the spirit and will power of the user. So, more than this training, you have to train your mind and strongly feel your presence."

Hancock then proceeded to follow the same training as Rayleigh from the show, but she was not harsh like Rayleigh. Even when Tanzo asked her to get serious, she didn't hit him hard enough to feel threatened. He still tried to sense her presence.

The training went on till night. with a few breaks for food and rest. Tanzo wanted to continue the training even after it got dark, but he had other things to do, so he stopped the training. He had his dinner and then went straight to his room, where he continued his research.

Reiju looked at the research papers in front of Tanzo and asked "Do you also want to modify yourself? Did you not see what it does to your brain. You will stop being yourself. Even if you want to do it, I am completely against this idea."

Tanzo replied "Relax, I obviously won't turn myself into an emotionless fool. Also, your brothers didn't turn emotionless due to genetic modification of their bodies. Their genetics were modified so that their brains don't feel emotions. Also, the thing I am working on will be better than your brother's genetic modification. If this works out, my body should be able to handle four more devil fruits.

Vegapunk found out that the reason no one can eat two devil fruits is because the devil fruits alter the lineage factor of the owner, and the body can't handle the change in Lineage factor more than once. This destabilizes the lineage factor and causes the destruction of the lineage factor and the cells. If my theory works out, I should be able to stabilize the lineage factor when it is undergoing a change."

Reiju then looked at Tanzo seriously and said "It looks like you have studied about us completely. If so, then I want you to correct the only fault with me. My father has genetically engineered my body so that I won't betray my father. Although he didn't do anything this time, I am scared I might end up hurting you. I want you to remove that from my head."

Tanzo also wondered about it and she was right. Since Judge wanted Tanzo to leave, he didn't have any problem with Reiju leaving. If they meet again, anything might happen. So, Tanzo replied "Sure, that shouldn't be too difficult."