Beneath the surface of the sea near the island...
Inside a massive air bubble, five figures were at their posts, efficiently operating a toy production line.
An elf woman sat cross-legged in the center of the bubble, arms crossed over her chest and eyes tightly shut. Her eyelashes fluttered, and beads of sweat formed on her forehead.
The sweat slid down her cheeks, turning into tiny bubbles that drifted upward the moment they touched the bubble wall.
Her breathing was steady but slightly hurried, clearly under a significant strain.
Beside her, another female member of the team—the one who had created the bubble—was currently focused on casting bubble magic.
Bubbles materialized out of thin air, each one enveloping a living toy.
The toys came in various forms: crewmen in sailor suits, guards with rifles on their backs, researchers in white coats, and a few people in ordinary civilian clothes.
The toys' expressions were incredibly vivid—mouths agape in surprise, legs kicking out, eyes bulging, and some even screaming hysterically. Each one was lifelike.
The other three members of the squad were busy surrounding these toys.
A demon man crouched at the front, picking up a toy crewman by the leg and turning it over to inspect it.
“These things are damn hard to kill,” he muttered under his breath, exerting more force.
The toy remained completely unharmed.
He increased his strength until the muscles in his arms bulged.
The toy was still unscathed, merely stretched and deformed by the pulling.
“Damn it,” the demon man cursed, tossing the toy into another large bubble nearby.
“They were clearly just ordinary people, but after being cursed into toys, they’re tougher than a demon’s horn.”
A vampire leaned against the bubble wall, squeezing the head of a toy guard between his fingers.
“It is the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, after all. In the Pirate World, it was the core existence that kept the Dressrosa Kingdom running for so many years.”
“That little brat Sugar used this fruit to divide and control the residents of an entire kingdom. Its power is beyond question.”
He squeezed the toy's head hard; the head distorted into a bizarre shape, but the toy did not die.
The demon man shot him a glare. “Why aren’t you helping?”
The vampire shrugged. “I’m helping you analyze the situation.”
The demon man didn't bother responding and continued processing the next batch of toys.
At the mention of pirates, a few unpleasant memories surfaced in his mind.
The Pirate World was considered a high-risk mission world for Reincarnators, and their squad had once been deployed there to execute a mission.
The unlucky part was that they had brought along several newbies at the time.
The even unluckier part was that those newbies were a real pair of 'geniuses'!
While other newbies were cautious and treaded on thin ice, those little demon brats acted like they wanted to tear the sky down.
One was a furry lover who repeatedly harassed Chopper and wanted to start a harem among the Mink Tribe, only to almost be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
Another was a crazy shipper who went to the protagonist's ship to engage in forced shipping, only to almost be thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
And then there was a crazed deviant who claimed he wanted to jump Zoro first, then take on Sanji, saying the Rubber Man probably tasted pretty good too, before finishing with an orgy to share 'life's great harmony.' He even wanted to record the scenes and edit them into a video titled 《The Grand Rhapsody of the Pirate Orgy》.
Those unspeakable, filthy rants... hearing too many of them was enough to defile your very soul!
In the end, that person really was thrown into the sea to feed the fish.
Every time he recalled the mission in the Pirate World, the demon man cringed so hard his toes curled. He felt goosebumps all over.
It was practically a stain on his life!
The Captain, standing to the side, also recalled various events from the Pirate World.
However, his mindset was much stronger than the demon man’s; his life experiences were so vast that he had long since lost any sense of shame.
He looked at the toys that had been neatly brought under control, lost in thought.
The Hobby-Hobby Fruit was one of the specialties of the Pirate World and was a hot seller in the Lord God Space. Its ability was extremely broken; anyone touched by the user would turn into an obedient toy.
The most terrifying part was that anyone turned into a toy would be completely erased from everyone's memory.
Family, friends, colleagues, enemies—everyone would forget that the person had ever existed.
When paired with the long-range capabilities of the Flower-Flower Fruit, which allowed limbs to sprout on any surface to touch a target silently, it was a deadly combo.
The combination of the two fruits formed a perfect toy conversion system, which aligned perfectly with the operational policy of this mission.
The elf woman possessed the powers of both the Flower-Flower Fruit and the Hobby-Hobby Fruit.
Of course, under normal circumstances, a person would die after eating two Devil Fruits.
But in the Lord God Space, there were plenty of ways to grant immunity to such side effects.
However, while the two fruits were powerful, using their abilities on the people of an entire island in a short period put a massive burden on the elf woman's body.
Just as she was now, her condition was steadily declining.
The people on the island were being cleared out rapidly. The only issue was that people turned into toys by the Hobby-Hobby Fruit became incredibly resilient.
They couldn't be killed.
At least, not by conventional means.
In the original pirate story, the Headcracker Dolls created by Sugar could continue to move even if their bodies were pierced or they were decapitated.
Therefore, the squad was currently just gathering and controlling these toys. Once they had rounded up the high-level members of the Deep Blue Route, they would turn the toys back into humans. At that point, killing them would be as easy as a single stroke of a blade.
The toys were bound by the demon man’s spells and stacked neatly in another bubble, packed tightly together.
The Captain withdrew his gaze and spoke. “This is only the first step of our operation. Using the Hobby-Hobby Fruit to clear out the ordinary people on the island.”
“Ninety percent of the people on this island at the Deep Blue Route headquarters are ordinary people. The remaining ten percent are the hardest part to deal with.”
The vampire nodded. “While the Hobby-Hobby Fruit’s ability is powerful, it might not necessarily work on transcendents. Some transcendents might possess an inherent resistance that allows them to withstand such curses.”
The demon man interjected, “Even if the ordinary people on the island aren't that important, their sudden disappearance in large numbers will surely alert the remaining people, even if their memories have been altered.”
The Captain hummed in agreement. “That’s why we need to clear out everyone we can before they become suspicious.”
He looked at the elf woman.
The elf woman still had her eyes closed. There were more sweat beads on her forehead than before, and her breathing had become even more labored.
After a long while...
She suddenly opened her eyes. Her expression was weary, but her voice remained calm.
“According to the original plan, most of the low-level employees on the outskirts and middle layers of the island have been turned into toys.”
“I haven't made a move on those in the core positions yet.”
“The island is still calm for now. No chaos has been triggered.”
The Captain nodded and scanned the group, his gaze passing over each of their faces.
“That’s enough. We can begin the next step of the operation.”
At those words, the demon man grinned. The vampire stood up and smoothed the wrinkles in his clothes.
The elf woman closed her eyes to rest, while the other female member cast her spell, creating several more bubbles.
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