When it came to clearing out foot soldiers, Nihilego's neurotoxin was undeniably top-tier.
Under the assault of the invisible toxins controlled by Shiraishi, the royal guard of the Cartier Kingdom proved completely defenseless, retreating in disarray until they were backed up against the outer perimeter of the royal palace.
This kid seems to have mastered yet another new ability...
Uchiha Madara keenly sensed a fresh power radiating from Shiraishi—a capability to manipulate people's nervous systems via a specialized toxin, something Shiraishi had never shown before.
"It is indeed a new ability..."
"Is it because of the gemstone on your glove?"
Madara's observation was remarkably sharp. He could clearly see that an additional jewel now adorned Shiraishi's glove. Just like last time, every time a new gem was socketed, Shiraishi's overall capabilities leaped to an entirely new tier.
"Cough... you guessed it."
Although Madara had picked up on the secret of the glove, Shiraishi didn't bother hiding it. Aside from himself, no one in this world could fully awaken and harness the elemental gems anyway.
Nihilego's neurotoxic manipulation represented the absolute peak output of the creature's power within the gem.
"We've arrived at the royal palace..."
Dozens of elite guards stood strictly arrayed on both sides of the grand hall, only to be gestured back by the King himself.
As a follower of Patrick Redfield—the "Red Count"—even if he had never formally received the legendary pirate's endorsement, King Philip III possessed sufficient strength to command self-assurance. He slowly stepped down the stone staircase.
"The Sunagakure Pirates!"
Philip III, whose name was Chaikaf, looked at his bound son below with an ash-gray face, an edge of suppressed fury lacing his tone: "My son sincerely invited you to ally! Why treat him so brutally?"
Facing the royal interrogation, Shiraishi merely shrugged: "First of all, our pirate crew has zero interest in allying with anyone. Furthermore, your esteemed son's idea of an 'invitation' was hardly a friendly proposition."
As Shiraishi spoke, Philip III's complexion darkened further, an explosive aura surging beneath his skin. Surprisingly, Nihilego's invisible neurotoxin failed to seep into his system.
So that's how it is. The root cause of the memory distortion in this city is this very King.
"Second... he simply isn't qualified to partner with us."
"Heh... haha..."
With his son held hostage in the hands of the Sunagakure Pirates, Philip III swallowed his rage: "In that case, name your terms."
Hearing the mention of ransom, a faint smile played at the corner of Shiraishi's lips: "First off, we'll be needing 300 million Berries as a baseline ransom."
"That can be arranged..."
While 300 million Berries was by no means a trivial sum for the Kingdom of Cartier, Philip III could easily pull together such capital.
"Next, we expect you to immediately shut down all human experimentation on this island."
The moment human experimentation was brought up, Philip III's face turned thoroughly overcast: "There is no such thing as human experimentation in my kingdom!"
In truth, those underground laboratories were maintained to test and refine specialized biochemical drugs.
Several prominent underworld brokers from the New World had actively partnered with the Kingdom of Cartier precisely because it had inherited a portion of the World Government's former bio-tech research facilities.
Now that Shiraishi had brought it out into the open, Philip III was cursing inwardly. You're a grand pirate crew! Where do you get off meddling in this kind of business?!
"The other six secret experimental sites across Cartier Island are still operational right now."
"Impossible! How could you possibly know—"
"Because young Lord Chaikaf sang like a canary."
Under the sway of the hallucinatory neurotoxin, Little Chaikaf's eyes were completely unfocused.
As Shiraishi lightly twirled his finger, the mind-controlled prince burst into a foolish, hysterical laugh: "Father! The new drug we developed recently requires way more live test subjects!"
Before Little Chaikaf could finish his sentence, Kikyo had already drawn her bow and released six sacred arrows into the sky.
Following the coordinates Shiraishi had identified, six brilliant streaks of starlight burst across the horizon, detonating directly over the hidden facilities across the kingdom.
Moments later, massive plumes of black smoke billowed into the clouds—marking Kikyo's decisive, lightning-fast destruction of the Cartier Kingdom's secret research sites.
"You bastards!"
Watching his prized laboratories destroyed once again, Philip III completely snapped. A strange, spiral glare flared in his eyes, suddenly plunging the entire surrounding area into a bizarre, virtual reality.
An extraordinary wave of energy swept across the square. The scene transformed as if everyone had been transported inside a massive art gallery. Under Philip III's control, countless mosaic portrait panels were projected into the hall to execute a specialized cognitive shift.
The Transfer-Transfer Fruit (Utsu Utsu no Mi)!
It was a peculiar Devil Fruit capable of transferring emotions, perceptions, and core memories onto others—essentially a form of high-tier mental illusion. The gallery space served as the activation field for Philip III's ability.
Upon unleashing his power, Philip III targeted Shiraishi directly. However, the portrait panel representing the Sunagakure Pirates appeared extremely blurred, covered in overlapping lines and incomprehensible text that defied all reading.
How is this possible?!
Unable to decipher Shiraishi's existing portrait, Philip III attempted to forcefully overwrite the narrative settings: he tried to insert a false reality where he and his son were Shiraishi's past saviors, obligating Shiraishi to repay the debt by voluntarily pledging allegiance to the Cartier Kingdom.
He clearly intended to personally rewrite Shiraishi's baseline perception, turning him into a loyal, submissive subordinate.
The overwhelming strength shown by the Sunagakure Pirates had thoroughly piqued Philip III's appetite.
Shiraishi seemed to freeze on the spot, standing entirely motionless. Seeing this, Philip III spoke slowly: "Now... release my son."
"Understood..."
Like a mindless robot, Shiraishi woodenly reached out to untie Little Chaikaf's ropes—only to suddenly break into a loud laugh: "Just kidding!"
Between Nihilego's internal presence and his own coating of Haki, Shiraishi had completely insulated his mind against the Transfer-Transfer Fruit's effects.
Besides, attempting to write false cognitive settings required the user to actually understand the artwork representing the target's psyche in the first place...
Philip III couldn't even fathom the scale of the world existing within Shiraishi's mind; recklessly forcing new settings only resulted in instant logical contradictions!
I have to admit, compared to the Naruto world, the One Piece world is packed with an absurd variety of bizarre Devil Fruit abilities. You really can't let your guard down for a second...
Philip III's ability clearly carried heavy limitations—one being that if there was a fundamental flaw or logical disconnect in the target's perception, forcibly stacking rewritten settings was entirely useless.
The only reason he had managed to control the Cartier Kingdom so thoroughly was that he had merely guided the populace to blur out specific memories of missing persons, targeting mostly vagrants, lonely elders, and orphans.
At that exact fraction of a second, Uchiha Madara executed a Instant Body Teleportation, reappearing directly behind Philip III!
The Sea-Prism Stone gunbai war-fan in his grip flashed like a blade of lethal lightning, piercing straight through Philip III's chest!
When the Transfer-Transfer Fruit had activated earlier, Madara had seen the artwork representing his own cognition—glimpses of the Uchiha clan and memories of his younger brother Izuna floating upon the gallery walls. At that moment, Madara's killing intent had boiled over.
Philip III's cognitive rewrite was equally useless against Madara. After all, the King had only seen static imagery without understanding the history behind it; his forced settings were nothing more than blind guesses.
Unohana Retsu's portrait had been a simple sword with nothing else, Kikyo's mind was shielded by the divine power of the Sacred Jewel, and Ace had simply used his Armament Haki to block the mental intrusion outright.
Regardless, Madara's intent to kill was absolute.
Under the astonished gazes of everyone present, Madara brutally severed Philip III's head in one fluid motion, then kicked it away like a soccer ball!
Philip III's beard was still twitching, his eyelids fluttering in shock. He hadn't even processed the fact that his head had been detached from his shoulders...
"..."
Even Shiraishi was momentarily caught off guard by Madara's cold, instant execution. Hey! We hadn't even collected the 300 million Berry ransom yet!
At this rate, Madara's bounty is definitely going to surpass mine...
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