Time rewound to a few moments earlier.
"Hah… hah…"
BABY 5's body was already beginning to give out. The injuries she had suffered within the Fairy Tale Forest, combined with the blood loss from constantly fleeing, had weakened her to the extreme.
She understood that she might collapse unconscious at any moment, but she also knew that she could not stop moving.
The Den Den Mushi she used to contact her partner, Buffalo, had already broken.
Without her flying companion, she had no way to leave this island on her own.
"I need to find somewhere to hide… from those monsters…" As she muttered to herself, her eyes turned toward the battlefield atop the island behind her.
Ever since she started running, she had instinctively kept watching that direction. Thus, she had almost personally witnessed the two forests devouring each other, the appearance of the six gigantic terrifying monsters, and…
Every tremor of the island.
Every explosive roar of the forest.
All of it made her realize just how catastrophic a mistake it had been to come to this "Dreamland Island."
Especially now…
"That monster… if this keeps going, he's going to destroy the entire island, isn't he?"
"Will I sink together with the island? …Though honestly, this place is pretty beautiful. Dying here wouldn't be so bad."
As she stared at the world-covering giant tree in the distance and the faint sheep-headed figure floating before it in the sky, BABY 5's thoughts drifted aimlessly.
"I wonder if Young Master and the others would be sad for me…"
She could no longer control her thoughts, and so, instinctively, she thought of the Donquixote Family.
It was the place where she had lived since childhood.
She thought of her Young Master, Doflamingo.
She thought of the family officers.
And she thought of…
"You are Doflamingo's property."
Those words spoken by that bastard Aramaki.
Instinctively, BABY 5 rejected those words as she longed to be acknowledged.
Longed to be needed.
She had even become a hitman at a very young age for that purpose, enduring countless cruel training sessions.
But there was one thing… One thing she absolutely did not desire.
She did not want to become an "object."
She was a person.
Just… not useful enough.
That was why her mother abandoned her.
"Young Master said we're all family… yeah! Family!" She comforted herself with those thoughts. But gradually, her consciousness began to blur.
Until…
"Click."
In her haze, she felt something touch her hand.
"Who's there?!"
Instinctively, she forced herself awake and tried to activate her ability in resistance.
But…
At that moment, an overwhelming feeling of weakness spread from her hand.
"…Seastone?!"
As both a hitman and a Devil Fruit user who had once undergone Seastone torture training, BABY 5 instantly recognized the source of that sensation.
She struggled to turn her head and saw a figure standing behind her.
It was a beautiful figure, almost like a fairy with a veil resembling drifting mist covered her face.
The fog that fell from the veil concealed her presence so thoroughly that BABY 5 had subconsciously overlooked her existence.
"Miss… Fairy?"
BABY 5 immediately realized who she was… She is the legendary guide of Dreamland Island, the "Miss Fairy" spoken of in rumors across the sea.
However, unlike the stories, the legends claimed Miss Fairy was always accompanied by a small dark-red dog. But now, beside her stood a pure white unicorn.
Miss Fairy silently nodded, the tips of her ears slightly red. Even after all this time, she still found that title embarrassingly awkward.
Still, she gently patted the unicorn beside her.
"Go on."
"Wu?"
The unicorn let out a soft cry.
"It's alright. She's a Devil Fruit user, and the Seastone has already restrained her. She won't be dangerous, and Yazi won't punish you for it."
Miss Fairy softly reassured the unicorn. Then she and the unicorn approached BABY 5 together, and the unicorn gently picked her up in its mouth.
"You… what are you trying to do?" BABY 5 weakly forced out the question.
"Lord Hitsuji said it would be best to keep you alive in case you become useful in the future." Miss Fairy replied gently. "And very soon, this island is going to become extremely dangerous. If you stay here, you'll die."
'The island was going to become dangerous?'
'Wasn't it already dangerous enough?!'
BABY 5 could not understand what the other woman meant.
But she still struggled desperately. The hitman education drilled into her since childhood told her one thing… She could not allow herself to be captured alive.
Thus, even though she could no longer use her powers, she still tried to bite off her own tongue.
But…
"Lord Hitsuji said that biting off your tongue won't kill you quickly…" Miss Fairy sighed softly. "And besides, life is precious. Since you managed to survive this long, please cherish it. After all… There will always be someone in this world who cares about you."
The guide of the island spoke with incomparable gentleness.
"…"
BABY 5 froze for a moment.
Subconsciously, she stopped trying to kill herself. But Miss Fairy clearly paid her no further attention. She simply patted the unicorn beneath her, and so, with several swift leaps, the unicorn carried them toward a certain location on the island.
"Hey… where are you taking me?"
"To the Survivor's Home… well, no, it's probably called the 'Emerald Greenhouse' now. It's a Safe House created by Lord Hitsuji, and also the resting place and station for Dreamland creatures. Oh, and incidentally… the prison prepared for you is nearby as well."
"Don't say something like that with such a gentle expression! Also, what did you mean earlier about this place becoming hell…" BABY 5 asked, but clearly, she did not need an answer.
Because at that very moment, the corner of her eye had already caught sight of it…
SShe saw the transformation of the entire Dreamland Island.
It was a dark, murky crimson.
Within BABY 5's vision… Beginning from the island's edges, that gloomy black-purple corruption spread like wildfire. And everywhere it passed, the flowers and dreamlike vegetation transformed into poisonous growths spewing purple foam.
The crystal-clear streams that ran across the island became muddy and viscous.
The trunks of trees twisted grotesquely. Their beautiful leaves turned pitch-black. Even the mountains themselves melted into flowing poison.
"This is…"
The sight left BABY 5 nearly speechless. She could even see the soil below continuously rotting and corroding away.
This Dreamland Island, the paradise longed for by the entire sea… Had transformed in mere moments into a horrifying land beyond anything BABY 5 had ever witnessed.
At that point, she finally understood what Miss Fairy meant.
Compared to the island itself… Those monsters in the forests from earlier really weren't that dangerous after all!
"This is Dreamland Island." At that moment, Miss Fairy calmly answered.
"It is an island created by Lord Hitsuji. When he wishes for this place to be dreamlike and wondrous for certain people, then it becomes the 'Island of Wishes.' And when he wishes for this place to become a nightmare and a hell for certain people… Then this becomes the 'Island of Hell.'"
She spoke with complete calmness.
Certain people?
Without needing any further explanation, BABY 5 immediately understood who those "certain people" were referring to.
After all, besides herself, there only seemed to be one outsider invading the island right now.
And indeed, that was the case.
"AAAAAAAHHHH…!"
At that moment, agonized screams echoed throughout the entire island and sky. Under the effects of Seastone, BABY 5 struggled to glance toward the source.
And then she realized that the screams of terror and pain were coming from the gigantic black world tree at the center of the island… The very tree formed from Aramaki's incarnation.
"Ghh… aghhh…"
At this moment, the Aramaki who had become the giant tree had already completely lost consciousness.
Watching this scene, however, Hitsuji showed no surprise whatsoever.
Or rather, to be more precise… From the very instant he first saw Aramaki, he had already decided what the man's fate would be.
[Devil Fruit User "Aramaki" detected.]
[Confirmed Devil Fruit: Logia-Type Woods-Woods Devil Fruit. Currently being analyzed and stored within the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia.]
[LV5: Devil Fruit Awakening · World Tree — Devours all surrounding forests and transforms the user into a gigantic "World Tree."]
[While in World Tree state, the body naturally absorbs all nearby nutrients and performs extreme photosynthesis, granting nearly endless vitality and stamina.]
This ability was precisely what Hitsuji had valued most.
Yes…
One of Hitsuji's goals in establishing Dreamland Island and attracting outsiders to it was naturally to gather wealth. But his second goal was to collect vast amounts of vital life essence in order to create the Phantom Dream Legion and prepare for the great plan to come.
Originally, although the amount of vital life essence he had collected was not small, it was still nowhere near enough to support the enormous number of Dreamland creatures within the Phantom Dream Legion.
But Aramaki could solve that problem.
The power of the Woods-Woods Devil Fruit itself symbolized endless life force.
Simply through photosynthesis, it could generate limitless vitality, making Aramaki the perfect source from which to extract vital life essence.
Naturally, this had originally been nothing more than wishful thinking.
After all, Aramaki was destined to become the future Marine Admiral Ryokugyu.
Even though people often mocked him as the "weakest Admiral," he was still undeniably a top-tier powerhouse at the Admiral level. Under normal circumstances, turning him into a "container" for extracting vital life essence would have been nearly impossible.
But clearly… The current situation was anything but "normal."
Because the place where Aramaki and Hitsuji now stood was Dreamland Island.
And one must not forget that the true nature of Dreamland Island was, fundamentally, Plague Island.
Every stream flowing here had once been a poisonous swamp.
Every inch of this land was originally a realm of deadly toxins.
It was only through Hitsuji's Island-Island Devil Fruit, combined with the powers of the Venom-Venom Fruit and the Reversal Devil Fruit, that everything had been transformed into the vibrant, life-filled paradise it was now.
The moment Hitsuji stopped "converting" it, everything across the island would revert to deadly poison, just as it had now.
And because of the Venom-Venom Fruit, the toxins after conversion were even more terrifying than those of the original Plague Island.
But the most critical point was…
"Buzz!!"
At this moment, Aramaki's gigantic black tree body was rapidly undergoing horrifying changes.
Beneath the tough black bark, dark-purple and crimson poison surged wildly. The tree emitted terrifying sizzling sounds as it withered and decayed in mere moments. Yet only moments later, the immense vitality granted by Aramaki's World Tree form would restore it to life again.
At the same time, the roots buried deep in the earth instinctively continued absorbing surrounding "nutrients."
As a result, the poison within his body was essentially endless.
That infinite cycle of "poisoning," "recovery," and "poisoning again"... Was the true purpose behind all of Hitsuji's planning from the very beginning.
"Tsk tsk…"
Hitsuji clicked his tongue lightly.
As previously stated, the toxins created by the Venom-Venom Fruit were the "King of Poisons."
They contained the effects of nearly every poison in the world and if enough accumulated within the body, the agony caused by those toxins would become unimaginably extreme.
Even someone with the willpower of the current Nika had screamed in agony, lost consciousness, and nearly died beneath Magellan's poison.
So the question became…
First… How many so-called "nutrients" had Aramaki absorbed through his trees during the battle just now?
Hitsuji did not know.
Second… What level of agony would such an amount of poison produce?
Hitsuji still did not know.
Third… When that agony never ended, endlessly cycling through the awakening effects of the Woods-Woods Devil Fruit… How despairing would that reality become?
Hitsuji still did not know.
But there was at least one thing he did know.
That was…
"I honestly don't care how much pain and despair trash like you experiences."
Saying this casually, Hitsuji slowly floated before Aramaki.
At this point, the latter had already completely lost consciousness from the indescribable suffering inside his body.
His spirit appeared utterly broken, leaving him little different from a genuine tree.
But clearly, for Hitsuji, even that was not enough.
He needed absolute certainty.
Therefore…
"Buzz!!"
Rippling light began flowing within his hand.
[Hypnosis: Eternal Dream Lullaby]
[Allows a target to fall into an eternal dream from which they cannot awaken by their own power. However, the target's willpower must be far weaker than the Devil Fruit user's.]
It was an ability derived from the Phantom Dream Qilin Devil Fruit.
Naturally, under ordinary circumstances, such an ability would never have worked on a top-tier powerhouse like Aramaki.
But now…
"Sleep."
Hitsuji gently raised his hand, and the rippling light flowed into the gigantic tree before him.
"Welcome to Dreamland Island."
His final words echoed across the skies of Dreamland Island.
"May you suffer a nightmare that never ends, one filled with eternal agony… You piece of trash."
(End of Chapter)
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