Chapter 387: Uncle Will Show You a Meteorite
Sugar could be considered the most special executive within the Donquixote Pirates.
The moment the Hobby-Hobby Fruit was consumed, a person's appearance became permanently fixed. Since Sugar had eaten this Devil Fruit when she was young, her appearance had remained frozen in her childhood form. She continued to dress as she did back then, wearing a polka-dot dress, a cute bear-shaped shawl, and a small crown on her head. A single monocle sat over her left eye, and her hairstyle was a bob cut. She looked like nothing more than an incredibly adorable little girl.
Perhaps it was a special trait of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, but not only did Sugar always look like a little girl, she also seemed unable to learn any martial arts or physical techniques. As a result, she had no combat ability whatsoever and was physically very frail. Because Doflamingo valued her highly, she was usually accompanied and protected by other executives.
However, this time, Ian and the other three Warlords, along with a group of formidable individuals like Fujitora and Ace, had suddenly come to cause trouble for Doflamingo. So Doflamingo had sent out every executive he could spare. Although it was useless against Ian and his group, Doflamingo had never imagined that Fujitora and the others would be led to the palace by Kyros. If he had known, he would have left at least one or two executives behind to protect Sugar.
Now, the only executive left in the entire palace was Sugar herself. When she saw Fujitora and the others appearing below from the executive tower high up in the palace, Sugar immediately sensed trouble and quickly found a place to hide.
That was why Fujitora and his group hadn't found her when they arrived.
However, based on Kyros's understanding of Sugar, he knew she wouldn't have run too far. So Fujitora and his group spread out through the palace, searching for traces of Sugar.
Kyros described Sugar's appearance and features to everyone, telling them to search carefully.
The method was correct, but Kyros and Fujitora made a mistake here. Apart from Kyros, not a single person present was familiar with the palace at all!
Sugar had originally planned to hide until Fujitora and the others gave up looking for her and left on their own. But when she saw everyone splitting up to search for her, she immediately saw an opportunity.
Zeke was walking down a corridor, looking around for any sign of Sugar. But as he passed by a huge vase, Sugar suddenly emerged from behind it and touched his hand.
Taking advantage of her small size, Sugar had hidden in the narrow gap behind the vase and launched a sneak attack on Zeke.
"Turn into a bear toy!"
With Sugar's shout, Zeke's body went *poof* and turned into a fluffy little bear toy, falling to the ground.
"Th-this, what's happening!?" Zeke tried to speak, but found he couldn't make a sound. He looked at his hands and body, and when he realized the change, he finally understood what was going on.
At that moment, Sugar came up to him. The normally short Sugar now seemed very tall in front of Zeke, who had become a bear toy.
"Let's make a contract!" Sugar said with a smile, raising her index finger. "Obey my commands until you die!"
At the same time, Fujitora and the others, still searching for Sugar in the palace, had all their memories of Zeke erased simultaneously. They no longer remembered that there was a long-arm tribesman named Zeke who was a companion on their ship.
The power of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit was more like black technology than actual technology; calling it a bug wasn't an exaggeration.
After stating the contract's terms, Sugar said to Zeke, "Eliminate the intruders in the palace. Defeat them all."
Zeke understood what she said. He wanted to resist, but found his body completely out of control. As Sugar gave the command, he involuntarily picked up a weapon and ran deeper into the palace.
Sugar then found another place to hide, waiting for the next unlucky person to come along...
With Sugar catching them off guard, Fujitora and his group fell victim one after another. The most absurd part was that every time someone was turned into a toy, all memories of that person were erased from everyone else's minds. By the time more than half of them had been turned into slaves obeying Sugar, Fujitora and the others still hadn't realized their companions were disappearing!
Fujitora simply thought he had brought this many people to the palace. Although he still remembered the mission to find Sugar, he felt that they had been searching for a long time without finding any trace of her.
Instead, from time to time, one or two toy bears would appear in the palace. These toy bears would pick up weapons and charge at their group, attacking them.
Fujitora found it strange. He didn't know where these toy bears were coming from and assumed they were defensive measures left by the enemy in the palace. So he didn't pay much attention and just knocked down each toy bear one by one.
He had no idea that the toy bears he was defeating were his former companions.
Zeke and the others still had their self-awareness, but they couldn't make a sound. Not only were their bodies attacking Fujitora against their will, but Fujitora also didn't recognize them at all. He showed no mercy, directly suppressing them.
Fear completely consumed Zeke and the others. Only after being turned into toys did they realize how terrifying it was to be completely forgotten.
"Save us, Uncle Fujitora! And Captain Ian, where are you?"
Zeke and the others were pinned to the wall by Fujitora's gravity, completely unable to move. They could only cry out helplessly in their hearts.
The number of people kept decreasing. Sugar's sneak attacks succeeded repeatedly. In the end, only Fujitora, Kyros, and a few others were left searching the palace.
"Kyros!" Fujitora was walking with Kyros at this point and couldn't help saying, "Don't you think we have too few people to search the palace?"
Hearing this, the toy soldier Kyros was startled. He sensed something was wrong. As the person most familiar with Sugar's abilities, he thought, "Wait... what if Sugar is in the palace and has activated her ability? Could it be that we originally had more companions, but she turned them into toys, so we can't remember them!?"
Although memories could be erased, people had reverse thinking. Kyros tried desperately to recall if they had any other companions, but he couldn't remember at all. However, he became extremely vigilant.
At that moment, Fujitora suddenly stopped.
His Observation Haki had finally detected Sugar's presence. She seemed to be hiding in the gap between two walls ahead.
It wasn't surprising that Fujitora had only now found Sugar. Although his Observation Haki had a wide range, it couldn't penetrate buildings. Unlike Enel's Mantra from Skypiea, which could hear people's thoughts and thus sense them, Fujitora's Observation Haki was more attuned to detecting the outlines of objects. This unique trait allowed him to identify inanimate objects like buildings, but it also meant those same objects blocked his sensing ability.
This Observation Haki ability was actually derived from Fujitora's Gravity-Gravity Fruit. Since he was blind, how could he detect meteorites and pull them down if he couldn't identify inanimate objects?
In other words, Sugar had to be in the same open area as Fujitora for him to find her. And now, that was the case.
"Come out!" Fujitora said, facing Sugar's hiding spot.
Sugar obediently came out. She realized that Fujitora had found her using Observation Haki. Although she didn't know who he was, she understood he was a formidable opponent, so she didn't resist at all.
"I'm sorry, but please don't hurt me!" Sugar said pitifully, raising her hands. "I'm part of the Donquixote Pirates, but I'm not a combatant."
While trying to lower Fujitora's guard, Sugar slowly approached him. She knew that against someone who could use Observation Haki, her chance was only a split second. So she had to get close enough.
"Be careful, Uncle Fujitora!" the toy soldier Kyros warned. Because he was highly wary of Sugar, he immediately sensed something wrong when he saw her movements and called out to Fujitora.
Hearing this, Sugar gritted her teeth and lunged at Fujitora with her hands outstretched. She was still a bit far from him, but she didn't care anymore.
Even if he dodged, as long as she touched even a tiny part of his body, her power would work.
But unfortunately, her body suddenly stopped in midair, unable to move forward.
Fujitora had applied weightlessness to her, completely ruining her plan.
"What... what did you do to me!?" Sugar panicked, twisting her body in the air, but found it futile. In a weightless state, she couldn't control her body at all.
Fujitora closed his eyes, a smile appearing on his face. He didn't need Kyros's warning; he had also sensed something was off, which was why he had said that to Kyros earlier. Now that he had successfully captured Sugar, he was quite satisfied.
Next, he needed to make Sugar's ability go out of control.
Drawing his staff sword, Fujitora activated his Gravity-Gravity Fruit ability. The ceiling of the palace above suddenly collapsed, but it didn't fall on him; he tossed it aside. Fujitora looked up, feeling the large hole in the ceiling above, and said to Sugar with a smile, "Little girl, how about Uncle shows you a meteorite?"
As he spoke, a bright spot appeared in the sky...