The Grand Line, Water Seven.
Across from Bruno's bar.
Carol, who appeared out of nowhere, turned transparent and vanished.
Even his aura was hidden, with only faint footprints on the ground to confirm that two people had been there...
Carol used his Observation Haki to scan his target, confirming there were no abnormalities.
He took the invisible, modified Mihawk and teleported, appearing inside the now-closed bar.
In the back room,
Bruno, who had been lying on his bed with his eyes closed, suddenly opened them.
The moment Carol grabbed his wrist, the CP agent, who had been trained since childhood, woke up.
This was the first time someone had breached his defenses so closely, and it was clear the intruder meant harm. Bruno's mind raced as he kicked his leg at a strange angle:
"Rank..."
*Shu*—
Bruno, who had just lifted his leg, along with the invisible Carol and modified Mihawk, vanished instantly.
The gap in their strength rendered years of diligent training useless for the CP agent, who was taken away without any resistance.
He reappeared in the Fleet Admiral's office at New Marineford...
---------
New World, New Marineford.
Fleet Admiral's office.
Carol appeared with the two, revealing his presence.
At this moment, Bruno's Rankyaku had just been launched, still unformed, and he hadn't realized he had changed locations.
The gust of wind from his kick continued, and a Rankyaku wind blade appeared, heading for Carol.
Carol showed no reaction.
A thought flashed through Bruno's mind:
"Did it work?"
Suddenly, the scene before him slowed down as if it were the last moments of his life...
He saw a large hand in a black glove, at an unbelievable speed, grab the Rankyaku wind blade and crush it.
The shattered Rankyaku wind blade, still dissipating, was then pressed by the black-gloved hand towards his head.
Bruno's eyes widened in rage, and his adrenaline surged:
"Tek..."
*Crack*—
The sound of his head cracking echoed, but it didn't explode.
Sakazuki controlled his strength; otherwise, a casual blow would have killed him. The man's Devil Fruit power would be very useful in the decisive battle...
Bruno's eyes rolled back, but his willpower, honed since childhood, prevented him from losing consciousness.
His body instinctively mobilized blood and muscles, and he mumbled:
"Kai..."
His body became incredibly hard, like an iron rod.
Sakazuki glanced indifferently at Bruno, and with his black-gloved hand, he grabbed Bruno's head and lifted it to shoulder height.
He then gently pressed it towards the ground...
*Crack, crack*—
The sound of thigh bones breaking was heard, and then without pause...
*Crackling*—
The sound of bones being crushed followed, dense and crisp.
The shattered bone fragments, under pressure, burst through flesh and blood, piercing Bruno's legs and completely crushing them into pulp...
At this point, Bruno had completely lost consciousness.
His body, hardened by Tekkai, became a bloody mess under Sakazuki's brutality. Only his heaving chest indicated he was still alive...
Sakazuki casually tossed him to the ground.
Carol, who had somehow acquired a Sea Prism Stone shackle, cuffed Bruno's wrists and chuckled,
"The Door-Door Fruit is ours."
Sakazuki looked at Bruno's bloody mess and asked,
"Is the fusion body ready?"
Carol stood up and replied,
"The experiment on Egghead Island is also the first of its kind, so we're not sure if it'll succeed."
"We've been calibrating the equipment."
"Everything is almost ready, just waiting for this test subject."
Sakazuki nodded,
"Cover this guy's face, and people will be here soon."
Carol responded,
"Yes."
The Door-Door Fruit's strategic value was immense. During the decisive battle, it would be highly effective in encircling pirates.
The reason they hadn't acted sooner was that this person was from CP9.
It wasn't that CP9 couldn't be killed, but there were only a few official CP9 agents, all in Water Seven, which had become a sieve, teeming with government personnel.
For a formal CP9 agent with a life-saving ability like the Door-Door Fruit to disappear out of thin air on an island full of government spies...
Only the high-level combatants of certain factions could achieve that...
Either pirates or the Navy, which was why they had hesitated.
However, with the decisive battle approaching, there was no need to wait any longer. Coupled with Sugar's Devil Fruit ability to erase everyone's memories,
Even if the Judicial Island headquarters had a list of personnel, it would take time to detect the disappearance, and perhaps before the mission to infiltrate and search for the Pluton blueprints ended,
They wouldn't suspect anything...
---------
Deep in the night.
In Water Seven, far across the Grand Line.
Everyone at Franky's House, after a busy day, prepared to go out for drinks at a bar...
As soon as they stepped out the door, they froze.
Franky scratched his head and looked at his subordinates,
"We..."
"Were we going to do something???"
---------
New World, Egghead Island.
In the secret laboratory high in the clouds.
*Shu*—
Carol appeared.
Vegapunk and several of his clones were all there, waiting for Carol.
Lilith greeted Carol's appearance,
"Yo, Carol."
"Did you bring the item?"
Carol smiled and handed Lilith a doll with bull horns in his hand,
"I brought it."
Lilith took it and looked at it,
"Excellent."
"Let's start the experiment!!!"
Pushing everyone aside, she rushed to the control console.
The others exchanged glances and shrugged, looking somewhat helpless. They shook their heads and followed.
At the control console.
The modified giant bear, which had eaten the Glutton-Glutton Fruit, was already prepared and connected to a large screen.
Lilith fed the bull-headed doll into the modified giant bear's mouth, then pressed a button, and the modified giant bear began to operate internally.
To fuse the doll with the Jinbe Seraphim that had already been swallowed.
*Sizzle*—
Steam hissed continuously, and black steam spewed from the modified giant bear's ears. The bear also trembled.
Lilith looked at the black steam being expelled and scoffed,
"As expected, it failed..."
The excitement on her face diminished slightly, but it provided motivation.
The others followed, and Shaka, the clone representing justice, said,
"Failure is normal, after all, it's the first time."
"Keep increasing the output; there will be a way to extract the Devil Fruit ability."
Due to the special nature of the Hobby-Hobby Fruit, everything about those turned into toys is locked within the toy.
Therefore, without killing Bruno, making everyone forget him while still being able to use his abilities is very troublesome...
However, it seemed unlikely to stump Vegapunk and his clones, especially since the Glutton-Glutton Fruit was considered a bug-level ability...
Carol watched for a while before preparing to leave; it was tiring to watch even for someone not involved.
After bidding farewell to Vegapunk, Vegapunk escorted Carol out and smiled,
"Don't worry."
"We'll definitely be able to extract it before the decisive battle. The vessel is already prepared."
"It will be enough to open a gate large enough for dozens of warships to enter a spatial anomaly and ambush."
"It will be more than sufficient."