Chapter 149: May You Have a Never-Ending Nightmare, Scum!
Rewinding a few moments.
"Haha..."
Baby 5 felt her strength fading.
The injuries from the Fairytale Forest and the blood loss from constant running had weakened her to the extreme—she knew she could faint at any moment.
But she also knew she couldn't stop.
The Den Den Mushi to contact her partner Buffalo was broken—without this flying companion, she couldn't leave the island alone.
"Must find a place to hide... those two monsters..."
Muttering, she glanced back at the battlefield in the center of the island.
From the start of her escape, she had been observing that direction.
So she witnessed the mutual destruction of the two forests, the six terrifying monsters, and...
Every tremor of the island, every explosion in the forest told her how wrong it was to come to 'Neverland'.
Especially now...
"Will that monster destroy the island at this rate?"
"Will I sink with the island... well, this place is beautiful, dying here isn't bad."
Looking at the giant tree blocking the sun in the distance, and the faintly visible Sheep Mask figure above it, Baby 5's thoughts wandered.
"I wonder if the Young Master and others will be sad for me..."
She couldn't control her thoughts anymore.
So instinctively, she thought of the Donquixote Family.
Where she had lived since childhood.
She thought of her Young Master Doflamingo, the executives, and...
"You are Doflamingo's property..."
The words of that bastard Aramaki.
Baby 5 instinctively rejected this idea.
She craved recognition, craved being needed, even becoming an assassin at a young age and enduring cruel training for it.
But there was one thing.
She didn't want to be an 'Item'.
She was human—just not useful enough to not be abandoned by her mother.
"The Young Master said we are his family... Yes! Family!"
She comforted herself.
But her consciousness was blurring.
Until now...
Click.
Groggy, she felt something touch her hand.
"Who!?"
Instinctively, she mustered her last strength to activate her ability and resist.
But...
Massive weakness spread from her hand.
"...Seastone!?"
As an assassin and ability user trained to resist Seastone torture, Baby 5 realized the source instantly.
She turned her head with difficulty and saw a figure.
A figure beautiful as a faerie—wearing a veil like mist, standing behind her.
The mist from the veil masked her presence, causing Baby 5 to overlook her instinctively.
"Miss... Faerie?"
Baby 5 recognized her immediately—the Miss Faerie from Neverland legends who guided the way.
The difference was... in the legends, a small dark red dog followed her.
But now, a pure white unicorn followed her.
Miss Faerie nodded silently, ears turning red—even after so long, she found the title embarrassing.
But she patted the unicorn. "Go."
"Neigh?"
The unicorn neighed.
"It's okay, she's an ability user restrained by Seastone—no danger. Yazi won't punish you."
Miss Faerie said. Then, she and the unicorn approached Baby 5, who was picked up by the unicorn's mouth.
"Wh... what are you doing?"
Baby 5 asked weakly.
"Lord Hitsujii said it's best to keep you for potential future needs."
Miss Faerie said gently.
"And this island will become very dangerous soon. You'll die if you stay here."
Very dangerous?
Isn't it dangerous now?
Baby 5 didn't understand, but she struggled to resist—assassin training taught her not to be captured alive.
So despite being unable to use her ability, she tried to bite her tongue.
But...
"Lord Hitsujii said biting the tongue won't kill you quickly..."
Miss Faerie sighed. "Besides, life is precious—since you survived with difficulty, please cherish it."
"After all, there will always be people in the world who care about you."
The guide of the island spoke gently.
"..."
Baby 5 froze.
Instinctively, she stopped trying to commit suicide.
Miss Faerie ignored her, patting the unicorn.
The unicorn leaped away toward a specific location on the island.
"Hey... where are you taking me?"
"Survivors' Home—no, it should be called 'Emerald Greenhouse' now. It's a 'Safe House' created by Lord Hitsujii, also where dream creatures rest. By the way... your prison cell is nearby."
"Don't say such things with a gentle face! And what did you mean by this place becoming hell..."
Baby 5 asked.
But clearly, she didn't need an answer.
Because in her peripheral vision, she saw it.
The change in the entire 'Neverland' at this moment.
It was a dull red.
In Baby 5's view—starting from the edge of the island, dull black-purple spread like fire.
Wherever it passed, flowers and dreamlike vegetation turned into poisonous plants spewing purple foam.
Crystal clear streams across the island became turbid and sticky.
Tree trunks twisted, beautiful leaves turned black, even rocks melted into poisonous liquid flowing down.
"This is..."
This scene left Baby 5 speechless.
She could even see the soil below corroding and rotting.
This dream island yearned for by the entire sea turned into a terrifying place Baby 5 had never seen in just moments.
Now she understood Miss Faerie's words.
Compared to the island itself... the monsters in the forest earlier weren't dangerous at all!
"This is Neverland."
She heard Miss Faerie's calm answer.
"An island created by Lord Hitsujii."
"When he wants it to be dreamlike for some, it is the 'Island of Wishes'."
"When he wants it to be nightmarish for some, it is the 'Island of Hell'."
She said calmly.
Some people?
No explanation needed.
Baby 5 understood naturally who 'some people' referred to—after all, besides her, there was only one other intruder on the island.
And it was true.
"ARGHHHH..."
At this moment, agonizing roars echoed through the island.
Baby 5, under Seastone's influence, struggled to glance.
She found the screams of fear and pain came from the massive, sky-blocking black tree formed by Aramaki in the center of the island.
"Ughhh..."
Aramaki, transformed into the giant tree, had completely lost consciousness.
Seeing this, Hitsujii wasn't surprised.
Or rather—from the moment he saw Aramaki, he had predetermined this ending.
[Devil Fruit User 'Aramaki' Discovered]
[Confirmed Devil Fruit: 'Logia · Woods-Woods Fruit', analyzing...]
[LV5: Fruit Awakening · World Tree. Devour all surrounding forests, transform into a massive 'World Tree'.]
[In World Tree state, the body naturally devours all nearby nutrients and performs extreme photosynthesis, gaining almost infinite life and stamina.]
This ability was the key Hitsujii valued.
Yes—Hitsujii created Neverland and attracted outsiders for two purposes.
One was wealth; the other was collecting massive Life Essence to create the 'Dream Legion' for the upcoming big plan.
Originally, although the collected essence wasn't small, it wasn't enough to sustain the entire Dream Legion.
But Aramaki could solve this problem.
The power of the Woods-Woods Fruit symbolized infinite vitality—photosynthesis alone produced endless life force, the best source for extracting life essence.
Of course, this was just a thought initially.
Aramaki was the future Admiral 'Ryokugyu'. Though often mocked as the weakest Admiral, he was still a top-tier powerhouse.
Normally, making him a 'Container' for extracting life essence was impossible.
But clearly—the current situation wasn't 'Normal'.
Because Aramaki and Hitsujii were on Neverland.
And don't forget.
Neverland was essentially 'Plague Island'.
Every stream flowing here was once a poison pool.
Every piece of land was toxic, only transformed into this vibrant state by Hitsujii's 'Island-Island Fruit' combined with 'Venom-Venom Fruit' and 'Reverse-Reverse Fruit'.
Once Hitsujii stopped the 'Transformation', everything on the island would revert to poisonous substances as they were now.
And due to the 'Venom-Venom Fruit', the transformed poison was far more potent than Plague Island's original toxins.
More importantly...
VMMM!
Aramaki's massive black tree body was changing at an astonishing speed.
Inside the tough black bark, dark purple and crimson toxins surged.
The tree body emitted terrifying sizzling sounds, becoming withered and decayed instantly.
But moments later, Aramaki's massive vitality as the 'World Tree' restored the tree body to life.
Simultaneously, his roots anchored in the ground instinctively devoured surrounding 'Nutrients'.
This made the poison in his body almost never diminish.
The infinite cycle of 'Poisoning', 'Recovery', 'Poisoning' was the true purpose of Hitsujii's plan.
"Tsk tsk..."
Hitsujii smacked his lips.
As mentioned, the venom from the Venom-Venom Fruit was the 'King of Poisons'.
Containing effects of almost all poisons in the world, the pain was exaggeratedly intense.
Even Luffy, with strong willpower, lost consciousness and screamed under Magellan's poison in the original story.
So here came the questions.
First, how much so-called 'Nutrients' (poison) did Aramaki absorb with his trees during the battle?
Hitsujii didn't know.
Second, how much pain would this amount of poison bring?
Hitsujii still didn't know.
Third, how desperate was the fact that this pain would never end, cycling infinitely due to the 'Woods-Woods Fruit' awakening?
Hitsujii still didn't know.
But Hitsujii knew one thing.
That was...
"I don't really care how much pain and despair trash like you feels."
Speaking lightly, Hitsujii floated slowly to Aramaki.
Aramaki had lost consciousness completely under the unspeakable pain—his mind seemed to have collapsed, making him almost like a real tree.
But clearly, for Hitsujii—this wasn't enough.
He had to ensure absolute safety.
So...
VMMM!
Light like flowing waves surged in his hand.
[Hypnosis · Eternal Lullaby]
[Can plunge living beings into an eternal dream they cannot wake from on their own. The target's willpower must be far weaker than the user.]
An ability from the 'Dream Qilin Fruit'.
Of course—this ability wouldn't work on a top powerhouse like Aramaki normally.
But now...
"Sleep."
Hitsujii raised his hand gently, light flowing into the massive tree.
"Welcome to Neverland."
His final words lingered over the island.
"Have a never-ending, eternally painful nightmare—Scum."
☆☆☆
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