Treating Sabo hadn't taken much time. Rather, it was 'transplanting' the pure, uncontaminated memories from Isshiki's Kama into Naruto's brain that consumed a long while.
—Not because Naruto couldn't handle it, but because Pudding was struggling.
"It's so heavy! So heavy!"
The refined lady Pudding had been moments ago was nowhere to be seen now.
Her arm muscles strained, her neck and above were flushed red from overexertion, even veins bulged on her forehead.
At this moment, she no longer cared about Naruto's identity, no longer thought about her dreams, and didn't even mind her third eye being exposed to the three brothers, Luffy and the others.
In Pudding's hands, a heavy, mountainous pile of 'film reels' was accumulating… the physical manifestation of Isshiki's memories.
This was one of the better outcomes: the power of the Memo Memo no Mi could indeed affect a Kama that had no ability to resist.
Perhaps this was because, in a way, a Kama could still be considered part of that Otsutsuki, a living Otsutsuki.
But clearly, Naruto had overlooked a small issue.
That is, Isshiki was over a thousand years old. The memories he had accumulated naturally far surpassed those of 'short-lived species' not even a century old.
Pudding couldn't accurately extract all of Orochimaru's memories before, so she could only extract Isshiki's memories in one go and then try to stuff them into Naruto's brain using the same method.
This wasn't a technical task; it was a 'strength-based' task.
Activating Devil Fruit abilities consumes the user's own stamina, and the Memo Memo no Mi was no exception.
It's just that previously, she only needed to do a bit of 'trimming', so she never had to work this hard. Now, this 'transfer' work had been going on for fifteen minutes, and her forehead was covered in sweat.
Her bangs, usually used to cover her eye, were soaked through with sweat and no longer effective.
But Pudding no longer cared how the other three in the room perceived her.
As long as she fulfilled Naruto's request, she could leave that family forever.
Although doing this didn't guarantee that the rest of her life would be easier, at least she would have the right to embrace freedom.
Therefore, even if her image was utterly ruined, Pudding didn't care, gritting her teeth and continuing the memory transplantation.
However, Pudding's worries were essentially unfounded.
As a certain philosopher once said, "Your life doesn't have that many spectators."
The three brothers in the room were initially quite interested in what Pudding was doing… Luffy even wanted to reach out and touch the strange film reels.
Of course, this reckless move was quickly stopped by his two older brothers.
To divert their younger brother's attention, Ace took the initiative to ask Sabo what he had been through all these years.
"...It was Dragon-san who saved me. After that, I lost my memory."
Sabo scratched his head, lightly recounting his experiences and interesting stories from his years in the Revolutionary Army, which opened the eyes of his two pirate brothers.
Take Ace and Luffy, for instance. When they were pirates, they would indeed step in to help when they saw injustice, but they didn't understand the overall world situation or the current state of various nations.
Even Ace, who had become a division commander in the Whitebeard Pirates, was no exception.
What he usually saw most were either the common people living peacefully under Whitebeard's flag or enemy pirates.
As for situations involving oppression by kings and nobles, there were almost none within Whitebeard's sphere of influence.
Luffy, on the other hand, had encountered several such cases.
"Me, me, me, me! I know!"
Luffy raised his hand and started counting on his fingers.
"There was a hippo king, and a guy who called himself a 'god' who could shoot electricity, and..."
Despite Naruto interfering with his fate, the Straw Hat Pirates still maintained their habit of causing trouble wherever they went.
Whenever they saw a king they didn't like, they wouldn't hesitate to beat him down.
"What you're doing does temporarily stop those nobles, but it's not a long-term solution."
Sabo shook his head with a light smile, feeling that this behavior indeed suited Luffy's personality, but he still pointed out the shortcomings.
"If you don't arm the people, even if you remove one mountain from above their heads, another mountain might still appear later."
He tried to explain the Revolutionary Army's action plan, but Luffy just tilted his head, completely confused.
Clearly, Luffy still couldn't think about things too deeply.
Ace, on the other hand, looked thoughtful, seeming to understand somewhat.
Just then, Pudding's strained voice came from the side again.
The young girl's face was flushed red, and now she couldn't even speak. She felt as if her arms no longer belonged to her, pain swelling in the joints of her entire upper body.
"Ah, is she pooping?"
No one but Luffy could ask such a question.
With a loud thwack, Ace knocked Luffy's head, causing it to bounce back and forth.
But since he hadn't used Haki, Luffy looked unconcerned.
After knocking some sense into his foolish younger brother, Ace also showed a hint of concern.
"Should we help her?"
In front of Pudding, Naruto lay straight on the same sofa Sabo had been on, allowing Pudding to continuously stuff the memory film reels into his brain.
Seeing this, Sabo also nodded.
After all, she was his benefactor… he felt he shouldn't just watch.
Their conversation reached Pudding's ears, and she almost instinctively wanted to refuse.
'You idiots! Memory transfer isn't such an easy task. Do you really think you can just come over and lift something?'
Without the Memo Memo no Mi, if they directly contacted the memory film reels, it could cause unpredictable problems, even directly affecting Naruto's own memories.
It would be like manually disassembling a USB drive while it's transferring files to a computer and changing the internal circuits.
If you're lucky, the data on the USB drive gets corrupted. If you're unlucky, it could cause a short circuit, or even burn out the computer.
But right now, Pudding had to concentrate entirely on this process, finding it difficult even to open her mouth.
Just as the two brothers were about to approach the moment before, Naruto, who should have been unconscious from the memory transfer, raised his hand.
"No need for you to help."
As he spoke, without opening his eyes, Naruto gently placed his other hand on Pudding's.
Then, a stream of pure life force was continuously injected into Pudding's body.
That was the product of combining Yin-Yang Release Chakra.
Pudding, who had been mentally and physically exhausted, felt like a dry sponge meeting a spring rain, her condition rapidly recovering to its peak... no, even stronger than before.
Yes, stronger.
It was the first time Pudding had used that word to describe herself.
Even as the biological daughter of Big Mom, the [Steel Balloon], Pudding always knew her body was not much different from an ordinary person's, nowhere near comparable to her powerful older brothers and sisters.
But after Naruto transferred that life force into her body, she felt her arms become more powerful, her torso more resilient, and even her thoughts became much clearer than before.
Naruto lowered his hand, leaving a small white mark on Pudding where he had touched her.
"I didn't notice this, putting you through so much hardship."
He pointed to the white mark.
"Consider this a 'little gift' for you. After all, leaving the Charlotte Family, you'll need some means to protect yourself."
Actually, he was understating it.
It's just that Pudding didn't yet have an accurate understanding of her current physical strength.
Strictly speaking, if she used the pure life force within that White Kama, Pudding's physical strength could be instantly enhanced to a level comparable to a Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral.
Of course, her actual combat ability couldn't be guaranteed.
Although Naruto hadn't opened his eyes, Pudding felt as if Naruto was looking right at her.
The flush on her face from exertion had just gone down, but now it returned.
"Yes! Thank you very much!"
"No, I should be the one thanking you."
Uzumaki Naruto, oh Uzumaki Naruto, you wretched criminal, you!