Garp's rampage showed absolutely no sign of stopping.
No matter how many people tried to reason with him, nobody could get the old man under control.
Smoker eventually ran out of options and called former Fleet Admiral Sengoku through a Den Den Mushi.
What followed was a nearly hysterical barrage of abuse so long and vicious that Sengoku somehow managed to beat Garp into submission through sheer verbal violence.
Apparently, when one "Buddha" went berserk, it really did take another Buddha to deal with him.
After several rounds of discussion, they finally settled on a plan.
Smoker would infiltrate the event first and investigate.
If anything unexpected happened afterward, an Admiral would be dispatched as backup.
Whatever they did, the Marines absolutely could not recklessly start a direct conflict with one of the Four Emperors at a time like this.
And so, Smoker set out.
Meanwhile, Ace was already making his own way toward the marriage tournament being held for Cain.
The list of opponents Uta would eventually have to face was becoming more ridiculous by the day.
…
Several days later—
Cain and Uta parted ways with Shanks and the others and headed for Totto Land.
They both knew their arrival would attract far too much attention, so they hid the Going Merry well in advance.
With Katakuri secretly covering for them, the two slipped back into the guest room Totto Land had originally prepared for them.
The moment they entered, Katakuri gave them a solemn apology.
He bowed slightly, the gesture looking almost awkward with his enormous height, but his tone was completely sincere.
"I'm sorry, Cain. Uta."
"What happened this time was genuinely unacceptable."
Naturally, both Cain and Uta had plenty to be angry about.
No matter how you looked at it, using Cain's image without permission was a pretty outrageous violation.
So Cain immediately handed Katakuri the harshest punishment imaginable.
"Remember those giant doughnuts I personally made for you?"
"You're not getting a single one."
Katakuri froze.
Was that really supposed to be a punishment?
Judging by his expression—
yes.
Yes, it absolutely was.
Uta, however, was far less forgiving.
"And?"
Her voice was cold.
"Where's the other one?"
"The actual culprit."
"The person pretending to be Cain."
Clearly, Uta was taking the lead here.
Compared with Cain, she was taking the entire matter much more seriously.
One was playing good cop.
The other had apparently decided that bad cop wasn't nearly bad enough.
Seeing her expression, Katakuri simply reached into his own body—
and pulled out a mirror.
He placed it on the floor.
A second later, Brûlée came tumbling out of it in a complete panic.
Cain and Uta's mouths twitched at the same time.
Cain stared at Katakuri.
"So now, besides storing weapons in there, you also carry a mirror around inside your body?"
"It lets me support my younger brothers and sisters at any time."
Katakuri answered with complete seriousness before looking down at Brûlée.
The instant she saw his expression, Brûlée burst into tears.
She dropped to her knees with a thump.
"I'm sorry!"
"I'm really, really sorry!"
Between sobs, she hurriedly explained herself.
Her Mirror-Mirror Fruit could project anything that had once been reflected in a mirror onto another surface.
The projected image would be reversed, like a reflection, but otherwise the appearance could be reproduced almost perfectly.
"I admit it…"
Brûlée's voice became quieter.
"I'd already thought about secretly copying En-chan's appearance a long time ago…"
She cautiously glanced up at Cain.
Then immediately lowered her eyes again.
"Even when I went to deliver Chiffon's wedding invitation to Cain last time, I was trying to get a reflection then too."
"Unfortunately, I didn't manage it…"
Katakuri sighed and rubbed his temple.
"So that's why you insisted on coming along."
"Yeah…"
Brûlée sniffled.
"But luckily, En-chan herself came to the wedding afterward, so I…"
She never finished.
Uta was already standing directly in front of her.
One step brought her close enough that her shadow completely swallowed the trembling Brûlée.
Uta bent down.
Her expression was terrifying.
"Delete them."
Brûlée blinked.
"Huh?"
"Every single record of En-chan stored through your ability."
Uta stared straight into her eyes.
Her fingers cracked ominously.
"Delete all of them."
"And while you're at it…"
"Delete the memories too."
"NOOOOOO!!!"
…
"They're gone! They're all gone!"
"Not a single one left!"
"Every image of En-chan is gone!"
Brûlée was curled up in the corner, hugging her head while her shoulders shook with miserable sobs.
Uta dusted off her hands.
"Good."
"Later, go find Pudding and have her clean those memories out of your head too."
"I'll be watching."
Even Katakuri broke into a faint cold sweat at that.
He reached down and patted Brûlée on the back in consolation.
To be fair, his sister had absolutely brought this on herself.
Cain, meanwhile, had caught one important detail.
"You said she'd been planning this for a long time."
He looked at Katakuri.
"So you people were planning to use my appearance for something from the beginning?"
"No."
Katakuri immediately shook his head.
"This marriage tournament was only a pretext."
"The person who came up with the idea was that woman."
Cain frowned.
"What woman?"
"This woman."
An elegant, gentle voice came from the doorway.
Everyone turned.
The moment Cain saw who had arrived, a vein immediately started pulsing on his forehead.
"You again, you old lady."
"Don't think taking off the mask means I won't recognize you."
Cain was very clearly giving her a warning.
They knew each other.
So please—
for once—
stop causing trouble.
"Oh dear…"
Stussy delicately touched her cheek.
"If you call me that, little brother, you're going to hurt my feelings."
The woman at the door was none other than Stussy, Vegapunk's infamous multiple agent.
"I heard my dear little brother had finally come back, so I even dressed myself up for you."
She sighed dramatically.
"And this is how you greet me?"
Cain rolled his eyes.
Uta did something much simpler.
She charged.
"DIE! DIE! DIE! DIE—"
"DIEEEEEEE!!!"
If it hadn't been for this woman, half the nonsense that followed would never have happened.
And now she had the nerve to stand right in front of Uta and shamelessly flirt with Cain?!
Absolutely unforgivable.
Stussy remained perfectly still as Uta rushed toward her.
'Oh?'
'Instead of dodging, she's coming straight at me?'
Her thoughts raced.
'As expected of Red-Hair's daughter.'
'According to the intelligence, the truly dangerous part of her ability is the Sing-Sing Fruit.'
'I even prepared earplugs specifically for that.'
'Looks like I wasted the effort.'
'Who would've expected this little girl to abandon her greatest advantage and come at me with a sword?'
Stussy's eyes briefly assessed Uta's movements.
'And that swordsmanship…'
'No structure whatsoever.'
'Obviously untrained.'
'I don't even need to dodge something this crude.'
'That blade barely qualifies as a nail file.'
Without the slightest concern, Stussy raised one finger.
She casually caught the descending edge of Uta's golden sword.
The instant they made contact—
Stussy's eyes closed.
Thump.
She collapsed flat on the floor.
"DIE! DIE! DIE!"
Uta had long since stopped caring.
She raised the sword and prepared to stab the fallen Stussy—
"Stop."
Katakuri caught her.
"She's Mama's guest."
"She can't die here."
"Hmph!"
Uta snorted and withdrew the blade.
Then she turned and marched back toward Cain.
By now, she had calmed down considerably.
Even if Stussy had been the one who suggested the whole scheme, killing her over it really would have been too much.
Besides, Uta had only been shouting out of anger.
She had never actually killed anyone before.
That didn't mean she intended to let Stussy off.
…
Inside Uta World—
Stussy was hanging helplessly in midair.
She looked around with genuine curiosity.
'So this is the Uta World mentioned in the reports?'
'It's surprisingly beautiful.'
Then Uta appeared.
"My, my."
Stussy smiled.
"Little sister, why don't you let your big sister out?"
Uta returned the smile.
It was an evil one.
"Sure."
"All you have to do is last one minute."
A long whip appeared in Uta's hand.
Stussy's interest only seemed to increase.
"You know, those can be rather dangerous."
"If you're planning to practice with one, why not let your big sister teach—"
CRACK!
"Ah!"
CRACK!
"Oh!"
Uta had already started.
Stussy stared at her.
"You really attacked without warning?"
She took another lash.
"Well, if this is all it is, I can survive one minute."
Then she saw movement behind Uta.
One Uta appeared.
Then another.
And another.
And another.
Soon, an entire crowd of Utas stood behind her.
Every single one held a whip.
Stussy's smile disappeared.
Uta's grin widened.
"When I said one minute…"
"I meant one minute in the outside world."
"I've slowed the flow of time in here."
"One minute outside…"
"will feel like seventy-two hours in this world."
Uta raised her whip.
"So take your punishment properly, you damn woman."
"This is Uta's…"
"Tsukuyomi."
Uta had never truly killed anyone.
Things like cutting someone open or tearing them apart were still beyond what she could bring herself to do.
So she had settled on a different method.
Unfortunately for Stussy—
it was still more than enough to inspire genuine terror.
Seventy-two hours.
Three entire days.
"YAMEROOOOOO—AAAAAAAHHHHH!!!"