The ultimate deliciousness of food often lies in the clever use of spices.
To Yun Lie's pleasant surprise, even unique spices from his past life's memories could be found in this secluded valley.
"Yun Lie! Let's transplant some of these plants! That way, we'll always have spices available in the future!"
Karina, unable to hide her excitement, suddenly pounced over and exclaimed.
A flash of inspiration struck her while collecting spices: since Nami's orange trees could be successfully planted in the space, these spice plants surely could too.
Yun Lie pondered for a moment and deemed it feasible.
His Inner World still had a lot of idle space, which could now be put to good use.
Thus, the two began their transplanting work in the valley. They were very careful, transplanting only three plants of each spice, trying their best not to disrupt the ecosystem.
Soon, a spice garden was established on a piece of land in the Inner World, complementing Nami's orange grove.
Looking at all this, Yun Lie couldn't help but wonder: since he loved eating meat so much, should he build a zoo?
But he quickly dismissed the idea, as poor management could potentially endanger both Nami's orange grove and this newly established spice garden.
"Gahahahaha, Yun Lie, I sense a group of people have come to Small Garden and are causing destruction where I live. I'll go deal with them first."
Brogy suddenly poked his head out, his tone filled with anger.
"Brogy, we've gathered enough too, let's go together!" Yun Lie quickly called out to him, scooped up Karina, and with a few leaps, landed on Brogy's shoulder.
"Good friend, let's go!" Brogy roared and ran towards the direction of his home.
This time, he made sure to control his movements, and Karina, having learned from their previous experience, no longer felt intensely uncomfortable.
Returning to Brogy's home, the sight was shocking.
It looked as if it had been violently struck by an extraterrestrial meteorite, with craters everywhere, the huge stone cave where he lived had collapsed, and the surroundings were a chaotic, miserable mess.
"Dastardly thieves!" Brogy was furious, raising his giant axe and charging towards the direction the enemies had fled.
"Oh no, that direction is where Nami and the others are!" Yun Lie's expression instantly turned serious. He held Karina tightly and vanished in the blink of an eye.
........
At this moment, Nami and the others were in a fierce standoff with members of Baroque Works.
Miss Merry Christmas brandished her sharp claws, constantly spewing curses, and frantically attacked the barrier created by Nojiko.
The sharp claws collided with the barrier, emitting a piercing sound, but the barrier remained motionless, not even leaving a tiny mark.
"Miss Valentine, are you betraying the Boss?"
Mr.3's face was as dark as a thundercloud, his eyes revealing a fierce glint as he stared intently at Mikita.
"No... it's not."
Mikita looked flustered, her voice full of fear, as she quickly waved her hands in denial.
Caught between Mr.3's threat and her fear of Yun Lie, she was torn, and large beads of sweat continuously rolled down her forehead.
"Then come over here! What are you doing standing there!?" Mr.3 sharply demanded, his voice filled with undeniable authority.
"I..." Mikita was in a dilemma, clutching the hem of her clothes tightly, unsure of what to do.
"Very good, you know the outcome for traitors in the organization!"
Mr.3 sneered, a ruthless glint flashing in his eyes, and his hands instantly transformed into white liquid wax, like two greedy pythons, spreading towards the barrier.
"Damn it! Don't underestimate me!"
Nojiko roared, and her body radiated light.
"Barrier Impact!"
The barrier instantly deformed, transforming into an indestructible giant wall that, with immense momentum, pushed the wax back forcefully.
Miss Merry Christmas, who was closest, couldn't dodge in time and was sent flying by the hard barrier, tumbling several times in the air before falling messily to the ground.
"Idiot!"
Mr.3 cursed, retreating rapidly, while a large amount of wax surged out like a raging tide. Wherever it went, the ground was covered in a thick layer of wax.
"I hate sticky things!" Nojiko quickly retracted the barrier, shaking off some of the wax.
But there was too much wax, and the barrier's area was limited, making it impossible to shake it all off. The wax stuck to it like a stubborn plaster.
"Nojiko, I'm going to use that move, cooperate with me." Nami suddenly leaned in and whispered to Karina.
"Okay." Nojiko nodded, then shouted to Mikita: "If you don't want to die, take us into the air. We have a way to deal with them."
Mikita had no choice but to comply.
Through Yun Lie's careful training during this period, she had made great progress in developing her Light-Light Fruit ability, which was no longer limited to only affecting herself.
With the Light-Light Fruit's ability, the three women floated up like balloons.
"Hmph! Do you think I can't do anything to you just because you've flown into the sky? Shoot them down! Mr.4!"
Mr.3 revealed a cruel smile and ordered the large green brute beside him.
"Understood!" Mr.4 raised his dachshund gun, aimed at the three women in the air, and pulled the trigger.
"Boom!" The cannonball left the barrel, instantly hitting the barrier.
"Idiot!" When the smoke cleared, the three women inside the barrier were unharmed, and Nami had a slingshot in her hand, appearing out of nowhere.
"What is that?"
Mr.4 stared blankly, asking curiously.
Nami's lips curved into an arc, and the slingshot fired a black and red bead.
"Idiot! Run!"
Mr.3 felt a bad premonition and immediately roared at Mr.4, but it was already too late.
"Boom!"
A violent explosion echoed all around. Even Mr.3, who reacted quickly, could only harden himself with wax.
When the dust settled, a huge crater appeared on the ground, surrounded by wax residue.
"Bastard! What in the world is this thing?!" Mr.3 gasped for air, looking disheveled, his hardened wax blasted into an unrecognizable mess.
Mr.4, at the center of the explosion, had his massive body blown into several charred pieces;
The dachshund gun also lay beside him, eyes rolled back, on the verge of death.
Miss Merry Christmas, not far away, was equally disheveled. Fortunately, her Zoan Devil Fruit granted her strong defense and self-healing abilities, which saved her from dying on the spot like Mr.4.
"Damn stinky woman!" Mr.3 was enraged, fully activating his Wax-Wax Fruit ability. A massive tide of wax surged from all directions, encircling the three women.
"Boom!"
Nami fired another bomb. This time, Mr.3 was prepared and used a wax whip to detonate the bomb in the air.
However, the impact of the explosion instead sent the three women, who were hiding behind the barrier, flying high into the sky, successfully escaping the wax's pursuit.
"Trying to run?" Mr.3 saw this and was about to chase after them when he suddenly felt a huge force at his neck. A hand was tightly gripping his throat.
"You dare bully my people, you've got some nerve."