The reason Hera hadn't killed these people and had instead imprisoned them was actually for Marianne; she was quite curious about this girl who could control others' emotions using only pigments.
Marianne felt as if in a daze, the scene shifted to a prison. Looking at her captured colleagues, she seemed to understand something.
Hera said, "I have stripped your partners of their abilities. Now they are just relatively strong ordinary people. I can let them go, but it depends on your performance."
Marianne nodded, looking at Hera expressionlessly, waiting for her next words.
Hera felt a bit bored seeing Marianne's expressionless face, so she spoke frankly: "I hope you will join the Navy. Your ability to control emotions through pigments is very special."
Hera continued, "Of course, it would be through official channels. You can join the Navy's logistics unit and use your works to heal those veterans who have retired from the battlefield."
Hera wasn't recruiting Marianne to add more combat power to her ship, but rather to find a disciple for Grandma Tsuru. Furthermore, she greatly admired Marianne's quality of cherishing her partners and her brave character.
Marianne felt somewhat surprised. Hera had used her partners to threaten her earlier, but the final request wasn't excessive—just joining the Navy, and in a safe logistics department at that.
Marianne said, "If I agree to your request, what will you do with my companions?"
Hera thought of a small story from the original work and said, "Let them open a cafe. They can continue to run the Spider Cafe."
Then Hera said, "Don't worry, I will find you a very good superior. You can come back to visit them when you have time, and it won't affect your dream of becoming a painter."
The others from Baroque Works felt relieved upon hearing Hera's words. In their eyes, Marianne was like a younger sister. Hera's request was not excessive; it could even be called very generous treatment.
Marianne nodded, agreeing to Hera's request, and reached out to shake Hera's hand: "Alright, I agree. Can you release them now?"
Hera nodded and released the several imprisoned people and a dog.
In her past life, Hera often saw veterans whose lives were affected by sequelae after leaving combat, spending their remaining days in the shadow of war.
Wars in the world of the Pirate King are even more frequent, and when facing those monster-like powerhouses, the battlefield sequelae are only more severe.
That was why Hera wanted to use Marianne's paintings to help those Marines who were left with psychological shadows from battle.
Hearing that Marianne had agreed, Hera also kept her promise. 'Saikū' sliced through space, sending the group from Baroque Works to their original meeting point, the Spider Cafe.
As they were preparing to leave with Marianne, Marianne pulled Hera's hand, signaling her to wait a moment.
Then, she led everyone out of the cafe and used her paintbrush to sketch rainbows in the sky—'Dreamy Seven-Colored Rainbow'. Upon seeing the rainbows, everyone transformed into the versions of themselves from their dreams.
Marianne herself turned into a little painter with a strange little mustache on her face. Sara became a cafe owner. The Christmas lady put on a cute princess dress, which was a bit of an eyesore.
Mikita became a cake shop chef, Gem put on a firefighter's uniform, and Babe wore delivery clothes while holding a pizza box. The gun that had eaten a fruit turned into a tank, and Bones put on a superhero costume.
Hera's height suddenly broke through 157cm and became the 180cm from her City of Devouring Time state. Feeling the change in her body, Hera happily picked Marianne up, but in the next second, she reverted to 157cm.
Her field of vision suddenly dropping again, Hera looked at the others around her who hadn't changed back yet and became depressed.
She looked at the rainbow that hadn't disappeared yet, but this time her body didn't react at all, as if the moment she grew taller just now was merely an illusion.
Looking at the transformed crowd, Hera brushed aside her depression and said with a smile, "Perfect, your dreams combined can open a cafe."
The people from Baroque Works looked at their new outfits. Having been villains for so long, they too found their dreams within the rainbow.
Hera said, "Alright, I'll leave this cafe to you. Remember, if I find out you've gone back to your old ways, I'll be taking back more than just your fruit abilities."
Then, with a flash of white light from the ability, Hera planted a restriction in their minds so they couldn't speak of the disappearance of their fruit abilities, and then she left with Marianne.
Upon returning to the palace, Kuina immediately saw Marianne being pulled along by Hera. Her eyes curved at a dangerous angle: "I was wondering where you went so early this morning. So you went to abduct another girl onto the ship?"
Hera waved her hands repeatedly: "I've been wronged! This girl isn't coming on the ship; she's a disciple I found for Grandma Tsuru."
Ain also looked at Hera holding Marianne's hand. Controlling a stream of water to swirl around her fingertips, she said, "After begging for mercy repeatedly last night, you still have so much energy? It seems I'll have to work even harder next time."
Hera shuddered involuntarily upon hearing Ain's words. When she gave Ain the Float-Float Fruit, she never imagined Ain would control water to flow through her body.
That feeling was fresh in Hera's memory; every time she thought of it, her body would tremble uncontrollably.
Not daring to delay any longer, Hera quickly said, "Alright, all our goals here have been achieved. Call the others. After I notify the King, we will officially leave."
Having said that, she scanned the palace with Observation Haki and found the King's location. Leaving Marianne behind, she departed without looking back.
Kuina stayed behind to look after Marianne, while Ain floated out to begin notifying the others.
Hera soon found King Cobra and expressed her intention to leave.
Although King Cobra tried his best to persuade Hera to stay, she had already made up her mind and did not accept his invitation.
Hera said, "The matters here are finished. There are still many places waiting for me to explore."
Then, Hera still couldn't help but remind King Cobra. She couldn't watch a king who cared so much for his people die at the Levely. The City of Devouring Time sealed off the area.
Hera said, "King Cobra, if you don't want to die, don't go exploring whether or not there is someone on that throne."
Having said that, she dissipated the City of Devouring Time and left, leaving behind a shocked King Cobra.
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