Seeing the obsessed looks on the crowd's faces, Hancock raised an eyebrow and wore a look of disgust. "Another group of rude scoundrels. Forget it, I'll just finish you off quickly!"
"Mero Mero Mellow!"
Just as the pink light washed over Fukabuki Dotou, a strange electrical spark flickered. Dotou instantly snapped out of his obsession with Hancock. By the time he regained his senses, he found that all his ministers had been turned to stone.
"You bastard! Who are you? What are you trying to do?!" Dotou was both angry and anxious, mixed with a hint of lingering fear. Deep wariness showed in his eyes. If it weren't for the special defensive layer of the Chakra Armor he had just developed, he probably would have ended up as stone just now!
"Huh?! He didn't turn to stone?" Hancock was also slightly surprised. This was already the second person she had encountered since arriving in this country who could ignore her Mero Mero Mellow.
Although Mero Mero Mellow was only an opening move for Hancock, those who could truly withstand it were one in ten thousand. It seemed there were quite a few strong people here!
Unaware that Fukabuki Dotou had actually cheated, Hancock didn't let her guard down this time. She fully activated her Two-Color Haki, and in a flash, she appeared right in front of Dotou.
It was enough for the incident where Kakashi used a Shadow Clone to draw her attention and then attacked Vegapunk from underground to happen once. This time, Hancock went all out!
Her long, jade-white legs were wrapped in pitch-black Armament Haki as she kicked toward Dotou's chest without hesitation. Dotou felt his vision blur, followed by a bone-chilling sense of crisis that made his hair stand on end. He pushed the Chakra Armor to its maximum power and crossed his hands slightly to block Hancock's foot.
With a loud boom, Fukabuki Dotou was sent flying, smashing through the palace wall behind him. His two arms hung limply, his bones shattered into powder. The Chakra Armor mounted on his chest also turned into a pile of fragments with a cracking sound.
"How fragile. To think I was actually a bit wary of you!"
Hancock curled her lips speechlessly and stood back up. At that moment, Vegapunk walked in leisurely, carrying a tightly bound Kakashi in one hand, with Nico Robin and Fukaboshi Koyuki following behind him.
As for the guards in the palace, some had defected under Fukaboshi Koyuki's persuasion, while others had been turned to stone by Hancock.
It had been less than a day since Fukabuki Dotou's coup, and it was currently the most chaotic time. Consequently, he hadn't received any warnings until Hancock stormed the palace—though even if he had, there wouldn't have been a different outcome... Dotou's "brutal" rule over the Land of Snow was shattered by the intruding trio after lasting less than 24 hours. Fukaboshi Koyuki followed in her father's footsteps and became the Daimyo of the Land of Snow once again.
Naturally, the Vegapunk trio, who had made a huge contribution to reclaiming the throne, became the new nobles of the Land of Snow—or rather, they simply became the Regents of the Land of Snow.
Inside a laboratory in the Land of Snow, Vegapunk looked at the instrument in his hand and stroked his chin.
"Is this Chakra? A product extracted from the 130 trillion cells in the bodies of humans in the Ninja World, a balanced mixture of spiritual and physical energy... What absolute nonsense!"
Curling his lip, Vegapunk set down the instrument. Behind him, besides Hancock and Nico Robin, stood a cowering Snow Ninja.
After Fukabuki Dotou fell from power, these Snow Ninja became like stray dogs without a home. Since Vegapunk wanted to study the Chakra of this world, he naturally wouldn't let these Snow Ninja go.
All the Snow Ninja, including those who had previously hunted Kakashi, were now under Vegapunk's command.
The strength of these Ninja in the Land of Snow wasn't very high to begin with, and their scale was small. There were only two or three at the Jonin level. Thus, such a small power naturally wouldn't be as stubborn as the Five Great Ninja Villages.
Seeing the extraordinary strength of the Vegapunk trio and their control over the Land of Snow's general situation, the group of Snow Ninja naturally bowed their heads in submission. After all, it was normal for small factions to change leaders, especially when this leader seemed quite powerful.
"Uh, Lord, is there a problem?" Hearing Vegapunk's words, the Snow Ninja standing behind him asked curiously. He was also a member of this laboratory, specifically responsible for being studied. The Chakra Vegapunk had just observed came from him.
"The problem is huge..." Vegapunk rubbed his brow. "To be precise, Chakra is indeed composed of spiritual and physical energy, but before that, a sliver of Chakra is needed as a'seed.' The reason Ninja can synthesize Chakra without a seed is because of years of heredity, which has left their bodies naturally containing a certain amount of Chakra."
"This brings up a strange question: where did the first sliver of Chakra come from? Who was the first person to possess Chakra?"
"Furthermore, Chakra has a strong aggregation property; weak Chakra naturally tends toward strong Chakra. At the same time, this energy mixed with spiritual power lacks individuality and instead merges easily with other Chakra."
"Not only that, but Chakra also has the characteristic of being interfered with by higher-level, higher-quality Chakra... In other words, if someone's Chakra quality and quantity overwhelmingly exceed ordinary people by several levels, they can easily harvest other Ninja like leeks."
"Uh..." The Snow Ninja stared with wide eyes, looking impressed but clearly not understanding. However, Vegapunk's words weren't meant for him anyway.
"I see. So Ninja are just 'leeks,' and Chakra is the harvest? Does that mean this whole world is just a nursery for some super-powerful lifeform?"
Nico Robin stroked her chin and spoke, "In that case, is it better if we don't use Chakra?"
"Of course not! You should have some faith in me!" Vegapunk shook his head.
For someone like him who already knew the plot, he was well aware that after a thousand years of development, the Ninja World had mastered Chakra in myriad ways. Even when facing the source of that Chakra, they weren't entirely helpless.
Sage Mode, Sealing Technique, Eight Gates, Space-Time Ninjutsu, Soul Secret Techniques... These Ninjutsu are definitely not powers that the Ōtsutsuki Clan can ignore.
Even though the essence of their own Chakra is far inferior to the Ōtsutsuki Clan, the Ninja World has developed the techniques derived from Chakra to the extreme. If given another 1,000 years, these Ninja might not actually need the Six Paths Sage and two saviors to put out the fire.