As soon as he finished speaking, a crisp female voice burst from the center of the stage, and even noise-canceling headphones were useless, allowing Crocodile to hear the words.
Right after, Uta pointed towards Lily and the small island where they were located, "That Pirates over there, I know you, Disaster Pirates, are you here to listen to songs or to cause trouble!"
With just one point, their headphones emitted light and shattered into musical notes.
This also drew the collective gaze of the audience, filled with fear and hostility.
The special headphones were useless...
"You've got to be kidding."
Lucci's face darkened: "Is such power possible for an ability user?"
This was a specially designed tool to defend against the Sing-Sing Fruit, yet it was easily destroyed by an ability user.
"Sa..."
He turned his head to find Sage, to ask what he thought about this, but as soon as the thought occurred, Lucci himself gasped.
No Sage!
From just now, it seemed there was no trace of Sage!
But why did he only realize this now?
What was he thinking earlier?
"Of course, an ability user can't do this."
Lily gripped the sword hilt at her waist, staring at the woman in the center of the stage, full of smiles and confidence, "It seems we've long been hypnotized."
Crocodile was also stunned but quickly reacted, "Was it the moment we heard the voice? This degree of ability development is indeed impressive; Observation couldn't sense it."
"Even Haki can't negate it."
Mihawk also gripped the Black Blade on his back, saying indifferently, "Her ability is strong; it seems your predictions were correct, she is indeed an ability user comparable to Sage."
Just like how the More-More Fruit was developed by Sage into Mythical type, for ability users exceeding matching limits, doing spectacular things with their power is no surprise.
Brilliant development, not only so high they can't detect it, even when they do, it's useless, Haki can't counter such an ability.
"Able to match my brilliance."
Boa Hancock bit her thumb, "She's quite a woman."
For her to be evaluated like this is already very impressive.
"In that case..."
Crocodile transformed into sand and flew directly into the sky, facing Uta.
Ability is usable, Haki is no hindrance; it's just can't be dispelled.
"Uta, we're from the Cross Guild, your ability is excellent. The World Government is looking for you, and we from the Cross Guild sincerely invite you to join us. With your fame and ability, you can achieve the freedom you desire here."
"I'm not looking for freedom."
Uta smiled: "I want a peaceful world filled with joy, I won't become a Pirate. Pirates are the worst, they destroyed Erejia."
"Is that so? Negotiations aren't going so smoothly..."
Crocodile laughed, gathering a Sand Blade in his hand and swung it fiercely.
"Crescent-shaped sand dune!"
The sand-formed slash rushed towards Uta, who merely snapped her fingers, a group of musical notes condensed into an impact, clashing with the sand, dispersing it.
"Your ability can't be changed with powers."
Crocodile noticed, smirked, "Then you'd better let us out."
"Eh?"
Uta heard that, tilted her head slightly, and her smile gradually faded, "I see, you've discovered it? But it doesn't matter; Pirates will eventually enter this peaceful, joyful world, and then the seas will have no more wars! You even investigated my information, no wonder you brought headphones, so, what are you here for?"
"To have you summon Tot Musica."
Lily instantly appeared in front of the stage, looking up at Uta, "Summon it, Sage needs it to verify his concept."
...
The Death Star and Cross Guild's ships docked with the waves along the shore. A pair of hands naturally flew out, laboriously dropping the anchor, and after securing the ship, the hands flew back to Buggy's wrist.
He was gazing at the people lying on the deck in a deep sleep, and watching everyone on the island fallen into sleep, clearly feeling confused.
"Where did this take me, where's the concert!"
"It's already started."
Sage tossed the fishing rod aside, scanning around before fixing his gaze on the damaged central platform, smirking: "Caught in the trap as soon as they arrived."
Headphones?
He's never worn such things, once he saw Lily take out headphones, he laid down; if not for his quick reaction, catching Lily and placing her in the captain's bedroom, she might have toppled off the balcony.
From hearing the faint singing on the island, he was already caught in the ability.
Why wasn't he caught, despite not having headphones...
For someone like him with mastery in sleep and hypnosis, it's not very effective.
Unrelated to Haki, not all abilities can only be countered by Haki, there are other methods too.
Abilities also involve checks and balances.
This ability, and the Calm-Calm Fruit focus on timing.
Whoever acts first holds an advantage.
Additionally, his secret hole connected to sleep was warning him. Hence, Sage directly pressed his secret hole, forcing himself to stay awake, breaking free from the hypnosis inherent in the song.
As for Buggy...
Just sheer luck.
As the song started, he was used by Sage as a bait and submerged in the sea, the seawater filled his ears, perfectly avoiding this disaster.
Lucky, that was really lucky!
"Put them on."
Sage tossed Buggy a pair of headphones, "These can block sound for you."
Then, he immediately leaped onto that platform, landing there, surveyed the surroundings, fixating on the buildings behind the platform.
"The famous Great Pirate, Disaster."
With red and white hair, without any wings like the Sky Island People on her back, holding a basket and munching on a mushroom, a young girl emerged from behind the structure, smiling:
"Impressive, that even my ability was of no use. But I'm curious, how do you know about Tot Musica, that's forbidden knowledge."
"I know many things... Red Hair's daughter."
Sage glanced her up and down, "You're quite interesting; that mushroom in your hand... very toxic, eat too much and it'll lead to uncontrollable emotions."
"No choice, that's the price for creating a New World. As long as everyone enters my dream world, everyone can live peacefully and happily, with daily celebrations and with music, art, and food as companions." Uta showed a happy, yearning smile.
"Playing with Infinite Tsukuyomi huh? Sounds like that damned color sin."
Sage shook his head, smiled: "You don't have much time.' But I can save you, give you an opportunity, let out Tot Musica, and then become O'hara's musical sage."
With one glance, he knew the woman's condition was peak, but the flames were like a candle in the wind, ready to extinguish at any moment.
That mushroom had characteristics of making one high and sleepless.
He knew the Sing-Sing Fruit's information, able to pull people into the Devil Fruit's exclusive 'Song Song World' through singing, but as soon as the ability user falls into sleep, the ability is canceled.
Clearly, she's not sleeping, overt use of power, plus this mushroom, her lifeforce is already at the brink.
"It's a demon king, one that will destroy the world, my goal is to save the world, so I won't do that. Pirates are just pirates, they only know destruction, especially you, the destructive Disaster, the calamity's demon king."
Uta looked disdainfully at Sage, then excitedly:
"I don't know where you got your information, but I won't release it. Also, unless I cancel the ability myself, killing me won't free those trapped in Song Song World. It's already too late, my New Century is about to be born!"