The scene cuts back to an hour earlier.
Under Crocodile's orders, Miss Doublefinger and Miss Merry Christmas had already positioned the cannon rigged with the bomb atop the clock tower in the Alubarna plaza.
Miss Doublefinger, bored out of her mind, was using a spike extended from her finger to file her nails. "Aaah..." She yawned, checking her watch. "This is actually pretty relaxing. At this rate, we'll fire the bomb in another hour, and the mission will be a wrap."
"Hey... what are you planning to do after the mission is over, Grandma Droopy?"
She looked up at Miss Merry Christmas standing beside her.
"Me...?" A look of uncertainty washed over Miss Merry Christmas's face. What will I do...?
Her long-time partner, Mr. 4, had already been killed by Crocodile. She had originally planned to groom that chubby kid to be her successor...
If she wasn't so terrified that Crocodile would kill her too, she would have defected from Baroque Works ages ago. She had to believe that once this final mission was done, he would let her walk away.
"Maybe... I'll go open a barbecue joint," she mused.
"A barbecue joint?" Miss Doublefinger looked surprised.
"Sure. If I can't be a mercenary spy anymore, I figure I'd make a pretty good pitmaster. My slow-cooked ribs are actually delicious."
Miss Merry Christmas raised her arm, showing off a bit.
"Well, you could set up shop inside my café," Miss Doublefinger said excitedly. "That way, customers could buy your ribs and bring them to my tables to eat."
"Great idea! We can even get Bon Clay to dance for the customers at both our spots! And maybe we could—"
Miss Merry Christmas's voice was full of hope.
But a second later, a thin, vivid line of blood appeared across her neck. Her sentence was never finished... and her eyes closed forever.
"Enem... Enemy att—"
Witnessing this, Miss Doublefinger's face twisted in sheer horror. W-When did the enemy attack?!
Where... where is the opponent?!
She frantically scanned her surroundings. Finally, catching a glint of sunlight, she spotted the thing that had attacked Miss Merry Christmas.
It was a thread.
A long, thin, transparent, and razor-sharp thread.
From the shadows at the other end of the line... Machi slowly stepped out, her expression blank. "You spotted it? Looks like I still have some room for improvement..."
Staring at the pink-haired enemy before her, Miss Doublefinger looked terrified. "How... how on earth did you people find this place?!"
" The Boss told us."
"The... Boss?"
"Yeah. A man who knows everything." Machi walked step by step toward Miss Doublefinger. The Nen threads wrapped around her hands moved on their own, defying the wind, stretching longer and longer. If Chrollo were here, he would be surprised—the threads Machi was using now had broken the rule of needing hands to manipulate them. They were vibrating freely, guided solely by her will.
However, something was off about Machi's body beneath her clothes. If someone were to look with a magnifying glass, they would see that under her skin, countless threads were writhing through her body like parasitic worms in her bloodstream.
"Two minutes left..." She calculated the time until the Rumble Ball's effect wore off, looking calmly at Miss Doublefinger. "Are those your famous last words?"
"Don't... Don't screw with me!!"
Miss Doublefinger roared. Countless razor-sharp spikes erupted from her entire body, turning her into a human urchin, and she launched a frantic charge at Machi.
This was Miss Doublefinger's Devil Fruit ability.
[Paramecia Type · Spike-Spike Fruit]
[The user can grow incredibly sharp spikes from anywhere on their body, capable of easily piercing stone walls. By inserting spikes into pressure points on her arms, she can bulk up her muscles instantly.]
However, the moment she got within ten feet of Machi, the expression on her face froze. She stopped dead in her tracks.
It was as if her body had been sliced into three sections by an invisible blade. Two clear lines of blood appeared across her chest and waist.
She maintained her grasping posture, stumbled forward a few steps, and then collapsed to the ground, dead.
Between the two walls behind her, two Nen threads were now dyed red, blood dripping from them—drip, drip, drip.
With the enemies neutralized, Machi brought two fingers together and tapped a few points on her own body. The chaotic threads inside her gradually calmed down.
These two enemies had weak fruit abilities; they weren't even worth hunting for the Boss. They would just be a waste of pages in his book, so Machi simply disposed of them.
She turned around and walked expressionlessly toward the exit of the clock tower. This way...
With this power... with this wild surge of power... I can actually be useful to Chrollo.
That feeling of despair... of helplessness... she never wanted to feel that again.
Nobunaga was leaning against the door on the first floor, chewing on a dry twig, looking bored. Seeing Machi walk down, he raised an eyebrow. "All done?"
Machi nodded. "The bomb is upstairs. You're up."
Nobunaga nodded, spat out the twig, and slowly headed up the stairs.
As they passed each other, he paused.
"I don't know why you wouldn't let us watch you fight, but I'm sure you have your reasons..."
"But, Machi..." Nobunaga hesitated, then lowered his voice. "Don't push yourself too hard."
"You've always been the type to suffer in silence. I'm sure you gained something from this... but..."
"You must realize it by now. To Chrollo, our existence... is more important than anything else."
Machi hesitated for a split second, then continued walking out the door. "I know."
BOOM.
Seconds later, controlled by the Float-Float Fruit powers Nobunaga now possessed, the bomb capable of leveling the entire town—along with its cannon—was swept high into the sky.
The fuse was lit, and the explosion detonated in the air.
Meanwhile, outside the palace, Mr. 1 (Daz Bones) watched the sky turn into a burning cloud and instantly realized the truth... for some unknown reason, their plan had failed!
"Dammit! Come with me to support the Boss!"
He reacted instantly.
Leading the squad of Millions behind him, he prepared to charge into the palace. However, a second later, he skidded to a halt, looking ahead with high alert.
Under the glare of the sun, two figures slowly appeared on the horizon, blocking their path.
One was tall with blonde hair and a mocking expression. The other was short, dressed in black, with a cold, sinister look.
It was Phinks and Feitan.
Phinks looked at his fist with regret. "Damn it... I shouldn't have played Rock."
Feitan, expressionless but with a hint of smugness, said, "I'll leave the small fry to you."
As Phinks erected a massive green barrier and began bulldozing toward the Millions agents, Feitan's pace quickened. He pulled a bone sword from his umbrella, tossed the sheath aside, and looked up toward Mr. 1.
"So, that's the number one ranked agent, huh..."
A look of pure, twisted pleasure curled the corners of his mouth.
"I hope he can play with me for a while."