"If I refuse... there won't even be an intact corpse left."
Hawkins struggled in anguish, but in the end, his fear of death completely overwhelmed his laughable pride.
He clenched his teeth so hard that the muscles in his cheeks bulged, practically forcing a single word through them:
"...Fine!"
The instant he spoke, Hawkins closed his eyes in despair and abandoned his mental defenses entirely.
"Then, pardon me."
A mysterious smile curled at the corners of Pudding's lips.
The next second, she swept aside the bangs covering her forehead.
Buzzz!!!
In an instant, the third eye hidden in the center of her forehead snapped open!
A brilliant violet radiance, dense and unfathomably deep, as though it could swallow all light, erupted from that mysterious eye like a volcano!
Beneath its glow, even the windblown sand around them seemed to freeze.
This was no mere Devil Fruit ability, but a perfect fusion of the Three-Eye Tribe's terrifying innate gift-the power to perceive the Voice of All Things and strike directly at the soul's core-with the power of the Memo-Memo Fruit's laws!
The violet radiance became chains that seemed almost tangible and plunged into the space between Hawkins's brows.
This time, Pudding did not perform the dangerous, mentally exhausting "memory extraction and alteration" she had used on BIG MOM, one of the Four Emperors.
With Hawkins having completely abandoned resistance, she only needed to use her third eye to reach directly into the depths of his subconscious, then forcibly brand an "absolute psychological suggestion" into it with the Memo-Memo Fruit's power!
Within that violet light, Hawkins felt as though his soul had fallen into a cold, unfathomable abyss.
Invisible chains coiled tightly around his subconscious, searing the commands "absolute loyalty to the Straw Hat Pirates," "until death," and "never betray them" deep