In that instant, all of Totto Land seemed as if an invisible hand had brutally clutched its heart.
The streetlights that had been singing fell silent abruptly.
The smiling tables and chairs froze, their grins stiffening in the wood grain.
The candy soldiers running through the streets suddenly shuddered, the light in their eyes rapidly dimming.
In the sky, the Homies clouds let out piercing wails.
They wanted to flee, to scatter, to hide deep within the clouds.
But in the next moment, an order from the depths of Linlin's soul swept across all of Totto Land.
"Come back!"
"Get back here, all of you—!"
The Soul-Soul Fruit.
It was a power that could manipulate souls at will.
Its user could make souls inhabit all kinds of objects, humanizing them and turning them into Homies obedient to their master.
Trees could speak, tables and chairs could sing.
Clouds could cry, flames could laugh, and swords could possess wills of their own.
This so-called fairy-tale Totto Land had been built upon that very power.
But behind the fairy tale was a tax of one month of lifespan every six months.
The residents of Totto Land had to pay their souls to Charlotte Linlin in exchange for so-called safety.
Month after month after month.
Accumulated over countless years, those stripped-away lifespans had ultimately formed the vast soul reservoir that sustained Totto Land.
This was Linlin's true trump card, and one of the reasons Rock had deployed all Three Admirals to Totto Land at once.
Sakazuki could keep Linlin occupied with his life-risking fighting style, using magma to tear open her Iron Balloon body again and again.
He could force her into rage, force her to bleed, force her to remain at the center of Whole Cake Island.
But killing Charlotte Linlin in