Although Thor had mentioned that he was currently estranged from Odin and had been exiled, Tony couldn't imagine them staying enemies forever. After all, they were father and son.
This thought made Tony reflect on his own relationship with his father. He had come to understand Howard's intentions and had made peace with him, though sadly, Howard would never know.
Quickly brushing off his emotions, Tony decided it might be time to head to Mexico to find Thor. Through him, he could contact Odin and borrow the Red Sea Disc.
As for the Unclean Ones and the evil god… there had to be a way to avoid them.
And if not, well, he still had the Crystal Vine Missiles as a backup.
At that moment, Doraemon closed the Anywhere Door he had left in the Arctic and entered the IKEA store.
"Congratulations to Doraemon for successfully containing the IKEA store. You are now awarded the Meme Resistance Device," the electronic voice announced.
As soon as the message ended, a device resembling a headset appeared in Doraemon's book, and a flood of information filled his mind.
Meanwhile, the voice on the screen began an explanation.
"Memes are units of cultural information. Everything people see, hear, or perceive contains memes. In the universe of SCPs, many entities possess harmful memes that can alter others' perceptions, such as causing madness upon sight, death upon learning about them, or control with just a glance. To combat these dangers, the Department of Meme Science developed a device that can resist memetic damage, ensuring that encountering such entities will not affect the user."
After hearing the explanation, most people understood what the device was for, although people like Luffy and Naruto, who had slower reactions, still seemed confused.
Luffy: "Uh, what does that even mean?"
Robin: "It means that when you see certain things, you might react badly—like getting scared or feeling sick, or even being hypnotized. But with this Meme Resistance Device, you won't have those issues."
Luffy: "Oh, got it! So when I see an angry Nami and get scared, is that because of a meme? Does that mean if I have this device, I won't be afraid of Nami anymore, even if I spend a lot of money?"
Nami: "Just try spending money recklessly and see what happens!"
Usopp: "Luffy, your fear of Nami is so deep that no device could ever fix it."
Tsunade: "I don't understand what you're all going on about, but if we had a device like this, wouldn't it counter illusions?"
Strange: "In theory, yes. Illusions are a form of memetic attack."
After understanding the device's function, Doraemon put it away. Meme weapons, huh? He had some of those as well—like the Touching Microphone and the Non-Living Hypnosis Speaker, which were meme-based tools. As for anti-meme weapons, he couldn't recall having any, but another useful gadget couldn't hurt.
"Alright, now I've got to figure out how to find Gian and the others."
Doraemon entered the IKEA store, looking around at the endless aisles. The towering shelves seemed to reach the ceiling, with no end in sight.
Curious, Doraemon put on his Bamboo Copter and flew up to see if he could find the top of the shelves.
However, no matter how high he flew, he couldn't surpass the height of the surrounding shelves.
"Wow, is this really an infinite space?" Doraemon muttered, in disbelief at how absurd it all seemed.
Intrigued, he grabbed a bag of chips from one of the shelves, opened it, and took a bite.
"Huh, not bad. Looks like the food here might be usable," Doraemon said before finishing off the entire bag and continuing his search.
"Thud! Thud! Thud!"
Suddenly, the sound of heavy footsteps echoed nearby. Doraemon turned to see something unbelievable.
A towering mannequin, over 20 meters tall and dressed in an employee uniform, was walking briskly through the aisles, causing the ground to tremble with each step.
The sheer size and presence of the mannequin were overwhelming.
"Ahhhhhh…" Doraemon's face turned pale with fear. How could there be such a gigantic employee monster here?
The video hadn't mentioned anything like this!
The mannequin seemed to notice Doraemon and stopped, slowly turning its faceless head toward him. Doraemon couldn't tell if it could actually see him.
"W-what do you want?!" Doraemon stammered, panicking as he fumbled to find a gadget to protect himself. He knew all too well from the videos that the employees in this place were highly aggressive.
But he had never heard of one this massive!
"Uh…uh…"
Doraemon stared in shock at the giant employee. It didn't have facial features, but Doraemon was sure it had seen him.
"What do you want? Don't come any closer!"
Based on what he knew from the video, Doraemon knew these employee monsters had powerful attacks. He frantically searched for a weapon to defend himself.
However, the employee didn't seem to care about Doraemon and simply walked away.
Doraemon, who had been rummaging through his pocket, was left dumbfounded.
"Huh? What just happened?"
Doraemon blinked in confusion.
The Ancient One: "It's probably because it's not nighttime yet. These employee monsters only become aggressive after dark."
"Oh, that makes sense," Doraemon replied, finally understanding, but then his face darkened with worry.
He had no idea how day and night worked in this place. If night fell soon, it would be a big problem.
"I have to find Suneo and the others quickly. But how do I find them in a place this big?"
"Oh! I've got it!"
Doraemon suddenly had an idea and pulled out his Retrieval Handbag.
"I'll use the Retrieval Handbag to grab something of theirs and track their scent."
Doraemon reached into the bag, but something unexpected happened—he hit the bottom. The Retrieval Handbag's spatial functions weren't working.
"Huh?! What's going on? Could it be…?"
Doraemon's mind immediately raced to a terrible conclusion.
He quickly pulled out the Anywhere Door and opened it, only to find that the door still led to the IKEA store. There was no connection to other locations.
"No way! The space here is sealed, and none of my space-related gadgets are working!"
As Doraemon realized this, his face grew increasingly grim. This meant he couldn't leave the store so easily anymore.
(End of Chapter)