A simple example may be dubbing two songs on top of each other. Then you can subtract one of the songs to recover the other. Obviously the double-song is a derivative work of both.
Courts don't operate on technicalities. The intent is pretty much all that matters, as long as you prove that someone intended to pirate stuff, doesn't matter what rube goldberg machine they use to actually pull it off.
Schemes like this have been tried since the 1800s, perhaps far longer, where someone smugly announces "well technically I didn't defraud them, your honor" and gets sent straight into prison.
You are absolutely right.
This is what enabled prosecuting the founders of the pirate bay, among other things.
The fact that files are hosted elsewhere, mangled, encrypted, cut in pieces is entirely irrelevant to the court.
Hoping that a technicality gets you off the hook is exercise in shortsightedness.
This is in contrast to e.g. bittorrent where every seeder is in direct violation and provably so.
This is technobabble theater by people who do not understand law nor courts.