The sky was stained a violent crimson, and a scorching atmospheric shockwave swept across the horizon, only settling after a long, agonizing silence.
Aboard the battleship Pluton, the confident smirk on Rocks' face froze. He stood up abruptly, his composure shattering. The Ancient Weapon Pluton possessed the power to annihilate entire nations; for its strike to be scattered so easily meant the interloper possessed unfathomable strength.
"Who is it? Who dared to interfere?" Rocks growled.
Was it Imu? Or Lin Xuan?
No, both of them should have been severely wounded. They shouldn't have this kind of power left. Was there someone else lurking in the shadows that he didn't know about? Rocks' expression shifted rapidly, a sense of foreboding gnawing at his gut. He felt as though something was spiraling far beyond his calculations.
That unease spread through his chest like a plague.
Meanwhile, at the Holy Land of Mary Geoise, the survivors were a mix of confusion and shock, though most were simply overwhelmed by the relief of narrow escape. Every eye was now fixed on the figure hovering in mid-air.
"So strong... he blocked Pluton's attack single-handedly!"
"Wait, look at him... how can it be him?"
"Impossible! Didn't Chairman Lin already kill him?"
Floating in the sky was a white-haired old man—one of the Progenitors of the Celestial Dragons who had supposedly been slain by Lin Xuan earlier.
Noticing the bewildered stares, Lin Xuan shook his head. "Don't look at me. I definitely finished him off. This has nothing to do with me." He paused, his eyes narrowing. "Besides, look closer. Something is very wrong with that guy."
Uchiha Madara and the others turned their gaze back to the old man. Madara immediately activated his Sharingan.
The anomaly became clear almost instantly.
After dispersing Pluton's attack, the white-haired elder remained motionless, suspended in the air like a clay statue. On the surface, he looked normal, but as Hashirama and the others observed him, an inexplicable sense of revulsion washed over them.
He didn't look like a living being; he looked like a mindless puppet.
"What is going on here?" Senju Hashirama asked, his brow furrowed.
Madara, drawing a parallel to Lin Xuan's mysterious methods, turned to him directly. "You know something, don't you?"
"I've certainly stumbled upon some interesting facts," Lin Xuan replied calmly. "Don't be impatient. Keep watching, and you'll see for yourselves soon enough."
Madara let out a cold snort, clearly annoyed by Lin Xuan's habit of playing riddles, but he didn't press further.
Before anyone could process the situation, a deafening roar shook the world.
Rumble!
The Red Line began to tremble violently. Many people lost their footing, collapsing onto the fractured stone.
Crack! Crack!
The sudden upheaval sent a wave of panic through the crowd. They watched, faces pale, as the ground beneath them began to tear apart. Then, a scene even more terrifying unfolded.
Boom!
The sheer cliffside of the Red Line burst open. Gigantic, monstrous vines erupted from the rock, lunging toward the Pluton like striking serpents. The vines moved with incredible speed, entangling the battleship in the blink of an eye.
Under the sheer force of these growths, the massive Pluton was hoisted out of the sea, dangling high in the air, bound tight by the emerald-glowing constrictors.
"Damn you! How dare you!" Rocks' enraged roar echoed from the deck.
Snap! Crunch!
A series of crisp, bone-chilling sounds rang out. The vines began to pulse with an eerie green light as they constricted. The legendary Ancient Weapon—supposedly indestructible—began to groan and warp under the pressure.
Finally—
BOOM!
With a piercing explosion, the Pluton was crushed flat by the vines and erupted into a fireball. Figures rained from the sky as members of the Rocks Pirates, the Big Mom Pirates, and the Beast Pirates scrambled to escape the disintegrating ship.
"The Ancient Weapon Pluton... was destroyed?!"
"Can someone tell me what the hell is happening?"
"Those vines... what kind of monsters are they?"
Everyone present stood frozen, their eyes wide with disbelief. Legend claimed that Pluton was not only a weapon of mass destruction but was constructed from materials so hardy that almost no weapon could leave a scratch on its hull. Yet, this titan of war had been turned into scrap metal by a few vines.
It felt like a fever dream.
"Chairman Lin, what on earth is that?" Whitebeard asked, swallowing hard, his face etched with dread.
Lin Xuan smiled, but he didn't give a straight answer. Instead, he posed a question. "Before I answer that, let me ask you: do you know where Devil Fruits come from?"
Whitebeard blinked, looking puzzled. "During our voyages, we occasionally find small islands where a tree bearing a Devil Fruit might appear."
"And when you pick the fruit, what happens to the tree?" Lin Xuan pushed.
"Once the fruit is taken, the tree withers instantly," Whitebeard explained. "In fact, most of the vegetation on the island usually dies shortly after."
Lin Xuan's smile widened. He stopped teasing and gave them the truth. "The trees you've seen are merely 'offspring' or sub-trees. What you see before you now... these vines belong to the Mother Tree of all Devil Fruits!"
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T/N:
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