Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
Clusters of vines surrounded Franky, twisting and whipping through the air like living serpents.
Each vine ended in a sharp tip. If Franky were pierced even once, the vines would drain his energy instantly, leaving behind nothing but a shriveled husk.
Aramaki stood calmly at the center of the vine storm with his arms crossed, lazily observing the chaotic scene.
"Hmph. You cyborg fellow are more capable than I expected," Aramaki said with a lazy tone. "You have been dodging for quite a while, but it is meaningless. The moment you slow down even a little, my darlings will drain your energy completely."
Franky had already activated his combat form. His body had transformed through the power of the Weapon Fruit, turning him into a walking arsenal.
Yet despite the prolonged fight, Aramaki showed absolutely no signs of fatigue.
The vines surrounding Franky moved with eerie intelligence. They chased anything that moved quickly, reacting like predators locking onto prey.
More importantly, these vines required almost no energy from Aramaki to maintain.
"Awoo! You damn plant man!" Franky shouted while dodging rapidly through the air. "These vines are way too fast! I cannot keep dodging forever!"
Poof!
Franky suddenly transformed into a robotic form covered in spinning blades. The sharp edges began slicing at the incoming vines while he continued to dodge rapidly.
However, the moment a vine was cut apart, new shoots instantly grew from the severed section.
His attempt to destroy them completely had failed.
"Ah ha ha ha! Fool!" Aramaki laughed smugly. "Nature's regenerative ability is beyond human imagination!"
His expression was filled with arrogance.
To Aramaki, he was the very embodiment of nature itself.
Among Devil Fruit abilities, the Mori Mori no Mi gave him an almost terrifying regenerative power.
"This is bad…"
Franky's speed finally slowed slightly. His pupils shrank.
Whoosh!
Whoosh!
In the next moment, the tireless vines rushed forward together.
They wrapped around Franky from every direction, forming a tight cage in mid air. Countless sharp tips pointed toward him like spears before plunging downward.
"Hahaha. To last this long against me, you have already done well, pirate."
Aramaki sneered while watching the vine cage tighten in the sky.
But suddenly something unexpected happened.
Boom!!!
A violent explosion erupted from inside the vine prison.
Flames burst outward, blasting the surrounding vines apart.
"Super Weapon Pervert Franky Destruction Bomb!!!"
Franky's bizarre and dramatic shout echoed through the sky as flames engulfed the entire area.
The burning fire incinerated the vines instantly.
Aramaki's face darkened.
"Damn pirate! What did you do?!"
He glared angrily at Franky, who was now falling from the air with smoke and flame trailing from his body.
"You bastard. You actually destroyed those beautiful vines!"
Aramaki's arms suddenly transformed into thick wooden branches.
The wood stretched and twisted into long vines aimed directly at Franky.
"Die!"
Whoosh!
The green vines shot forward rapidly, coated in Armament Haki as they lunged toward Franky like spears.
"Franky Spinning Flame Butt!"
Franky let out another strange battle cry.
While still in mid air, he thrust his backside outward and activated a powerful propulsion system. His mechanical rear spun rapidly like a propeller, blasting flames as he maneuvered away.
With the spinning propulsion, he barely dodged the Haki coated vine fingers chasing him.
"You cannot escape!"
Aramaki roared, his vine arms rapidly chasing Franky through the air.
"Awoo! Escape? Who said anything about escaping?"
Franky shouted back while hovering briefly.
His black triangular sunglasses flashed sharply as he glanced toward the ground below.
The rescued Mechanical Knights were already being escorted away by children who had helped them escape.
Seeing that the innocent people were safely leaving the battlefield, Franky's expression hardened.
"Do you really think this old man is afraid of you? Wrong!" Franky shouted angrily. "If I was not worried about innocent people getting caught in the fight, I would have blown you up already, you plant man!"
This time Franky stopped dodging.
"Super Weapon Pervert Franky Lawnmower!!!"
With another outrageous shout, Franky's body liquefied and reformed instantly.
His entire body transformed into a massive lawnmower covered with spinning serrated blades.
Buzz! Buzz! Buzz!
The deafening sound of rotating blades filled the air.
Franky activated every blade on his body and charged directly toward the vines below.
"Ah! Bastard!" Aramaki shouted angrily. "You actually used such a destructive weapon against plants!"
Franky's spinning body shredded the incoming vines instantly.
Aramaki's vine arms were cut apart and scattered like wooden debris.
However, the damage meant almost nothing to him.
The vines began regenerating immediately.
For Aramaki, losing a few vines was no more troublesome than shaving.
Yet what truly angered him was the blatant destruction of his beloved plants.
Destroying them right in front of him felt like a direct insult.
"Pirate," Aramaki said coldly, his face darkening.
"I admit that I underestimated you."
His eyes became sharp and filled with killing intent.
"But you will regret angering me."
Gurgle… gurgle…
"Mori Mori no Mi, Forbidden Hatred Forest!"
The ground beneath Aramaki suddenly erupted with life.
Flowers and grass began growing wildly around his feet.
His body expanded rapidly.
Wooden bark covered his skin as he transformed into an enormous tree man far larger than the mechanical beasts earlier.
His body resembled a terrifying war tree, wrapped in thick vines and growing countless plants from every surface.
"Be crushed!"
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
The gigantic tree man roared loudly.
Dozens of massive vines erupted from his body and slammed toward Franky.
"Forest's Fury!"
The vines twisted together in the air, forming a gigantic vine fist before crashing downward.
The attack looked slow due to its size, but the enormous coverage and force made it extremely difficult to evade.
Franky stood on the ground and stared at the descending attack with a grim expression.
"It looks like I have no choice but to finish this in one blow," Franky muttered.
The enemy could regenerate instantly.
Destroying just his arms or vines would never be enough.
He needed a move powerful enough to destroy the entire body.
"Super Weapon Pervert, Giant Coup de Vent!"
Franky's head suddenly transformed into a large cannon.
His feet dug firmly into the ground while his arms expanded and crossed forward, forming a massive air vent cannon.
The muzzle pointed directly toward the falling vine fist.
Hum.
A violent wind began gathering.
The surrounding air was sucked inward rapidly, flowing into the cannon like countless rivers rushing into the sea.
Energy built up quickly inside the weapon.
"Three… two… one…"
Franky roared just as the massive vine fist descended.
"Coup de Vent, fire!!!"
Boom!!!
A massive blast erupted from the cannon.
At first flames burst outward, but they vanished instantly.
What remained was a violent compressed hurricane.
The wind bomb tore through everything in its path.
Swish!
The moment the vine fist collided with the blast, it was instantly shattered.
More than half of the massive vine arm was blown apart.
The remaining section disintegrated under the violent pressure.
"You bastard…!"
Aramaki only managed to roar once.
"Ah!"
The raging Coup de Vent struck his enormous tree body directly.
The terrifying hurricane tore his massive form apart piece by piece, ripping the giant tree body into fragments.
Wooden debris scattered in every direction as the gale howled across the battlefield.
…
Franky's attack was unbelievably powerful.
Its output was nearly three times stronger than the Coup de Vent fired from the Thousand Sunny.
The technique relied not only on Franky's Weapon Fruit ability to enlarge the cannon mechanism, but also on several additional mechanical enhancements.
Most importantly, it consumed one third of the cola energy stored within Franky's body.
Franky stared cautiously at the half destroyed tree trunk that remained standing.
He slowly transformed his hands into giant cannons again and kept them aimed at the motionless body.
Several tense seconds passed.
After confirming that Aramaki was no longer moving, Franky finally relaxed.
"Phew… looks like I won."
Franky retracted the cannon arms and wiped the sweat from his mechanical head with relief.
However, something subtle happened behind him.
The broken tree trunk slowly began to wither.
Not far away, a small patch of soil shifted quietly.
From the ground, a tender green sprout slowly pushed upward.
It began to grow.
Silently sprouting.
---