"Spriggins. According to the information provided, it belongs to the category of the spring island." Carina informed as she leaned on the rail and placed her right hand above her eyes, trying to get a better view of the scene in front of her.
After having flown for nearly twenty hours, Prominence finally landed back on the still water and sailed at a calm pace, as a unique view has unfolded in front of them.
A gigantic, green-coloured, and beanstalk-like plant was seen to be coiled all the way up, penetrating the cloud above. Right next to such a monstrous plant, a large oval-shaped platform, seemingly made artificially, spread out on top of the water, supporting the buildings and a large number of inhabitants.
Additionally, at the bottom of the gigantic plant where a huge gaping hole was found, a large volume of water was being sucked in at a constant rate, generating a one-way current that flowed around the oval-shaped platform-like place. Over the fast and potent flow of water, an arc-shaped bridge was built with its one end connected with one end of the platform, and the ships were seen to be stationed at the other end of the bridge.
"See that plant over there?" Carina turned to Rowan, who was wearing a blindfold, and grinned knowingly as she pointed her finger at the gigantic plant, "Spriggins isn't actually an island. However, there is a huge cluster of minerals under that plant, which generates the magnetic field and keeps the plant from falling."
Rowan smirked in response, "Although I am unable to see right now, I can sense those details just fine with my Observation Haki. After all, why would I dare to blindfold myself if I can't even do that?"
Carina laughed lightly before toning down the silliness from her tone, "Aside from that, we've officially entered the 1st route of the Paradise. If we decide to follow the Log Pose," Carina lifted up her left wrist and gazed into the Log Pose, "after fully recording Spriggins in a span of three months, we will be able to follow the path. However,"
Carina put her hand down and stared up at the clouds above, "that's not what we're doing."
Alfred gave a gentle smile while standing next to Carina and gazing at the gigantic plant, "Indeed. We are going to the sky."
"A huge plant, and sky... this is simply breathtaking." Dan commented in awe as he wrote down in his journal.
"A plant?" Carmen remarked with a dull expression, before her face slowly morphed into that of a realization, "Potential ingredient?!"
"Oho, do you see those ships?" Cavendish spoke up with interest as he pointed at the ships at the end of the bridge, "All of them are round in shape, pretty unique!"
Rowan walked up to the very front of Prominence, standing on top of its wolf figurehead with a confident smile on his face, "I can already tell that this is going to be fun." He turned his head back to Robin, who was standing on one corner impassively, "Isn't that right, Robin?"
Robin let out a light chuckle in response, "Indeed, captain."
Upon reaching the end of the bridge that leads to the platform, Prominence finally came to a stop after its 20-hour-long 'sail.'
"Land ho!" Cavendish shouted jovially as he dropped the anchor.
"Uh, can this really be considered as land?" Dan raised his eyebrow, as he and Alfred tied the rope around one of the metal poles that were outstretched from the bridge.
"Reminds me of Baratie, but a lot bigger." Rowan remarked.
"Hehe, and look at all these pirate ships around." Carina giggled mischievously, "Time to accumulate more wealth!"
Upon hearing Carina, everyone sweatdropped. They already accumulated around a billion Beli in terms of their total wealth, and yet, it didn't seem to be enough for Carina.
"Let's see what this place has got to offer, eh Dan?" Rowan said excitedly as he jumped and landed on the bridge.
"That's a given, captain." Dan replied with a smile and jumped as well. Others all followed suit, landing next to Rowan and Dan, with the exception of Farul, who,
"Neigh~!!"
cried vibrantly and shot forward, leaving clouds of dust as he ran across the bridge at a blinding speed.
"Oh Farul, wait for me!!!" Cavendish cried and vanished from his spot, chasing after Farul.
"Hmph, those idiots." Carmen shook her head and crossed her arms.
"But they certainly make our sail much more lively." Placing his hands into his pockets, Rowan grinned and began to walk forward, with the rest of the crew members following him from behind. "With more than enough supplies on Prominence, there is no need to restock. Let's just see what this place has got to offer."
_________________
[Mock Town, Jaya]
"Jararara, let's see if you can handle this." Mad Treasure grinned ferociously and stomped his right foot on the ground, "Mad Chain!!!"
In the next moment, a large number of chains burst out from Mad Treasure's body, and soared in all directions terrifyingly.
Psycho P and Naomi hastily jumped back in panic, as Mad Treasure launched his attack without regard for their lives.
Baten stood with a cold expression on his face, with numerous amount of chains flying in his direction.
*Boom* *Boom* Making only a minimum amount of movement, Baten easily dodged all the chains that attempted to impale him, and those chains crashed onto the nearby ground.
"Slow." Baten lazily stated as he continued to dodge the chains flawlessly, without any trace of difficulty on his face.
Meanwhile, Teach stared at Mad Treasure's attack with a wide grin, unfazed by the chains.
As the chains approached Teach, the man with the champion belt, Jesus Burgess, jumped in front of him and began to punch the chains away.
*BOOM*
"Wiihahaha!!!" Burgess laughed out loud and continuously slammed his fists over and over, rendering the vast number of chains useless.
*BOOM* *BOOM*
"Zehahaha, how pathetic!!!" Teach laughed in mockery of Mad Treasure. "Is that all you got?!"
Watching how his technique invoked no sense of alarm from the opposing parties, Mad Treasure's eyes flashed dangerously, "Jararara, I'm just getting started!!"
The chains that dispersed all across the battlefield began to return to Mad Treasure at a rapid rate, before wrapping around his whole body.
"Gigantea!!!" Mad Treasure now stood with a thick-layered and grey-coloured armour that covered him from head to toe. Crouching down, he was about to launch himself against Teach, however,
"Shigan: Kunren (Drill)."
*Crunch* With a bone-crushing sound, Mad Treasure lowered his head to see a bleeding hole in the middle of his chest. Mad Treasure turned his head around in disbelief, and found Baten standing behind him with an extended finger, which was imbued by Armament Haki.
"You are weak." Baten stated coldly as Mad Treasure staggered backward, while placing his right hand on top of his wound.
"Boss!!!" Psycho P cried out in shock.
"...Captain? N-no, how can this be?" Naomi muttered in fear as she lifted up her bow shakily, trying to shoot at Baten.
"*Cough* Just when... did you get behind me?" Mad Treasure glared at Baten with blood flowing out of his mouth, "You sneaky bastard..."
"Zehaha, while it is entertaining to watch the weaklings fight against one another," Teach, who stood on the side, spoke up with mild irritation, "it is quite displeasing to see myself being ignored like this!"
*BOOM* Ignoring Naomi's explosive arrow that completely missed him, Baten turned his gaze to Teach, who began to slowly walk towards him. Baten's eyes instantly narrowed in cautiousness, wondering what Teach was about to do.
As Teach grinned with a malevolent gleam in his eyes, the pitch-black wisps began to rise behind him, swirling menacingly.
*Bang* Suddenly, a gunshot was fired from Van Augur, but Baten swiftly tilted his head to dodge the bullet with ease.
"Stand back, you guys!!" Teach momentarily turned his head back and stated to his crew members, as his hands slowly became engulfed by the thick wisps of darkness, "Mad Treasure may be a pushover, but Baten certainly isn't. Zehahaha, let me deal with him myself!"
Baten glared at Teach with a grim expression, "Who are you? A peculiar fruit ability I've never seen before, along with one of the strongest Haki I've ever come across. There is no way that a pirate such as yourself isn't issued with a substantial amount of bounty."
"Oh, I haven't introduced myself yet, have I?" Teach grinned in response and stretched his hands out.
"Black Vortex!!" The darkness abruptly began to swirl in front of Teach's opened palms, and to Baten and Mad Treasure's shock, they found themselves being pulled towards Teach.
"Gravity?" Baten gritted his teeth in a cold sweat as he was involuntarily flying towards Teach, before placing his legs forward, "Geppo!"
*Boom* *Boom* With repeated kicks against the air, Baten barely managed to escape from the gravitational force.
"Geppo?" Teach frowned in a mild surprise, "Rokushiki?"
"*Cough* What is this?!!" On the other hand, Mad Treasure was incapable of achieving the same feat, and helplessly flew towards Teach.
*BOOM* A sickening sound was heard as Mad Treasure crashed onto Teach's darkness-engulfed fist.
Mad Treasure vomited a large volume of blood as his eyes hollowed out and the chain armour on his body instantly disappeared, having gone unconscious from one blow from Teach.
With a thud, Mad Treasure fell on the ground fast first, and the blood oozed out to the surface under him—it was unknown whether he was dead or alive.
"Zehahaha!" Teach laughed haughtily as the darkness continued to swirl behind him, "I'm Marshall D. Teach, destined to become the Pirate King!!!"
Glaring at Teach coldly, Baten crouched down, before vanishing from his spot.
*Swoosh* At the next moment, Baten was seen to be standing in the middle of where Van Augur, Jesus Burgess, and Doc Q were standing, causing Teach's eyes to widen.
"Hah?!" Having caught off-guard, Teach watched as Baten unleashed his technique,
"Less Less Five-Hundredth Size."
Immediately after, the large area of the ground underneath suddenly shrank, generating a huge pit that caused three members and one horse of Blackbeard pirates to fall helplessly.
"How mildly infuriating." Van Augur commented as he landed at the bottom of the pit without sustaining any injury, before dashing to receive Doc Q and the horse, Stronger.
*Boom* Burgess landed simultaneously as the crack formed underneath, before he gritted his teeth and looked up at Baten, who didn't bother to pay any attention to them.
"Someone like you, with a huge potential..." Baten glared at Teach, while reminding himself of his encounter against Rowan, "must not be allowed to continue any further. I will never let another pirate like Grimheart escape."
"Ho, you ate devil fruit too, I see." Ignoring Baten's words, Teach said malevolently, "Zehahaha, not like it's going to change anything, with this power of the most evil devil fruit in my hands!!"
Subsequently, Teach shifted his eyes to Psycho P and Naomi, who were attempting to rescue unconscious Mad Treasure discretely, "Don't you dare move, unless you wish to get yourselves to suffer the same fate as your captain!!"
Psycho P and Naomi froze and sweated profusely, conflicted about what their next course of action should be.
Meantime, Bellamy's crew were watching the battle with horror, unable to believe the display of power in front of them.
Carrying the unconscious Bellamy on his back, Sarquiss violently shook in fear. Gulping, he slowly whispered, "F***... what should we do, Bellamy? Doflamingo told us not to lose, but..."
However, Bellamy remained unresponsive, much to Sarquiss's dismay. Gritting his teeth in conflict, Sarquiss turned to face the other crew members and stated anxiously, "Return to the ship immediately. W-we are leaving right now. We may die by sailing without a fully-recorded Log Pose or by Doflamingo, but it is certain that we will die if we were to stay on this island."
The other crew members frantically nodded. Within the tense atmosphere, they slowly began to back away from the site of the battle, as silently as possible. Thankfully for them, no one cared.