We had finally started making our way towards the location.
The Roger Pirates had separated themselves in two so that one group could grab the Oro Jackson. Roger wanted to leave as soon as we had recovered the Devil's Wood; the sudden revalation of the three ancient weapons had caught his interest, and he wanted to learn more about them while he kept searching for The Last Island.
We were currently trudging through the forest for quite a bit. Rayleigh and Gaban were currently walking with me while Roger and Oden went back to the ship. Shanks and Buggy also decided to follow me as well, and they had been clammoring about ever since the journey started.
Although we had a casual demeanor while we continued to walk, we all had our guards up. The fact that the use of Observation haki had been made useless had Rayleigh and Gaban tell the crew to be weary of their surroundings.
"So Boris," Shanks ran up and started walking beside me, "How are we going to know that we're harvesting Devil's Wood?"
"We'll cross that bridge when we get to it," I replied calmly while I looked around.
I never got any detailed information concerning the Devil's Wood appearance, but I figured that I would know it from the moment I saw it. The density of the forest continued growing thicker and thicker as we kept going within the forest. A mist had slowly began to appear around us as we kept going deeper and deeper in.
"Hey, are you sure that we're walking in the right direction?" Gaban asked cautiously.
"Accoriding to the map, we are," I responded, "the ominous environment that we're slowly beginning to see around us only proves this further."
"How?" Rayleigh asked curiously.
"If this place wasn't so ominous, would you feel sure that Devil's Wood could be here?"
Buggy, who had walked up and decided to walk close to shanks suddenly jumped and landed right on Rayleigh.
"I-I just saw something move!" Buggy said, "Let's get out of here, the Devil's Wood ain't worth it!!"
At his words, we all immediately stopped and started scanning around our surroundings. Rayleigh and I immediately spread out our Observation haki to scan the forest. Sure enough, there we could feel plenty of presences creeping about around us. It didn't feel like the presences were sentient because they didn't have any form of organized movement. However, one thing was certain: These presences had malicous intent towards us.
"Everyone get ready for battle!!" Rayleigh immediately ordered as he pulled out his sword.
That's when it happened.
A flying black figure immediately dashed towards me. The sudden attack hadn't given me the time to properly identify the figure. However, it didn't stop me from grabbing my axe and swiping it down to split the dark figure in two. The figure didn't even have time to block the attack before its body was divided into two.
Looking at the now dead figure that lay dead in front of me. The figure resembeled the body of a human, but it wasn't. The scales that covered its skin and its giant claws proved told me otherwise.
"Is...is that even human?" Buggy asked mortified as he stared at the body.
"It could be a devil fruit user, but it should have vanished as it died," Rayleigh remarked.
I didn't say anything, and I kept looking at the more lurking figures who creeped about.
Suddenly, two more dark figures immediately lunged at Rayleigh. Rayleigh, who had sensed them in advance, immediately rolled sideways before getting up. He drew his sword and immediately began attacking the two figures.
Soon enough, more and more figures began to emerge from the mist. The numbers that I counted using Observation haki numbered to a little under 500 figures. The problem was that only a few of us had efficient use of Observation haki.
So most of the group were practically blind as they kept looking around while defending themselves from sudden attacks. If we were going to come out of this conflict without major casulties. We were going to need to get rid of the mist.
Knowing this, I immediately raised my foot and covered it in Armament haki before I stomped down. The shockwave that I caused as a result had dispelled most of the mist from the viscinity. Giving the group the perfect oppurtunity to recognize the figures, and start a counterattack.
Though the fight was a little more prolonged, it ended in our victory. The figures seemed to have been adapted to using the mist as a cover so that they could attack in obscurity. I'm not sure how many had fallen victim to their schemes because of how skilled they were at it, but it was effective regardless.
The group immediately fell to the ground, and soon they were all sprawled on the ground and trying to catch their breath. Rayleigh wiped some sweat of his brow as he took a swig off a bottle that he had with him. I didn't question his actions because I was busy working on a cigarette that I had lit immediately after the battle.
"What the hell was that?!" Buggy exclaimed as he trudged over to us.
"What's wrong, Buggy?" Rayleigh asked curiously.
"Ninja demons tried to attack us, that's what!" Buggy complained.
Rayleigh and the group laughed as they heard what Buggy had to say for himself. Shanks chuckled as he walked over to his own brother.
"Did they scare you?" Shanks laughed while slapping Buggy's back, "Don't worry! I'm here to protect you!"
"Fuck off!" Buggy pushed Shanks away, "We've never seen those things before, and you all know that!"
"Buggy does have a point though," Gaban added, "If anything, I wouldn't be too surprised if the Devil's Wood was in this forest."
I looked at the trees around thoughtfully as I pondered the possibility. The map had indicated that we had to walk a couple of more miles into the forest until we could get to the Devil's forest.
"Is there a possibility that the forest had grown since the last time it was spotted?" Rayleigh asked me.
To be fair, it had been well over 100 years since Noland was alive. The forest had to have grown during that time. So thoughtfully, I approached a tree nearby before punching it. I had to limit my strength to that of a cannonball, and I also didn't use my Armament haki so that I could get the closest results.
The impact caused a huge explosion that created fierce winds, but it didn't cause the tree so much as a scratch. Matter of fact, it felt even more sturdier than it initially was; almost like it had purposefully reinforced itself after I landed a hit on it.
"Is that it?" Rayleigh asked.
"Seems like it. It immediately reinforced itself the moment it got hit, so now it's harder compared to the initial dexterity," I responded.
"Pefect! We can start chopping now!" Shanks innocently cheered.
"Not necessarily," Rayleigh replied, "In order to transport these trees to Boris' ship, we need to find the shore first."
"Well that sounds easy, we can do it in no time," Shanks shrugged Rayleigh's concern off casually.
"Are you sure about that?" I asked.
I had sensed another presence in the distance. It was stronger compared to the figures that had appeared earlier and attacked us; much stronger. It had been watching us ever since we had started fighting the figures, but it didn't do anything after we had cleared out the initial attackers. Now it looked like it was ready to take action.