"Whoosh... whoosh..."
Suddenly, the surrounding plants and vegetation seemed to come alive. Bushes and weeds grew rapidly, transforming into massive tree trunks and vines, twisting like sentient serpents as they surged toward Gates.
"What?" Gates' expression changed as he dodged and maneuvered frantically. In the next moment, he leaped high into the air, delivering a powerful kick. "Tempest Kick: Ran (Riot)!"
"Swish! Swish! Swish!"
A series of pale green slashes cut through the air, slicing apart the rapidly growing trees and vines that attacked him.
"Moonwalk!"
"Tap, tap..."
Without hesitation, Gates used his ability to step on the air and shot upward, attempting to escape into the sky. However, the vines and trees continued to grow at an astonishing rate, relentlessly pursuing him and blocking his path.
"Damn it..."
It was as if the enemy could predict his every move, knowing exactly where he would go next. Wherever he tried to escape, more trees and vines sprouted ahead, cutting off his retreat. Soon, countless vines coiled around him like venomous snakes, closing in without mercy.
"Whoosh!"
Gates' face twisted in horror as his right foot was suddenly caught by several vines that shot out unexpectedly. Before he could react, a mass of vines surged toward him, completely engulfing and binding him tightly.
"Swish... swish..."
Sharp, spear-like tips of the vines surrounded him on all sides, hovering just inches away from his body. One wrong move, and these plants would pierce him from every angle, turning him into a pincushion.
He could feel the chilling fear creeping over him.
"I've got you!" The enormous Quetzalcoatl swooped down in an instant, its razor-sharp fangs gleaming menacingly as it glared down at Gates, radiating an overwhelming sense of pressure. The air was thick with dread as Gates trembled under the beast's terrifying gaze.
"Curse you..." Gates struggled desperately, but the vines were far stronger than ordinary plants, holding him fast. He was horrified—was this truly a nine-year-old child? This was a complete monster.
"Your resistance is futile!" The giant creature began to shrink, reverting back to its human form, but even in his human form, El's five-meter-tall figure loomed over Gates like an unscalable mountain. In Gates' panicked gaze, El reached out with one massive hand, pressing it against his head.
Using his Observation Haki, El activated his unique power, instantly reading Gates' memories.
"Ah, so this is the Six Powers? Not bad..." El closed his eyes briefly and chuckled. "But the 'Life Return' technique, now that's something worth looking into!"
From the start, El had no intention of killing the CP0 squad leader right away. He had spared him because someone of Gates' rank likely had mastery over both the Six Powers and Haki. Moreover, Gates had likely trained in 'Life Return', a rare technique said to allow full control over one's body by channeling consciousness.
To a monster like El, the Six Powers weren't particularly impressive. Useful, but nothing game-changing. However, the secret of 'Life Return'—the ability to fully control one's body—was invaluable.
If mastered, it would allow El to control even his internal organs, greatly increasing his defense and unlocking his hidden potential.
"By the way, thanks for delivering that Devil Fruit straight to me!" El grinned.
From Gates' memories, El had learned that the World Government ship carried a Devil Fruit, found by CP operatives in the New World and being transported to Mary Geoise.
But now, it was about to become El's prize.
"What!?" Gates' pupils shrank in shock. Cold sweat dripped down his face as he stared in terror at El. "What have you done to me? How do you know about the Six Powers... and the Devil Fruit?"
The fact that El knew all this was terrifying—had this monster somehow read his memories with a special ability?
"I'm not interested in explaining things to my enemies. Feel free to guess about it in hell..." El sneered, turning away from Gates with a snap of his fingers, his voice dripping with cold malice. "All dogs of the World Government deserve to die!"
"Shhh... shhh..."
In the next instant, the sharp, spear-like vines surrounding Gates shot forward all at once.
"Armament Haki: Iron Body!!" Gates, unwilling to die without a fight, coated himself in Armament Haki, reinforcing his body as he struggled to break free from the vines.
But El had already anticipated his resistance.
"Crackle... crackle..." Without turning back, El's body crackled with electricity. Visible currents of lightning surged through the vines, rushing toward Gates.
In an instant, the electricity coursed through his body, paralyzing him. His hair stood on end as his body was charred black by the intense shock, leaving him writhing in unbearable pain.
"Shhh! Shhh! Shhh..."
"Ahhh..."
With a series of sickening sounds and a final, agonized scream, the CP0 squad leader was pierced from every angle, reduced to a bloodied, mangled corpse. His body was left in a state too gruesome to describe.
And it wasn't just Gates—every CP agent who had fallen unconscious from the earlier Conqueror's Haki suffered the same fate. One by one, they were impaled by the sharp vines, their blood staining the ground.
For years, El had barely survived, narrowly avoiding the same fate as Kaido's right-hand man, King, another survivor of the Lunarian race. If things had gone differently, El would have been captured, experimented on, and tortured, treated like a lab rat in one of the World Government's inhumane experiments.
And ultimately, his parents had been killed because of the World Government.
There was no way El would show mercy to the World Government's lackeys.
"Swish..."
After dealing with the CP agents, El opened the backpack he had brought, which was filled with various fruits. He knew that Carmel had possessed the Soul-Soul Fruit and had no intention of wasting such a powerful ability.
It was said that when a Devil Fruit user died, their ability would randomly reappear in another fruit nearby. El wanted to see if he could recover the Soul-Soul Fruit ability by checking the fruits he had brought.
"Looks like no luck this time."
A short while later, El looked at the pile of fruits—bananas, apples, mangoes, pomegranates—but none had changed.
Still, El wasn't too disappointed. He hadn't expected much to begin with.
But to leave no stone unturned, he spent the rest of the afternoon searching the island thoroughly, even inspecting the World Government ship. Only as the sun began to set did he finally give up.
"Oh well, no big deal... I still got something out of this!" El shrugged, a smile crossing his face as he glanced at the setting sun. "The Paramecia-type Dice-Dice Fruit, huh? Not bad at all."
El, never one to waste food, quickly ate the fruits he had brought. He also took Carmel's suitcase filled with Berries, the Devil Fruit he had found on the ship, and even a pair of Sea Prism Stone handcuffs, stuffing them all into a sack.
Additionally, from reading Carmel's memories earlier, El had already discovered the location of her hidden treasure. The "Mountain Witch" had left him with quite a pleasant surprise.
~~~
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