On the pirate ship, Roger and the others were quietly surprised when they saw the incoming magma fists.
"Magma? Could it be that there's someone on the other side with magma-based abilities?"
Not everyone had seen the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia. While Roger was exceptional, even he hadn't seen every Devil Fruit, but the sight of magma left him with an unusual impression.
Roger didn't need to step in personally; several pirates on the ship rushed forward and shattered the incoming magma fists.
"This level of magma, and they think they can destroy our pirate ship? They're dreaming!" the pirates laughed loudly.
"Captain, show them something even more impressive!"
Roger once again drew his weapon and unleashed another slash. The astonishing flying slash traveled over 200 meters in an instant, heading straight for the warship.
"Block it!"
The warship descended into chaos again, but this time, they weren't as lucky as before. While they managed to deflect the slash, a deep scar appeared in the center of the ship.
"This isn't good! The warship has been damaged and is starting to take on water. Hurry up and find a way to fix it!"
Jon Lyons sighed inwardly. Misfortunes truly never come singly. Still, this was something he could handle.
"You don't need to worry about it—I'll handle the repairs."
He clasped his hands together, and a seed quickly appeared. The seed grew rapidly under Jon's control, transforming into wood. The wood fell into the damaged part of the warship, forming a plank and patching the damage in the blink of an eye.
"Doberman, stand next to me. If anything happens, stabilize my body."
Doberman stepped forward and asked, "Jon, what are you planning to do?"
Jon Lyons replied, "If we keep this up, we're as good as dead. I'm going to use my abilities to buy us some time."
"What's your plan?"
"I haven't figured it out yet, but I'll try something."
With that, Jon closed his eyes and used his Observation Haki to sense every plant aboard the Oro Jackson. Before long, he detected life other than humans—familiar traces of plants.
"As expected, there are plants on the Oro Jackson, and quite a few of them at that."
Jon knew very well that relying on their current strength to stop the Roger Pirates was impossible. He had to come up with another way. Since no one else could be relied on, the only person he could depend on was himself.
In terms of raw attack power, he couldn't compare to Akainu, but he had his own unique abilities.
"Where there are plants, there's room for me to act."
Jon's Devil Fruit ability allowed him to control plants, but that didn't mean he could control all plants freely.
The Oro Jackson was hundreds of meters away, and without Observation Haki, Jon wouldn't have been able to sense or control plants at such a distance.
Using Haki to connect with the plants, he could extend his abilities across such distances, but this process was much more difficult than normal plant control. It required complete focus and left no room for distraction.
There were over a dozen plants on the pirate ship, mostly simple green decorations. But for Jon, that was more than enough.
"Grow!"
On the Oro Jackson, Roger and the others were focused on the warship ahead and didn't notice anything unusual. However, as Jon used his powers to make the plants grow rapidly, someone soon noticed the problem.
"Whoa!"
Suddenly, several large green trees sprouted from inside the pirate ship. They burst through sturdy walls and grew into a dense forest, wrecking the cabins and throwing the area into chaos.
"?"
Roger and all the pirates stared in disbelief, completely dumbfounded by the rapidly growing plants.
"What's going on? Where did all these green plants come from?"
The pirates were utterly shocked. They hadn't noticed anything out of the ordinary, yet a massive amount of greenery had suddenly sprouted from their ship. The plants broke through the hull and slowed the ship's speed significantly.
Rayleigh's face grew serious. "There's nothing unusual nearby, and no one has approached the ship. These plants suddenly appeared—or no, they must have already been here and just grew rapidly. That's why we didn't notice anything."
Roger focused intently. "No one could have evaded our senses to board the ship. There's only one explanation for these rapidly growing plants."
"Devil Fruit user," Roger and his crew said in unison.
Roger chuckled. "Interesting. A Devil Fruit user who can control plants must be nearby."
Scopper Gaban exclaimed, "To control the plants on our ship from such a distance and make them grow so precisely—even though it didn't harm anyone, it still damaged our ship. What an impressive ability. The navy truly has some remarkable talents."
Rayleigh laughed. "This ship, built with Treasure Tree Adam, took so much time and money to make. Now it's been wrecked so easily by these plants. It'll cost a fortune to repair it again."
The ship had been crafted from the legendary Treasure Tree Adam, and rebuilding it would require another trip to Water 7 and a significant investment.
Roger grunted. "Since the navy caused this damage, they'll bear the cost. Cut down those plants and continue chasing the warship. I want to see how many formidable people the navy has produced."
Roger had initially chased the warship on a whim, but these repeated surprises had fired up his determination. He was now resolved to catch the warship and take it down.
"Something seems to have happened to the pirate ship behind us. Their speed suddenly dropped," Mills, who was keeping watch, shouted loudly, lifting everyone's spirits.
Jon Lyons opened his eyes slowly and exhaled. He looked exhausted. Controlling the plants at such a distance had drained him significantly, but it had worked to slow the Roger Pirates.
"Jon, was that your doing?" Doberman asked in a low voice.
Jon didn't answer. Instead, he looked at the Oro Jackson. He had already pushed the plants on that ship to their growth limits. This was the best he could do.
However, the plants only delayed the pirates briefly. Before long, they were cut down, and the Oro Jackson resumed its pursuit. Both sides continued exchanging cannonfire.
"Let me stretch my muscles too," Rayleigh said with a smile as he adjusted his glasses. He drew his weapon and unleashed a powerful slash toward the warship.
As one of the world's top swordsmen, Rayleigh's strength was nearly equal to Roger's. Calling him the strongest right-hand man was no exaggeration, and his slash was every bit as formidable as Roger's.
Just as the slash was about to strike, the warship suddenly turned sharply, and the blade of energy barely missed the hull.
Jon Lyons felt a twitch in his eye. He realized he had underestimated the Roger Pirates. This was, after all, the crew of the future Pirate King. The damage caused by a few plants was nowhere near enough to stop them. At least two top-tier swordsmen were aboard that ship.
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