On the Going Merry, Nami, Carina, and the others were pale and desperate.
This time, it seemed like it was really over.
Although Luo Chen's combat power had brought them immense surprise, there were simply too many enemies.
Besides Kizaru, there was also Aokiji.
Five Marine Vice Admirals and ten Rear Admirals were already closing in on them.
No matter how strong Luo Chen was, he couldn't clone himself. It was impossible for him to deal with two Admirals and still have the strength to help them.
"Luo Chen has already helped us a lot! We have to escape on our own!"
Luffy said in a low voice.
He, along with Zoro and Sanji, were the first to leap off the Merry, preparing to intercept the Marines.
L Luo Chen glanced at them. He also understood that things were getting troublesome.
It seemed Aokiji and the others intended to capture Luffy's crew as well.
'With their strength, they might be able to handle one or two Vice Admirals, but five is unrealistic.'
As Luo Chen was thinking, his Observation Haki warned him again.
He snapped back to attention. The figures of Aokiji and Kizaru vanished simultaneously from over ten meters away.
Luo Chen raised his hand and unleashed Shinra Tensei.
To his left and right, the figures of Aokiji and Kizaru appeared.
The former held an ice spear, the latter, a golden light sword.
Both simultaneously sensed the invisible attack and blocked with their weapons.
Their bodies swayed, and the ice surface beneath their feet cracked, but they did not retreat.
Aokiji continued to charge forward, saying coldly, "Teleportation and this invisible repulsive force... are you really a Woods-Woods Fruit user?"
Ever since Luo Chen had revealed his teleportation ability, the Marines had been suspicious of his fruit power.
The Woods-Woods Fruit shouldn't be able to teleport.
Unless Luo Chen had eaten two Devil Fruits.
Although ninety-nine percent of people who ate two Devil Fruits would surely explode and die, it wasn't unprecedented.
Luo Chen might be an exception due to a special constitution.
But today, Luo Chen had displayed a third ability, which made Aokiji suspicious.
The probability of eating three Devil Fruits was too small.
He was more inclined to believe that Luo Chen was not a Woods-Woods Fruit user, but had another, mysterious Devil Fruit.
One fruit that contained the abilities to control trees, teleport, and repel.
Luo Chen remained silent. It was only a matter of time before the "Woods-Woods Fruit" lie was exposed.
After all, two years later, the Marines would recruit Admiral Ryokugyu, who was the real Woods-Woods Fruit user.
Using his future sight, he sidestepped, dodging Aokiji's ice spear.
Above his head, Kizaru brought down his light sword.
Luo Chen clenched his fist and punched out.
His pitch-black fist violently collided with the golden light sword.
A terrifying shockwave surged into the distance, and the ground beneath Luo Chen's feet shattered.
"How scary," Kizaru said, continuing to press down with his light sword, the corners of his mouth slightly curled up.
While Luo Chen was suppressed, Aokiji thrust his spear again.
The frozen ground tore open, and a wooden shield materialized in front of Luo Chen.
Aokiji's ice spear shattered the shield, its momentum undiminished as it continued toward him.
Luo Chen activated the Flying Thunder God mark on a broken corner of the shield, instantly vanishing from under Kizaru's sword and appearing six meters away.
Kizaru's and Aokiji's attacks hit empty air.
Aokiji glanced at the shield fragment at Luo Chen's feet and reminded, "His teleportation requires a medium. Wood should be one of them."
Kizaru nodded slightly.
Luo Chen's eyes flickered. The Flying Thunder God had only been exposed once in front of Aokiji, and its secret was already figured out.
However, even knowing the principle, this ability was still quite unbeatable. Otherwise, in Naruto, Minato Namikaze wouldn't have earned the title "Yellow Flash," and the Flying Thunder God wouldn't have become one of the forbidden techniques.
Mysterious black markings appeared on Luo Chen's face.
Sage Mode activated.
He stomped his foot, and the land of Water 7 suddenly began to tremble.
Wood Style: Deep Forest Bloom Emergence!
One after another, trees grew out from underground, many with giant flower buds opening at their tops.
The floral fragrance permeated the forest.
Seeing this, Aokiji's face changed drastically. He shouted, "Everyone hold your breath! The pollen is poisonous!"
Back in Alabasta, Onigumo had been poisoned by the pollen and nearly killed by Luo Chen.
Aokiji and Kizaru immediately held their breath.
Not far away, the Vice Admirals and Rear Admirals attacking Luffy and the others did the same.
Luo Chen smiled. Holding one's breath was indeed effective, but forcefully not breathing would significantly impact combat power.
Kizaru and Aokiji understood this as well and prepared to launch large-scale attacks to destroy the flower forest.
At this moment, tens of thousands of tree branches turned pitch black, all coated in Armament Haki, and lashed toward the two Admirals.
It was clearly too late to use large-scale fruit abilities.
The two had no choice but to dodge separately.
The next second, Luo Chen's figure appeared next to a branch.
He held a pitch-black wooden sword and slashed at Aokiji.
Aokiji raised his ice spear to block.
The instant the wooden sword and ice spear touched, Luo Chen's figure teleported away again.
Aokiji had his Observation Haki active. Without needing to turn his head, a layer of solid ice appeared behind him, forming a shield.
With a crack, the ice shield shattered, sending crystalline ice shards flying.
Luo Chen's figure teleported again, appearing above his head. He stomped down heavily.
Aokiji leaped sideways to dodge.
At the same time, Luo Chen teleported again, shifting his attack to the left side.
In the blink of an eye, Luo Chen used the Flying Thunder God to teleport a hundred times.
Aokiji was surrounded by Luo Chen's figures, making it impossible to tell which was the real body and which were afterimages.
By the time Kizaru charged over, Aokiji had flown out from the encirclement of Luo Chen's hundred figures.
His white suit jacket was torn, revealing bleeding skin underneath.
The wound was not deep, only a minor injury.
"Don't fight him where there are many trees! These branches can also serve as mediums for his teleportation!" Aokiji shouted.
Hearing this, Kizaru's figure abruptly exploded, turning into a sky full of golden points of light.
Then, all the golden points expanded into human shapes.
Several hundred Kizarus appeared throughout the forest.
These Kizarus held light swords and unleashed streams of sword-qi.
Large swaths of surrounding trees collapsed.
Aokiji opened his mouth and exhaled a large cloud of cold air, freezing the pollen permeating the air.
Working together, the two quickly destroyed the entire Deep Forest Bloom.
Seeing this, Luo Chen shook his head slightly.
It seemed this kind of attack didn't work well against Admirals.
The trees weren't sturdy enough and were too easily destroyed.
After the forest dispersed, the battle situation of Luffy and the others came into view.
The five Vice Admirals and multiple Rear Admirals had Luffy, Zoro, and Sanji completely suppressed.
At this moment, Luffy's body was bright red, and white steam was rising from his head. He had clearly activated Gear Second.
He was barely holding his own against two Vice Admirals.
Zoro and Sanji were fighting together against three Vice Admirals but were at a disadvantage.
Furthermore, there were ten Rear Admirals assisting nearby.
The three main fighters of the Straw Hat crew were quickly getting injured and would soon be defeated.
On the Going Merry, Carina, Nami, and the others were extremely anxious, but their strength posed no threat to the Rear Admirals.
Moreover, Kalifa and Kaku were also charging toward the Merry.
Rob Lucci seemed to be too seriously injured and could only watch from the sidelines.
'This can't go on. They won't be able to get away.'
Luo Chen said to himself.
Right now, there were two options.
One was to directly expose Kamui and suck himself and the Going Merry into the Kamui dimension. Kizaru and Aokiji wouldn't be able to stop them. But this went against his plan.
The second was to expose his Wood Clone ability and escort Luffy and the others away. He himself would stay behind.
'Let's go with the second option. Clones don't seem to be that rare anyway. Even Kizaru has them.'
Luo Chen made his decision.
Facing the charging Aokiji and Kizaru, a wooden clone slowly grew out from his waist.
The clone stood beside Luo Chen.
The two of them calmly looked at Aokiji and Kizaru.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]