Red Tree World Advent

"Who are you?" Colonel Benson and the nearby marines looked over in confusion.

With Byrnndi World having stopped his attack, they had a little time to rest, but the marines farther away were still fighting fiercely.

After all, a battle wasn't something you could stop just because you wanted to. If you stopped, what would you do if your opponent stabbed you?

No marine would gamble his life on the pirates' trustworthiness and sense of honor.

"I'm the son of Vice Admiral Cornell, commander of the G-8 Branch. My rank is Senior Sergeant!" Vidal did not introduce Issho or the others beside him.

He and Issho had agreed on that beforehand.

"A Senior Sergeant?!" Benson and the others felt as though a hurricane had swept through their hearts.

When they first heard "Vice Admiral Cornell, commander of the G-8 Branch," they had instinctively felt a rush of joy and relief at having survived.

But the second half of his statement plunged them straight to the bottom of the sea. His son? A Senior Sergeant?

Good heavens, what was all this?!

But Colonel Benson, whose life Vidal had saved, quickly pulled himself together and spoke to the three of them gravely.

"I'm grateful you came, but these aren't opponents you can handle. Get out of here!"

"We'll hold them back with our lives!"

With that, he raised the long blade in his hand and prepared to charge again, but several long, thick strips of wood suddenly emerged from the deck and bound him.

"You're the ones who need to leave. Get every marine who can still move onto a seaworthy warship, now!"

"We'll hold out until Vice Admiral Garp comes to support us!"

Vidal had recognized Byrnndi World, of course. Honestly, he might have understood how powerful World was even better than the marines who had just fought a bloody battle with him.

But so what?

When it was time to act, he had to act. Hesitation meant defeat!

What Vice Admiral Garp?

Colonel Benson, who had still been about to struggle, froze. How could Vice Admiral Garp possibly come? Wasn't he in seclusion?!

The next moment, it clicked, and he immediately grasped the deeper meaning behind Vidal's words. But the strength of these two...

[Smack!]

Vidal paid them no further attention. He clapped his palms together forcefully before his chest, looked at Byrnndi World, and shouted, "Red Tree World Advent!"

In an instant, the entire sea began to boil as though a chain of undersea volcanoes had erupted. Three warships and a pirate ship bobbed constantly on the surging waves.

But that was only the appetizer. Towering mangroves of the same kind rose from the seawater one after another.

In the blink of an eye, the World Pirates were surrounded and engulfed by a vast mangrove forest that covered the sea!

That wasn't all. As soon as the mangroves appeared, they stretched out their branches like living creatures, bound every pirate fighting the marines, and hung them high on the trunks.

The marines on the other two warships received much the same treatment, except they were bound and carried to the warship Colonel Benson was on.

Immediately afterward, more branches pushed into the cabins, growing longer as they went, and bound and brought out the marines of various specialties hiding inside.

This caused quite a few cries of alarm and some confusion. Some marines were so nervous that they tried to attack the branches with their swords.

To their shock, they found that although the branches didn't look very thick, their blades not only rang against them like metal but also sent sparks flying!

So hard!

These were no ordinary trees!

At the sight of this truly spectacular scene, Byrnndi World's expression grew even more serious.

Although he didn't know how strong this man was in Haki or physical combat, his development of his fruit ability alone was outstanding.

He can grow and control trees? Looks like he's a Paramecia user, just like me!

Meanwhile, Issho and Bullet, who stood with Vidal in the small boat, were also shocked by the sight.

It was the first time the former had seen his friend use his fruit ability at full strength. He himself had only recently eaten the Gravity Fruit, and his ability's range was nowhere near this scale.

Bullet was far more shocked. Since the boat was positioned higher up, he could clearly look down over the entire mangrove forest.

Could a Devil Fruit User's ability really reach this level? He created a vast, real forest on the sea with a casual move!

Moreover, judging by the nimble movements of the branches, the somewhat overly tall, black-haired man in front of him could even exert detailed control over every tree!

Bullet had killed Devil Fruit Users on the battlefield before. Though most had been Zoan users, a few had been Paramecia users.

But none of them had possessed a fruit ability this powerful!

That went without saying, of course. Otherwise, they wouldn't have been the ones who died, and he wouldn't have had the chance to stand here.

"So strong."

Bullet suddenly felt that his desire to fight Vidal hadn't been well thought out. Maybe I should reconsider?

Behind them, Colonel Benson came to his senses and had no further objections. After taking a long look at Vidal, he hurriedly joined two lieutenant colonels in directing the personnel, preparing to get the warship moving and withdraw at once.

But there were too many people aboard the warship now, especially the marines suffering injuries of varying severity, keeping them so busy they could barely catch their breath.

Still, no matter what, things were moving in the right direction.

But Byrnndi World wasn't about to stand by and watch the marines leave. What a joke. Could a piece of chicken already in his mouth grow wings and flutter back out?

Faced with countless branches surging toward him from every direction, Byrnndi World swung the enormous blade in his hand, still enlarged twentyfold, in a powerful vertical chop. As he did, it grew even larger!

"Momo: Thirty-Fold Slash!"

This time, he leaped above the mast in an instant, moving at a speed far beyond "Soru," and swept his absurdly huge blade out horizontally.

[Boom—]

A force far more powerful than before whipped up a fierce wind and utterly pulverized every mangrove branch that came close!

Then, before the newly grown branches could reach him, Byrnndi World used Geppo to stand in midair. A ruthless glint flashed in his eyes as he swung a fierce chop across the distance toward the wooden boat!

[Boom—]

He was no professional swordsman, but with his strength and speed amplified thirtyfold, he relied entirely on the giant blade in his hand and his terrifying brute force to compress the air in its path into a tremendous blade of air!

The enormous blade of air came chopping down through the dense mangrove forest, effortlessly destroying the giant trees, which were as hard as steel.

"Here it comes!"

"Yeah, let's meet it!"

Issho drew the long blade he had held ready in a standard iaijutsu motion, and a dazzling flash of steel burst into being.

A swordsman's Flying Slash appeared once again, but it was more powerful and dazzling than Colonel Benson's earlier slash.

At the same time, Vidal did not stand by and watch. Byrnndi World's strength meant the two of them had to join forces against him!

Under Bullet's intent gaze, he once again clapped his palms together forcefully in front of him and let out a powerful shout.

The protagonist, Vidal, was more proficient in Armament Haki. His Observation Haki would not be especially outstanding, but because of his fruit ability, he would at times have extremely strong searching and sensing abilities.

He would not have too many fruit-ability techniques, much like Akainu and Kizaru, but he would use each one repeatedly. They would basically be equivalent to ultimate techniques.

So he would not use a bunch of new moves in every new fight. This Red Tree World Advent was one of them. You could look into why they were mangroves.

There would, however, be some small tricks using his fruit ability. They weren't major moves, but they had rather special auxiliary uses. You would see a little of that next.

Overall, he would mainly use strength-based physical combat with Armament Haki, and his technique wouldn't be lacking either. That would be supplemented by fruit-ability ultimate techniques with a wide range or great destructive power, plus some special little tricks, and finally, extremely strong recovery and endurance comparable to a Zoan user's.

That was my general train of thought and what I had in mind, as well as my image of Ryokugyu. If you had any suggestions, feel free to discuss them with me.