The Mystery of Heracles!
The meaning of Raymond de Saint is that he received it three days after Vidal arrived at the Boin Archipelago.
To be honest, such an extravagant and inhumane request was indeed very tempting, but he relied on his firm will to focus his mind on analyzing the mysteries of the Boin Archipelago.
By utilizing the power of the Woods-Woods Fruit, one can gain a deeper understanding of the true nature of the 'island' and transform it into one's own power!
The process took longer than he had anticipated. Even Adam Wood, the "Pluton," only took a few hours, which gives you an idea of how much "treasure" this island possessed.
How can we endow plants with basic intelligence?
How can we give plants amazing abilities?
How can insects be made gigantic and controlled?
How can we transform plant-based foods into exquisite and nutritious meals?
These are all challenges that Vidal needs to face. I believe that once he has mastered these challenges, his Woods-Woods Fruit ability will be significantly enhanced!
In combat, the Overlord Flower can release a nauseating and fainting stench.
The Explosive Grass can explode instantly and release a cloud of smoke that looks like a skull.
The center of the Trampoline Flower has a very strong elasticity, capable of launching anything that touches it away.
When the Shockwave Grass is ejected, it releases a powerful impact force.
The Explosive Sleep Grass can burst open instantly, releasing a large-scale cloud of smoke powerful enough to put all creatures to sleep.
Pitcher plants can engulf their opponents and quickly digest them with powerful digestive juices.
These are just the native plants of the Boin Archipelago. Don't forget that the Woods-Woods Fruit also has the ability to modify plants. Once Vidal has mastered the 'essence', he can completely transform it into magical plants with other effects!
Aren't these things more valuable than two Devil Fruits?
Of course, this doesn't mean that Vidal has decided to give them up; if possible, he would naturally want both! Anyway, the Celestial Dragons said it would be within ten days, which is plenty of time.
The sun set and rose again, repeating this cycle until the afternoon of the sixth day, when Vidal finally led Woonan and the others out of the jungle and onto the beach of the Boin Archipelago, where a medium-sized ship with white sails was moored.
"Alright, you all go back to Alabasta and get rid of your excess fat. I'll have Yixiao train you properly in that regard!" Vidal instructed his retainers.
"Yes!" Woonan seemed very excited, his eyes filled with longing as he looked at the sea. However, the fat men behind him were somewhat disappointed, as this island was paradise to them.
Despite his disappointment, he dared not utter a word of complaint in front of Vidal, and could only hang his head and follow Woonan onto the ship to leave.
Vidal watched them leave, then stood alone on the beach in silence for a while. It was time for him to leave too; after all, he had already mastered what he needed to, and there were still two Devil Fruits waiting for him in the Sabaody Archipelago.
During this period, I wasn't truly isolated from the world; I would contact the outside world from time to time.
Besides the matter of Raymond de Saint, there was also the fact that a few days ago, Bullet, Enel, Rosinante had already gone to the amusement Paradise in Sabaody. Fortunately, nothing unexpected happened and they didn't encounter any Celestial Dragons.
It seems these Celestial Dragons already know I'm not in Sabaody and can't provide information about the Imperial Way for the time being, so they have no interest in coming to visit.
Having experienced the Imperial Way, the opening of the road, and the Road Sealing, making them tread on the path trodden by commoners is worse than not taking a bath for a week.
However, it wasn't just the three of them; there were also Gion, Tokikake, Nacil, and three female officers sent by Vice Admiral Tsuru. Of course, no one invited Tokikake; he went along on his own.
Upon returning to the 'Oxhead' warship, which had been waiting outside the island, they immediately ordered a full-speed return to the Sabaody Archipelago.
"Noel needs more intensive training with his Wood-Wood Fruit; at the very least, Imperial Way needs to master the Art of Manipulation as soon as possible," Vidal sighed, plopping down in his office chair.
He was quite lucky; the Devil Fruit he was given the option to choose one of three was exactly what he needed.
The Paramecia Wood-Wood Fruit allows the user to control and enhance wood within a certain range, including trees, but has little effect on other plants and herbs.
This ability is neither particularly strong nor weak. It's weak because initially, it's just a piece of wood, and without a certain level of Haki and skill development, it's quite fragile.
However, it can also control ships or use techniques similar to Ship Prisons, demonstrating its exceptional control capabilities.
Most importantly, in the Sabaody Archipelago, Colonel Noel, whose Wood-Wood Devil Fruit User is similar to his own, has a significantly enhanced advantage. There, he has access to a large number of trees at any time, and if he trains his control range to be large enough, he can even achieve the effect of Awakening!
Moreover, this Wood-Wood Fruit is a lower-level version of the Woods-Woods Fruit. Just as the Magma-Magma Fruit can burn the Flame-Flame Fruit, its Woods-Woods Fruit also has a suppressive and restraining effect on the Wood-Wood Fruit.
Simply put, in Vidal's presence, Noel is completely unable to control any trees unless Vidal allows it, which is equivalent to his entire ability being sealed off.
This is because the Woods-Woods Fruit prioritizes control over trees over the Wood-Wood Fruit, just as the Flame-Flame Fruit's flames are ineffective against the Magma-Magma Fruit, and the Snow-Snow Fruit's coldness is ineffective against the Ice-Ice Fruit.
This principle applies not only to Wood-Wood Fruits, but also to all Wood-type Fruits. The same applies to Woods-Woods Fruits. For example, the Shove-Shove Fruit cannot grow any plants in front of Vidal. Even if you manage to grow them, you will instantly lose control of them!
Therefore, Vidal now has a relatively clear idea: to collect all the plant fruits and feed them to his subordinates.
In this way, both the strength of the subordinates can be improved and the control over them can be strengthened.
He absolutely had to find a way to get his hands on the two remaining plant-type Devil Fruits from the Devil Fruit Management Department!
"But Heracles isn't here. Could he have arrived after this?" Vidal thought to himself, looking at the Boin Archipelago receding into the distance through the round cabin window.
He had traveled to all four Boin Archipelago these past few days, initially thinking that the plants on each Boin Archipelago might be different, but to his disappointment, they were indeed of the same kind, with basically the same plants.
"However, Den Den Mushi have already been placed on the island, so he can receive the message as soon as he appears."
Vidal was so interested in Heracles mainly because of his ability to command giant insects; his own strength was negligible.
He was curious whether commanding giant insects was a technique or the power of Devil Fruit.
If it's the latter, would it also be effective against other insect-type Devil Fruit Users?
This isn't just his wild imagination. In the future, in Wano Country, the little girl Tama is a user of this kind of ability. She can tame wild beasts or Artificial Devil Fruit Zoan users by feeding them small balls that she can pinch out of her face!
It's unclear whether this ability will work on true Zoan users, but since there's even a glimmer of hope, it's worth looking forward to.
Vidal had considered that if Heracles was indeed a Devil Fruit user, then there might be a Devil Fruit hidden on the Boin Archipelago, but it had been confirmed in recent days that there wasn't.
"First, he's not a Devil Fruit user; second, he was already a Devil Fruit user when he arrived on the island; third, he did find the Devil Fruit on the island, but it hasn't appeared yet. Are these three possibilities?"
"If he's not an ability user, how does he control insects? This Heracles is quite interesting." Vidal was somewhat expectant, but fortunately, all he needed to do next was wait and see, so there was no need to go out of his way to find him.
Thank you Zhao Jiufeng for the 500 yuan donation! Thank you so much!