Woods and Will!

"Um?"

But when Vidal emerged unharmed from the smoke and ruins, the smile on Dewitt's face vanished instantly.

"Actually, it wasn't bad, Vice Admiral. Really, you almost hurt me," Vidal said sincerely.

"."

Lieutenant Vice Admiral Dewitt was stunned.

"Your temperature is indeed high enough, but your Haki isn't solid enough, otherwise you might actually break through this layer of 'Natural Power' and burn me." Vidal looked down at the green light armor on his chest, which was covered in cracks, but it was rapidly recovering at a visible speed.

Dewitt's ability indeed exceeded his original assessment.

His application of the Six Powers is undoubtedly superb; this Vice Admiral is certainly proficient. It's just that he's a bit weaker than him in terms of strength, which is simply a difference in talent.

In terms of Devil Fruit abilities, while they lack variety, they are simple and straightforward. Judging from his ability to easily melt through the ground and freely travel underground, he's not much weaker than the future Achino. But how long has Dewitt been using it?

This shows that the initial power of Devil Fruits differs between the strong and the weak. For example, Sabo could use Fire Fist immediately after eating the Flame-Flame Fruit. However, while power is important, developing techniques still requires time and experience.

The power of the Scald-Scald Fruit doesn't seem to have any direction for development; wouldn't it be enough to just keep raising the temperature?

What surprised me most was Dewitt's level of Armament Haki. I had previously guessed that he was only a mid-to-lower-level Vice Admiral, thinking that he hadn't reached the level of Emission Haki.

At best, he's at the level of the future 'Demon Bamboo' Vergo, which is somewhere in the middle, not quite the best, but not the worst either.

It seems he should be stronger now, but judging from the lack of solidity in Dewitt's Haki, it is very likely that he has only recently broken through to the Emission, or he has been at the Emission for some time, but due to his aptitude and talent, he has been stuck at the initial Emission level.

Vidal is now assessing Dewitt's abilities with the same scrutiny he would show his subordinates.

After all, only by having a certain understanding of them can we better judge whether it is appropriate to entrust them with any tasks in the future.

For example, now that he sees that Vice Admiral Dewitt is stronger than Vergo, he can let him deal with opponents of this caliber in the future, instead of sending out the weaker Major Rogers, which would result in the loss of a general.

This is also the way of being a leader!

"Shall we continue?"

Vidal, clad in green armor, walked into the center of the field, his gaze calmly meeting the gazes of those in front of him.

Vice Admiral Dewitt was somewhat unwilling, which could be seen from his constantly shifting eyes and clenched teeth, but in the end he let out a long sigh and his tense muscles relaxed.

The crimson color on his body gradually faded, and his Emission Haki dissipated, leaving only a layer of molten lava on the soles of his feet to prevent them from being scorched by the lava on the ground.

I lost!

"Please guide me in the future, Lord Vidal!"

Seeing his statement, Vidal was very pleased. This was the first Vice Admiral to officially become "one of their own," and Vice Admiral with real power in charge of the G-8 Branch. His value was immeasurable.

As for Rogers, Comil, and Vincent, they will most likely become Vice Admiral in the future, but they are not yet.

"The commander really lost," Rear Admiral Arthur, Dewitt's adjutant, murmured softly in the distance, his face filled with shock.

"That's not surprising. Brigadier General Vidal is destined to become a general, or even a marshal!" Major Rogers said with great enthusiasm, making no attempt to hide his admiration for Vidal.

Ten minutes later, Vidal healed Vice Admiral Dewitt's wounds and then went alone to the familiar botanical garden.

As before, I first read the plant's memory and, seeing that nothing had happened during this period, slowly walked to the wooden house deep inside, only to find that the wooden table there was covered with a layer of dust.

He casually waved his fan, creating a strong gust of wind that blew all the dust far away, then looked up at the dense branches of the trees overhead.

Soon, the four Devil Fruits were lowered down by the branches and placed steadily on the clean wooden table.

The Logia Rumble-Rumble Fruit!

Paramecia Combine-Combine Fruit!

Special Paramecia Gummy-Gummy Fruit!

The Vampire Fruit of the Mythical Zoan!

These fruits before Vidal could be described as the finest of all Devil Fruits. He came here specifically to take them with him, and also to store the dozen or so black boxes filled with banknotes from the warship here.

However, before leaving, he added another layer of security measures to the place. Although the Navarone Fortress was safe enough, there was no guarantee that someone inside might notice something and, out of greed, break in without permission.

[Smack!]

He clapped his hands together in front of him, activating the power of the Woods-Woods Fruit within him. In the next instant, fifteen Peashooters, five Boxing Cabbage, and three Chomper emerged from the ground and formed a circle around Vidal.

"You all keep watch here. No one is allowed to trespass or touch these large wooden crates and black boxes!" Vidal commanded regarding these magical plants.

Although he speaks to them, what truly matters is the invisible 'inter-plant vibrations,' which he calls 'plant language.' Speaking is merely a habit.

As for the annual treasure deliveries from Germa, Vidal simply uses the Image Den Den Mushi placed here to remotely command them to temporarily lift the security, and he only needs to watch out for anyone carrying the boxes out.

These matters will be reported to Vice Admiral Dewitt, who will be instructed to strictly forbid anyone from trespassing here, or face the consequences!

"Hey, when will my plants reach the intelligence level of 'Homies'?" Vidal was quite satisfied with the abilities of these magical plants, but speechless at their stupidity.

Although he understood that the Homies in Big Mom were made of human souls and it was normal for them to have high intelligence, he still had expectations.

That 'Sceptile' from before was pretty good; although it couldn't speak human language, it had no problem understanding human speech.

Simply put, these magical plants like the Peashooter possess insect-like intelligence. They can only understand commands through 'plant language,' and their combat abilities are entirely based on instinct, with virtually no thought involved.

As for the 'Sceptile', who was fed Zoan Devil Fruit, he possesses animal intelligence and a certain degree of thinking ability.

The Homies from Bigmoon possess true human intelligence, but as far as he knows, there are also some magical creatures in this world whose intelligence rivals that of real Pokémon, such as the Snow Rabbit Lapahn from Drum Island, the Human Mimic from Kuraigana Island, and the Kung Fu Dugong from Alabasta, among others.

Although they cannot speak, their intelligence is in no way inferior to that of a human teenager. Vidal hoped that his magical plants could reach this level of intelligence.

However, the Boin Archipelago are only at the insect level in the field of consciousness-related matters, and there's nothing that can be done about it!

He also considered further developing the ability to 'create magical plants' to see if he could use the potential of Devil Fruits to increase the level of will he could imbue the plants with, but ultimately he found that he couldn't do it.

Because 'creating magical plants' is simply 'creating magical plants,' he cannot use the ability to 'imbue with will' separately, nor can he develop any further in terms of 'will.'

The reason is simple: the Devil Fruit he ate was the Woods-Woods Fruit, not the Will Fruit. Although the Boin Archipelago allowed him to indirectly access the realm of will through his ability to 'create magical plants,' Mori-Mori is still Mori-Mori.

Unless he can find a plant that is inherently highly intelligent, he might be able to create high-quality Peashooters through 'copying' and 'modification'.

To put it simply, it's about 'molding' highly intelligent plants into the shape he wants, which falls under the category of 'plant modification,' and is entirely within the capabilities of the Woods-Woods Fruit.

Then we won't need Zoan Devil Fruits anymore; we can create Grass-type Pokémon without them.

Oh, for him it should be called a magical plant!

"Sigh, I wonder when we'll find that deserted island, and that magical carnation," Vidal sighed, lounging in the sun.

It's just a deserted island, a deserted island. How easy is it to find one?

I did consider having Vidal extend his Devil Fruit ability into the realm of will by 'creating magical plants,' such as developing and training abilities related to will, intelligence, or even wisdom. However, I felt that this would be putting the cart before the horse, and might even ruin the Devil Fruit ability story. Therefore, I decided to completely rule out that possibility. Mori is Mori, and will never become anything else.