NOVEL NEXT Chapter 602: Aramaki's decision!!
On the battlefield between the World Government and the Allied Forces:
"Still unwilling to surrender? Do you really want to watch those innocent soldiers die here on this battlefield?" Fujitora shouted angrily as he slashed Decius away with a single stroke.
Fujitora's exceptional Observation Haki allowed him to sense the surrounding situation with clarity. He could feel the fear, despair, madness, bloodlust, and pain from the soldiers around him. Every second, many lives were being lost.
"Ugh..." Decius coughed up a mouthful of blood as he was sent flying through the air. After landing, he wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and smiled up at Fujitora.
"Dying on the battlefield is a soldier's fate. Besides, our orders are to defeat traitors like you," Decius said sternly.
Fujitora's angry expression softened, and he looked at Decius with a cold, detached gaze.
"If that's the case, then it seems the only way to end this war is to kill you," Fujitora muttered.
Initially, Fujitora had wanted to convince Decius to surrender, hoping to minimize casualties on both sides. But now he realized his plan had been too naive. With the rising number of deaths, Fujitora made up his mind. He needed to kill Decius. Without their commander, the World Government forces would have no choice but to surrender.
"I see you plan to kill me, huh?" Decius, noticing Fujitora's killing intent, merely laughed. Although his strength had been weakened by an ambush on his army, with the World Government's reinforcements arriving, killing him wouldn't be easy.
"Let's see just how strong you, the so-called 'monster' of the Navy, really are!"
Before Decius could finish his sentence, thick tree roots broke through the ground and shot toward him like giant serpents. This sudden attack caught both Decius and Fujitora by surprise.
Seeing the roots moving toward him, Decius's expression hardened. He quickly realized that these roots could easily pierce the rock of the Red Line, and being ensnared by them would be troublesome.
As he dodged the roots mid-air, Decius swiftly slashed at them with his attacks, cutting them into pieces. But for every root he cut, new ones grew back even faster. Realizing he couldn't fend them off forever, Decius's face turned cold.
"Found you!" Decius shouted as his Observation Haki pinpointed a location underground. Without hesitation, he broke through the roots and charged toward that spot.
From beneath the earth, a massive tree suddenly erupted, rapidly growing as human-like arms and a face appeared on its surface. It struck out at Decius.
"So it's you! You've chosen to betray us!" Decius roared angrily at the familiar face on the tree trunk.
But Aramaki, the person controlling the giant tree, remained expressionless. Just as the two were about to collide, a wave of immense gravity suddenly pressed down on Decius.
It was Fujitora.
When the roots first emerged from the ground, Fujitora had already recognized who it was and decided to assist.
"Wood Style: Deep Forest Emergence!" Aramaki's voice echoed.
With that, the ground beneath their feet began to tremble violently.
Boom!
In an instant, countless thick trees broke through the red rocks of the ground, rapidly spreading and covering the entire battlefield. They grew at an alarming rate, their dense leaves filling the air. Within moments, a massive forest of towering trees had taken over the battlefield.
Both sides, caught in the middle of fierce fighting, paused and warily eyed the enormous trees that now loomed around them, thick as the giant Yarukiman Mangrove trees from Sabaody.
"Hm?" The unexpected transformation caught the attention of not only the World Government and Allied soldiers but also the black dragon Zogg, who had been fighting Kizaru.
Zogg was no longer the majestic beast he had been at the start of the battle. One of his terrifying horns had been severed, and his bat-like wings were torn and tattered.
"Getting distracted in battle? That's not a good idea, you know. Want to feel the light kick again?" Kizaru's taunting voice echoed in Zogg's ears. Before he could react, his face twisted in pain as Kizaru's foot sent him crashing to the ground like a falling meteor.
Watching Zogg fall, Kizaru calmly lowered his leg, which was still glowing with light particles. "These light-speed kicks are powerful, but man, they're tough on the legs," he mused, shrugging off the recoil. Being a Logia-type, though, he didn't worry too much about the strain.
Zogg, now trapped in the dense forest, glared upward and prepared to take flight once again. But before he could act, the trees around him grew even faster than he could anticipate. In the blink of an eye, enormous roots formed a dome, closing in on him.
As the gap in the sky above him shrank, Zogg saw Kizaru standing at the top, ready to deliver another light-speed kick.
Snap, snap—
Finally, the trees enveloped Zogg completely in darkness.
Rumble—
From all directions, the sound of the enormous trees shifting and grinding filled the air.
Outside the tree prison, Kizaru approached Fujitora and glanced at Aramaki, who stood expressionless. "What's with this guy?"
"I'm not sure. But for now, he's on our side."
As they spoke, loud thuds echoed from inside the massive wooden prison.
Aramaki crouched down, pressing his hands against the ground. With this action, the wooden prison began to compress inward, squeezing tighter and adding even more layers of wood to reinforce it. As the prison continued to shrink, the noises from inside gradually quieted down.
It was clear that the two World Government marshalls, exhausted from their battle with Kizaru and Fujitora, no longer had the strength to break free.
Meanwhile, flowers began to bloom across the battlefield, releasing clouds of pollen. Any World Government soldier who inhaled the pollen fell unconscious to the ground.