Prelude to Chaos

"Willow Leaf Daggers!"

With a snap of his fingers, countless green leaves suddenly materialized around Jon.

But these were no ordinary leaves. Each one was massive, larger than an adult's hand.

Even stranger, though they were clearly leaves, the moment Jon waved his hand, they shot forward like razor-sharp blades, piercing through tree trunks over fifty centimeters in diameter—sharper than any knife.

"Not bad, not bad. Borsalino actually came through for once and brought me this plant."

Jon grinned as he watched the leaves dance around him. These were willow leaves, but unlike normal ones, they were broad, incredibly tough, and as hard as steel.

With his ability, he could control and sharpen them further, making them even deadlier than regular blades. This gave him an entirely new attack method.

He could generate huge numbers of these leaves instantly. Against weak opponents, a single wave of his hand would turn them into flying daggers, effortlessly claiming lives. Fast, precise, and deadly.

These willows had grown from seeds that Borsalino brought back, originating from a unique tree in this world.

Over the past two years, Borsalino, Sakazuki, and Dragon had all occasionally brought him new plant seeds. While not all were useful, his collection had grown considerably.

Two years had passed, and Jon's strength had skyrocketed. He had developed numerous new techniques and made more progress in these two years than in all the previous ones combined.

While he had kept a low profile, his power had soared.

Aside from training, Jon spent most of his time reading.

Tsuru, determined to educate him, had provided him with a vast library of books, forcing him to read them one by one.

At first, he resisted. Reading was a pain.

But with Tsuru's orders looming over him, he had no choice but to comply. Over the past two years, he had read hundreds of books, and with his incredible memory, he had absorbed a huge amount of knowledge.

Now, he no longer found reading unbearable. In his free time, he even picked up books voluntarily.

"Jon!"

His happy expression froze instantly. Jon's face darkened as he stepped out of the forest, clearly irritated.

A young female Marine, dressed in uniform and around twenty years old, stood there grinning at him.

She was the one who had called out to him just now.

"Call me Jon. J-O-N. Not 'Little Jon.' Got it?"

After Gion left on a mission, Tsuru's new assistant was this very woman.

Her name was Eve, a member of the female Marine corps. She had known Jon for years—being a few years older than him—but her cheerful, almost girlish personality constantly got on his nerves.

Jon's biggest complaint was her nickname for him.

Little Jon? What the hell?

"If you're younger than me, what's wrong with me calling you Little Jon? I think it sounds cute!"

Eve laughed playfully, completely unfazed by Jon's annoyed expression.

As the only male soldier in the female Marine corps, Jon had endured endless teasing from the women around him.

She had no idea why Jon hated the nickname so much.

But the more he resisted, the more she enjoyed calling him that.

"It's not cute."

Jon grumbled under his breath, then impatiently asked, "Why are you here? I'm busy."

"Little Jon, do you have something against me? I came all this way to find you, and this is how you treat me?"

She pouted dramatically before smirking.

"You didn't act this way toward Gion. What, is it because I'm not as pretty as her?"

Jon hesitated, unsure how to respond.

Honestly, Eve wasn't ugly at all—in fact, she was quite attractive. Aside from being shorter than Gion, she was just as impressive.

But the "Little Jon" nonsense completely ruined any good impression he had.

"Just get to the point. Did the Vice Admiral send you?"

"Tch. Little Jon, you really think you're a big shot now, huh? Maybe I should bring the girls over to "teach you a lesson" again."

Jon's eye twitched.

The female Marines loved ganging up on him from time to time, much to his frustration.

"Fine, fine! I was wrong, okay?"

"Hmph. No sincerity at all."

Eve rolled her eyes before finally getting to the point.

"Yeah, Vice Admiral Tsuru wants to see you."

"What for?"

Her playful expression faded.

"This time, I think it's something serious. And probably good news for you. Just my guess, but I doubt I'm wrong."

Jon's eyes lit up.

Good news?

During his restricted period, there hadn't been many good things happening to him.

Eagerly, he quickened his pace, following Eve to Tsuru's office.

"Vice Admiral, you called for me?"

Tsuru nodded as Jon entered, motioning for him to come closer.

"This is something you'll be happy to hear."

Jon's curiosity grew.

"Vice Admiral, what is it?"

"Take a look at this first."

Instead of answering directly, Tsuru handed him a document.

Jon frowned in confusion but opened it.

After just a few lines, his expression changed drastically.

"Vice Admiral… is this information reliable?"

"Our Marine intelligence division, as well as Cipher Pol, have confirmed it. There is no doubt."

Jon took a deep breath.

"Then it's true… Golden Lion and Roger are about to go to war."

The document detailed intelligence reports on the Flying Pirates and the Roger Pirates.

According to the reports, conflicts between the two groups had escalated multiple times.

Recently, Golden Lion Shiki had summoned his massive pirate fleet to launch a full-scale assault on Roger's crew. A decisive battle was imminent.

Jon had always expected this war to happen someday.

But now that it was actually about to begin, it still left him shaken.

These were two of the most powerful pirate crews in the New World.

Especially Golden Lion's Flying Pirates, whose fleet was considered unstoppable—even the Marines struggled to deal with them.

A battle between these two forces would reshape the power balance of the New World.

For both the Marines and the World Government, this was a serious concern.

If Golden Lion won, he could become the undisputed ruler of the New World.

Even worse, if Roger's crew was forced to submit, it would send shockwaves through the world—terrifying even the World Government.

Because of this, both the Marines and Cipher Pol had set aside all other priorities to closely monitor Shiki and Roger's movements.

Even the World Government seemed to be waiting for an opportunity to strike—perhaps hoping to reap the benefits after the battle.

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