Slapped Senseless

Thud, thud, thud, thud!

The massive wooden hand pressed against the ground echoed with deep thudding sounds, as though something underneath was repeatedly slamming upward, trying to break free.

Boom!

At last, a hole burst open in the center of the wooden hand, and John leapt out from beneath. But before he could react, another massive wooden hand emerged from the side and slammed into him.

Bam!

Watching John get smacked again, Jon looked on with helpless frustration. "Still haven't learned your lesson, huh?"

John was utterly stunned by the slap. Just as he escaped one hand, another came from a different direction and struck him. Before he could stabilize himself, yet another hand was already incoming.

Boom!

John was once again slapped into the ground. The massive wooden hand then lifted and came down again.

Bam! Bam! Bam!

A triple slam followed. The ground itself was pounded several meters deep. By the time Jon deactivated the wooden hand, John lay bloodied and embedded in the earth.

This once-fearsome pirate had been knocked unconscious from sheer force. If not for the faint life signs Jon still detected, one might've thought he was dead.

"Captain John is dead! Run!"

Seeing their captain defeated, the remaining pirates from the John Pirates—who were still entangled with the wooden constructs—were struck with fear.

None of them attempted to rescue John. On the contrary, they started yelling and scattering like scared animals.

Jon could only shake his head. "Some pirate crew this is… Just a band of rabble."

He had no intention of letting any of them go. Planting both hands on the ground, he called out, "Flower Tree World Descent!"

Though many of John's pirates had already been killed, over a hundred still remained. Jon wasn't about to spare them, so he used an even more powerful technique than his previous Tree Realm Birth.

The ground trembled in a wide radius. Massive trees erupted, tearing through rock and terrain as they grew at astonishing speeds. Their branches spread out, and atop them, hundreds of blossoms bloomed all at once.

Before the pirates could escape the zone, the poisonous pollen had already filled the air. The toxins in these flowers were potent enough to paralyze even Big Mom—handling these pirates was child's play.

One by one, they inhaled the pollen, their bodies going numb before collapsing.

Very soon, all the pirates within the range of the Flower Tree World had been knocked out cold. Only a handful who had narrowly escaped the area remained.

"You guys sure ran fast."

Jon activated his Observation Haki and quickly sensed Crocodile's direction of escape. But he didn't give chase.

Crocodile might be a future threat, but for now, the priority was the remnants of the John Pirates. He couldn't leave them just to pursue one person.

Compared to John, Crocodile was actually more troublesome, being a Logia-type Sand-Sand Fruit user. He could nullify physical attacks and even drain moisture from plants. A real fight would be tougher, though Jon still felt confident he'd win.

With branches, Jon bound the remaining pirates. Not long after, a group of Marines arrived.

"Jon, what's going on here?" asked Pebberton, shocked at the destruction he found.

Earlier, Jon had used long-range communication to summon him. Pebberton didn't hesitate and immediately led a unit over.

Jon, having confided his special powers in Pebberton before, wasn't surprised at all.

"Caught a big fish—John Pirates," Jon said, pointing to the still-unconscious Captain John. "There was another, but I couldn't chase him."

"Wait, you mean the same John from the Rocks Pirates?" Pebberton was stunned. John's name was legendary.

"That's the one."

"Now that's a major catch!" Pebberton grinned and shouted, "Round up all of them!"

"Wait," Jon interrupted. "The flower toxin hasn't dispersed yet. Give it a moment."

"Then we'll wait."

Pebberton stopped his men, then turned to Jon. "John was part of the Rocks Pirates. Could his appearance be related to what Sakazuki mentioned?"

"We don't know for sure. Better let Sakazuki handle the interrogation," Jon replied.

After another ten minutes, the Marines secured all of John's pirates and locked them in the ship's brig.

Crocodile, meanwhile, had successfully escaped. Once he was certain he wasn't being followed, he stopped to catch his breath.

"Who the hell was that Marine? I've never heard of him," he muttered.

Crocodile had done his homework before setting sail—he knew the top names in the pirate world and the Navy. But Jon wasn't one he recognized. And yet Jon had easily wiped out the John Pirates. If Crocodile hadn't escaped in time, he would've ended up the same.

It was a wake-up call. He realized he had been too arrogant and would have to be more cautious when facing Marines from now on.

Having unexpectedly captured John, Jon's team sped up to rendezvous with Sakazuki.

A few days later, they arrived at the designated meeting point and saw Sakazuki.

"You said you caught John. Where is he?" was Sakazuki's first question.

"Below, locked up with Sea-Prism Stone restraints. Have someone bring him up," Jon answered.

Sakazuki nodded. "Alright, you go rest. I'll handle the interrogation."

True to his action-first nature, Sakazuki didn't waste time. He had John brought up and immediately began questioning him.

They still hadn't figured out the reason behind all the pirate gatherings, and now that they had someone who might know, they weren't about to miss the chance to find out.

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