Alone and Infinite.

Chapter 636 The Terrifying Enhancement of the Wood Origin (6K)

The moment the notification popped up, Li Xia was surprisingly distracted during the battle.

The origin of wood? Harvesting the essence of wood?

After upgrading the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts, he had been trying to collect the five elements of Qi required for the art. However, he tried everything, from the ocean to the cold forest to the volcano. It wasn't that he couldn't collect them, but rather that the quantity was extremely small, so small that it could be ignored.

That little bit of essence disappears instantly once it enters the body, let alone provide any benefit.

But now, for the first time, he received a prompt, even if it was only a 'tiny amount of essence,' it was still an essence worthy of the Temple of Light's prompt.

Under Green Bull's astonished gaze, Li Xia suddenly grabbed a vine from the ground and wrapped it around his arm like a ball of yarn.

"idiot!"

Green Bull was overjoyed. If the vines were covered by invisible armor like before, it would be difficult to break through in a short time. But now this fool actually took the initiative to grab the vines!

"Take over as nourishment, and I will accept your position as general."

Green Bull desperately activated the power of the Forest-Forest Fruit, and the vines he generated could quickly absorb human bodies, food, liquids, etc., and the absorbed things could even enhance his strength.

Green Bull once relied on the immense power of the Forest-Forest Fruit to rapidly increase his strength, eventually attracting the attention of the World Government and becoming a candidate for Admiral.

Li Xia completely ignored Green Bull's grumbling and mocking tone. He was currently immersed in the joy of absorbing the energy. Each pop-up of the Hall of Light was like an increase in his bank account balance. That kind of pure joy was something Green Bull's grumbling could never compare to.

[Executioner, you have collected the essence of wood. The cumulative wood essence gauge has increased by 0.01.]

[Executioner, you have collected the essence of wood. The cumulative wood essence gauge has increased by 0.01.]

[Executioner, you have collected the essence of wood. The cumulative wood essence gauge has increased by 0.01.]

A series of notifications appeared, and Green Bull sensed something was wrong.

Why does it feel like I can't absorb anything?
To verify whether this feeling was just an illusion, Green Bull once again urged the vines on the ground to wrap Li Xia up even more tightly.

Countless tiny hairs spread from the vines, like parasitic mycelium, and quickly climbed up to Li Xia's body. However, before these hairs could reach him, they withered in the middle of the way.

It transformed into wisps of pale green fluorescence and entered Li Xia's body.

And the rate of withering was getting faster and faster. The vines that first came into contact with Li Xia had already dried up. With just the slightest movement, they broke off like rotten wood and fell to the ground, scattering like powder when the wind blew.

While the Eight-Nine Arcane Arts are indeed powerful, they never exploit or absorb energy in this way. Just as Li Xia tried to gather Qi in the forest, the surrounding plants never withered as a result.

This is because Green Bull ate the Forest Fruit, a natural Devil Fruit. In the world of One Piece, it is the most basic rule of wood, and those vines are just products of Devil Fruits, not truly naturally formed.

It is completely different from the ice blocks created by the Ice-Ice Fruit. This kind of unnatural product, formed by the original mixed will, is what it is after the special power supporting it is removed.

Green Bull was puzzled at first, then closed his eyes to sense it, and finally opened his eyes suddenly, instantly severing the vines. The huge tree-man's face showed fear.

Not only was the other party not being absorbed, but they were actually absorbing his power?

How is this possible? What kind of fruit could have such an ability?
Before Green Bull could figure it out, the giant vine ball suddenly exploded, revealing Li Xia's figure.

Green Bull opened his eyes wide and met Li Xia's burning gaze, looking at him as if he were some rare treasure.

The feeling was like being watched by some terrifying beast, a fear deep within one's genes of a apex predator.

He couldn't help but shudder, and leaves began to fall from his massive tree-like body. Under the astonished gazes of Garp and Lucci, Green Bull actually deactivated his tree form and turned to run away.

Green Bull wasn't exactly known for his indomitable spirit. He had planned to take advantage of the situation in Wano Country, hoping to reap the rewards after Kaido, Wano Country, and the Straw Hats were exhausted from their battle. However, he was scared away by Shanks' Haki.

The terror he felt now was much more real than when Shanks was, so it would be strange if he didn't run away!
Where do you think you're going?! My Wood Origin!!
Li Xia's eyes lit up, and the roadside beneath his feet exploded. In that instant, his figure stretched into a phantom shadow, and he appeared behind Green Bull in a flash.

A dark red light flashed in Green Bull's eyes. He turned his pale face away, his forehead covered in cold sweat.
"I surrender! I'm leaving Mary Geoise right now!"

But Li Xia couldn't listen to anything at this point. He only had one thought: he had to pin Green Bull down and taste the saltiness of the essence of wood!

With his right hand, he reached straight for Green Bull's neck. Fear, helplessness, and pleading flashed across Green Bull's face before finally turning into despair.

Despair breeds hysterical madness.

His body stopped trembling and he turned around. A thick layer of Armament Haki spread from his chest, and his right fist was also wrapped in Haki. He slammed it down towards Li Xia's head.

I am taller than him and my arms are longer than his.
Green Bull kept encouraging himself, his expression even becoming ferocious. The cold sweat on his forehead was flung out by the intense physical activity, glistening in the bright Mary Geoise sunlight.

Coupled with Green Bull's resolute punches and his all-out, desperate spirit.

It actually looks somewhat like a typical shonen anime where the protagonist makes a comeback and defeats the enemy.

"Ah!!! Light Shar! I can't—"

The enormous fist pierced straight through Li Xia's 'skull'.

Green Bull watched the figure slowly disappear, the stark contrast between reality and his imagination causing him to pause in surprise for a moment.
"Eh?"

Before he could react, he felt his neck being gripped by a hand like an iron clamp, and Li Xia lifted Green Bull up with one arm.

Under Lucci's horrified gaze, he was slammed directly onto the ground like a dog being thrown.

"boom!"

With a tremendous roar, dust billowed and rocks flew everywhere. The entire street and square seemed to tremble. When the dust settled, a depression the size of a basketball court, resembling a meteorite crater, appeared on the street.

Garp chuckled and scratched his short, graying hair:

"Xia, you've learned quite well what I taught you!"

He recognized it at a glance: it was something that had fallen from the seabed into his own fist bones. However, Li Xia's method seemed to be more refined, concentrating most of the power into the body of the attacked person.

Green Bull lay in the center of the giant pit, opening his mouth and letting out a weak groan of pain. Li Xia's punch seemed to have magic power; a terrifying domineering aura surged into his body, accompanied by a strange force. Green Bull felt as if his bones had been dislocated by this punch.

At this moment, it was difficult for him to even move his body, and the Armament Haki on the hand gripping his neck prevented him from transforming into an elemental form.

But this wasn't what terrified Green Bull the most. What frightened him most was that he could sense his power rapidly draining away—power that he had absorbed from countless powerful individuals to transform into energy.

Li Xia completely ignored what Green Bull was thinking, and the Hall of Light notifications popped up again like a screen-filling event.

[Executioner, you have collected the essence of wood. The cumulative wood essence gauge has increased by 0.02.]

[Executioner, you have collected the essence of wood. The cumulative wood essence gauge has increased by 0.015.]

When the green fluorescence entered the body, it did not flow through the meridians like true qi, but instead quietly arrived at the liver and entered the liver.

Li Xia felt a sudden surge of energy, and his entire body was filled with a wondrous sensation he had never experienced before, one that he could not even describe in words.

After circulating through the liver area, this cool energy subtly separated and traveled upwards along the meridians, eventually transforming into two wisps of clear energy that swirled and circled around the eyes.

Feeling the cool sensation in his eyes, Li Xia almost squinted in comfort.

The world before my eyes seemed clearer and more real, even details I had never noticed before were now so clear.

Is this what gas extraction is?

It's unavoidable—

Ok?
Why is it gone?

Li Xia frowned, opened her eyes, and looked down. Her angry face quietly calmed down.

The green bull on the ground had fallen into a coma at some point, and the once burly man, who was over 3 meters tall, had become much thinner.

It's completely drained??? This power bank's capacity is ridiculously small!
Li Xia released his hand, frowned, and looked at his cumulative gauge—Wood Essence: 1.02.

A general-level expert only provided 1 point of essence?
Li Xia took a small breath. Although he didn't know exactly how much essence was needed, it was obviously not just a little bit. A strange conjecture suddenly popped into his mind.

If even a general can only provide a small amount of essence, and previously the absorption was only around 0.01 per session, it means that despite changing locations many times, it's still impossible to gather Qi. Is this possible?
Is the current world level too low? It's not that we can't absorb it, but rather that the quality is insufficient? Too little?
Green Bull ate a natural fruit, the Forest Fruit, which is also the most fundamental rule of this world, so he was able to barely absorb a little bit of it.
Li Xia sighed. Although absorbing even a little bit of wood essence was good, even a little bit was still...

Ok?
His pupils widened slightly, and he saw small green characters appearing after the 1 point of Wood Essence:
[Currently providing a bonus (Essence of Wood)]

1. Strength attribute template increased by 10%.
2. All bonuses related to vision and vision-derived secondary attributes are increased by 10%.

3. Increases poison resistance, duration, and related attributes by 10%.
???

Li Xia never imagined that just 1 point of Wood Essence would bring such a terrifying boost.

In particular, the strength attribute template has been improved, which means that even with the same strength attribute, he is 10% stronger than other apostles!

Although the template and the direct 10% increase in strength attribute are not exactly the same, they can be used interchangeably in most cases.

In other words, if Li Xia had 50 points in strength attribute, his actual performance would be 50 * 1.1 = 55!

Moreover, the higher the base strength, the greater the bonus.

Besides this, the second one is also useful!
What is visual acuity and its derivative secondary attributes?
That's a very broad range. To put it simply, this bonus directly enhances Li Xia's eyes by 10%!

Improve all of them: dynamic vision, static vision, microscopic vision, and distance vision!
If it's a pupil technique based on the eyes, rather than a pupil technique driven by special power, it will also be enhanced.

It has extremely wide applicability.

The third point is the increase in poison resistance, which is nothing special, as Li Xia felt that his abnormal status resistance was already strong enough.

"hiss----!"

Li Xia's eyes practically lit up when he looked at Green Bull; it was a real gem!
If 1 point of Wood Essence is already so powerful, what would happen if it were 2 or even 10 points? Wouldn't it be like taking off instantly?
Under Lucci's strange and horrified gaze, Li Xia actually took out the super nutrient solution that had been used in the plantation from his personal space and poured it on Green Bull.

It can only be said that it is worthy of the name "Forest Fruit". The bucket of undiluted nutrient solution poured on Green Bull was like water poured on parched land. It was directly absorbed by Green Bull through his skin and his withered body was rapidly restored at a speed visible to the naked eye, although he was still not as strong as before.

But at least it had a human form now. With a painful groan from Green Bull, he slowly opened his eyes, and what came into view was Li Xia's concerned gaze.

He stared blankly at Li Xia, then memories from before he lost consciousness gradually flooded back, and his eyes widened. This...this demon...it actually sucked away all the life essence he had painstakingly collected over many years!

Green Bull wanted to run away, but then he remembered that it seemed like it didn't matter whether he ran or not, so he sat up as if resigned to his fate.

Li Xia secretly stretched out two fingers and pinched the Green Bull, activating his full energy gathering ability, but the Green Bull's body seemed empty, and he couldn't absorb a single bit of energy no matter what he did.

Green Bull buried his head in his knees, hugged himself tightly, and completely shut himself off.

His Devil Fruit ability is different from that of ordinary Logia-type Devil Fruits. It requires the absorption of nutrients to create a 'forest'. The more lush the forest is, the stronger he becomes.

Li Xia was breathing in the forest that Green Bull had painstakingly cultivated for a long time, but today this forest had been completely cut down!
"What it is?"

Li Xia calmly loosened her grip and put her hands behind her back.

"The origin of life, the breath of the forest."

Green Bull remained silent for a long time before speaking dryly.

"How long will it take to finish that batch?"

Green Bull raised his head in astonishment, his whole body trembling. This was too much! This was outrageous!
He not only sucked it all up, but he's also planning to try and steal it a second time?!
But looking at Li Xia's face, Green Bull felt a sudden surge of emotion for no apparent reason.

"Ten years"

"Oh, goodbye!"

This series of movements may seem to take a long time, but it is actually very fast.

From Green Bull's arrogant leap to his transformation into a tree giant, Li Xia's 'Northern Darkness Divine Art' absorbed the energy.

Apply nutrient solution and try again.
Only a few minutes passed before a sense of tension began to creep into Mary Geoise, just as the ripples from Li Xia's killing of the two Celestial Dragons had only just spread to other places.

The piercing alarms echoed over Mary Geoise. The World Government, or rather the Five Elders, were the first to react, issuing a barrage of orders. The God's Blade, a subordinate organization of the Knights of God, began to assemble.

Even the knights of the gods who were out on various missions received the message.

The capture of a general is never a simple matter. The Five Elders, who have lived for hundreds of years, know that what they need to do now is definitely not to send those useless soldiers to their deaths.

Instead of arresting him in Mary Geoise, they hoped to scare Li Xia away with a large-scale operation to prevent the battle from destroying the city.

Once all forces have been gathered, then launch an overwhelming attack to encircle and annihilate them.

"Bulu Bulu, Bulu Bulu"

The Den Den Mushi in Li Xia's and Garp's arms rang one after the other. The two looked at each other and then looked at Lucci.

From the moment the Celestial Dragons were murdered, Lucci's behavior became quite strange. He should have fought Li Xia to the death, but he had no intention of doing so at all, and even hoped that Li Xia would leave as soon as possible.

"CP0 is a direct force completely controlled by the Celestial Dragons, how could it possibly have other intentions?"

At this moment, Garp's expression was no longer the same as before; it was now completely serious.

If Garp were truly a heartless, brainless strongman with nothing but power, Sengoku and Vice Admiral Tsuru wouldn't have brought him along during meetings before.

He's more like a different case: big guy with great wisdom.

Lucci remained silent, slowly transforming back into his original form. He picked up his clothes from the side, straightened his collar, and said in a low voice:
"I don't know when it started, maybe it was when we were thrown away like trash, hunted down, and then appointed as CP0 officials because we accidentally handed over a piece of the Poneglyph."

Even an orphan, an insignificant little person, dreams one day of truly living.

Lu Qi dusted off his top hat, put it on, and nodded to Li Xia:

"Actually, I hadn't realized this before."

He walked away with his hands in his pockets. He still needed someone to report to the Five Elders. His decision not to attack Li Xia was based on many considerations, such as the Five Elders not wanting the battle to destroy Mary Geoise.

"When you said you'd wanted to do this for a long time, I suddenly woke up."

Lucci's voice came from afar, and he stopped and pulled down his hat brim:

"So I've been wanting to do that for a while now."

He waved his hand and walked into the distance. There was nothing Lucci could do now, but he could also pretend that he hadn't seen anything.

Even CP0 is like this.

Garp took a deep breath, as if he could feel the flames and anger that had been brewing for hundreds of years, and the terrifying power that, once unleashed, could overturn everything.

That was the roar of countless people's wails, cries, sorrow, and despair over hundreds of years, a fusion of their suffering.

"Brubrubru, brubrubru"

The Den Den Mushi kept ringing relentlessly, as if it wouldn't stop until it was answered.

Garp answered the Den Den Mushi first, opening with his signature laugh:

"Hahahaha, Sengoku, Tsuru!"

Garp walked to the side, listening with a grin as Sengoku went crazy on the other end.

Li Xia, meanwhile, answered his Den Den Mushi (phone jack).

"Marshal Sakaski!"

Unexpectedly, there was no thunderous roar or scolding from the other end of the Den Den Mushi, only a long silence.

After a long while, Akainu's somewhat deep voice came from the other end of the Den Den Mushi:

"Xia, what exactly do you want to do? I thought you could guess what I was thinking."

Before becoming a marshal, Sakazuki's thoughts were not easy to guess, but after he became a marshal and began to implement his own ideas, Sengoku, Tsuru, and even several other high-ranking and perceptive generals all guessed his intentions.

Sakazuki's only thought was to maintain and expand the independence of the navy!
"Of course I understand."

Li Xia's voice was also very deep, but it seemed to carry a strange power:

"But I don't think that's enough! Independence alone is not enough. There shouldn't be Celestial Dragons in this world!"

"Clang!"

Akainu dropped what he was holding, knocking over a porcelain cup, and the cold coffee spread across the table.
"you--"

He didn't care at all and stood up abruptly, his heart churning like a tsunami.

Akainu never expected that Li Xia's actions weren't just a momentary outburst of righteous indignation, but rather a genuine desire to eliminate the Celestial Dragons!

"Are you crazy?!"

He waved for the guards who had heard the commotion to leave, and lowered his voice: "Don't think the Five Elders are just for show! I sensed an aura about them that even I find somewhat frightening."

There have been powerful figures who challenged the World Government before, but they ultimately vanished like pebbles thrown into water, leaving only a few ripples.

As the only naval commander who could frequently come into contact with the Five Elders, Akainu vaguely sensed something from them that terrified him. Therefore, even if he was unwilling, he would not disobey the Five Elders' direct orders.

Throughout his career, all he sought was to maintain and expand the independence of the navy.

Akainu crouched low and approached the Den Den Mushi:

"Do you understand? The World Government is definitely not that simple!"

Listen, Xia.

I've spoken with the Five Elders, and they've agreed not to kill you. But in exchange, they demand that you join the Blade of God and that they announce to the world that you're dead.

This is the best result I could achieve.

Just as Li Xia hadn't expected Lucci to suddenly turn against him, he now hadn't expected Sakazuki to actually protect him.

"Thank you, but I don't want to agree and I won't agree."

Li Xia glanced at the increasingly chaotic Mary Geoise and interrupted Akainu before he could finish speaking:
"Marshal Sakazuki, I have a suggestion. I will broadcast it live to the world later."

The Navy can observe, and when the right opportunity arises, the Navy will know how to make a choice!

As for now

A smile appeared on Li Xia's face:

"Let's make a grand announcement to mark the start of this battle."

Mary Geoise, the residential area of ​​the Celestial Dragons.

"boom!"

The enormous fireball instantly engulfed the entire city, like the sun.

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1. Monthly pass 2. Recommendation vote

I only have 6,000 left today. The area below my thumb hurts, it's a throbbing pain.

Other authors say it's a tendon sheath.
I never had this problem when I was writing 4,000 words a day!

However, I don't think I've reached the point of having tenosynovitis yet.
(End of this chapter)