One Piece: Nobody knows Devil Fruits better than me.

Chapter 144 Nightmares are still dreams, no problem!
The Grand Line, the Sea of ​​West Fort.

This once unremarkable sea area is now teeming with ships.

Rows of well-equipped warships were moored here, almost completely surrounding the entire sea area.

Their masts were all adorned with different flags, numbering at least dozens—symbolizing that the massive fleet here was a united fleet composed of dozens of kingdoms and powers.

The reason they blockaded the entire sea area is self-evident.

"How's it going? Have you gotten to the island yet?"

At that moment, the commander on one of the ships was holding a Den Den Mushi and asked with a solemn expression.

"Ah."

On the other end of the Den Den Mushi came a voice that sounded rather irritable.

"We've already landed on the island. Just like the rumors say, if you don't follow the rules and land through the eastern entrance, you won't be considered an 'official visitor,' and even Miss Fairy won't show up."

His voice seemed to carry a hint of regret: "It's a real pity. I heard that young lady was a great beauty."

"Beauties? Those things—once you finish your mission on the island, you can have as many as you want!"

Upon hearing this, the commander angrily retorted, "Know your mission, Kelly Van Cleef! Do you know how many warships are currently in this area?"

"Soon all the warships here will set off for Dream Island—that's your final mission deadline."

"Our kingdom of Mogala is located in the New World, and if we want to compete for a large amount of the 'Fountain of Youth,' we can only rely on you!"

Just as he said.

Every kingdom wants to compete for more resources on Dream Island.

The legendary Fountain of Youth, in particular, is a goal that most countries are determined to achieve.

But everyone knows it.

The number of fountains of youth is limited, and the island itself is only so big.

Once the warships are deployed, everything will become chaotic, and a large-scale naval battle is very likely to break out.

At that time, even the strongest countries were not sure how many resources they could acquire.

This is especially true for countries like their Mogala Kingdom, whose territory is in the New World and where it is inconvenient to send large numbers of troops.

Therefore, at this moment, almost all the warships of various countries are preparing to set sail while waiting for news from the powerful individuals they have hired who have already arrived at Dream Island.

"His Majesty the King has given you two brothers a very generous reward, you..."

The commander was about to say something, but at this moment...
"Dudududu!"

He only heard a busy tone from the other end of the phone.

Meanwhile...
Neverland.

"It's really noisy."

After hanging up the Den Den Mushi, the burly man wearing red boxing gloves picked at his ear: "They only gave us that little bit of money, and they dare to point fingers here. If they really got a treasure like the Fountain of Youth, wouldn't it be foolish to hand it over to them? Right, Bobby?"

"Yes, brother."

Behind him, a man wearing sunglasses, much taller and as muscular as him, responded in a deep voice.

He is Bobby Vanku, who, along with his brother Kelly Vanku, is known as the "Vanku Brothers," and is a professional assassin from the Kingdom of Mogara.

However at this moment
"Huh? What did you mean by that?"

A woman's voice came at that moment.

It was a woman dressed as a maid, smoking, and carrying various weapons on her back.

Even though she was wearing an eye mask, you could still tell that she had a beautiful face.

"I'm here on the young master's orders to seize the Fountain of Youth. If I get it, I'll definitely hand it over to him in exchange for praise, right?"

She looked at the Vanku brothers: "But you two sound like you don't keep your promises at all, which is very worrying. I might as well just kill you here."

She is a maid from the royal family of Dressrosa, and a Don Quixote Family assassin—BABY5.

"what?"

Upon hearing this, the hot-tempered Kelly VanCul's expression changed: "You bitch, what are you talking about?"

His fists were clenched, and it looked like a fight was about to break out.

"Big brother, calm down."

At that moment, the cowardly Bobby Van Cleef said, "If we start a war now, others will just take advantage of the situation."

After saying that, he looked at BABY5 again: "This lady, you...you too."

"well said."

As soon as he said this, another voice immediately came from the side.

That was the man standing next to BABY5—he was wearing glasses and a mask, and had spiky white hair.

He was also a member of the Don Quixote family, and his name was 'Gradius'.

“BABY5, we made a contract with them. So we’ll abide by the contract. You know—I hate people who don’t follow the plan.”

He looked at BABY5 and said in a deep voice.

".snort."

Then BABY5 snorted coldly and put away the pistol she had already drawn.

At this moment, the onlookers who had been watching the commotion sighed in disappointment.

Yes.

At this moment, apart from the four people who were speaking, there was no one else present.

There were actually quite a few other people in their vicinity.

They were all walking on the island, but they kept a distance from each other, clearly not colleagues.

that's the truth.

They were all powerful figures from various kingdoms, pirates or mercenaries, ordered to come to the island to seize the Fountain of Youth ahead of schedule.

However, they had also heard that this 'Dream Island' was extremely dangerous for uninvited guests.

Therefore, after landing on the island, this group of people had already signed a contract.

Let's work together to explore this island first, and then officially start the war after we find the 'Fountain of Youth'.

This was clearly a good deal for any of them.

Of course, if the Don Quixote family's officers and the Van Cleef brothers went to war prematurely and broke the contract, they would naturally not mind eliminating their two rivals in advance.

And it was at this very moment
"Look over there—we've already reached the Fairy Tale Forest, and we're very close to the Fountain of Youth. We can deal with anything else later."

Among the crowd, a man wearing a hood said this—he was the bounty hunter, 'Explosives Expert' Jet.

And as he finished speaking...

All eyes then turned to the direction he had indicated.

Not far in front of them, the entrance to a forest came into view.

Rainbow-like colors flowed across the countless enormous trees.

The air was filled with an intoxicating sweet fragrance, and the translucent branches swayed and floated in the wind like velvet.

Sunlight filters through the dappled canopy of trees, casting ever-changing dappled patterns of light on the glowing moss, a breathtaking sight.

"I'd heard about it before, but—it really is an amazing sight!"

Seeing that dreamlike scene, some people present couldn't help but mutter to themselves.

They all knew about this forest, of course.

The great forest in the center of Dream Island is called the 'Fairy Tale Forest'.

Legend has it that the 'island spirit,' the 'fairy lady,' and many other fantastical creatures reside here. Furthermore, the legendary Fountain of Youth lies deep within this forest.

"You say it's fraught with danger, but apart from some small wild animals and the ground that keeps changing shape, there's absolutely no danger on the road."

Kelly Van Cleef chuckled and stepped into the forest first: "Bobby, keep up!"

"yes, Sir."

As the Vanku brothers stepped into the forest, the others quickly followed.

But it was precisely the moment they stepped into the forest
".Um?"

Some perceptive individuals clearly noticed the subtle changes in the surrounding atmosphere.

"Boom!"

Then they heard a loud bang behind them.

That was the sound of the huge trees at the entrance to the forest moving behind them—and in an instant, the original entrance vanished without a trace.

And then it followed closely behind.
"Boom!"

The earth began to tremble.

Their bodies began to tilt almost uncontrollably, and then...
"laugh!"

They heard a piercing sound of wind breaking through the air.

Subsequently
"Ugh!"

"what!"

It was two sounds of something breaking, and a scream.

So, everyone instinctively looked in the direction from which the sound came.

Then they saw that two 'tree tribe' mercenaries who had been leaping and moving back and forth in the trees were now dead.

And killed them
It was the translucent, silk-like branches of the trees within the forest.

They surround each other in layers, tinging the sunlight in the forest with a hazy hue.

The necks of the two mercenaries had been torn off, and faint blue light spots were still scattered on their bodies.

And this is just the beginning.

Because it's only the next moment.
"Ah—Doral, save me, it's a vine!"

"The moss is on fire! Aaaaaah!"

"Ugh... What cut off my leg?"

"It's flowers and plants, those flowers and plants!"

The screams and cries of alarm were almost continuous.

Yes.

In that instant, everything within the forest began to change.

On the glowing moss, multicolored flames began to burn, igniting everything in their path.

The thick vines began to sway and coil like giant pythons.

The petals of the swaying flowers became sharp as knives, and the grass and trees on the ground became sharp as thorns.

Even the surrounding stream began to transform into claws, dragging people into the stream.

Death arrived as expected.

Almost instantly, the mercenaries suffered heavy losses—more than half of them died quickly without even realizing what was happening.

But
"Bobby, combine!"

Kelly Van Cleef shouted, and Bobby Van Cleef immediately grabbed him from behind.

Then, he actually "wore" his brother onto his enormous body as if he were wearing clothes.

"Fanku Killing Fist!"

His muscles were bulging, and his huge fist, carrying the terrifying power of compressed air, punched the ground beneath his feet and the flames on his body!
Boom!

The flowers and plants on the ground were instantly blasted to pieces, and the flames were dispersed by the force of the punches.

"Transformation: Sword Maiden!"

"Expansion Explosion!"

At the same time, BABY5 and Gladius also unleashed their abilities—the former transformed into a sharp sword and cut down three huge vines in front of her, while Gladius instantly caused a swaying giant tree in front of him to explode.

As mentioned before, the mercenaries present were all hired by various kingdoms and were all considered strong men.

So at this moment, whether they were Devil Fruit users or martial artists, after a brief moment of surprise, they all reacted and instantly repelled the raging forest.

"Fool—I am Jacket Man who ate the Jacket-Jacket Fruit, and although my brother is cowardly, his physique is that of a born monster."

Kelly Van Cleef laughed triumphantly: "When we combine, we become the most perfect warriors—how could you possibly defeat us with just a few plants? Uh..."

He stopped abruptly halfway through his sentence.

Because at this moment, he had already seen
From within that forest, which had become almost pitch black due to the shade of trees.

Accompanied by specks of blue light in the air.

One by one, figures emerged from the forest.

They all have appearances that are completely out of the real world.

Within the moss, amidst the burning flames, celestial fire with four limbs rises.

In the air, a nearly transparent harpy with wings slowly emerged.

Beneath the petals and vegetation on the ground, a short, stocky little elf emerged.

From the depths of the dark forest, a skeletal warhorse, its body wreathed in dark red flames, strode out.

Within the rising mist, feathered serpents with wings on their backs soared.

A chimera with a snake's head, a scorpion's tail, and a lion's tail, its fangs tearing through the rocks of the ground.

"What's going on with this quantity and this momentum?"

Then, BABY5's voice trembled slightly: "I've heard that the creatures here are all beautiful species that you can only see in your dreams!"

What kind of dream is this?

A nightmare?
And it was at this moment
"Buzz!"

The trees and flowers that had clearly shattered and collapsed under their attack began to change before their incredulous eyes.

Countless tiny fragments, shimmering with the same dreamlike light, began to gather under the pull and swirl of the light points in the air.

They were reborn in just a few moments.

The trees swayed, blocking out the sunlight.

Countless fantastical creatures strolled out of the forest.

The forest remains vibrant with life.

The scene remained dreamlike and surreal.

That was a scene that everyone present should have been happy to see, a scene they longed to witness.

But at this moment, they only felt a chill in their hearts.

They couldn't help but think of the nursery rhyme that had recently been circulating at sea.

"The greedy will resort to arms, using vines and rainbows as nooses, and their corpses will fall into the vast ocean."

　I spent a lot of time revising it, deleting a few plot points, trying my best to make this chapter less long.
　　I'm not afraid of spoilers, but the main issue is that the Fight-Fight Fruit from before, and the Jacket-Jacket Fruit, Weapon-Weapon Fruit, and Boom-Boom Fruit here are all fruits that the protagonist's clones will use later (involving two new clones and one old clone in the future). I have to write about how they were obtained, and the rerun of the Neverland storyline also needs to lay out the army's combat strength.

　　
　
(End of this chapter)