A massive fist smashed into Jon's chest, collapsing it inward instantly as he was sent flying from the sheer force.
Boom!
His body slammed hard into the remains of the wooden giant, embedding him inside it.
Cough, cough.
Jon coughed up blood, which trickled from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away and looked down at his sunken chest, his expression grim.
A surge of pure energy gathered at his chest, and soon, the sunken area returned to normal.
"Damn it, how is this guy recovering so fast?"
Rubbing his now-healed chest, Jon looked annoyed. He had spent ages pounding Barrett to seriously injure him, and yet one punch from Barrett nearly shattered his chest.
What confused him the most was how Barrett managed to recover so quickly. Jon had maximized the use of his toxic pollen—Barrett had inhaled plenty of it. By his calculations, even with Barrett's strong physique, the toxin should've paralyzed him for at least ten minutes.
The fact that Barrett recovered so quickly and landed such a powerful punch caught Jon completely off guard.
Several minutes had passed since the wooden giant fell, and the surrounding dust was finally starting to clear. Though there was still quite a bit of smoke, visibility was much better.
Under Jon's watchful gaze, Barrett's hunched figure slowly stood up. Jon could feel Barrett's gaze.
"So, he hasn't fully recovered yet."
"Using poison—such a cowardly tactic. I even thought of you as a worthy opponent," Barrett suddenly sneered.
Jon said nothing and clapped his hands. "Deep Forest Emergence!"
In an instant, the ground trembled, and countless trees erupted from the soil, growing rapidly, transforming the area into a dense forest.
"Flashy but useless!"
Barrett snorted. His stamina had mostly recovered, and his movements were unimpeded.
Seeing the growing forest, he looked down on it with disdain. As tree branches lashed out at him, he easily smashed them aside.
Of course, Jon knew that Deep Forest Emergence wouldn't threaten someone like Barrett. He cast the technique more to shape a favorable battlefield.
After the forest was formed, Jon used his ability to merge with the trees.
This was one of the benefits of the Plant-Plant Fruit: while not offering true elemental intangibility like a Logia, it allowed him to blend into plant life, making him extremely difficult to track.
It was like a Wood-Style technique from Naruto, allowing him to travel through trees.
The plants offered more than just cover—they were a key part of Jon's strategy.
"His presence disappeared again?"
Barrett's brow furrowed. Once again, he couldn't sense Jon's aura—just the overwhelming presence of plant life all around him.
"Tch!"
Barrett took a deep breath. His body was fully recovered, though the pain from the earlier beatdown remained. Still, such pain was trivial to someone like him.
"Playing games, huh? Let's see how long you can hide."
Barrett suddenly sprang into action, kicking over a huge tree in front of him and launching a series of quick attacks.
In moments, vast swathes of the forest were destroyed. Unable to locate Jon, Barrett opted to destroy the entire forest—he figured Jon couldn't hide if there were no trees left.
His logic was sound, but Jon's power exceeded his expectations. Though Barrett destroyed many trees, the forest's size and tree count didn't decrease.
Barrett halted, clearly irritated. This evasive fighting style really got under his skin.
"Hm?"
Hidden within the trees, Jon noticed Barrett suddenly darting in the opposite direction. His expression changed.
"You don't want to fight? Well, I don't have time to waste on you either."
Barrett sneered as he ran, a cold smile on his lips. These Marines were here to capture him—he didn't believe Jon would just let him leave.
Sure enough, before he could exit the forest, several massive wooden spikes shot toward him. He easily shattered them.
"If this is how you plan to drain my stamina, you're wasting your time."
Barrett glared forward in disdain—attacks like this wouldn't tire him out.
Suddenly, a tree ahead began to shift. The trunk twisted, and Jon stepped out of it.
"As I thought, against absolute strength, tricks mean nothing. I really didn't want to fight you head-on, but clearly, I don't have a choice."
Now that all his setups were in place, Jon no longer needed to hide. He stood face-to-face with Barrett.
Though his earlier attacks didn't cause major damage, they had at least injured Barrett and drained some of his energy. That was enough for Jon.
Barrett laughed. "Looks like you finally realized what needs to be done. In that case—fight me like a man!"
Jon brought his fists together. Most of his battles up to this point had relied on his abilities. He had few fights that were pure physical brawls with Haki. Barrett, though, was the perfect test.
With no more words, the two clashed in a violent collision.
Jon was slightly shorter, but still muscular and strong from constant training.
However, in terms of pure strength and Armament Haki, he was at a disadvantage. Barrett also had far more experience.
After all, Barrett was a warrior raised on the battlefield. He had fought countless life-and-death battles. His skill and experience were beyond comparison.
Both of them fought using raw strength and Armament Haki. Jon had no intention of trading punches endlessly to see who dropped first.
This was where his Observation Haki shined—he dodged nearly 99% of Barrett's strikes and made sure most of his punches and kicks landed.
So even though Jon was outmatched in strength and Haki, he still fought Barrett blow for blow.
"Die!"
Barrett roared, landing a powerful punch on Jon's head. Unable to dodge, Jon didn't even try.
Instead, he enlarged his right fist several times over—he had used his ability to coat his hand in thick iron birch wood, further reinforced with Armament Haki. He struck upward with full force, smashing Barrett under the chin.
Jon was driven into the ground, while Barrett was blasted into the air before crashing down.
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