34 Ch 34 - Moving Forest?

When I arrive at the scene where Carina and the rest of the Cp agents where previously frozen at, I'm greeted by a sight that can be found in science fiction books.

The entire area, which was previously a dusty, empty street, now became a forest full of different flora, ranging from huge redwood like trees to bushes of yellow grass, it's all here, and the weirdest thing about this scene?

They are all moving in a vortex pattern around a specific area, moving in strategic ways in order to make something akin to a prison, and when I look closer, it can be seen that multiple individuals are trapped within said prison, these individuals are causing huge amounts of destruction to the plants, yet the plants do not relent, they continued to pour in like there's no tomorrow, acting as if they were given a direct order from god himself and would go to any lengths to follow said order.

As I focus on the trapped individuals, I can see them using large powerful wind blades and barrages of deadly finger pistols, one even seems to be firing off large wind blades shaped like animal jaws, similar to what Jabra did in the anime.

They are also Jumping repeatedly in order to try and fly out using Moonwalk, but are having no apparent success, since those huge redwoods are blocking their every path out of the encirclement.

This sight amazes me, because it's not every day that you get to see a living forest attacking and imprisoning people, powerful people at that.

However, this confuses me, because this sight leads me to believe that this was Carinas doing, and as can be clearly seen, these plants are holding in the agents just fine.

But I distinctly remember that she asked for help and said that she was actually running for her life at the moment.

Meaning that these are not her main problem, to confirm this I squint and look very closely, having some trouble due to all of the moving plants and the shadows of these people moving at blurring speeds, but as I focus even more, I can count the amount of people in the encirclement, and after a bit of double checking, I only count 2 people!

'Shit! I guess that third agent escaped the entrapment and is now chasing Carina!' I think hastily.

With this thought I quickly react, I bend my knees and jump as high as I possibly could, resulting in me jumping 30 feet into the air, and I then scan my surroundings, looking for any disturbances in the surrounding area.

I do this because I can't really hear over the cacophony of trees and wind attacks not far from me.

And just as gravity was taking its course and pulling me back down, I finally caught a glimpse of large dust clouds rising from a few miles north from here.

With a clear direction to head towards I let gravity take ahold and land back down onto the ground and immediately use my fastest shave in order to get there as quickly as possible.

'I'm coming Carina, hold on just a bit longer!'

…

Meanwhile, at Carina's position.

[Carina Pov]

*Haa Haa*

*Hoo Hoo*

I'm currently on my hands and knees, catching my breath from all the bobbing and weaving I've had to do today.

Don't get me wrong, I'm in amazing shape physically, I'm a 10/10 easy, it's as beautiful as can possibly be! But when you've got to perform with your life on the line? Not so easy.

Anyways what I've been doing to get me to this state is for the past few minutes I've had to dodge these crazy attacks, that if what Cade described as correctly, are actually wind blades.

And these wind blades don't appear to be normal, they for some reason are much sharper and larger than anything I've heard from Cade.

He did mention once in passing that swordsmen are known to create huge wind blades, but what I'm facing right now is no swordsman…well kind of.

What I'm running from is a beast, a disgusting horrific beast, a beast that is actually one of those gray covered figures, with those creepy face masks that give me the chills.

The guy obviously has Zoan powers, and unfortunately for me, they allow him to track me down and keep up with me, even with my new powers.

This all started earlier in the day.

Earlier, when I was in the process of completing the deal with that stubby man, Lamb burger, I was completely worriless and completely confident that it would proceed smoothly, for me at least, not so much for him.

With my backup that is Cade and Porche, I completely believed that nothing could go wrong, as Cade had mentioned to me, this is merely one the four seas, not the Grand line, so everything should go according to plan.

I should have known better, if the life of a thief has taught me anything, it's to always expect the unexpected.

And following that maxim, it all went downhill very quickly when these 5 creepy looking gray clad individuals interrupted the operation, cutting off my escape to my new partners.

It all happened so fast, that only after minutes of thinking on what actually happened, did I actually get the big picture.

Apparently, I was surrounded by these threatening individuals, and before anything could truly go wrong, I along with 4 of the interlopers were completely frozen by Cade, using some sort of amazingly overpowered attack.

I thought he could only freeze someone for 30 seconds, like he did to me before, but I guess he was still hiding a few cards up his sleeve.

Anyways from there everything was a blur, it all happened in seconds.

While my vision and reaction time were slowed down significantly, I saw a few curious things. Things that if I didn't see the results with my own eyes, I would think it all happened in my head.

I saw a humongous Rat shoot his teeth at one of the agents, which if I had to guess, was where Porche went, fighting that disgusting looking rat.

I also saw a blur of a figure that looked remarkably like Cade, fighting one of the masked people that somehow avoided Cade's attack.

I wasn't sure, couldn't make out the details in my slowed down state. What I do know for a fact, however, is that I was completely panicking, and afraid, oh so very afraid.

I mean I'm not new to these types of situations, I am a thief for crying out loud, my profession is all about stealing from pirates, horrible criminals, and influential people all the freaking time.

But there's one thing that I've never truly encountered, not in the West Blue, and definitely not in the East Blue, superpowered people! I mean c'mon, the slowing devil fruit, the teleporting individuals, the freaking giant rat!

It was all so freaking absurd! And the only thing I could think about in my state of vulnerability, is to somehow get strong enough to actually be able to confront this reality! And that's when I remembered something crucial, the devil fruit!

I was actually holding in my hands a fucking devil fruit right now! And not just any devil fruit, if what Cade says is true, it's a fucking amazing devil fruit, one of the best!

It's right in that small bag in my left hand! Right within my reach!