"Blegh!"
A large mouthful of clotted blood sprayed from Jon's lips. His head throbbed with excruciating pain, as if his skull had split open.
He couldn't see it himself, but his head had been severely deformed—badly so.
Even with Armament Haki used for defense, he was still beaten into this state. If not for his exceptional vitality, that punch might have cost him his life.
While his life wasn't in immediate danger, he was definitely severely injured. Luckily, as a Plant-Plant Fruit user, Jon had his own way of recovering.
His fingers twitched slightly, and the injuries on his head began to heal rapidly. In no time, he was back to normal.
Barrett stood up too, spitting out blood—with a tooth among it. Jon's earlier punch had knocked one clean out.
"Now this is what a real man's fight looks like—a clash of the strong."
Even after losing a tooth, Barrett wasn't angry. On the contrary, he laughed maniacally, his face twisted with excitement.
"Is that so? Then you're in for worse."
Now healed, Jon declared with confidence.
His strength and combat experience might be inferior to Barrett's, and even his physique wasn't on par—but he had his own advantages: superior Observation Haki and astonishing recovery ability.
As long as he could keep this up, Jon believed he had a chance to beat Barrett.
Fortunately, Barrett didn't seem to have awakened his Merge-Merge Fruit yet. Otherwise, things would've been much tougher.
"Come again!"
Though fighting Barrett was extremely dangerous, Jon also saw it as an opportunity—to massively boost his combat experience.
Naturally, Barrett didn't refuse Jon's challenge. With a roar, he charged at him again.
Another round of fierce fighting began. Jon, as if with no regard for his own safety, clashed with Barrett head-on. Though he had the worst of it, every time he was hurt, he healed fast—like a walking bug.
And with each of his own attacks managing to hurt Barrett, bit by bit, Jon started gaining the upper hand.
While trading blows, Barrett finally realized something was wrong. He had hit Jon countless times, and yet Jon still recovered completely each time. This kind of ability was unheard of.
After yet another mutually damaging exchange, Barrett couldn't hold back any longer.
"What the hell is your ability?"
"You guess."
Jon responded cheekily while fully recovered—again. He'd lost count of how many times that had happened.
Barrett's face darkened. He knew this wasn't sustainable.
"If you can recover instantly, then I'll just make sure you die so fast you won't have time to heal."
With those words, Barrett's body suddenly began to change. Strange energy coursed through him. On top of his Haki, his entire form took on an eerie blue glow, and his eyes turned blood red.
Right now, Barrett looked like a demon straight from hell.
This was his unique power—Demonic Aura—the reason he was called the Descendant of the Devil.
The Demonic Aura was a special power that only Barrett possessed, and he had already learned to fuse it with Haki, forming an even more terrifying force: his most powerful Demonic Form.
Jon stared cautiously, clearly seeing Barrett's transformation. Drawing on what he knew, Jon immediately recognized this as Barrett's ultimate form.
"Going all in now?"
Jon didn't dare to hold back anymore. Barrett was right: while Jon could heal, he couldn't revive from death. If Barrett struck a fatal blow, that would be the end.
"So fast!"
Jon's eyes could barely track Barrett's movement. He dodged left at the last moment to narrowly avoid a blow—but the next strike followed immediately.
His Observation Haki could detect Barrett, but Jon's body couldn't keep up with the reaction speed.
After a few dodges, he slipped up.
A brutal kick sent Jon flying. Barrett leapt high, then landed a punch straight to Jon's face. Even though Jon tried to block, he couldn't fully defend, becoming a punching bag under Barrett's combo.
Boom!
Jon's body was smashed into the ground, ten meters deep, covered in blood—on the brink of death.
"Let's see if you can survive this."
Barrett was confident. He'd gone all out in that combo. He didn't believe anyone could live through that.
Underground, Jon felt like he was dying. He couldn't move, but he fought to stay conscious. A few of his fingers twitched.
Barrett sensed Jon's life force was nearly gone. He figured there was no need to finish the job—Jon was as good as dead. So he started deactivating his form and turned to leave.
"Hm?"
Just then, something strange happened.
Despite the forest around them being mostly destroyed during the battle, there were still several kilometers of trees left.
Suddenly, all those trees began to wither and die—at once. Entire swaths of forest turned to dust in seconds.
"What the hell?"
Barrett's expression changed. He looked back toward the place where Jon had been smashed into the ground.
To his surprise, Jon emerged—badly wounded, yes, but significantly recovered.
"Still alive?"
Barrett narrowed his eyes, quickly noticing something off. This time, unlike before, Jon hadn't fully healed. He still had many visible wounds and looked drained.
Scanning the fallen trees, Barrett's eyes glinted as he guessed what happened.
"Your healing... is tied to those trees, isn't it?"
"Huff... huff... huff..."
Jon panted heavily. To recover, he had burned through most of his stamina.
"Damn it... The island's plants were all blown away by the bombardment. I can't even draw energy from them anymore."
Normally, he could replenish stamina by absorbing plant energy. But now, with the island's vegetation destroyed, he had no source—only relying on some seaweed and marine plants offshore.
That energy flowed into him now, but it was too little, too weak. It only gave him a small fraction of his strength back.
He glanced around at the withered trees and scowled.
These plants hadn't died because he drained their energy. Since he created them with his own ability, he couldn't draw power from them.
Their death came from another cause.
This was a special ability Jon had developed, inspired by energy absorption—a move made possible through his Plant-Plant Fruit.
He could transfer his injuries to the plants he created. The damage didn't vanish—it simply shifted from his body to his plants, allowing him to heal quickly.
This move, Damage Transfer, was far more difficult than drawing energy, and it burned through his stamina like crazy. It worked hand-in-hand with energy absorption.
In a place rich with plant life, he could theoretically fight forever—endless stamina, endless healing. As long as he didn't die instantly or lose consciousness, he was practically invincible.
Unfortunately, the Buster Call had destroyed the entire island.
He had the ability—but nowhere to use it.
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