Sslash!
The twin axes wrapped in Conqueror's Haki lightning were thrown out, and in an instant — under Teach's horrified gaze — they severed several sections of tree roots.
Although theoretically the roots and branches of Treasure Tree Adam possessed a hardness surpassing alloy and steel, being the hardest tree in the world, after having the vast majority of its Source Energy of Lineage Factor absorbed by Teach through the power of the Nidhogg Fruit, it had become very fragile.
Bang!
Golden sap flowed out, and draining away with it was the vitality of the entire Treasure Tree Adam.
And this was only the beginning.
"..."
Watching Gaban's figure plummet into the deep well below, the other liberated Giant Heroic Spirits looked at one another.
"He really dared to do it..."
Jorul sighed.
This Waterfall Beard had already learned of Uma's request from Gaban.
"For us Giants to personally sever the roots of the World Tree... this old man had never even thought of such a thing."
To be honest, upon hearing this request, Jorul had naturally been furious.
If he were still alive, he would absolutely never have agreed to it no matter what.
But...
"Loki... consumed that fruit, and if his body was occupied by someone..."
Looking at the giant dragon soaring in the sky whose body had been hijacked, Jorul shook his head.
Just as Gaban said — the destruction of Elbaf was already inevitable.
Even without anyone's interference, it would be destroyed by the hands of that black dragon.
So right now, they only needed to make a choice — whether to trust that masked guy and actively destroy their own homeland.
And undoubtedly, this choice didn't actually require much thinking.
"Rather than letting future descendants bear this heavy responsibility, it is better for us to shoulder it."
"Since it is destined to be destroyed, what's the point of cowering?"
"But the sea in this era is truly interesting — the guy who consumed that national treasure can actually meet his match."
"Let's leave it to him... I heard he doesn't seem to be a pirate, which sounds a bit more trustworthy."
Exchanging such words, the Giant Heroic Spirits made their choices almost simultaneously.
Just like Gaban, they each turned around without hesitation and fiercely gouged at the ground beneath their feet.
Giant axes struck the ground, giant swords slashed — as pieces of the earth crumbled, the Giants began to plummet without exception.
And as they fell, they each unleashed their own attacks toward the tree roots below.
"Spear of Elbaf: Houkoku!"
"Spear of Elbaf: Kikoku!"
"For Elbaf!"
The continuous bombardment instantly caused countless roots to shatter and disintegrate once again.
Golden sap flowed out even more frantically, and the swaying of the entire Treasure Tree Adam grew even more violent.
Rumble!
The Heavenly Realm was trembling.
Rumble!
The Sun Realm was crumbling.
"These lunatics... what exactly are they trying to do!?"
Even Teach cursed inwardly at the sight.
Having occupied Loki's body, he similarly possessed the characteristics of Uranus and could communicate with the surrounding natural environment.
So he could judge what was happening through the mournful cries of the surrounding nature — this country, this tree, was rapidly dying.
Although this itself was also Teach's goal, he had clearly never thought the progress would be this fast.
And as the last vitality of Treasure Tree Adam continuously drained away, the remaining Source Energy of Lineage Factor within the tree surged out along with it.
VMMM!
That magnificent Source Energy of Lineage Factor engulfed the figures of Gaban and the Giant Heroic Spirits — being souls constructed through Source Energy of Lineage Factor to begin with, they could naturally fuse with the Source Energy of Lineage Factor of Treasure Tree Adam.
Seeing this, Teach naturally hurried to absorb that precious Divine Power back — even for him, this amount of Divine Power was extremely valuable.
But...
"Hm!?"
When he tried to activate the power of the Nidhogg Fruit to devour that Divine Power, he found that the Divine Power continuously flowing out from Treasure Tree Adam was actually beyond his control.
"Could it be..."
He realized something, instinctively raising his head and looking not far away.
And just as he guessed — Uma was slowly opening the Book of the Stars in his hand.
[Parsing Source Energy of Lineage Factor...]
Invisibly, the Source Energy of Lineage Factor that had just flowed out from Treasure Tree Adam was being completely controlled by him.
Yes.
Just like the roots of the Genesis Pillar, if encountering ownerless Source Energy of Lineage Factor creations, Roy could parse them through the Fruit Encyclopedia.
And the priority of this parsing was clearly higher than any kind of Devil Fruit ability.
For example, the Source Energy of Lineage Factor flowing out from the severed roots of Treasure Tree Adam right now — Teach could of course devour it through the Nidhogg Fruit.
But with Uma present, the ownership of this Source Energy of Lineage Factor naturally belonged to Uma.
Therefore—
VMMM!
Reflected in Teach's widened eyes, the Source Energy of Lineage Factor that abruptly rose from within the deep crater suddenly began to expand.
And upon that Source Energy of Lineage Factor, starlight surged.
[Phantasm World · Expand]
"!!!"
Teach instantly realized what Uma had actually done.
"First creating the illusion of reaching his limit to make me lower my guard — while his true goal was to send Gaban and those guys to the side of the deep crater, giving them the chance to destroy the roots of the World Tree?"
"His true goal was to liberate the Divine Power within the World Tree to expand his domain!?"
"He wants to pull me into that domain!?"
Yes — although Teach had seemed to be relentlessly attacking in a boorish manner before this, in fact he had always maintained basic caution. He had never thought of stepping into Uma's Phantasm World, merely wearing down his opponent from a distance.
And now the facts told him — his caution was necessary.
Because Uma was attempting to drag him into the Phantasm World.
Teach didn't know what the other party was going to do.
But he knew — he had to evade.
But just as he flapped his wings, planning to escape—
[The speed at which the Phantasm World spreads far exceeds Teach's cognition, so he is unable to escape its capture]
Accompanied by the writing of the text, the Source Energy of Lineage Factor entirely filled with starlight had already enveloped Teach within it.
And immediately following—
[After being enveloped into the Phantasm World, Uma's influence over Teach deepened]
[This directly causes Loki's soul within Teach's body to begin awakening — it had never completely dissipated to begin with]
As the text writing reached this point, Teach heard Uma's deafening low roar.
"Loki, aren't you going to wake up!?"
(End of Chapter)
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