Karina, Sabo, and Gin jumped down after me.The ground beneath our feet was spongy, almost breathing. A muffled echo resonated from below, as if the island itself was responding to our presence.
"Great start," Sabo smirked, glancing around.
Karina crouched, ran her fingers across the moss, and brought her hand to her face."This isn't just moss. It's… like coral."
"Sea coral?" Gin asked, rising on his toes slightly.
"No. Dry. But it pulses… like it's alive."
We moved on. The path beneath us twisted of its own will — not just curving, but actively changing direction, as if testing where we intended to go. Any confidence in the ground's stability was long gone.
The trees grew in chaos: some upward, others downward, and some curved into arches like someone had deliberately grown them by dream logic.
"Even the flowers are alive!" Gin suddenly shouted, and we all turned.He yanked his hand back in panic, something clinging to it — a plant that resembled a giant venus flytrap with teeth, trying to bite his finger.
"Let go, you freak!" he cursed, flinging the flower to the ground. It hit with a slap… and began crawling back, as if lying in ambush.
I couldn't help laughing, watching the little "flower" retract its jaws like a predator.
"It's actually fascinating!" I exclaimed, stepping closer to a strange bush with soft, glowing thorns.
"Hey, Captain, don't touch it!" Karina warned sharply, already tensing.
"Heh, it's not gonna hurt me," I waved her off and reached toward the bush.
"AAAHHHHHHHHHH!" I screamed a second later as the bush snapped its thorns shut like hundreds of tiny pincers, gripping my wrist.
— Yeah, sure he didn't! — laughed Sabo and Gin, already approaching.
Karina rolled her eyes and struck the plant with her staff. It squealed, released its grip, and shrank into the ground.
I yanked my arm back, clutching it — it burned like nettles, but there was no blood. Just… a sticky ripple left by the contact.
"Thanks," I muttered.
We continued down the path, deeper into the madness — nature woven in a way that clearly had a mind of its own, watching us from every leaf, branch, and whisper of wind.
"Treasure's usually at the center of the island," Karina said as we climbed a slope covered in twisting vines. "At least, if the old maps and dumb legends are to be believed."
"Yeah, 'center'," Sabo grinned, looking around. "The heart. Where it's always the most cursed."
Gin trailed behind, gripping his tonfa tighter."This place... Like every tree's whispering behind your back. You hear that?"
Huge shadows darted behind the trees, like clouds sweeping across the earth.
We closed ranks — back to back: me, Sabo, Karina, and Gin.
"LEAVE THIS PLACE!"It roared like thunder, but the voice sounded… off. Like it came through a megaphone. Artificial.
"What the hell was that?" Sabo asked, spinning around with his hand on his pipe.
"Where's it coming from?!" Karina whispered, barely holding herself together.
"I AM THE GUARDIAN GOD OF THIS ISLAND!" the voice boomed again. "IF YOU VALUE YOUR LIVES — LEAVE IMMEDIATELY!"
Gin stepped forward, eyes narrowing."Guardian…?"
"You're pirates," the voice continued.
"Yep," I grunted. "And what?"
There was a pause. The voice hesitated.
"I knew it…" it finally said, now with a suspicious creak.
I frowned and stepped toward the thicket."Why ask questions if you could've blasted us to pieces already?"
"You are a god, aren't you?" Karina added, squinting.
"Because… because I'm giving you a chance!" the voice replied, clearly unsure of itself.
"A chance…" Sabo scoffed. "Don't trust anyone who talks through a pot."
Karina suddenly raised her hand."There! Something gleamed in the bushes!"
We turned — and then came the crack of branches and strange rustling as a horde of bizarre creatures tumbled from the brush.
"What the…" I squinted, trying to process what I was seeing.
From the thicket, accompanied by snapping branches and a heavy thudding, even more strange creatures burst out. We stood frozen in disbelief — wild, absurd hybrids flailed before us, as if nature itself had gone mad.
A giant figure with a striped body and feathered legs darted past — a zebra and an ostrich merged into one, its neck jerking like it was mounted on rusty hinges. Behind it lumbered a massive beast: the head of a gorilla, the body of a hippo, and enormous feet sinking deep into the moss.
"HEY, Bellamy!" Sabo cried, clutching his stomach from laughter. "You have to see this!" He grabbed the thing, and it squawked and tried to wriggle free.
"AHAHAHAHA!" I laughed, stepping closer. "I never imagined this. What is that?!"
Then the "guardian" thundered again:"ALL WHO CAME FOR TREASURE NOW LOOK LIKE THIS.""After I transformed them…"
"What?!" Karina gasped, stepping back.
"No way…" Gin muttered, staring at the hybrids — a rabbit with scales, a goat with tentacles, and a half-bald wombat-like creature.
Suddenly, a snake-rabbit hybrid lunged at my leg, trying to bite —
"Hey! What the hell?!" I kicked out and yelled:"Bane Bane no Mi! Iron Leg!"
With a metallic clang, my leg transformed into a powerful spring. The snake bit metal, recoiled, and hissed.
"WHAT IS THAT?!" the voice in the bushes shrieked, now more panicked than angry.
I stepped forward."I'm a spring man. I ate the Bane Bane no Mi Devil Fruit."
"Devil Fruit?!" the voice trembled. "That… that's impossible… Back when I was a pirate, it was just rumors…"
"When you were a pirate?" Karina echoed, relaxing slightly, a sly smile on her face.
"No! I don't want to talk about the past!" the voice shouted, as if shielding itself from memory.
"Weird guy," Sabo muttered, stroking the bird-cat creature in his arms.
"SILENCE!" the "god" shrieked again. "If you don't leave, you'll face… Divine Punishment!"
At his words — as if on cue — wooden stakes whistled through the air, followed by thunderous crashes: boulders tumbled down from the slopes above.
"Whoa—" flashed through my mind as I rolled to the side, dodging.
"Getting hit on the head would suck," I thought, transforming my hand into a spring.
"Bane Bane no… SPRING FIST!" I yelled, launching my extended arm.
With a crunch and booming echo, the spring smashed into a boulder hurtling toward me. The rock cracked, shattered, and exploded into rubble.
Sabo and Karina dove aside, Gin shielded his head, backing toward a tree.
Then — from the dense bushes behind us — a voice barked:"DON'T MOVE OR I'LL SHOOT!"
The voice was tense…
I tilted my head slightly, staying focused."There you are…" I thought, smirking.
My body tensed instantly."Bane Bane no… SPRING SHIELD!" I declared, and my chest coiled in metallic contours.
My skin tightened, muscles twisted into dense spirals — as if my whole torso had become a compressing steel spring. Inside — a faint trembling, like a bowstring drawn tight.
The gunshot came the next second.
The bullet hit — and bounced off.
The impact compressed into me, then dissolved across the trembling coils. I didn't even flinch.
This scene looks a lot like what I remember. Now I'm sure who it is!
"This can't be! MONSTER!" Gaimon screamed, eyes bulging.
He stumbled back, snapped a few branches, rolled over a log — and bolted into the thicket.
"Hey, he dropped his gun," Karina said, bending down and pushing through the bushes where he had just been.
In the dirt lay an old musket with a cracked stock.
"After him!" I shouted, charging forward.
"He runs pretty fast!" Gin chuckled, weaving between trees.
"You're not getting away!" I yelled, transforming my legs into springs and launching myself skyward.
"Bane Bane no… SPRING JUMP!"
I shot into the air, above the tree canopies. Wind whipped my face, my eyes scanned the green mass — alive, pulsing, as if the island knew it was being hunted.
I twisted mid-air, scanning:"Wait… where is he?.." the thought hit.
Below — only snake-like bushes, writhing trees, and twitching vines. No sign of him.
I landed hard, springs coiling back into legs.He had to be nearby…