The word "Boss" tore through the clouds, and some of those standing nearby even had their eardrums rattled painfully by Barbell's shout.
"Th-This… this is your ultimate move?!"
Seeing Barbell unleash such a big move, Ganzui's mouth twitched uncontrollably.
"That's right! Anyone who wants to snatch them, come and try! Let's see if you can snatch them and escape unscathed before Boss gets here!"
Barbell was certain that Nereus could hear his roar.
This kind of ultimate move had no direct killing power, but it was undeniably effective, because Barbell was stating an unavoidable, objective truth.
If the pirates present could truly work together at this moment, they might actually be able to defeat Barbell, split the treasures, and then scatter and retreat.
But the key problem was that they simply couldn't do that. Even if Barbell threw the treasures straight out, the pirates gathered here would still end up fighting each other over an uneven division of the spoils.
Under such circumstances, choosing to fight Barbell, once things dragged on until Nereus himself arrived…
Ganzui wasn't sure how long it would take them to deal with Barbell, nor was he sure when Nereus would arrive.
But one thing was certain: as long as Nereus showed up, any pirate who dared to make a move against Barbell would definitely be in deep trouble.
He really did want those priceless treasures, but the prerequisite for taking them was having a life to leave here with.
The remaining treasures weren't insignificant either, grabbing that wouldn't be bad…
Many shared Ganzui's thoughts. At the very least, Barbell's "ultimate move" made those from the Rocks Pirates abandon their inner schemes.
Although there were still some pirates covetously eyeing Barbell, clearly unwilling to give up.
But for Barbell himself, the group that truly posed a serious threat had already left.
An ant can deeply understand how terrifying an antlion is. In an ant's eyes, an antlion is an unimaginably dreadful predator.
But an ant has no idea how terrifying an elephant is. Even when crushed to death by a single step, the ant can hardly perceive the elephant's full form.
The members of the Rocks Pirates understood even better how terrifying Nereus was. With Nereus as a looming threat, that portion of the treasures was no longer worth risking their lives for.
Other pirate crews were different, though. Some of them still launched attacks on Barbell, but he defeated them without much effort.
"Big Eater!"
At that moment, an invisible force suddenly swept across the entire warehouse district. The treasures and chests on the ground, the weapons on the pirates, and all kinds of metal objects uncontrollably flew toward one side.
"My treasures!"
"Berries! Berries! Come back!"
Even some pirates who had already grabbed a small amount of treasures and tried to retreat couldn't hold onto what they had.
"Strong magnetic pull detected at the southeastern entrance of the valley!"
"It's Captain John's Devil Fruit ability! Hold onto your weapons! All metal will react, don't get dragged in!"
Among the entire Rocks Pirates, the greediest was undoubtedly John. His love for treasures far exceeded anyone's imagination.
In the end, it was precisely because he wanted to monopolize the treasures that he was besieged and killed by his own crewmates, leaving behind the legend of Captain John's treasures.
Once the situation changed, John moved to a position near the canyon exit and then activated the power of the Magnet-Magnet Fruit to plunder the treasures.
In an instant, metal objects across a wide area began converging in one place. Even people who clung desperately to their treasures were dragged along with it.
The bundle on Barbell's body, stuffed with large amounts of treasure, was naturally affected by Captain John's power. However, Barbell himself possessed a great amount of Armament Haki.
After wrapping his entire backpack in Haki, the impact on his monstrous strength wasn't too significant.
Moreover, Barbell was actually quite relaxed at this moment. It was for a very simple reason; he had already spotted Nereus's figure.
The other pirates still had their attention focused on Barbell, but they too began to sense that something was off.
"Hey, don't you guys think… there's a bit too much blood on the ground?"
A pirate missing several teeth looked around at the ground with a puzzled expression.
Because of the fierce struggle over the treasures earlier, quite a few people had indeed fallen here. There were corpses of both Marines and pirates, and bloodstains on the ground were nothing surprising.
But now, the blood they were stepping on was clearly in an abnormal state.
This abnormality wasn't just reflected in the excessive amount of blood. It even looked as if the blood itself was flowing in a bizarre way.
Anyone who killed people regularly knew that a corpse wasn't an open faucet. Blood couldn't keep flowing forever. What they were seeing was obviously very wrong.
However, the vast majority of pirates had already been dazzled by the priceless treasures before their eyes and had no mind to pay attention to such abnormalities.
If they had observed more carefully at this moment, they might have noticed that the blood was faintly showing a dangerous tendency, as if it were about to boil.
Hiss! Hiss!
In the very next instant, the blood on the ground seemed to come alive, rapidly condensing into one sharp blood spear after another.
With deadly precision, these blood spears mercilessly pierced through the hearts of one pirate after another.
In the blink of an eye, a blood-red forest composed of crimson spears suddenly rose up over a vast area around Barbell.
At the same time, the vibrant life aura within this area was vanishing at a chilling speed.
"Boss, you're here."
"How was the harvest?"
"A huge haul. Three Devil Fruits. Types still unknown.
There's so much treasure I can't even count it, and there are lots of unopened chests.
If that Ganzui wasn't talking nonsense and each chest is worth a billion Berries, then this is an astronomical sum.
We really should thank that woman Shakuyaku. If those guys hadn't all been fixated on her, I wouldn't have had such an easy time."
Barbell opened the pack on his back, showing the treasures inside as he spoke proudly to Nereus.
"Most of the remaining treasures were sucked away by John using his ability, and the Roger Pirates also took quite a bit. Should we go snatch those too?"
With Barbell's abilities, if he had really taken all the treasures just now, he would have become the target of everyone.
Now that Nereus had arrived, there was naturally more to consider.
"It really is a massive haul."
Nereus couldn't easily estimate the total value of the treasures, but he did recognize the exact type of one of the Devil Fruits.
That fruit looked like a green pineapple, with leaves growing from it like blue flames. It was the Zoan-type Bird-Bird Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Model: Phoenix.
"I'll handle what comes next myself. Barbell, I'll send you to the southeastern shore, that area is safer. Find a ship somehow, and as long as you ensure your own safety, take some refugees with you as well.
If things get too dangerous, just dive underwater and leave directly. Go back there and wait for me. What comes next… isn't suitable for you to continue taking part in."
Nereus took the treasures from Barbell's hands and placed it into the flowing blood beside him, letting it slowly sink.
Then, gazing toward the very center of the island, he gave instructions to Barbell.
Please support on pat*eon for extra chapters; there is date to date subscription enabled on patreon. [There is a 7-day trial version availabe on patreon.]
https://www.pat*eon.com/dmtranslations
You can read ahead upto 20 chapters on my pa*reon.