On the outer edge of the battlefield, in a sector no less important than the center, Queen the Plague surveyed the chaos through his narrow eyes.
When he spotted the tall figure emerging from the rear of the Marine formation, shrouded in dark-purple venom, a cruel and excited grin spread across his fat face.
"Zoom-zoom-zoom-zoom! Magellan! Never thought you'd crawl out of Impel Down to join the fun!"
Queen twisted his enormous body, his voice thick with provocation.
"I've heard that Venom-Venom Fruit of yours is pretty impressive. Today, I'll show you what true artistry in plague warfare looks like!"
Before the final word had left his mouth, Queen's body swelled and transformed.
Mechanical gears whirred as bones cracked and expanded, and in an instant, he assumed his colossal brachiosaurus form.
This transformation, however, was different from before.
Countless tiny openings appeared across his heavily modified mechanical body, leaking fluids of unnatural colors that radiated an ominous presence. His entire dinosaur form became surrounded by a foul stench combining chemical agents with the sickly odor of viral contamination.
Clearly, Queen had made further "advances" in his research into technological poisons.
"Death Venom: Brachiosaurus Bomb!"
Queen roared and charged forward with heavy steps, resembling a mobile fortress built for biological warfare.
His long neck whipped through the air as his enormous jaws opened. Instead of fire, a vast cloud of dark-green poison erupted from his mouth and blanketed the battlefield.
At the same time, his colossal body thundered toward Magellan, intending to crush him beneath its full weight.
Faced with the terrifying assault, Magellan remained grim and cold beneath his Marine coat.
Only his brow tightened slightly, seemingly more offended by the stench coming from Queen than by the attack itself.
"Hydra!"
At Magellan's low command, the surging venom behind him gathered into three enormous purple dragons.
They opened their jaws in silent roars.
One charged into Queen's poison cloud, swallowing and neutralizing it, while the other two attacked from either side and sank their fangs into his massive brachiosaurus body.
Hisssss—!
The moment Magellan's venom came into contact with the strange liquid covering Queen's body, an intense chemical reaction erupted.
Corrosive hissing filled the air as thick smoke billowed upward.
Queen's poison possessed formidable resistance to corrosion and an unusual toxicity of its own, while Magellan's venom carried nearly absolute corrosive power and instant lethality.
"Zoom-zoom! Not bad! But try the improved version of my Ice Oni!"
Queen laughed wildly and drove his brachiosaurus tail into the ground.
When he ripped it free, countless frozen poisonous spikes containing both freezing agents and lethal viral compounds shot toward Magellan like torrential rain.
"Venom Demon: Hell's Judgment!"
Magellan did not dare underestimate the attack.
He immediately pushed the power of the Venom-Venom Fruit to a higher level, causing an enormous upper body made of skull-shaped crimson venom to rise from the ground.
It shielded him from the barrage, catching and melting every frozen spike.
Poisonous mist spread wherever their attacks passed.
The earth was corroded into a landscape of pits and craters, while even the surrounding air became lethal.
Marines and pirates alike fled their battlefield in terror, afraid that the slightest exposure would reduce them to bloody sludge.
The three Hydras Magellan had summoned moved as though they were alive, furiously devouring and neutralizing the dark-green fog released by Queen.
The Venom-Venom Fruit possessed power that almost resembled an absolute law.
Its deep-purple poison carried unmatched corrosion and lethality. Queen's chemical fog might have combined several bizarre and troublesome agents, but in terms of concentration and sheer toxicity, it was still slightly inferior.
Hisssss—!
Wherever the fog collided with the venom dragons, an ear-grating sound of corrosion continued without pause.
Queen's poison cloud visibly thinned and faded, its dark-green color gradually overwhelmed and consumed by Magellan's deep purple.
"Zoom-zoom-zoom! What an annoying Devil Fruit!"
Queen's voice rumbled from his brachiosaurus body.
Realizing that his ranged poison attacks were ineffective, he immediately changed tactics.
"Mechanical Impact: Brachiosaurus Dive!"
His enormous body abruptly accelerated.
The mechanically enhanced muscles in his rear legs unleashed astonishing power, sending him crashing through the remaining poison fog and the Hydras' obstruction like a runaway steel train.
He charged directly toward Magellan.
Queen whipped his long neck forward, opened his enormous jaws, and revealed rows of gleaming metal fangs before biting down viciously.
He intended to engage Magellan in dangerous close combat.
A trace of surprise flashed through Magellan's eyes, but his response was immediate.
Venom surged around his body and formed a thick layer of poisonous armor. At the same time, he threw a punch coated in highly concentrated toxin.
"Venom Road!"
Boom!
Queen's enormous head collided violently with Magellan's venom-covered fist.
The resulting shock wave split the nearby ground apart.
The instant they made contact, the concentrated poison covering Magellan's fist moved as though it possessed a life of its own. It rapidly spread across the skin of Queen's head, while part of it transformed into poisonous gas and entered Queen's body with his next breath.
Any ordinary opponent—even an exceptionally powerful Devil Fruit user—would have collapsed in agony the moment such poison touched them.
Queen merely grinned even more savagely.
"Zoom-zoom! Useless! This body is the ultimate masterpiece, rebuilt through countless experiments with viruses and toxins!"
The poison gas he inhaled made him release nothing more than a belch accompanied by a ring of purple smoke.
The venom spreading across his skin corroded the outermost layer of tissue, but then seemed to encounter some powerful resistance. Its advance slowed dramatically.
Even more astonishingly, the muscle beneath the damaged skin began regenerating at a rate visible to the naked eye.
New tissue forced the necrotic flesh outward until it peeled away, demonstrating the terrifying vitality and regenerative ability granted by his Ancient Zoan body.
"I'm Queen the Plague! When it comes to poison, I'm the damned master!"
Queen laughed wildly and unleashed the brachiosaurus form's full strength.
Ignoring the venom covering his body, he forced Magellan backward across the ground.
At the same time, mechanical weapons emerged from hidden compartments throughout his enormous frame.
Lasers, blades, and streams of high-pressure acid joined his overwhelming physical strength, creating a relentless close-range barrage against Magellan.
At last, Magellan's expression became completely grave.
For the first time, his seemingly unstoppable venom had encountered such a troublesome opponent.
Queen possessed not only astonishing resistance to poison, but also regenerative abilities so abnormal that they sharply reduced the lasting damage inflicted by the toxins.
"Venom Swamp!"
A vast pool of poison spread beneath Magellan's feet, attempting to restrain Queen's movements.
Yet Queen relied upon his colossal size and brute strength to march directly through it, continuing to close the distance one heavy step at a time.
The battle between the two "Poison Kings" had abruptly shifted from a long-range exchange of toxic clouds into a far more dangerous and violent close-quarters brawl.
...