A scene that stunned everyone unfolded.
The notorious SeasStone net, said to suppress any ability, couldn't make even an inch of progress! The Empress reached out in disbelief and touched one of the suspended nets. A faint tingling buzzed through her fingertip—proof that the SeasStone was still functional.
It wasn't that the stones had lost power, but that Roya's ability was far more mysterious and beyond their understanding.
Magellan stared fixedly at Roya's outstretched hand, his mind racing yet sinking into despair and terror.
"Impossible to be sword energy—if it were, it would shred those prison pellets outright, not hold them suspended mid-air.
And it can't be a Devil Fruit ability—those should be nullified by SeasStone!"
The more he thought, the deeper his dread grew. The only solace he had was that Roya had not noticed Magellan's small sacrifice of two prison floors to buy time. We just need to delay a bit longer…
With a flick of his hand, all the SeasStone nets yanked back toward their launch points. Screams erupted from the corridors—those prison bullet squads were entangled now, helpless again.
Roya looked up at Magellan and spoke calmly, "If you've got nothing new, come down and surrender—or die."
Magellan, determined to stall for time, snapped his fingers and dropped from the ceiling with a THUD. He regained his composure as prison warden and declared, "You are indeed strong—but protecting this prison is my duty!"
He continued, "Even if I'm risking my life—warden or not—I will poison you!"
Purple toxic slime already coated him, and three long slime-dragon heads sprouted from his back. This was Magellan's signature skill: Poison Dragon! Each headed dragon lunged at Roya from different angles. Each dragon-head matched Crocodile's size and filled the cramped Level 6 space with suffocating pressure.
Crocodile and Shiryū—just defeated—scrambled into a nearby cell to avoid the dripping slime. Buggy, still reassembling himself, stifled a scream and slid into a corner.
The Empress froze at the approach of the three dragons, but seeing how composed Roya remained, her tension melted away. She rearranged herself sportingly on Salome's lap, fully trusting that Roya would deal with it.
As Magellan unleashed his signature attack, Roya merely smiled. The dragons lunged…
Magellan sneered, "Foolish to dare poison me! My venom can't be resisted—suffer and die in agony!"
PAH!
One dragon exploded into a mass of slime. Then another and the third. Purple mucus splattered everywhere.
"Devil Fruit venom—it really is disgusting!" Roya frowned. The scattered purple slime froze in mid-air at his command, then condensed into a single, living purple jade dragon—an elegant, crystal-like beast, miles more refined than Magellan's.
Roya flicked his finger. The jade dragon twisted and sprang at Magellan's slime dragons, opening its mouth to suck them in—like a raging serpent consuming with immense force. The three poison dragons dissolved into slime, swallowed whole. The jade dragon grew even larger afterward.
Magellan's nightmare deepened. His venom had been controlled and absorbed—by Roya! Such ability to manipulate poison was overwhelmingly superior. He realized he couldn't stall any longer.
"Damn—why isn't lethal yet?!" he thought in panic.
He gaped and spat a barrage of poison slime grenades—high-speed, small projectiles that finally broke through the jade dragon's reception. Most were absorbed, but a few reached Roya.
Magellan smirked, however—as expected—the grenades hit nothing. They exploded into nothing upon impact, unable to faze anything near Roya.
By now, the jade dragon had grown to the size of a human thigh—and its empty eyes gleamed with ravenous intelligence. Magellan shuddered at the hunger in them.
He roared, "TOXIC CLOUD!"
In desperation, he knew he'd have to expose his prior misstep with the poison channels to survive.
A cloud of murky brown gas shot from his mouth, instantly clustering before the jade dragon. The poison gas pooled and pulsed like a living being.
"Come, swallow this!" Magellan hissed, bursting a few gas bubbles that sped toward the creature, ready to detonate on contact.
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