The corner of Magellan's mouth twitched slightly. He surveyed the chaotic, destroyed scene around him, then slowly walked toward Luffy and said, "Do you have any idea why Impel Down is called an impregnable iron wall?"
"This so-called iron wall is what you're talking about?"
Hearing this, Luffy raised his hand and pointed at the large hole he had punched straight through the floor connecting the upper and lower levels.
"Hmph!"
Magellan's expression instantly darkened.
That casual, understated remark was more insulting to his dignity than any outright curse.
"For a pirate like you, who has illegally broken into Impel Down and caused massive destruction, as the Warden, I have the authority to execute you on the spot!"
The purple venom on his body began to churn restlessly.
"Your ability looks like it'll be a real pain."
Luffy clenched his fist. Armament Haki quickly spread over his arm like flowing black liquid. "But if you think you can do it, then bring it on!"
Magellan was in no hurry. "As that clown Buggy said, I am a venom human who ate the Doku Doku no Mi. My entire body, even the breath I exhale, contains deadly poison.
How do you plan to fight me?"
Even if he used a sword, his poison could corrode even the blade!
If Magellan wished, he could turn all of Impel Down into a prison of poison.
To prove his words, he opened his mouth. Deep purple venom gas spewed forth with his breath, and he consciously controlled its direction, spreading it uniformly toward the area where Luffy stood.
Several unfortunate guards in the path of the venom gas inhaled only a small amount, and their bodies turned purple and blue at a visible rate. They screamed, collapsed, convulsed, and instantly fell unconscious.
"From what I can see, your Haki is very strong,"
Magellan analyzed calmly, "But Haki is not invincible!"
In the face of certain special abilities, even powerful Haki could only play second fiddle!
He firmly believed this.
Haki represented spirit, physique, and willpower—the mark of a strong one.
But in Magellan's understanding, Haki did not mean everything.
He himself was a powerful testament to the argument that Haki was not omnipotent.
This was only natural, because he was a living source of poison—a venom human who was almost certainly lethal without an antidote.
His toxins could penetrate and corrode, even bypassing Haki's defenses, especially against opponents who needed to fight up close.
Armament Haki might be able to block physical attacks, but against the all-pervasive venom gas and highly corrosive venom liquid, its defensive effect was not absolute.
Which was stronger, Haki or Devil Fruit abilities?
In Magellan's case, abilities were the strongest!
Magellan had extremely rich combat experience. He judged that Luffy's physical technique and Haki proficiency were extremely high, so a concentrated attack of physical venom would not be very effective.
Therefore, he chose the more difficult venom gas to defend against as his first move.
People always had to breathe, and to Magellan, venom gas was as harmless as air.
"Venom Fog!"
Magellan shouted in a deep voice. Even more venom gas seeped from the pores of his body. The surrounding air visibly turned into a thick, deep purple, as if forming his own absolute venom domain. "Just lie down quietly!"
While the venom fog spread, Magellan did not stop attacking. He opened his mouth and spat out several condensed venom balls, which shot toward Luffy like cannonballs.
"Poison Gas Bomb!"
He had no intention of giving Luffy any time to adapt or think of a countermeasure.
Once the target was poisoned—even just a tiny bit—it basically meant they had lost the ability to fight!
This was Magellan, the undoubtedly strongest one in Impel Down!
Poisoned victims only had four hours of activity before rapidly weakening to their death. To this day, no one had been able to purely rely on their body to withstand his poison.
Where the Poison Gas Bomb exploded, Luffy's figure was already gone.
Before Magellan could even react, a tremendous impact suddenly struck his abdomen. He let out a dull groan and slid backward uncontrollably, his feet carving two deep grooves in the ground.
What followed was an overwhelming-like intense pain in his internal organs, causing him to cough violently.
He looked up in disbelief. There was Luffy, suspended in midair, holding one arm aimed forward while the other hand was drawn back as if after firing.
That blow just now... Luffy's hand had never made any contact with him at all!
"Your ability really does look troublesome,"
Luffy lowered his hand and said calmly, "But as long as I don't touch it, it's fine, right?"
He had seen through the greatest threat of Magellan's ability in one glance.
The all-pervasive contact poison.
Troublesome as it was, had Luffy ever encountered fewer troublesome ability users?
Aokiji the Logia type, Enel with the Goro Goro no Mi—which of them didn't have troublesome abilities?
He was used to find counterme
assurances in the heat of battle.
Although the long-range Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol just now had hit its mark, Magellan didn't seem to have taken a serious hit.
Aside from the trouble of the Doku Doku no Mi, this Warden's own build and physique were clearly nothing to scoff at either.
Magellan reluctantly stood upright, clutching his still-throbbing abdomen, and looked at Luffy with some surprise. "Is it a special development of your fruit's ability? It seems your techniques are also quite skilled at long-range attacks that don't require physical contact."
He admitted he had been careless just now. That long-range punch had contained extremely condensed Haki and displayed astonishing destructive power.
This Straw Hat kid not only had high Haki proficiency, but his physique and strength were also absurd.
"But you can't maintain that form forever, can you? Simultaneously sustaining high-intensity Haki output and using your fruit ability will consume your stamina enormously."
Magellan quickly calmed down and began analyzing his opponent's weaknesses.
He had earned the position of Impel Down Warden and been hailed as its strongest. He was unworthy of fame, and his combat experience was immense.
Moreover, the venom gas had already spread to Luffy's vicinity. Soon, this entire space would become his absolute venom gas domain.
"It's useless."
Luffy saw through his thoughts and shook his head. "Impel Down isn't a completely sealed area. There's a lot of space. Your venom fog can't cover me entirely, and it certainly can't reach a concentration where I can't avoid it in a short time."
With that, he took a deep breath, his chest inflating greatly.
"Gomu Gomu no Plus: Balloon!"
He exhaled forcefully.
Whoosh!
A powerful gust of wind like a storm blasted from his mouth, instantly scattering the venom gas that had been gathering around him. The air became noticeably clear at once.
"Unless your venom fog can spread through all of Impel Down in an instant, this kind of tactic won't do much against me," Luffy said.
Besides, perhaps because some trace amounts of poison had entered his body through breathing, from a moment ago, faint beeps had been sounding in his ear.
[Poison Resistance +1]
[Poison Resistance +1]
...
This feeling was very similar to when he had fought Aokiji's troublesome freezing ability in his dreams.
[Cold Resistance +1].
Following that trend, it probably wouldn't be long before his body developed considerable resistance to Magellan's poison.
And it wasn't impossible to become completely immune.
Magellan naturally had no idea about this bizarre change happening within Luffy. But as a venom human, he was extremely sensitive to toxins.
He could clearly sense that the effect of the venom gas he emitted on Luffy was gradually weakening. Though the change was small, it was indeed there.
"Is some kind of special ability or constitution adapting?"
Magellan felt a chill in his heart. "Then let's test it out. Which will win—my poison's potency, or your endurance?"
He no longer held back. The color of the venom oozing from his body began to deepen, becoming more viscous.
Higher-potency venom surged from within him, gathering behind his back to form three enormous, ferocious purple venom dragons!
"Venom Dragon!"
Magellan growled.
The three purple venom dragons let out silent roars and lunged at Luffy from three different angles!
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
The venom dragons slammed into the ground where Luffy had been standing, splashing large globs of purple venom.
However, Luffy's figure was no longer there.
The next second, he appeared behind Magellan like a ghost, his fist coated in pitch-black Haki swinging forward.
"Gomu Gomu no Jet Pistol Plus!"
Pfft!
A dull thud!
The venom behind Magellan automatically condensed, forming a thick venom shield that barely blocked the rapid strike.
Venom splashed everywhere, but more venom quickly replenished it from Magellan's body. The scattered venom was slowly regaining its shape.
"Hey,"
Luffy attacked and retreated in one motion, glancing at the squirming recovering venom dragons, "The Doku Doku no Mi... is it really a Paramecia-type Devil Fruit?"
The way this venom changed its shape looked just like a Logia.
"Same to you,"
Magellan turned around, the venom dragons swirling around him with ease. "Your Gomu Gomu no Mi doesn't look like a standard Paramecia either."
Wasn't changing shape something only Zoan-type Devil Fruits could do?
He guessed quite accurately.
Luffy had to admit, many times he was impressed by the insight of such strong ones.
If it weren't for the inherent mental shackles restricting their thinking, they would probably figure out that the Gomu Gomu no Mi wasn't a Paramecia.
And in fact, there probably was no such Devil Fruit as the "Gomu Gomu no Mi" at all.
Magellan stared at Luffy and said, "How much longer do you think you can last? My poison doesn't just take effect through breathing. It's saturated in the air and will seep through your skin pores, little by little."
Little by little, it added up.
Although Luffy repeatedly scattered the veno
m fog, the venom dragons kept appearing, getting scattered, and then condensed again.
The process itself was continuously polluting the air in this space.
Even without direct contact, staying here for a long time would cause large amounts of toxins to accumulate in the body.
Thus, he absolutely could not fight a drawn-out battle with Magellan here.
The terror of poison lay in its persistence and cumulative effect.
"Your ability is decent,"
Luffy gripped the short blade Magi in his hand. With their hearts connected, the short blade quickly elongated and transformed back into a katana. "But abilities are still too weak against the real Haki!"
Torrential Armament Haki surged like a black tide, instantly wrapping around Magi's blade, dyeing it a deep, pitch-black color.
Then, black-red arcs of electricity began to leap and flash across his arm and the blade, emitting faint crackling sounds.
A terrifying, oppressive pressure spread through the air.
That was Conqueror's Haki Infusion!
Luffy moved!
His figure seemed to melt into the air, completely vanishing from Magellan's field of vision, leaving behind only a blurry afterimage and a sharp, tearing sound.
The heavy pressure coming from the air made Magellan's eyelids twitch violently.
"So fast!"
Alarm bells rang in Magellan's mind. If that blade wrapped in black-red lightning hit him head-on, he would absolutely die!
"Raaah!"
Without needing Magellan's explicit command, the venom dragons swirling around him sensed the deadly threat and automatically tackled the fast-approaching dark figure.
However, Luffy's sword swung at a speed beyond imagination.
Blade light flashed like black lightning, weaving through the purple mass of venom dragons.
Swish! Swish!
Swish! Swish!
With each flash of blade light, the ferocious venom dragons couldn't even make an effective strike before being cut in half by the sharp blade-edge wrapped in Conqueror's Haki.
The power of Haki not only gave the blade-edge unparalleled cutting force but also somewhat suppressed the activity of the venom. The severed venom dragons couldn't recover as quickly as before. Instead, they exploded and collapsed into puddles of deactivated venom, splashing to the ground and corroding it into a mess of holes.
"This guy is actually a great swordsman?!"
Magellan's expression turned extremely grim. He had thought Luffy was just using the sword as a convenient weapon.
Because when they first started fighting, Luffy's attacks were purely physical techniques combined with his fruit ability.
And yet the swordsmanship he was now displaying was not only not weak, but terrifyingly sharp!
Where was this guy's limit?
Could one person really have that much time and energy to learn all this?
Magellan let out a roar. The remaining venom dragons all merge, merging into one.
"Oh? It gets even bigger?"
Luffy noticed the giant venom dragon, its size gradually swelling and its color growing as countless smaller venom dragons merged into it.
The surfaces he could stand on around him had been mostly covered by the venom flowing everywhere, becoming precarious.
But the blade in his hand—Magi—far from having its light dim from the consecutive slashes, had its winding Haki instead became more dazzling, as if tempered by each and every swing.
As if he had struck ninety-nine strikes just to accumulate power and let the final strike reach its peak!
This was a unique understanding of Haki application—a technique Luffy had figured out during his brief training on Amazon Lily through communication with Hancock and by combining it with his own circumstances.
Unfortunately for Magellan, he became the first person to experience this power.
"Having a big enough size doesn't mean having higher intensity."
Luffy turned his wrist. His arm muscles bulged as surging Haki and power were injected into Magi in his grip.
With his movement, his sword-wielding arm, along with the black blade Magi, began to visibly grow larger.
"But since you made your move bigger, I'll give you something back!"
You weren't the only one who could grow!
Humm!
A humming sound that made one's soul tremble rang out.
Terrifying sword pressure and condensation to the extreme Haki seemed to become tangible. Black-red lightning crackled wildly, making the entire Blazing Hell flicker between light and dark!
The massive black blade appeared.
Cold sweat instantly soaked Magellan's back. His pupils shrank to the size of pinpoints.
He couldn't take that head-on!
But his dignity and duty as Warden would not allow him to retreat!
"I'll show you what the absolute barrier of Impel Down really is!"
Magellan roared. The giant venom dragon, which had practically all of his venom concentrated into it, abruptly deepened in color. From the very back of it, red venom began to emerge, slowly spreading throughout the entire dragon.
That was Magellan's trump card.
The moment that dark red venom appeared, Luffy also felt a chill in his heart.
"That's some strong toxicity. I really don't want to get touched by that stuff."
Luffy hesitated no longer. He released the power he had swelling to its limit, unleashing it with the motion of his sword swing!
"Hatō: Slash!"
The massive black blade, with the force to tear through anything, swung down!
"Conqueror's Haki Infusion?!"
Magellan's expression was grave. He controlled the dark red giant venom dragon, opening its giant maw to actively face the blade-edge that was tearing through space itself.
Boom!
A deafening explosion instantly swept across the entire Level Four!
At the center of the collision between the venom dragon and the black blade-edge, an unimaginable energy blast bursts.
Purple venom and black-red Haki lightning flew in all directions.
Yet the anticipated stalemate never came.
The instant the venom dragon opened its mouth, the blade-edge broke straight through the venom's obstruction with an almost crushing posture!
Wherever the blade-edge passed, the venom cleared like snow and ice under a scorching sun.
"What?!"
Magellan couldn't believe his eyes. Just how great was that guy's Haki intensity and strength?!
But his combat instincts kicked in immediately. He pushed his body desperately, producing a steady stream of venom.
The extreme forces collided violently, producing destruction far beyond imagination.
The ground below, already covered in venom, fractured inch by inch under the force of this clash, like brittle glass.
A massive hole had явно appeared in the floor of Level Four!
From below the hole, bone-chilling winds howled backward, carrying with them the sight of a vast, white plain of ice and snow.
That was Level Five—Freezing Hell!
"That's Level Five!"
Not far away, Buggy, who had been trembling in a corner and barely avoided being blown away by the shockwave, saw the scene below and screamed in shock.
After swinging that slash, Luffy withdrew his arm and Magi, which had restored its original size.
The floor above was covered in venom. There was nowhere left to stand.
That only left one option—go down.
Luffy dropped down into the ice plains of Level Five.
In the remains of the corridor, Magellan staggered to steady himself.
A long gash ran from his forehead down to his jaw, from which deep purple venom blood was steadily seeping out, making him look particularly ferocious.
But compared to the wound on his face, what he was even more reluctant to mention was that under the double pressure of that heavy strike just now and desperately trying to maintain his ability, he felt like he couldn't hold it in any longer!
Magellan's expression was so dark it looked like poison could drip from it. He stared at the entrance to Level Five below, where the cold wind howled.
He didn't immediately give chase.
On one hand, because his insides were in turmoil and he urgently needed to take care of a personal matter. On the other hand, he had absolute confidence in his poison.
He was certain that during the fierce clash just now, Luffy couldn't have possibly completely avoided all the venom. Even if just a tiny bit got on him... after four hours, when the poison took effect, that Straw Hat kid would be as good as dead!
"Wait... wait for me to take care of this, then I'll come settle the score with you!"
Magellan clenched his legs together and stood still, taking deep breaths as he tried to calm the raging urge in his lower abdomen.
Just then, Hannyabal, Sadi-chan, and the others nearby, who had been brought around by the cold wind, slowly regained consciousness.
Hannyabal shook his still-dizzy head. Seeing Magellan standing there, he immediately ran over and slapped Magellan on the shoulder. "Warden! Where's that Straw Hat kid?! We need to chase him!"
Before he could finish speaking, he felt an indescribable odor, mixed with the smell of venom, hit his face with the cold wind.
Sadi-chan and Domino also ran over, but as soon as they got close, they immediately covered their noses, their faces taking on extremely strange expressions as they staggered backward.
"Vice Warden Hannyabal."
Domino fought back her discomfort and quietly reminded him.
Only then did Hannyabal realize, with a delayed start, that he might have caused a huge disaster. Seeing the murderous look in Magellan's eyes, he felt that his dream of becoming Warden seemed to be rapidly slipping away.
"Ah, I'm dead."
Hannyabal conveniently fell unconscious on the spot.
Either he took the initiative, or Magellan would take the initiative for him.
He chose the former.
***
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