The poison coating those rounds was all but incurable without the antidote he alone held—finding another scientist in this world who could match his mastery was no easy feat.
El, however, had no cause for worry. Toxin gas, venom‑tipped bullets—none of it mattered if it could never touch him!
RAT‑A‑TAT‑TAT! Queen's machine gun blazed on, spitting endless poisoned fire, yet it could never so much as graze El's fleeting form!
"Got you at last!"
Queen's heart lurched—not because he had cornered his foe, but because El had slipped past the barrage and closed the distance!
THWACK! Just as he had done with Jack, El seized the massive Brachiosaurus's leg, ready to repeat the same move and hurl this colossal beast into the waves as well.
Any Devil Fruit user cast into the sea would be stripped of all power.
But a Brachiosaurus was one of the largest creatures to ever walk the earth—surely such a titan could not be thrown so easily?
Time and again, El's strength defied every limit anyone had ever known.
The Brachiosaurus swayed, its claws slipping on the deck as it teetered on the very edge of being cast overboard.
WHOOSH!
At the last moment, Queen snapped his neck and tail straight, then coiled and snapped them outward—his long, serpentine neck and tail shot free, pulling away from his main torso like a living projectile!
"What?!" Even El was taken aback. What sort of trick was this?
Could a Brachiosaurus really split itself in two?
No living thing should be capable of such a thing… unless Queen had brutally altered his own body to make it possible?
"HAHAHA—ignorant fool! Don't you know ancient Brachiosaurus used exactly this method to seize prey and foes alike?!"
Absolute nonsense, El thought.
Brachiosaurus were herbivores… and besides, no creature in all history had ever been able to split and rejoin its own body!
Wriggling like a great serpent, Queen had narrowly avoided being thrown into the sea.
"No matter what form you take, you've picked a fight with the wrong person," El said, shaking his head.
Queen's Devil Fruit ability—or rather, the twisted way he had refined it—was truly bizarre.
But one clever trick would never be enough to defeat him.
A surprise gambit might work once, but relying on it again and again was pure folly.
El casually tossed the discarded limbs and main torso Queen had left behind into the sea.
Queen stared in terror; his serpentine form was only meant for escape, and his fighting strength in this state was far weaker than his full Brachiosaurus shape.
"Wait—stop!" Queen panicked as El moved toward him again.
"I get it now! I was wrong! Spare us, and I'll give you the antidote and heal your men—what do you say?!"
Queen was no stubborn fool.
To his mind, any choice was justified so long as it served his ends, and that outlook had carried him far—all the way to becoming one of the Three Disasters.
But today, he had run into a force that might well cost him his life.
El paused, though not out of mercy. "Idiot! Even if I kill you, the antidote will still be mine!"
He seized the long, writhing form with one hand and hurled it after Jack, as carelessly as tossing away a scrap of cloth.
The second All‑Star of the Beasts Pirates joined his crewmate in the sea.
Doflamingo gaped. "Captain—the antidote might still be on him!"
"Right!" El slapped his forehead.
"Then what are we waiting for? Pull him back up at once!"
…
The standoff finally settled.
Not a single pirate from the Beasts Pirates dared make a sound—if even their two greatest commanders could not stand against El alone, what chance did the rest of them have?
Even without El, just Crocodile and Doflamingo would have been more than a match for the remaining crew.
It seemed the Beasts Pirates had come for a swift strike: only two All‑Stars and one ship, sent to complete their mission quickly and withdraw.
Now, instead of a clean retreat, they faced total ruin. With two top commanders already deployed, they had sent no other elite fighters along.
With their leaders defeated, the ordinary crew had no choice but to obey.
Under El's watchful eye, they cautiously pulled Jack and Queen from the water.
Jack fared better—his Fish‑Man blood let him breathe even when paralyzed by the sea's curse.
Queen, however, had no such advantage; he was just as helpless as any ordinary human, and within minutes he looked barely alive.
Once fitted with Seastone handcuffs, both slowly regained their senses—Queen still pale and gasping, Jack already fully recovered and his strength restored by his Zoan power.
But neither dared move an inch, cowed by El's presence.
Queen, once he had caught his breath, finally told them everything.
__________________
For more advance chapters visit patreon.com/bars45.
For 10$- All advance chapters.
"Schedule"
Monday - Friday - Update 3 Chapters a Day
Saturday - Sunday - Off