Warden Magellan wiped the streak of warm, crimson blood from his chin. He stared at the red stain on his thick, dark glove for a long, agonizing moment. The silence in the Eternal Hell deepened.
He was wounded.
By pirates.
In Impel Down.
And the wound had been delivered by a ragged, exhausted crew of rookies who had somehow managed to grasp the basics of Haki.
Magellan's eyes slowly rose, locking onto Monkey D. Luffy. The shock that had briefly flickered in the Warden's gaze completely dissolved, replaced entirely by a terrifying, and uncompromising murderous fury.
"I severely underestimated you," Magellan hissed. His voice no longer sounded like a man speaking; it was a guttural, bubbling growl that vibrated directly into the bones of everyone present. "You possess the spirit of a king, Straw Hat. And you have found a clever trick with this wax to bypass the acidity of my standard venom."
The thick, purple sludge pouring endlessly from Magellan's shoulders and back began to violently boil. The ambient temperature around the Warden didn't rise, but a sickly, nauseating heat seemed to radiate from the venom itself.
"But you forget where you are" Magellan continued, taking a slow, deliberate step forward. The stone beneath his boots hissed in protest. "This is Impel Down. I am the absolute authority of this fortress. I am the wall that keeps the scum of the earth from ravaging the innocent civilians of the surface. And my justice does not bend to willpower or clever tricks."
"Your time, IS OVER!"
SSSSSSZ
The purple venom enveloping his massive body instantly began to shift. The color rapidly darkened, turning from a deep violet into a sickening, luminous crimson red. The sound of the poison hitting the bedrock changed from a soft hiss to a violent, crackling sizzle, as if the stone itself was screaming in agony.
"Kinjite: Venom Demon!" (Forbidden Hand: Hell's Judgment!)
A colossal, skeletal demon formed entirely of this highly concentrated, bright red poison rose ominously from Magellan's back. It towered over the entire corridor, its hollow, skull-like face glaring down at the vanguard.
This wasn't the purple sludge that merely melted iron or burned skin; this was something else. It was a weapon of biological destruction that eroded anything it touched on!
"What... what is that?" Mr. 3 whimpered, stumbling backward until his back hit the cold stone wall. "The color changed... the smell... it's burning my eyes! I can't breathe!"
"Don't lose focus!" Zoro roared, gripping his wax-coated swords tighter. He could feel his own Armament Haki desperately trying to solidify around the blades, his survival instincts screaming at him to run. But... they couldn't run. Not today.
"Oi oi... let's bring the big guy down before that red crap touches us!" Sanji yelled, his right leg flaring into an even brighter, hotter inferno, illuminating the dark corridor with a harsh orange glow.
Luffy didn't hesitate. He knew Ace was watching. He knew he had to do something quickly. Steam violently erupted from his flushed skin as he pumped his blood faster.
"I'm taking you out right now!" Luffy roared.
"Gomu Gomu no..."
BOOM.
Luffy vanished, instantly reappearing directly in front of Magellan's massive chest.
"JET... BAZOOKA!"
He thrust both of his wax-and-Haki coated palms forward with explosive force, aiming to hit the Warden and end the fight quickly.
Magellan... didn't dodge or block.
He simply allowed the skeletal Venom Demon hovering behind him to swing its massive, crimson-coated arm forward.
The red poison intercepted Luffy's strike.
The moment Luffy's wax-covered hands touched the crimson sludge, the reaction was instantaneous and utterly devastating. The Doru Doru wax, which had successfully repelled the purple venom just moments before, didn't just melt—it instantly blackened, turning brittle and dead, before completely disintegrating into a foul-smelling vapor.
The red poison bypassed the wax in a fraction of a microsecond and slammed directly into Luffy's invisible armor of Armament Haki.
For one agonizing second, a violent clash of spiritual pressure and ultimate toxicity sparked in the air. But Luffy's Haki was rudimentary. It was foundational. Although there was some protection but...
"GAAAAAAAHHH!"
An earth-shattering scream of pure, unadulterated agony ripped from Luffy's throat. The pain was beyond anything he had ever experienced. It felt as though millions of microscopic, red-hot needles were being driven directly into his bloodstream, paralyzing his muscles, burning his nerve endings, and completely overriding his nervous system.
"LUFFY!" Zoro roared, abandoning all defense and launching himself forward to save his captain.
Zoro swung Wado Ichimonji and Sandai Kitetsu in a furious, descending arc, aiming to sever Magellan's arm before the poison could affect further up Luffy's body.
The Warden flicked his wrist. A wave of the red Kinjite poison splashed across Zoro's crossing blades. The wax coating evaporated instantly. The Haki struggling to protect him. The red venom splattered across Zoro's chest and arms, burning right through his dark green shirt.
The swordsman's eyes rolled into the back of his head. The sheer, overwhelming toxicity of the poison bypassed his monstrous pain tolerance instantly. Zoro collapsed onto the cold bedrock, his swords clattering uselessly to the floor. His body convulsed violently as the red contagion spread across his skin like a sickening, luminous spiderweb.
"MARIMO!" Sanji yelled, his visible eye widening in sheer horror as the unbeatable swordsman was instantly incapacitated.
Sanji leaped into the air, spinning with terrifying velocity. He drove his blazing, Haki-infused heel directly toward the back of Magellan's neck.
"Diable Jambe: Premier Hachis!"
.
.
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A/N: Ah... the thing is, the Straw Hats aren't trying to run! You know them! THEY WON'T LEAVE WITHOUT ACE!