"That was truly... decisive." Baron Tamago looked at the deceased Gifter, feeling quite surprised himself. He had spoken as he did, but ordinary people, upon hearing the words "Four Emperors," would be not only terrified into fleeing but also filled with deep apprehension.
He had not expected Rosen to deal with the perpetrator in the mere blink of an eye.
"Damn it." Page One could not break through Enel's defensive line and was repeatedly lashed by lightning. He glared at Rosen, his face filled with unwillingness. Since becoming an officer of the Beasts Pirates, he had never suffered such humiliation.
But the strength of this pirate crew was clearly beyond his ability to handle. Page One roughly estimated that it would probably take Lord Queen bringing all the Tobi Roppo to subdue this crew.
"Let's go." Page One gave Rosen a deep look, refraining from further threats. He merely committed Rosen and his crew to memory. Go on and enjoy yourselves, clowns.
Rosen did not stop them. After all, the time to annihilate them completely had not yet come. Kaido of the Beasts, along with the entire military force of Wano Country, was formidable.
Rosen's current objective was to first fully seize Doflamingo's Devil Fruit manufacturing plant.
Punk Hazard needed to be controlled, and Dressrosa as well, to ensure a continuous supply of artificial Devil Fruits.
The weaknesses of artificial Devil Fruits meant little to Rosen. He had no intention of having people consume them. He merely needed them to complete the Devil Fruit task that had reset to zero. Now back at zero out of five, once he accumulated five again, he could create another dual Devil Fruit ability user.
Just as Rosen assumed Page One and his men would swallow their anger, he failed to notice the growing madness in Page One's expression. Everyone assumed he would leave, for that was the sensible choice.
And indeed it was. But Page One was not always a sensible man. He was merely going along with the prevailing expectation, pretending that he too would depart.
In truth, he had no intention of leaving without doing something. As he walked, he retrieved seven or eight bottles of chemical substances from within his coat.
This was something Lord Queen had given him for dealing with powerful enemies—a life-saving measure.
Dare to make the Beasts Pirates lose face? Then witness the terror of the Plague.
Under normal circumstances, Boss Queen was reluctant to part with his biological incendiary agents. They were large-scale, contagious, and caustic hazardous chemicals. But considering the mission to Fishman Island and the need for contingencies, Queen had given him some.
Moreover, this might well be Lord Queen's last remaining biological incendiary. It was an accidental byproduct, not always available. Crucially, there was no antidote. Lord Queen had solemnly instructed that it was only to be used as a last resort.
So what if they were powerful? They would still meet their end obediently.
"Just die, all of you." Abruptly, just as everyone thought Page One would leave, he violently hurled the bottles in his hand at King Neptune's feet before swiftly fleeing himself.
Crack, crack, crack... The bottles shattered upon impact. No one had anticipated Page One suddenly pulling such a move, not even Rosen.
Rosen saw what Page One had thrown, but the distance was great, and he sensed no overwhelming power, so he did not intercept it immediately. However, seeing Page One and his crew fleeing the area as if for their lives...
Everyone sensed something was amiss.
Sizzle, sizzle... The bottles shattered, and golden flames ignited upon the ground. It was a puddle of green liquid, yet it burned with golden flames, bizarrely incongruous. Immediately after, streams of green-gold smoke rapidly diffused outward as it burned.
Thud, thud! One after another, soldiers of the Fishman Island royal army collapsed in succession. Baron Tamago and Pekoms' expressions changed drastically. Could this be one of Queen's methods?
"It's poison gas. Everyone be careful. Hold your breath first." Law, upon seeing this and acting in his capacity as a doctor, immediately identified the substance.
"What?!" Everyone, including Rosen, was utterly horrified upon hearing Law's words. Poison gas? And an airborne contagion at that? Had the Beasts Pirates gone mad?
With even the slightest carelessness, wouldn't the entire Fishman Island be wiped off the face of the earth?
"Despicable wretches. I had originally intended to spare your lives, yet you insist on courting death." Rosen's expression darkened. He had not expected Page One to possess such desperate, all-or-nothing courage.
Even if they fled quickly, the poison gas, at a speed visible to Rosen's naked eye, was already rapidly radiating outward in all directions.
Threads of green-gold smoke wreathed Fishman Island. Flowers, grass, and trees all withered and died.
"Can Haki defend against it?" Rosen unleashed a shockwave, blasting away the entire mass of air before him, then inquired of Law.
"I'm not certain. My ROOM cannot completely isolate all the air either, but it can act as a filter. Everyone, get inside." Cold sweat beaded on Law's forehead. This poison gas was too potent, actually managing to infiltrate the absolute domain space created by his Devil Fruit ability.
From the looks of it, the infection likely occurred not only through breathing via the mouth and nose but perhaps even through skin contact.
"I'll test it." Hearing Rosen's question, Daz Bones did not hesitate for a moment. He stepped out of Law's domain, instantly coating his body in Haki, and made contact with the toxic mist.
"Don't be reckless," Mr. 5 warned with concern.
"It can partially defend against it. But with my current Haki, I can hold out for a few minutes at most. Any longer and I won't be able to endure," Daz Bones quickly provided an answer.
Since Daz Bones could defend against it, Rosen, whose Haki was stronger, should be able to withstand it for an even longer duration.
"Kōka!" Jinbe and King Neptune had already retreated into the residence, but the poison gas was pervasive. Even more critically, Fishman Island had no gas masks, as being under the sea made the need for such items exceedingly rare.
Moreover, after the poison gas seeped into the ornamental pond, the fish within perished instantly. With nowhere left to retreat, Jinbe had no choice but to employ Armament Haki, standing as a shield before King Neptune and the princes.
But the princes' complexions were already changing, clearly showing early signs of poisoning.
"The Hard-Shell Tower... Shirahoshi..." Fukaboshi was deeply worried about his sister.
"What... what do we do now?" Baron Tamago and Pekoms stood at a higher vantage point, but soon Pekoms also began exhibiting symptoms of respiratory distress, his speech becoming less fluent.
"Use Haki to hold out for as long as possible. I've never seen this type of poison gas before. It's incredibly potent. We must capture the one who released it, or this situation could turn dire..." Plague and poison gas—these were things the human body feared most.
Even with superhuman strength, they were still beings of flesh and blood. Ordinary poisons and gases required direct contact to be effective, and given their abilities, it was exceedingly difficult for average foes to even touch them.
But this substance spread rapidly through the air itself.
"It's no good. The poison gas is spreading too fast, and it's an extremely troublesome toxin. I may not be able to neutralize it outright. I need to study it..." Law frowned. He extracted some of the poison gas within his domain and began analyzing it with his Gamma Knife.
"Hathaway, watch over them. I'm going to get the antidote." Rosen rushed out of Law's space, propelling himself straight into the sky. In an instant, he spotted Page One and his crew, who had already fled the palace and were racing toward the port of Fishman Island.
"Hahaha, die, all of you! You can have Fishman Island for all I care! A bunch of fools daring to oppose the Beasts Pirates—all of you, drop dead!" Page One felt utterly exhilarated. The subordinates running behind him, however, were nearly collapsing from exhaustion.
Page One was in his Spinosaurus form, brimming with stamina and possessing incredible speed. That they could even keep up with him for this short while was thanks to the artificial Devil Fruits, for the disparity in strength between them and Lord Page One was simply too vast.
"I had originally planned to spare your lives, but you've chosen to seek your own deaths. Today, you shall die here." Rosen was furious. Had it been an ambush or some other tactic, he might not have been so enraged. But the release of such large-scale poison gas would cause casualties so immense that "inhumane" might not even begin to describe it.
Rosen could see the poison gas spreading wider and wider. If it could not be contained, Fishman Island would truly be doomed. How could this not fill Rosen with fury?
(End of Chapter)