"Damn it, accursed Beasts Pirates!" King Neptune was furious, yet utterly powerless. They could not halt the spread of the poison gas.
"Everyone, come over to my side. Also, have the fishmen on the island evacuate to the sea for refuge first. Although the poison gas can affect the water, as a gaseous substance, sufficient ocean depth can isolate a significant portion of it," Law said to King Neptune and the others.
"Alright, alright. I will immediately issue a notification to the entire island."
"What's going on? A poison gas leak? How could such things exist on our Fishman Island?"
"Never mind that for now. Since His Majesty the King has spoken, it certainly can't be a joke. Let's flee first."
Through the king's Den Den Mushi broadcast, all of Fishman Island sprang into action.
"The captain of the Dawn Pirates has gone after them. We must hurry as well. Our Haki is depleting too rapidly," Baron Tamago said with a frown.
Though the evacuation order had been given, not everyone could flee to the deeper ocean in time.
"Can't the bubble helmets block it?" Natalie suddenly spoke up.
"That's it! The bubble helmets. The air inside the bubble helmets has a filtering function." Hearing this, Law immediately recalled that the bubble helmets were essentially equivalent to gas masks.
The Celestial Dragons disdained breathing the same air as ordinary people, hence they wore bubble helmets, which must possess filtering properties. And for human submersion, within the bubble culture, nothing could be more convenient.
"Bubble helmets. We have some, but not many. We fishmen do not require such things in the sea," King Neptune quickly added.
"Having some is good enough. Let a portion of the people act first, and we can find a way. If all else fails, I can perform surgery on each person and extract the poison gas from their bodies bit by bit. However, it will be very time-consuming and won't save many..." Law spoke rapidly. He had saved Daz Bones using such a method before; he had the means. But if there were too many people, he alone could not manage.
And those without the power of the Op-Op Fruit could never perform the various highly complex surgeries he envisioned.
While Ryugu Palace mobilized, Rosen caught up with Page One and his crew.
"Shhk!" A Gifter lagging behind was instantly impaled through the body by a golden sand blade. The scale-armored beast skin offered no resistance against an enraged Rosen.
Following the impalement, countless sharp, steel-like sand spikes erupted from the body, riddling it with holes.
"Page One, hand over the antidote." Rosen naturally assumed Page One possessed the antidote. Typically, the antidote for a poison rests with the one who deploys it.
"Damn it, how is he so fast?!" Page One accelerated his escape. After releasing the poison, he had fled at his maximum speed. When he ran, it was like an earthquake, like a storm.
Hearing Rosen's cold words, accompanied by an intense surge of Conqueror's Haki, fear involuntarily rose within him. Such profound Haki... it felt almost like the occasional glimpses he had of Lord Kaido.
"Fight him!" After Rosen had killed three in succession, the other Gifters realized they could not outrun him. Some halted, intending to counterattack.
But the moment they stopped, the swiftly passing Rosen lopped off their heads. No matter how tenacious the vitality of Zoan-type ability users, the head remained a fatal weak point.
"So strong!"
Sshk, sshk, sshk! Streaks of blood flew through the air as they fled. Soon, all of Page One's subordinates were dead, and Page One himself was slashed across the back by Rosen's blade. A bloody gash appeared, though it was not particularly deep.
Truly, the defense of an Ancient Zoan Spinosaurus was formidable. Moreover, Rosen did not want Page One to die before producing the antidote.
Otherwise, even with his Haki and Ancient Zoan powers, Page One could not have withstood the decaying ability of the awakened Sand-Sand Fruit.
"It seems escape is impossible!" Page One abruptly ceased fleeing and turned to face Rosen, his eyes filled with madness and bloodlust.
"You want the antidote? Sorry, there is no antidote for this substance. Everyone on this island is going to die. Haha..." Page One laughed maniacally, even taking the initiative to attack Rosen.
"No antidote?!" Murderous intent flared in Rosen's eyes. Whether true or false, Page One's attitude made it clear he would not obediently comply.
"Die." With a savage grin, Page One fiercely threw a punch, which Rosen easily caught. Then, his tail, coated in Haki, lashed out violently. Rosen kicked it aside, sending it swinging in the opposite direction. With a thunderous boom, the tail smashed a building to pieces.
"All the ability users have been killed?! Only Page One remains?" Baron Tamago and Pekoms were utterly shocked.
Gifters were not mere small fry. They were powerful Zoan-type ability users. Even the two of them would find dealing with several dozen such ability users a headache.
After all, each was thick-skinned and unafraid of death. These were individuals Kaido had created at great expense. In the outside world, the lowest among them would command bounties in the tens or even hundreds of millions of Berries.
While the combat power reflected by such bounties might not be exceptionally high, the key point was that these forces could be mass-produced. Anything, even ordinary soldiers, becomes terrifying once mass production is achieved. Kaido's army of ability users numbered in the hundreds and was growing annually. Though the production rate was low, the advantage lay in its sustainability.
Now, with dozens dead, once Kaido learned of this, it would be impossible for him not to feel the sting of loss.
"I'll ask one more time. Where is the antidote?" Rosen dispersed his golden sand blade and drove a single punch into Page One, who was in his Human-Dragon Form, slamming him deep into the ground. His powerful Haki instantly bypassed Page One's physical defenses and shattered multiple bones within his body.
"Ahhh!!" Page One felt extreme unwillingness. Against Crocodile, he was utterly helpless. This was nothing like what he had imagined.
"I will not ask a third time." Rosen stepped onto Page One's body, applying pressure incrementally. Page One's entire form compressed against the ground, causing the earth itself to cave in deeply around him.
"There... there is no antidote..." Page One's face was covered in blood, his eyes filled with terror. This man was too strong. After just a few exchanges, he could no longer rise?
His own resistance had been so pathetically fragile in this man's eyes.
He was a member of the Tobi Roppo with a bounty of several hundred million Berries! He was the most prized squad under Lord Queen! Damn it!
"Wrong answer."
"You dare kill me?" Page One could feel an aura of extreme danger locking onto him. It was killing intent, undisguised and raw.
"No. I will torture you to death, not simply kill you. Although... the look in your eyes just now told me you truly have no antidote..." As Rosen spoke, he severed both of Page One's arms.
"I told you, I have no antidote. Haha... Kill me, and Lord Kaido will never let you get away with it." Page One continued to laugh.
"Then I'll just kill him too," Rosen stated coldly.
"What?!" Page One was stunned. Kill Lord Kaido? How insane must this man be to utter such words? Lord Kaido was immortal.
"Sir Crocodile, please show mercy. The antidote..." Baron Tamago and Pekoms looked at Rosen with a hint of reverence in their eyes.
Page One's strength was no less than either of theirs, yet he had been utterly defenseless, reduced to such a state in the blink of an eye. Crocodile's power was likely even more terrifying than the rumors suggested. He could probably engage an Admiral in direct combat entirely on his own.
The story circulating outside was that the entire Dawn Pirates had jointly cornered and killed a heavily wounded Admiral Akainu.
"He has no antidote." With those words, Rosen cleanly severed Page One's head, swift and decisive.
"This!" Baron Tamago's heart clenched. Crocodile's killing aura was terrifyingly intense. Though Page One had been courting death, this was excessively ruthless. Keeping Page One alive would likely have been more beneficial; dead men held no value.
And just as Page One met his end, within the Prisoner Mine in Wano Country, a Gifter rushed into Queen's office in a panic, his voice filled with terror as he reported, "Lord Queen! Lord Page One's Vivre Card has completely burned away!"
"What?! Burned away? You mean he's dead? It was just a trip to Fishman Island. How could he have died? Was that brat always this weak?"
(End of Chapter)