From this moment on, all of them intended to get serious, yet none of them actually made a move.
Obviously, that meant they agreed!
"Hey, this is for you."
Shiryu lifted Hannyabal by the collar and tossed over a vial of antidote.
Under Magellan's dark, brooding gaze, Teach caught it without asking a single question and injected it into himself.
Then Teach strode forward and launched his attack, charging toward the venom man with a savage grin.
"Zehahahaha! You killed three of my crewmates. I'm not gonna let you have an easy time!"
"If you've got the nerve, then come."
Magellan's gaze was utterly ruthless. His crimson venom transformed into a skeletal giant and surged forward.
Wherever the crimson venom passed, the ground lost its color, turning into a lifeless gray-white.
This was exactly why those great pirates, even with antidotes in hand, still did not dare truly risk their lives in battle.
The venom Magellan produced after Awakening was not something ordinary poison could compare to.
The moment one touched it, they would be infected by that toxin and sink deeper and deeper into agony.
Any substance that came into contact with it would be infected as well, gradually spreading outward until everything was corroded away.
As long as a person touched even a little of that venom, it would continue spreading until death!
But to Teach, who had already obtained intelligence and knew Magellan was currently in terrible condition, risking his life was not necessarily without a chance!
Advanced Armament Haki covered his entire body, preventing him from being killed by the deadly venom the instant he made contact.
Then, once Teach had charged to a certain distance, he suddenly slammed the ground. Great clouds of black smoke surged out and swallowed the skeletal giant formed from crimson venom.
"Black Hole!"
The true nature of the Yami Yami no Mi was darkness, and that black smoke was the physical manifestation of darkness.
And darkness was interconnected, with a vast space within it.
To come into contact with the black smoke was to come into contact with darkness. Whether person or object, anything that touched darkness would be devoured by it.
The lifeless corrosion of the crimson deadly venom was indeed terrifying, but darkness, which could even devour demonic power and Devil Fruits themselves, would never be killed into lifelessness by poison!
This was the fundamental reason Teach dared to show himself and reap the spoils.
The black smoke released by Black Hole spread at an astonishing speed, and even the ground was devoured by darkness.
"A Devil Fruit user?"
Magellan frowned, controlling the crimson venom fluid to test attacks from different directions.
But after discovering that anything approaching the black smoke would be swallowed, he immediately changed methods. Crimson mist began to rise.
The toxin concentration in poisonous gas clearly could not compare with venom, and with an antidote, it would be difficult to make it effective.
But its advantage lay in being able to invade through the respiratory tract, bypassing that strange black smoke.
A vast amount of crimson poisonous fog spread out, nearly enveloping the entire battlefield and turning it into a red sea.
Just existing within this place made one's skin feel as if it were burning.
"Damn it, he's got that trick too?"
Teach's eyes turned vicious, and then he abruptly rushed forward.
Then he roared, "Van Augur!"
Bang—!
A shot wrapped in Armament Haki fired from Van Augur's gun, hidden within the darkness.
The crimson venom surged, blocking the bullet while dissolving it.
Magellan waved a hand vigilantly, and three crimson Poison Dragons attacked Teach as he charged forward.
At the same time, his Observation Haki guarded his surroundings, wary of attacks from the others.
Teach stopped again, using Black Hole to devour the Poison Dragons and avoid truly being stained by the crimson venom.
'His moves have intervals. He needs to pause before using them.'
Magellan quickly made his judgment.
"Though I don't know why you're trying to get close to me, I can't let you succeed. Poison Puffer!"
He opened his mouth and spat out a large number of crimson venom balls in rapid succession. Dense clusters of venom masses smashed toward Teach, who was trying to get closer.
However, at that moment, Vasco Shot, who had been gulping down barrels of alcohol, suddenly made his move.
A Paramecia-type Glug-Glug Fruit user, he could produce all kinds of alcoholic drinks.
Alcohol was naturally included among them!
"Heavy Drinker's Furnace Flame!"
A blazing-hot crimson torrent of fire spewed out from a tricky angle, evaporating the crimson venom around Magellan into gas.
Immediately afterward, Sanjuan Wolf, as a giant, suddenly blew out a breath.
The instant the poisonous fog was blown away, a sneering face suddenly appeared on the ceiling of Level 3.
Pizarro, who had merged into the prison, assimilated the wall and formed a gigantic fist, smashing it down hard onto Magellan's head.
"You bastards really have teamed up."
Large amounts of crimson venom surged out from Magellan's body and blocked above his head. Amid the roar, the venom corroded the giant fist into lifeless ruin.
Of course he knew who it was.
The Corrupt King—Pizarro!
A Paramecia-type Island-Island Fruit user!
He could assimilate with an entire island, making the island move and speak like a person.
Everything on the island could be assimilated into him and controlled, and he could also sense events occurring on the island.
Naturally, the things on an island included buildings and the like, but assimilation required time.
In other words, the other party had temporarily taken control of this level of the underground prison!
The weakness was that damage dealt to the parts of the island assimilated with him would be fed back onto his own body.
Magellan swiftly mobilized his venom, preparing to corrode the stone fist and reflect the injury back onto Pizarro.
In truth, he succeeded—but before that happened, Pizarro withdrew his ability and abandoned that portion of matter.
It was also at this moment that, among the great pirates who had become familiar with one another's methods through their earlier string of clashes, the long-suppressed Jinbe finally made his move.
He drew in the alcohol residue left behind by Vasco Shot and gathered it in his palm, forming a water sphere.
Then he struck out at extreme speed. By the time Magellan reacted, Jinbe had already thrown his punch!
"Fish-Man Karate Secret Technique: Vagabond Drill!"
An incomparably violent shockwave whipped up a hurricane across the ground. Even the prisoners cowering in the distance were swept flying.
Although Magellan, who faced this punch head-on, controlled his venom in time to block it, the multi-directional pressure and coordinated attacks meant the venom covering his body could not keep up in quantity.
As a result, his already wretched condition grew even worse. His body caved inward, and a burst of water mist exploded from his back.
Jinbe's strike had unmistakably driven water straight through his body.
"You will not succeed!"
In the next instant, the erupting crimson deadly venom transformed into a skeletal giant and swept out with a punch.
Jinbe crossed his arms and used Plum Blossom Skin, but was still sent flying. The instant he landed, he immediately discovered that a large patch of his arms had turned gray.
Before he could think too much, the enraged Magellan charged toward him, intending to focus his strength and eliminate one opponent.
If the next round began, the opponents he faced would rotate again. It would no longer be just these few.
But… there was another person charging forward as well!
"Don't ignore me!"
Teach closed in furiously, forcing Magellan to turn back and deal with this fearless Devil Fruit user.
Crimson Poison Dragons danced wildly, colliding with the black smoke that was being born around them before vanishing.
Magellan's eyes changed, and he spat out a large number of crimson venom balls. At such close range, they were almost impossible to dodge.
"Liberation!"
Teach grinned ferociously. Without dodging or avoiding, he raised both hands. Great plumes of black smoke burst from his palms, and then large amounts of shattered stone and debris were released from within, crashing into the venom balls one after another.
An endless stream of rubble and wreckage offset the surging rain of venom balls.
Pizarro seized the opportunity and once again assimilated a giant fist, smashing it down and forcing Magellan to spare a hand to counter him.
Immediately afterward came Catarina Devon and Byrnndi World.
The former transformed into a giant as enormous as Wolf, charging toward Magellan like a war chariot.
The giant's massive fist struck the crimson venom, sizzling as corrosion ate away almost all the flesh.
Yet the fist remained powerful. Stark white bone slammed into Magellan's face.
Catarina Devon quickly retreated and returned to her original form. At the same time, there was not the slightest injury on her hands.
Immediately after, Byrnndi World threw an ordinary cannonball.
However, under the influence of the More-More Fruit's power, that cannonball's size suddenly expanded a hundredfold the moment it reached Magellan's landing point!
And its power—Also expanded a hundredfold!
The nearby great pirates tacitly retreated, and then a violent burst of fire erupted.
Boom—!
A towering wave of flame almost tore open Level 3's ceiling.
Clearly, after the previous melee, once they understood Magellan's strengths and each person's methods, these great pirates tacitly launched a coordinated battle.
Magellan was indeed very strong, but he was not so strong that he could ignore their attacks.
Every single one of these great pirates was no simple character.
Whether in ability, battle experience, or timing, they far surpassed ordinary people.
If not for their wariness of one another, the fact that the antidote could not completely nullify the venom, and their unwillingness to take too great a risk, Magellan would probably have been beaten to death long ago.
'Damn it. How am I supposed to deal with this alternating order of attacks? It has to be Patrick sensing me and coordinating them.'
Magellan, relying on Haki to endure, had just staggered one step out of the sea of flames. Before he could think of a countermeasure, he heard that "Zehahaha" laughter.
Teach, his entire body covered in advanced Armament Haki, charged again—but this time, he was far closer than any of the previous attempts!
The moment Magellan instinctively raised a wave of crimson deadly venom, he was horrified to see Blackbeard charge into the torrent of venom without dodging or evading.
Then, in that instant, Teach stretched out his hand and shouted at him with a savage expression.
"Dark Water!"
A vortex of black smoke erupted. A tremendous suction force dragged both the surging venom and the venom man himself toward him.
The black smoke growing around them frantically devoured the wave of crimson deadly venom, while the venom that slipped through was forcibly resisted with Armament Haki.
Even so, because of his Devil Fruit ability, Teach's sense of pain was several times that of an ordinary person, and he had to grit his teeth and endure it.
As the suction intensified, Teach advanced recklessly, withstanding the red deadly venom head-on.
Then, in pain yet unwavering, he grabbed Magellan, whose expression changed drastically!
"Zehahahaha! I win!"
Laughing loudly, he charged forward, shoving his enemy backward and slamming him into the wall.
"You merely grabbed me. Engaging a venom man in close combat is your greatest mistake!"
Magellan raised his fist and tried to counterattack, but Teach beat him to it with a headbutt.
The wall shattered. As the two fell, they quickly became entangled, breaking into close-quarters hand-to-hand combat.
Magellan punched Teach in the face. Even with high-intensity Armament Haki protecting him, the crimson deadly venom corroded him so badly that he screamed.
But Teach never intended to create distance. One hand clutched Magellan tightly, while the other rained down frantic blows.
"Fool! Closing the distance with me only speeds up how fast you get poisoned!"
Magellan did not understand it.
Forget ordinary people—even those great pirates would not dare fight him at close range.
They all feared being invaded by too much venom, to the point that even an antidote would not save them.
(End of Chapter)