Using the shed snakeskin together with Substitute, Poker had created the illusion that he had been cut down and burned to death. In reality, his true body had already hidden underground using Dig when Kin’emon ignited the poisonous mist.
Originally, Poker had wanted to find out Kin’emon’s goal, but since he gained nothing, he abandoned that plan.
The snake skin fell away, and in Kin’emon’s eyes, a ferocious snake-man was steadily approaching him.
The combination of Poker’s current body and his razor-sharp bladeed tail gave him an extremely versatile offensive style. It could strike like a spear, slash like a sword, or lash like a whip. Through his control of bones and muscles, coupled with Haki reinforcement, Poker’s attacks left Kin’emon struggling to defend himself.
This was one of the advantages of the snake-man form. Although his legs had merged into one, he could still maintain perfect balance while performing “kicking” motions.
Though it was merely a bone blade, its sharpness was beyond imagination. After all, this bladed tail was also the foundation of Seviper’s survival.
Similar to Tinkaton and Bisharp, Seviper and Zangoose share a generational feud, and their battles have continued down through the generations to this day. To combat its enemies, Seviper had honed this special tail, turning it into another deadly weapon alongside its venomous fangs.
Sizzle…
A sudden sound of skin charring came from Kin’emon’s arm.
During Poker’s recent strike, a small amount of venom had splashed onto his arm. The highly corrosive poison was continuously eating away at his muscles.
Seeing the poison’s effects deepening by the moment, Kin’emon had no choice but to raise up his crimson blade and slice it toward his arm, cutting away the patch of skin that had been corroded by the poison, and even using the high heat to temporarily stop the bleeding.
“Using poison… Agh!”
“What kind of stupid thing are you saying? You can use fire, but I’m not allowed to use poison?”
Poker’s venom had not yet affected Kin’emon’s body. However, in order to prevent that from happening, Kin’emon had been forced to slash at himself. That action left him completely exposed to Poker, and before he could even finish speaking, a punch sent him crashing to the ground.
Poker’s tail then wrapped around Kin’emon’s neck. As the muscles in the tail tightened, an overwhelming sense of suffocation instantly flooded Kin’emon’s mind.
[Damn it… Why…? How can the gap between us be this huge…?]
It was he who struck first, yet Poker had seized the initiative, even forcing him to expose an opening. If he had allowed that poison to continue spreading, that arm of his would likely have been ruined.
“Alright, let’s see what you’re really hiding. It’s been a long time since I’ve met someone like you.”
Poker reached toward Kin’emon’s head. At that moment, however, his tongue seemed to pick up a new scent.
“So you’ve got accomplices too? That’s wonderful. Busting an entire group is far more meaningful than catching just one person.”
The bladed tail cut through Kin’emon’s skin. Unlike the corrosive poison from before, this time it was a paralytic poison. To avoid any accidents when dealing with the next opponents, Poker decided to completely eliminate Kin’emon’s ability to fight first.
Poker was already prepared for battle, but no enemy appeared. Everything around him suddenly fell silent. Even Kin’emon had vanished.
“Impossible?! How did that guy disappear?!”
Just moments ago, Kin’emon had been tightly bound in his tail, but now there was nothing there except a small pebble.
“What the hell…”
At first, Poker didn’t think it was a big deal. Even if the man had escaped, he had already been poisoned. As a snake, tracking poisoned prey was one of the easiest things.
However, not long after Kin’emon’s bizarre disappearance, Poker discovered that someone had actually neutralized his poison.
“Calling Boss Queen, calling Boss Queen. This is Poker. A rebel force appeared just now. Motive unknown…”
After searching everywhere, Poker still couldn’t find a single trace of anyone, so he chose to call for support and reported the incident as having an unknown motive.
He wasn’t speaking nonsense. Poker felt that if he reported someone had ambushed him halfway because he wanted to steal his wife, it would sound far too strange.
“I know. You don’t need to worry about it. I’ve already locked onto that guy’s location.”
“Yes, understood. As expected of Boss Queen. You located the enemy in such a short time.”
“Muhahaha! Of course. My technology isn’t a joke.”
After hanging up, Poker still found it a little strange. Queen had answered the call far too quickly—so quickly that it was almost as if someone else had taken over his body.
And recently, all the senior officers he had met seemed somewhat strange, as though they were planning some secret operation.
“Could Governor-General Kaido be preparing some kind of new weapon? That’s really something to look forward to.”
While Poker remained confused, a heated argument was taking place inside Onigashima.
Everything involving Kin’emon since just now had been broadcast live. No one cared whether Kin’emon had been cuckolded or not.
The situation was remarkably similar to the bizarre ethical issues in Dressrosa.
O-Tsuru had believed Kin’emon was dead, yet she still waited for him for fifteen years. Only after being persuaded by others did she finally change her mind. For Kin’emon, however, it had all happened in the blink of an eye.
Which was more terrifying: having everything change beyond recognition in an instant, or watching it all happen with your own eyes while being powerless to stop it? That was a debate for them to settle themselves.
Onigashima didn’t care about any of that. What Onigashima was arguing about right now was who had won the bet.
The Person Who’s Going to Beat Up Kaido Sooner or Later (40%): Yay! I won!
Over the past few hours, Yamato had changed her group chat nickname.
For a variety of bizarre reasons, she felt that her chances of winning had been steadily declining. The victory in this wager was the only thing that gave her a bit of comfort.
Handsome Lord Queen the Plague: Young Miss, you haven’t won yet. What are you talking about?
The Person Who’s Going to Beat Up Kaido Sooner or Later (40%): I haven’t won? That Kin’emon guy already attacked Poker. Doesn’t that count as breaking the rules?
Handsome Lord Queen the Plague: But he wasn’t caught. He was rescued, and Poker didn’t even take off his mask.
The Person Who’s Going to Beat Up Kaido Sooner or Later (40%): Why doesn’t it count? He clearly made a move first!
The group chat notifications went wild. The participants could roughly be divided into two camps. Those who had bet on Kin’emon being exposed first naturally sided with Yamato. For example, Ulti had become Yamato’s natural ally.
However, only the two of them had placed their bets on Kin’emon, which meant everyone else became the opposition. Most people remained silent, at most chiming in with a few words of agreement. Only Queen argued for what’s right.
Perhaps it was some kind of ill-fated relationship. When it came to trivial matters, he always seemed eager to oppose Yamato.
Kaido: Queen is right. Since the man was rescued from Poker’s hands and his true identity wasn’t exposed, the bet continues.
Handsome Lord Queen the Plague: Boss Kaido is wise!
The Person Who’s Going to Beat Up Kaido Sooner or Later (40%): Queen! Just you wait!
Kaido, who held the final authority over interpreting the rules of the wager, had won the argument. But Yamato refused to accept it. Since she fought Kaido practically every day, she wasn’t in any hurry to settle things with him. Instead, she set her sights on Queen. It seemed that Queen only remembered how terrifying Kaido and Arceus were and no longer took her seriously.
Having just won, Queen didn’t even see the messages that followed. He had already devoted his full attention back to his oshiruko. Omastar even enthusiastically helped him turn off Rotom’s screen.
Not long afterward, as Queen swallowed the last spoonful of oshiruko, a cold breeze brushed past his ear.
“Who is it?! Why didn’t you close the door?! What if my stomach gets cold?!”
Queen didn’t even turn around, immediately shouting his complaint. However, from the corner of his eye, he noticed something very dangerous. The chefs and pirates who had been gathered around him had all stood up and quietly moved away.
Queen seemed to realize something. Hesitantly, he raised the spoon in his hand and used its reflective surface as a mirror. In the reflection, a figure with white hair and red horns entered his view.
“Uncle Queen, there’s something I’d like to talk to you about. Takeru just told me that it’s been a long time since he last saw you, and he misses you very much.”
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