“Hey, hey, are you kidding me? No Mega Stone, no Terastal energy, and Pokémon can still evolve like this?!”
Evolution was the most mysterious power possessed by Pokémon. Depending on the circumstances, they could display different evolutionary forms, including but not limited to changes in body shape, changes in type due to the environment, and even changes in their state after death.
Long ago, Galarian Corsola had merely been ordinary Corsola, but the Corsola of that region were affected by a meteorite that fell nearby and died amid the rapid environmental changes.
Years later, those Corsola that had died in ancient times appeared before humanity once more in a new form.
People on the seas knew little about Pokémon evolution. The Beasts Pirates were undoubtedly the ones who knew the most, and Queen could be certain that Heracross was a Pokémon species without a natural evolution.
Even if it did evolve, its appearance should not become closer to that of its human partner.
According to the special information Arceus had supplemented, Heracross did possess a Mega form, but at present, all Pokémon capable of Mega Evolution belonged to people who had been granted power by Arceus.
This beetle’s Mega-like evolution clearly did not belong to the category of Mega Evolution.
Bond Evolution itself was extremely rare and did not belong to any conventional evolutionary chain. Moreover, when it came to Pokémon, Arceus often acted like a riddle-spewing mystery man, leaving countless mysteries for others to explore.
There were both good and bad sides to that. Back then, for example, Queen had never known that Omastar’s personality would develop in such a bizarre direction. If he had known earlier, Queen might have been able to guard against more backstabbing.
“This evolution… Queen! Stop standing there in a daze. If you keep watching, I’m going to make a move myself.”
Shayna had expended a great deal of stamina and was not suited for high-intensity combat, but fighting Ryokugyu did not count as high-intensity combat for her.
The changes occurring to Hercules meant that yet another new phenomenon related to Pokémon had appeared before their eyes. There was no way they could avoid letting Arceus take a look at something like this, and it had to be alive, not dead.
Shayna knew exactly what Queen was thinking. When it came to an unofficial ally like Luffy, Queen would never willingly take a blow for him. Letting Ryokugyu drain his stamina was certainly disadvantageous to their side, but rather than rescue Luffy, Queen would prefer to prepare something big for Ryokugyu.
Even if Luffy were drained into a husk, Queen would not care.
“Yeah, yeah, I know. These guys really do keep coming up with new tricks. No wonder Boss Kaido is interested in that brat.”
Glancing toward Luffy, Queen could tell that after Hercules underwent its evolution, its physical strength had clearly changed. Even in this extreme cold environment, it erupted with astonishingly fast flying speed.
While dodging the vines chasing after it, Heracross also demonstrated the strength worthy of the name derived from Hercules (Heracles). Hercules opened its jaws and bit viciously down on the vine Ryokugyu had stabbed into its arm. [TN: In ancient Greek mythology, Heracles (later known as Hercules by the Romans) was the greatest of all divine heroes, famed for his matchless physical strength, courage, and sprawling adventures. ]
The Heracross species mainly fed on tree sap, so through evolution, even their teeth had developed traits specifically suited to dealing with plants.
No matter how tough the bark was, they could always smoothly open a hole in it and drink the sap within.
There was no sap worth drinking from Ryokugyu’s vines, but that did not stop Hercules from biting through them.
【So this is what wood tastes like… How does Hercules even manage to chew this stuff—no, now isn’t the time to think about that. The fight isn’t over yet…】
Luffy cut off his own wandering thoughts and continued recovering his strength. After biting apart the vine embedded in its arm, Hercules took to the air again.
Although Ryokugyu’s vines pursued relentlessly from behind, they were never able to land a hit. At that moment, a large number of plants that did not belong to Ryokugyu suddenly burst from his body and wrapped tightly around him.
“The stamina you absorbed, I’ll gladly take it off your hands! Leech Seed, activate!”
During the earlier battle, Queen had planted his seeds. However, because of the herbicide he himself had released and the extreme cold, the germination speed of Leech Seed had also been restricted.
Although Queen had looked as if he were doing nothing just now, in reality, he had simply been waiting for his Leech Seed to activate.
The fresh green leaves and branches looked especially conspicuous against Ryokugyu’s body, forming a stark contrast with the withered yellow shoots growing from him. The roots erupting from the Leech Seed were also frantically burrowing into Ryokugyu’s body.
“You b*stard!”
Realizing the special nature of these plants, Ryokugyu immediately grabbed at the seeds, trying to rip the disgusting plants off his body. He could clearly feel the stamina he had gone to such trouble to plunder slipping away from him.
Leech Seed alone was not enough to shake Ryokugyu. With every handful, he could tear out many of the Leech Seeds by the roots, but because both were plants, the Leech Seeds had already merged into Ryokugyu’s tree body.
Each time he pulled one out, he suffered the agony of having flesh and blood being torn away.
“Damn you! You’re nothing but a bunch of inferior people, yet you’ve forced me this far—Groves of Wrath: Double Suicide at Death River!” [TN: Ryokugyu has kanji tattoo meaning Double Suicide at Death River.]
Ryokugyu’s body swelled as though it were about to explode. If he had still retained his original human appearance moments ago, then now he had completely lost his former appearance, transforming into a form of “nature” itself.
Countless unknown plants grew wildly, pine-needle-like spikes shooting in every direction while vines and roots thrashed about like frenzied pythons. His appearance became incomparably ferocious. Rather than nature brimming with vitality, Ryokugyu now looked more like nature’s vengeance incarnate.
Roots and branches converged together, forming two vicious spiral spears, but during this brief opening, a shiny fatty had already appeared in front of Ryokugyu.
Only when Queen saw that Shayna was already preparing to pull the Red Chain out of the ground and rejoin the battle did he finally make his move.
Queen was still Queen, except at some point a glittering shell had appeared over his body, and several balloons were even hanging above his head.
“Are you playing some little kid’s make-believe game?”
“Make-believe? This is the final blow that’ll punish you!”
Queen’s Terastallization was somewhat different from Kaido’s. Kaido’s Terastallization did not produce any additional type symbol above his head, making it look as though he had merely gained a layer of crystal armor, whereas Queen’s was the original form of Terastallization.
When he Terastallized into a Flying type, the balloon-shaped symbol representing Flying also gathered above his head.
“The effects of my Plague Bullets accumulate over time. Under Young Miss’s freezing climate, there’s no way you can recover that quickly. So now, how are you going to take this move of mine?”
Queen did not care about appearances. In the original timeline, he had even developed bizarre techniques like Brachiosnakeus. He had long since thrown every shred of dignity away. As long as it was strong enough, Queen would even be willing to try fighting naked.
Haki began to gather, and Terastal energy also converged toward a single point. However, this power was not fired outward like Hyper Beam. Instead, it gradually condensed around Queen’s fist.
As one of the major Terastal moves, Tera Blast had one extremely notable characteristic: depending on the user’s Special Attack and Attack, it would automatically use whichever damage calculation produced the stronger result.
Although Queen loved sitting in the rear every day firing laser cannons and inventing all sorts of flashy weapons, fundamentally speaking, his strongest assets were still the Haki and body that his teammates had literally beaten into him.
Flying-type power gradually fused with his Haki, and a vast cyclone condensed around Queen’s fist.
“QUEEN: Fist of Suffering!”
Queen’s fist shot forward, the spinning cyclone shredding Ryokugyu’s defense. As the distance closed, Ryokugyu could even feel the tangible resentment emanating from Queen’s body.
Terastallization meant a change in type. Once Queen became a pure Flying type, the attribute of his attack also transformed into the purest Flying type.
The power born from Queen’s many years of suffering erupted all at once. Although Ryokugyu’s body had become enormous after swelling, the wind pressure stirred up by Queen’s fist still dragged him back in.
His body was torn apart by the energy of Tera Blast, and in an instant, only one-third of his massive form remained.
“Pfff…”
Blood scattered through the air, and a large amount of blood poured out from Ryokugyu’s mouth. His body, which had originally been flying through the sky with the help of plant propellers, began plummeting downward.
“It… it’s useless. I am nature itself. The vitality of nature can’t be wiped out so easily… Agh!”
From the side, Hercules, now possessing its unique form, rammed into Ryokugyu. The power of Megahorn smashed directly into his back.
This Heracross, which had spent years investing in intelligence, had finally used the power best suited to its own species.
After taking Queen’s resentment-filled Tera Blast head-on, Ryokugyu’s body had no strength left to resist. His already battered body swaying even more precariously in the sky.
Luffy, whose stamina had already recovered, stepped on the air while maintaining his bouncing posture and blew air into his arm.
“You b*stard! What did you do to Hercules?!”
Because of his bond with Hercules, Luffy could empathize with it even more deeply. Just like Zoro in the original timeline, who had endured all the pain Luffy had accumulated over the years, Luffy could feel Hercules’ exhaustion and the pain from the wounds Ryokugyu had inflicted on it.
“Gum-Gum… King Kong Gun!”
The enormous fist slammed into Ryokugyu, accelerating his fall while also changing the direction in which he was plummeting. At first, Queen had not paid much attention to that.
A starving camel was still bigger than a horse. Even after Queen’s punch had reduced Ryokugyu to a half-dead state, he was still not someone Luffy and Hercules could easily finish off together.
Besides, Ryokugyu himself was “nature.” As part of the natural earth, simply standing on the ground was enough for him to obtain an endless supply of energy. Unfortunately, in order to escape, he had chosen to fly away instead. Because of the hesitation and weakness in his heart, he had forfeited one of his greatest advantages.
In that respect, he was somewhat similar to that certain Earth Tiger Armor who came free with a phone recharge—someone who clearly should stay on the ground for limitless stamina, yet loved jumping around more than anything.
But then he suddenly saw something horrifying.
“You b*stard! What the hell have you done?!”
Among the Beasts Pirates, Queen’s mathematical ability was undoubtedly top-notch. None of the technology he developed could do without mathematical calculations. By analyzing the positions on the battlefield, Queen could tell that, judging from Ryokugyu’s new angle of descent, he was unquestionably going to crash into Shayna.
Although Shayna had already moved away from her original position, the spear formed from the Red Chain was still standing where it had been.
Schk!
What remained of Ryokugyu was pierced through by the Red Chain, receiving almost the exact same treatment as Saturn, though he was not burned by Sacred Flames.
Moreover, Shayna was not holding the Red Chain at the moment. Without her strength driving it, the power it displayed was somewhat different from before.
“Get up! You can’t die! Aren’t you a Marine Admiral?! Aren’t you always shouting about how you can’t die?! Then show me, damn it!!”
His Terastallization undone, Queen returned to the ground and dashed straight to Ryokugyu’s side, seemingly intending to pull him off the Red Chain.
After all, Shayna was the Red Chain’s only user. Even though Queen was one of her own allies, touching it recklessly would still give him the sensation of being electrocuted.
But when he pulled like that, Ryokugyu instead suffered a second round of damage, and the tiny bit of life he had left immediately vanished completely.
Marine Admiral Ryokugyu died in battle in Wano Country, becoming the first active Admiral in recent years to be killed in action. At the same time, among the many powerful figures who had died in battle, his cause of death was also one of the strangest and hardest to describe.
“Doctor! Get me a doctor! Bring him back to life so I can kill him again!”
Clutching his head, Queen’s face twisted slightly. Then one of his mechanical hands suddenly shot out, flying across almost half of Udon before grabbing Chopper from the other side and dragging him over.
Even with his thick fur, Chopper was shivering from the cold in this environment, but Queen did not care about that at all. Instead, he gave Chopper an almost deranged command.
“Reindeer, I order you to heal him immediately!”
“Are you kidding me?! What doctor can heal a dead person?! Also, I’m a reindeer, not a raccoon!”
“Didn’t I just call you a reindeer?! What species you are doesn’t matter! Hurry up and bring him back to life!”
“That’s true… wait, what do you mean it doesn’t matter?!”
During his time in Udon, Chopper had been lured in by Queen’s panacea and contributed some of his own medical knowledge to Queen, so his fear of Queen was not particularly strong. When it came to technical matters, he even dared to argue with him a little.
During that process, Queen had even seemed somewhat “friendly,” which was why this sort of scene could happen now.
“Queen, enough. Once pierced by the Red Chain bestowed by Lord Sacred Beast, no living being can survive. His death was already inevitable.”
“Damn it! This is all your fault! Why did you have to stick that thing there?! And why did you have to leave it there in the form of a spear?!”
“I had already planted the spear there before you Terastallized. That old geezer affected the ley lines beneath Udon earlier, and although I purified the poisoned water, the land suffered some damage because of the Sacred Flames.
“I was borrowing Lord Sacred Beast’s power to repair it. What does that have to do with me?”
Shayna’s expression did not change in the slightest. She neither mourned Queen’s misfortune nor showed any schadenfreude.
“Is there any chance you’ve already learned how to see the future and just didn’t tell us?”
After thinking it over, Queen arrived at an explanation he found extremely reasonable. How could something like this possibly be a coincidence? Someone had to be targeting him.
“I do have some clues about that ability, but you wasted so much time over there that I’m not capable of seeing that far into the future yet.
“Besides, didn’t you bring this on yourself? You could’ve punched him in the head with that blow. You were obviously planning to keep messing around with that guy for a while. The moment you gain an advantage, you love to toy with your opponent just to show off what you can do. Do you think I don’t know what kind of person you are?”
Queen had, after all, fought hard for quite a while. Shayna had no intention of saying much about Queen’s misfortune. He had brought it upon himself anyway. She had even spared him some dignity and refrained from kicking him, since there were outsiders present and embarrassing their own pirate crew would not be good.
Likewise, if there had been no outsiders around, Queen would already have been lying on the ground hugging Shayna’s leg, trying to persuade her to pull the spear out so the two of them could fool Yamato together.
“Stop looking at me with that creepy expression. You did this yourself, so deal with the consequences yourself. Things on the Young Miss’ end will be over soon. As for what she promised you, go ask her when the time comes.”
Shayna did not even retrieve the Red Chain immediately. She waited until it had finished accomplishing what she wanted before taking it back, while Queen let out a low mutter.
“Straw Hat brat… I’m starting to hate you…”
No matter what happened, the person at fault definitely could not be Queen himself, unless Queen was unable to find someone weaker than himself to dump the blame on.
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