Strange Trick

"Damn bastard! Cough, cough!" Amid the smoke and dust from the explosion, a massive figure soon emerged. It was Queen, who had already begun transforming into his human-beast form.

Although he had used his hybrid form, his entire mechanical left arm had still been blasted bare. His mechanical modifications had fused with his flesh, so the explosion had effectively detonated from within, leaving him even more badly injured.

Queen's expression was extremely ugly. It was not only because his momentary carelessness had left him seriously wounded, but also because he had discovered that his opponent's ability seemed to perfectly counter his technological modifications!

His dinosaur body, which had become virtually indestructible through the combined power of mechanical modification and a Devil Fruit, became meaningless before the Munch-Munch Fruit's alteration ability. Once any part of him was swallowed by the Munch-Munch Fruit, his body, filled with all kinds of modifications, would immediately be ruined.

In this respect, he was not even as good as an ordinary person. The Munch-Munch Fruit's alteration ability was not very effective on living creatures unless they did not resist or were completely swallowed into the user's body. Otherwise, even someone far weaker than Yota could not be altered by him.

Machines, on the other hand, might be powerful, but they had no consciousness of their own. Yota could naturally alter them again with ease. Though he did not understand any profound mechanical knowledge, he could certainly destroy things.

"Damn it, this is going too far. There's actually a Devil Fruit ability that counters mechanical modification." Queen's face turned solemn, and his earlier frivolous grin vanished, replaced by a faint trace of madness. "Looks like I'll have to use my ultimate move."

"Let me show you the power of the strongest viral bomb I've developed!"

The moment he spoke, Queen opened his mouth and fired a small missile. It exploded instantly in midair, and dark green poison gas spread across the entire area.

"Yehahahaha! This isn't ordinary poison. It's an incredibly powerful bio-virus! The moment it touches the moisture in your body, it'll evaporate it all away! Turn into a dried corpse amid these viruses!"

Yota felt tiny patches of mold slowly appearing on his body, but he showed no panic. Instead, he opened his Sealing Scroll and swallowed a large number of weapons.

As the Munch-Munch Fruit altered those weapons, Yota's entire body took on a semi-metallic sheen, and the growth of the tiny mold patches immediately slowed to a near halt.

"It can't completely suppress it? Makes sense. Even though I've taken on metallic properties, my body is still flesh and blood, a carbon-based organism. So I'll still be affected a little."

Yota muttered a few words, then blue light shone from his hand. "Delicate Illness Extraction Technique!"

A moment later, every trace of the virus in his body had been extracted. Queen, who had been watching with a cold sneer and assuming Yota was making a final futile struggle, immediately changed expression.

Queen's two proudest strengths were mechanical modification and his viruses. Now, his mechanical modifications were countered by the Munch-Munch Fruit, while his viruses were countered by Yota's Medical Ninjutsu. A bad feeling immediately rose in his heart.

In terms of pure hand-to-hand combat strength, Queen was not much stronger than Jack. In fact, because of his fighting spirit, Queen, who considered himself a clever man, might not even be able to beat that stubborn fool Jack once his technological modifications and bio-viruses were stripped away.

But now, even if he wanted to retreat, Yota would have to agree first.

Yota had never encountered a truly worthy opponent before. While Ace and Yamato could give him enough pressure during training, they were not real enemies. They could not fight him to the death.

Now that he had met someone powerful yet countered by his abilities, the flames of battle in Yota's heart finally blazed to life.

His fist-blades, wrapped in Armament Haki, slashed out in an instant. As someone hopeless at naming things, Yota had yet to give any of his moves a name. What he used were basically ordinary attacks, but that did not affect his strength in the slightest.

After several exchanges, Queen's body had already been pierced with several holes by the fist-blades. Once the large-scale destructive power of his technological weapons had been greatly weakened against Yota, Queen's lack of agility was exposed.

However, for someone as tough and durable as Queen, Yota's attacks did not have much effect. After his initial fluster, Queen gradually regained his footing.

After all, even without his viruses and with his various technological weapons countered by the Munch-Munch Fruit, Queen's raw strength was still up to the standards of an All-Star. Whether Yota could defeat him was another matter entirely. Under normal circumstances, even if he could win, they would have to fight for at least several days and nights.

If the battle dragged on until the end, Yota's chances of victory would not even be that high. Those Ancient Zoans were all incredibly tough, especially known for their durability and stamina.

But Queen knew how to use underhanded tricks. Would Yota, a ninja, be any worse?

"Take this, Bombing Headbutt!" Queen's head transformed into that of a Brachiosaurus, and with his forehead wrapped in Armament Haki, he smashed down like a bomb. Yota clenched his fist and met it with a punch, but his entire body was forced back several steps.

Blood hissed from Queen's forehead, revealing a wound deep enough to expose bone. But to an Ancient Zoan, such an injury was merely a minor flesh wound. It did not affect his combat power at all. Instead, it stirred Queen's long-dormant ferocity.

"The new generation of pirates really is impressive. It's been a long time since I've seen a brat as strong as you."

"But if you think I rely entirely on technology and viruses..."

A smile curled across Yota's lips. Looking at Queen, who was still prattling on, he interrupted him. "Say, beach ball, have you ever heard a saying?"

"Villains die from talking too much!"

"Earth Style—Heart Severing Technique!"

The Heart Severing Technique was a fairly ordinary low-level Earth Style technique. In the Naruto World, even a somewhat experienced Chunin would not fall for it.

However, no one had ever seen this move in the Pirate World, so naturally no one would guard against it. During the battle, Yota had first created an Earth Clone. Then, catching Queen off guard, with the ground already covered in cracks and loosened by the fighting, he pulled him underground in one move.

But Queen's body was simply too enormous, and he was currently in his human-beast form. Though Yota had barely managed to drag him down using the already shattered ground, he could only pull him down to his chest before he could not move him any farther.