Venom-Venom Fruit

"Ow, what a shame."

Carl saw that when Baroque corroded the ground with his deadly poison, the gold in the affected area had been corroded away too. That gold counted as his spoils, after all, so he felt a pang of regret at losing some of it.

"You should worry about yourself."

"Poison Gas Spread!"

Baroque instantly filled the entire cave with a mist of deadly poison that poured from his body. It spread incredibly fast, filling the whole cave in almost an instant. They were deep inside, with only one exit, so there was no time to escape.

"Not good!"

Carl immediately raised an arm to cover his nose and held his breath, but he was still a moment too late. He caught a faint whiff of poison.

Though he held his breath in time, weakness still washed over him, and his head began to spin. He hadn't expected even the faintest trace of poison to be this potent. He could clearly feel it wreaking havoc on his senses.

His strength was already considerable—he was at least on the level of a pseudo-Admiral—yet he still hadn't managed to avoid it. Clearly, Baroque had developed his Devil Fruit far more than the warden in the original story.

Carl realized he'd underestimated the strong fighters of the Pirate World. And that made sense. Which pirate who'd survived for decades in the New World hadn't developed his Devil Fruit to the limit? The warden in the original story hadn't had much time to develop his Devil Fruit, so their strengths couldn't be compared.

But his Titan Constitution quickly brought him back to his senses. Such a weak trace of poison clearly wasn't enough to harm his body. A warm current rose from within him and dispelled the poison in an instant.

He knew he wasn't Superman yet. He couldn't go without breathing for too long, so he had to end the fight or break the stalemate quickly. Otherwise, he'd lose.

Carl darted forward, and the rocks beneath his feet shattered under the force of his step, flying in every direction.

Moving faster than the eye could follow, Carl appeared beside Baroque and swung his Armament Haki-coated fist at his head.

Carl was still stronger than Baroque. All of Baroque's abilities came from his Venom-Venom Fruit, so his physical strength wasn't all that impressive.

"Urgh!"

Carl's fist struck Baroque in the head, sending him flying into the wall behind him. His body slammed into it and became embedded in the rock. The whole cave shook.

"Whoa!"

"Kid, you're pretty strong!"

Baroque climbed down from the wall and wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth. Feeling the damage to his internal organs, he realized that this young man was no ordinary opponent. He looked young, but he was incredibly strong.

"Poison Giant Soldier!"

Deadly poison covered Baroque's entire body like armor, instantly raising his height to nearly ten meters. From a distance, he looked like a small mountain.

Once he was ready, Baroque charged straight at Carl. Everything in his path was corroded by the poison spilling from his body.

"Lightning Thunderbolt Fist!"

Carl knew that if they fought at close range, he wouldn't be able to avoid the poison.

So he covered his whole body in the Golden Light Incantation. Lightning flashed around his fist as he stepped forward and swung his thunderbolt at blinding speed.

A thunderous boom rang through the air, followed by a crackling roar. The lightning was so powerful that the air it passed through smelled of burning.

Baroque's Poison Giant Soldier was enormous, so none of Carl's punches missed. Purple lightning struck it from a distance, and currents instantly spread across its body.

"Aaah!"

Baroque hadn't expected Carl's lightning to be so powerful. The electricity left him unable to muster any strength, as though he'd lost control of his limbs. Even the power of his Venom-Venom Fruit was beginning to fade.

Carl had unleashed his Lightning Method at full force, driving a raging torrent of lightning into his opponent's body and scorching his internal organs. The only way to withstand this attack was to refine one's Armament Haki to the absolute limit—or to interrupt Carl's attack from a distance.

He couldn't help wondering: without Luffy's protagonist's halo, before awakening as the Sun God Nika, would Luffy really have been able to beat Enel, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user? The protagonist's halo really was important.

Though that thought crossed his mind, only a few seconds had passed. He turned his attention back to Baroque.

Just as he'd expected, the Poison Giant Soldier had already dissipated before it could reach Carl. The poison in the air had also vanished completely. Baroque had clearly...

Baroque knelt a few dozen meters in front of Carl, his body crackling with electricity. He could clearly feel that the lightning had burned his insides to a crisp. His earlier instincts had been right: he could no longer fight.

"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit?"

"I never thought I'd die in this little, unremarkable cave."

In that moment, Baroque looked back on his miserable life. When he was young, pirates had slaughtered everyone in his village, leaving him as the sole survivor. He'd then joined the X Pirates. At last, in his tenth year with them, he'd found the pirates who had massacred his village. After learning where they were, he'd slaughtered the entire crew in a single night. He'd avenged his village, but by then he'd become a pirate himself. He knew he could never return to the life he'd once had.

For decades, he'd weathered countless storms and killed countless people at sea, yet he'd never found peace. It would all end today.

"Kid, if you had a choice, would you become a pirate?"

Baroque knew he was going to die. Perhaps age really had caught up with him; perhaps a man's words were honest when death was near. He wanted to know whether Carl's experiences were anything like his own.

"Of course not. Isn't a peaceful, settled life better?"

When Carl said this, Baroque realized that he and Carl were alike. It was a shame that fate had other plans. Circumstances forced everyone onto a path they didn't want to take.

Perhaps that was what it meant to become the dragon after setting out to slay one.

Baroque's final words stirred something in Carl.

"Heh!"

"Yeah. If they had a choice, who'd become a pirate?"

Baroque's gaze dimmed as he spoke those words. He was gone.

Baroque's dying words washed over Carl's soul.

He remembered the words of a great general from Blue Star's wartime era: "The souls tempered by the flames of war are bound to the fate of the people. Everything we do today is an honor beyond compare."

Carl's fighting spirit flared to life. Before, he'd had little ambition and no real drive. Baroque's words had opened his eyes.

Now that he'd come to the Pirate World, he still didn't know exactly why he'd been brought here. But he wanted to create a world without war or slavery. He would strive toward that goal, and give his whole life to it.

It all came down to the Celestial Dragons!