One Piece: Alucard the Immortal-Chapter 495 - 494: Wrath of the Beast

In his Mythical Zoan form, Dragon felt the ocean beneath him churning with increasing violence. Just as he lowered his head to discern the cause of the upheaval, a massive shadow erupted from the depths.

His battle-hardened instincts, coupled with his exceptional Observation Haki, allowed him to twist his body in mid-air at the critical moment, narrowly evading a devastating strike.

Hiss—

Hovering in mid-air, Dragon looked ahead to see a pair of serpentine eyes glowing with a malevolent crimson light, fixed intently upon him. Most of the creature’s body remained submerged; only the head and a portion of the underbelly were exposed.

"How is this possible..."

Dragon’s brow furrowed. After their skirmish in the skies over the Ilisia Kingdom, he believed he had a grasp on Jormungandr’s combat style.

Massive but slow; powerful but lacking agility.

Based on speed alone, if he retreated at full power, the beast shouldn’t have been able to keep up. Yet, how could he explain the situation right before his eyes?

"Thunder Rain: Dragon King!"

Lightning exploded from Dragon’s claws, surging into the heavens to once again summon a thousand lightning dragons.

No matter how strange the situation, hesitation was a luxury he couldn’t afford. The only option was to deal with this beast immediately and complete his withdrawal.

"On the sea, the power of lightning is doubled!"

Concentrating his power, Dragon twisted his claws. Dozens of lightning dragons plummeted from the sky like a torrential downpour. Unlike the rhythmic, one-by-one assault he used against Alucard, he unleashed them all at once in a singular, overwhelming surge.

Lightning seeks any conductor, and given Jormungandr’s abnormally massive size, the beast had nowhere to hide.

Hiss... SCREEECH!!

Jormungandr’s tongue flicked rapidly. It bared its razor-sharp fangs and, with speed the eye could barely follow, ignored the barrage of lightning dragons to charge directly at Dragon himself.

"A massive body with no intellect, a monster not worth fearing!"

Dragon slashed his hand downward. Though Jormungandr was fast, it had not yet escaped his control.

Using the seawater as a conductor, the lightning transformed into a colossal web of electricity that shrouded Jormungandr’s immense frame. From the outside, the beast appeared to be wreathed in a terrifying display of white-hot violet lightning.

"GRAAAH!"

Jormungandr unhinged its massive jaws. Its tail broke the surface for the first time, lashing out with a violent swing that triggered a localized tsunami.

"What?"

Dragon’s expression shifted. The attack had clearly landed, yet it hadn’t slowed the beast down by a fraction?

Faced with the incoming wall of water, Dragon had no time for reflection. He shot upward toward the sky. It was a bit ironic; while the legendary Dragon is a divine beast capable of commanding rain and diving into the deep, the form Dragon inhabited feared the sea.

Narrowly dodging the tsunami by ascending at high speed, Dragon adjusted his posture to regain his footing, his mind racing. The speed, power, and explosiveness... they are incomparable to the battle just moments ago. It must be because the environment has shifted to the ocean.

The serpent was demonstrating a completely different level of combat prowess than it had in the skies of Ilisia. Since Alucard was not present, Dragon could find no other explanation for this sudden spike in strength other than the change in battlefield.

"Alucard is absent, despite his ability to fly. Does he loathe fighting over the sea? Or does he truly believe this beast can defeat me? How arrogant."

Dragon’s gaze darkened. With a flick of his tail, he prepared to ascend back into the high cloud layer to shift the battleground once more.

Whoosh!

But as Dragon rose and prepared to vanish into the mist, he suddenly spun around. He used his Haki-clad dragon claws to catch Jormungandr’s lunging fangs. His two front claws braced against the serpent’s upper fangs, while his rear claws dug into the lower jaw.

Jormungandr clamped its jaws shut, intent on swallowing Dragon whole, while Dragon exerted every ounce of strength to break free from the deadlock.

As the two titans remained locked in a stalemate, Jormungandr’s pupils constricted. Dragon sensed a surge of overwhelming threat from the dark abyss of the serpent’s throat. Ignoring everything else, he released his grip and scrambled to escape.

The price of his desperate retreat was high; one front claw and his tail were gashed open by the smaller teeth lining the giant fangs, leaving two deep wounds.

An instant after Dragon pulled back, a jet of viscous, pitch-black liquid erupted from Jormungandr’s maw. It grazed past Dragon’s body and shot into the high clouds.

The liquid tore through the cloud layer and, after a moment, rained back down into the sea. Instantly, the toxin spread. Every marine creature in the vicinity was dissolved until nothing but bone remained. Carcasses of giant sharks and killer whales bobbed to the surface; as far as the eye could see, the ocean was a graveyard.

"Venom!"

Dragon would have to be a fool not to realize what he was looking at. But the sheer potency of a toxin that could wipe out an entire stretch of ocean in seconds was something he had never witnessed before.

During his time in Impel Down, the then-Vice Warden Magellan had put him through considerable suffering... but even that didn’t compare to this beast. If that liquid had touched his skin just now, his fate would have been grim.

Jormungandr’s body began to coil around Dragon, spiraling rapidly into a tight, constricting braid that trapped him at the center.

"Trying to stop me from running?"

Dragon looked at the wall of scales surrounding him and glanced at his wounded hand and tail.

"I’ve used too many high-intensity techniques. To guard against a pursuit by Alucard, I must save enough strength for the final retreat. The next strike decides it!"

Dragon began to lock onto Jormungandr’s weakness. To kill a snake, you strike the vitals. He would find his opening!