When he entered that "frenzied" state, Darren became someone else entirely.
His presence changed down to the core. The calm, sardonic schemer vanished, replaced by a war demon made flesh—a god of destruction who knew nothing but battle.
The pressure radiating from him was so overwhelming that even Dragon, leader of the Freedom Fighters, felt his heart pounding in fear.
If Darren ever stood before him as an enemy in that state… Dragon was certain he'd be smashed into paste in the blink of an eye.
Yet now—
This terrifying "last-resort trump card" was what Darren wanted to weave into his daily training.
And Queen, that lunatic scientist, was not only cooperating but practically thrilled about it.
The realization made Dragon suddenly question whether this world was far more unhinged than he'd thought.
"Hey, Overalls Fatso… I suggest you back off a bit."
Below his waist, Dragon's body had already blurred into a swirling emerald cyclone, the rest of him poised to vanish at any time.
"When he enters that state, just the aura he gives off might be enough to knock you flat."
He hesitated, then decided he couldn't, in good conscience, leave without saying something.
"Unable to stand? That's impossible!"
Queen scoffed, full of disdain. He casually pulled out a cigar, clamped it between his teeth, and lit it with a flourish.
"Who do you think I am, you tattooed punk? I'm Plague Queen Que—"
Thud.
A deep, heavy sound cut him off mid-boast.
Queen's pupils shrank.
A powerful, rhythmic thump rolled through the air, weighty and resonant enough to send visible ripples racing across the ground.
Thud.
Thud.
Thud.
"This is…"
Queen swallowed hard, the skin on his scalp tightening.
He instinctively glanced toward Dragon—only to find that the tattooed man had already disappeared from where he'd been standing.
Dragon had fully elementalized, hovering a good five hundred meters away, grinning and baring his teeth as he waved Queen over with exaggerated enthusiasm.
Queen stared, speechless.
Thump. Thump. Thump. Thump.
The terrifying rhythm behind him grew louder and faster. A suffocating dread crept into the air, like a storm about to break.
A heartbeat.
It sounded like some ancient beast was slowly awakening, its colossal heart pounding out a primal rhythm.
Cold sweat streamed down Queen's forehead.
Gulp.
His fat cheeks quivered as he forced himself to turn around.
What he saw made his scalp go numb.
A figure wreathed in violet-blue lightning loomed ahead.
The upper half of Darren's clothes had long since been shredded. His short black hair whipped wildly in the crackling storm. His deep-set eyes glowed an eerie, blood-red, like a demon's, and his fingers had unconsciously curled into the Three-Fingered Dragon Claw stance.
With every earthshaking beat of his heart, Darren's chest rose and fell. Beneath the tightly coiled muscle, thick veins bulged like writhing pythons, and his skin gleamed with a dark, blood-red sheen.
He looked like a demon god dragged straight up from the depths of Hell.
"Ahem… Young Darren—no, Big Brother Darren, it's me, Queen," the fat man stammered, scalp tingling as he watched hot steam erupt from Darren's nostrils and mouth.
He reflexively took a step back, forcing a stiff smile.
"Don't get worked up. I'm here to help you master that strength—"
BOOM.
A terrifying aura exploded outward from Darren's body, surging like a tidal wave for kilometers—perhaps tens of kilometers.
Crimson-black lightning twisted across the air, wrapping around him like a living dragon as it spiraled upward. The ground around him visibly cracked and collapsed under the weight of his presence.
Queen shuddered, his legs nearly giving out. He could feel every pore on his body snapping open in panic.
The humanoid monster in front of him radiated a pressure unlike anything he'd ever experienced.
It crushed him.
It even surpassed the pressure of Boss Kaido going all out.
It felt like being locked onto by some ancient apex predator. Even the Brachiosaurus bloodline inside him was being forced down, as if it would submit and kneel at any moment.
So this was why that bastard Dragon had been so anxious about Darren's "Magnetic Field Rotation" experiments.
Because Darren, in this state, could no longer be called human.
"Such irresistible power…"
Darren hunched forward slightly, exhaling a searing breath as he let out a hoarse, sinister laugh.
"My body feels like it's about to explode. Every cell, every muscle is overflowing with strength… It feels like I could crush the world at any moment. It always brings out this urge to slaughter."
"I feel like I'm right on the edge of losing control…"
He clenched his fist.
The air itself cracked with the sound of a sonic boom.
Queen's eyelids twitched wildly. A chill stabbed down his spine.
This madman had created a sonic boom just by making a fist.
He didn't even dare imagine what would happen if Darren actually threw a punch at him right now.
"No! You have to control yourself!" Queen shouted, voice trembling.
At that moment, Darren suddenly lifted his head.
Under Queen's horrified gaze, Darren grinned.
"Fatty, if I remember right, your defense is insanely strong, isn't it?"
Queen felt like lightning had hit him.
After a stunned heartbeat, he began frantically waving his hands, shaking his head so hard his jowls wobbled.
"No! It's not! You remember wrong!"
ROAR.
A violent gale erupted, blurring his vision. Darren vanished.
By the time Queen's sight cleared, a pitch-black Dragon Claw wreathed in lightning was already looming right in front of his face, so close its image filled his pupils.
This speed… Even his Observation Haki couldn't fully track it.
A ridiculous thought flickered across Queen's mind.
He had absolutely no chance against Darren like this.
Just as despair closed in—
Crackle. Sizzle.
Purple lightning split the air, ripping through the space between them. The violent thunder sheared across the ground, carving a deep, charred trench between Darren and Queen.
"Thunder Bagua!!"
To be continued...