This had never happened before.
When Queen said "suppressed," he meant it in the purest, ugliest sense—a straight-on, head-to-head brawl, not just a brief clash of power.
The Grand Line was crawling with monsters, and while Big Brother Kaido's strength was undeniable, Queen was still clear-eyed enough to admit that, compared to legends like Whitebeard, Roger, and Golden Lion, Kaido's actual combat record was still a little lacking.
But even then, Queen had never once seen his captain crushed like this by anyone.
Against Roger, Big Mom, Whitebeard, Golden Lion… at worst, Kaido had been outplayed in Haki or tricked tactically—never beaten purely in a contest of body against body.
Yet now, right in front of his eyes, a scene that shattered Queen's worldview was unfolding.
Beast Kaido, the man hailed as the Strongest Creature in the Sea, Land, and Sky, was going blow-for-blow with that frenzied black-haired brat—and in terms of Physique, Strength, and Speed… he was being completely overwhelmed.
This was a pure, undeniable difference in physical might.
When it came to the strength of his body alone, that bastard Rogers Darren… had already surpassed Boss Kaido and seized the title of the sea's "strongest."
"This is impossible… absolutely impossible…"
Overalls Fatso shook like a sieve, his entire body trembling, his face drained of color.
"When I first met that brat Darren, he was just a normal human… How did he get this strong?"
He simply couldn't accept it.
If Darren had simply trained up an "Indestructible Body," Queen might have been able to force himself to swallow it.
But this? This made no sense at all.
"Come to think of it, Darren mentioned this a few times…" Dragon muttered, overhearing Queen's dazed rambling and absentmindedly responding.
"What did he say?" Queen snapped, his voice a ragged croak.
Dragon scratched his head, frowning as he dug through his memories. After a moment, his eyes lit up and he slapped his forehead.
"I remember now."
"He said his rapid growth—becoming stronger than ever—came from brutal training and countless brushes with death…"
"But more importantly, there was one particularly… special experience that really laid the foundation for his strength."
"He feels that the progress he made during that time gave him an unbelievably solid base to grow from."
As Dragon spoke, Queen's face steadily went from pale to green. He took two stumbling steps back, as if he already sensed something terrible coming. His expression twisted.
Dragon chuckled darkly.
"To this day, Darren still deeply appreciates the torment you put him through at your old base in Wano." He tilted his head and looked at Queen, whose eyes were shining with panic.
"He said you controlled the virus's potency perfectly. Too weak would've been useless, too strong would've killed him—but you kept it right at that perfect threshold. That's what let his body build such a solid foundation, and why he was later able to train his 'Indestructible Body.'"
"No! That's not how it happened! You're lying!" Queen's face flared crimson. He jabbed a shaking finger toward the distant battlefield, where two monsters were trying to beat each other into the ground. His voice cracked with desperation. "That has nothing to do with me!"
"I ran that experiment countless times! Out of all the subjects, only that freak survived the virus! Everyone else died!"
Dragon paused, then nodded slowly as if thinking it through.
"So what you're saying is, Darren's unmatched strength has absolutely nothing to do with your genius as a scientist? It's all just his own training?" he murmured.
"That this groundbreaking research—the thing that gave a human a body surpassing even the strongest creature in the sea, land, and sky—won't be credited to you at all? That you won't be known as the world's greatest scientist, overshadowing even Vegapunk?"
Queen stiffened.
His expression flickered wildly for several seconds, swinging between denial and reluctant pride.
Then, as if he'd finally caved to temptation, he forced a smug grin onto his face.
"Since you've already figured it out, there's no point hiding it anymore."
"That's right! It was me, the world's greatest scientist, who personally forged the monster capable of surpassing Boss Kaido!" He puffed his chest out, crossed his arms, and burst into hysterical laughter. "Muhahahaha—huh?"
The laughter froze in his throat.
The corners of his mouth twitched, stuck halfway between a grin and a grimace.
Because that exact same smile was also hanging on Dragon's face.
"You admitted it yourself," Dragon said, grinning like a fox.
"Tight-pants Fatty."
Queen had already forgotten Dragon existed.
He turned his head slowly, joints creaking.
A towering figure, clad completely in black, had appeared behind him without a sound.
Vast, obsidian wings unfurled from the man's back, casting a shadow that swallowed Queen whole.
"I'll report this to Kaido-san later," King rasped, his voice low and cold. His eyes, sharp as blades, stared down at Queen with icy contempt.
Queen felt like lightning had struck him from the inside out.
His mouth opened and closed, but no words came out.
His fat face turned a violent shade of red as the weight of what he'd just said crashed down on him.
Slap!
He smacked himself across the face as hard as he could.
King didn't spare him another look.
He turned away, his cloak billowing, and focused on the distant battlefield instead. The sight made his blood run cold.
An icy chill crawled slowly up his spine.
---
Boom!
The ground within a thousand meters of Darren's feet collapsed all at once, sinking inward with a thunderous roar. Tons of shattered rock blasted skyward, only to be crushed into powder by the shockwaves, swirling into a colossal sandstorm.
"Come on, Kaido!"
Within that raging storm, Darren's silhouette shot forward like a wild beast unleashed. Dust and flame billowed behind him as he rocketed into Kaido's face in the blink of an eye, laughing with manic delight.
"Let's have a real, bloody brawl!"
"Don't get carried away, little brat Darren!"
Kaido's hands were a blazing crimson as he gripped Hassaikai so tightly the steel groaned. He swung the kanabo down with annihilating force.
"Roaring Thunder Eight Trigrams!"
Purple-black lightning burst outward in a spreading web, the concentrated power of his strike cracking the very sky.
Darren's body blazed with electricity. His movement, somehow faster than his own reaction, blurred through the gap in Kaido's strike. His Three-Fingered Dragon Claw slashed out at an impossible angle.
Clang!
Sparks exploded as he hooked Hassaikai and slammed it sideways into the ground.
"Dragon's Dive!"
A deep fissure split open between them with the sound of a mountain ripping apart. The earth heaved, boulders and soil erupting into the air like a volcanic blast.
At the same time, Darren surged forward, fists wreathed in Armament Haki as he hammered into Kaido with a wild, unrestrained barrage.
His punches ripped through the air, friction igniting the atmosphere into crimson streaks of light that rained down like meteors on Kaido's body.
"Magnetic Storm: Meteor Barrage!"
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!
The blows fell like a meteor shower, each one detonating with brutal force.
Shockwaves slammed across the island, turning the ground beneath their feet into a trembling, groaning beast on the verge of collapse.
To be continued...