After firing his beam, Queen leisurely pulled out a cigar and lit it, his seven snake heads twisting with satisfaction.
Puff—!
As the cigar smoke drifted out, the distant smoke from the explosion was also scattered by the sea breeze. There was Sack, completely encased within a crystal-clear iceberg, frozen in a punching posture, his face still locked in a moment of shock.
"Captain Sack!" Some pirates cried out in horror at the sight, and a few even tried to rush forward.
Queen puffed on his cigar, admiring his handiwork with glee. His seven snake heads writhed as he let out a sinister laugh. "Mmmhahaha! That's what happens when you oppose the Beasts Pirates!" His laughter echoed across the battlefield, making many of the Golden Lion Pirates' crewmen look fearful.
But before Queen could celebrate for long, he saw Sack's frozen body turn a fiery red. Then, the iceberg began to melt rapidly, countless tiny fissures appearing across the ice's surface. Queen's grin froze on his face, his seven snake heads rising in alert unison.
"Bastard! Go die. Magma Fist Power!" Sack burst straight out of the iceberg, charging at Queen. His fist, carrying extreme heat, punched directly toward Queen's belly. His fist was like a red-hot branding iron, tracing a scarlet arc through the air.
Caught completely off-guard, Queen didn't react in time. The crimson fist punched straight through his stomach. Then, a massive explosion erupted from the fist, its shockwave shattering the surrounding ice surface.
Queen was blasted away, a massive carbonized black hole now in his belly, his seven snake heads shrieking in unison. His body crashed heavily onto the ice dozens of meters away, skidding to a halt in a long trail.
"Lord Queen!" Now it was the Beasts Pirates' turn to worry. Their morale took a hit as they watched their officer grievously wounded in horror.
From a distance, Perospero, who had been effortlessly dealing with a group of pirates, saw Queen getting taken down so easily and was momentarily dumbfounded. This guy is an All-Star?
A cold wind howled across the sea. The Beasts Pirates' fleet slowly advanced across the frozen expanse. Kuzan stood on the deck, hands in his pockets, his gaze fixed on the distant, defeated Queen.
"I knew it, that fat bastard," he muttered under his breath, his tone tinged with both resignation and mockery. As comrades who had trained together for half a year, Kuzan wasn't surprised by this outcome, but he had absolutely no intention of stepping in to help.
Suddenly, Kuzan's brow furrowed slightly. He keenly detected unusual movement beneath the sea surface—an irregular vibration.
"Sealed in the ice and submerged, yet still able to claw his way up through sheer force?" he murmured to himself, his voice low and calm. "Should I expect nothing less from a pirate with a two hundred million bounty?" The ghost of a smile touched Kuzan's lips before he leaped from the deck, landing steadily on the ice.
He walked unhurriedly to a spot where the ice seemed thinner and waited quietly.
Before long, the ice beneath his feet began to tremble violently, accompanied by crack-crack splitting sounds.
Suddenly, with a tremendous BOOM, the ice layer was shattered by a powerful force. A Fish-Man around four meters tall crawled out with difficulty from the icy hole.
He was soaking wet, panting heavily, having clearly exhausted most of his strength.
"Ararara, you really went through a lot of trouble to crawl out," Kuzan's voice sounded behind the Fish-Man, a note of teasing in his tone.
Before the Fish-Man could react, Kuzan's hand was already resting on his shoulder.
"Ice Time!" At Kuzan's whisper, a bone-chilling cold instantly spread out, thoroughly freezing the already exhausted Fish-Man solid.
Kuzan turned and waved to the pirates on the ship. "Someone come get this guy and lock him up." He paused, then added, "He is a Fish-Man, after all. Might as well bring him back for the Captain to deal with." His tone was placid, as if he were just giving a trivial order.
"Aye, sir!" a pirate responded immediately, swiftly fetching Seastone chains and binding the frozen Fish-Man securely.
The entire process was clean and efficient, without the slightest delay.
In the distance, the "killed" Queen had already recovered. He stared at Sack with murderous intent, furious flames burning in his eyes. As an All-Star of the Beasts Pirates, he had never suffered such humiliation.
"Oh? You're still not dead? No surprise for a Zoan user. Your hide really is thick," Sack remarked, arms crossed, a scornful smile playing on his lips. He was utterly indifferent to Queen's murderous glare.
"Bastard! You're asking to die!" Queen flew into a complete rage. His body began to expand drastically, dark blue-black scales surfacing on his skin. In the blink of an eye, he transformed into a giant Eight-Headed Serpent. Though now, the Yamata no Orochi only had seven heads, one having been destroyed in the earlier fight.
"Is this... a Mythical Zoan?" Sack narrowed his eyes slightly. His hands once again turned fiery red, terrifying high heat coalescing in his palms. "But no matter what form you take, you're dying here today."
"Go to hell!" Queen roared. Four of his remaining seven heads simultaneously aimed at Sack. Different energies gathered within each serpentine maw: one mouth pooled pale-white cold, another flickered with an orange-yellow light of death, a third crackled with azure-blue electrical arcs, and the last churned with searing red flames.
"Convergence Freeze Beam!"
"Convergence Death Beam!"
"Convergence Plasma Beam!"
"Convergence Flame Beam!"
Four massive energy beams shot out simultaneously, intertwining and merging in mid-air to form a devastating torrent of power. This attack, fusing four different attributes, made Sack feel the threat of death for the first time.
"What?!" Sack's eyes widened, his pupils contracting instantly. He tried to dodge but found this assault had already locked onto all his escape routes.
KABOOOOOM——!
A deafening explosion shook the heavens. The energy torrent struck Sack's location, instantly throwing up a colossal mushroom cloud. A terrifying shockwave radiated outward, sending all nearby combatants from both sides flying.
"Mmmhahaha! See that?! That's what happens when you piss me off!" Queen looked at the distant explosion, his seven heads laughing triumphantly in unison. He was certain there was no way Sack could have survived such a terrifying attack.
The smoke and dust gradually cleared, revealing a massive crater dozens of meters across on the battlefield. Queen looked at his handiwork with satisfaction, ready to revert from his serpent form.
But at that very moment, his laughter cut off abruptly. His Kenbunshoku Haki told him Sack wasn't there at all.