Wherever the Poison Dragon passed, the dark-red magma covering Bullet's body rapidly lost its brilliance.
Its glow dimmed.
Then the molten surface began to solidify.
Under the venom's relentless corrosion, deep grooves appeared across the hardened magma as though enormous blades were carving directly into it.
Even the metal and stone fused into Bullet's body began weakening.
Pieces cracked loose and fell away one after another, clattering across the plaza as Magellan's poison ate through materials that had seemed nearly indestructible only moments earlier.
"MAGELLAN!"
Bullet's furious roar shook the battlefield.
His magma-filled eyes widened as he realized just how quickly his colossal body was being damaged.
This was no ordinary poison.
It did not merely corrode the physical material forming his giant body.
The venom seemed capable of seeping even into the Haki coating that reinforced it, gradually weakening the power Bullet had wrapped around himself.
For the battered Marines below, Magellan's arrival was like a lifeline thrown into the middle of a disaster.
Marineford had already been driven to the brink.
Kuzan was still grievously wounded and could barely keep the situation from collapsing on his own.
With Kaido and Bullet attacking simultaneously, Headquarters desperately needed another top-tier fighter.
And now Magellan had finally entered the battle.
The Venom-Venom Fruit was among the most terrifying abilities on the sea.
Against an opponent like Bullet, whose colossal form relied on enormous quantities of fused material, its corrosive properties were especially troublesome.
The gigantic purple Poison Dragon tightened around Bullet's destroyer form.
Its viscous body writhed continuously, venom spreading across magma, steel, and stone alike.
Every movement stripped away another layer.
Bullet snarled.
The magma within the giant erupted violently, flames and molten rock bursting upward as he tried to force the Poison Dragon away.
Yet Magellan's venom clung to him stubbornly.
No matter how violently the giant struggled, the purple poison continued spreading.
The arrival of Magellan immediately changed the atmosphere across Marineford.
Marines who had been on the verge of breaking stared upward with renewed hope.
For the first time since Bullet transformed, they had seen something genuinely damage the colossal destroyer.
Maybe—
just maybe—
it could be stopped.
Then Bullet laughed.
"Hahahaha!"
The sound boomed from inside the magma giant.
"Magellan!"
His grin widened.
"Your poison won't work on me!"
Despite the Poison Dragon continuing to corrode his body, Bullet showed no panic whatsoever.
One enormous hand emerged through the flames and rolling smoke.
Magma flowed across the palm, reinforced by layers of hardened metal and top-tier Armament Haki.
Then—
the giant hand closed around the Poison Dragon's neck.
Deep-purple venom immediately spilled between Bullet's massive fingers.
Drops struck the ground below with violent hissing sounds, eating into stone and metal as poisonous fumes rose into the air.
But Bullet did not loosen his grip.
"This crap can keep pouring out all day!"
His Haki-coated fingers tightened.
"It still won't do a damn thing to me!"
The giant's other hand seized the Poison Dragon as well.
Both arms flexed.
The artificial muscles formed from flowing magma and fused metal swelled violently beneath the strain.
Raw strength surged through Bullet's colossal body.
Enough strength to rip apart a mountain.
"Now—"
Bullet roared.
"BREAK!"
His hands pulled in opposite directions.
The air screamed under the pressure.
The Poison Dragon stretched between his palms as the surrounding space itself seemed to distort beneath the tremendous force.
Then—
BOOOOOOM!!!
A deafening explosion tore across Marineford.
The gigantic Poison Dragon was ripped apart by brute force.
...
The enormous Poison Dragon, formed from Magellan's terrifying venom, proved surprisingly fragile before Bullet's overwhelming brute force.
With nothing more than raw strength, Bullet tore the massive dragon apart through the middle.
Thick venom burst outward like a torrential downpour, spraying in every direction as the two severed halves of the Poison Dragon collapsed into uncontrolled streams of purple liquid. They twisted violently through the air before gradually losing their shape and dispersing amid the smoke.
The colossal magma giant casually swung its arms, flinging away the poison still clinging to its body.
Deep scars had been eaten into its once-impenetrable surface.
Yet beneath the combined effects of flowing magma and the Clank-Clank Fruit, the damaged sections were already repairing themselves at an astonishing rate.
Molten rock surged into the gaps.
Metal and stone shifted back into place.
Within moments, the damage had largely vanished.
Bullet raised his restored head.
Magma coursed even more violently across the giant's surface as its blazing eyes locked onto the distant purple figure near Marine Headquarters.
"MAGELLAN!"
His booming voice rolled across the battlefield.
"If you've got anything better, then bring it out!"
Bullet's grin widened.
"I came here ready to tear this whole damn place apart! I'll wreck your precious prison too, then crush every last one of you so-called Admirals into paste!"
His laughter thundered across Marineford.
It was pure, unapologetic brutality.
No finesse.
No elaborate strategy.
Just overwhelming power wielded with complete confidence.
And for the Marines below, it was devastating.
The fragile hope that had returned when Magellan's Poison Dragon began corroding Bullet vanished almost immediately.
Their expressions sank once more.
If even an Admiral's attack could simply be torn apart and shrugged off, what were ordinary soldiers supposed to do?
High atop Marine Headquarters, Magellan stared grimly at the remains of his Poison Dragon as they dissolved into scattered droplets.
His face darkened.
Bullet's taunting words echoed in his ears, but instead of discouraging him, they only hardened the cold anger in his eyes.
"Doesn't work?"
Magellan's voice came out as a low growl.
"What a load of crap."
He did not believe for a second that Bullet could completely ignore his poison.
His venom was potent enough to corrode even opponents who relied on Logia-type elemental bodies.
Bullet's giant form had already shown obvious signs of damage.
The fact that he could repair that damage did not mean the poison had been ineffective.
He was enduring it.
That was different.
"Poison Cloud—Soul-Corroding Miasma!"
Magellan threw both arms wide.
A far greater torrent of poison erupted from his body.
This time, he did not shape it into a dragon.
Instead, the dark-purple venom spread outward into an immense poisonous cloud.
It rapidly expanded across the sky, becoming so dense that portions of it appeared almost black.
Within moments, the miasma covered a vast section above Marineford.
A sickly sweet stench accompanied it.
Even from a distance, Marines who caught the slightest trace of the fumes felt dizzy and nauseated.
There was something even more unsettling beneath the toxicity—a chilling sensation that seemed to penetrate beyond flesh and bone, reaching straight into the spirit.
The enormous cloud rolled toward Bullet's magma giant from every direction.
There was nowhere for something that large to hide.
"Hmph!"
Bullet snorted.
"Cheap trick!"
Dark-red magma erupted violently across the giant's body.
Then towering pillars of molten fire shot into the sky, roaring upward like furious dragons as they illuminated the battlefield in crimson light.
"Great Magma Flame!"
At Bullet's roar, the massive columns of magma surged directly into Magellan's descending poison cloud.
Purple venom and dark-red magma collided above Marineford.
The next clash had begun.