A bitter wind howled, the frozen plain seething with murderous intent.
Facing Deadpool's wide-armed, enthusiastic hug, Abel's answer was simple and direct.
No wasted words.
Not even a flicker stirred in those lifeless eyes.
The black naginata in his hand flipped; the blade ripped through the air with a shrill shriek.
Vrrr!
A black-red crescent cleaved through the ice, aiming straight for Deadpool's waist.
"Whoa! So passionate?!"
Deadpool yelped and stamped both feet against the ice.
Like a spring compressed to the limit, he vaulted three meters up and performed a physics-defying 720-degree backflip.
Shhk!
The black blade skimmed the soles of his boots, shearing the summit clean off an iceberg behind him.
Amid the thunderous collapse, he landed squarely on the Leviathan's colossal skull.
Patting his chest, he found his red suit crusted with ice shards.
"Hey, watch it! This outfit's limited-edition dry-clean only!"
He pointed at Abel below, his voice full of grievance.
Abel straightened, his naginata angled toward the ice.
The black tattoos on his body writhed as though alive, crawling across his pale skin and exuding a suffocating pressure.
"Shut up, traitor."
His voice rasped like two whetstones grinding together.
"I'm here to collect you."
He stepped forward; the ice spider-webbed beneath his feet.
"Don't be so grim, tin man."
Deadpool sat cross-legged atop the beast's head, chin propped on one hand, casually gesturing with the other.
"Look around, Abel."
"Look at all these adorable white-uniform cuties, look at this vibrant sea."
He inhaled as though savoring a delicacy.
"A perfect breeding ground."
"No containment procedures, no white-coat nut-job doctors, no damned concrete statue staring at your neck."
Deadpool's voice turned feverish.
He sprang upright, arms flung wide as if to embrace the world.
"The Blacklight virus will thrive here!"
"Together we can absorb this planet's biomass enough for both of us to reach ultimate evolution!"
"Then the O5 Council, the Foundation all of them will be appetizers on our plate!"
A deathly hush fell.
Every Marine's face drained of color.
Absorb… the planet?
That was these monsters' goal?!
To feed the entire world to their evolution?!
"Absurd."
Abel spat the word.
The crimson in his eyes flared; the naginata quivered, hungry for blood.
"Lowly flesh would only foul my blade."
"Since you insist, I'll obliterate you along with that rotting meat."
The instant the words left his mouth, Abel vanished.
Boom!
The air shattered.
Where he had stood, the beast's skull cratered downward.
Without warning, a pitch-black naginata materialized at Deadpool's neck.
Before the edge even touched, the reek of gore stung the skin.
The strike was faster than sight.
"Whoa, slow down! I haven't touched up my makeup!"
Deadpool shrieked, folding backward at an impossible angle.
His spine crackled like kindling as he bent like a sheet of paper snapped in half.
Shff—!
The blade whisked past his nose, trimming a few loose threads from his mask.
The residual force carved a bottomless trench hundreds of meters long behind him, seawater geysering into the sky.
"Close call nearly headless!"
Snapping upright with a whip of his waist, he yanked free the twin blades on his back.
Two Adamantium swords carved frigid arcs through the air.
Clang!!
Sparks sprayed.
Blades met naginata in a thunderous clash.
A shockwave erupted, the Leviathan's head forced three meters lower beneath their feet.
"Strong much what do they feed you, Viagra?"
Blood from burst palms painted his hilts red.
He only grinned, using the rebound to drift backward, his feet dancing as if on invisible stairs.
Abel said nothing.
He gave no quarter.
A stomp turned the ice to powder.
He shot forward like black lightning.
The naginata vanished, replaced by a titanic warhammer.
Whoosh—!
It descended with storm and thunder toward the airborne mercenary.
"Swapping weapons again got a fourth-dimensional pocket up there?"
With no leverage, Deadpool crossed his swords to block.
Thoom!!!
A muffled boom echoed.
Deadpool slammed into the ice like a batted ball, blasting out a meteor crater dozens of meters wide.
Ice shards rained down as Abel dropped after him, hammer raised for the coup de grâce.
Vergo, arriving with Aokiji as reinforcements, asked, "Admiral, shall we move in and capture them?"
"Wait."
A gleam flashed behind Kuzan's shades.
He wanted to see what the SCP Foundation truly had up its sleeve.
Ice dust drifted, the cold thick enough to cut.
In the heart of the crater, smoke still curled.
Hands in his pockets, Kuzan exhaled a plume of frost.
Eyes narrowed behind his sunglasses, he tracked the two figures through the flying ice.
"So this is… a higher-dimensional war?"
Kuzan's murmur reached only Vergo's ears.
Vergo tightened his grip on his bamboo rod, his brows knit.
"Admiral, you mean…?"
"Impressive."
Kuzan delivered his verdict.
"Whether it's the red freak or the ancient warrior called Abel, in raw martial might and destructive force they'd rank near the top of the seas able to trade blows with the best of the Shichibukai."
He paused, recalling Abel's severed arm regrowing and Deadpool still bouncing back after a direct hammer strike.
"But…"
Kuzan shook his head, a playful smirk tugging at his lips.
"If this is all it takes to destroy a planet, they're underestimating us natives."
As the Marines' supreme battle power, Kuzan had absolute confidence.
These two were troublesome, especially their immortality, but if he went all-out, backed by a Marineford Buster Call
The sea could bury them.
"Seems the so-called Foundation is just a group with some freak tech"
Before he could finish, a roar burst from the crater.
"Hey, hammer-swinging caveman!"
"You herniated my lumbar disc! That's an on-the-job injury I'm demanding compensation from the O5 Council!"
Boom!
The ice exploded.
Deadpool rocketed from the pit, his red-and-black suit in tatters, revealing mangled flesh beneath.
But the wounds knitted on sight, pink tendrils writhing until his skin was pristine once more.
"Damn, that was my favorite outfit."
He dusted off his rear and cocked his head at Abel.
"Can't you be gentle? Must it always be so gory?"
Vrrr—!
A heart-stopping surge burst from Deadpool's core.
His once-human frame began to swell.
Countless black-red tendrils burst through the suit, whipping like living serpents around him.
Pure biomass.
The condensed essence stolen from countless lives.
"Alright, playtime's over."
"Abel, if you won't share in this evolutionary glory…"
His voice changed no longer the flippant rasp but layered, deep, echoing like a chorus.
"Then become part of me!"