After Artoria saw the venom glistening at the tip of the serpent's needle-like tail, she advanced cautiously, Excalibur gripped tightly in hand. This time, her movements were calculated she knew well that the venom carried by this Sea King-class serpent wasn't ordinary. Even the smallest trace would spell instant death without an antidote, and in the Grand Line, such mercy was rarely an option.
"Die!" Artoria cried out as she slashed at the poisoned tail once again. But the serpent didn't recoil like before this time, it retaliated. The Sea King had decided it was done playing defense. Lunging forward with the tail like a fencer's blade, it launched thrust after thrust, each strike precise and deadly. Artoria was forced to evade rapidly, step by step, her footing sliding across the seabed. Several attacks came too close to dodge she deflected them using Excalibur, sparks bursting from each impact. The clashing of steel and venomous bone sent ripples through the current, echoing through the seafloor like a thunderclap and then, with a final strike, Artoria shattered the poisoned stinger with a powerful, well-angled slash.
"You! Give me death!" Artoria roared not the composed knight she was known to be, but a fierce warrior blazing with fury. A regal pressure emanated from her Haoshoku Haki, though faint, cracked through the water like thunder. Her sword radiated with golden brilliance, as if channeling the light of the sun itself. The divine light surged through the blade, enveloping the remains of the serpent's tail and melting not just the shattered needle, but the entire connected section of flesh. The serpent, sensing doom, did the unthinkable—it coiled back and violently tore off part of its own tail, the pain causing it to shriek in rage, but sparing its life from being completely incinerated.
As the glow faded from Excalibur, the severed portion of the serpent's tail dissolved into light particles, burnt away by the intense heat. The snake writhed but survived.
"Cut off your own tail to survive… hmph, I didn't expect that." Artoria was taken aback by the beast's quick decision. She had believed Excalibur's light would end the fight—clearly, this serpent was more cunning and desperate than she'd thought. Its resilience reminded her of the Sea Kings that guarded the Calm Belt beasts that knew both pain and strategy.
"Hissss!" the serpent screamed, its forked tongue vibrating furiously. Artoria saw unfiltered rage in its eyes. The beast had thought victory was within reach, only to be maimed by a warrior with a blade that shone like divine judgment. The searing pain from its tail still lingered, and had it hesitated to sever the burning flesh, it would have died moments ago.
With renewed rage, the serpent coiled itself and launched into a high-speed spin, turning into a living projectile. It hurled itself at Artoria like a massive ball of scales and muscle. Artoria tucked into a roll, diving behind a nearby coral-strewn rock. The serpent crashed into the seabed with a shockwave that shattered shells and scattered sediment. A crater formed beneath it as stone and sand were pulverized.
The serpent scanned the seabed with burning eyes then locked onto Artoria's silhouette behind the rock. Its mouth opened wide, and from its gullet came a stream of thick, bubbling fluid. The acidic liquid hissed as it hit the rock, instantly corroding it into sludge. Artoria's eyes widened in alarm.
"What the hell? Sulfuric acid?" she gasped. "It's like that sea frog from before its stomach's full of concentrated acid for digestion!"
That changed everything. This serpent wasn't just venomous it could project corrosive stomach acid, just like other Sea Kings known to secrete digestive compounds. From her battles with the giant frog in earlier chapters, Artoria remembered that some Sea Kings had evolved with this adaptation to dissolve prey before swallowing it.
"Damn, it even sprays acid!" Artoria muttered, her view of the serpent shifting again. What she had assumed was a purely venom-based attacker was proving to be an unpredictable hybrid of biological weapons. Poison, fangs, and now acid a true predator of the Grand Line.
"Puhhh!" The serpent spewed another stream of yellowish acid. Now that it remembered this offensive tactic, it used it aggressively, targeting Artoria directly. Realizing she had no time to block or counter, Artoria dashed aside and scanned her surroundings. She spotted a pile of nearby rocks an idea sparked.
The serpent, noticing her momentary pause, unleashed a volley of acidic sprays to overwhelm her position. Acid surged toward her, hissing as it melted coral and sand alike. But Artoria reacted fast she pivoted, kicked up several large stones with her foot, and hurled them with powerful, water-resistant strikes toward the incoming acid. Her physical strength, honed through years of battle, sent the stones hurtling like cannonballs.
The rocks met the acid mid-stream melting upon impact, but delaying the corrosive fluid just long enough. Artoria didn't waste a second. She propelled herself forward, raised Excalibur, and instead of attacking the body or tail, she slashed at one of the serpent's jagged fangs. Her reasoning was simple if she damaged the venom delivery system directly, the potency of its attacks might be reduced.
The impact rang out like a bell beneath the sea. A crack formed down the length of the fang, splitting the surface into jagged lines. Artoria flipped backward before the serpent could counter, placing distance between them.
"Did I get it?" she asked herself, analyzing the damage. The fang didn't completely snap but deep fractures now lined it, making it unstable. The serpent's facial expression twisted in rage and pain the broken tooth throbbed, its venomous channel likely disrupted. The contrast between the beast's furious expression and the cartoonishly wobbly fang gave it a momentarily ridiculous appearance.
"Why are this thing's teeth so damn hard?" Artoria whispered, more annoyed than amused. "Excalibur cuts steel like paper what is this thing made of?"
She remembered tales of Sea Kings near Enies Lobby whose skeletons were denser than seastone, their bodies evolving under extreme pressure and environmental toxicity. This serpent might be one of those rare breeds—its skeletal structure enhanced for both battle and survival.
Her eyes narrowed.
The serpent, having realized its fang was split, screeched and surged forward, body stretching and snapping like a whip. It was no longer testing her. It was out for blood.
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