On the icy surface formed by the ghostly chill of the Netherworld, Toral's massive body writhed and twisted in agony, his skin gradually shriveling like dried bark.
Roar!
Thunderous bellows echoed through the entirety of Delsalado, a testament to the unimaginable pain he was in.
"Hey, what's going on with you?"
Ashen stepped in front of Toral, watching as the once mighty beast now lay limp and feeble. A flicker of confusion crossed his face.
'Did I overdo it? No way… Is this guy just faking it?'
'Human, help me! Drag me into the volcanic lake, if you don't, I'm dead!'
Toral, still barely conscious, opened his eyes and pleaded with Ashen. If not for the looming threat of death, the proud creature would never have lowered himself to beg like this.
"Captain, remember what Ojos said? Toral can't stay away from the volcanic lake for too long. There's probably a reason for that. Looks like time's up."
Tesla, seeing that the battle was clearly over, walked over to Ashen and examined Toral's condition before offering his theory.
'Hurry… Please… If you wait any longer, I'll die!'
Toral was practically cursing Tesla in his heart. He was on the verge of becoming a dried husk, and the man still had the nerve to treat him like a lab rat.
Smack!
Even though he didn't fully understand what was going on, Ashen figured he might as well try.
He grabbed Toral by the tail and dragged him over to the hole in the ice where they had fought earlier.
Just in case Toral tried to sneak back to his lair, Ashen shoved only its head into the churning lake water, waiting to see what would happen.
Gulp!
The moment his head touched the lake water, Toral seemed to regain a sliver of vitality. He began gulping down the water in huge mouthfuls.
As the scalding lake water flowed into him, something miraculous occurred, Toral's shriveled form began to recover.
The withered parts of his body slowly filled out, his skin regaining its elasticity.
It was like a fuse had been lit.
Beneath Toral's skin, his blood vessels suddenly began to twitch, making him look even more grotesque. But that wasn't the worst of it.
As the internal struggle within him intensified, a thick vein under his wing burst open. With a violent squelch, a worm the width of a finger was ejected by the pressure of his blood.
The thing was about twenty centimeters long. Its translucent body was filled with black and red blood. Even after landing on the ice, it writhed madly with terrifying vitality.
"What the hell is that!?"
For once, Ashen, who prided himself on being unshakable, was genuinely nauseated by a worm.
Screee!
He lifted his foot and stomped hard on the parasite, grinding it under his heel.
Surprisingly, despite the immense force behind Ashen's stomp, the worm didn't burst. Its body was incredibly tough.
Even flattened, it still had the strength to bare hook-like fangs and snap at his boot.
Clang!
Unwilling to let the slime touch his shoe any longer, Ashen decisively drew his sword.
This time, the worm didn't get away. In one clean slash, its head was severed, and a flood of dark blood stained the ice beneath it.
"This is a parasitic worm native to the South Blue. It's called a blood leech.
Usually, they attach to fish. Infected fish show swollen abdomens, raised scales, bulging eyes, and fluid-filled sockets."
Tesla poked at the still-twitching corpse with his short blade, frowning.
"But the blood leeches I know of are never this large. And they definitely aren't this resilient."
"Stop playing dead, Toral. Spit it out, how the hell did you end up infected with something this disgusting?"
Ashen gave the weakened Toral a solid kick and asked.
'I don't know… Must've eaten something. It's been tormenting me for ages! At first, I didn't feel much.
But then it started… evolving or something. It kept getting stronger. Every time it reproduced, it got worse.
Only in this volcanic lake does it settle down and go dormant.'
Toral blinked weakly, hatred burning in his eyes, for the parasite, and maybe a little for himself.
"Captain, what did he say?"
Tesla couldn't help but ask, watching Ashen and Toral exchange looks and gestures.
"I've got a theory. Listen…"
Ashen relayed Toral's story, along with his own deductions.
"I think you're right. That parasite in Toral's body definitely ate a Devil Fruit. Otherwise, there's no way the lake water would affect it like that."
As a scientist, Tesla knew the world was full of strange phenomena, and wasn't quick to dismiss the idea.
"I thought so too. Since the parasite lives inside Toral, seawater can't harm him directly. Even if Toral drinks a lot of it, only a trace amount of seastone particles would be absorbed.
But the volcanic lake is a different story. Its water is practically liquid seastone, soaking in it keeps Toral safe.
And over time, the seastone essence leaks out of him, which explains why he can't stay away from the lake for too long."
Ashen continued analyzing.
"I remember now. That parasite… it must've eaten the Proliferate-Proliferate Fruit. A Paramecia-type."
Tesla suddenly recalled something.
"Proliferate-Proliferate Fruit?"
Ashen raised an eyebrow. It was the first time he'd heard of such a fruit.
"Yeah, that's the one. It allows the user to rapidly reproduce offspring, and each generation inherits improved genetic traits.
Basically, the more it reproduces, the stronger the user becomes. There's an old legend about it from an island in the South Blue."
Tesla recounted the story he'd heard as a child.
Ashen tried to recall the Devil Fruit encyclopedias he'd studied, but there was no mention of it.
Most likely, the fruit had remained undocumented because it was eaten by a parasite and had never appeared in a recorded host.
This blood leech had clearly evolved to possess various powerful genes, including longevity. Otherwise, it wouldn't have survived this long.
Had Toral not remained submerged in the volcanic lake all this time, slowing its evolutionary cycle, no one could predict what terrifying form it might have reached by now.
With Toral's massive size and formidable life force, it had managed to survive. But if it had parasitized a human, it would have drained them dry and moved on to the next host ages ago.
'Hey, human, ask that guy, does he have any way to kill this thing once and for all?'
Toral, still unable to speak aloud, looked anxiously at Ashen. Despite having loathed Tesla just moments ago, now he found himself desperate for his help.
He hadn't even realized it, he had come to rely on Tesla more than he ever imagined.
"No need to ask him. Toral… will you let me try something?"