Blackbeard watched in stunned horror as the Seraphim began to dissolve.
The Living Armor, the Marines' supposedly indestructible new technology, was sloughing off their bodies in molten, festering clumps.
He couldn't help but gasp.
This Sea King... what kind of poison did it possess?
Just as he was processing this, two other Seraphim, untouched by the poison, suddenly went rigid.
Their lights flickered, and they fell from the sky, crashing into the sea.
Their faces were frozen in a look of panic.
The ink wasn't just corrosive; it was some kind of paralytic agent.
In the Marine command center, the atmosphere was funereal.
Every executive stared at the screen in stunned silence.
They had just watched their greatest hope, the "growth" armor, fail utterly.
It had held out for less than ten seconds against the Kraken's poison.
Only Leon remained calm, his eyes narrowed in intense concentration.
This wasn't a natural ability. The poison was too potent, too perfect.
A theory was forming in his mind.
Blackbeard's unnatural resilience.
Jack's undead transformation.
And now this... this biological weapon of a Sea King.
They were all connected.
The clues all pointed in one direction: "death" and unnatural "strengthening."
He was no longer just fighting pirates.
He was fighting the results of an unknown, terrifying science.
The source, he knew, had to be Rocks.
He had to assume the enemy's technology had just taken a horrifying leap forward, and he needed to do the same.
...
On the battlefield, the Kraken was on a rampage, its tough hide and insane regenerative abilities easily shrugging off damage.
"Seraphim group!" Akainu roared into the comms. "All units! Covering strike! Fire at will!"
Hundreds of dazzling laser beams, each one enhanced by the Living Armor's gauntlets, converged on the monster.
The resulting explosion was massive, but when the smoke cleared, the Kraken was still there, roaring in anger, its body covered in nothing but shallow, steaming scars.
The lasers, powerful enough to vaporize a warship, were useless against this creature's sheer, regenerative bulk.
This monster couldn't be dealt with by conventional means.
"Damn it! Where did this thing come from?!" Akainu slammed his fist on the console.
The remaining Seraphim were now at a total disadvantage.
He felt a heavy burden of failure settle on him. They were facing an invincible monster.
Leon, however, watched the ensuing chaos with a cold, analytical gaze.
He wasn't worried about the loss of the Seraphim.
They were, in the end, just consumable weapons.
He could always build more.
But what was the point? Recreating thousands of them would be meaningless if they couldn't even defeat one of the enemy's new high-end units.
The lasers were useless against a high-regeneration tank.
The conclusion was clear.
In this battle, the Seraphim would not win.
The Marines were about to taste failure and he would have to invent a new weapon to counter it.
"It seems," Sengoku said, his voice heavy, "that the Marines have suffered a heavy loss this time..."
He was no longer full of energy; he looked like a man defeated.
"The Seraphim are no longer enough to destroy them," Admiral Akainu stated, his voice a low growl.
"A pity," Admiral Aokiji added, his usual laziness gone. "All those wasted units."
Leon's eyes flickered with a calculating light.
The Seraphim were the foundation of the Marines' power.
Without the tens of thousands of them guarding the Red Line, the Holy Land would have fallen long ago.
To watch them be neutralized, one after another, was a terrifying blow to the morale of every Marine who had come to see them as an invincible trump card.
But just as the despair began to set in, the doors to the command center burst open.
"Your Excellency, Fleet Admiral!" a Marine scout screamed, his face pale with panic as he stumbled into the room.
The sight of a scout in such a state made every officer in the room tense up.
"What is the meaning of this?!" Sengoku roared. "Get a grip on yourself!"
"Sir!" the scout gasped, struggling to stand.
"Half an hour ago... we lost contact with Seraphim Patrols 3, 5, and 8. We've just received confirmation... they've been completely annihilated!"
"What?!" Sengoku shot to his feet, his face instantly becoming a mask of cold fury.
"Three entire patrol teams? Wiped out?"
He knew what this meant.
Each patrol consisted of over two hundred Seraphim, led by three "Overlord-class" command units.
For three of them to be destroyed simultaneously was not a coincidence.
It was a coordinated, overwhelming attack by the pirates.
Akainu's fists clenched, his knuckles turning white.
Pirates!
They were always one step ahead, using any despicable means necessary.
The Marines had lost their overseas branches, lost Marineford.
Their warships were now nothing more than a glorified coastal guard for the Red Line, a defensive line against the pirate-controlled seas.
They had been reduced from hunters to hiders.
His eyes snapped to Leon, searching for an answer, for some sign of concern from the boy genius who had built their entire army.
He found nothing.
Leon's expression was as calm and unreadable as ever.
The sight made Akainu's blood boil.
It was almost as if the doctor wanted his own creations to be abolished.
Akainu took a deep, steadying breath, his face returning to an impassive mask.
"The incident has happened," he said, his voice cold. "We already know about the losses. Give me the cause of death. I want the final combat footage from all three patrol leaders, now."
"Yes!" Sengoku agreed. "We need to know who, or what, we're up against."
"They're rampant!" Vice Admiral Onigumo snarled.
"We were the masters of the sea, backed by an invincible army. Now they're picking us off one by one!"
A murmur of angry agreement filled the room.
The loss of their absolute advantage was a bitter pill to swallow.
As the tide of frustration and despair began to rise, Leon, who had been silent the entire time, slowly raised his palm.