Board Thread:Monster Discussions/@comment-26586973-20150918211817/@comment-25285745-20160402235330

I've heard theories that the Oxygen Destroyer works by splitting H2O molecules into hydrogen and oxygen, with the hydrogen then bonding with another chemical given off by the Oxygen Destroyer and being converted into a highly potent and volatile acid. If that's the case, then it's logical that the Oxygen Destroyer would be more potent underwater than on land. This might conflict with Ijuin's statement that the Oxygen Destroyer would turn Tokyo into a cemetery, but again he might have just been saying that if the same chemical reactions that took place in Tokyo Bay took place on land, the effects would be equally catastrophic.

So, going by this theory, the Oxygen Destroyer contains at least two components: micro-oxygen and another compound. The micro-oxygen is attracted to water molecules, and its small size causes the molecules to be split into their base components. The hydrogen molecules bond to the other component of the Oxygen Destroyer, and become an acid. Therefore, the Oxygen Destroyer works in two ways. It "destroys" the oxygen by removing it from the water, and it converts the surrounding water into an acid that aggressively eats away at all organic matter. This is purely theoretical and not canon, but it's an interesting way to think about it.