Rumble...
Above the endless white sea, under a cloudless sky, a peal of thunder suddenly cracked so loudly that even residents far off on Birka could hear the clear-sky lightning.
But when the people of Birka looked up, they found the sun still shining brightly, not a single dark cloud in sight.
As if that thunder just now were a hallucination.
In truth, it wasn't.
Had anyone been standing on the southern coast of Birka at that moment and looked out over the sea and into the sky, they would have seen blue-white radiance bloom from thin air high above, coalescing into a massive sphere.
Across the surface of that blue-white sphere, countless electric serpents—thick and thin, long and short—danced incessantly.
Look closely, and you'd find the sphere was woven from lightning.
The thunder just now had come when that blue-white sphere turned into a colossal pillar of light and blasted down at the white sea.
Boom—!
With an ear-splitting crash, the boundless white surface was punched through by the beam, opening a vast hole.
A hole big enough for a hundred-meter, medium two-masted sailing ship to pass cleanly through.
Right then, a blue-and-white medium two-masted ship drifted down in defiance of gravity, slipped through the opening, and descended to the White Sea seven thousand meters up.
The ship was the Grantaine.
The blue-white pillar had been Hancock's work—Enel's signature move in the original tale—God's Judgment.
"What terrifying destructive power. So this is the might of a Logia?"
Gazing up at the gaping hole in the sky, Sonia and Mary were full of wonder.
Robin, as if recalling something, let a shadow pass through her eyes. "Makes sense. Hancock's Logia—Lightning Fruit—commands one of the highest natural elements. It's in no way inferior to the Marine Headquarters' famous three 'monster' Vice Admirals, and in versatility it can surpass other Logias."
"Right."
Kahn nodded in agreement. "The reason the Lightning Fruit is called a legendary, 'invincible' ability in every primer... is because of its completeness, something only top-tier elements can match."
"The Lightning Fruit has four basic faculties: electro-heat, electro-waves, electro-field, and electro-therapy."
"Electro-heat boosts the attack of lightning, able to melt metal on contact."
"Electro-waves expand perception and, with the field, can jam transponder snails."
"The electro-field needs no explanation—it lets Hancock become lightning and instantaneously move, ignoring all obstacles."
"Electro-therapy is a lifesaving art; so long as the head and heart aren't blown apart, life can be preserved."
"These four are only the base kit. Once Hancock grows stronger, she can use them to create many derived techniques—even develop new powers no prior Lightning user achieved, enough to be defined as a fifth foundational faculty."
"Mhm..."
Hancock nodded repeatedly.
With Kahn's knowledge as a transmigrator guiding her, Hancock had found her growth path in less than a day.
Likewise, in less than a day, relying on talent and Kahn's pointers, she had already developed God's Judgment as a pinpoint strike, as well as thunder-smelting and the like.
In Hancock's hand now was a staff forged from gold.
Her weapon.
Gold conducts; channeling lightning through a golden staff allows swifter output than bare hands.
And it won't hinder her daily life—when not in use, she can thunder-smelt it into a bracelet or armguard.
As they chatted, the Grantaine pierced the White Sea again and glided down toward the Blue Sea.
"Master, where is our next stop?"
Once the Grantaine settled back on the ocean, Robin calmed and returned to her usual self, asking softly.
Always attentive to Robin, Kahn could tell she'd been recalling Ohara's destruction. He reached out to smooth her hair, then looked toward the Sabaody Archipelago—more precisely, the Red Line—and lied without blinking. "Even though Hancock and Mary are ability users now, you're all still too weak."
"I overheard a piece of intel back in the West Blue from a CP plant."
"If it's true, I might have a way to cut more than ten years off your grind—so you gain great power directly."
"The key to that intel lies in the latter half of the Grand Line..."
Kahn's lips curled. "So, our next stop—the New World."
...
That Kahn might have a way to spare them ten-plus years of effort left Robin and the Boa sisters incredulous.
But seeing Kahn say no more, they didn't press him; instead, they brimmed with anticipation for the New World to come.
Thus, once the Grantaine returned to the Blue Sea, she headed straight for the Red Line.
In less than a week, the Grantaine reached the Sabaody Archipelago again.
This time, they didn't linger.
After a quick resupply, Kahn wrapped the Grantaine in telekinesis and shot her skyward, crossing the Red Line by air straight into the New World.
It must be said—flight is an unrivaled convenience in any world.
Those who can fly are always a greater threat than those who cannot.
Those who can make objects fly as well are, in the eyes of the world's rulers, perilous elements of the highest order.
The Golden Lion, Kaido, and Kahn are such beings.
Especially the Golden Lion—his Paramecia, the Float-Float Fruit, lets him take entire archipelagos into the air.
To the Marines and the World Government, his ability, like Whitebeard's Paramecia Tremor-Tremor Fruit, carried the power to destroy the world.
If not for the helm embedded in his skull crippling his Haki—
If not for his legs severed in Impel Down, and his peerless dual-swordsmanship dulled—
The Golden Lion would never have needed to retire, would never have been surpassed by little brother Kaido, nor left far behind by his old comrades Whitebeard and Big Mom.
But there are no ifs.
Just as Kaido, for opposing Luffy—the child of destiny—was battered for over a month and finally felled by a single club through relentless "power-ups,"
The Golden Lion, a legend of the last era, lost because he chose to defy the child of destiny of that era.
The fate of opposing the child of destiny—such was the end of the Golden Lion and Kaido.
...