"Run! Get to the sea!"
Arlong's roar rang with fury and panic.
"Too late!"
Nami's cold voice cut him down.
The skies over Cocoyasi darkened completely. Massive storm clouds rolled in, lightning writhing like serpents within them.
"Ten Thousand Thunders!"
With a flick of her hand, Nami became a goddess of storms, commanding the clouds to unleash their fury.
The villagers froze in awe.
It was the apocalypse descending.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!
Bolts rained down denser than a hail of bullets, lancing through the falling island cloud. In moments, Arlong Park was drowned in a sea of lightning.
Buildings collapsed into rubble.
"Aaaargh!"
Screams echoed.
Fishmen fell one by one, bodies scorched black. Without Armament Haki or superhuman resilience, they had no defense. Against true storm-forged thunder, they were nothing but prey.
RUMBLE!
The final collapse of the island cloud crushed what remained. Arlong Park became ruin.
From the sky, Nami glared coldly, ensuring none escaped her strike.
A minute passed. Three minutes.
Villagers gathered at a distance, staring at her in stunned silence. Floating above them like a war goddess.
Then—movement among the rubble.
"If you're alive, crawl out!" Nami barked, dispersing the cloud. She conjured a lance of mist in her hand, aiming downward.
COUGH, COUGH...
From the shattered pool, a broken saw-like nose emerged. Six octopus arms pushed aside stone.
"A-Arlong-nii, I..." Hachi hacked blood, voice fading. "If you survive... go back to Fishman Island... I can't..."
THUD. His head slumped.
Arlong's roar tore the silence.
"NO! Hachi!"
"You damn humans! Nami! I'll kill you! I'll kill you all!"
He screamed at the heavens, a beast's grief and rage mingling.
"Your pain?"
"It's nothing compared to mine."
Nami's eyes stayed cold. She loosed her cloud lance like a bullet.
WHOOSH!
Above, another cloud burst into hundreds of spears.
WHIZ WHIZ WHIZ!
Compressed island clouds hardened into sharp projectiles, whistling through the air.
Arlong's body trembled. He bolted for the sea.
Nami didn't flinch. Her storm of lances tore into the ruins, skewering any who might be feigning death.
Riku's lessons had sunk in. Always finish the kill.
"...Is that really Nami?"
The villagers whispered in awe. In just days, she had returned like a Valkyrie from legend. Some even trembled, a fearful reverence for her overwhelming might.
"Nami... so strong."
But Nojiko only felt relief. Then her gaze shifted strangely to Riku.
"This was you, wasn't it? You gave her this. Thank you."
Riku replied bluntly, "Thank me all you like. I'm still taking you. No escape."
Nojiko: "..."
What a strange man.
When she didn't resist, Riku simply scooped her up and strode toward the villagers.
"Put me down! Let go!" Her face flushed red. "Aren't you afraid Nami will see?"
SMACK!
He slapped her backside.
"Stop struggling. Be good."
"You—you... you're shameless! How will I ever marry now?!"
Tears welled. How could he hit her there?
On the clouds above, Kaya glanced their way and giggled.
"Riku-nii is so bad. Why do you always steal women?"
Then her eyes returned to Arlong, who was still scrambling. She clasped her hands together, golden light blooming.
"Position... restore."
HUM!
Arlong staggered as the world twisted.
Agonizing pain pierced his body.
He blinked—and froze.
The ocean, so close—gone. He was back at Arlong Park.
And Nami's lances were already driving through his flesh.
"Time... reversed?!"
"Impossible!"
"Fake! This is fake!"
He had been a hundred meters from the sea, almost free. Yet he was back where he started, skewered.
"Like Riku-nii says," Kaya murmured softly from above. "This is making him doubt life itself."
After a week of testing, she and Riku had uncovered the Restoration Fruit's depths.
Restoring objects, wounds, hunger—those were only the basics. Barely drained stamina at all.
Restoring stamina? Achieved in three hours.
Restoring position, restoring state—harder, but developed in three days.
Like dragging Arlong back to his starting point. No escape.
Or restoring abilities: Admiral Akainu's magma undone before it erupted.
Restoring Haki: Garp's Armament canceled back to before activation.
Restoring techniques: Hawkeye's slash rewound to before the blade fell.
As if rewinding time itself.
Turning enemies into helpless targets.
All of it fell under: State Restoration.
Applied to foes.
Riku didn't yet know the limits. That would require testing against top powers.
But if there weren't many restrictions—or none at all—
Then Shiratori Riku would rise.
Crushing enemies until they doubted their very existence.