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"You will regret even setting foot up here, blue sea dweller." Enel said, his form glowing blue as his full body turned to electricity, "For I will show you the power of…"
Sanji attacked, not letting him finish the sentence. It seems the longer he fought, the more of a threat he became, that's why he intended to finish it fast. Even if it means going faster than his body could handle.
Enel had to stop mid-way to dodge a kick, "Less talking, more fighting!"
"You insolent…"
"Collier Strike!"
"Gah! You almost hit my face. Let me finish first…" Enel said, before jumping back and throwing his arms forward. "100,000,000 Volt Discharge!"
A stream of deadly lightning came out of Enel's hands toward Sanji.
"Diable Jambe: Tempest Barrage!" Sanji countered with his own strikes, his legs blurring with red flames as he went through the stream of electricity, kicking Enel right in the face.
Or at least he tried to, but at the last moment, Enel dodged the attack, "I was right, you can't keep up that kind of speed for long. You are too slow!" he laughed, throwing beams of lightning at Sanji making him retreat up to the sky.
What Enel failed to recognize was the growth of his own speed. Not knowing that it wasn't Sanji who had gotten slower, it was Enel himself who had gotten faster.
Sanji had to tank the attack, but he was incapacitated mid-air. Giving Enel a chance to follow through with a stab from his lightning-made trident.
"…" Sanji gritted his teeth as the trident stabbed into his side. Breaking right through his exoskeleton as Enel used that chance to pump Sanji with multiple volts of lightning.
Bzzzt
"Agh!" Sanji's body spasmed due to the heavy lightning fully entering his system.
"Yahahaha! You are de…" But before he could finish his sentence Sanji gave Enel a headbutt that broke Enel's nose, and gave Sanji the opportunity to kick him back.
'Shit! I think most of my insides are fried.' Sanji thought, gritting his teeth. The pain was unbearable, so much so that his 'Speed Overdrive' wore off. Sanji held his side while eyeing Enel.
With his 'Speed Overdrive' gone, he was back to his base speed. Which had improved a bit during the battle. But he needed to be much faster if he wanted to avoid the shit Enel was going to throw at him.
But it seemed that the damage that Enel had sustained had made him slow down a bit.
Enel was pissed, and seeing him pissed gave Sanji an odd sense of satisfaction. Enel might have been arrogant, but he was gifted. Even without his fruit, the rate at which his powers were growing was making even Sanji get put on the back foot.
Though, Sanji relished the challenge. If this fight put him above Zoro, then he would do it.
Unknowingly Sanji was getting more focused on his crew rather than his revenge. It seems all the time with the Straw Hats made him heal his broken heart. It was far from being completely healed, but it was getting better.
Sanji stood up, taking off his shirt, ripping it, and tying it around his waist to stop the newly formed wound. Even with his Germa enhancements, his wound might need some time to heal.
He smirked at Enel, "Thanks for giving me the time to recover, dick-head."
"You! I will show you what fear is!" Enel roared as he took to the air. Releasing multiple black lightning orbs. Each one oozed danger in Sanji's Observation Haki.
"Please, you can't show me anything that I haven't already seen," Sanji said darkly. "And your god-complex really is getting on my nerves. In fact, you sound like dear old dad… oh, I'm gonna enjoy breaking you!"
"You will suffer!" From up above the multiple orbs of lightning that shot many bolts of electricity at him. And unlike before, now that Sanji was out of his Speed Overdrive the attacks were much more deadly for him.
'Come on! One last time!' Sanji said to himself, activating his powers. Though seeing the attack, and drive for power, made something inside of him snap. 'I have to overpower him! …or do I?'
Time seemed to slow down from him, as he realized something. He was thinking all of this the wrong way. If he couldn't overpower him then he just needed to be creative with his powers.
Luffy and Sparky had shown him how to get creative with their powers. Just attacking mindlessly wouldn't do him any good. If he could speed up his physical speed, then what about his perception? Enel did something similar with using Observation Haki with his Devil Fruit ability.
So why couldn't he…?
One last time Sanji entered 'Speed Overdrive', but this time, he didn't solely focus on speeding up his physical attributes. He closed and opened his eyes, as everything around him slowed down to a crawl. Unknowingly he had used his powers to boost the effect of Observation Haki. The battlefield is a cruel but effective teacher.
But while Sanji was able to see things in slow motion, moving his body was another straining task. As only his perception improved, not his speed. Still, it made him use his 'Speed Overdrive' more effectively, taking away the need for any wasted movements.
The speed that was leaking out from Sanji's body finally managed to stabilize, not only making him fast, but at the same time showing him the world in slow motion so that he could easily move.
'I have to work fast…' Sanji's body still wasn't used to that kind of speed, especially with the wound in his side. While his Speed-Speed Fruit gave him the power of a speedster. His mastery over his fruit powers were still low. And stamina was running dangerously low.
The bolts of lightning landed, but Sanji dodged with precision footwork. He danced around them, and even when lightning did strike him, it went around him rather than damaging him. While others might have not noticed Enel did.
"You… you managed to use Mantra in combination with your powers," Enel said in a state of shock. Not believing how a lower-class being could do something similar.
And due to this, he got distracted. Sanji used this opportunity to move in for a fast attack, he had little power left, but with all of it, he appeared in front of Enel, ignoring the lightning orbs that touched his body, and delivered a spinning axe kick right into Enel's face.
The attack connected, breaking a few of Enel's teeth with blood spilling out as he was sent down into the ground of Upper Yard. The logia user flew to the ground, digging a trench before stopping.
Sanji wanted to follow through to finish the fight but his body gave up as he fell to the ground. Along with the lightning orbs, and his overusing his powers, he was at his limit.
Drops of blood fell to the floor, it seemed he was bleeding from his eyes and ears again. An effect that he was familiar with when his body wasn't able to take the strain of his own technique. "Shit, it seems I overdid it! I thought I fixed that issue…" he growled as he panted. The wound on his stomach also flared up, making him hiss in pain. "This is bad…"
Even his vision was getting blurry. Usually, this would result in knocking himself out, but with sheer willpower, Sanji pushed through. 'At least this buys me some time…'
But he spoke too soon as suddenly he heard the crackle of lightning. "You gotta be kidding me…"