"Rumble—Rumble—!!"
The low, rolling thunder sounded like it was rising from the depths of hell, making the entire Golden Crown Island coastline tremble.
"Lightning Hunt · White Tiger!"
Rain hovered in midair, one hand half-clenched.
Blue-white high-voltage lightning compressed and reshaped wildly in front of him, condensing into a massive winged thunder-tiger.
The beast was lifelike—every stripe on its body was woven from high-pressure arcs, radiating suffocating, destructive force.
"ROAR—!!"
With a thunderous, ear-splitting roar, the azure-white tiger became a streak of light and dove straight at Victor, tearing the air with a shriek.
Yet facing an attack that could instantly carbonize a giant Sea King, Victor merely lifted his cane with elegant calm and tapped the air.
"Crystal Boundary · Kaleidoscope."
Crack-crack-crack—
Countless particles in the air crystallized at once, forming hundreds of irregular transparent crystal prisms in front of him.
The lightning tiger slammed into the prism array.
The moment the violent lightning touched the crystals, it was forced apart—split, diverted, refracted—like light being tamed into obedience.
Zzzzz—!!
The tiger shattered instantly, exploding into thousands upon thousands of tiny arcs that splashed in every direction. Nearby cliffs blackened and cracked, the sea boiled into froth—yet Victor, standing at the center of the prisms, didn't even singe a corner of his coat.
"Useless."
Victor stood behind the crystal "forest," looking up through his monocle, lips curling into an elegant, contemptuous smile.
"Young Marine… your understanding of power is shallow."
"Lightning is, at its core, nothing more than an energy wave—another kind of intense light."
Victor opened his arms as though embracing the storm of rays.
"Within my Crystal Boundary, the path of light is mine to command. Your attacks are nothing but stage lighting for my performance."
Rain stared down at that flawless defensive net without expression.
"So blue lightning can be refracted…"
He wasn't discouraged. If anything, he looked like a researcher who'd just found a new topic—curiosity flickering in his eyes.
"Then let's try a higher frequency."
Rain raised his right hand, spread his fingers, then clenched.
The scattered lightning vanished at once, all converging into his palm. He stopped pursuing wide-area destruction and instead began compressing—compressing—compressing the voltage.
As the voltage spiked, the lightning's color shifted.
The pale blue drained away, replaced by an eerie, dangerous violet.
A spear of pure violet thunder formed in Rain's hand. Space around it visibly warped under the heat and magnetic pressure.
"Lightning Lance!"
Rain twisted at the waist, drove his arm, and hurled the violet spear!
Whoosh—!!!
It was so fast it outran the thunder itself, leaving a straight violet vacuum trail in the air—aimed directly at Victor's forehead.
If he couldn't break through broadly, he'd pierce with a perfect point.
Crack-crack!
More crystal formed out of nothing, stacking in layers in front of Victor, building a composite crystal shield wall several meters thick in an instant.
Ting—!!
The violet spear slammed into the shield with a shrill, piercing scream.
The heat melted the outer layers immediately, turning them into liquid glass.
But then the internal crystal structure refracted and guided the remaining energy, scattering it into harmless light that vanished into the air.
To an outside observer, it looked like an absolute counter.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit's world-ending power had become nothing but fireworks against a "Crystal-Crystal Fruit" that could manipulate refraction.
"Damn… is Rain's attack useless?!"
Below, Smoker ground his teeth, anxiety rising.
"An opening."
The instant Rain's second attack was neutralized—his focus fully on Victor—the two masked CP0 agents behind Victor moved.
World Government elite operatives didn't care about honor. Only results.
"Soru!"
Two white blurs vanished, using the thunder as cover, appearing like ghosts at Rain's rear-left and rear-right.
Two fingers coated in Armament Haki stabbed toward Rain's heart and throat with lethal precision—
Finger Pistol.
Rain didn't even turn his head.
Because someone else was faster.
Clang—!!
A sharp pink slash of sword energy—like cherry blossoms in bloom—swept across, cutting perfectly between Rain and the CP0 pair!
The edge was so fierce that both agents were forced to abort and flip back in a messy roll, landing on the shoreline.
Gion stood at Rain's side, Konpira in hand, Justice coat flowing. She didn't look back at Rain—only stared coldly at the two agents, blade humming with clear menace.
"These two trash who only know how to ambush—leave them to me."
Just then, a loud, arrogant voice rose from the other side of the battlefield.
"See that?! You see that?!"
Nelson, who'd been cowering earlier, saw Rain's attacks repeatedly "easily" dissolved by Victor and immediately regained courage.
He leaned out from behind cover, fear replaced by manic glee and a twisted grin.
"That so-called Thunder God can't even scratch Duke Victor! That's absolute defense!!"
He waved a command saber at the Marines and pirate elites who had been shaken.
"All of you, charge! They're only three people! They're paper tigers!"
"Kill them! Anyone who participates gets double pay! Follow me and the Duke and you'll have endless wealth and glory!!"
"CHARGE!!"
Greed and survival instinct—plus Victor's "invincible" posture—lit the mob's courage. Hundreds of soldiers, eyes red, screamed and surged forward like a tide.
But in stark contrast—
On the glittering Diamond Queen, the fully armed pirate elites stood at the rail, hands on weapons, watching coldly. None of them moved to assist.
Victor hadn't ordered it.
To the elegant duke, if hundreds of free "cannon fodder" wanted to die for him, why stop them?
"For wealth and glory—KILL!!"
Watching the swarm—treated as disposable by their own "allies"—Rain, still hovering, frowned slightly.
Honestly, his emotions were… complicated.
Not because the enemy was too strong, but because of a strange sense of regret.
By now he'd climbed near the peak of the sea's pyramid—yet the one thing that symbolized a "king's qualifications," Conqueror's Haki, still hadn't appeared at all.
"If I had Conqueror's right now, this would just be a look—" Rain clicked his tongue, annoyed. "One in a million, huh? Am I still not 'qualified'?"
"Smoker."
Without turning his head, Rain spoke lazily. "These small fry are in the way. You handle them. No problem, right?"
"Tch—don't order me around!"
Smoker's cigars flared red. Thick white smoke erupted from his body, instantly blanketing half the pier.
"I've wanted to kill these scum for a while!"
"White Vines!!"
The smoke became enormous tendrils like giant serpents, crashing into the charging crowd and flipping them like rag dolls.
The battlefield split in an instant.
Smoker held the mob. Gion engaged CP0.
And in the center of the harbor, only Rain and Victor remained.
Victor glanced at the chaos without caring. He looked back up at Rain and adjusted his collar, as if he'd grown bored of the game.
"Seems your lightning doesn't work on me."
He raised his right hand. The floating crystal prisms shattered, then surged back to him at terrifying speed.
Crack-crack-crack—
Crystal coated, compressed, hardened.
In the blink of an eye, Victor was wrapped in a thick, dazzling, transparent suit of armor—like an unbreakable crystal giant.
"Crystal Battle Armor."
He clenched a huge crystal fist, feeling the power surge within, and looked up at Rain with ridicule.
"Your attacks can't even leave a scratch. This farce ends here."
"It's over, Thunder God."
Victor's massive body exploded into shocking speed, smashing the deck as he launched like a cannonball toward Rain in midair.
Rain shifted out of elemental form back into solid flesh. He simply hovered there, watching Victor close in—and he wasn't panicked like Victor expected.
If anything…
he looked bored.
Ever since acquiring the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Rain had struggled to find a worthy opponent for fine control practice.
Now he'd finally met someone who could "sort of" take a few hits and let him test lightning's limits—Rain had intended to play with the duke a little longer and build proficiency.
But the man rushed forward, eager to die.
"What a shame."
Rain's voice was calm to the point of irritation. "I was hoping to have more fun."
"What?" Victor froze.
More fun?
Before he could even process that arrogance, Rain lifted his right arm.
No flashy light. No dramatic spectacle.
Just a suffocating, deep color that swallowed his entire arm in an instant.
"This flashy nonsense…"
Rain didn't dodge. He met Victor's dazzling crystal punch head-on and threw a plain, straightforward punch.
"…is weak."
The fists collided.
For a heartbeat, the world felt like it stopped.
CRACK—!!!!
A sharp, teeth-grinding sound blew past all wind and noise.
Victor's grin solidified.
He watched in horror as fine cracks raced across his "diamond" crystal armor the moment it touched that black fist.
"N-no… impossible!!"
BOOM!!
With an explosive sound, Victor's massive crystal fist—and the armor on his entire arm—shattered like a brittle cookie struck by a hammer, bursting into powder.
The shockwave tore through Victor's body without resistance.
"PFF—!"
The pirate who was about to become a Warlord sprayed blood, his body flying backward like a torn sack—faster than he'd charged—slamming into the deck of the Diamond Queen below!
Crash!!
The deck caved. Smoke and dust erupted.
Rain shook crystal powder from his knuckles, descended slowly, and stood on the wreckage, looking down coldly at Victor—bloodied, eyes full of terror.
"What? Surprised?"
Rain's tone was flat. "Even the hardest crystal…"
"…is just fragile glass in front of Haki."
"And by the way—"
A hint of disgust flashed in Rain's eyes.
"I don't like 'Thunder God.' It sounds stupid."
~~~
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