"Is this what you call a ferocious beast?"
Seeing it, Gion shifted into an attacking stance.
Clang!
The named blade Konpira flashed from its sheath.
A pink sword aura bloomed in the air like a sakura flower bursting open!
The rampaging monster bird froze midair in an instant.
The next second, its body came apart like building blocks—dozens of neat chunks of meat raining down with a rapid clatter-clatter. The cut surfaces were smooth as a mirror; for a heartbeat, not even blood spilled.
"Not worth mentioning." Gion sheathed her sword, expression calm.
As a future admiral candidate, something at this level posed no threat to her.
But this was only the beginning.
The heavy stench of blood spread at once, as if it had jabbed the entire island's nerves.
"ROAR!!"
"Awooo—!!"
"Hissss—!!"
From deep in the jungle came a sudden storm of snarls, overlapping and rising like someone had kicked a hornet's nest.
The ground began to tremble, as though an army was stampeding toward them.
"Looks like we're not welcome," Rain said flatly.
In the blink of an eye, countless pairs of crimson eyes lit up within the forest's shadows.
Hideous, gigantic tyrannosaurs… saber-toothed tigers the size of hills… massive boars bristling with spikes—pouring in from every direction, a black tide that surrounded the two of them completely.
They weren't coordinating; some were even biting and mauling each other. But the instant they spotted humans, every monster unified on one target—drooling as they surged forward.
"Quite a lot of them."
Gion frowned slightly and gripped her hilt again. Killing them all wouldn't be hard, but if they kept slaughtering their way through, it would waste too much time.
"I'll handle it."
Rain stepped forward and placed himself in front of Gion.
He looked at the beasts—mindless from the IQ plants—irritation flashing in his eyes. Then he lifted his right hand, extended his index finger, and aimed at the densest cluster.
"Bzzzz—"
Terrifying high-voltage current compressed and condensed at his fingertip, buzzing with a teeth-grinding whine.
"Whoosh—!!!"
A blue-white lightning beam no thicker than a finger shot out instantly!
It was so fast it carved a straight vacuum lane through the air.
It pierced the first dinosaur's skull—then the second, the third—
That thread of lightning moved like it was alive, ricocheting through the herd at impossible speed!
Any beast it touched didn't even have time to scream—its body locked rigid, then a burnt stench burst from within as brain and heart were boiled in an instant by the voltage.
In a single breath—
The lightning vanished.
Dozens of colossal monsters, mid-charge, all toppled stiffly to the ground, black smoke curling from their bodies. Not a single one could move.
Total wipeout.
"Let's go."
Rain blew at his fingertip as if smoke existed there. Like he'd done nothing more than swat a fly, he stepped over the corpses and headed deeper into the island.
Watching him, Gion's eyes flashed with interest. She could have wiped them out too—but Rain's terrifying efficiency, and the effortless ease with which he did it, really was a Logia advantage.
They pushed inward, straight toward the island's central high ground.
The deeper they went, the more bizarre the scenery became.
The island felt like a deranged laboratory the Creator had forgotten.
Rain saw a giant venus flytrap over thirty meters tall, jaws gaping wide enough to swallow an elephant, devouring an unlucky mutated boar whole. Nearby, in a swamp, several flowers with colors so vivid they looked unnatural puffed out pale-purple miasma; a few small beasts that wandered too close lay dead around them, their bodies rotting rapidly.
The laws of biology were completely warped here.
Plants were no longer passive background—they were predators, more aggressive and territorial than beasts. And even apex hunters were at constant risk of becoming prey.
"These plants' growth rate…" Gion watched a vine strangle a rhino in seconds, her expression turning grave. "It's like hundreds of years of evolution compressed into days."
"That's the power of the local flora," Rain said.
His Observation Haki spread like a fine net across the entire island.
He was searching—trying to find the trace of the Golden Lion.
But—
Ten minutes later, the two stood on a central ridge, looking down over the island's terrain.
Rain opened his eyes. His brows knit slightly; disappointment flickered clearly in his gaze.
"Nothing…"
In his perception, the island overflowed with violent, primal vitality—but besides mutated beasts and IQ plants, there were no signs of human activity.
No lab. No palace. No man with a ship's wheel stuck in his head.
"Looks like… the Golden Lion hasn't been here yet."
Right now, this place was simply a raw, primordial monster playground.
"How is it?" Gion caught the mood shift. "Find anything?"
"The environment's too extreme."
Rain pulled his gaze back and delivered the "official" conclusion with a straight face. "The beasts are too strong and hyper-aggressive, and the pollen in the air can drive people berserk. This place can't be used as a training ground. If you threw rookies in here, it wouldn't be training—if even one in ten survived, it'd be luck."
"Mark it as a forbidden zone and keep it that way."
Gion nodded. It was a sensible judgment.
Rain sighed and shook his head, a hint of regret creeping into his tone. "I thought I might find something interesting. Turns out it's a dud. Let's go back—have someone keep an eye on this sector. If there's any abnormal weather or unknown ships approaching, report it to me."
"This time… looks like I'm not destined to meet that person."
He waved a hand and started down first.
Gion felt Rain's words carried another meaning, but she didn't press.
They retraced their path and soon emerged from the jungle into an open plain.
Cross the plain, and the shoreline was right there.
But—
The moment Rain stepped onto the open ground—
Whoosh.
The wind stopped.
The sea wind that had been howling at their ears was suddenly "paused" by some terrifying force.
The entire world fell into suffocating silence.
Even the beasts in the jungle went quiet as if sensing something. They clamped their mouths shut, trembling and flattening themselves to the earth, letting out fearful whimpers.
It was instinctive terror—prey sensing an apex predator.
Then—
The sky went dark.
Not from clouds.
Not from sunset.
A massive shadow dropped straight from above, swallowing all light for several miles.
"What's happening?!" Gion snapped her head up in shock.
In the next instant, all color drained from her face.
Her pupils contracted violently as they reflected a scene out of myth.
"Ra—Rain!! Look up!!"
Rain stopped cold and looked up.
The thick cloud layer overhead was being torn open—like an invisible giant hand had ripped it apart.
An island.
A floating island so huge it blotted out the sky, wrapped in rolling storm-wind and thunder, descending from the clouds with a domineering inevitability.
It was a mountain. A continent. A world falling from heaven.
It hung in midair, its vast shadow like a beast devouring daylight. Jagged rock fangs bristled along its underside, while thick chains dangled and slammed together in the gale, booming like thunderous metal bells.
"That is—"
Rain stared at the descending island base. There was no fear in his eyes—only a sudden, blazing, near-manic surge of joy.
He didn't need confirmation.
In this world, only one power could make an island that massive float against gravity.
"Hahahaha—!"
Rain laughed—loud and wild, somehow still clear through the rising wind.
"I knew it—my gut was right!"
"I was just about to head back, and you deliver yourself to my doorstep?!"
"What?!" Gion stared at him, shaken by the crushing pressure, her footing wavering. "You know what that is?!"
Rain didn't answer.
He planted himself in the center of the plain, facing the falling island like a man facing execution—and lowered his center of gravity.
Clink.
His thumb nudged the guard of his fine-grade blade, cracking the sheath.
"Bzzzz—"
Violent blue lightning erupted from within him—like excited thunder dragons—pouring into the blade!
Hummm—
Jet-black Armament Haki flowed over the steel, weaving with the high-voltage current until the blade—once silver—turned a deep, dangerous dark violet.
The sword trembled, whining under the strain. The air warped from the magnetic pressure; pebbles around Rain lifted, suspended, then pulverized into dust.
A terrifying edge began to gather around him, compressing tighter and tighter.
"Rain! What—what are you doing?!" Gion shouted. "That's an island falling from the sky—move!!"
Against that kind of mass, personal strength should have been meaningless. Even an admiral's first instinct would be to evade a "celestial impact."
But Rain didn't move.
He looked up into the crushing shadow, a feral grin spreading wider.
"Move? Why would I?"
"If the sky's falling—"
Rain stomped.
BOOM!!!
The ground under his feet collapsed, exploding into a crater dozens of meters wide!
Using the recoil—plus the propulsion of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—he became a streak of violet lightning shooting upward, charging the falling island head-on like a meteor defying heaven.
"Then I'll—CUT IT OPEN!!"
~~~
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