Before anyone knew how much time had passed, Enel—who had been lying sprawled on the cloud-ground of the Sky Island—suddenly snapped his eyes open.
He stared blankly at the darkened sky above him. At the same time, the faint crackle of a campfire reached his ears, along with—
"The smell of… grilled fish?"
The instant realization struck him, Enel's entire body tensed. He flipped backward in a flash, putting distance between himself and whatever lay ahead. Lightning leapt wildly around his body as he locked his gaze forward, razor-sharp and hostile.
Not far away, Gern and the other three were sitting casually around a campfire, leisurely grilling Sky Fish.
No one even spared Enel a second glance.
"You…" Enel clenched his teeth as he stared at the scene before him.
"Hm?" Gern took a bite of grilled fish, glanced at him with mild interest, and said casually, "You're awake? Looks like you had a decent rest."
"You bastard…" Veins bulged across Enel's forehead as he glared at Gern. "You didn't kill me because you looked down on me, didn't you?!"
"Mm." Gern nodded honestly, tearing off another piece of fish and stuffing it into his mouth.
"Don't just 'mm' me like that! Do you have any idea how humiliating that is?!" Enel roared.
A sudden thunderclap startled Lippo so badly that she jolted, nearly dropping the fish in her hands into the fire."Wah! So loud!"
Snake Princess rested her chin on one hand, watching Enel with amused curiosity."This young man has quite the temper."
"That's what happens when a chūnibyō fantasy kid hasn't been beaten up by the real sea yet," Tesoro muttered as he quietly scooted farther away, clearly afraid of getting caught in the crossfire.
"But…" Gern swallowed the fish and finally looked Enel straight in the eye."You really are weak."
"Weak?!" Enel's pupils shrank violently as lightning exploded around his body."I am a god!!"
"Tell you what." Gern stood up and stretched lazily.
"I'll eat while fighting you." He pointed at the remaining grilled fish over the fire."For the first ten minutes, I won't fight back at all. If you manage to touch me even once, you win."
The air froze solid.
Enel's expression shifted—from rage, to disbelief, to a grotesque, twisted snarl.
"You're really… REALLY underestimating a god, you bastard!!!"
BOOM!!
A pillar of violent lightning erupted into the sky. Enel vanished from where he stood, transforming into a blinding bolt that shot straight toward Gern!
"Thirty Million Volts—Thunderbird!!"
Lightning condensed into the shape of a colossal bird, shrieking as it tore through the air and dove straight down at Gern.
Gern remained where he was—grilled fish in his right hand, left hand in his pocket. Even his expression didn't change.
"Too slow."
Shhk!
The Thunderbird pierced straight through Gern's body—
Only to strike nothing but an afterimage.
Enel's pupils contracted sharply. His Observation Haki couldn't "hear" Gern's thoughts at all—he lost his target completely for an instant.
Before he could react—
Gern's body dispersed into drifting vibration particles, instantly reassembling behind him. His voice sounded calm, almost indifferent.
"Your Observation Haki can only hear… but you don't know how to use it."
"What?!" Enel spun around violently, swinging his golden staff wrapped in lightning—
And once again, he hit nothing.
Gern's figure flickered like a specter. Every movement was perfectly timed, slipping past Enel's attacks by the narrowest margins. He even had time to take another bite of fish mid-dodge.
"One Hundred Million Volts—Discharge!"
Using himself as the core, Enel unleashed a massive electrical surge, turning the surrounding area into a sea of lightning.
"Hahaha! Let's see how you dodge this one—!"
Thunk.
A fish bone dropped from the sky and smacked him on the head.
Enel froze. He looked up slowly, staring at the fish bone that had already been reduced to ash by lightning.
Then he saw it.
Gern was standing leisurely in midair.
Cracks spread beneath his feet, fracturing the sky itself.
"You can… fly?!" Enel's pupils shrank. He instantly raised his arm and fired a massive, wildly spreading torrent of lightning upward.
"Your lightning is fast," Gern said calmly, flicking another fish bone down at him, smiling faintly."But your body and reactions… are painfully slow.
"If you didn't have the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, even a Headquarters-trained officer proficient in Armament Haki could crush you with pure physical combat alone.
"But I can tell—""—you never bothered developing any martial arts at all."
"You… you… AAAAAAAH!!!"
Enel's enraged scream echoed across the skies of Birka.
He raised both arms high. Thunderclouds rapidly gathered overhead, black as pitch, lightning flashing within them like the herald of apocalypse.
"Divine Judgment!!" Enel roared as he brought his arms crashing down.
A colossal lightning pillar several meters thick descended from the heavens, slamming straight into Gern's position.
The flash was blinding. The air reeked of scorched ozone. The ground shattered instantly, debris and smoke exploding outward.
And yet—
When the light faded, Gern was still standing there.
Not even the corner of his clothing had been touched.
He looked up at the dispersing thunderclouds, took another bite of grilled fish, and said around the mouthful,"Impressive spectacle. Shame about the accuracy."
"I don't believe it!!" Enel gritted his teeth, veins bulging violently.
He stopped wasting words and thrust his palm forward, aiming directly at Gern."Divine Judgment!"
A lightning beam erupted from his palm, moving faster than sight, aimed straight at Gern's chest.
Gern tilted his body slightly. The beam grazed past his shoulder and detonated in the clouds behind him, erupting into a dazzling explosion.
"Flash Lightning!" Enel followed up instantly, releasing intense electrical light and heat in an attempt to seal off Gern's movement.
But Gern's form slipped through the gaps in the lightning like an illusion, each step precise beyond belief.
"Thunder Beast!"
Enel struck the drum on his left shoulder. A wolf-shaped torrent of high-voltage lightning roared toward Gern.
Gern didn't dodge.
He let the Thunder Beast pass straight through his body—without suffering the slightest harm.
"Elemental body… neutralized?" Enel's pupils constricted in shock.
He had never imagined anyone could deal with his power so effortlessly.
"Sixty Million Volts—Thunder Dragon!!"
Enel struck both shoulder drums. A dragon-shaped current of electricity surged forward, baring its fangs at Gern.
This time, Gern smiled faintly—and stepped into the attack.
At the moment the lightning was about to strike, his body dispersed into drifting vibration particles once more. The Thunder Dragon pierced through his chest as though striking empty air.
"Your lightning can't even make me pause my meal," Gern shook his head lightly, a trace of helplessness in his tone.
"Oh, right. I suppose I should introduce myself."
"My name is Gern Reginald Sigmar."
"What a name…" Enel's breathing grew ragged as the pride within him shattered completely.
His roar sounded like the trumpet of divine punishment. In an instant, thunderclouds swallowed the entire sky above the Sky Island.
"If that's how it is—then behold the true form of a god!!"
As the words fell, Enel's body began to twist and expand. His skin split apart inch by inch, revealing blinding arcs of lightning within.
"Two Hundred Million Volts—Thunder God!!!"
RUMBLE—RUMBLE—RUMBLE!!
Violent currents wrapped around him like countless lightning dragons. His body expanded wildly—muscles, bones, even every drop of blood fully converted into pure energy!
His form towered tens of meters high. His golden staff split apart and recombined—
Transforming into two colossal tridents wrapped in annihilating electric arcs. Wherever their tips passed, the air ionized into choking ozone.
At this moment, Enel was no longer "human."
He was—
Takemikazuchi—Descending.
Pale lightning poured from his eyes. His voice boomed like the resonance of ten thousand thunderclaps.
"Now… kneel and beg for mercy. I might grant you a painless death!"
Nearby, Snake Princess frowned slightly and raised an arm to shield Lippo."This guy… his potential is solidly Admiral-tier."
"Vice Admiral Gern, if you don't wrap this up soon!" Tesoro shouted anxiously while staring at the battlefield."The rest of the fish is going to get electrocuted to charcoal!"
Hearing Tesoro's voice, Gern looked up at the towering lightning giant, half a grilled fish still hanging from the corner of his mouth.
Unhurried, he tore off the last piece of meat, chewed, swallowed—and flicked the bamboo skewer aside.
Chak.
The slender skewer pierced deep into the clouds like a blade, its tail end trembling faintly.
"Oh~" Gern clapped his hands together, brushing off dust that didn't exist.
"So this is what you call…""—getting serious, huh?"