Meanwhile, on the Sabaody Archipelago—beneath the towering mangrove of Grove 36, across the wide open plain.
The Trafalgar Law Pirates had joined up with the Straw Hat crew. Together, they were racing toward Grove 17, planning to reunite with their respective ships and flee this island before it was swallowed whole by the fury of a Marine Admiral.
"Straw Hat," Trafalgar Law said, his face pale as he scanned the chaos consuming Sabaody. His voice was tight with urgency. "You actually laid hands on a Celestial Dragon… If things are this loud already, then a Marine Admiral has definitely made landfall!"
"A Celestial Dragon? I just punched her once!" Luffy scratched his head in confusion while running at full speed. "I didn't kill her! It was that long-eared guy with the staff!!"
"Yeah!" Usopp and Nami chimed in immediately.
"That guy killed the Celestial Dragon!"
They had seen it with their own eyes—the terrifying spectacle of Enel's so-called "Divine Judgment."
Law looked at the group swearing so adamantly, momentarily speechless.
But he didn't fully believe them.
After all, he'd known these people for less than a day. They had simply happened to cross paths and run together. For pirates to lie in order to escape? That would be perfectly natural.
Because whether it was his crew or the Straw Hats…
They were pirates.
And how could you ever fully trust a pirate's word?
For all he knew, maybe they really had done it.
"I'm telling you, it wasn't me!" Luffy protested desperately when he saw Law's doubtful expression. While running, he waved his arms wildly. He even stretched his rubber ears absurdly long, mimicking Enel's appearance.
"It was like this! Long ears! Holding a golden stick! Then—'boom!'—lightning everywhere! And that arrogant woman turned into charcoal!"
As Luffy animatedly reenacted the scene, Law—who had been vigilantly watching the path ahead—cast a reflexive glance sideways at him.
Then he snapped his gaze forward again.
His pupils shrank.
His running steps froze mid-stride.
Cold sweat drenched his back in an instant, and his voice trembled.
"Straw Hat… The long-eared man you just described… does he… look exactly like the one standing in front of us?"
"Huh?!" Luffy blinked, his dulled survival instincts finally catching up. He followed Law's horrified stare toward the open plain ahead.
Not far before them, two figures stood silently, as if they had been waiting all along.
On the left was the ever-silent Bartholomew Kuma.
And on the right—
A man carrying a golden staff over his shoulder, head tilted lazily to one side. Half-lidded, dead-fish eyes. A half-eaten red apple between his teeth. Long earlobes swaying conspicuously. Tiny arcs of electricity crackling around him.
If it wasn't Enel, then who else could it be?
Luffy saw him and instinctively nodded with certainty, shouting, "Yeah! Yeah! That's the long-eared guy!!"
Then his brain finally processed the danger signal. His eyes bulged. His mouth stretched into a perfect "O."
"Wha—?! Wait! That's not good!! Why are they here?!!"
The rest of the Straw Hat crew skidded to a halt as well.
In an instant, everyone dropped into combat stance. Their expressions were darker than ever.
The terrifying figure they had just "accused" of murder—
Was now blocking their only escape route.
Enel looked at Luffy's ridiculous ear-stretching imitation and his current dumbstruck expression.
He was clearly amused.
With a casual flick of his wrist, he tossed aside the apple core. The golden staff lifted, pointing toward them as he spoke leisurely in his distinct Sky Island drawl.
"I seem to have heard someone speaking ill of this god."
Trafalgar Law's heart felt like it was about to burst out of his chest.
Unlike the naive Straw Hats, he had studied the power structure of the New World in preparation for his vengeance against Donquixote Doflamingo.
So he knew very clearly—
The "long-eared" man Luffy was talking about was no one you could casually provoke.
A Marine Headquarters Vice Admiral. Direct subordinate of the G-10 "Natural Disaster" faction in the New World.
"God" Enel.
And beside him stood the silent giant—
"Tyant" Bartholomew Kuma.
And they had come here personally… to intercept them?!
Fear and despair coiled around Law's heart.
The Straw Hats were equally tense in the face of these sudden roadblocks.
Especially Luffy.
He could feel it instinctively—
These two weren't enemies they could handle right now.
Enel tilted his chin upward slightly, looking down his nose at the two battered crews before him—the so-called Worst Generation. A mocking smile tugged at his lips.
"Since you're so eager to know the truth… so fond of gossiping about a god behind his back…"
He slowly raised his middle finger.
The vulgar, insulting gesture paired with his benevolent smile made the mockery all the more cutting.
"Then experience for yourselves… what divine punishment truly is!!"
The moment the words left his mouth, he gave them no time to react.
"BOOOOOM—CRACK!!!"
A bolt of lightning—thick beyond reason, brimming with annihilating energy—descended with terrifying precision into the very center of the Straw Hat and Heart Pirates' formation.
The explosion was deafening.
Blinding thunderlight devoured everything in an instant.
The violent shockwave and rampaging arcs of electricity tore their carefully maintained formation apart.
"Gahhh!!"
"Urgh—!"
"Watch out!!"
Screams and shouts were swallowed by thunder.
Luffy. Zoro. Sanji. Law. Bepo…
In that single instant, everyone was violently separated, blasted backward, and sent crashing onto the scorched, smoking earth.
Just one strike.
A casual, effortless strike—
And the core teams of two members of the Worst Generation were reduced to utter disarray.
Enel rested the golden staff against his shoulder and strolled forward, gazing at the scattered figures strewn across the field.
A delighted, manic laugh burst from his lips.
"Yehahaha!!! Well?"
"'God' has personally revealed the answer to you!"
"Do you still have questions now?!"
He spread his arms slightly, arcs of lightning dancing across his body.
"Do not worry. A benevolent god will answer…"
"All of your prayers!!"