"SANJI—!!"
"ZORO—!!"
Watching two of his most important comrades vanish before his eyes, Luffy let out a howl that tore at the lungs.
Pinned brutally to the ground by the lightning-forged shackle, he felt something inside him snap.
The fury.The helplessness.
They swallowed him whole.
He stopped trying to pry himself free.
Instead—
He began slamming his own head and body violently against the earth.
"Bang! Bang! Bang!"
Each collision resounded like a drum of war. The ground fractured beneath him, cracks spiderwebbing outward.
His forehead split open almost instantly. Blood poured down, soaking his straw hat and staining the soil beneath.
If he had to break his own bones—if he had to tear himself apart—
Then so be it.
He would free himself from these chains.
His rubber body, grotesquely resilient, kept him conscious despite the self-inflicted brutality. But the sight of it—
That desperate, self-destructive resolve—
Made Usopp, Chopper, and the others feel as though their hearts were being crushed in their chests.
Not far away, Enel watched Kuma swat two of them into the distance.
He understood immediately.
The "game" was supposed to be ending.
But would Enel obediently stop?
Of course not.
He was Enel.
He was a god.
The suffocating despair.The way comrades were being erased one by one.The captain losing his mind, powerless before him.
Every second of it fed something inside him.
It thrilled him.
He felt almost intoxicated.
This—
This was what a god deserved.
To look down upon the writhing of mortals.
To decide who lived and who died.
"So this is why I love hunting pirates!!!"
His grin widened, half ecstasy, half cruelty.
"This feeling is incredible!!!"
"This… is divine justice!!!!"
He savored Luffy's futile struggle for a moment longer.
Then his gaze drifted.
It settled on Nami.
She stood trembling in the distance, tears spilling uncontrollably down her cheeks, terror freezing her limbs.
Enel offered her what he no doubt believed was a "kind" smile.
In truth, it was monstrous.
He slowly raised one finger.
Lightning crackled at the tip.
He aimed it directly at her forehead.
He didn't fire immediately.
Instead, like a sadistic child playing a game, he mouthed a sound at her.
"Bang~"
The lightning flared.
A razor-thin beam of death shot forward, like the fingertip of the Grim Reaper itself.
Nami saw the killing light expanding in her pupils—
Her throat locked.
No scream came.
She could only shut her eyes in absolute despair.
But then—
"Hummm!"
A mountain of a figure appeared before her in an instant.
Bartholomew Kuma.
The lethal beam struck his back, coated in hardened Armament Haki. It scattered into faint sparks and vanished.
He didn't even look back at Enel.
His enormous palm descended gently onto Nami's shoulder.
"Pop!"
She vanished.
Gone from this hell.
Only then did Kuma turn slowly.
Enel's smile had stiffened, irritation flickering beneath the surface.
Kuma understood immediately.
Enel had misread his interference as: If I don't hurry, the fun will end.
And so he had escalated.
Indulged further.
He had become addicted to the role.
Kuma had worked alongside him long enough to know.
The god was drunk on power.
This farce had to end.
Kuma shifted his gaze to the remaining Straw Hats—
Robin.Usopp.Chopper.Franky.Brook.
But Enel was faster.
Just as Kuma swatted away Monster-Point Chopper—his paw not yet withdrawn—
Enel's body dissolved into lightning.
He reappeared before Robin, who was barely able to sit upright.
The drums on his back hummed as electricity surged and compressed within them.
"Persistent and troublesome woman," Enel muttered, irritation surfacing openly now.
He aimed at her heart.
"Allow this god… to grant you eternal rest."
The lightning condensed into a spear.
High-density.Piercing.Shrieking with lethal intent.
It shot forward.
Kuma's eyes widened slightly.
Too late.
Even he could not reach her before impact.
And then—
"Boy who wields Gern's lightning…"
A weathered voice echoed across the battlefield.
"When it comes to the budding sprouts of a new era…"
Before the sentence finished—
A white-clad figure cut between Enel and Robin at a speed the eye could not follow.
An elderly man.
Silver hair.Short beard.Glasses.A cloak fluttering in the wind.
Facing the deadly lightning spear—
He simply lifted his right foot.
"You couldn't be a little gentler?"
"BOOM!!"
His foot, wrapped in supreme Armament Haki, struck the side of the spear with surgical precision.
The condensed lightning—
Was kicked off course.
It tore past Robin and blasted into the earth behind her, exploding into a scorched crater.
The momentum carried through—
Slamming directly into Enel himself.
"—!"
Enel grunted.
His body was hurled backward uncontrollably, crashing through multiple mangrove trunks before finally regaining balance. Lightning flickered erratically around him.
His eyes locked onto the old man.
Shock written clearly across his face.
There were only a handful of people on Sabaody capable of repelling him so casually.
One was Admiral Kizaru.
The other—
"…Dark King…" Enel hissed through clenched teeth.
"Silvers Rayleigh!!"
Rayleigh landed lightly before Robin.
He adjusted his crooked glasses.
He glanced at the disheveled Enel in the distance… then at the silent Kuma.
A faint, helpless smile curved his lips.
"Young people these days really are hot-blooded."
He chuckled softly.
"Always fighting and killing at the drop of a hat. Makes it hard for old men like us to enjoy a little peace."
For a heartbeat—
The atmosphere eased.
But only for a heartbeat.
Kuma moved again.
He vanished.
Reappeared directly before Rayleigh.
His massive palm surged downward—
Toward the unconscious Robin.
His objective had never changed.
Deliver a profound lesson.
And send them away.
Rayleigh's gaze sharpened instantly.
His hand shifted slightly toward the sword at his waist.
An invisible wave of Haki flooded outward, locking onto Kuma.
"Bartholomew Kuma…"
His tone was calm—but edged with warning.
"I may not be able to defeat Gern."
A subtle sideways glance.
Eyes like blades.
"But are you certain…"
"You want to test the power of the old era?"
The air froze.
Yet Kuma did not hesitate.
"Rayleigh," he replied evenly, "you know as well as I do."
"For them… the New World is too early."
His hand continued its descent.
"I will not kill them."
"I merely received a 'request.'"
Rayleigh's brow furrowed faintly.
A request?
That moment—
That infinitesimal distraction—
Was all Kuma needed.
His palm, originally aimed at Robin, shifted in a bizarre arc mid-motion.
The Paw-Paw ability activated.
The pad faced Rayleigh at point-blank range.
"So…"
Kuma's voice remained steady.
"Please… go keep my short-tempered partner company."
"Pop!"
His palm struck Rayleigh squarely.
Even Rayleigh had no time to mount proper resistance.
An irresistible force engulfed him.
The space around him blurred.
He was launched like a beam of light—
Hurled precisely toward Enel, who had just regained his footing and was rushing back in fury.
"DAMN IT!!!"
Enel's roar thundered across the field.
Meanwhile—
Kuma flowed seamlessly into his next motion.
He turned.
His other hand rested upon Robin.
"Pop!"
She vanished.
Gone from the battlefield.
In a matter of seconds—
Through timing, information asymmetry, and exploiting a single flicker of distraction—
Kuma had removed the greatest obstacle and completed Robin's "processing."
Now—
On the field remained only Usopp, Franky, Brook—
And Luffy.
Still shackled to the ground.
Still watching.
Still forced to witness everything.