At the same time, Silvers Rayleigh's figure carved a blurred white arc across the sky.
He had only a heartbeat to think—but in that fleeting instant, he chose to trust Bartholomew Kuma.
Borrowing the inertia of Kuma's paw-strike that had launched him, Rayleigh twisted midair, stabilizing his body with veteran precision. His hand flashed to his waist. The Western-style blade was drawn in a single fluid motion, its edge instantly sheathed in Haki.
He descended straight toward Enel.
"Old fossil… you dare ambush a god?!"
Enel had only just regained his footing when Rayleigh arrived—man and blade as one—cleaving down toward his face.
There was no room to evade.
"CLANG!!!"
Steel shrieked against hardened will. Sparks erupted in a violent spray.
Enel crossed both arms before him, Armament Haki coating them in a deep, glossy black. He braced and caught the momentum-laden slash head-on.
The shockwave detonated outward from their clash, blasting dust and shattered grass into a ring-shaped gale that ripped across the mangrove roots.
"So your Observation Haki is that sharp."
Rayleigh's eyes flickered with quiet admiration. Even under that sudden, high-speed assault, Enel had judged the trajectory and reacted instantly.
Within Gern Reginald Sigmar's camp, Enel's reputation had never matched that of Barrett or Hawk-Eyes. Aside from the Golden Lion, who meticulously gathered intelligence, most only remembered him as the eccentric who fancied himself a god.
They forgot—
When Enel had first joined the Marines, he had been hailed as the only monstrous rookie to rise after the Four Admirals.
His talent.
His ceiling.
Unrivaled.
"Tch." Enel's lips curled upward. "You think that can shake a god?!"
With a roar, he forced his crossed arms outward, blasting Rayleigh's blade away. Lightning erupted around him in a violent corona.
"This old man's Haki is intense," Enel assessed rapidly. "His swordsmanship is at the level of a true great blade master… though whether he stands above or below Mihawk remains to be seen."
Behind him, the drums thundered.
"Thirty Million Volts — Thunder Bird!"
A colossal bird formed from raging lightning shrieked into existence and lunged forward at point-blank range.
Rayleigh's gaze sharpened—but he did not meet it head-on.
A subtle shift of his feet.
His body slid sideways just before impact, so fast that a faint afterimage lingered where he'd stood.
The Thunder Bird grazed the hem of his cloak and vaporized a massive mangrove behind him in an instant, leaving nothing but a scorched trench carved into the earth.
"Speed is power, is it?" Rayleigh's tone remained mild. "You carry the shadow of Kizaru about you, young man."
He smiled faintly.
"Seems you're a monster as well."
His wrist turned.
The Western blade flickered forward again.
This time, its tip trembled—
And split into dozens of slashing phantoms, each wrapped in crackling black-red arcs of advanced Haki, blanketing Enel's vital points.
Enel's Mantra—his Observation Haki—flared to its absolute limit.
His prodigious perception allowed him to foresee the path of every incoming strike.
But he was no swordsman—and fighting barehanded against such finesse was inefficient.
In a flash, he appeared beside Luffy.
Without so much as sparing him a glance, Enel dissolved the lightning-forged shackles binding him, transmuting them back into a golden staff.
Then—
A backward flip.
The staff spun in his Haki-clad grip.
"CLANG CLANG CLANG CLANG!!!"
Block. Deflect. Redirect.
The collisions came in a torrential cascade, sparks leaping wildly between them.
Yet Rayleigh's swordsmanship was built on speed and razor-sharp angles. His attacks were too swift, too cunning.
Soon—
Several slashes slipped through.
"Shhk! Shhk!"
Thin lines of crimson opened across Enel's shoulder and cheek. Blood welled instantly.
His breath hitched—but his movements did not falter.
Instead, it was Rayleigh who suddenly found no further opening.
"Troublesome," Rayleigh thought with a quiet click of his tongue. "This one has experience dueling great swordsmen."
Enel's rhythm was adapting.
Learning.
"Don't get cocky, Dark King."
In the brief lull between exchanges, Enel slammed the golden staff into the ground.
"Thunder Burst!"
The explosion of lightning forced Rayleigh back a step.
In the same breath, Enel's body dissolved into pure electricity and shot skyward, widening the distance in an instant.
He spun in midair.
Both hands clenched.
An immense concentration of lightning gathered between his palms, swelling to catastrophic density.
"Two Hundred Million Volts — Divine Spear!!!"
He roared and hurled the condensed sphere downward.
It elongated in flight—
Transforming into a colossal javelin forged entirely of destructive lightning.
Before the spear even struck, the pressure alone crushed the earth beneath. Fine lightning serpents danced around Rayleigh's boots. The air itself became suffocating with charge.
And yet—
Rayleigh did not look the least bit flustered.
"Haha… your potential is limitless, brat."
He did not retreat.
Instead, he released his Conqueror's Haki downward in a sudden surge.
"Wuuumm—!"
The invisible shockwave rippled outward.
His knees bent slightly—
Then exploded with force.
"BOOM!"
The ground shattered beneath his feet as Rayleigh shot upward like a meteor reversing gravity, charging directly into the descending spear.
His blade rose once more.
The black-red lightning along its edge boiled violently, swelling, compressing—
Refining into something lethal.
"But," his voice rang out, low and commanding, "you've still got training to do!!!"
He swung.
A condensed, ultimate flying slash of black-red Haki tore skyward—
Colliding head-on with the Divine Spear.
"SKREEEEE—BOOOOOOM!!!!!!"
Blinding light detonated first—
Like a blue sun igniting above the Sabaody Archipelago, bleaching the world into pure white.
Then came the sound.
A cataclysmic roar that shattered eardrums and rolled outward like a tidal wave.
The shockwave tore through the mangrove forest below, cleaving massive trunks clean in half. The ground churned and split as though plowed by a god's hand.
Gradually—
The light faded.
The smoke thinned.
In midair, Enel hovered, lightning flickering erratically around him. His breathing was slightly uneven, golden staff gripped tightly once more. His gaze locked downward, heavy and grave.
On the ground, Rayleigh stood with sword in hand. His cloak snapped sharply in the turbulent wind. Beneath his feet stretched scorched, ruined earth.
He casually brushed a few embers from his sleeve.
Then he looked up at Enel.
Still smiling.
The first exchange—
On the surface, a draw.
But in truth, neither side had fought to kill.
Enel knew the old man possessed the power to suppress him.
And Rayleigh—
Rayleigh was wary of the man standing behind Enel.
After all—
Gern Reginald Sigmar was infamous for one thing above all else.
He protected his own.
..
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