High above Upper Yard, fierce winds howled as the sky itself seemed to fracture under the weight of an approaching storm.
"I am the invincible God! You mere insect from the Blue Sea—be reduced to ash!"
Enel was consumed by a primitive, frenzied rage. He struck the taiko drums on his back frantically with his golden staff. Amidst a series of deafening roars, three massive bolts of lightning shot out from the void, transforming into snarling behemoths of blue energy.
"60 MILLION VOLTS: JAMBURE!" (Thunder Dragon)
The massive lightning dragon opened its maw, radiating temperatures high enough to liquefy steel, and dove toward Ace.
Ace didn't retreat. He pulled his right fist back, his monstrous vitality surging. Armament Haki dyed his arm a void-like black, and then the crimson-gold Divine Fire erupted, swirling around his knuckles like a miniature sun.
"DIVINE FIRE: ARMY BREAKER!"
Ace punched.
A solid pillar of crimson-gold flame collided with the lightning dragon. There was no stalemate. The fist-wind, infused with high-level Ryuo, acted like a conceptual blade, piercing the dragon's maw and detonating the lightning from the inside out into harmless blue sparks.
"How... even the Thunder Dragon was shattered with one punch?!" Enel hovered in mid-air, his eyes twitching. His pride was being dismantled.
"Is this it?" Ace stopped walking and looked up, his disappointment palpable. "If this is the extent of your 'divinity,' then God is a budget title."
"SHUT UP! DON'T YOU DARE LOOK AT ME!"
Enel's bloodshot eyes glowed with blinding light. Since precision failed, he would use the nuclear option—absolute power to erase the entire island.
"200 MILLION VOLTS: AMARU!" (Thunder God)
Enel unleashed the maximum output of the Goro Goro no Mi. Endless lightning wrapped around him, his body expanding until a massive, tangible giant of blue electricity stood tall above the ruins. Trees spontaneously combusted from the sheer atmospheric pressure.
"DIE! LOWLY CREATURE!" The Thunder God swung a fist that blotted out the sky.
Watching the titan-sized fist descend, a spark of genuine excitement finally ignited in Ace's eyes. "Finally, a real challenge."
Ace took a deep breath, and the ancient bloodline of the Mythical Zoan: Vermilion Bird fully awakened.
WHOOSH!
Crimson-gold flames soared, dispelling the blue static. Two broad, fiery wings unfurled from Ace's back, and dense, shimmering feathers covered his limbs.
PARTIAL TRANSFORMATION: VERMILION BIRD FORM
Ace stomped the ground, turning the stone slabs into instant magma, and shot upward like a reverse-flying meteor.
"RYUO: VERMILION BIRD SEAL!"
Ace raised his right leg, his black Haki perfectly fused with the Divine Fire, and slashed down against the falling lightning fist!
The two forces—destructive red and violent blue—collided. A shockwave swept out, tearing a hole through the cloud layer for thousands of meters. Enel watched in horror as his giant fist was held in place by a single leg wrapped in black Haki. The Divine Fire wasn't just resisting; it was scorching the lightning itself.
"Got you."
Ace's wings flapped, breaking the sound barrier. He turned into an afterimage, bypassing the giant fist and cutting directly into the blind spot in front of the Thunder God's chest.
"So fast!" Enel's Mantra was screaming, but his physical reaction time couldn't keep up with the foresight.
BANG!
Ace's hand, like an iron pincer, clamped onto Enel's actual throat. The high-level Haki locked onto his physical form, completely disabling his elementalization.
"Your Mantra is good," Ace said, his voice cold and steady. "But this pathetic combat skill is a waste of a top-tier fruit."
Ace compressed his flowing Haki to the extreme and drove his fist into Enel's abdomen.
"DIVINE FIRE: STAR BREAKER!"
BOOM!
The destructive power didn't explode outward—it was driven into Enel's body. Enel's eyes bulged, and blood mixed with organ fragments sprayed from his mouth. The massive Thunder God form shattered like glass.
Enel fell like a spent meteor, crashing into the ruins and creating a massive crater.
Ace landed slowly at the edge of the pit, his wings and feathers retracting. At the bottom, Enel lay in the rubble, covered in blood. His pride as a god was gone, replaced by a broken, humiliated hollow.
"What do you want..." Enel croaked, unable to move a finger. "Since you won... why am I alive?"
Ace looked down at him and spoke two words:
"Fairy Vearth." (The Infinite Land)
Enel trembled. "How do you know about that place?!"
"I know far more than you imagine." Ace stood at the edge, silhouetted against the sun. "You built that ark, the Maxim, to reach the moon. To find your 'God's Destination,' right?"
Enel gritted his teeth, his shock betraying him.
"Hand over the design drawings and the technical principles of the ark," Ace stated. "My Mechanic is interested. If he takes over the construction, the efficiency will increase a hundredfold."
"In your dreams!" Enel roared. "The Maxim is a ship for a God! My only proof! I'll never hand it to a Blue Sea creature!"
"Since you're so obsessed with that desolate rock," Ace said, his gaze deepening as he threw out a bargaining chip that made Enel's brain stall. "Once the ship is built, I'll accompany you to the moon myself."
Enel was stunned. "Go to the moon... with me?"
"That's right. When you see for yourself that it's nothing but cold stones and broken ancient machines—when you experience the loneliness of a place where there isn't even air to carry a voice—you'll understand how boring your dream was."
Ace's gaze was an invisible net. "Let's make a deal, Enel. I'll take you to see your dream. In exchange..."
Ace's voice grew heavy with the weight of a conqueror. "After you wake up from that boring dream, get on my ship. Be the Thunder of the Eclipse."
"I will take you to the Blue Sea to see the truly vast world. We will trample every self-righteous 'God' on this ocean under our boots."
Enel lay in the pit, looking at the man who stood with his back to the sun. His shattered pride and his obsession with Fairy Vearth were being re-forged into a grand, terrifying blueprint.
Follow this monster to the true peak of the world?
Enel closed his eyes, a rebellious, bloody smile tugging at his lips.
"Yehahahaha... since I can still go to Fairy Vearth..."
"This deal... this 'God' accepts."
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