Lightning and Light (Part Five) / Lightning and Light (Finale) ...

A deafening boom erupted. A fierce wind howled past, and the scene fell silent for a fraction of a second before a violent gale swept outward.

The storm blew everything away. Zoro, Luffy, and the others were uprooted like trees in a hurricane and sent flying by the intense wind pressure.

Even Sentomaru and the two Pacifistas standing behind Kizaru were struck as if by a powerful blow. Their feet gouged deep tracks in the ground as they skidded back over a hundred meters.

In front of them, Kizaru remained in a stomping posture, his boot shining with golden light.

Before him stood a figure glowing blue-white, wearing a cloak and a silver mask.

The figure had likewise raised his right leg, and his kick, glowing with blue-white light, had collided with Kizaru's.

The collision between lightning and light unleashed terrifying power.

The ground for dozens of meters around them had been utterly transformed, with a circular depression at its center.

"How scary. You're the culprit who killed the Celestial Dragons, aren't you?" Kizaru said, feigning alarm as he made his assertion.

"Thanks to you Marines for going to so much trouble to track me down." Arthur's hoarse, deep voice sounded as though he had something in his mouth, and it passed through the seamless silver mask as well. It was so strange that his age was impossible to discern. It was unclear whether he was being sarcastic or mocking.

Chapter 77: Lightning and Light (Part Five)

(P.S. I have my final exams these two days, and once they're over, I'll be packing up and heading home. I probably won't read the comments for the next three or four days, but once I get home, I'll take my time reading and replying to everyone! As for the questions in the comments, I can answer one for you! The protagonist won't show off in secret. After all, an honest man doesn't show off on the sly! This hidden identity was purely because yours truly didn't want Luffy to get sent flying to Amazon Lily. The Empress is my favorite (covers face)!!)

(Happy winter vacation, everyone! Once I get back to my hometown, I'll start trying to release a burst of chapters. Thank you for your support (づ￣3￣)づ!!)

"Don't say that~~ Since the government was founded, this is the first time in eight hundred years we've seen someone bold enough to kill a Celestial Dragon." Kizaru pursed his lips and spoke slowly. "As a Marine Admiral, I had to make the trip myself... People who hide their identities like you are too hard to find, so we can only deal with them one by one."

"But you didn't show yourself before. This time, though, you revealed yourself to save the Straw Hat Pirates. Could you clear something up for me? What's your relationship with them?" Kizaru lifted his Flash Kick slightly from where it met Arthur's, and the two withdrew their attacks at the same time with unspoken understanding. Looking at the mysterious man, who wore not only a mask but surely something else beneath it, with a cloak providing a third layer of concealment, Kizaru remained outwardly languid, but he had grown unusually cautious.

The Rumble-Rumble Fruit—

Had that mysterious and powerful logia fruit finally appeared?

"Hey... all of you, get out of here now."

Instead of answering Kizaru, Arthur turned to look at the Straw Hat Pirates over a hundred meters behind him and called out a warning.

"Got it. Thanks, cloak guy!"

Luffy put a hand on his straw hat. Understanding the gap in their strength, he was now the calmest captain.

After shouting to Arthur, he hoisted Zoro onto his back and led the Straw Hat Pirates swiftly out of the area.

"I can't allow that! They were the ones responsible for destroying Enies Lobby, after all. I can't just stand by and do nothing." As Kizaru spoke, he extended an index finger in front of Arthur. A large number of photons rapidly gathered at its tip, and a star began to shine.

"Crackle..."

Seeing this, Arthur also extended an index finger, aiming it at Sentomaru behind Kizaru. The piercing sound of converging currents came from his fingertip as lightning gathered, surpassing Kizaru's light in both beauty and destructive power.

"How scary. That lightning really does live up to its reputation as the most destructive." With no choice, Kizaru lowered his finger and sighed.

"Lightning has always been the strongest force in nature, after all," Arthur said.

"In that case, I'll just have to deal with you, the culprit who killed the Celestial Dragons..." Kizaru pressed his palms together and drew out a long, glittering golden sword, then slashed down at Arthur.

Boom!!

Arthur refused to be outdone. He grabbed at the air, and a spear of condensed lightning appeared in his hand. He swung it at Kizaru.

Lightning and light mingled once more. A deafening sound echoed throughout Area 12, and powerful wind pressure raised ring after ring of dust.

"This is the first time I've seen someone block the old man's attack. Is that guy a logia user too? From what the old man said, it sounds like the Rumble-Rumble Fruit. Is that the fruit that's one of the strongest among the top logias?!" Watching from a distance with his arms folded, Sentomaru's eyes trembled slightly as he looked at Arthur and Kizaru fighting. Then he shook his head, turned his gaze toward the Straw Hat Pirates, who had already fled a long way, and shouted, "PX-1, PX-4, attack Straw Hat Luffy and Roronoa Zoro from behind!"

"Quit getting in my way!"

Whoosh, whoosh—boom!!!

Before the Pacifistas could receive their orders, a figure flickering with electricity went around Kizaru. From nearly a hundred meters away, Arthur formed a blue-white lightning spear in each hand and hurled them at the two Pacifistas.

The blue-white beams tore through the air and pierced the Pacifistas with unerring accuracy. Bombarded by the electrical currents, the two modified humans naturally exploded on the spot like ignited shells.

The blast wave sent even the huge Sentomaru flying.

"You've got to be kidding! Pacifistas cost as much as a warship each, and he took them out in one hit!" Sentomaru cried in disbelief as he flew backward.

"How scary... That ability is practically the perfect counter to the Pacifistas." Taking advantage of Arthur's back being turned, Kizaru shamelessly swung his light sword down from behind. "You're wide open!"

Whoosh—

But Kizaru's sword struck empty air. Arthur, who had been standing before him, had strangely appeared several meters away.

"You're light, and I'm electricity. Neither of us can defeat the other quickly." Arthur reached out and formed another lightning spear, pointing it at Kizaru. "But there's no doubt my ability is more versatile than yours. You can't beat me."

"How scary. That kind of teleportation makes me awfully jealous." Kizaru pursed his lips as he spoke, extending an index finger and firing several lasers at Arthur.

"It's no use." Arthur casually shifted his body, easily avoiding Kizaru's lasers. "If Aokiji or Akainu had come this time, I'd have been under some pressure. But it just had to be you. You're destined not to catch me."

"Oh my... Am I being looked down on?"

"Whoosh—"

Countless photons gathered, and Kizaru teleported above Arthur's head. He raised his long right leg, dazzling golden light flashing from his boot. "Then, have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

"It's no use..." Arthur gave the same answer. He suddenly planted both hands on the ground, his right leg shining blue-white as he met Kizaru's kick with a spinning kick of his own.

Rumble—!!!

A light-speed kick capable of breaking a mangrove with one blow collided with an Inazuma Kick of equal power. The resulting force was unquestionably greater than the sum of its parts.

With a deafening roar, a huge mushroom cloud rose into the air.

The entire island of Area 12 shook violently.

The golden light and blue-white lightning, those two brilliant colors, shone dazzlingly against the approaching dusk.

Chapter 78: Lightning and Light (Finale)

"Ah~~ We're saved. Thank goodness for that cloak guy, or we'd have been in real danger this time."

In Area 41, the Straw Hat Pirates boarded the Thousand Sunny. Usopp lay on the deck, sighing in relief at their successful escape.

"Hang in there, Zoro! I'll treat you right away." Chopper opened his medical kit and began treating the badly injured Zoro.

"I don't know who that man was, but we owe him a huge debt this time," Sanji said, lighting a cigarette as he watched the Sabaody Archipelago shrink in the distance.

"Admirals are terrifying, especially when they're coming after us. Aokiji went way too easy on us that time..."

"..."

As his companions' relieved remarks reached his ears, Franky remained utterly calm at the helm, steering the Thousand Sunny away from the Sabaody Archipelago. He recalled how, when they had boarded the ship, the ground where numerous charred corpses had previously lain had been trampled beyond recognition.

Oh~~ I'm so moved, knight guy!!

No one knew of the cry in his heart. Tears welled in Franky's eyes, and his face was full of emotion.

The Dong Stallion, the charred corpses, and the cloaked man who wielded the power of lightning—the others hadn't noticed, but Franky had seen the clues.

During his long stay aboard the Dong Stallion, Franky had not only checked it for damage but also examined the charred corpses.

It went without saying that the person who had saved them had to be the knight guy.

However, Franky had no intention of saying so.

When they returned, the charred corpses and the ground struck by lightning had been destroyed. It had to have been done to dispose of the bodies and erase the traces.

Whatever the reason, Franky would keep the matter a secret, hiding it in his heart forever.

Boom!

Pop, pop, pop, pop—

A huge mangrove crashed down. A blue-white wave of light streaked with gold flattened all the flowers, grass, and trees, while the bubbles floating in the air burst in rapid succession.

Whoosh!

A fierce rush of wind sounded again. A laser pierced the air with a shriek and bored a hole through Arthur's body, which quickly healed.

Swish—

His cloak was in tatters, riddled with pinholes everywhere except around his head, but Arthur himself was completely uninjured.

He swung the lightning spear in his hand into Kizaru's attack, sending scraps of the Admiral's cape flying.

The two retreated some distance and stared at each other, both looking somewhat disheveled.

Arthur wore a silver mask, and only a corner of his chin showed beneath his hood, making his expression impossible to read.

Kizaru no longer wore that punchable expression, and his Admiral's cape had been reduced to tatters during their contest of teleportation.

Just as Arthur had said, it was difficult to determine a winner in a clash between lightning and light.

It was just like how Ace, already the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates in the original story, had been unable to quickly defeat Smoker, the user of the Smoke-Smoke Fruit.

That remained true even if both sides had mastered Haki.

Haki only allowed them to touch each other; it was not the perfect counter to logias.

Lightning and light were both among the fastest of the logias. Unless their stamina was greatly depleted or they used a true killing move, Arthur and Kizaru would have difficulty hurting each other.

Throughout their fight so far, their clothes had borne the brunt of it.

"Your breathing hasn't faltered in the slightest, even after fighting me so fiercely for so long. It seems you have plenty of stamina!" Kizaru put his hands in his trouser pockets and pursed his lips. "You must be around thirty, I'd say. You've developed your fruit to a terrifying degree too. What a monster!"

"I told you before: you're light, and I'm electricity. Unless we fight to the death, neither of us can do anything to the other." Seeing that Kizaru had finally stopped, Arthur let the lightning spear in his hand dissolve into sparks and vanish.

Even if Kizaru hadn't stopped, he would soon have withdrawn on his own.

Through his Observation Haki (A++), he sensed that the Thousand Sunny was already dozens of nautical miles away from the Sabaody Archipelago.

There was no need to continue a fight like this, which did him no favors.

"That's true. In that case... could you tell me your name?" Kizaru scratched his head, looking deeply troubled. "I went to all the trouble of coming here, only to come away empty-handed. I didn't even get the culprit's name. It'll be hard to explain when I get back."

"I'd be very happy if you were dismissed..." Arthur said sarcastically, then turned into lightning and vanished on the spot.

"How scary. It looks like I've let a monster get away!" Kizaru stood where he was, watching Arthur leave, his tone helpless.

Although Kizaru was very lax, always held something back, and never took his work seriously,

he had been quite serious just now, facing a lightning man like himself whose powers surpassed his own in both versatility and practicality.

Although his seriousness hadn't lasted long, neither of them had used a trump card or any such move, and neither had intended to kill the other, Kizaru still hadn't managed to hurt him in the slightest.

That was enough to prove that his opponent had also developed his fruit to an extremely high level.

He was an enemy who could stand on equal footing with him!

"Old man..." Sentomaru walked over and called out to him with a solemn expression.

"Meticulous, and he didn't show a single opening from beginning to end. I tried several times to pierce his hood and mask, but failed every time," Kizaru said, seemingly to himself. "He's after neither fame nor profit. There's no photograph, and we don't know his name, so a wanted poster is impossible! Is he an avenger, then? Or is he with the Revolutionary Army?! How scary!"

"Let's go, Sentomaru! This mission... was a complete failure!"

"Old man, you'd better prepare yourself to be punished."

"Yes, what a headache... How about you go to Impel Down and atone for me, Sentomaru?"

"Go to hell—"

"Young people these days are so heartless~~"

Meanwhile, Arthur, having teleported away from Area 12, appeared out of nowhere on a branch at the top of a mangrove. He slipped into a hollowed-out tree hole, changed into his white knight's outfit, and used the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's electrical heat to destroy his tattered cloak and mask.

He then slung a bag containing the Seastone Handcuffs over his shoulder and headed for Area 66, using Observation Haki (A++) to monitor the Sabaody Archipelago.

Chapter 79: An Unknown Devil Fruit