Another Quick Kneel

Seeing that Saint Marcus Mars still acted arbitrarily, committing the arrogant, foolish, and extremely conceited disease common to all Celestial Dragons, Sumer shrugged, not caring at all.

Anyway, he knew his words carried little weight.

The other party could never truly approve of him, let alone treat him as an equal.

Actually.

The protagonist Straw Hat and the villain Blackbeard staying alive, or even growing stronger, was very beneficial to him.

This way, it could divert the attention of Saint Nerona Imu and Saint Marcus Mars and the others.

Only the longer the conflict between both sides lasted, the more he could fish in troubled waters and buy himself more time to grow stronger.

In the future, he might even need to play the role of the mastermind behind the scenes, secretly giving Straw Hat and Blackbeard a helping hand.

And toy with everyone in the palm of his hand.

Right now.

He had no choice but to submit to Saint Nerona Imu!

If given a chance to gain freedom, who would willingly humble themselves to become a slave whom others summoned at will, waved away as they pleased, and whose very life was held in another's hands?

Fortunately.

Saint Nerona Imu could neither read his memories nor alter his thoughts and cognition.

Otherwise, as time went on, he would become just like Manmayer Gunko and the others, completely becoming a slave to Saint Nerona Imu.

It was also because of this that he still had a sliver of a chance in the future to rise up as a slave turning the tables to sing a song of triumph.

--Just for now.

He still had to be loyal, truly loyal!!!

To reiterate--Lord Imu, I shall go through fire and water for you!

Yet for now, he still had to offer some persuasion, shifting all the blame onto Saint Marcus Mars.

In case any mistakes arose later, Saint Nerona Imu could not pin the fault on him.

"Mr. Mars, in the original story we never appeared on Sky Island. Now not only have we appeared on Sky Island, but we've also made the Navy's Buster Call fleet come over.

This might produce a butterfly effect, causing the plot to deviate, and then future arcs like the Enies Lobby Arc, the Thriller Bark Arc, and the Marineford War Arc will all change because of this..."

Rumble-crack--

Abruptly.

Before Sumer finished speaking, a blinding light surged fiercely behind him, and crackling, azure-blue lightning spread out.

The vault of heaven, which had turned into a clear sky of ten thousand miles, instantly became capped with dark clouds, flashing with lightning and rolling with thunder.

"Huh?!"

Sumer whipped his head around, just in time to catch Enel rising slowly into the air, his entire body element-transforming into humanoid lightning, his eyes breathing fire and staring with murderous intent at him and Saint Marcus Mars.

Earlier, a single look from Saint Nerona Imu had forced Enel to his knees.

Aside from fear, this fellow probably felt nothing but sheer rage now.

Just as Sumer had guessed, Enel could be said to be furious right now, his anger soaring to the skies.

"Two damned ants, how dare you repeatedly offend a god!"

"Divine Judgment!!!"

Enel's eyes shot forth rays of lightning, his face twisted from excessive anger as he raised his right hand high toward the vault of heaven.

In an instant.

The heavens and the earth lost their color.

"Mr. Mars."

Arcs of electricity frayed across the entire space, causing Sumer's hair to stand on end and every hair on his body to bristle.

His entire person also tingled with agonizing numbness.

Yet he was not panicked at all; although Saint Nerona Imu had left, Saint Marcus Mars was still here.

Judging by Enel's combat power during this period, facing one of the Five Elders head-on basically meant ending up kneeling immediately.

Unless he fled from the very start.

Whoosh--

A blur of afterimages flashed, and before the lightning beam in the sky could fall, Saint Marcus Mars materialized out of thin air in front of Enel.

Without even transforming to use Itsumade's abilities, he already had his right fist clenched tight, wreathed in Armament Haki.

At the same time, black-and-red electric arcs crackled around it, making it clear that Conqueror's Haki was also coated over it.

"Yahaha~"

"I am a god, and puny human ants like you don't even have the qualification to touch this god."

Enel was startled by the speed of Saint Marcus Mars, but the next second he regained his composure and sneered.

Because as long as he wished, his body could turn into natural lightning at any moment.

In this state, any attack against him was completely ineffective.

Therefore, Enel did not bother dodging at all.

"Foolish!"

Watching Enel's lofty and arrogant appearance, Sumer twitched the corners of his mouth and could not bear to look.

To call this fellow a frog at the bottom of a well was an understatement.

Boom-ah--

A large mouthful of blood spewed from Enel's mouth, and his arrogant, insolent face instantly crawled with bulging veins, turning distorted.

Saint Marcus Mars's fist struck solidly into Enel's stomach, forcing Enel to arch his body like a boiled shrimp.

A massive shockwave even burst forth from his back.

"H-H-How is this possible..."

One punch.

With just a single punch, Enel clutched his stomach and dropped to his knees on the ground.

His expression was ferocious, his eyeballs bulging even larger than cobblestones, as if they would tear out of their sockets and leap out the next second, filled to the brim with disbelief.

"There is only one true deity in this world, and clearly you are not it."

Looking down condescendingly at Enel, who was vomiting blood in big gulps and falling into shock before him, Saint Marcus Mars raised his large foot with utter indifference and trampled back and forth over Enel's bruised face as if stepping on a bug.

"Damn it!!!"

Enel's pride exploded, veins and blood vessels bulging across his distorted face as he struggled, attempting to use the power of thunder.

Yet his body refused to obey him.

The opponent had severely injured and crippled him with a single punch.

Moreover, an invincible and domineering wave of willpower tightly suppressed his lightning powers.

How many years had it been?

Ever since he ate that miraculous fruit and gained the power of a god, he had never been so helpless and wretched.

At this moment.

Enel felt some doubt about his entire existence.

Sumer, standing to the side, looked at Enel like a dead dog, shook his head, and sighed inwardly.

This was the world of pirates; weakness was a crime!

He felt somewhat empathetic.

After all, he and Enel were actually no different, both currently unable to control their own destinies.

Fortunately, he was someone who could let go of what he picked up, knowing how to assess the situation and adapt to trends; otherwise, the grass on his grave would have already grown tall.

Today, however, Enel was simply down on his luck.

He just had to wake up neither early nor late, choosing precisely the moment when Saint Marcus Mars was furious and had nowhere to vent his anger.

Awakening was one thing.

Wasn't it better to slip away quietly? He just had to put on airs.

Sure enough, he had suffered far too few beatings and had no idea how vast the world was.

Accompanied by a muffled grunt.

After ruthlessly humiliating Enel, Saint Marcus Mars kicked him unconscious with a single blow.

Before setting off, Lord Imu had given instructions: not only must the Poneglyph, the Ancient City Shandora, and Straw Hat be brought back, but the Rumble-Rumble Fruit user must also be taken back, otherwise he wouldn't mind stomping this bug to death with one foot.

"Keep an eye on him here! I'm going to look around elsewhere--"

With those words, Saint Marcus Mars vanished on the spot without waiting for Sumer to reply.

Sumer didn't mind this nearly commanding tone either.

Because this gave him a fine opportunity to properly acclimate to the formidable power and immortal body he had gained through signing the Deepest-Sea Contract.

At the same time, he needed to properly plan for the future.

He didn't bother tending to the heavily concussed Enel, either.

He hadn't brought Seastone handcuffs on this trip, and even if he tied Enel up with vines from nearby, it would be useless.

After all, the authority of Logia users was right there.

Meanwhile.

Marshall D. Teach, the Blackbeard who had killed Thatch, stolen the Dark-Dark Fruit, and betrayed the Whitebeard Pirates, had already formed the Blackbeard Pirates and landed at Mock Town.

He had also found four equally ambitious and heinous subordinates.

Upon seeing the news that the Straw Hat defeated the Seven Warlords of the Sea Crocodile, Blackbeard knew his chance had arrived.

He locked onto his target.

He intended to capture the currently prominent Straw Hat and present him to the World Government to secure the Seven Warlords position left vacant after Crocodile's defeat.

On the way, they had passed Drum Island.

Their supplies were currently running low, so Blackbeard planned to stay in Mock Town for a few days before taking action.