Crushing Defeat

"Hey, don't hold me back." Wyper charged straight at Enel.

"What a guy. No sense of teamwork at all." Li Ziming liked Wyper even less now, but he was no slower. Though he had started later, he caught up and even edged ahead.

"You two really don't know when to give up." Enel paid neither of them any mind. "Wyper, all you can do is use that Seastone to pin me down for a moment. You've already used the Reject Dial on your right hand twice. Can you survive a third?"

"Try me!" Wyper kicked at Enel, but Enel turned into lightning and slipped away. Li Ziming appeared beside him and drove down a fist coated in Haki.

Enel made no move to dodge. Instead, he aimed his palm at Li Ziming's chest. "20 Million Volts Discharge!"

Li Ziming had no choice but to dodge. Taking that attack head-on would put him out of the fight instantly.

"Take the hit!" Wyper shouted at Li Ziming.

"Can you guarantee you'll finish him in one blow if I hold him down?" Li Ziming shot back. If Wyper could give him a definite answer, he would accept the sacrifice. But if Wyper failed, it would all be for nothing.

"How will we know unless we try?" Wyper said, as if it were obvious.

"Is your brain made of shells too?" Li Ziming wanted to strangle him. How had a reckless fool like this become the leader of the Shandia warriors?

"You cowardly Blue Sea man! Then I'll be the one to sacrifice myself!" Wyper had long since prepared to die. "Just attack!" With that, he charged at Enel as if his life meant nothing.

Is this guy trying to get me killed too? Li Ziming felt a flicker of despair. Why is he so stubborn?

But another possibility occurred to Li Ziming: Wyper might be trying to force him into the fight with Enel, or pull him into Wyper's own rhythm and make him cooperate. Wyper's strength was indispensable right now. To keep Enel from defeating him, Li Ziming had no choice but to support him with everything he had.

Wyper fought with utter abandon, unlike Li Ziming, who always held something back. Li Ziming favored a drawn-out fight, searching for an opening before ending it with one decisive blow. Wyper fought as though the battle had to end the moment it began, seizing the initiative so his opponent never got a chance to strike.

Both methods had their strengths and weaknesses. Neither was inherently better, but against Enel, Wyper's approach clearly wasn't working.

Enel was far stronger than either of them. Even at full strength, Wyper could not defeat him. Worse, Wyper had already shown every card he held and taken heavy damage in the earlier fight. He had lost his chance to end things in one blow, and a prolonged battle would only wear him down further. His wounds and dwindling stamina were becoming a crushing burden. Li Ziming was supposed to be Wyper's new trump card, an unpredictable factor, but he had no good answer for Enel's Logia powers. Haki let him hurt Enel, yet he could not inflict a fatal wound. The trump card lacked the power to finish the job and might even prove useless. For the moment, the three were locked in a stalemate.

Wyper realized it too. Growing anxious, he let his movements turn sloppy. Enel seized the opening and sent a bolt of lightning at him. Wyper could not dodge in time. It struck him squarely, blackening his chest.

"Got you." Enel's face darkened. He had landed the blow, but the sudden weakness in his body and the loss of his powers told him he had touched Seastone again. "I'm sick of that rock!" He swept his golden staff at Wyper, intending to knock him and the Seastone away together.

But Wyper pulled off his shoe a moment earlier and dodged the strike.

"Directional Blast!" Li Ziming pressed a hand to Wyper's shoe. The blast shredded it, and the shockwave drove the Seastone into Enel's body.

"It worked!" Wyper rolled to his rocket launcher, snatched it up, and aimed it at both Li Ziming and Enel.

"You bastard!" Li Ziming cursed as a column of energy hurtled toward him. Enel grabbed him tight, so Li Ziming kicked him away and used Geppo to escape into the air. Enel took the kick but avoided Wyper's attack.

Wyper charged Enel, firing another shot at Li Ziming along the way.

Talk about turning on me the moment I'm useful. Li Ziming rushed at Enel, seething. He wanted nothing more than to give Wyper a taste of Big Explosion, but now was not the time. He had no idea how deep the Seastone had lodged or whether Enel could dig it out himself. Dealing with Enel came first.

"You think this is enough to defeat a god?" A wild look spread across Enel's face. "A god does not become a god through respect. He becomes one through fear!" Enel plunged a hand into his chest and tore out the Seastone, along with a mass of flesh and blood.

"You thought this could kill a god?" Enel raised his golden staff high and smashed the Seastone to pieces.

"Damn it!" Wyper's face darkened. Without the Seastone, he had no means left to fight Enel.

"And that is why humans are so fragile before a god." Enel struck one of the drums on his back. "Thirty Million Volts: Thunderbird!" A great bird formed from lightning and hurtled toward Wyper. "You did well to wound me this badly."

The thunderbird reached Wyper in a flash and took him out of the fight.

"Are you still going to fight?" Enel asked Li Ziming.

"Hah. It isn't over yet, is it?" Li Ziming was all but ready to give up, but he could not bring himself to stop like this.

Boom, boom, boom! Drums sounded, and a beast made of lightning sprang at Li Ziming.

"Tch. Getting struck by lightning hurts." Li Ziming vanished, then appeared beside Enel. "I'm not one to sit around waiting for the end!" He swung a fist at Enel, but Enel blocked it with his golden staff.

"You really don't know when to quit." Enel seemed to have had enough. "El Thor!" A massive bolt of lightning came down from above, cutting off every route Li Ziming could take.

"Tch." In an instant, Li Ziming fell, his entire body charred black.