Electricity and Magnetism

The night was tranquil.

Lilith blew out the candles in the room, slipped back beneath the soft covers, untied her bathrobe, and gazed expectantly at the bathroom door.

Dim yellow light seeped through the gap beneath the door, while a dark shadow swayed behind it. Lilith's heart swayed along with that shadow.

She had not seen the one she loved for a full two months!

They said that one day apart felt like three autumns, but Lilith felt even that could not describe how deeply she missed him. Her longing was like an endless sea, soaking every cell in her body.

Yes, every single cell spoke of Lilith's yearning and desire!

After an agonizing wait, the bathroom door finally opened. Billowing steam rushed into the room alongside the flickering of faint electric arcs. The person inside had wrapped himself in a bath towel, its belt hanging loose and revealing sculpted muscle lines.

Lilith's sparkling eyes followed his figure closely. Her face was full of anticipation, her breathing unconsciously deepened, and her cheeks turned as red as the evening sun.

"Lord Annus... I'm ready!"

Lilith closed her eyes and waited for her master to favor her.

But second after second passed, and the blanket still lay heavily over Lilith's body. She could not help opening her eyes, only to see Annus facing the door, his back utterly motionless.

"Lord Annus...?"

Lilith called out softly, but Annus did not react at all. She immediately became alert.

Her gaze followed Annus's line of sight to the partition door. Observation Haki silently spread outward. A moment later, Lilith's expression changed abruptly, and raging flames of fury surged from her enchanting eyes, carrying a ruthlessness that seemed ready to burn someone alive!

How dare they interrupt my good time...

Lilith never imagined that someone would dare sneak into her room! More importantly, they had chosen this sacred moment when she and Lord Annus were about to share some tenderness!

"Lord Annus, please leave this to me!"

Grinding her teeth in hatred, Lilith quietly volunteered. She had already decided how to tear this unforgivable bastard into ten thousand pieces, but Annus merely waved a hand. He casually picked up a coin from the nearby cabinet and held it between his index and middle fingers.

At the same time, the partition door silently opened. Lilith narrowed her eyes to make out the intruder's appearance, but she saw only moonlight spilling through the window crack onto the floor. There was no one in front of the partition door.

But if that was the case, how had the door opened? Lilith realized something was wrong.

But the next second, lightning appeared and interrupted her thoughts. Annus gently flicked the coin between his fingers, golden current flowing along a specific path...

Then, the coin shot out like a cannonball!

That was no metaphor, but literal fact! The ordinary coin erupted past the speed of sound the instant it left Annus's fingertips! Golden current trailed behind it like a meteor, and in that instant, the coin tore through the air and splashed blood!

A heavy body abruptly crashed to the floor before the seemingly empty partition door. Black-red blood spread across the floor as transparency slowly faded, exposing a corpse wearing a black mask. The coin had pierced precisely through the corpse's heart. It spun across the floor, drawing several bloody streaks before finally falling still.

Several seconds later, a ghostly figure appeared before the partition door and knelt on one knee like a ninja. The Black Wing behind him slowly folded away.

"Lord Annus! My deepest apologies! This was my negligence! I allowed such a lowly wretch to disturb your pleasant dreams!" Diumil said remorsefully.

He did not make excuses for himself. A mistake was a mistake. The intruders were merely thieves who did not even know Haki, yet their leader had entered Lord Annus's domain without him noticing in the slightest!

"It's fine. Clean up the body. You were cautious enough; it's just that this fellow appears to be an ability user who can turn invisible..."

Annus tossed the second coin he had been preparing to throw, then set it back on the cabinet.

"You're tired too. Get some rest early."

"Yes!" Diumil lowered his head, pulled the partition door shut, and dragged the corpse away. He swiftly returned afterward to clean the floor.

"Wow! Lord Annus, what kind of move was that just now? How come I've never seen it before?"

"There are even stronger moves. Want to try them?"

"Please experiment as you please! Lilith will take them all tonight!!"

"You temptress..."

Gradually, sounds that stirred the spirit came from behind the partition door, like bodies colliding fiercely.

The move that defeated the thieves' leader was called the "Railgun."

Electricity and magnetism were inseparable. Since electricity could be generated, magnetism could theoretically be generated as well.

Ever since mastering the powers of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to the realm of "Awakening," Annus had consciously explored the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's potential in this area.

He simply had not yet developed a killing move comparable to or surpassing "Heaven's Judgment" or "Ragnarok."

But Annus still had many electromagnetism-related moves.

A circular magnetic field formed around any charged conductor. The greater the current, the stronger the magnetic field. That was a basic principle.

Current was like a river, while a magnetic field was the "force-field vortex" produced around it. If the current formed a circle, those "vortices" would overlap and form a magnetic field resembling that of a bar magnet.

Even without a conductor, as long as a changing electric field existed in space—such as the violent movement of charges within thunderclouds—it would generate a magnetic field around itself.

Like light and shadow, when one moved, the other moved with it. There was no need for contact, only "change."

For Annus, it had been an accidental discovery.

While using Lightning Metallurgy to smelt gold, he noticed that nearby iron sand was being drawn toward the gold.

At first, he thought it was caused by air currents from the high heat. But when he cut off the current, the iron sand fell away; when he restored it, the iron sand adhered once more.

He realized it was not coincidence, but another power brought by lightning.

Later, he deliberately began experimenting. When he released current toward a pile of iron sand on the ground, he found that the iron sand formed orderly radial or circular patterns around his outstretched finger.

For the first time, this allowed him to "see" the invisible magnetic field lines.

At that moment, he finally understood: electricity was his body, while magnetism was his shadow.

Wherever there was electricity, there would inevitably be magnetism.

Soon afterward, Annus managed to indirectly control magnetic force by controlling lightning.

The "Railgun" was a move developed at that time. Its principle was to construct a circular magnetic field in his palm, run a powerful current through it, and use the magnetic field to instantly accelerate a conductor to extreme speed.

The "Railgun" was tremendously powerful. Killing an insignificant thief was far from its limit.

Or rather, that had been its lower limit, deliberately controlled by Annus.

According to estimates, a full-power "Railgun" would have no trouble piercing a warship.

However, while Annus could control magnetism through manipulating electricity, his command over magnetic force was still neither deep nor powerful enough. At present, it was inferior to that of Devil Fruit ability users who truly controlled magnetic force.

Still, Annus believed that as he further explored electromagnetism, he would one day ascend the throne of magnetism just as he had become a god in the domain of lightning.

After all, electricity and magnetism were inseparable.

Early the next morning, Lilith, who had been wrapped around him like a snake, was awakened by Annus pulling free from the warm, tight embrace.

"Thank you for the meal, Lord Annus!"

Lilith grinned wickedly, licked her lips, and rubbed against him.

As a result, Annus fought another battle beneath the covers. It was nearly noon before he finally dressed and closed the partition door.

Lilith did not go out, instead choosing to clean up the battlefield in the room. For this campaign, she had specifically entrusted Shanks and Shamrock to Alice's care.

As a mother, Alice understood better than Lilith how to care for infants.

The corpse and bloodstains before the partition door had already been cleaned up by Diumil, though a faint bloody smell still lingered in the air. After leaving the dock and having a simple breakfast prepared for him and Lilith by the Angel Legion members, Annus found Diumil assigning tasks by the waterway in front of the dock.

"Have you identified those people from last night?"