Storm Dance

Lightning tore through the night.

The gale whirled madly between the two men, its pressure so immense that even the compressed air shrieked.

Shiki knew the truth.

The Flying Fleet was all but destroyed. The forces he had spent years assembling had become wreckage beneath this storm and lightning.

The tide had turned against him.

But—

The Golden Lion's pride and defiance would never let him bow his head.

Much less flee.

"Jihahahahaha—!!!"

His laughter rang out all the wilder amid the storm.

He flung his swords wide, their blades reflecting a cold gleam in the lightning.

"Shishi: Goshikito—!!!"

He pushed the Float-Float Fruit's power to its limit.

It was as though an invisible giant hand had seized the entire storm. Rain abruptly flowed upward while the wind compressed, twisted, and spun.

Several enormous lion-headed storms swiftly took shape in the sky.

Lit by lightning, the lion heads of wind and rain opened their gaping jaws. Fangs formed from high-speed blades of water glittered coldly.

Roaring, they charged toward Rock above the thunderclouds!

High overhead.

Rock stood at the center of the thunderclouds, his cloak stretched taut by the gale. Lightning suddenly flared in his eyes.

The clouds churned above him as though answering their king's will.

"Ten Thousand Thunders."

His voice was quiet, yet it carried over the thunder.

The next instant—

"Rumble—!!!"

Hundreds of lightning bolts tore through the clouds at once. In an instant, the entire sky became a sea of lightning.

Flashes of lightning wove into a dense net of light, bombarding everything below.

Every pillar of lightning struck a lion-headed storm dead-on. Where lightning met wind, blinding white light erupted.

Arcs of electricity leaped wildly through the rain. Lightning pierced the lion heads again and again, tearing them apart and vaporizing them.

The storms lost