High in the sky.
Rock watched as the Moby Dick began to set sail, his gaze as cold as thunder.
The battered whale ship dragged its shattered hull forward, forcibly breaking through the black tide. Its sails were torn, its masts charred black, and the deck was strewn with blood and fallen Whitebeard Pirates.
Yet it was still moving, still trying to carry Whitebeard away from Ink Tide Island.
Kaido's spiked club came crashing down again, and Rock raised his Lightning Spear to block it.
"Clang—!"
Black-red lightning erupted as the Haki clash tore through the clouds.
Gales reversed, scattering thunder and flame in every direction.
But Rock's eyes remained locked on that battered whale ship.
"Trying to leave?"
Purple-black thunder gathered in his palm once more.
The lightning compressed into a single point, instantly ionizing and warping the surrounding air.
"Did I allow it?"
Kaido grinned wildly and brought his spiked club down again.
"Worororo!"
"Rock!"
"You dare get distracted while fighting me?!"
"Shut up."
His voice was not loud, but it was as cold as a judgment descending from the depths of Thunder Prison.
Kaido's golden slit pupils shrank sharply. That icy rebuke actually froze him for an instant.
And in that instant, Rock stopped looking at him.
He used his Lightning Spear to hold back the spiked club while his other hand shot up, pointing at the Moby Dick as it broke through the waves and fled the harbor.
Lightning burst from his fingertips, and the entire thundercloud abruptly split apart.
"Thunder Judgment!"
"Rumble—!!!"
The sky looked as if a purple-black wound had been torn open.
A massive pillar of lightning gathered deep within the clouds, black-red bolts coiling around it like chains.
Before the lightning even fell, the sea around the Moby Dick had already begun