Electromagnetic Force

South Blue, Kutsk Island, Bad District.

"Kid, you dared touch my woman? Are you tired of living?"

On the East District's main street, a sixteen-year-old boy just over two meters tall, with a scar running across his face, gripped a rusty iron pipe and glared viciously at the person opposite him.

More than thirty people stood behind him in a dark mass. The oldest was seventeen, while the youngest was only ten. They clutched wrenches, wooden clubs, and broken bottles, each with a fierce look on their faces.

The boy opposite him had fair skin and casually weighed a massive adjustable wrench in his hand. His left arm was wrapped around a heavily made-up girl.

He sneered, his tone full of contempt.

"Why don't you piss and take a look at yourself? What woman would ever want you? I didn't steal her. She came with me willingly."

"You're dead!"

The scar-faced boy roared and charged first, swinging his pipe.

The two groups of half-grown children crashed into each other in an instant. Shouts, screams, and the dull thuds of metal striking flesh blended into a single chaotic din.

The World Government had never cared much about public education. Private schools were a privilege reserved for the rich, while poor children often could not even recognize all their letters. From an early age, they learned to imitate adults, fighting over turf, women, and a way to survive.

The void left by education had always been filled with blood and brutality.

In the shadows at the end of the street, Baccarat stood with her arms folded and watched from afar. She tilted her head and glanced at the man beside her.

"When you were in a gang, were you like them too, fighting over women all day?"

Over the past few days, she had pestered Lucas into telling her plenty of stories about his past. She was extremely curious about his time in the Kingdom of Ye.

"No." Lucas shook his head. "Back then, all I thought about was getting stronger and taking revenge. I had no time for that."

"Really?"

Baccarat rose onto her toes and leaned her face close to his, her eyes fixed directly on him.

She did not mind her man having other women. On these seas, the strong never lacked companions.

But she cared about quality. If she had to share the same man with a fickle, heavily made-up girl like the one across the street, she would only feel disgusted.

"Why would I lie to you?"

Lucas raised a hand and ruffled her red hair. Only after seeing her expression relax did he return to the matter at hand.

"The target fruit has lots of lightning-shaped protrusions and gray skin. Let's split up and search. It'll be more efficient."

"I'll go that way."

Baccarat casually pointed west. Before leaving, she flicked her fingertip and drained a small amount of luck from those delinquent youths.

Those people were not good to begin with. If misfortune came knocking, they deserved it.

Lucas turned and headed in the opposite direction.

Before long, guided by an inexplicable intuition, Baccarat stopped in front of a dilapidated repair shop.

In the yard, a red-haired child around three years old was squatting on the ground, happily swinging a wrench thicker than his arm and banging it against sheet metal with loud clangs.

She glanced inside, did not linger, and turned to leave.

After walking another hundred meters or so, she spotted an old crooked-necked tree. It was covered in dusty gray wild fruit. One fruit hung from the highest branch, particularly eye-catching—its gray skin was covered in spiral patterns, with a ring of sharp, lightning-shaped protrusions around it.

Baccarat's eyes lit up, and she suddenly pushed off the ground.

Bang!

The hard road cracked into a web beneath her feet. Her tall figure shot into the air, and with one sweep of her hand, she seized the fruit in her palm before landing steadily.

"Darling! I found it!"

Her voice carried on the wind. Soon, a silver figure came racing over from the distance and landed before her.

Lucas looked at the fruit in her palm. Even with his steady temperament, he could not help feeling surprised.

The Paramecia-type Clank-Clank Fruit.

In the original timeline, it had belonged to Eustass Kid of the Worst Generation.

This was precisely the third ability he had chosen for himself.

He had chosen it after careful consideration. The Vampire-Vampire Fruit, combined with his special physique, had developed blood control and plundering abilities, allowing him to experience the benefits of combining powers.

And combining magnetism with lightning could create Electromagnetic Force—this was the most cost-effective route.

In truth, he had only been taking a gamble.

After the previous user, John, died, no one knew where this fruit had drifted.

He had merely relied on the rule that "Devil Fruits choose their own users" and guessed that it would most likely appear near its next user's birthplace. That was why he had come to Kutsk Island.

He had not expected to actually find it.

There was no need to think about it. This was definitely Baccarat's doing.

Being able to precisely find what one wanted was itself a supreme form of luck. In a sense, it was no different from a protagonist's halo.

At that thought, the look in his eyes as he gazed at Baccarat grew a little hotter.

Under his gaze, Baccarat's cheeks instantly burned. She instinctively shrank back.

"There... isn't even an inn here. We can't..."

"What are you thinking?"

Lucas laughed at her reaction and took the fruit from her palm.

"Meeting you was my good fortune."

According to Kureha's diagnosis, he could still accommodate the Lineage Factor of one more Devil Fruit.

But that was entirely different from directly eating the fruit.

A mass of crimson blood surged from Lucas's fingertips and wrapped around the entire Clank-Clank Fruit as though alive. An invisible force pulled and sifted through the blood mass, gradually stripping the most essential Lineage Factor from the fruit's flesh.

Baccarat widened her eyes curiously and watched his movements without blinking.

Under her astonished gaze, the lightning-shaped protrusions on the fruit's surface gradually smoothed out, while the spiral patterns faded like a receding tide.

Very soon, that one-of-a-kind Devil Fruit became nothing more than an ordinary gray wild fruit.

Lucas raised his hand and slowly drew the blood mass floating before him, which contained the Lineage Factor, into his body.

The millions of volts of lightning lying dormant deep within his cells were instantly activated. They collided and fused with the invading magnetic Lineage Factor, like yin and yang converging to produce an entirely new, more dominant power.

He closed his eyes and carefully sensed the changes within his body.

A few seconds later, Lucas opened his eyes, held out his right hand, and lightly clenched it toward the ground.

The earth trembled faintly. Countless tiny gray-black metallic elements were forcibly extracted from the soil, surging from the ground like a tide and gathering before him into a rolling wave of metal.

"Sure enough, it's different."

The Clank-Clank Fruit from the original timeline could only control existing metal objects. Once its user reached a place without metal, their strength would be greatly reduced.

But Lucas was different. Electromagnetic Force gave him the ability to directly extract metallic elements from the soil.

So long as he was not in an extreme environment like a polar glacier, he could create weapons from nothing anytime, anywhere.

This was no longer an ability on the same level.

"Is this your third ability?"

Baccarat extended a fingertip and lightly poked the flowing metal wave before her. It felt cool and strangely fascinating.

"No." Lucas shook his head in correction. "Strictly speaking, magnetism is the third. This is Electromagnetic Force, so it counts as the fourth."

One word apart, yet worlds apart.

Electromagnetic Force could do everything magnetism could; magnetism could not necessarily do everything Electromagnetic Force could.

Baccarat nodded as though she understood.

"Let me show you something impressive."

Lucas raised his arm, arcs of electricity crackling between his fingers. A fierce wind suddenly swept across the flat ground, sending dust flying.

A brilliant blue-white beam as thick as a thumb tore through the air and blasted into the large tree ahead.

Boom!

With a dull explosion, a small hole was blasted straight through the trunk, sending wood chips flying everywhere.

The air fell silent for two seconds.

"Uh..."

Baccarat spoke cautiously, her voice carrying a gentle softness as she struggled not to laugh.

"It's okay. Even a small one is impressive."

Lucas's mouth twitched. His face darkened for an instant before quickly returning to normal.

It was his first attempt. The result really was less than satisfactory.

But it was not without gains. At least it proved that his electromagnetic cannon did not need a coin as a medium, nor did he need to manually construct complicated mechanical devices like Kid. He could fire it with a simple raise of his hand.

No preparatory motions, no reliance on a medium—this was immensely significant in actual combat.

At the very least, he would not have to worry about being split in half by a Divine Departure before he could finish charging his ultimate move.

It was a little thin for now. As long as he continued developing it, one day, this beam would become thick enough and strong enough.

When that day came, blasting apart an entire island with a single shot would not be impossible.

TO BE CONTINUED

(PS: Some readers might think that, since electricity can generate magnetism, going out of the way to obtain the Clank-Clank Fruit is a waste. But I want to point out that whether electricity can generate magnetism in the world of One Piece is itself questionable.

Managost is powerful enough, right? Yet it never caused metal to be drawn in. The same is true of Big Mom's Zeus and Loki's breath. No lightning-based ability user has ever produced magnetism.

Some people might argue that they are uneducated and do not understand it. But is it possible that once voltage reaches a certain level, even air can become a conductor? Generating magnetism through electricity does not require knowledge. As long as the electrical power is strong enough and the numbers are maxed out, it can happen.

In short, as of now, the One Piece world has not shown any phenomenon of electricity generating magnetism.)