Becoming a Legend by Seeing Proficiency

Opening with Raigo? That was just unfair.

What happened to the game? The berets? The war demons? The giant bugs?

But for him, it was straight to the boss.

Talk about lousy treatment!

There was a reason Dongze and his companion had run into Enel the moment they arrived. Enel had come to this so-called land of the gods after destroying Birka, and he had not been here long. He had yet to establish his divine authority. As he delivered his judgment, Dongze and his companion happened to ride the Knock Up Stream up to Sky Island.

And so they received this unusual welcome.

Dongze narrowed his eyes. His Observation Haki spread rapidly outward, searching for Enel.

Now that both forms of his Haki had advanced, he had the confidence to stand above the first half of the Grand Line. He could even hold his own against those Admirals.

Through the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Enel had developed Mantra—Observation Haki—powerful enough to cover all of Sky Island. Combined with the fruit's natural advantages, that made him a troublesome opponent for anyone below an Admiral.

But now?

With Ryuo-level Armament Haki, Dongze could even try teaching Kaido a thing or two. Of course, he still could not beat him, though three Sword Intent-infused strikes might do some damage. Enel, a native of Sky Island, was another matter.

If Enel dared show himself, Dongze's Ryuo-level Armament Haki would teach him a lesson.

Suddenly, lightning flashed before Dongze's eyes, and a figure slowly took shape.

"Well, hello there, Blue Sea native!"

"I am the god of this Sky Island! You may call me Lord God!"

Dongze chuckled. "You dumbass."

Enel could hardly believe his ears. Ever since he had become Sky Island's god, everyone who met him had been meek and deferential. No one had used language this crude; no one had even raised their voice. And today, someone had called him a dumbass?

"Ant, what did you say?"

A mocking smile touched Dongze's lips. "Ant?"

"You dumbass."

Hearing it again made Enel's eye twitch. Anger surged up from his gut, and he could no longer hold it back.

"Mortal! I'll kill you!"

"Ten million volts! Discharge!"

Before he had even finished speaking, Enel pointed his arm. A bolt of lightning as thick as a barrel arrived in an instant, carrying a faint air of world-ending power.

Crack!

Dongze reached out, and Forgotten Dust left its sheath.

Ryuo-level Armament Haki instantly covered his hands, then wrapped around Forgotten Dust almost as quickly.

An earth-shaking slash followed. The sequence flowed as smoothly as if he had performed it countless times before.

The terrifying lightning bolt was cut clean in two. Enel stared, dumbfounded.

"Shit! Have I gone without sleep so long that I'm hallucinating?"

"That thing can be cut?"

The slash continued after severing the lightning. It pierced through layer after layer of the White Sea before finally disappearing.

Ordinary people could not have followed it, but with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Enel's Observation Haki covered all of Sky Island. He knew exactly how far that slash had gone.

The absurdly powerful strike had not vanished after breaking through the lowest layer of the White Sea. It had passed through one layer, then another, until it had crossed the entire Sky Island.

Everything in its path had been split in two: sea beasts in the White Sea, the mountains where Vearth lay, a massive branch of the beanstalk, even the temple at the end. Nothing had slowed it.

Cold sweat instantly covered Enel's forehead.

"What the hell was that?"

"Aren't the people from the Blue Sea just natives who play around with Impact Dials?"

"What's with this guy?"

"What did he launch from that weapon? Its power is ridiculous!"

Enel looked at the Blue Sea native and thought, I absolutely cannot let that hit me!

He immediately used the Rumble-Rumble Fruit to retreat, putting distance between himself and Dongze.

"Mortal! Don't think a couple of tricks let you challenge a god!"

"I am a god incarnate! Behold the gulf between mortals and gods!"

"Thirty million volts! Lightning Bird!"

Lightning flashed. A giant bird made of electricity appeared in midair and hurtled toward Dongze with crushing force. Even shaped into a beast, the lightning had lost none of its speed.

"Die, ant!"

This bolt held far more power than the earlier discharge. Enel was confident no one on Sky Island could take it unharmed.

As the wielder of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he knew how powerful lightning was. Its might lay beyond the reach of ordinary people.

Looking at the two Blue Sea natives, Enel broke into a crazed laugh.

"Hahaha!"

The Battle Begins, the God Is Stunned ### "Ant! Go repent in hell!"

"Repent for offending a god with your rudeness! And don't forget to tell the god down there that I was the one who killed you!"

"Honestly."

"Your mother must have saved the galaxy in her previous life to have given birth to someone as special as you!"

"And you call yourself a god. I bet those bubble-wearing idiots down below would cut you into slices!"

"Sword-Draw Technique!"

A full moon seemed to hang in the daylight, its sword light cold and fierce. Before Enel could even follow the blade's path, a slash had torn through the air toward the Lightning Bird.

The collision produced violent friction. The sword energy struck the lightning as though it were solid, making Enel's eye twitch.

The man could hit lightning? Was this some kind of joke?

From his birth to accidentally eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, then mastering its powers, Enel had come to know lightning intimately.

Lightning was elusive. It had no fixed shape and could not be touched. That was what he had been taught since childhood.

Most ordinary people believed the same. Given its immense power, some even called it divine punishment.

Yet today, that Blue Sea monkey had swung something like a sword and sent out a visible attack. The first strike had severed Enel's discharge. The second was even more absurd: it was contending with his thirty-million-volt Lightning Bird.

The self-proclaimed god Enel, who had never encountered Armament Haki, was utterly baffled. A sword could cut lightning? What next, flying into the sky?

"Thirty million volts! Thunder Beast!"

Unwilling to concede, Enel struck the drum on his left shoulder. Lightning flared, then gathered before him into a wolf-shaped beast that charged at Dongze's slash.

Crackle!

Under Enel's two-pronged attack, the slash seemed to falter, creaking as though under strain.

Enel sneered inwardly. A god was a god, after all. How could a human ever surpass one?

Dongze, on the other hand, smiled. His slashes were not so easily stopped. If one could go no farther, it would release all the power contained within it.

It was like the strike Hawkeye Mihawk had launched at Whitebeard during the Paramount War. Though Jozu, commander of the Whitebeard Pirates' third division, had blocked it, he had still redirected the slash into the sky.

The resulting eruption had swept every cloud from the air, leaving the sky clear.

With a thunderous boom, both lightning beasts shattered into a blinding mass of light.

Sparks shot across the White Sea, crackling as they spread wildly in every direction.

The White Sea churned as though it had come to a boil.

Before long, the Sky Fish living there rolled onto their backs, eyes white and bellies up. Big ones, small ones, long ones, short ones—every kind imaginable!

The fish had become collateral damage.

Water conducted electricity. There would probably be no fish in this stretch of the White Sea for six months. One blast had caught them all.

Anyone who fished with electricity would have fallen to their knees in worship. Boss, could we at least have a leg hair to cling to?

On a normal day, we don't dare show up by big rivers; people watch those. We don't dare go to little rivers in broad daylight either. We only sneak over when it's rainy or overcast and too dark for anyone to see.

We bring our little electric motors, pull on our waders, and head into the water together. We never dare turn the power all the way up.

We're afraid we'll look back and see a buddy foaming at the mouth. But then the big fish don't die, while the little fish get the shock of their lives.

What a hard life we lead!

And the World Government still gives us a talking-to every day! Aren't we idiots? (Author: Yes! You're idiots! Of all the things you could do, you chose to wipe out the fish. If I catch you, I'll tie you to a tree and flick your little buddies ten thousand times!)

"That's it?"

Dongze said it deliberately when he saw Enel's face darken.

He was goading Enel. The man's mastery of Observation Haki, enhanced by the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, was absurdly high. To end the fight quickly, Dongze had to shake his composure. Enel had lived for years on an isolated Sky Island, calling himself a god. His temperament was hardly likely to be sound, so Dongze had chosen to attack his mind.

The taunting tone stoked Enel's anger as Dongze had hoped. Alongside the usual contempt in his eyes, there was now a murderous gleam.

"Blue Sea monkey!"

"You blocked one attack from me, and now you think there's no limit to what you can do?"

"Ooh, scary! The sky's a full seven thousand meters high!"

"You—"

"You're only human! Blocking one of my attacks has made you so happy you've lost your senses?"

"Ooh, scary! A god's attack got blocked!"

Dongze was imitating Kizaru, whose manner of speaking was more infuriating than anyone else's in the pirate world. After a few exchanges, Enel was ready to explode.

"..."

Veins bulged on Enel's forehead. Then he spotted the Sky Fish floating belly-up and gave a cold smile.

"Blue Sea monkey, see those fish in the sea? No one can withstand my power, not even those beasts. I've seen it now—that's what will happen to you! You're as good as dead!"

"Sixty million volts—Thunder Dragon!"

Enel struck the drums on both shoulders. Lightning nearly twice as large as before gathered wildly in front of him, and from the violent glow, a dragon slowly raised its head.

Its body was blue-white, with thunder crackling across it. Its eyes burned with a fury that seemed ready to destroy everything before them.

Roar!

The roar churned the White Sea for miles around. Crushing pressure bore down on Dongze as towering waves rose and surged toward him.

Feeling the pressure rush at him, Dongze narrowed his eyes. Enel had launched this attack in a rage. If the Thunder Dragon exploded over the White Sea, the shock wave might destroy their sailboat outright.

That would likely disrupt the rest of their journey. Since he had shaken Enel's composure enough, Dongze decided to close in and attack. Powerful as his slashes were, when it came to speed, nothing beat fighting up close with a real blade.

He pushed off with one foot and shot forward, activating Geppo and Shave in an instant.

But Enel was no pushover. The moment he lost track of Dongze, he activated Mantra.

Even his Observation Haki, powerful enough to cover all of Sky Island, struggled now. He had never imagined a person could move so fast.

Being too fast for the naked eye was one thing. Being difficult for even his Mantra to follow was something else entirely.

When he fought the Shandia, he could even track their bullets. Dongze's speed had truly shaken him.

Still, Enel could follow him. A cruel smile curled his lips. He extended his right hand, and the Thunder Dragon lunged through the air, claws bared.

"Bastard! I'll tear that filthy mouth of yours apart!"

Despite its enormous size, the Thunder Dragon lost none of its speed. Once Enel sent it flying, all that could be seen in the sky was a flash of lightning.

Dongze sensed the presence behind him and, without a moment's hesitation, reinforced himself with Armament Haki.

His feet darkened as black Armament Haki covered them. His speed suddenly more than doubled.

For the first time, panic flashed in Enel's eyes.

"What?"