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"Is it hot?"
"Burning up yet?"
"Throat scorched so bad you can barely breathe, huh?"
"Just like that… turn to ashes."
As Feitan's words fell, the flames roared higher.
The upgraded scorching sun detonated like a meteor crashing into a furnace, the blast wave ripping outward in a deafening explosion.
A massive mushroom cloud bloomed over the sky island.
Everything in the vicinity was incinerated.
The terrifying heat warped the air itself.
The ground vanished, leaving nothing but lifeless, blackened earth.
A colossal crater ten kilometers wide yawned open, steam rising in thick waves from its depths.
Bonney, who had lagged behind and gotten her ass lightly singed, stared with eyes wide as dinner plates, brain short-circuiting.
"What the hell kind of destructive power is that?!!"
Are these guys even human anymore?
Chrollo nodded with clear satisfaction. "Now that's the royal-level brawl, map-redrawing flavor I was waiting for…"
He knew exactly what Feitan had swallowed this time—Light-Heavy Fruit fused with Bomb-Bomb Fruit had evolved into an even deadlier explosive, and combined with Feitan's original Nen ability, Pain Packer: The Unforgiven, this strike now carried genuine stage-worthy annihilation power.
But against the Rumble-Rumble Fruit… it still wasn't enough.
"That bastard Feitan…"
Uvogin, Phinks, and Nobunaga had bolted the instant they sensed the blast, but even so, they still caught some of the aftershock.
Uvogin, biggest body and therefore slowest to clear the radius, had his back comically blown open—skin peeled away to reveal raw muscle, half his ass exposed to the wind.
Phinks had thrown up his barrier in time and came out lightest.
Nobunaga had floated high with the Float-Float Fruit; only the soles of his shoes got toasted.
"Why am I always the one who eats shit…" Uvogin grumbled, face twisted in misery. "Front-row tanks get the worst of it, huh?"
He shot Phinks a resentful glare. "Why didn't your barrier cover me too?"
Phinks shrugged. "Forgot."
After their quick exchange, all three looked up.
The smoke and fire slowly cleared… and their expressions turned stone-cold.
A bolt of lightning crackled down. Feitan plummeted from mid-air, his straw cloak completely vaporized, body covered in hideous burns and gashes.
Enel still hovered high above, expression utterly indifferent.
"Not bad. Impressive combo. Powerful attack."
He gave a lazy nod of approval. "But if it doesn't hit, it means nothing."
"His prediction is way beyond the priests'. He teleports before the strike lands—wide-area attacks are useless…" The three traded glances, faces twisting into feral grins as they shot forward again.
Uvogin charged first, mouth gaping nearly half a meter wide, sucking in air like a black hole.
Veins bulged on his neck. Facing Enel's position, he roared—
"ROOOOOOAR—!!"
A visible, solid shockwave of sound erupted, sweeping forward like a tidal wave.
Enel's figure vanished in a flash of lightning, reappearing once the blast passed. "Useless."
Phinks raised a massive barrier from the ground, trying to trap Enel inside a giant sphere. "Useless."
Enel slipped out as a bolt of lightning a split second before the barrier closed.
Then Nobunaga's strike arrived—vast quantities of White Sea water surged skyward, forming a colossal water dragon that hovered directly above Enel.
"Shinsou: Water Dragon!"
The terrifying volume threatened to flood the entire island map.
Chrollo had once told them: the Dark Continent ability users traded their fear of seawater for unparalleled power.
But the Troupe members who received fruits through Chrollo's ability still had the original fruits inside their real owners, so their aversion to seawater was greatly reduced!
Nobunaga's eyes burned with focus. If they could force even a single drop of seawater onto Enel, they'd have a real shot at victory!
This attack had to land!
"WHOOSH—!"
The seawater crashed down like a waterfall!
"Got him!"
"Got him!"
But before the trio could celebrate—
"Lightning Metallurgy—"
With a crackling roar, the golden staff on Enel's back melted and reshaped in an instant, forming a massive golden umbrella that perfectly shielded him from the deluge.
"Patta—"
Nobunaga used floating rocks to gently catch Feitan's falling body. The four regrouped, staring upward with grim expressions.
Enel floated in the air beneath his golden umbrella, lightning dancing behind him.
"You still couldn't hit me?!!"
Bonney, watching from afar, looked horrified.
Chrollo nodded beside her, once again marveling. Just how much plot armor did Straw Hat Luffy have to beat a monster like this right after leaving the East Blue?
How rigged was that fight, really…
For once, Chrollo didn't pull out his comic book. His full attention was locked on the battlefield. When Enel's lightning had struck Feitan earlier, he had nearly stepped in.
Only his faith that Feitan wouldn't go down so easily had stopped him.
"Their ideas are solid, but they're still missing the core principle. The only things that truly counter Logia fruits are Armament-coated close-range barrages and relentless, seamless chains of attacks that leave no breathing room!"
They'd only had their Devil Fruit powers for a short time. The concepts were good, but the execution lacked flow.
If Phinks had wrapped Enel a fraction of a second earlier and then flooded the barrier with seawater, they might have had a chance…
"They still need more tempering. Only when they fully master everything they possess will they have the right to stand on the true stage."
Chrollo secretly sweated for his boys.
"I told you," Enel declared arrogantly, arms spread wide as he looked down on them. "God is invincible. Do you understand now?"
"If you do, then end this pointless fight and kneel at my feet."
"Pointless?"
Feitan slowly pushed himself up using a nearby rock, ripping off his shredded clothes. A patch of pitch-black color gleamed on his chest—Armament Haki!
That was what had saved him from the lightning just now.
So this is the Armament Haki the Captain talked about…
The corner of Feitan's mouth curved into a delighted grin. "Who said it's pointless?"
"The whole point of fighting is to get stronger."
"Strong enough… to stand on that stage and make the whole world tremble at the name of the Phantom Troupe."
With that… Feitan pulled a third piece of flesh from his pocket and swallowed it expressionlessly.
Mr. 3's flesh—the Wax-Wax Fruit.
Bomb-Bomb + Light-Heavy = Planet-Buster Bomb.
Bomb-Bomb + Wax-Wax = Explosive Clay.
So what happens when you mix Bomb-Bomb + Light-Heavy + Wax-Wax…?
Three fruits together—what terrifying new power would be born?