In a land of chaos…
Ryuuto felt as if he were at the apex of the heavens, looking down upon a world shrouded in churning black mist. From within that mist, demonic roars echoed ceaselessly…
BOOM!
A colossal bolt of purple lightning thundered down, striking the ground below.
A blinding flash of light…
It carried the glorious might of the heavens, a power meant to destroy all things!
When Ryuuto could see again, the ground had been transformed into a sea of golden, molten lightning. The black mist that had once been there was utterly annihilated.
Ryuuto's perspective ascended once more, as if he were floating within a boundless ocean of thunder. As the purple lightning bolts crashed down one after another, he continuously comprehended their essence of destruction. In this realm, only the endless purple lightning held dominion, and only destruction was eternal!
Back in the Sabaody Archipelago, Grove 66 had been reduced to a scene of utter devastation after enduring a full forty-five strikes of the world-ending divine lightning. Massive Mangroves were shattered, and the ground was pockmarked with craters, each a hundred meters in diameter. Scorch marks and smoldering fires were everywhere…
A potent aura of destruction lingered in the depths of the craters, and residual lightning arced through the air, crackling as it tore through the atmosphere.
Kizaru lay in one of the craters, his energy almost completely depleted. Arcs of lightning still danced across his body. He was in a miserable state—his face was blackened with soot, blood trickled from the corner of his mouth, and his body was riddled with broken bones. His internal organs were also severely injured.
"Cough…" Kizaru let out a soft cry, which seemed to aggravate his internal injuries, causing a fresh stream of blood to spill from his lips.
"I almost really died!"
Kizaru forced himself to sit up, a pained expression twisting his features as his wounds protested. He muttered to himself, "That kid has to be dead, right?"
He clutched his chest, speaking with some difficulty. He refused to believe that Ryuuto could have survived such a terrifying barrage of lightning. Having exchanged a few blows with him, Kizaru knew that Ryuuto's physical abilities and Haki were far inferior to his own. His only real strength lay in the purple lightning he wielded and summoned.
Ryuuto hovered in the air... His charred body's eyes suddenly snapped open.
Instantly, a flash of golden lightning shot from his eyes, striking a massive Mangrove in the distance. The golden lightning bored straight into the tree's trunk, then spread out as countless lightning-etched patterns, crawling across the bark… As the lightning's power ate away at it, the section of the trunk gradually turned into molten lightning.
BOOM!
In a matter of moments, the entire trunk was consumed by the molten energy and snapped in two. The massive Mangrove came crashing down!
"Run! The Mangrove is falling!" In the surrounding groves, everyone who witnessed the scene screamed in terror, fleeing for their lives.
Over in Grove 18, Vivi and the others stared into the distance with worried expressions. Having witnessed Ryuuto summon the same world-ending divine lightning back in Alabasta, Vivi and Crocus understood that he was in a battle. But this battle was far too terrifying! The entire archipelago was shaking as if the world were about to end.
The other Supernovas, whether still on the island or already back on their ships, had all witnessed the world-ending might of the lightning that descended from the sky.
"Is someone fighting? This is terrifying!" Law murmured, standing on the deck of his submarine.
"The probability of survival has become 100%?" Basil Hawkins said quietly, staring strangely at the tarot cards laid out before him.
At that moment… a dramatic change was occurring within Ryuuto. The charred skin began to flake away, revealing golden patterns that appeared all over his body.
VMMMM!
With a shudder of his body, a shockwave erupted from within him. Ryuuto floated silently in the air, unmoved by any wind.
"It feels so good to be alive!"
Ryuuto clenched his right fist, purple lightning crackling over it. Feeling his body fully restored, he spoke in a deep voice.
"And… I feel like I've gotten much stronger!" Ryuuto murmured to himself.
"Good thing I took that gamble. A master of the lightning arts can't die to lightning!"
Ryuuto recalled the near-death experience with a hint of lingering fear, but it had all been worth it.
"Kizaru! Come on out! I want another round!"
Lightning surged beneath Ryuuto's feet, and he began to flash across the area, searching everywhere for any sign of the admiral.
"How is this possible?! Is this kid a cockroach or something?!"
Hearing Ryuuto's voice, now full of vigor, Kizaru's heart sank.
"Hehehe, found you!"
Just as the thought crossed Kizaru's mind, a sly voice rang out from directly above him.
Kizaru knew this was bad. He instantly dissolved into particles of light and vanished.
"As expected of the Glint-Glint Fruit! He's so fast!" Ryuuto remarked lightly. Then, with a wave of his right hand, he dispersed countless fine tendrils of lightning energy, spreading them over a radius of several kilometers.
The speed of lightning rivals the speed of light!
"There you are!"
Ryuuto said softly. The lightning on his body exploded, and he disappeared once more. When he reappeared, he was already behind Kizaru…
"How?! How did you keep up with me?!" Kizaru was in disbelief. He felt as if Ryuuto's power had taken a massive leap forward. What the hell was going on?
But he had no time to ponder it. In his heavily injured state, he couldn't even use a fraction of his true power.
"Yasakani Sacred Jewel!"
With no other choice, Kizaru unleashed his full strength. His body erupted into countless points of light, launching his ultimate attack directly at Ryuuto.
"This move again! Lightning Shield!" Ryuuto pulled his hands apart, and a shield formed from the divine lightning of ruin materialized before his chest.
BOOM!
An endless torrent of light beams slammed into the Lightning Shield with immense force, creating a deafening roar of impact. But the beams failed to break through its defense…
"It actually blocked it!"
Ryuuto had created the move on a whim, but it had completely neutralized Kizaru's ultimate attack. Just then, a single beam of light grazed the edge of the shield and shot off into the distance at high speed.
"Damn it! Kizaru's running away!"
Ryuuto's perception instantly identified that beam as Kizaru's true body. With a pulse of his hands, the Lightning Shield exploded, annihilating the remaining light beams. Then, lightning flared around him, and he shot off in the direction Kizaru had fled.
"I can't fight anymore! If this keeps up, these old bones of mine will be staying here for good!"
Clutching his chest, Kizaru was too wounded to continue. Besides, he had always operated on the principle of doing just enough work for the pay he got. There was no reason for him to risk his life fighting Ryuuto to the death.
"This is too much! He's still chasing me!"
Kizaru's Observation Haki flared, and he sensed Ryuuto closing in from behind. Instantly, his light-speed travel kicked into an even higher gear.