What was power? People gave a hundred different answers. Strength. Authority. Influence. The ability to change the world around you through nothing more than your own will. Whatever the answer was, power was what Varin was currently witnessing.
He and Nami reached the base of the beanstalk, or close enough in any case. They stopped because Zoro, Robin, and Vivi were here, beaten up to all hell but alive, along with the knight that had saved Conis, meaning someone must have used the whistle, and another angel, this one with dark skin, who Varin assumed was one of the warriors Robin and Vivi had gone looking for.
But he had front row seats to the large man, though he was a few inches shorter than Varin, the difference felt meaningless as the man raised a hand, and a massive thunderbolt crashed down from the sky. The snake, a beast so enormous it could have swallowed ships whole, was engulfed in blinding light. The air itself seemed to scream as electricity tore through it.
For several seconds, the world was nothing but white. Then the snake fell. Its body hit the ground with enough force to shake the giant beanstalk. Blackened scales smoked as it lay motionless, and for a moment Varin couldn't tell if the creature was dead or merely unconscious.
He didn't care to know, because his heart was pumping faster at the sight. But not from fear. He had to force himself to stop next to the group, the knight and the angel jumping as he skidded between Robin and Vivi, Nami still clutching him for dear life.
Because that was power. Not the kind that came from a trick, or a clever technique, not the sort of strength that lets a man break stone with his fists. That bolt had fallen from the heavens themselves. One casual gesture and an attack powerful enough to bring down a monster larger than most buildings had answered the man's command.
Varin could feel it more clearly now, that urge, that hunger, the same feeling that had followed him ever since he joined Luffy. He wanted that. Not the lightning itself, even if he could eat another. No, he wanted the ability to stand there and command something so overwhelming that the world had no choice but to obey. To look at an obstacle and erase it through sheer force, no matter the size.
His claws dug into the stone beneath, leaving deep grooves. For all the progress he had made, for all the strength he had gained, moments like this reminded him just how far he still had to go. Against ordinary fighters, he could hold his own. Against monsters, he could survive. Against someone capable of calling down the wrath of the sky? He may as well have been standing at the bottom of a mountain staring up at the peak. And somehow that realization only made him grin because mountains could be climbed.
Varin's attention shifted as he noticed Gan Fall's hand tightened slightly around his lance the moment they came to a stop. For a brief second, the old knight's attention was pulled away from the impossible power taking place above them. His eyes settled on Varin, and judging by the way his grip shifted, the reaction wasn't entirely positive.
Varin couldn't really blame him. From the outside, he probably looked ridiculous. A massive grey wolf with wired chan marking on its fur, with a terrified navigator still clutching his fur like her life depended on it.
Beside Gan Fall, the dark-skinned warrior reacted even faster. The large weapon resting on his shoulder lowered immediately. His body shifted without hesitation, feet planting firmly against the stone as his attention locked onto Varin. Years of battle experience were written all over the movement. The man didn't see a wolf; he saw a threat.
Varin could practically watch the evaluation happening behind the warrior's eyes. Too large. Too intelligent. Too calm. Animals didn't stare at people like that. Animals didn't watch battles overhead with measured attention. Animals certainly didn't wear an expression that looked suspiciously close to amusement.
"What is that thing?" the warrior demanded.
"Varin! Nami!" Vivi's voice cut through the tension before either man could do anything else.
The princess practically pushed herself away from Robin's side, relief spreading across her face so quickly it was almost painful to watch. Robin's expression softened slightly as well, while Zoro spared them a side eye, took a single look at the situation, and apparently decided nobody was dying immediately, shifting it towards the god before the.
The reaction stopped both Gan Fall and the warrior cold. Varin blinked as only then did he realize everyone was staring at him. Or more specifically, at the fact that Nami was still attached to his side.
The navigator seemed to notice at the same moment. Her face immediately turned bright red, and she released his fur so quickly she nearly lost her balance. "I was not clinging for dear life!" she snapped. Varin looked down at her and snorted, but didn't say anything.
Gan Fall watched the exchange quietly for a few moments before something shifted in his expression. "The young lady from the Blue Sea."
Nami paused. "Huh?"
"The one aboard the ship yesterday."
The old knight nodded to himself. "When I diverted the judgment aimed at the girl called Conis, I remember seeing you among the passengers." Understanding clicked into place inside Varin's head as Gan Fall's gaze moved from Nami to him and then back again. "I see," was all the knight said.
Varin could practically hear the conclusion anyway. Nami was from the ship. Nami was standing next to the giant wolf, which had arrived alongside Nami; therefore, the giant wolf belonged to Nami. It was flawless logic. Completely wrong logic, but flawless logic.
The warrior appeared to reach the same conclusion. Some of the tension left his shoulders, though he still looked unconvinced about the idea of anyone owning something the size of a small building.
With a thought that was honestly more amusement than anything else, Varin shifted, bone and muscle drawing inward, fur collapsing back into skin as his frame reshaped itself with a low, controlled motion. In moments, he was standing in his human form again, towering over the group. The air around him felt heavier just by comparison. Even without trying, his presence filled the space the wolf had occupied, only now it was sharper, more defined.
The warrior reacted first. His body tensed instantly, weapon angling up a fraction before he caught himself. Up close, the scale difference made itself obvious in a way it hadn't before. Varin was not just tall. He was built like something that had been forced to survive things that didn't leave survivors. The scars across his body were reminders. Deep cuts, old burns, marks that spoke of repeated failure to stay intact. Gan Fall's expression shifted as well, something subtle passing behind his eyes. Recognition deepened as he realised who the wolf was, and that Varin was using a Devil Fruit.
But it was Zoro who was the first to break the silence. "You two run into a priest?" he asked, eyes still locked on the warrior in front of them. The question was clearly aimed at Varin and Nami, but his attention never left the man in front of them.
Varin let out a short laugh, rolling his shoulder as if shaking off the memory. "If you can call the man a priest," he said, voice carrying a rough edge of amusement, "I sat there and watched the lad talk himself up while Nami kicked his teeth in. I'm assuming you ran into one yourself, judging by how beat up you are."
His eyes flicked briefly over Zoro's condition, taking in the damage without much concern, more like a casual assessment than worry. Zoro huffed through his nose, a faint smirk tugging at his mouth. "Yeah," he said. "But mine actually was competent."
Varin tilted his head slightly, as if considering that. "Competent, was he?" he repeated, dry humor creeping in. "So you say. Might need to rethink your status as first mate if you're strugglin' this much."
Zoro's smirk widened, just enough to turn sharp. "You wish. At least I have a rank above crew pet," he snorted, and for a second, the air almost eased, tension shifting just enough for the exchange to breathe. The warrior still hadn't fully lowered his guard, but his attention had drifted slightly, pulled more into watching how they spoke to each other than preparing for a fight.
"Hmm." The voice of Enel came as he stood atop one ruined building, looking down at them as if he were observing insects gathered beneath his feet. There wasn't a mark on him, no sign of exhaustion, not a single indication that he had just called down enough lightning to flatten a monster that could swallow houses whole.
Varin's gaze flattened slightly as the man's gaze drifted over the gathered group. First Robin, then Vivi, Zoro next, Nami, after him, Gan Fall, and the warrior, then finally him. "More than I had expected," Enel mused, sounding genuinely thoughtful. "And so close to the time limit." The statement wasn't directed at anyone in particular. The self-proclaimed god seemed perfectly content speaking to himself while everyone else listened. "I am afraid two of you will need to die."
Enel smiled at the shock silence that followed, "Since I am generous enough to permit it." His eyes settled directly onto Varin as he said it. "The mutt and one of your choosing may be sacrificed."
For a moment, nobody spoke, then"...Did he just call me a mutt?" Varin asked. The question was directed at nobody in particular.
Nami blinked before she smiled. "I think he did."
Varin looked back toward Enel. Because for all the power Enel possessed, for all the lightning and destruction and overwhelming force he commanded, the man had made one critical mistake, not the insult, though Varin would be content using it as an insult. He'd been called much worse by his own crew. "Well, here's an ultimatum. I think I'm usin' that word right." The sudden statement drew every eye present. Varin stepped forward as he spoke, moving past the others without the slightest hint of hesitation. His boots scraped against the stone beneath him while he closed the distance between himself and the self-proclaimed god.
Honestly, he wasn't entirely sure if it counted as an ultimatum. But it sounded right. "I don't quite feel like dyin'," he continued conversationally. "And while I ain't opposed to gettin' rid of one of the two that ain't my crew, no offence to you two." He jerked a thumb toward Gan Fall and the warrior without taking his eyes off Enel. Neither looked particularly offended, mostly because both seemed far more interested in the fact that Varin was casually walking toward a man who could call lightning from the sky.
Ten feet.
Five.
Three.
Until Varin was standing directly in front of him. The size difference became obvious immediately. Enel was tall. taller than most men, but Varin still had several inches on him, his broader frame casting a shadow over the other man.
Yet Enel didn't react, like most would when someone as massive as Varin stood before them; he didn't tense, didn't even look the slightest bit concerned; he simply looked up at Varin with the same detached superiority he had shown since arriving. Like he genuinely couldn't imagine a situation where anyone present posed a threat to him.
Varin smiled, just what he was hoping for. "I think I'll sacrifice you instead." The words had barely left his mouth when he moved. One moment, he was standing still, then his arm shot forward.
His fingers were pressed tightly together, forming a crude spear point. Muscle surged through his shoulder and chest as he threw his entire body behind the strike faster than most people could follow. The stone beneath his feet cracked under the sudden burst of force.
Varin had aimed for the throat, a single clean strike straight through the neck. He was hoping to end it before the bastard even realizes a fight has started.
And for a fraction of a second, he thought he had him. Then instinct or something more saved Enel's life.
The god's eyes widened as his body snapped backward with a speed that bordered on absurd. The movement was pure panic, and for the first time since Varin had met him, Enel looked surprised. At the same moment, black spread across the tips of Varin's claws. Haki coated the strike. Just as the claws tore through flesh. A wet impact echoed across the battlefield.
Varin felt some resistance, skin, and muscle gave away before Varin met bone, and the sensation vanished as his fingers punched straight through; the strike missed the throat by a few inches. But it didn't miss entirely. His hand buried itself deep into Enel's upper torso up to Varin's elbow, and for the first time, the self-proclaimed god cried out.
Blood exploded from the wound. Bright red against white clouds, old stone, and roots around them. Against the impossible image of a man who had seemed untouchable only moments before.
Varin's eyes narrowed as he looked at the impact. The angle wasn't ideal, not fatal, or at least not immediately, but judging from where his hand had landed… and if Varin's knowledge of the human body was up to spec, He had definitely punctured a lung, possibly more.
The realization brought a savage grin to his face. Because of all the lightning and all the power, for all the divine nonsense, Enel had just learned a very important lesson: Gods bled too.
The realization sent a surge of satisfaction through Varin, and for a single glorious moment, he stood there with his arm buried inside Enel's torso, feeling warm blood running across his hand and down his forearm. The self-proclaimed god's perfect composure had shattered. The untouchable figure standing above everyone else had been reduced to something far more mortal.
And the hunger inside Varin surged in response; it had never truly left after it hit the day prior. But the sight of overwhelming power had planted something in the back of his mind. A need. An urge. The desire to take.
Now that hunger twisted into something more literal. His eyes locked onto the blood spilling from the wound, and he couldn't tear his gaze away from the crimson. The smell reached him: iron, and panic.
Rip.
Tear.
Kill.
DEVOUR.
The urge hit so hard that for a fraction of a second, he almost did exactly that. Almost lunged forward and drove his other jaws into the man's neck, before Lightning exploded from Enel's body. One moment, Varin was standing over a wounded god. The next the world became white.
Pain, unlike anything he had felt before, tore through him. Every muscle in his body locked instantly. His jaw clenamped shut hard enough he thought he heard teeth crack. The smell of burning flesh filled the air as electricity ripped through him.
Then he was flying. The stone shattered around him, the first wall exploded apart when his body hit it. The second barely slowed him. The third collapsed entirely as he was driven through it. Only after plowing through all three did he finally crash into the ground hard enough to leave a crater beneath him.
His body refused to listen as he tried to rise. Every muscle spasmed violently, and he realized he couldn't move; hell, he couldn't even properly breathe. Somewhere in the distance, he could hear shouting, whose voice it was, he couldn't make out, but his first instinct was to laugh it off. The noise failed to register.
Varin forced one eye open only to see that above him, Enel floated in the air. Blood still poured from the wound in his chest. The sight made the hunger surge again, even now while half his body felt cooked.
His instincts didn't care about the pain, didn't care about the damage; he saw wounded prey, and every fiber of his being demanded he get back up and pounce before the man recovered.
His claws dug into the ground as he fought the urge. Because the rational part of his mind was screaming that charging a living lightning storm while half-paralyzed was a fantastic way to die. Enel's eyes settled on him, cold and furious, the look of a man who had just realized he wasn't invincible, and was about to make it everyone else's problem.
Then the god raised a hand, and lightning gathered instantly, blue and crackling angrily around his outstretched palm.
Varin's eyes widened just as the bolt launched. It crossed the distance so quickly that it barely seemed to move at all. One moment, it was in Enel's hand. The next thing was practically on top of him.
Then something impossible happened. A thunderous crack echoed through the battlefield. The lightning vanished as a projectile spun away through the air, smoke trailing behind it, and slammed into the bolt, detonating both the round and the lightning in a large white explosion.
The dark-skinned warrior stood several dozen feet away, the massive bazooka-like weapon still aimed upward, and for a moment, even Enel looked surprised.
The expression barely had time to appear before Zoro moved. The swordsman had been waiting for an opening from the moment Varin's claws punched through the god's chest, and he seized it immediately. Three swords flashed through the air as a massive flying slash tore across the battlefield toward Enel. Varin couldn't remember which attack it was. Zoro had entirely too many names for them. What mattered was that it was fast, powerful, and aimed straight for the wounded god. Unfortunately, fast wasn't enough. Enel's body dissolved into lightning before the slash could reach him, the attack carving harmlessly through empty air as the self-proclaimed god reappeared atop a ruined wall farther away. Blood continued to pour from the hole in his chest, staining his bare torso red, but if the injury was affecting him, he refused to show it.
"ENOUGH!" The roar echoed across the battlefield, filled with pure rage. The kind born from someone who had never been touched before, suddenly finding himself wounded and bleeding. Enel slowly raised one hand toward the sky. Above them, the clouds immediately began to churn. Lightning raced between their dark masses, gathering in greater and greater quantities as the air itself started to vibrate. Tiny arcs crawled across nearby stone and metal. The smell of ozone became overwhelming. Every instinct Varin possessed started screaming. The feeling itself wasn't subtle. It was the certainty that something catastrophic was about to happen.
"I see you are all determined to die," Enel said, his voice carrying effortlessly across the battlefield despite the growing storm overhead. Blood dripped steadily from his chest wound, but he sounded as calm as ever. "Allow me to help." Then his hand came down. "El Thor."
The world seemed to stop as Varin watched the sky split apart as a colossal pillar of lightning descended from the heavens. Calling it a bolt felt wrong. The attack that had brought down the giant snake looked small compared to this. This was a column of pure destruction, a piece of the storm itself hurled toward the earth. The clouds exploded outward around it as it fell, illuminating the entire battlefield in blinding white. For the first time since arriving on Skypiea, Varin felt genuinely helpless. His muscles still refused to obey him properly. His limbs felt heavy and distant, as though they belonged to somebody else. He wanted to run. Wanted to throw himself aside. Wanted to transform, do literally anything instead of just stare. Instead, he remained where he was, staring upward as death rushed toward him.
Then Zoro stepped forward, the swordsman didn't hesitate, he simply moved between the descending lightning and Varin below him, all three swords rose into a defensive stance as he planted his feet and prepared to meet an attack that no sane person would ever try to block.
At nearly the same moment, Gan Fall did the same. The old knight lowered his lance beside the warrior, taking a firm stance despite the fact that he had to know exactly how hopeless the gesture was. Neither man expected to stop the attack. Neither man expected to survive it. They were simply standing their ground anyway.
The pillar of lightning struck, and for the briefest instant, steel met heaven. Zoro's swords crossed beneath the descending attack while Gan Fall's lance rose to meet it. Then reality asserted itself. The lightning didn't care. It didn't care about steel. It didn't care about courage. It didn't care about determination. The attack tore straight through their defenses as though they didn't exist.
Varin saw Zoro's body lock up instantly. Saw every muscle seize. Saw his eyes widen as the electricity engulfed him.
Something inside Varin snapped. His muscles screamed in protest as he forced them to move. The damage from the previous blast made every motion feel impossible, but he pushed through it anyway. The world seemed to slow around him. The descending lightning. Zoro's rigid form. Gan Fall, bracing himself. The impossible brightness swallowing everything. Somehow, despite his body barely functioning moments ago, he managed to move.
His shoulder slammed into Zoro. The swordsman barely had time to react before Varin threw himself over him.
Then the lightning reached them unimpeded. The world vanished. For a few endless seconds, all Varin saw was white, just white as the electricity consumed everything. It flooded through him faster than thought, numbing his nerves almost immediately. The pain never arrived, not because the attack wasn't hurting him, but because his body simply couldn't process that much damage all at once. The sensation was beyond pain. Beyond heat. Beyond anything he had ever experienced.
His nerves went silent. His muscles stopped responding. The only thing that remained was the endless white light stretching in every direction. And somewhere beneath that sea of white, Varin had the distant realization that this was what it felt like to be struck by the wrath of a god.
And just as suddenly as it had appeared, the white vanished.
The world crashed back into existence around Varin in a haze of ringing ears, scorched stone, and the smell of burnt flesh. For a few seconds, he simply lay there staring upward, his vision refusing to properly focus. Every part of him felt wrong. His body wasn't screaming in pain. It was beyond that. The lightning had burned past pain and left behind a deep, exhausting numbness that settled into his muscles and bones alike. Even breathing felt difficult; every inhale scraped through his chest as if his lungs had forgotten how to work properly.
Eventually, gravity seemed to remember him. Varin collapsed fully onto his side beside Zoro, the movement happening more because his body gave out than because he chose to fall. The stone beneath him felt strangely cool against skin that still crackled with the remnants of electricity. His arm twitched involuntarily, then his leg. Neither listened when he tried to move them.
Zoro wasn't in much better condition. The swordsman had been thrown several feet away during the blast despite Varin doing his best to shield the man; his swords were scattered around him. Somehow, he was still conscious. Varin could see that much. Barely. The man's chest rose and fell in shallow breaths while smoke drifted from his clothes. One hand remained wrapped around the hilt of a sword even now, despite the fact that he looked seconds away from passing out entirely.
The sight managed to draw a weak snort from Varin. Swordsmen's pride, and the whole never let go of your weapon schtick, at least that meant the stubborn mosshead would be fine. The sound died almost immediately when a wave of exhaustion rolled through him. His body felt heavy; every instinct he possessed was demanding rest, sleep, or anything to stop moving. The only thing keeping him awake was stubbornness and the distant awareness that Enel was still alive.
No. That wasn't entirely true. Stubbornness was helping. It always helped. But it wasn't the real reason his eyes remained open while every part of him begged to collapse. The real reason was standing several dozen feet away, bleeding from a hole Varin had punched through his chest.
Varin licked dry lips and immediately realized he was salivating; the realization should have concerned him, but instead, it made the grin trying to form on his face grow wider. Because where most people would have felt fear, he felt excitement. Every display of power Enel had shown today should have terrified him. The man called down lightning from the heavens. He moved faster than sight. He had just unleashed enough force to nearly wipe out everyone present in a single attack.
And Varin wanted more, not in some abstract sense. Right now, he wanted to stand back up and fight again. His body felt broken, but his mind felt alive.
Varin's eyes remained fixed on the distant figure of the god. Blood still ran from the wound in Enel's chest. Not much compared to before. The flow had slowed. But it was there. Visible proof that the impossible could be hurt. Visible proof that the mountain could bleed.
And all Varin could think about was doing it again. His claws twitched against the stone. The movement hurt, which meant he could feel again.
Part of him knew the feeling wasn't normal. Knew that after nearly being killed twice in the span of a minute, he should probably be reconsidering his life choices. He should be thinking about survival. About the very real possibility that the next attack might finish what the last one started.
Instead, he found himself imagining the next exchange, the next opening. The next chance to get his hands on Enel.
The thought alone sent a pulse of excitement through him. Not because he hated the man, or any niche reason like that. Varin simply wanted to win; he wanted to test himself against that impossible strength, and tear down something that seemed untouchable and prove it wasn't.
The worst part was that Varin knew exactly how insane that sounded. He wasn't oblivious to it. Most people didn't get nearly killed and immediately started looking forward to the next round. Most people didn't stare at a man capable of erasing entire islands with lightning and think, I want to do that again.
Varin knew why, in any case. The explanation was honestly less comforting than the alternative. Chopper had spent more than a few evenings trying to explain it to him after hearing enough stories about his old life. The reindeer had used a lot of words Varin couldn't remember, along with several he couldn't pronounce, but the general idea had stuck.
People weren't meant to live the way he had. His old life had been years of routine and caution and isolation. Every day had been the same as the one before it. Wake up. Go through the motions. Survive. Repeat. There had always been something to worry about, something to avoid, some new reason to keep his head down and his expectations low.
Eventually, his brain had adapted, or maybe broken; he wasn't entirely sure which description was more accurate.
At some point, the fear had simply stopped working the way it was supposed to. His mind had just... gotten tired, and something inside him had snapped under the weight of it all. The result was the man currently lying in a smoking crater with enough electrical damage to kill most people, and that man was grinning, looking at the strongest opponent he had ever faced, and felt excitement instead of terror. All because somewhere along the line, fear and joy had gotten tangled together. The things that should have terrified him now made his blood race.
Because for all the damage done to him, for all the things that had gone wrong in his old life, there was one thing he couldn't deny: he had never felt more alive than he did right now, as the smell of ozone filled the air. His body felt half-cooked. Every breath hurt. Somewhere nearby, friends and allies were recovering from an attack that should have killed them all.
And still, when his eyes found Enel again, a fresh grin pulled at the corner of his mouth. It was as if the electric shock had been forced out of him by the sudden surge of adrenaline, something sharp and violent cutting through the numb heaviness in his limbs. Pain was still there, or rather had started to appear, deep and lingering under his skin, but it no longer mattered in the same way. His fingers twitched against the stone, then curled, then pushed.
Movement came back in uneven pieces. First his arm, then his shoulder, then his torso, dragging itself up with a strained, shaking effort that scraped his body against the scorched ground. His breath came rough, uneven, but he was upright again, or close enough to it, swaying slightly where he knelt. The world still felt wrong around the edges, like it hadn't fully decided whether he was supposed to be conscious or not, but that line was already being ignored.
Somewhere behind him, voices cut through the ringing in his ears. Vivi, Nami, Robin. They were shouting something at him, words sharp with panic and disbelief, but they didn't fully reach him. The sound came through distorted, like it was being dragged through water or buried under layers of static. He caught fragments of it, enough to know they were calling his name, telling him something he probably should have cared about more than he did.
Varin pushed himself higher, one foot finding purchase under him as he rose in a slow, uneven motion. His body protested every inch of it, muscles still recovering from the lightning, nerves still sparking with leftover damage, but none of it stopped him. If anything, it only sharpened the focus in his eyes.
Everything felt right to him, like he was exactly where he was supposed to be, and so, as he stumbled slightly, catching himself on his knees, his eyes met Enel's, and Enel barely even looked at him. A half glance at most, like Varin was something that had briefly crawled into his line of sight rather than a person standing back up after taking a divine strike. The god muttered something under his breath, too quiet for Varin to catch, too calm to feel like it mattered anyway.
Then everything changed in an instant.
The air snapped.
Space itself felt like it folded for a second.
Varin's instincts fired late, screaming at him to move, to react, to do anything at all, but his body was still half a step behind reality. Enel's hand waved, and lightning crackled.
One moment, they were all there. Then Vivi and Nami were gone. Taken by the god, He barely registered the words they said, willing to go with the god. Varin's head snapped toward the space they had been in, mind refusing to process it at first, like the information simply wouldn't settle properly.
Robin was still there, barely, but something had struck her in the chaos of it all. Her body had been thrown hard against stone, skin faintly smoking where lightning had grazed her, but she was still breathing, barely pushing herself up through pain and shock.
But the others had vanished into a flash of lightning and soundless displacement that left nothing behind but broken air and the hollow feeling of a fight suddenly splitting in two.
Varin stood there for half a second longer, still half risen, still swaying from the aftermath of everything that had just happened, staring at the empty space like it might correct itself if he just looked long enough. Only one thought rose, overpowering his need to fight.
No one takes his family away from him.