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Thunderclouds went berserk. Rain poured down in sheets.
Within the curtain of rain, countless bolts of lightning crashed from the heavens all at once, twisting and roaring as they fell. White steam burst from the air itself, and the dark skies over Marineford were lit up as bright as day.
A massive fleet plummeted downward, bows pointed straight at the ground, triggering waves of terrified screams from the Marines below.
Against this backdrop, Kyle raised his right hand.
A blue arc of lightning stretching for several kilometers gathered into his grasp.
Crack!
Electric light exploded around him, flashing wildly and scorching the ground beneath his feet black.
Golden Lion Shiki narrowed his eyes, the gravity of the situation written plainly across his face.
No one could ignore the power of lightning, especially when that power was held by a kid standing right in front of him.
Then the sky flared white.
Dense lightning strikes rained down with terrifying precision, slamming into the falling ships. The instant the bolts hit, the searing heat tore the wooden vessels apart, igniting them in roaring flames.
"The ships… they're getting shattered!"
The Marines cried out in shock.
The fleet that Shiki had just sent crashing down was now being relentlessly bombarded. A web of lightning spread across the sky, filling the air beneath the thunderclouds with writhing electric tendrils.
Looking up, the entire sky over Marineford seemed alive with lightning.
The shattered ships broke apart into countless burning fragments that rained down below.
Compared to intact warships, the damage they caused was far less severe, something the Marines on the ground could still handle.
"Today… the heavens are on my side,"Kyle murmured.
Then he swung his right arm forward.
"Five hundred million volts. Thunder God's Whip!"
The lightning stretching for kilometers was violently yanked free from the clouds and lashed forward toward Golden Lion Shiki.
Lightning moved too fast for the eye to follow. The instant the light flared, it was already upon him.
Shiki's pupils shrank. Without hesitation, he burst into motion, sprinting across the ground at full speed.
Boom!
Wherever the Thunder God's Whip struck, the ground melted instantly into magma. The rain in the air evaporated in huge clouds of steam.
Shiki's figure flickered as he dodged again and again, yet he still couldn't fully escape its pursuit.
Kyle held the lightning in his hand, but the whip didn't need physical guidance. All it took was a thought, and the bolt would arrive at its target in an instant.
Only a world-class monster like Golden Lion could avoid something like this at all.
"Tch. What a pain of a brat!"
Sweat seeped from Shiki's forehead, his breathing growing heavy.
Dodging lightning took an enormous toll even for someone like him. Short bursts like this burned through stamina at a frightening rate.
Thankfully, it didn't last long.
After a dozen breaths, the kilometers-long lightning suddenly contracted, compressing into a spear of crackling blue light roughly twenty to thirty meters long.
It gleamed brilliantly, lightning snapping across its surface. Despite being pure energy, it looked almost solid, mysterious lightning patterns etched along the shaft.
Kyle reached out and gripped the Thunder God's Spear, eyes fixed forward.
At that exact moment, Shiki seized his chance and slammed both hands onto the ground.
"Lion's Might!"
"Earth Roll!"
In an instant, across tens of thousands of meters, the Marineford plaza and surrounding structures collapsed. The ground ripped itself free and surged upward, swirling around Kyle and forming several colossal lions thousands of meters tall.
A deep roar echoed faintly through the air.
The massive claws slammed down almost the moment they formed.
Crack!
The strike hit nothing.
A flash of lightning passed, and in the next instant Kyle was already high in the sky, looking down.
His gaze locked onto Shiki, now floating above Marineford's inner bay, suspended amid an enormous waterspout.
"Zehahahaha!"
Shiki laughed wildly, arms spread wide.
"How are you going to block this one?"
The entire inner bay surged upward in response, water spiraling violently into the sky, even exposing the seabed below.
It was a breathtaking sight. Every drop of water in Marineford's inner bay was under Golden Lion Shiki's control.
Even Kyle's pupils tightened.
Boom boom boom boom boom!
The deafening roar echoed through Marine Headquarters as the sea rose hundreds of meters, a massive tsunami forming within the raging waterspout.
Kyle suddenly tightened his grip on the lightning spear and raised it high, drawing back into a throwing stance as power gathered.
Crack!
Black and crimson lightning exploded into being, coiling around the spear.
"The Spear of Longinus!"
Every muscle in his body tensed like a drawn bowstring, then released in a single violent burst. The spear, blazing with black-red lightning, left his hand in an instant.
Whoosh!
Space itself seemed to tear as the spear vanished.
There was no sense of distance at all. In the blink of an eye, the spearhead was already in front of Shiki's face.
The sheer speed snapped the madness out of him instantly, like cold water dumped over his head.
The spear spun as it flew, blue lightning roaring around its body while black-red arcs ripped through the air. Even from several meters away, Shiki could feel the horrifying piercing force bearing down on him.
His eyes flashed red. He didn't even bother controlling the seawater anymore.
"Pfft!"
The spear punched straight through him, carrying his body with it at terrifying speed until it slammed him into the massive Gate of Justice behind him. Only then did it stop, the gate letting out a low hum as it shook slightly.
From afar, one of the three great legends of the sea was pinned to the gate by a lightning spear.
The sight was staggering.
"Is he dead?"
"That kind of attack is almost impossible to dodge!"
"It was too fast. I didn't even see it happen!"
The watching Marines stared wide-eyed, swallowing hard.
The image of that figure floating in the sky, wrapped in lightning, would haunt them for the rest of their lives.
Rain continued to pour as Marineford fell eerily silent. All eyes were fixed on the Gate of Justice, on the body pierced by the spear.
Then came coughing.
Violent, ragged coughing, followed by streams of blood running down the gate.
The figure moved.
Shiki reached up and grabbed the crackling spear.
"Aaaaah!"
Pain tore a scream from his throat as he poured all his strength into his grip.
With a violent yank, he ripped the spear out from his upper right chest, near the shoulder.
Hiss!
The agony made him suck in a sharp breath, his face twisting into something truly monstrous.
The strike had been too fast. Even with Observation Haki, he hadn't been able to dodge. All he could do was shift his body slightly, minimizing the damage as much as possible.
His shoulder had been pierced clean through. The upper lobe of his right lung was completely impaled.
Even with Armament Haki, the interior had been instantly scorched, vaporized from within.
"Damn it!!!"
Shiki snarled, looking down at the lightning spear as it dissipated in his hand, madness burning in his eyes.
He thrust one hand outward, ripples spreading across the surface of the inner bay.
"Feel my wrath."
His voice was low and ice-cold.
The next moment, the seawater that had surged skyward came crashing down toward Marineford, triggering waves of terrified, despairing screams.
"..."
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