"The Rumble-Rumble Fruit..." Crocodile muttered, narrowing his eyes at the man sitting across from him.
"I don't take orders from anyone, you know," Enel replied nonchalantly, leaning back in his chair and lazily digging a pinky into his ear.
Crocodile glared at the painfully relaxed Skypiean.
Grains of sand began to drift from his coat, swirling menacingly around his body.
Seeing this, Enel stopped cleaning his ear and sat up, his eyes widening slightly.
"I am the user of the Sand-Sand Fruit," Crocodile declared, his face grim, though a faint trace of envy flashed in his eyes.
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit was famously known as one of the most invincible powers in the world.
Yet somehow, this guy seemed a bit dumb.
"Oh? Then I suppose you are worthy of being my companion," Enel said, immediately lying back down in his chair and reverting to his infuriatingly lazy tone.
"It seems you aren't going to be very cooperative. I guess I'll just have to call Cyrus and ask him to send you back to the sky," Crocodile said suddenly.
Enel froze.
His eyes darted over to stare at Crocodile.
"I was just joking!" Enel grinned widely, instantly sitting up perfectly straight.
"We're on the same side, aren't we? We should help each other out! Tell me, what do you need me to do?"
Crocodile stared at him for a second.
If used well, the user of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit is an absolute weapon.
Even if he is an idiot, as long as he follows orders, it'll be fine. He genuinely had no idea how Cyrus had managed to tame this arrogant god up on Sky Island.
Enel became perfectly docile the second Cyrus's name was even mentioned.
"If we can cooperate, then we'll continue to work together," Crocodile said after a moment's thought.
"But as for your assignment, there isn't one right now. Just rest up. I'll need you to handle the logistics for Sky Island later."
...
The next day.
The Hunter Guild's custom ship, the Dunn Rose, slowly departed from the docks of the Sabaody Archipelago.
Daz Bones stood quietly on the pier, watching the ship sail away as he reported the situation via Den Den Mushi to Crocodile.
On the deck of the ship, Rayleigh looked up at the towering mast.
A perfectly neat row of News Coos, miniature cameras strapped securely around their necks, was perched on the highest yardarm.
The old man turned his head to look at Cyrus.
"Are those...?"
"Morgans's subordinates. Oh, he's the president of the World Economy News Paper," Cyrus replied casually, barely glancing up.
"You invited the press?!" Rayleigh asked, his eyes narrowing sharply.
If the news of this fight got out, he could forget about living peacefully on Sabaody ever again.
Even if the Marines decided to ignore him, once his exact location was blasted across the front page, thousands of glory-seeking rookies and Pirate Hunters would flock to the island just to try and make a name for themselves.
For instance, there was a bounty hunter standing right in front of him. He would be plagued with endless trouble.
"Don't worry, I already told Morgans to scrub your location data from the final article," Cyrus said, easily guessing what the Dark King was worried about.
"I'm really starting to regret this. I never should have agreed to spar with you," Rayleigh sighed, rubbing his forehead in exasperation while resting his other hand on the hilt of his sword.
"Come on, you haven't been in the papers for decades. Most of the rookies on the sea have probably forgotten the name 'Dark King Rayleigh' by now," Cyrus smirked.
"I couldn't care less about fame," Rayleigh grumbled, turning and walking toward the bow of the ship.
As he walked, a dozen massive wooden oars extended from the sides of the hull, propelled by dozens of slender arms that sprouted directly from the ship's interior woodwork.
Noticing this bizarre mechanism, Rayleigh reached the bow and let out a heavy sigh, looking at Robin, who was currently steering the helm.
"Making a lovely young lady do all the hard labor..."
"It's training. Cyrus said it builds stamina and helps train my Devil Fruit control," Robin replied calmly, not taking her eyes off the sea.
Rayleigh was left completely dumbfounded.
'Well, that's not technically wrong, but in this context, it just looks like he's using you as an engine...'
"Direction!" Robin called out.
Rayleigh swallowed the rest of his complaints, pointed a finger toward the horizon, and jumped up onto the ship's railing to look ahead.
"The Dark King is not wrong. This really isn't right," Issho muttered in a low voice beside Cyrus.
He had heard the entire exchange.
Rowing a small boat was one thing, but using her Devil Fruit to propel a galleon by herself was an absurd physical strain.
"You're not wrong, but we're a little short on crewmates right now," Cyrus nodded shamelessly.
As soon as he said that, the massive thrusters at the stern of the Dunn Rose suddenly ignited.
A massive burst of flame shot out, and the ship's speed skyrocketed, cutting through the waves like a torpedo.
Robin and the others, entirely used to this by now, didn't even flinch.
She seamlessly retracted the oars, deactivated her ability, and focused purely on steering the violently accelerating ship.
Rayleigh glanced over his shoulder, his jaw dropping slightly as he watched the dazzling blaze of fire rocketing them forward.
'What a completely absurd crew.'
...
A little over an hour later, Cyrus ordered the ship to drop anchor near a deserted, rocky island right near the base of the Red Line.
He stood on the deck, looking up at the impossibly massive continental wall.
"Rocks constantly break off the Red Line and fall onto this island, so no one dares to live here," Rayleigh explained, looking up at the sheer cliff that pierced the clouds before turning back to Cyrus.
"So, is Mary Geoise right up there?" Cyrus asked, curious.
"Not quite. The Holy Land is further down the continent, still quite a distance away," Rayleigh chuckled, pointing down the length of the massive red wall.
"Mary Geoise is huge, but the Red Line wraps around the entire world."
With that, Rayleigh rested his hand on his sword and casually leaped over the railing, landing softly on the rocky shore below.
"You guys wait on the ship. And make sure you block any stray shockwaves—I spent a lot of money on this boat," Cyrus ordered, seeing Hawkeye and Issho step forward.
Without waiting for an answer, Cyrus leaped off the deck and followed Rayleigh onto the island.
High above, the row of News Coos immediately took flight, circling the island at a safe altitude to get the best camera angles.
The three crewmates on the ship exchanged glances but decided to stay put.
For a clash of this absolute top-tier caliber, standing on a ship moored to the coast was already considered dangerously close.
Just as the thought crossed their minds, a terrifying blast of Conqueror's Haki erupted on the island.
Thick, jagged bolts of black and red lightning swept outward, instantly pulverizing the loose rubble across a massive section of the island.
Standing a few dozen paces apart, Cyrus and Rayleigh let their spirits clash.
The air between them warped and cracked, violently sparking with black lightning.
Cyrus slowly reached up and gripped the hilt of his sword. Instantly, wild wisps of black lightning began to bleed from his hand, coating the scabbard.
Seeing this, Rayleigh's eyes narrowed, and he gripped his own hilt.
CRACK!
The solid stone ground beneath both men shattered simultaneously. The pressure of the Conqueror's Haki doubled.
Cyrus kicked off the ground, his eyes locked on Rayleigh.
He swung his blade, heavily infused with Armament Haki, straight toward the Dark King.
But Rayleigh didn't even draw his sword fully.
He simply met the strike with his own scabbard, heavily coated in a thick, flowing layer of Conqueror Haki.
A tremendous, invisible force erupted from Rayleigh's blade.
Their weapons didn't even touch. Yet, that immense, crushing force bypassed Cyrus's sword entirely and slammed directly into his body like a cannonball.
BOOM!
Cyrus's boots dug deep trenches into the stone as he was violently sent sliding backward.
Rayleigh lowered his sword, looking at Cyrus with a mixture of profound shock and uncertainty.
'That feeling just now...' Rayleigh thought, flexing his wrist.
'It felt exactly like fighting that monster, Charlotte Linlin. Did this kid really possess the same freakish, indestructible physical baseline as her?'
'It seemed the information printed about Cyrus in the newspapers was missing a few crucial details.'
"Again!" Cyrus yelled, a thrilled grin spreading across his face.
He flicked his wrist, his body blurring into a high-speed afterimage as he lunged right back at Rayleigh.
BOOM! BOOM!
Slashes coated in Advanced Conqueror's Haki were notoriously difficult to block, and to make matters worse, Rayleigh's blade was also dripping with absolutely top-tier Armament Haki.
'This old man's raw strength didn't seem to have deteriorated much at all.'
Cyrus had never seen Rayleigh in his prime, but in a pure contest of Haki control, Cyrus was currently getting outclassed.
'This old man's decades of Haki training are no joke!' Cyrus thought, his arms vibrating from the sheer impact of the blows.