Electabuzz had already absorbed a complete Energy Stone before. This was the second one it had obtained.
The moment this stone touched Electabuzz's hand, a brilliant white light of evolution burst forth from its body.
"Meow, is it evolving into Electivire?"
In the Pokémon world, for Electabuzz to evolve into Electivire, it needed to hold an Electirizer and then be traded.
There was no Electirizer in this world. Perhaps local electrical equipment could substitute for it—but how to carry out a trade evolution was a huge problem.
Yet the energy within this corresponding stone instantly solved both the Electirizer and the trade evolution requirements, directly pushing Electabuzz toward evolving into Electivire.
The light of evolution did not last long. When it faded, the tiger-like Electabuzz from before had completely transformed.
Electabuzz originally had relatively slender limbs, but Electivire's limbs were thick and powerful.
Its appearance had changed drastically as well, and its height had grown from around 1.3 to 1.4 meters to nearly two meters.
The yellow-and-black color scheme remained unchanged, and behind it were two black tails that resembled flowing ribbons.
As the evolved form of Electabuzz, Electivire possessed far more abundant electrical power, and its fighting techniques became even stronger.
"Eh-ru!"
"Electivire, go support Dice."
A massive surge of electricity erupted from Electivire's body, wrapping around it completely.
Wild Charge!
...
On another ship, Dice's current strength was still inferior to General Bissel. His masochistic trait allowed him to ignore much of the impact from injuries, but as the damage accumulated, no matter how much of a masochist he was, he would eventually fall.
Electivire, enveloped in an electric magnetic field, charged onto the deck. Bissel had already anticipated that he would lose here today. From the very beginning, one of their enemies had used terrifying means to knock nearly all of the kingdom's soldiers unconscious.
And that person had stepped on air using a classic Marine and World Government technique to head toward Gold Mine Island.
He had taken the initiative to leave to find the king… leaving these people behind to deal with him meant they were absolutely confident.
Bissel's judgment proved correct. After barely dealing with that pervert who treated pain as pleasure, a creature that looked like it was wearing a strange yellow mascot suit leaped onto the deck.
This creature was wrapped in lightning. It didn't even need to get close—one bolt of lightning struck out, and the iron axe in Bissel's hand became the perfect lightning rod.
Bissel didn't even have time to react. The electricity traveled through the axe and crackled violently through his body.
"Ah!"
After a painful scream, Bissel supported himself with one hand on the ground and did not fall. He was someone who had trained on the Grand Line—one lightning strike was not enough to completely bring him down.
"Eh-ru!"
Electivire's two black tails glowed with white light.
Iron Tail. Since it had two tails, its Iron Tail was dual-wielding.
Having already taken one electric strike, Bissel hurriedly raised his axe to block.
Clang!
Bissel was sent flying by the two tails. The strength behind his raised axe was insufficient to withstand the attack. He was smashed backward by Electivire's Iron Tail and crashed into the captain's cabin.
"Eh-ru!"
Electivire finished with one more Thunder, completely immobilizing him.
"That was easy, meow. Electivire really is impressive."
Electivire was far more adept at fighting than Electabuzz. Electabuzz's physique was like a tiger's body fitted with a leopard's legs—lean and somewhat slender.
Electivire's limbs and body were perfectly proportioned, brimming with power.
Of course, in the world of pirates, this size was nothing special. Fortunately, it was backed by extremely powerful electrical energy. Whether it could learn Haki or not, Electivire's strength was far beyond that of a minor character.
No one ever questioned the power of lightning. Even in the constantly patched Haki-era of pirates, people still believed Enel was absolutely powerful. And when discussing top-tier Devil Fruits, no matter how strong later Mythical Zoan Fruits appeared, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit would always be brought up for debate.
...
Rewinding time slightly.
The garrison troops on Gold Mine Island's shore could not clearly see what was happening at sea. They only knew that a small warship had been attacked and caught fire, while the three large ships had collided and begun boarding combat.
They had originally assumed the three large ships would show results first. Instead, the small ship, which had stopped advancing due to damage, appeared to have brought the fire under control—only to suddenly sink.
The sinking of the small ship was naturally the work of Big Pan leading the Fish-Man squad. Armed with tridents, they easily pierced countless holes into the hull's underside.
The ship irreversibly sank beneath the sea. In the water, the guards were no match for the Fish-Man, especially when Big Pan's massive figure emerged from below. A single sweep of his trident could knock down a large group.
"S-something's coming!"
A black dot on the sea surface grew larger and larger at astonishing speed. The disturbance it created as it skimmed across the water even carved a faint depression along the surface.
"It—it's a person!"
By the time the guards realized it was a person, it was already too late.
As Vane stepped out for the final time with Soru, his body spun four or five times in midair, blue light bursting from his foot.
Whoosh!
A massive blue-white Rankyaku shot out.
The air howled, accompanied by a surge of biting cold.
Boom!
The dock exploded apart, white frost spreading across its entire surface.
Some of the guards were blasted away by the impact, half their bodies instantly covered in white frost.
With a single kick destroying part of the dock, Vane did not linger. He continued using Soru in midair, heading straight toward the highest point—the royal palace.
Halfway there, a burst of fire erupted from the palace's direction.
That blaze split into numerous smaller flames, pouring toward Vane like a meteor shower.
In that instant, Vane thought of Admiral Akainu's famous technique—Meteor Volcano.
However, the flames did not appear to be magma. Their heat diminished rapidly. By the time the red glow had traveled halfway, much of it had already darkened. When it neared Vane, the temperature posed little threat.
"This Devil Fruit ability… could it be the Smelt-Smelt Fruit?"
Vane dodged left and right through the "meteor shower," drawing his Cursed Sword as frost coiled around it. He slashed forward, and a massive wave of freezing air collided with the incoming meteors. The clash of high heat and cold generated thick clouds of steam.
With a flick of his blade, Vane knocked one of the cooled "meteors" in front of him. It was clearly a piece of metal—not the magma stone he had initially imagined.
That allowed Vane to roughly determine the opponent's ability—the Smelt-Smelt Fruit.
This was one of the Devil Fruit abilities Vane had originally considered equipping for Meowth.
The Smelt-Smelt Fruit could smelt metal. Its applications were extremely versatile, and its offensive power was not lacking in the slightest. He hadn't expected it to be in the hands of this king.