Rector gathered the lightning around his body once more, raising a hand to rub his still-aching head.
Zephyr’s wrist strength was truly terrifying; although it couldn’t break through his Iron Balloon defense, the penetration power of the Armament Haki shook his internal organs directly, making his teeth ache to the roots.
Rector’s legs transformed into lightning, turning his entire body into a streak of lightning that tore through the air, and in the next second, he split into countless lightning afterimages in mid-air.
Every single lightning afterimage carried real attacking power, identical to his main body.
Like over a thousand thunder spears ready to strike, they densely surrounded Zephyr on all sides, sealing off all of Zephyr’s dodging directions.
“Thunder Fall · Ten Thousand Jun!!!”
Lightning gathered in the palms of every afterimage, and with a single-arm swing, countless thunder spears were fired, raining down thunder and lightning upon Zephyr in an overwhelming flood.
The moment Zephyr’s fists crashed together, billows of white steam began to rise from his body, his muscles expanding wildly until they forcibly tore apart his suit.
His neat short purple hair grew significantly longer, and deep black Armament Haki coated his iron-like muscles, making him look like a ready-to-deploy humanoid war machine.
“Six Powers Esoteric Technique · Whole Body Control!!!”
“Bang!!!”
As the low shout fell, Zephyr’s figure left a clear afterimage in place, and he instantly vanished.
Rector’s pupils contracted sharply, almost instinctively triggering his elementalization.
The next second, a fist wrapped in Armament Haki directly pierced through his head.
Zephyr’s figure turned into a flash of light, continuously shuttling through the sky, and with every turn, a lightning afterimage exploded.
In just a few short seconds, all of Rector’s lightning afterimages vanished, and countless bolts of lightning gathered and merged in the distance.
“As expected of the Marine’s strongest Armament Haki!”
Rector clutched his chest; the pain suffered by his clones all converged onto his body, feeling as though he had been punched countless times.
Garp and Zephyr were both top-tier users of the Marine Six Powers; how could they not have mastered the Six Powers Esoteric Techniques?
He had been careless.
“Brat, aside from Newgate and those old geezers, you’re the first person to force me to use my full power.”
Zephyr raised his two giant-hammer-like fists, the Haki on his knuckles forming a layer of steel-like skin.
“Interesting, this is what a pure physical combat powerhouse should look like.”
Rector’s eyes were filled with an excited light as the lightning around him quietly gathered, condensing into a set of silver-white lightning armor on his body, with the lightning slowly flowing across the armor’s surface.
“Come on!”
“Hum!!!”
Thunder cracked, and a majestic, terrifying aura surged out from within Rector.
The entire sky darkened instantly, and heavy thunderclouds gathered frantically above his head at a speed visible to the naked eye.
In just a few seconds, they formed a thunderstorm cloud comparable to a large island.
The surrounding barometric pressure plummeted rapidly, and the air trembled.
An aura resembling a tyrannical ancient giant beast lay heavy across the entire sky, dark red Conqueror’s Haki mixed with lightning, continuously spreading along the clouds.
Zephyr’s pupils shrank sharply.
“Im…
Impossible?
This is…
Conqueror’s Haki?!”
He never expected that this five-year-old child had already awakened Conqueror’s Haki.
Could it be that a second Rocks was about to appear on this great ocean?
Absolutely not!
I will never allow such a thing to happen!
The lightning in Rector’s eyes grew even brighter, memories of his past and present lives churning in his mind.
Over the years, every step he took was calculated and planned, but he knew better than anyone else in his heart—this was inherently an era that spoke through strength; only absolute power could transcend all rules and authority.
“Brat!
You can’t escape today!” Zephyr roared aloud.
He stamped heavily on the air, the powerful recoil propelling his body upward into the high altitude at extreme speed.
His fists were wrapped in Armament Haki compressed to the extreme, gleaming with a gloomy black luster, and veins bulged on his two mountain-thick arms.
“Black Arm · Annihilation!!!”
The moment his fists were swung, the air in front of him was instantly compressed and exploded, and a solid, pitch-black fist wind carrying air currents surged forward, crushing down toward Rector like a mountain.
“Right on time!
Let me see the true strength of a Marine Vice Admiral!” Rector roared excitedly in a low voice.
The lightning in his palms was compressed to the extreme, condensing into thunderballs as dazzling as small suns, the surrounding air being squeezed into successive explosions, and harsh thunderclaps spread across the entire sea area.
“Divine Firmament · Palm Lightning · Stars!!!”
The sky-full of thunderballs shot out together with a piercing sound, colliding head-on with Zephyr’s fist wind.
“Boom—!!!”
At this moment, heaven and earth seemed to have lost all sound.
A dazzling white light exploded at the center where the lightning and fist wind collided, forcibly blasting a huge hole through the heavy clouds.
Scattered lightning smashed into the sea, stirring up giant waves dozens of meters high, and the cold seawater was vaporized into large patches of white mist by the high temperature.
The sunlight that should have shone straight down was distorted in direction when passing through the collision zone of their attacks, refracting toward the distant sea surface.
“Retreat!
All units retreat!”
“Contact Headquarters immediately to request support!”
Zephyr’s adjutant stood at the bow, his face pale as he roared hoarsely, cold sweat sliding down his cheeks.
He had originally thought this would be a one-sided battle, but he hadn’t expected Rector to actually force Vice Admiral Zephyr to use his full power.
“Rear Admiral!
The warship is entangled in the whirlpools, we can’t break out!”
“Rear Admiral!
The Den Den Mushi won’t connect, the signal is entirely jammed by the lightning!”
“Rear Admiral!
The main mast is about to snap!”
…
Bad news came crashing down one after another, and the adjutant’s heart sank to the bottom.
The soldiers on the deck were all pale-faced, some leaning against the railing and retching, others staring at the sky and muttering to themselves.
“That guy…
is he really human?!”
In the hazy light where sea and sky met, fine flashes of lightning exploded around Rector’s body.
His trench coat fluttered wildly in the thunderstorm, and the fighting intent in his eyes was so thick it was almost overflowing.
He licked the blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, revealing an arrogant smile.
“Bastard brat!
Don’t destroy my warship!”
Zephyr roared as he rushed out of the lightning, his voice carrying an unsuppressible anger.
Within a ten-kilometer radius of where the two of them fought, the weather had gone completely haywire.
Thunderstorms, gales, and tsunamis struck one after another, twisting several irregularly shaped giant whirlpools on the sea surface.
The warship was like a fallen leaf in a wind, being torn back and forth by turbulent currents and whirlpools.
The wooden boards on the surface of the warship had reached their bearing limit, making creaking cracking sounds everywhere, and the cold seawater poured into the cabins through the cracks.
All of this was caused by Rector; by the power of a single person alone, he had rewritten the weather of this sea area.
“Zephyr!
Now is not the time to care about the warship!”
Rector stood proudly in the center of the thundercloud, lightning cracking and snapping all around him, like an emperor wielding thunder.
The entire sky grew darker and darker, heavy thunderclouds gathering frantically at a speed visible to the naked eye, pressing down so hard that people could barely breathe.
He raised his head and let out a roar, the thunder rolling through the clouds in all directions.
“Six-Armed Dharma King · Six-Turn Thunder Burial!!!”
The thunderclouds in the sky rapidly contracted, and a dazzling white light filled the entire world.
Countless lightning bolts like spirit snakes shuttled, gathered, and compressed within the clouds, slowly condensing into a majestic-faced Thunder God manifestation.
The manifestation had six arms, and each hand held a lightning wheel ring.
Massive amounts of lightning surged in the centers of the wheel rings, like portals leading to heaven, exuding a heaven-destroying and earth-shattering aura.
The residents of Drum Island all looked up at the sky; some were so terrified they collapsed in the snow, and children hugged their mothers’ arms and cried out.
“What kind of monster is this…”
“Mama, I want to go home…”
Zephyr stared fixedly at the lightning manifestation in the sky, the Armament Haki on his body constantly solidifying and gathering like flowing water, and even his skin gave off a deep black metallic luster.
“Today, this old man will send you into Impel Down!!!”
“Hum!!!”
A dull hum burst from the air, the veins on Zephyr’s arms bulging even more fiercely, and the white steam steaming from his body gradually dyed black—the manifestation of Armament Haki driven to the extreme.
“Black Arm · Black Meteor Fall!!!”
“Bang!!!”
The muscles in Zephyr’s legs swelled, with a stomp that blew up the air, his figure leaping continuously in mid-air, leaving behind a black Z-shaped trajectory as he charged toward the Thunder God manifestation.
“Come on!
I’m the man who is going to become King, how could I ever lose to you!”
“Fall!!!”