Six months earlier, Rowan had made a single request.
No visitors.
No interruptions.
No unnecessary concerns.
Then he, Wiper, and the Golden Eagle King vanished into the uninhabited cloud islands north of Skypiea.
Those islands became their training grounds.
Over the months that followed, they became something far more frightening.
At first, the people of Skypiea only noticed the thunder.
Day after day, lightning tore through the northern sky.
Towering bolts descended from the heavens with enough force to rattle windows on Angel Island and send flocks of Sky Birds scattering in panic.
Once.
Twice.
A dozen times.
Eventually, the storms became so frequent that people began checking the horizon whenever thunder rolled.
Then one afternoon, the sky changed.
Dark clouds gathered over the northern cloud sea, swallowing the sunlight.
The storm that followed dwarfed every previous one.
Lightning cascaded through the heavens like rivers of molten silver.
Thunder shook the islands.
The air itself seemed to tremble.
Residents poured into the streets.
Children pointed.
Adults stared.
And then someone screamed.
“What is that?!”
Countless heads snapped toward the horizon.
For a moment, nobody spoke.
Nobody breathed.
Deep within the storm, a colossal silhouette emerged.
A beast.
A gigantic creature wrapped in crackling lightning.
Its body towered above the cloud layer, vast enough to make mountains seem insignificant.
Electricity coiled around its limbs.
Thunder followed its every movement.
The storm didn’t surround it.
The storm obeyed it.
Every step sent lightning rippling through the clouds.
Every breath seemed capable of shaking the heavens.
The sight was overwhelming.
Even from miles away, people felt a pressure settle over their hearts.
Not fear alone.
Awe.
The instinctive realization that they were witnessing something far beyond themselves.
One of the former priests swallowed hard.
His voice came out hoarse.
“That’s Rowan.”
“It has to be.”
The others exchanged silent looks before nodding.
There was no doubt.
Who else could it be?
Enel had wielded lightning.
This was something entirely different.
Something greater.
For the first time, many truly grasped how fortunate Skypiea had been.
A man capable of commanding power like that could have ruled the sky islands with absolute authority.
Instead, he had freed them.
The storm raged for another hour before finally dispersing.
The gigantic silhouette faded with it.
But it wasn’t the last time.
Over the following months, the phenomenon repeated itself.
Every few days.
Thunder.
Lightning.
The distant beast.
Each appearance lasted longer than the last.
Each time, the creature seemed more defined.
More complete.
As though Rowan was slowly forging a new form through sheer will and training.
A perfect fusion of Behemoth and lightning. This chapter was taken from g.com without permission.
Six months later.
The Four Priests finally ventured deep into the northern training grounds.
Normally, they left supplies at the edge of the islands and departed immediately.
Today was different.
Rowan had specifically requested a direct delivery.
The moment they arrived, all four froze.
The landscape was unrecognizable.
No.
Destroyed.
Massive trenches carved through the cloud islands.
Lightning scars stretched across the terrain for hundreds of meters.
Gigantic claw marks gouged the earth.
Craters dotted the landscape in every direction.
Some were large enough to swallow entire buildings.
One priest stopped beside a footprint larger than a house.
He stared at it for several seconds.
“…What happened here?”
No one answered.
Because no one knew.
The place looked less like a training ground and more like the aftermath of a war between ancient monsters.
Then—
ROOOOOOOAR!!
The sound slammed into them like a physical force.
The island shook.
The priests nearly jumped out of their skins.
Their heads snapped toward the source.
A gigantic figure stood atop a shattered plateau in the distance.
The familiar beast.
The one they had seen countless times through storms.
Only this time there was no lightning.
No thunder.
No swirling clouds.
Yet the pressure was somehow even greater.
Silver fur gleamed beneath the sunlight.
Muscles rippled beneath a body large enough to resemble a moving mountain.
The Behemoth stood motionless.
And still it felt overwhelming.
Then it spoke.
“Wiper.”
The priests visibly flinched.
No matter how often they witnessed it, hearing that colossal creature speak still felt deeply unnatural.
The Behemoth’s golden eyes narrowed.
“Remember this.”
“Speed is your greatest weapon.”
Its voice rolled across the island like distant thunder.
“If a fight drags on, you’ve already lost part of your advantage.”
“Hit first.”
“Hit hard.”
“And end it before your enemy understands what’s happening.”
A voice answered immediately.
“Understood, Captain.”
The priests blinked.
They looked around.
Nothing.
No one was there.
Then their Observation Haki finally picked something up.
A blur.
No—
The figure had already stopped moving.
Their eyes simply hadn’t been able to follow it.
A massive leopard appeared beside the Behemoth.
Several priests instinctively took a step back.
The speed was absurd.
Even with Observation Haki, they had barely tracked the movement.
Wiper had changed dramatically over the last six months.
The difference was night and day.
The Bronthe Leopard Fruit had transformed him into a prehistoric predator.
His physique was stronger.
His instincts sharper.
The Swift-Swift Fruit had pushed those advantages even further.
Every burst of speed bordered on the ridiculous.
And that wasn’t even the most impressive part.
Over the past six months, Rowan had personally trained him in Haki.
Observation.
Armament.
Both had advanced rapidly.
Especially Observation Haki.
Wiper’s growth in that area had been astonishing.
Perhaps it was his natural talent.
Perhaps it was the heightened senses granted by his Ancient Zoan.
Perhaps the Swift-Swift Fruit sharpened his perception alongside his movement.
Whatever the reason, his progress far exceeded expectations.
Even Rowan admitted it.
By his estimates, Wiper had already reached the level of a Marine Vice Admiral.
At minimum.
When both Devil Fruits were pushed to their limits simultaneously, even elite Vice Admirals would have a difficult time dealing with him.
The transformation was extraordinary.
Six months ago, Wiper would’ve been overwhelmed by fighters of that caliber.
Now he could stand among them.
A living example of how terrifying properly paired Devil Fruits could become.
As for Rowan—
Even he wasn’t entirely certain where his limits now lay.
His physical strength had increased dramatically.
His durability had become monstrous.
His mastery of the Goro Goro no Mi improved with every passing day.
More importantly, the fusion between lightning and Behemoth continued to evolve.
Neither fruit merely complemented the other anymore.
They enhanced each other.
Power.
Speed.
Destruction.
Endurance.
The combination was becoming something difficult to categorize.
Something that shouldn’t exist.
One thing was certain.
He was vastly stronger than the man who had arrived in Skypiea six months ago.
Far stronger.
Strong enough that ordinary measurements felt increasingly irrelevant.
A voice suddenly echoed across the battlefield.
“C-Captain Rowan!”
One of the priests waved frantically from the distance.
“We brought food!”
The Behemoth turned.
The giant leopard did the same.
For a moment, silence settled over the island.
Then—
A flash.
The towering Behemoth vanished.
The massive leopard disappeared with it.
In their place stood two ordinary-looking men.
Rowan stretched lazily.
His neck cracked.
Wiper rolled his shoulders.
Neither looked remotely capable of causing the devastation surrounding them.
As if they hadn’t spent the last six months reshaping entire islands through training.
“Oh.”
Rowan grinned.
“It’s you guys.”
His stomach growled.
“Perfect timing.”
He rubbed his abdomen dramatically.
“I’m starving.”
Before the priests could respond—
The air exploded.
A violent gust swept across the island.
The next instant, Rowan and Wiper were standing directly in front of them.
The priests nearly screamed.
Six months later, they still hadn’t adapted.
No matter how often it happened, watching those two monsters appear out of nowhere remained absolutely terrifying.