Whoosh— BOOM!
A dark shadow streaked out from amidst the blinding lightning, blood spraying into the air. In an instant, the figure slammed into the ruined street several dozen meters below.
The earth shuddered violently; the ground surged like waves, rippling outward as cracks spider-webbed across the surface. A ferocious blast of energy swept through the surroundings like a gale, kicking up a towering cloud of dust.
Moments later, a human-shaped bolt of lightning teleported to the roof of a three-story building. As the radiance faded, Enel's true form was revealed.
"That strike felt damn good!"
Enel flashed a grin, resting his golden staff on his shoulder, electricity dancing along its length. He had clashed with his opponent several times already, but his attacks were almost always "seen" by the other's Observation Haki, allowing the man to either dodge or block. It was rare that he managed to land a blow as satisfying as this one.
Nearby, Crocodile pushed aside the rubble pinning him down, staggering to his feet with a face covered in blood. He looked thoroughly disheveled. He had taken the full brunt of Katakuri's assault; a lesser man would have been dead or critically wounded by now.
"Hey, Croc, you really are a tough dog!"
Enel glanced over and couldn't help but chuckle. The "Crocodile" was notorious for his foul temper, and if it weren't for their alliance, Enel would have taught him a lesson long ago. But seeing him in such a pathetic state felt like drinking a giant bowl of ice water in the sweltering heat of midsummer; it was, in a word: satisfying!
Crocodile's face darkened. He raised a hand to wipe the blood from the corner of his eye and hissed, "Shut up, big-ears. You're next on my kill list!"
"What did you say?!" Enel glared, clearly incensed.
"That's enough!" Zephyr barked with a dissatisfied scowl. "If you two want to turn on each other, do it after this war is over!"
He paused, observing the two men who, despite their annoyance, had stopped bickering. "Enel, have you completed your mission?"
"Hmph, of course I have!" Enel tilted his head back, looking proud. "Don't you know who I am? Not only did I destroy the mirrors the Big Mom Pirates had placed along the coast, but I also slaughtered their former Sweet Commander, Snack!"
Upon hearing this, Zephyr breathed a sigh of relief. Even so, he and Crocodile stared at Enel in astonishment. They hadn't expected him to kill one of the Big Mom Pirates' Commanders in such a short time. Though he was a disgraced former Commander, he was still a man with a 600-million-berry bounty.
Just then, the dust and smoke on the street settled, revealing a massive, shattered crater. Katakuri stood within it, leaning on his trident. The flower-like white scarf around his neck had been scorched by the lightning, and his large mouth, revealing four fangs even when closed, along with the jagged, stitched-up scars on both cheeks, completely shattered his "perfect" image.
It was no exaggeration to say that if any member of the Big Mom Pirates saw Katakuri now, his reputation would plummet; the "perfect" man was no more.
Enel, Zephyr, and Crocodile were all stunned into silence at the sight of Katakuri's true face. They hadn't expected that the hidden mouth would look like this. It wasn't about being superficial; it was simply that this man, hailed as the "perfect man" who never let his back touch the ground, the crown jewel of the Charlotte Family, was actually a monster with a gaping, fanged maw.
He was the absolute antithesis of the word "perfect!"
"Ya-hahaha! Who would have thought? The 'perfect man' and crown jewel of the Charlotte Family is nothing but a monster with a big mouth and fangs! Ya-hahaha!"
Enel pointed at him, laughing wildly and mocking him incessantly. "I'd love to let the people in the Big Mom Pirates who worship you see you now. I wonder if they'd still admire you, especially that 'Katakuri Fan Club' of yours! Ya-hahaha!"
Facing Enel's taunts, Katakuri remained silent, his expression somber. Only the crimson glow of his eyes and the rapidly intensifying aura radiating from his body betrayed his extreme inner rage.
"You said... you killed Snack?!"
Katakuri's voice was low and gravelly. The sheer weight of his formidable Haki caused the very ground beneath him to crack and splinter.
"This pressure..." Crocodile's expression shifted, staring at Katakuri in disbelief.
"What amazing spirit," Zephyr remarked, his face stoic, though his eyebrows arched slightly.
"Do you think you're the only one who possesses Conqueror's Haki? You bastard!"
Enel roared, erupting with his own terrifying aura. It collided head-on with Katakuri's Conqueror's Haki.
The air hummed and trembled as if under an invisible crushing force.
The next moment…
BOOM!!!
A deafening roar erupted as the air seemed to shatter. Red and black lightning crackled and surged through the void. A violent gale swept outward, shattering nearby windows and cracking the earth once more. The remaining buildings in the vicinity collapsed, and countless fragments of stone were whipped away by the storm.
"A clash of Conqueror's Haki!"
"Enel possesses it too? Since when?!"
Zephyr and Crocodile were horrified, staring at Enel in total shock. During their raid on Whole Cake Island, he hadn't displayed it, nor was there any sign of it when the Big Mom Pirates ambushed Unzan Port.
Had he just awakened it, or had he been hiding it all along? Zephyr reflected on the man's personality. Enel wore his thoughts and temper on his sleeve. Hiding it? Don't make him laugh!
"It seems I underestimated you," Katakuri said, locking his gaze onto Enel. A chilling murderous intent permeated his voice. "However, since you dared to kill my family, I will surely send you to join him!"
"If you've got the guts, come and get me!"
Enel's expression turned savage as he roared at the heavens: "Two Hundred Million Volts: Takemikazuchi!!!"
BOOM, BOOM, BOOM, BOOM—!
In an instant, intense lightning bloomed, blindingly bright. Countless bolts of thunder surged outward, wreaking havoc on everything in the vicinity and whipping up a hurricane-like blast of energy.
"Damn it! What is this idiot doing?!"
Crocodile cursed, utterly bewildered and furious. Countless shards of rock were swept up by the hurricane, slamming into his body, though they passed straight through his sand-form.
Unlike the furious Crocodile, Zephyr furrowed his brow, shielding his eyes from the dust and debris. Is this fool trying to decide the victor in a single strike? Isn't that too risky?
At that moment, plasma, fluid as liquid, flowed over Enel's body, solidifying layer by layer until it formed a cobalt-blue shell, brimming with a terrifying and immense amount of energy.
Soon, a figure clad in cobalt-blue armor resembling a Tengu stood in the devastated street, clutching a blade of pure, brilliant lightning, with tiny electric arcs dancing all over its body.
"Th-this is..."
Crocodile's jaw dropped. He could feel a sense of lethal peril emanating from this formidable figure that made his scalp crawl.