The battlefield was shrouded in thick smoke, the scent of blood and gunpowder intertwining in the wind.
Whitebeard stood like a solitary mountain at the forefront of the battle line, the tremors from his Tremor-Tremor Fruit causing the earth to quake continuously, cracks spiderwebbing across the ground. Behind him, elite Marines surged like a tide toward the retreating Whitebeard Pirates. Amidst the clash of blades, dying screams filled the air, and droplets of blood traced fleeting arcs through the smoke.
Gekko Moriah gripped his massive scissors, forcibly severing the shadow of a Whitebeard crew member. As the man collapsed limply to the ground, Moriah let out a sinister chuckle. "Gyahahaha... Is that all you've got?"
"Moria-sama!"
A clear voice called out from above. Perona floated midair, hugging her knees, her pink dress swaying in the smoke like a fragile flower on the verge of being blown away. With a flick of her fingers, several Hollows passed through the pirates closing in on her. The burly men instantly lost all strength, dropping to their knees with their heads in their hands, muttering, "I can't do this..." "It's too scary..." Their fighting spirit had been drained in an instant.
"Oh, it's you, Perona." Moriah glanced up, pausing his scissors mid-air. His voice was still rough, but it lacked its usual edge of cruelty. "After that lightning brat caused trouble last time, you vanished without a trace. Where'd you run off to?"
Perona twisted her fingers together, her toes drawing circles in the air as she spoke in a voice barely louder than a whisper. "I... I've been with them..."
"Them?" Moriah's scissors clattered to the ground, his expression darkening momentarily before settling back into its usual gloom. Still, his grip on his coat tightened, his knuckles turning white. "As long as you're alive... But Absalom—that bastard was killed by those people."
His voice suddenly turned vicious, the scissors creaking in his grip. "I'll make them pay for this sooner or later!"
Moriah looked up at Perona, his tone softening—a rare occurrence. "Come back. Stay with me."
Perona's head jerked up, tears instantly welling in her eyes.
How could she not want to return to Moriah's side? But flashes of Bahr tearing through space with ruthless efficiency, of Enel summoning storms of lightning with a mere flick of his wrist—Moriah had already lost to Enel once. If he faced them again...
"What's wrong?" Moriah frowned deeply when she didn't move. "Did those bastards force you? Tell me, and I'll tear them apart right now!"
Tears finally spilled down Perona's cheeks. She clapped a hand over her mouth, shaking her head as she floated backward, afraid she'd burst into sobs if she spoke.
She couldn't go back. She couldn't let Moriah-sama get hurt again.
"Goodbye, Moriah-sama..." she whispered silently in her heart, her vision blurred by tears. "I'm doing this for your own good..."
"Perona! Stop right there!" Moriah roared, taking two steps forward before being intercepted by several Whitebeard crew members who had regained their footing.
He could only watch helplessly as the pink figure vanished into the smoke, his scissors creaking in his grip. Finally, he slammed a fist into a nearby broken wall, sending rubble flying.
"Gyahahaha... Fine!" he snarled, his eyes burning with fury. "Whether it's that lightning brat or that 'Blasphemer'... I won't let any of you get away with this. Steal what's mine, and you'll pay the price!"
With that, he snatched up his scissors and turned on the crew members, the blood splattering from his slashes reflecting off his twisted face—an expression tinged with an indescribable loneliness.
...
A flash of lightning split the smoke, blue-white serpents of electricity striking several Marines who had closed in, leaving them charred and smoking.
Enel hovered in the air, his golden eyes gleaming with arrogance. The faint tingle of electricity still lingered on his fingertips as he smirked disdainfully.
Then, his gaze landed on a figure not far away—Bartholomew Kuma, standing motionless, a golden-orange Impact Wave gathering in his palm as he prepared to fire at a Whitebeard pirate.
The humiliation of their battle at Sabaody Archipelago flooded back.
Back then, this "Paw-Paw Monster" had suppressed him with his Impact Waves, even reflecting his lightning attacks. The memory of that defeat still stoked his fury.
"Hmph." Enel snorted, his body transforming into a blinding streak of blue light. In the blink of an eye, he teleported behind Kuma.
"200 Million Volt Discharge!"
He slammed his palm against Kuma's back, unleashing a torrent of electricity. Blue-white arcs exploded across Kuma's body, sizzling as the air around them grew scorching hot, the stench of burning filling the air.
As the electricity faded, Enel watched Kuma collapse stiffly to the ground, thick black smoke billowing from his body. His eyebrows shot up in disbelief. "That easy?"
Back at Sabaody, this guy had effortlessly deflected his lightning with his paw pads, reacting with terrifying speed. Why hadn't he even resisted this time?
He crouched down, nudging Kuma's arm with his foot. There was no response—only more smoke pouring from his mouth, like a malfunctioning machine.
"What the hell... He's way weaker than before." Enel frowned, a flicker of doubt crossing his mind.
This state... It was like a machine that had lost its operator.
Then, he remembered Bahr's offhand remark about Kuma's "consciousness being erased."
"Is that why?" Enel stared at the lifeless Kuma on the ground, the thrill of victory instantly fading.
No resistance, no anger, not even the most basic defense... This wasn't the Warlord who had overpowered him—just an empty shell, a puppet to be controlled.
He stood up, kicking a nearby piece of rubble in irritation. "Pathetic."
Space rippled imperceptibly as Bahr materialized at the edge of the battlefield.
His gaze swept the area before settling on Kuma's motionless form. His brow furrowed slightly as he spoke. "What happened? Why is he down?"
Enel barely glanced up, his tone bored. "What do you think? One lightning strike, and he ended up like this."
Bahr looked down at Kuma. The man's body still smoked faintly, the mechanical components in his chest twitching weakly. Understanding dawned on him.
The real Kuma—the one with a will—would never have been this helpless. The man who had deflected lightning at Sabaody should have been able to predict the attack with Observation Haki. Even if he couldn't dodge, he would have activated a defense in time.
But what lay on the ground now was just a machine following orders. No consciousness to anticipate, no instinct to trigger emergency protocols when electricity surged through its circuits.
The natural vulnerability of machinery to lightning had been laid bare—overloaded circuits rendering the body completely inert.
Enel, still dissatisfied with the hollow victory, kicked another broken wall, sending debris tumbling. "If I'd known he'd go down this easy, I wouldn't have bothered."
Bahr didn't respond, his eyes fixed on the faintly pulsing mechanical parts in Kuma's chest.
With his consciousness stripped away, this body had surpassed human limits—but at the cost of losing the most precious thing: the instincts that sparked in battle, the adaptability born from desperation. No cold program could replicate that.
The tyrant—Bartholomew Kuma—was gone. All that remained was the World Government's "Human Weapon."
"Shhhk—"
A sharp whistling cut through the air as a blade of sand skimmed the ground, aimed straight for Bahr's ankles. The grains scraped against his boots with a grating screech.
Bahr's eyes narrowed. He raised a hand, conjuring a translucent Space Barrier in front of him. With a crisp clang, the sand blade shattered against it, scattering into the wind like falling dust.
"Crocodile. What's the meaning of this?"
He looked up to see the Warlord perched on a broken wall, a cigar clenched between his teeth. Crimson smoke curled from his lips, his expression dark enough to drip venom. The golden sand at his fingertips still shimmered faintly.