Next, faced with Enel's utterly shameless long-range thunderstorm and his near-omniscient evasion, the sheep-skull-masked divine knight finally changed his strategy.
He no longer tried to block in place or search for gaps between lightning strikes. Instead, he stomped down violently!
Boom!The ground collapsed outward from beneath his feet—and using the recoil of that impact, he hurled himself upward.
This time, his speed far surpassed anything he had shown before, charging straight toward Enel in the high sky with savage momentum!
His acceleration was so extreme that multiple afterimages were torn from his body midair!
The massive scythe trailed behind him, its blade screaming through the air with a piercing hum, condensed with a suffocating mass of jet-black Haki that radiated pure lethality!
"Oh?" Enel sneered. "Dog cornered into jumping the wall?"
His Mantra had already locked onto the opponent's movement.
Just as the divine knight was about to close the distance, Enel's body dissolved into lightning once more—
Using Lightning Shift, he reappeared a hundred meters away in another direction, simultaneously raising his hand without mercy and hurling a thick lightning spear straight at the knight's back!
However, the divine knight seemed to have anticipated Enel's relocation.
His charging momentum was forcibly halted midair—
Then, in a motion that blatantly defied physical laws, he twisted his trajectory and lunged again toward Enel's new position at terrifying speed!
"Zzt."
Enel vanished again in a flash of lightning, widening the distance.
The sheep-skull divine knight violently redirected again and resumed pursuit!
For a moment, a bizarre spectacle unfolded in the sky—
A jet-black shadow repeatedly lunged at unbelievable speed, while a streak of azure lightning flickered endlessly, evading at the last possible instant and retaliating with furious thunder.
The divine knight showed no sign of fatigue, launching charge after charge, his speed steadily increasing.
His approach angles grew more vicious and unpredictable, even incorporating feints and false movements meant to disrupt Enel's Mantra predictions.
From time to time, the scythe unleashed pitch-black slashes that tore open the sky.
Most of them missed—but even the stray shockwaves that grazed past carved bottomless scars into the ground below.
Enel continued to maintain distance using Mantra and Lightning Shift, but his brow slowly furrowed.
"Something's wrong."
During these exchanges, there had been several instances where his lightning spears or strikes should clearly have hit.
Yet that masked bastard showed no reaction at all—his charge didn't slow in the slightest!
Like right now!
A pillar of lightning from Judgment of God finally struck the divine knight head-on, engulfing him in violent thunder!
"Hit!" Enel's eyes sharpened. He was absolutely certain this one landed.
But as the lightning faded—
The sheep-skull divine knight merely paused for an instant.
There wasn't a single burn mark. Not on his body. Not even on his clothes.
And after that brief hesitation, his speed surged again!
"That definitely wasn't elementalization…!" Enel's expression darkened.
Immediately after, another sharply angled lightning serpent struck the knight's arm from the side!
Zzzraa—!
Just as expected—no effect at all.
The fabric on the arm was perfectly intact. His movement didn't deform even slightly.The scythe still swung forward, saturated with death!
"What the hell?!" Enel Lightning Shifted away again, staring in disbelief."This guy… is he immortal?!"
As Enel struggled with that thought, the sheep-skull divine knight once again fell from the sky after another fruitless pursuit.
He landed heavily on the ground, exhaling slightly—not from exhaustion, but from extreme irritation and impatience.
Enel's Lightning Shift speed was practically unsolvable. Combined with that prophetic Observation Haki, every time he moved one meter, Enel could effortlessly move two—or more.
This wasn't a chase at all.
It was the tortoise and the hare—except this time, the "hare" could never close the gap, doomed by that cursed sliver of distance, forever chasing a slippery "tortoise."
Continuing like this would only waste time and stamina.
So he lowered his head, and from beneath the sheep-skull mask came a low mutter—spoken as if to someone else entirely.
"This operation was explicitly demanded by the Manmaya family… If we return empty-handed, that 'Blade of God' will not be pleased…"
His voice carried restrained anger and unwillingness.
"I don't care what your current mission priority is… get your ass moving. Now. Bastard."
This abrupt self-talk made Enel—hovering in the sky and preparing another lightning barrage—frown slightly, a trace of suspicion and caution rising in his heart.
"Can't win, so you've started babbling?" Enel sneered.
Still, he raised his guard. His Mantra surged to maximum output, meticulously scanning every ripple of movement around him.
Only after confirming that no one else was present did he relax slightly.
And in that exact instant—
BANG!!!
A sharp, jarringly crisp gunshot rang out!
The sound didn't come from below—
It came from an absurdly tricky angle, completely outside all expectations!
Almost simultaneously, an explosive pain tore through Enel's left shoulder, right at the collarbone!
A massive impact struck, mixed with a bizarre sensation that instantly caused his entire body to seize and weaken!
"Ugh—!" Enel groaned, his face going deathly pale.
The lightning around him flickered violently, and he crashed onto the rooftop of a distant building.
After landing, Enel looked down at his left shoulder.
A horrifying blood-soaked hole had been punched straight through his collarbone.
His strength was rapidly draining away, replaced by numbness and weakness.
"Seastone bullet?!" Enel immediately understood that strange sensation.
Gritting his teeth, he forcibly jammed the index finger of his right hand into the wound!
"AAH!"
With a surge of pain, he ripped out a pitch-black, specially made bullet and let it clatter onto the rooftop with a sharp metallic sound.
Clear traces of Armament Haki still lingered on its surface.
"There's another one?!!"
Enel clutched his bleeding shoulder as cold sweat poured down his forehead. His left arm was completely unusable—half crippled.
"Why didn't I sense him at all?!
One shot pierced my collarbone—and even stopped inside my body instead of passing through.
How could Mantra miss such blatant killing intent?!"
His Observation Haki had been covering the entire battlefield nonstop. He had just carefully swept the area.
And yet—there had been absolutely no trace of this ambusher.
...
At the same time, amid the ruins below, beside the sheep-skull divine knight—
The air rippled like water, and a figure quietly emerged, using a movement similar to Soru.
The newcomer was short, dressed in tight dark innerwear with a coat casually draped over it.
Long hair was pressed beneath a tall beret, its brim casting a deep shadow that concealed his eyes, revealing only a pale lower face and tightly pressed lips.
Both hands held an oddly designed rifle with an exceptionally long barrel, wisps of smoke still rising from it.
Most striking of all—
On his chest, he too wore the emblem of the God's Knights.
This newly arrived knight didn't even glance at the injured Enel.
He merely turned his head slightly and spoke to his sheep-skull-masked companion in a flat voice tinged with calculation:
"A mere commander-level pirate pushed you this far? You really are getting old."
"Shut up."
"Heh. I'm currently executing a mission directly ordered by the Jaygarcia family.
That shot disrupted my original plan. I'll be charging extra."
The sheep-skull divine knight snorted, clearly expecting this."I know. The Manmaya family will pay double."
Two God's Knights.
The battle situation reversed instantly.
...
Yaclou Kingdom
The two God's Knights stood side by side atop the ruins.
The towering sheep-skull knight and the sniper knight concealed beneath his hat brim formed a stark contrast—
Yet both radiated an equally suffocating pressure.
The sheep-skull knight lifted his head, his gaze piercing the distance and locking onto Enel on the rooftop, clutching his wound.
In a low voice, he issued his final ultimatum.
"Leave now."
"We will only take our original target."
His tone was calm—yet utterly unquestionable.
With two God's Knights present, one of whom possessed an eerie, unfathomable sniping ability and had already gravely injured Enel—
They truly believed the situation was fully under their control.
And yet, faced with this naked threat and an overwhelmingly unfavorable battlefield, Enel's reaction once again exceeded their expectations.
He showed not the slightest hint of fear or retreat.
Instead, he slowly straightened his body, letting blood flow freely.
Blazing lightning erupted around him once more—less stable than before, but far more violent and resolute!
"Ye… hahaha…"
Enel let out a low, hoarse laugh filled with ultimate mockery and untouchable authority.
"Sorry… you sneaking, face-hiding ants…"
He raised his only functional right hand, golden staff pointing directly at the two God's Knights below, his voice cold and unwavering—
Like a divine proclamation echoing across the Yaclou capital.
"In front of a 'god,' if you kneel sincerely… I might grant your wish."
Leave?
Why would he leave?
What kind of joke was that?!
He was God Enel!
If he ran today—if he allowed these two to abduct people from the nation under his protection—
What right would he ever have to call himself a god again?
Back at G-10, that battle-crazed maniac Bullet would mock this for the rest of his life!
Compared to defeat, that humiliation was something Enel would never tolerate!
And besides—
Enel's gaze sharpened to a razor edge as his Mantra began operating at an unprecedented intensity.
He focused intently on the newly appeared sniper, capturing every fluctuation of his presence.
"That shot just now… yeah, it hurt," Enel licked the blood from the corner of his mouth, baring a feral grin.
"But using the same trick on a 'god' a second time… is stupidity!"
"Stubborn fool." The sheep-skull knight finally lost his patience, slowly raising his massive scythe.
Beside him, the sniper knight silently lifted his strange rifle again.
The barrel adjusted slightly.
From beneath the shadow of the brim, a cold gaze locked onto Enel.
...
Sea Circle Calendar, October 1508.New World.
The non-affiliated Yaclou Kingdom—once flying the banner of "Natural Disaster" and enjoying a fleeting peace—
Was annihilated beneath endless thunder and Raigo.
The kingdom itself, its capital, its people, and all traces of battle—
Were erased completely, as though they had never existed on this sea.
It vanished from the map.
"God" Enel—Marine Headquarters Rear Admiral, Logia-type Rumble-Rumble Fruit user, key combatant under Admiral White Qilin—
In this battle… fought two alone, battled to the very end, suffered catastrophic injuries—
Status: unknown.
In the same week the news emerged, the princess Yaclou once offered as tribute perished alongside the kingdom's disappearance.
Thus, the immortal God's Knights did not linger.
They descended to the Grand Line, intercepted and abducted Revolutionary Army officer—Eastern Army Commander, Ginny.
One stone.
Two birds.
The Manmaya family's slave demand fulfilled—
And Jaygarcia Saturn's task completed.