"Two hundred million volts… Thunder God Amaru!!"
"Gomu Gomu no… Gatling!!"
High above the clouds, Luffy and Enel clashed in a decisive battle.
In terms of compatibility, Luffy had the overwhelming advantage—but the footing up there was unstable, and he couldn't bring out his full power the way he normally would.
On top of that, Enel still had Mantra. He kept reading ahead, stealing the initiative, striking first—then using the vast thundercloud overhead as a weapon, raining down relentless pressure.
Lightning itself did nothing to Luffy, of course.
But the shockwaves shattered footholds. The flashes blinded him. The noise and the debris disrupted his rhythm.
Enel was fighting like someone who understood lightning not as "damage," but as control.
The struggle stayed dead-even, both of them stacking small wounds, both of them one slip away from losing everything.
For Luffy, being knocked off meant defeat.
For Enel, even if he fell, he could recover easily—but if his ship was destroyed, or if he himself was beaten, it was over.
…So basically, it was a platform fighter versus a base-defense boss.
I got bored just watching and started overthinking things.
Oh, and for the record—right now I'm hidden below, flying around and observing, ready to intervene if things go sideways.
Then… after a while, the situation shifted.
In the middle of a clash, Luffy suddenly glanced upward.
"…What's that?"
"Yahaha!" Enel laughed, almost pleased. "So you noticed."
Above them, the black thundercloud wasn't just "forming."
It was becoming something unnatural.
It was condensing into a perfectly smooth… sphere.
And Enel declared it with pride.
That sphere was Raigo—a thunder bomb. A mass of condensed energy, compressed until it became a weapon that could simply be dropped.
If Raigo detonated, Enel said, it would destroy not only God's Island—the Upper Yard—but the surrounding regions too.
Angel Island.
Hidden Cloud Village.
Skypiea itself.
Hearing that, Luffy's rage surged instantly.
And Enel—exactly as intended—used that opening.
He said all that just to provoke him. Break his composure for one second.
I'd seen this in the original work.
Enel hooked Luffy's outstretched fist with gold he'd pulled from the ship—solidifying it into a massive, brutal weight.
Then he kicked the weight, using its sheer mass to drag Luffy off the platform.
Luffy tried to brace.
He failed.
His footing vanished. His balance snapped. His body flipped into freefall—
And with that huge gold chunk yanking his arm downward, he couldn't even properly use the Milky Dial.
He just… dropped.
That's my cue.
I dove and caught him under the armpit.
…Ugh, heavy.
Well, yeah. He's dragging around a giant slab of gold like it's a backpack.
What's gold's density again…?
No. Wrong time.
"Finally," Enel spat, eyes narrowing. "The paper woman shows herself. But it doesn't matter. With this Raigo, I'll erase everything—including you. This size is enough. I'll drop it here… and end it."
"Whoaah—!" Luffy blinked mid-fall. "Huh? Sue? Ah, you caught me… Thanks! You saved me!"
"You're welcome," I said. "Want to switch out?"
"No way!" Luffy snapped instantly. "I can still fight! …Just—this gold is heavy and annoying!"
Yeah. I figured.
His eyes were already locked back onto Enel, burning with pure, stubborn intent.
The protagonist's willpower is truly something.
It's dazzling.
Interfering further would be pointless—not just because I want the battle to unfold like the original work, but because…
I genuinely wanted to cheer on these boys' pride and romance.
Still…
Isn't all that gold just getting in his way?
And—am I imagining it? It looks bigger than I remember. Did Enel rip a massive chunk out of the Maxim's wall? You can literally see the dent from here…
"If that gold is bothering you," I offered, "I can take it off."
"No!" Luffy barked. "I'm keeping it like this!"
And before I could say anything else—
He launched.
He jumped into empty air… and for a split second, it looked like he'd just thrown himself to his death.
Then—
He pulled a Dial from his pocket.
A Milky Dial—one Wyper had given him.
He tossed it.
A cloud platform popped into existence mid-air.
…Whoa. First try, perfect timing.
Luffy grabbed the cloud with his stretched arm, then snapped it back—using the recoil to sling himself upward like a cannon.
Enel prepared to intercept him.
"So you still come—fine! Come as many times as you like! This time I'll skewer you—wait, what?!"
Luffy shot toward him—
And then, at the last second—
He veered.
Not just dodging.
He completely ignored Enel.
He flew straight toward the descending Raigo—
And plunged into it.
"Gomu Gomu no… Fireworks—'Golden Peony'!!"
The moment he entered, the surface of Raigo erupted with a furious, unnatural crackling.
Enel's face shifted.
He finally understood what Luffy was doing.
But it was already too late.
A few seconds later—
"CLEAR THE SKIES~~!!"
BOOM… PAAAN!!
Luffy's gold-coated fist fully drained the electricity from the colossal Raigo.
The sphere collapsed—erased, obliterated, as if it had never existed.
The country-annihilating weapon vanished.
Enel stood there, stunned beyond words—his mouth half open, his eyes blank with disbelief.
For Luffy…
That was the opening.
From the shattered core of Raigo, amidst lingering thunderclouds, Luffy's arm shot out like a whip.
It wrapped around Enel—still in Thunder God Amaru form—
And around the Golden Bell directly behind him.
Binding both.
Locking them in place.
Enel jolted, cold sweat breaking out as he realized what had him.
Rubber.
The one thing that turned "God" into prey.
"You bastard…!"
"See ya!" Luffy snarled. "I'm gonna… ring the bell with you!"
And then he began to twist.
Not just his arm.
Not just the gold-weighted fist.
His whole body—torso, other arm, everything—twisting as one connected unit, winding up like a living spring.
Wait.
…This isn't the Gum-Gum Rifle.
The gold is too heavy. His arm alone can't spin it properly.
So he's using his entire body.
"Gum-Gum…!!"
He plummeted—rubber contraction amplifying the fall, spinning force added, the gold's mass pouring into the strike.
"Golden… Screw—!!"
He slammed into Enel like a full-body tackle—
His fist driving deep.
The impact instantly dispelled the Thunder God form.
The electric aura died.
Enel's consciousness was blown away in the same instant.
Even from far below, it was obvious.
White eyes.
Completely unconscious.
And then the shockwave traveled beyond him—
Into the bell.
The giant bell's massive body swayed violently.
At the moment of collision, Luffy snapped his limbs back, the fused gold shattering and freeing him.
He didn't care that he was falling too.
(I'll catch him later.)
Instead, he threw his whole voice into the sky—
"REACH THEEEEM—!!"
And then—
CLANG!
A clear, resonant tone—so pure it felt like it could reach the edge of the world—rang out across Skypiea's heavens.
The island didn't just hear it.
It answered.
To be continued...