_________________________________________________________________________________________________________
Crackle.
With a thought, electricity flashed through the air and Kyle disappeared.
At the same time, lightning flared beside Douglas Bullet, and Kyle's figure emerged.
"You ate a Devil Fruit?" Bullet exclaimed in shock.
Judging by the blue arcs of lightning wrapped around him, it might even be the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, the most destructive of the Logia types.
"Yes," Kyle nodded.
He was in a good mood. Even among Logia fruits, the Rumble-Rumble Fruit was top-tier in raw power, not to mention its versatility.
In the original story, Enel had been laughably underwhelming. Part of that was plot armor for Luffy, and part of it was Enel's own poor fundamentals.
But now that Kyle had eaten the fruit himself, he understood its terror almost immediately.
Its attack range was enormous. The lightning was terrifyingly intense. He could clearly sense the strange waves, electrons, and fields permeating the air.
Wide-area coverage, overwhelming power, extreme mobility, long range. This fruit excelled in almost every aspect. In terms of overall performance, it was nearly unmatched.
Bullet stood there, stunned, unsure of what to say.
Kyle had already been strong enough to stand at the top of this world. Now that he had eaten a Logia fruit, just how far would his strength climb?
Crocodile and the others were equally surprised.
But the matter quickly settled. To them, Kyle had always been an existence beyond common sense.
In the days that followed, Kyle focused on researching and developing the Rumble-Rumble Fruit.
On his status panel, a brief line of text appeared.
"Rumble-Rumble Fruit LV35+."
That meant that the moment he ate the fruit, his mastery already stood at level 35.
After that, he added the points he had accumulated from fighting Roger and over the past year.
In an instant, the fruit's level rose to 55.
Streams of information flowed through his mind, and everything became clear.
"With my current strength and level of mastery," he thought,"the lightning field can instantly cover an entire island, letting me see everything happening within it."
"Maximum voltage is currently one billion volts."
"Lightning control. Shape transformation."
Blue arcs crackled around his right hand as a long spear took shape.
It looked lifelike, glowing with blue light. A spear forged entirely of lightning, a Thunder God's lance. If thrown, it would move at an absurd speed, combining lightning's destructive force with devastating physical penetration.
Kyle's gaze sharpened.
"Armament Haki."
Flowing Haki instantly coated the lightning spear, adding flecks of deep black across its surface.
"Turning elemental energy into a tangible form and coating it with Haki is also something a Logia can do."
Kyle said it lightly.
After that, he began experimenting with different ways of using and controlling lightning.
For example, manipulating or even creating thunderclouds overhead, shaping the conditions for torrential rain.
As a result, the people of Marineford noticed something strange over the past few days.The weather around Marine Headquarters had become… unpredictable.
Thunder boomed constantly, massive bolts of lightning twisting through the sky, yet strangely enough, not a single drop of rain fell. Just thunder and lightning, dry as bone.
"I can use thunderclouds to create heavy rain as well."
"If I go all out, the range would easily cover an entire island, even a whole stretch of sea."
Kyle stood amid the thunderclouds, his face flickering between light and shadow as arcs of electricity danced around him. He smiled faintly as he spoke.
The true power of a Logia fruit wasn't just its raw destructive force.Its greatest strength lay in shaping large-scale, catastrophic weather.
"It can even permanently alter the climate of an entire region."
The development of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit offered countless possibilities. Over the past few days, Kyle had focused first on mastering the abilities he already understood, then pushing them further.
Railguns, lightning spears, electromagnetic manipulation and field control.All inspired by techniques he'd seen or learned before.
By using lightning as a medium, he could even manipulate underground metal, pulling off feats reminiscent of Magneto himself.
Enel's various attack techniques were next, all of them now firmly under his control.
And then there were techniques like Kirin, the lightning-style jutsu of that familiar black-haired shinobi.
After eating the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Kyle was like a true god of thunder. Lightning bent to his will with ease, allowing him to accomplish feats that had once been impossible.
Floating cross-legged high within the storm clouds, Kyle slowly closed his eyes.
"Hmmm."
An invisible ripple spread outward in an instant, sweeping across the entirety of Marineford.
At that moment, every corner of Marine Headquarters came into his awareness.Every sight, every sound.
He could see it all.He could hear it all.
A godlike, high-dimensional perspective.
This wasn't Observation Haki.It was the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's innate ability.
"Did you hear? Something's gone wrong with the Flying Pirates. Their members have been running all over the world lately."
"Golden Lion Shiki's disappeared."
"The Beast Pirates are in Wano."
"The Whitebeard Pirates have been pretty quiet."
"Sir, don't, don't touch there. I'm wearing the set you bought me yesterday. This afternoon… this afternoon, come to my room, okay?"
"Not now, ahh…"
"Guess it's almost time to eat again."
"..."
All kinds of sounds from Marineford flooded into Kyle's mind, making his brow crease slightly.
With a thought, he filtered out the meaningless noise.
"Make it public."
"The announcement of Roger's execution."
"This decision will shock the entire world. It's going to stir up a massive storm."
"It's a resolution from the World Government. We have no choice but to carry it out."
Kyle narrowed his eyes.
In his mind, the image of the Fleet Admiral's office appeared clearly. Kong stood there with a grave expression, speaking to Sengoku and Zephyr.
Rising slowly to his feet, Kyle dismissed his wide-area perception.
His body dissolved into lightning and vanished from the sky.
About an hour later, the news of Pirate King Roger's execution spread.
Marineford erupted.
"The highest command has decided. Roger will be transferred to Loguetown for execution!"
"What? That's where he was born!"
"Are they really going to do this?"
Many Marines felt uneasy hearing the news. The execution seemed cruel.Others, however, fully supported it, even praising the decision.
"To end his life before the whole world, in the place where he was born."
"That's the only way to crush the restless hearts of the masses."
Kyle's expression remained calm.
The voices surfaced in his mind, then quickly faded away.
He suddenly understood why Enel liked picking at his ear with his pinky. When you could hear everything with a single thought, it was only a matter of time before it became mentally exhausting.
That afternoon, Sengoku came personally to inform him.
"Kyle, your leave is over."
"From this moment on, you're promoted to Vice Admiral."
"Of course, you're still young. Once your seniority catches up, I'm sure the World Government will approve your promotion to Admiral."
After a pause, Sengoku continued solemnly.
"Also, I trust you're aware of how tense the situation has become."
"From now on, you and your unit are on full combat readiness."
"Be prepared to engage at any moment."
"..."
________________________________________________________________________________________________________