A sky of violent purple, immense power, and an endless aura of destruction slammed the two men into the ground.
The moment they hit, the innate power of the World-Ending Divine Thunder had yet to fully dissipate. A powerful shockwave erupted from the point of impact, blasting outwards. BOOM!! Everything in the vicinity was blown away. The Marines, who had been turned into old men and children, the buildings, and the wreckage of the Pacifistas—all were obliterated by the blast.
"Captain Ryuuto!!" Bonney screamed in anguish, having witnessed him being struck by the divine thunder. Seeing the shockwave rush toward her, she didn't even think to dodge.
THUD!!
Suddenly... a "Kuma"-type robot—no, to be precise, the real Kuma—appeared. He swept Bonney into his arms, gently pushed his right palm backward, and vanished from the spot in an instant.
"Uncle!!" Sentomaru yelled in panic, seeing Kizaru engulfed by the World-Ending Divine Thunder.
Such a familiar embrace! Bonney felt the warmth against her chest, that familiar scent... She looked up.
"Father!!" An incredibly familiar face came into view, and the word escaped her lips instantly.
"Bonney, it's been a long time," Kuma said gently, landing on a nearby hillside while still holding her.
In that instant... memories of her childhood flooded Bonney's mind. A quiet church, Kuma holding her hand, smiling gently, telling her stories with such care... Her eyes immediately reddened.
"Father, don't leave me again!" At her core, Bonney was still just a child. Unable to suppress the longing, she burst into tears.
"Cough!!" Ryuuto struggled to climb out of the crater. The moment he took a breath, his lungs were pierced by countless bone fragments, and blood streamed from the corner of his mouth.
"So this is the power of a master-level Thunder Art," he thought. "This volley of World-Ending Divine Thunder... the number of bolts has increased dramatically, and the power has multiplied several times over. My Thunder God Body collapsed from absorbing too much of it."
He wasn't going to die just yet. His mind began to replay the image of the divine thunder that had just fallen.
"No good. It hurts too much, and my stamina is completely gone." Sighing internally, Ryuuto painstakingly retrieved a healing talisman from his system inventory and swallowed it. He then took out a blue stamina potion and injected it into his side.
As the talisman dissolved, streams of energy began to flow through his body, repairing the damage. The potion also started rapidly restoring his stamina.
"Cough!! Cough..." Ryuuto coughed up a thick clot of blood. "Much better!" Feeling his body recovering at an incredible rate, his spirits began to lift.
"You little..."
Before Ryuuto could finish his sentence, particles of light reassembled, and Kizaru appeared before him. The Admiral was covered in blood, his clothes torn in several places. He looked heavily injured and utterly disheveled.
"Light Speed Kick!!"
Kizaru, his face an emotionless mask, lashed out at Ryuuto's waist.
BOOM!!
Speed is power. Ryuuto was sent flying as if struck by a giant beast.
"Yasakani no Magatama!!"
Kizaru dissolved into light once more, reappearing in front of the airborne Ryuuto. With a wave of his hands, countless spheres of light materialized before him and shot forward in a devastating barrage.
"Die, Ryuuto!!"
Kizaru roared, and only after unleashing the attack did he clutch his chest. "Whew... I knew I shouldn't have come here. It's been a long time since I've been this badly injured." His eyes glinted as he watched Ryuuto become completely overwhelmed by the beams of light.
Is this the power of an Admiral?! It's overwhelming!!
Ryuuto was helpless, completely unable to fight back. All he could do was desperately stuff more healing talismans into his mouth.
PFFT! PFFT!
Beams of light pierced through his body again and again, sending sprays of blood into the air. The scene was utterly brutal.
Inside his body, the talismans' healing speed could no longer keep up with the damage.
I can't just wait here to die! Another attack from Kizaru, and it's over! I have to risk it all!!
"Come, thunder!!"
Ryuuto bellowed, and countless bolts of purple lightning shot from his body up into the thunderclouds above.
He endured the relentless assault of light beams. If he hadn't recovered a bit of stamina, he wouldn't have even been able to summon the World-Ending Divine Thunder. Fortunately, he had come prepared, stocking his inventory with a pile of healing talismans and stamina potions. He had tried his best to overestimate an Admiral's strength.
RUMBLE!! RUMBLE!!
The thunderclouds roiled, letting out a series of deafening roars...
BOOM!!
A single bolt of World-Ending Divine Thunder crashed down, striking directly where Kizaru stood... but with a flicker of movement, the Admiral dodged it.
But it wasn't over.
BOOM!!
Another bolt descended! Kizaru was about to move again when—
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
In the blink of an eye, an endless volley of divine thunder rained down.
The terrifying pressure of the World-Ending Divine Thunder locked Kizaru in place, making it impossible for him to even turn into light to escape.
A total of 43 bolts of divine thunder fell from the sky in a relentless, inescapable storm, centered on Ryuuto.
"Hah..." Feeling his stamina drain rapidly, Ryuuto quickly injected another stamina potion. As he stared at the sky, now completely filled with violet lightning, his expression grew more grim than ever before.
"Come on! Let this divine thunder purge all the filth from this world!!" Ryuuto roared at the heavens...
"Ooh... I might actually die here," Kizaru murmured from the air not far from Ryuuto. His eyes narrowed, his calm voice stating the brutal reality of his situation.
"Light Shield!!"
With a pull of his hands, Kizaru wrapped himself in several layers of light.
The violet lightning instantly inundated the entirety of Grove 66.
The people of the Sabaody Archipelago could only watch in terror as one corner of their island was consumed. Countless bolts of lightning, carrying an aura of absolute destruction, slammed into the earth, sending up massive plumes of dirt and carving deep craters into the landscape.
"It's terrifying! Is the world ending?!"
"It's like the apocalypse!!"
...they cried out, their mouths agape in horror.
The powerful tremors spread to every corner of the archipelago.
Beneath the storm of World-Ending Divine Thunder...
Sentomaru lay motionless on the ground, his body charred black. By the shore, a Marine warship had been vaporized by a single strike.
Kizaru's light shields lasted only a moment before dissipating. He was slammed into the ground, where bolt after bolt of divine thunder hammered his body. He was enduring it with Armament Haki, his form crackling with intense black lightning...
Ryuuto, meanwhile, stood with his head tilted back, welcoming the bolts of divine thunder.
His entire body was scorched black!!
He had gone still after the third bolt struck...
Now, his consciousness had once again arrived in a chaotic, formless place.