Inside the Captain's cabin, Kane casually tossed the receiver back onto its base, the submissiveness on his face vanishing instantly.
"Fleet Admiral Sengoku is as vigorous as ever."
Pushing open the heavy oak door, the damp, cold air unique to the North Blue rushed toward him. It was salty, cold, and carried the undeniable scent of freedom.
"Since Headquarters is in such a hurry... let's speed things up a bit."
Kane walked to the railing and gave a crisp, sharp snap of his fingers.
"Wind, rise."
Boom!
The calm sea surface suddenly exploded into white foam. A violent current of air formed at the stern, acting like an invisible giant hand giving the warship a fierce, unrelenting shove. The massive inertia made the entire steel giant groan with a tooth-aching metal sound.
Inside the cabin, Kuzan, who was desperately catching up on his sleep, flew straight out of his hammock. His head hit the solid wood wall panel with a loud crack, smashing a large hole in the timber.
"Ow, ow, ow..."
Kuzan clambered out of the pile of jagged wood chips, clutching his messy curly hair. His sleep mask had slipped down to his chin, and his face was full of morning grumpiness.
"Did we hit an extra-large Sea King? Or has Germa caught up to us already?"
Yawning, he pushed open the door, just in time to see a Marine Soldier running past stumbling. The man's face was pale and his cheeks were bulging, clearly trying to suppress the urge to vomit from sudden seasickness.
"Ku... Warrant Officer Kuzan! Help!" the Marine Soldier shouted unclearly. "The... the ship is about to fly!"
"Fly?"
Kuzan frowned. Before he could ask for any details, the ship tilted again, and he had to brace himself firmly against the wall to stay upright. This abnormal acceleration was unlike anything he had felt. Dragging his lazy steps onto the deck, he happened to run into Borsalino, who was currently adjusting his sunglasses with a solemn expression.
"Oh~ how exaggerated~"
Borsalino stared up at the sails overhead, which were already blown tight like drum skins. His tone had less of his usual sleaziness and more genuine inquiry.
"This wind direction and force... it completely defies common meteorological knowledge."
In a shadowy corner, a spark of fire went out. Sakazuki strode out into the open, his dark red shirt fluttering loudly in the building gale. He did not speak; his eyes, as sharp as knives, were locked onto the figure standing at the bow.
Kane stood atop the dragon head at the very front of the warship. The gale seemed to avoid his body, yet it formed two wing-like white cyclones behind him. The three of them exchanged glances and walked over in tacit agreement.
"Kane," Sakazuki said in a deep, gravelly voice. "Is this abnormal speed your doing?"
"I have been found out?"
Kane slowly turned around. With his back to the violent sea, he wore that usual smile that was as refreshing as a spring breeze yet made one's teeth itch. He did not answer directly, but instead slowly raised his right hand, palm upward.
"I originally wanted to get along with you all as an ordinary person, but all I got in return was distance..." Kane sighed, his eyes becoming deep and theatrical. "I am done pretending. I am laying my cards on the table."
Buzz—!
The air around him suddenly vibrated. Visible green air currents frantically converged and compressed in his palm. The surrounding air pressure dropped instantly, giving everyone present a sense of pressure in their eardrums, like a rapid descent in an airplane.
"This power..."
Kuzan's dead-fish eyes suddenly widened, his sleepiness gone in an instant. "A Devil Fruit?!"
"I just went to the toilet to contemplate life and suddenly felt a bit hungry," Kane said with a straight face, talking complete nonsense. "I saw a weird-looking fruit on the sink. I figured I should not waste food, so I just ate it."
"Who would leave a Devil Fruit in the toilet?!" Kuzan could not help but shout. "And how could it be such a coincidence!"
"This is destiny, Kuzan."
Kane spoke with an earnest tone. The green cyclone in his hand had been compressed to the limit, emitting a sharp, piercing buzz that sounded like a thousand birds.
"This fruit called out to me. It told me that justice based solely on physical techniques has its limits. True justice needs wings, and more importantly... it needs to be thunderous!"
Before his voice faded, he casually tossed the high-pressure cyclone in his palm toward the sea beside them.
Shhh—
When the cyclone left his hand, it did not make a loud explosion. But everyone present, including the Marine Soldiers passing by on the deck, saw it clearly. In that instant, the sea split open. A vacuum cut nearly a thousand meters long appeared silently on the azure sea. The seawater on both sides was forcibly pushed aside by an invisible force, even revealing the muddy seabed beneath.
Only then did the cut seawater react, crashing back together and kicking up a hundred-meter-high wave.
"..."
Gulp.
There was dead silence on the deck, only the uniform sound of people swallowing in shock.
"Oh~" Borsalino straightened his sunglasses, his tone less mocking and more serious. "An invisible slash... that kind of cutting power... even steel would be as fragile as paper before it, right?"
"It is not just wind."
Kane's feet slowly left the ground. He defied the laws of gravity, floating in mid-air like a feather. His body began to blur, breaking down into countless green streams of light and merging with the turbulent atmosphere.
"There is also this."
In the originally clear sky, the light suddenly vanished. Inky clouds rolled frantically a thousand meters overhead, converging with astonishing speed. Deep within the clouds, countless purple thunder dragons roared and roamed, releasing a heart-palpitating aura of destruction.
Although he could not yet achieve the precise control of lightning like a true specialist, this majestic momentum of influencing the heavens was even more oppressive.
"Raigo!"
Kane's voice came from all directions at once, carrying a certain divine etherealness.
Crack!
A purple pillar of lightning as thick as a barrel accurately struck a cluster of reefs a thousand meters to the left of the warship.
Boom!!
The reefs were instantly vaporized into nothingness. The high temperature evaporated the seawater, forming a thick white mist that blotted out the sun. Immediately after, the gale whipped up huge waves, attempting to swallow the tiny warship.
"Oops! I went too far!"
Kuzan's expression changed. Chill instantly condensed in his hands as he prepared to defend against the aftershocks.
"Don't panic."
In the air, Kane simply waved his sleeve casually.
"Cyclone Barrier."
Whoosh—
A translucent wall of green hurricane rose out of thin air, forming a huge cylinder that firmly protected the entire warship within the eye of the storm. Despite the raging waves and thunderous lightning outside, the warship in the center of the eye did not even shake, remaining as steady as a mountain.
Rain began to fall. The wind roared. Thunder boomed. And that man floating in mid-air, wearing a Marine coat, was the sole conductor of this natural disaster.
"Wind, thunder, rain, clouds, air pressure... I am the weather, I am the storm."
Kane looked down from above at the three future Admirals in shock, feeling secretly pleased. This was the effect he wanted! Sakazuki watched the sky full of lightning, his fists clenching and unclenching, a hint of fanaticism flashing in his eyes.
Power! This was the natural disaster-like power sufficient to destroy all evil and carry out Absolute Justice!
"If it is him..." The thought in Sakazuki's mind that had been somewhat wavering now became incomparably firm.
"The Lord of Storms?" Borsalino murmured to himself, putting away his cynical expression. "It seems I won't be able to slack off so easily in the future~"
"Stop dazing off, comrades!"
Kane dispersed the thunderclouds, landing back on the bow. His body returned to its physical form, and the divine expression on his face vanished instantly, replaced by that punchable grin. He opened his arms to embrace the gale.
"Since everyone knows, I won't pretend anymore. Hold onto the railings! We're about to take off!"
Before anyone could react, the next second, a gale ten times more violent than before suddenly erupted!
Boom!!!
The warship let out a painful wail, the stern seemingly fitted with rocket boosters. The massive push-back force sent the unprepared Marine Soldiers rolling across the deck like gourds. Even Sakazuki had to crouch halfway to stabilize his center of gravity. The spray kicked up at the rear of the warship even formed a twenty-meter-high wall of water!
"Kane!! You lunatic!!"
Kuzan's desperate scream came through the wind, along with his eye mask drifting away into the distance. "Slow down!! I'm going to throw up!!!"
"Wahoo!!!"
Kane stood at the bow, his hairstyle not at all messy under the protection of the storm, enjoying the extreme speed brought by the Storm-Storm Fruit.
"Full speed ahead! Destination—Marineford!"
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