Chapter 238: Heavenly Phenomenon · Judgment of Lightning!The thousand sunny hovered at the edge of the battlefield, like a strange, tranquil oasis in the eye of a storm.The deck trembled slightly from the muffled roars in the distance, mixed with the lingering echoes of clashing steel and thunder.Luffy lay lazily on the lawn deck, a foxtail grass spinning idly between his teeth.His Observation Haki was perceiving the entire battlefield with unprecedented precision:The trajectory of Zoro's slashes, Sanji's split-second adjustments against predictions, the slight tremors after Yamato's hard impacts, Law's surgical-precision calculation network,and... the bottomless, storm-eye-like, massive aura of Golden Lion Shiki."Jeez..."His mumbled words were interrupted by a sudden, muffled roar that sounded like the earth itself was growling."ROAR—!!!"It wasn't a beast's roar; it was a terrifying tide of thousands of frantic sound waves converging to tear the air apart!The sound originated from the other edge of the floating island, yet across the vast distance, it still made the Thousand Sunny's hull vibrate and hum."W-what is that...?!"Nami, Uta, and Franky, who had also been focused on the main battlefield, turned their heads simultaneously to look at the source of the sound.Dust and smoke soared into the sky on the distant horizon, rolling toward them like a brownish-yellow tsunami!At the front of the dust cloud were countless hideous, gigantic shadows.Saber-toothed tigers with wings, double-headed rhinos armored in bone, scale-clad monster birds spitting acid...They were all terrifying beasts, crudely catalyzed by IQ plants, their genes twisted and mutated!In their scarlet eyes, nothing remained but the instinct for destruction and hunger, converging into a torrent of ruin, charging madly toward the mansion!The number, at a rough estimate, was over ten thousand!The ground they trampled collapsed, and the scattered architectural ruins along their path were instantly razed."Trouble..."Nami's face turned pale instantly. As a Navigator, she had an instinctive, keen judgment for "scale" and "destructive power.""The impact of this beast horde... is enough to completely destroy an unarmed country in a few hours!""No problem! Leave it to the super me!!"Franky slapped his steel chest with a clanking sound, his eyes flashing with mechanically precise calculations.Just then,"Tap."A slight sound of landing.Luffy stood up.He had spat out the foxtail grass from his mouth at some point and slowly stretched, his joints popping.The eyes that had been reflecting the distance were now completely turned toward the direction of the beast horde.In those eyes, there was no worry like Nami's, nor excitement like Franky's.Instead, it was a kind of... near-pure curiosity and eagerness.Three months.Since that peak battle with Teacher Kaido where he bet everything, he hadn't truly stretched his muscles.It was good that his companions were getting stronger, but the desire in his bones for battle, for challenges, for testing his own limits, had long been stirring.He wouldn't get a turn at Golden Lion Shiki.So, how could he miss this appetizer?He flexed his wrists, his rubber arms stretching and retracting, his gaze sweeping over his companions who were standing by on the deck."Nami.""Huh? Yes!"Nami responded subconsciously, still staring at the beast horde, calculating data."Lend me your clima-tact."Nami: "...???"She turned her head abruptly, doubting she had heard correctly.The clima-tact? That was her exclusive weapon, created by combining Sky Island weather science and Weatheria weather magic, requiring complex climate knowledge and precise operation to unleash its power.Luffy... other than launching himself like a cannonball, when had he ever used a magic-type weapon?Uta also poked her head out from the engine room door, looking bewildered.Franky paused his movements of tinkering with his steel arms.Luffy looked at Nami's wide eyes, his smile widening, revealing white teeth:"Don't worry, I'll return it soon."Nami looked at the intensely burning crimson light in Luffy's eyes, then at the terrifying beast horde getting closer, their dust blotting out the sky.She gritted her teeth and threw the three-section clima-tact over without hesitation."Don't you break it! It's very expensive!""Got it!"Luffy caught the clima-tact easily and weighed it in his hand."Well then...""Let's say hello first."Before the words faded, his figure had vanished from the deck.The next second, Luffy appeared in the sky above the center of the beast horde torrent as if teleporting!Below, there was a sea of twisted, roaring, mutated beasts; hideous claws, churning dust, and a foul stench rushed at him.A gale exploded from him in all directions, lifting his black coat.The hem of his coat danced wildly, and against the backdrop of thousands of mountain-sized giant beasts below, his figure appeared exceptionally "tiny."But that "tiny" figure carried an absolute presence that transcended all things."Then let me see,"Luffy bowed his head, grinning, his smile wanton and wild, crimson-gold flames burning in his eyes,"Just where the limit of this 'Phantom Beast Lightning' lies!!"Before the words faded."ZZZT—!!!"A deep, violent, pitch-black lightning that seemed to have been awakened from the depths of the Nine Netherworlds suddenly erupted from every cell in his body!The black arcs of lightning jumped wildly, emitting a sharp hiss that scorched the air; wherever they passed, even light seemed to be swallowed and twisted.The extreme high temperature and destructive fluctuations caused the few flying monsters closest below to have their feathers instantly scorched and fall screaming to the ground.The clima-tact held in Luffy's single hand vibrated violently under the infusion of this violent power, the rod itself actually emitting a groaning sound from being unable to bear the load!"Not enough... Everyone, get in there!!"Luffy roared low, the black lightning entwining his body converging and compressing toward the tip of the clima-tact like a hundred rivers returning to the sea!The next second—He raised the clima-tact, which had turned into a core of pitch-black lightning, high toward the firmament!"CRACK—!!!!!"A pure black lightning pillar with a diameter of over ten meters, indescribable in words, like a retrograde black meteor, bombarded straight into the rolling thunderclouds above!The moment the lightning pillar pierced the clouds."BZZT—!!!"Heaven and earth lost their voice.Immediately, the clouds were stirred and rotated by an irresistible force!A giant vortex with a diameter of over ten thousand meters, composed entirely of leaping pitch-black lightning, terrifyingly formed in the sky!The center of the vortex was bottomless, as if connecting to the abyss of lightning punishment, with countless thick black electric snakes dancing and wandering at its edges.It illuminated the twisted beast horde below, and also illuminated the suddenly grave side profile of Golden Lion Shiki in the fierce battle in the distance.Luffy stood directly below the vortex, at the core of the beast horde, holding the clima-tact with one hand as if it were connected to the thunder vortex in the sky."Heavenly Phenomenon · Judgment of Lightning."Then, he swung the clima-tact lightly toward the land of the beast horde, which was filled with despair and madness.The movement was casual, like brushing dust off his shoulder."BOOM—!!!!!!!!!!"The sky broke.The center of that ten-thousand-meter thunder vortex was like a gate to the pool of lightning opening.Countless pitch-black judgment bolts of lightning, radiating destructive energy, turned into a rainstorm composed purely of lightning, pouring down toward the earth!"ROAR—!!!"The most gargantuan bone-armored rhino, bearing the brunt of it, only managed to let out a short wail mixed with pain and instinctive fear before it was struck directly by a black lightning bolt, leaving not even a speck of ash behind.Immediately after, the second, the third...The wails instantly merged into a sea of despair, only to be quickly extinguished in that destructive rain of lightning.Under that covering "judgment," the scale of the beast horde evaporated at a terrifying speed visible to the naked eye.In an instant, the tens of thousands of mutated beasts that had filled the horizon and were enough to destroy cities and countries were completely cleared out!Luffy slowly lowered the clima-tact, the black lightning around his body gradually receding.He looked at the slightly hot clima-tact in his hand, then at the "Land of Lightning Punishment" he had created below, and scratched his head."Ah, seems like I overdid it...""This move is quite exhausting."He flashed again, returning to the deck of the thousand sunny, and tossed the clima-tact back to Nami, who was still in a state of stunned disbelief."Here, back to you. Thanks!"Having said that, he yawned again and walked back to the lawn area, as if the scene just now—like a god descending with a world-destroying thunder punishment—was just a walk in the park.Nami stiffly caught the clima-tact, it was slightly warm to the touch.She looked at the scorched earth in the distance that was still emitting blue smoke and whose terrain had been altered,'clima-tact... is it this strong?'Franky's steel jaw dropped wide, only closing after a long while, squeezing out a sentence:"Super... degenerate!!"Uta's eyes lit up, and she pounced on Luffy, hugging his arm:"Luffy! That just now! Too cool! Do it again! Use it as special effects for my concert!"Luffy: "Eh? No, it's so tiring."..."Damn brat... what are you doing?!"Golden Lion Shiki's roar sounded like the angry howl of a wounded lion, instantly overpowering all the roaring on the battlefield.He hung his head low, his long, lion-mane-like golden hair hanging down messily, stained with dust and his own spattered blood, slightly obscuring his currently hideous face.That golden cloak, symbolizing his ambition and glory, was already shattered beyond recognition.Blood dripped onto the floating rocks from the blades of the famous swords "oto" and "mugure" that replaced his legs.This legend of the old era looked more... wretched than ever before.But the next second—"Gue... hahaha..."A low laugh squeezed out from his throat, suppressed at first, then rapidly magnified, becoming manic!He slowly raised his head, and between his golden hair, those bloodshot eyes suddenly snapped open!"GUEHAHAHA—!!!"The wild laughter completely exploded!"This is the big gift I prepared for the World Government for twenty years...!!!"Golden Lion Shiki's voice was hoarse, but carried a chill that froze the soul.It wasn't just killing intent; it was the most extreme madness remaining after burning away his lifelong ambitions, humiliation, hatred, and all rationality!Just at the moment when this destructive energy was about to completely spiral out of control, and it seemed the old-era overlord was going to drag everything down with him."Golden Lion Shiki..."A calm, steady voice, even carrying a trace of mockery, intruded into the core of this violent aura."...You are, perhaps, a bit too arrogant."Before the words faded."ZZZT... BANG!!!"The air by Golden Lion Shiki's right cheek exploded with a burst of intense blue-white lightning without warning!Sanji's figure flashed out like a ghost from a precise space-folding point of the ROOM field.It was the exact moment when Golden Lion Shiki's aura leaked due to rage and his Observation Hakihad a slight fluctuation!"Diable Jambe · Mouton Shot · Flash!"That leg, entwined with explosive lightning, kicked solidly and without any fancy tricks onto Golden Lion Shiki's cheek, which was slightly relaxed from his manic laughter!Time seemed to freeze for an instant.Golden Lion Shiki's manic expression twisted suddenly, and incredible astonishment erupted in his eyes.He didn't even have time to make any blocking or dodging movements.The Observation Haki he relied on to predict the future had a fatal "gap"!"BANG—!!!!"The terrifying muffled sound was accompanied by the slight sound of bones breaking.Golden Lion Shiki's head was whipped violently to the side at an exaggerated angle, and his whole body turned into a blurred golden afterimage, flying backward at high speed at an oblique angle!Wherever he passed, the air was squeezed out into visible white shockwave trails, emitting continuous air explosions like rolling thunder!"Ugh—!"He forcibly twisted his body in the air, his famous swords carving two blinding sparks in the void, sliding for hundreds of meters before barely stopping his retreat.Blood mixed with saliva sprayed wildly from the corner of his mouth, and a few blood-stained broken incisors drew several desolate arcs in the sunlight, falling toward the sea of clouds below.Unprecedentedly wretched!Golden Lion Shiki raised his hand, wiped the corner of his mouth fiercely with his blood-stained sleeve, and slowly raised his head.His cheek swelled up at a speed visible to the naked eye, a clear shoeprint branded on his face.But the madness in his eyes did not extinguish; instead, it became even more intense, staring fixedly at Sanji, who was cold-faced in the air not far away.Sanji looked at Golden Lion Shiki with calm eyes, and said clearly, word by word:"As a legendary pirate...""...I think you should understand one truth better than anyone else."Sanji's right leg was slightly raised again, lightning starting to condense on the tip of his shoe, his eyes as sharp as knives."The maintenance of Observation Haki, especially high-level applications like 'predicting the future'...""Requires...""Absolute calmness!"