Deep within the subterranean levels of the facility, the atmosphere was heavy and damp, smelling of cold iron and stagnant air. Inside the heavy containment cell, Enel screamed with a ferocity that echoed off the damp walls, his voice cracking with hysteria. He did not sound like a prisoner begging for mercy; he sounded like a deity passing furious judgment upon sinners.
"You insolent worms! Release me!"
Uncle Tom stood on the other side of the thick bars, observing the scene with a mixture of curiosity and confusion. He adjusted his small, round glasses, watching the man with the elongated earlobes rant about "mortal sins" and "divine punishment" despite being shackled to the wall by heavy chains.
"Kyle, my boy," Tom said, scratching the side of his head with a large, webbed hand. His expression was difficult to describe—somewhere between amusement and genuine concern for the project. "Is this the... generator you mentioned earlier? This guy seems a bit off in the head. Are you sure he's stable? What if he goes crazy and breaks my precious Ark with a 'Don'?"
"That's right, it's him," Kyle nodded calmly, ignoring the screams emanating from the cell. "He's a bit loud, but he has the output we need."
Just then, the sound of footsteps echoed from the adjacent corridor. Gild Tesoro emerged from the shadows, walking with a slight limp. He was still heavily bandaged from the recent conflict, and his usually pristine pink suit was missing, replaced by simpler attire. However, his complexion had improved significantly since the battle on Sky Island.
"Lord Kyle." Tesoro stopped and bowed respectfully, his voice filled with deference. He then turned his gaze toward the cell. When he saw Enel thrashing against the chains, a look of deep shame and frustration crossed his face. "I am terribly sorry, Lord Kyle. This guy's mouth is still as foul as ever. I failed to completely subdue his spirit back on Sky Island."
Inside the cell, Enel's eyes locked onto Tesoro. If looks could kill, the former God of Skypiea would have incinerated the gold user instantly. The sight of his captor seemed to pour oil onto the flames of his rage.
"You! You Golden Flash bastard!" Enel roared, straining against the Seastone cuffs until his wrists bled. "How dare you ambush me with such despicable, underhanded methods! You tricked me! If you hadn't injected those filthy, conductive metals into my body to disrupt my frequency, I would have turned you into dust with a single move! I am the God of Thunder!"
"Alright, that's enough. You're too loud." Kyle dug a finger into his ear with an impatient grimace, looking thoroughly bored by the outburst. He dropped his hand and waved casually at Tesoro. "Open the chains."
"Huh?"
Both Tesoro and Tom froze, their eyes widening in shock.
"Lord Kyle, surely you're joking," Tesoro hesitated, his body tensing up instinctively. "Although this guy is weakened right now, he is still a Logic-class user of the Goro Goro no Mi. That fruit is a calamity. Once the Seastone is removed and his connection to his element is restored, he will be extremely dangerous. He could destroy this entire dock in a blink." 111
"Open them," Kyle repeated. His voice didn't rise in volume, but the tone shifted. It was final, carrying an absolute authority that allowed for no negotiation. "Do it now."
"...Yes, sir."
Although Tesoro didn't understand the logic behind releasing a calamitous threat in such a confined space, his loyalty to Kyle was absolute. He swallowed his apprehension and immediately moved to carry out the order.
He walked to the cell door, producing a heavy key. With a series of mechanical clicks, he unlocked the heavy Seastone door. He stepped into the cell, approached the seething prisoner, and unlocked the heavy cuffs binding Enel's wrists and ankles.
Clang!
The heavy shackles hit the cold floor with a crisp, metallic ringing sound.
For Enel, the sensation was instantaneous. The draining, weakening fatigue caused by the Seastone vanished in a heartbeat. It was as if a dam had burst within his soul. The power of the Goro Goro no Mi—the Rumble-Rumble Fruit—surged back into his limbs, his blood, and his very bones. 2
Crack! Pop!
Pale blue arcs of electricity instantly erupted around his body, illuminating the dark cell with blinding flashes. The air filled with the sharp smell of ozone and the fine crackling sound of high voltage.
"Foolish! Utterly foolish mortals!"
Enel's face twisted into a smile that was both cruel and fanatical. His body began to lose its physical form, turning into pure, intangible plasma. "You have brought about your own doom with your own hands! Did you think a few chains could hold the heavens? Now, feel the wrath of God!"
He threw his head back and laughed maniacally, his body dissolving into a massive bolt of lightning, preparing to rush out of the cell and incinerate everyone in the room.
However, in the very next second, the manic smile on his face froze completely.
He found that he couldn't move.
Despite his Devil Fruit abilities fully recovering, and despite the lightning coursing through his veins, his body felt impossibly heavy. It was as if his limbs were filled with lead. He tried to transform, to flash forward, but he was rooted to the spot.
What is going on?! Enel panicked internally. Why can't I move?
Before he could process the situation, an indescribable, terrifying pressure descended from the sky. It didn't hit him physically; it didn't break his bones or burn his skin. Instead, it instantly enveloped his entire being, bypassing his Logia defenses and crushing his mind.
It was an absolute coercion that acted directly upon the soul.
It was Conqueror's Haki. 3
Enel was familiar with the concept of "Mantra," or Observation Haki, and he had felt strong wills before. But this was different. The "will" of others he had encountered was like a mountain torrent—fierce, loud, but ultimately understandable and traceable.
The Haki emanating from Kyle was not a torrent. It was the universe itself. It was the abyss. It was endless, suffocating nothingness.
Enel felt his consciousness being violently ripped from his physical body. The damp cell, Tom, Tesoro—everything vanished. He was falling, plummeting into a boundless, dark space where no light existed.
He saw it.
At the end of this infinite darkness sat a colossal figure, so large it defied description. The figure seemed to be composed of cosmic stardust and nebulae, a being of celestial magnitude. It possessed a pair of golden eyes that burned more brilliantly than the sun and looked deeper than a black hole.
In those eyes, Enel saw the birth and destruction of stars. He saw the flow of time slowing to a halt and speeding up again. He saw the eternal cycle of life and death playing out on a galactic scale.
It was an absolute "existence" that transcended his understanding of power. It was a Tier of power that made the concepts of "Yonko" or "Warlord" seem trivial. 4444
The entity didn't emit any killing intent. It didn't show anger or hostility. It simply watched him quietly, indifferent to his existence.
But it was precisely this calm, indifferent gaze that shattered Enel's psyche. It made him feel as insignificant as a single speck of dust floating in the void. His proud identity as "God," his self-proclaimed omnipotence, his INVINCIBLE Logia ability... in the face of that gaze, it all seemed like a child brandishing a stick at a hurricane. It was ridiculous. It was pathetic.
So... this is what a god truly is?
The realization hit him harder than any physical blow. What he had been pursuing, what he had been boasting about all these years on Sky Island, was just a colossal joke.
He wasn't a god. He never was.
He was just a pitiful worm who had luckily eaten a powerful fruit and mistaken that borrowed strength for his own divinity. He was a frog at the bottom of a well, staring at a small circle of sky and claiming it was the entire universe.
Thud.
In the real world, Enel's legs gave out completely. He fell straight to his knees, his body hitting the ground with a dull thud.
The lightning around him vanished. He was drenched in cold sweat, his pupils dilated and trembling violently. He gasped for air, his chest heaving as if he were a fish thrown onto the shore, struggling to comprehend the ocean he had just glimpsed. All the arrogance, anger, and disdain that had defined his face for years vanished without a trace. It was replaced by extreme shock and a bewilderment that bordered on a total mental collapse.
Kyle slowly blinked, retracting the precise burst of Conqueror's Haki he had locked onto Enel.
The suffocating pressure in the cell instantly dissipated, returning the room to normal.
Tesoro and Tom stood there, completely dumbfounded. They hadn't seen the vision. They hadn't felt the full brunt of the pressure. They had only sensed a fleeting, terrifying aura that made their instincts scream for a split second.
And then, they saw the result. The "God" who had been screaming about scorched earth a second ago was now kneeling on the ground like a broken dog.
Is this the power of Lord Kyle? Tesoro thought, swallowing hard.
He had subdued the enemy without lifting a finger. He hadn't thrown a punch, hadn't used a weapon. He had simply destroyed a powerful Devil Fruit user on a fundamental, mental level.
Tesoro's awe for Kyle reached a new, fanatical height. He recalled his own struggle against Enel—a fight to the death where he had to use every ounce of strategy and his Awakening to win. Yet, Lord Kyle only needed a "look." The difference between them was no longer a gap between heaven and earth; it was a crushing difference in dimensionality.
Enel knelt on the ground, trembling for a long time. Slowly, painfully, he raised his head.
The look in his eyes when he looked at Kyle had completely changed.
It was no longer the gaze of an enemy looking at a captor. It wasn't even the gaze of a warrior acknowledging a stronger opponent.
Instead, it was the gaze of a believer looking up at his one true creator.
It was fanatical, devout, and terrifyingly submissive. It was full of a twisted joy, like a lost traveler who, after wandering in the dark for eternity, had finally found the lighthouse.
Enel crawled forward. He moved on his hands and knees, dragging himself across the cold floor with all his might until he reached Kyle's boots.
He trembled, reaching out a shaking hand as if he wanted to touch the hem of Kyle's pants or his shoe. But he stopped at the last moment, pulling his hand back as if the mere act of touching would be a desecration of the divinity standing before him.
He lowered his head and heavily knocked his forehead against the cold floor in a posture of absolute worship.
"God..."
A single, hoarse syllable squeezed out of his dry throat, carrying the weight of his shattered and rebuilt reality.
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