"Cough, cough..."
In the center of a massive semicircular crater, a well-built man lay gasping for air.
"This should have injured him severely," Enel thought.
Enel couldn't help but let his thoughts run wild.
Though he had never tested the power of his Divine Judgment on himself, he usually only needed to use thirty to forty percent of his power to defeat others.
A single strike from him was enough to send others reeling.
Of course, this excluded the truly monstrous ones like Sakazuki, Borsalino, and Christian Raleigh.
Although Enel didn't believe a single move like this could severely injure Raleigh, he at least expected it to create a sense of equal footing.
But dreams are beautiful, while reality is cruel.
After unleashing such a powerful attack, Enel began using tiny electric currents to massage his own heart.
Originally, Enel didn't have that much stamina, so the previous strike was the result of overstimulating his cardiovascular system.
The recoil caused his heart to stop beating.Shutterstock
However, it was through this suicidal offensive method that Enel discovered a loophole.
Using the power of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, he could perform electric shock resuscitation on his own heart, stimulating the electrical nodes to beat again after they had stopped.
"Dammit, there are such powerful fighters in this world, and I knew nothing about them, complacent about my own strength."
Lying at the bottom of the crater repairing his heart, Enel repeatedly sounded the alarm in his mind.
Though he outwardly dismissed Raleigh's words, deep down, he took them very seriously.
If what that detestable outsider said was true, then the world outside was indeed broader and more fascinating than the North Blue or the White Sea.
Enel's original ambition to become the God of Skypiea began to slowly shift after this strike. His new goal was to venture out and challenge strong opponents.
"Hey, kid, how long are you going to lie at the bottom of that crater?"
A lazy voice rang out from the edge of the pit. Upon hearing it, every muscle in Enel's body trembled.
Simultaneously, his tightly shut eyes snapped open, shooting out a terrifying gaze.
Raleigh stood there, extending his right hand which was covered in pitch-black, gleaming Armament Haki.
"Meteor Fist: One Star Fall."
A casual strike from Raleigh was beyond anything Enel could comprehend.
The two bolts of lightning shot from Enel's eyes didn't even singe a single strand of Raleigh's hair as he deflected them.
Looking at Raleigh, whose clothes were still pristine white, Enel wore an expression as if he had seen a ghost, shouting in disbelief:
"How—how is this possible?!"
"Divine Judgment clearly hit you. My Mantra saw it perfectly clearly!"
Raleigh suddenly understood.
A mocking smile tugged at the corner of his lips as he said, "So that's what you're confused about. Is it possible that you're not the only one in this world who possesses a Logia-type Devil Fruit?"
"You... you're actually a Devil Fruit Ability User too?"
Enel's eyes widened in shock.
He had originally thought Raleigh was just a man with incredibly powerful physical combat skills.
The possibility of him having a Devil Fruit had never crossed Enel's mind.
Who would have thought that a man with such formidable physical skills would also be a Devil Fruit Ability User?
"So... what kind of ability do you possess?" Enel asked, his expression extremely complicated.
"Want to know? If you want to know, you'll have to join the Marines and become my subordinate first."
Raleigh had just thrown out a condition to Enel earlier.
"Same as before, I'll give you three days to think it over. If you've made up your mind, you can come find me on the warship at the port anytime."
Raleigh knew that rookies like Enel, who possessed considerable strength at such a young age, were all proud and arrogant individuals.
To subdue such a fierce and headstrong warrior, he had to approach it from a different angle.
Simply overpowering them with strength alone rarely earned genuine recognition.
This matter was like taming a hawk.
Once one side gave up their persistence, they would inevitably fall into the other's rhythm.
That was why Raleigh turned and left immediately after stating his condition.
To spare Enel some face, he didn't linger by the pit to watch Enel's disheveled state at the bottom.
It wasn't until Raleigh had walked far away that Enel slowly climbed out of the pit.
Raleigh's earlier move, the North Blue Kneeling Slam, had actually held back some of its force.
Enel could tell the difference between a full-power strike and a restrained one.
Yet, even with Raleigh holding back, Enel was still thrown into such disarray by the technique that his internal organs felt displaced, and his vision swam with stars.
"I never imagined there could be such terrifying martial arts in the world."
Enel's understanding of himself had once again deepened.
Although he had been thoroughly beaten in this brief battle, at the very least, he now understood what "Observation Haki" was, and the "Armament Haki" covering Raleigh's arms, which allowed him to grab an elementalized Devil Fruit Ability User.
...
Leaving the battlefield, Raleigh quickly returned to the warship.
The moment he landed on the deck, a crowd of Marine soldiers eagerly surrounded him.
"Commander Raleigh, that commotion earlier was you fighting someone, right?"
"Commander Raleigh, Hans here actually said you might get hurt. I told him he was joking—with your terrifying strength, how could you possibly get injured!"
"Commander, don't listen to Beck's nonsense. What I clearly said was, if the opponent could inflict even a scratch on you, they'd already be considered a formidable fighter."
"Commander Raleigh—"
"Commander Raleigh—"
The Marine soldiers, curious as children, made Raleigh's head feel like it was about to explode.
"I'll explain the details to you all later. Right now, your most important task is to train. I think your current training load is still too light if you have this much free time to ask me about the outcome of a fight."
Raleigh casually brushed them off and called Gion over, giving her a few instructions.
During the times Raleigh didn't feel like teaching, it was Gion who instructed the Marine soldiers on the warship.
Gion had already mastered the Rokushiki proficiently, so teaching the soldiers was no challenge for her.
Moreover, while teaching the soldiers, she was essentially reviewing and reinforcing her own knowledge.
[Ding, detected host slacking off during work hours. Slacking Points +500]
As for the elusive system, Raleigh had long grown accustomed to it.
"What should we do next, Commander Raleigh?" Bessermer Reginald approached and asked curiously.
Raleigh lifted his eyepatch and replied lazily, "Wait. Our task for the entire day tomorrow is to wait."
Raleigh refused to believe that Enel could resist the temptation of becoming stronger and exploring the outside world.
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