Do you bastards even know who I am!?"
The man bellowed, veins bulging. "You've got some damn nerve messing with me!"
"Boys!"
"Aye, Captain!"
The moment he roared, dozens of lackeys rushed over, blades flashing in their hands.
"Take the ship! And the woman too!"
"Aye, sir!"
A crowd of sneering thugs charged forward, weapons gleaming in the sun.
Carmen instinctively moved closer to Arthur, clearly frightened.
"Hey, kid!" one of the pirates barked. "If you know what's good for you, hand over that girl to our captain—otherwise—"
"Kneel."
He didn't even raise his voice.
But the instant the word left Arthur's mouth, his eyes flared—
and a tidal wave of Conqueror's Haki exploded outward.
BOOM.
The air itself seemed to rumble.
Dozens of pirates—captain included—collapsed to their knees, trembling uncontrollably.
Their faces went pale; their weapons clattered to the ground.
One by one, they crumpled under the invisible weight, unable to even lift their heads.
The onlookers went silent for a beat, then chaos broke out.
"W–what the hell did he just do!?"
"I don't know! He just said something, and they all dropped like flies!"
"He looks harmless, but that's terrifying…"
"Shut up, idiot! Don't call him 'kid' again unless you've got a death wish!"
"Ah—right! Sorry! Sorry!"
The scolded man covered his mouth and bolted down the street like a frightened rabbit.
Meanwhile, Arthur walked forward, calm as ever—each footstep echoing softly.
Step. Step.
To the paralyzed pirates, those quiet steps sounded like the countdown to death itself.
Every beat sent a cold tremor through their hearts.
Ten seconds felt like ten lifetimes.
Finally, he stopped in front of their captain.
The man was drenched in sweat, shaking so hard he could barely breathe.
He didn't even dare raise his head.
Arthur looked down on him, expression flat. Then—
He smiled faintly and withdrew his Haki.
"Watch my ship," he said. "If anything happens to it… I'll come for you."
"Y–yes, sir! Of course, sir! I'll guard it with my life!"
The pirate bobbed his head up and down like a pecking chicken, relief flooding through him.
By the time he finally dared to look up—Arthur and his group were already gone.
He collapsed onto his back, gasping for air.
"S–sweet merciful gods…"
He'd stared death in the face.
His instincts screamed that if anything happened to that golden ship, he was a dead man walking.
"You heard the man!" he barked, leaping to his feet.
"Everyone—guard the Goldscale Ship! No one gets close! Not a single soul!"
Within minutes, the terrified pirates had surrounded Arthur's ship in a tight ring, watching it like hawks—
not daring to blink.
Meanwhile, Arthur and his crew had already arrived at the door of Shakky's Rip-Off Bar.
"Hmm. The mark's inside."
The tracking arrow in his mind was pointing straight toward the bar.
Without hesitation, he pushed open the door and stepped in.
The atmosphere inside was calm and clean, the lighting soft. A handful of patrons occupied scattered tables—
mostly pirates and mercenaries with too much money and not enough sense.
The target point glowed faintly above the bar counter.
Arthur glanced that way and began walking over.
Behind the counter, Shakky had already noticed him.
She'd been watching ever since he entered, eyes sharp beneath her lazy smile.
As a seasoned intelligence broker, Shakky had, of course, heard rumors of the newly risen Dawn Pirates—
though she didn't yet know that name belonged to the group standing before her.
When Arthur reached the bar, she leaned forward slightly, lips curling.
"Well, well… if it isn't the famous Flying Thunder God, Arthur.
They say you're as handsome as you are deadly—turns out the rumors didn't exaggerate."
"You flatter me, Miss Shakky," Arthur replied smoothly.
"Arthur?" someone at a nearby table muttered. "That Arthur?"
"He's so young…"
"No way he's really that strong, right?"
Whispers rippled across the room.
The name alone was enough to make seasoned pirates uneasy.
No ordinary man could sit calmly beside monsters like Waldo and Crocodile.
Even if Crocodile's bounty was only eighty-one million, everyone knew that was ancient history—
the man's true power far exceeded it.
And as for Waldo—his five hundred million bounty was the real deal, earned through blood and carnage in the New World.
If those two followed Arthur's orders…
what did that say about him?
While others whispered, Arthur had already tuned them out.
Because just then—
Ding!
The familiar system chime echoed in his head.
"Congratulations, Host! You have successfully checked in at Sabaody Archipelago.
Reward: Enel's Devil Fruit Power Panel!
Next check-in location: Dressrosa!"
Arthur froze.
"What the—!?"
He inhaled sharply through his teeth.
Even though he'd expected something big, this still caught him off guard.
Enel's power panel? Are you kidding me?
This system was downright absurd!
"What next? The power of the gods themselves?" he muttered under his breath.
Still, his mind was already racing.
"Wait a second… if I fuse this, won't that make me a Devil Fruit user?
A 'land duck' who can't swim?"
The joy on his face faded instantly, replaced by a frown.
It was a real dilemma.
Of course, he wanted the power—it was the ultimate thunder attribute ability!
He could generate lightning at will, amplify his natural element to divine levels, and gain countless new attacks.
He'd no longer have to rely solely on his "Strongest Spear"—his signature lightning javelin empowered by Armament Haki.
That move had become almost too well-known.
If his enemies learned to counter it, he'd lose his biggest edge.
With Enel's power, however—he'd evolve beyond that.
His energy would become nearly infinite, his lightning techniques versatile and lethal.
But still… if he lost his ability to swim, it'd be dangerous.
While he pondered, the system's cold voice chimed again:
"Would the host like to fuse with the new ability panel?"
"System," he asked cautiously, "if I fuse this, will I still become a land duck?"
Ding!
"Negative. Any ability panel obtained through the system is a perfectly optimized version.
No side effects. No weaknesses. All conditions for skill use are removed."
Arthur shot to his feet.
"What!?"
Even he couldn't suppress his excitement this time.
"System, you're serious?"
"Confirmed."
A wide grin spread across his face.
"Hahaha! Perfect! Then hurry up and fuse it!"
Ding!
"Fusion in progress…"
Ding!
"Enel's Devil Fruit Ability Panel successfully integrated!"
The air around him seemed to hum faintly, static dancing invisibly along his fingertips.
A storm was brewing beneath his skin—powerful, divine, and utterly his.
The Thunder God had just been reborn.
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