Zzizz—
The lightning long arrow exploded, appearing almost instantaneously, with no visual sense of its movement.
However, within Shanks' Kenbunshoku Haki, it was crystal clear. He gripped Gryphon in his right hand and swung it diagonally forward in anticipation.
The moment he raised his arm, the blade energy on Gryphon surged, forming a massive shield in front of Shanks.
The lightning long arrow collided with the blade energy, pushing Shanks backward.
The lightning long arrow that was blocked glowed intensely, its lightning flashing faster and faster...
Shanks' eyes narrowed slightly, Haki enveloping his entire body.
Rumble—
The lightning long arrow detonated, exploding outwards in all directions, appearing from afar like a giant blue lightning net constantly expanding.
The lightning bolts generated by the collision formed a giant net of electricity that entangled Shanks.
But it couldn't cause any significant damage to Shanks. With the powerful Haki augmentation, the lightning could only remain on the surface of his skin, unable to penetrate further.
Shanks stomped his foot and directly broke free from the lightning net.
Red Conqueror's Haki lightning flashed on Gryphon in his hand, and he unleashed several slashes towards Enel's condensed Raigo form in the distant clouds.
Clang clang clang—
The sounds of metal clashing echoed continuously.
He deflected Enel's incoming lightning arrows. Some of these arrows, deflected at extreme speeds, shot into the sea below.
They stirred up colossal waves tens of meters high, and the carcasses of fish began to surface across the sea.
Under the cover of several slashes, Shanks transformed into a red streak of light and charged towards Enel.
Enel's hundred-meter-tall Raigo form flickered, currents surging outwards, resembling a poor signal during a video call.
Zzizz—
The red streak of light arrived, tearing the dark clouds in the sky in half.
Enel's condensed Raigo form instantly vanished, as if teleporting. In a section of the divided clouds, lightning flashed again, and the form reformed.
Shanks frowned:
"Thunderclouds..."
These pervasive thunderclouds were Enel's domain. If that was the case...
Gryphon hummed softly, blade energy that tore through the air swirling around the blade. Shanks spun sharply.
A perfect circular blade energy formed around him.
But it seemed to have a delay, pausing for a second before erupting.
Standing on the sea below, the circular blade energy visibly spread, clearing the sky and continuing to expand outwards. The blade energy tore through the dark clouds, obliterating them.
Standing in the clouds, Enel, who had condensed his Raigo form, extended his hands, drawing in dense lightning.
Within the entire sky, all the dark clouds visibly turned white as all the lightning was extracted and surged into Enel's Raigo form.
His already hundred-meter-tall body expanded several times over.
As the circular blade energy, which had annihilated the lightning-drained white clouds, spread towards Enel.
Enel's hundreds-of-meters-tall Raigo form used the clouds beneath him as a trampoline. He bent his knees slightly and leaped!
Zzizz—
He vanished without a trace.
Shanks, sensing something with his Kenbunshoku Haki in the distance, raised his sword and slashed upwards.
Crack!!!
A thousand-meter-thick pillar of lightning shot down from the depths of the sky towards Shanks, followed by a thunderous giant hundreds of meters tall, descending upon him.
Shanks' Gryphon erupted with incredibly powerful blade energy, directly piercing and tearing apart the arm of the thunderous giant.
Enel's expression remained unchanged. After all, it was a construct of lightning, not a solid entity. Even with Busoshoku Haki applied, it couldn't withstand such a powerful attack.
The hundreds-of-meters-tall thunderous giant emitted a dazzling white light, blinding Shanks at close range, forcing him to close his eyes.
With dense Busoshoku Haki coating his skin, he brought Gryphon to his left side, near his waist...
Rumble—!!!
The colossal sound shook heaven and earth.
People on the island below covered their ears in discomfort, and countless soldiers looked distressed.
The surging shockwaves and vibrations were like the roars of heaven and earth.
The giant, formed by lightning compressed to its absolute limit, was detonated by Enel himself.
A second sun seemed to rise in the sky...
Shanks bore the brunt of the attack head-on, but Enel, whose form had condensed, showed no joy, his expression grave...
In his perception, after the explosion, Shanks' magnetic field fluctuated intensely, but it quickly disappeared...
Then, the situation in the sky changed dramatically.
"What!!!"
Exclamations echoed from various places. Shanks' crew members breathed a sigh of relief, while Barrett's expression became slightly more serious.
In the sky, the explosion that had spread like a second sun...
Sizz—
Was split in half from top to bottom by a single slash, falling to the left and right.
A faint sound of tearing through the air arose, and Enel's pupils contracted sharply.
A long sword stabbed directly at his brow... the sharp blade energy caused his skin to prickle.
Enel's pupils hadn't contracted to their absolute limit, but he had already retreated at high speed...
The red streak of light pursued relentlessly, its outward Haki interfering with Enel's elementalization...
At this moment, Shanks' clothes were in tatters, and he bore numerous lightning burns. Blood streamed from his ears due to the tremendous noise, but it didn't impede his movements.
Seizing the moment of the slash's explosion, he charged towards the pursuing Enel, a certain guess forming in his mind:
"Is it because of the Devil Fruit ability..."
The moment the blade energy tore through the thunderstorm, the powerful energy interfered with Enel's magnetic field perception.
Shanks seized this opportunity to charge at Enel. With his Kenbunshoku Haki rendered ineffective and his magnetic field in chaos, Enel did not react in time, leading to the current situation...
The red streak of light pursued relentlessly, getting closer and closer...
Interfered with by the outward Haki, Enel couldn't elementalize normally and could only retreat at extreme speed, looking for an opportunity to escape.
He condensed gold in his right hand into a short blade, and with his left index and middle fingers together, lightning flashed at their tips, stabbing towards Gryphon's blade...
Clang!
The blade was struck with immense force and shifted slightly. Enel's head dodged in the opposite direction, simultaneously slowing his speed.
Gryphon's blade grazed Enel's cheek. Under the sharp blade energy, the wound was deep enough to expose bone...
Enel's short blade of gold, imbued with Haki and flashing with lightning, stabbed towards Shanks' chest.
Shanks' expression remained unchanged. Dense Busoshoku Haki coated his body as he took the blow head-on. The short blade sank slightly into his chest, but Enel could not press his advantage.
Because Gryphon, which had grazed Enel's cheek, swung horizontally.
Enel's neck twisted to almost a ninety-degree angle to the left, barely dodging the horizontal slash. Without withdrawing his golden short blade, he retreated.
His chest directly received a heavy blow, and the sound of broken ribs was heard as it caved in.
A trickle of blood flowed from Enel's mouth. He simultaneously kicked out at Shanks.
Bang!
Their legs collided.
Enel used this immense force to fly backward, breaking free from Shanks' outward Haki lock.
He transformed into lightning and dodged to an extreme distance. He brought his hands together and pulled them apart, creating a perfect arc of crackling lightning.
Then, it expanded into a vertical circular lightning net suspended in the air, with lightning dragons, each flashing with blue light, appearing and attacking Shanks.
Shanks stomped his foot, and a white sonic boom appeared as he charged towards Enel:
"Useless."
A spinning blade energy led the way, shattering the incoming lightning dragons.
Zzizz—
Suddenly, Enel appeared above Shanks.
His weapon had changed to a golden trident, and he thrust it downwards at Shanks from above.
Shanks' Gryphon blocked from behind, and simultaneously, he spun and flipped, kicking upwards into the air.
Bang!
Their lower legs collided.
Enel's heart jolted... This guy's Haki...
The pain in his leg stimulated his nerves. Clearly, Shanks' Haki was significantly higher than Enel's...
Using the colossal force of the collision, Enel once again transformed into lightning and retreated at high speed, reappearing at an extreme distance, then transforming into lightning again and charging towards Shanks.
Using the speed of his lightning dive, he condensed his form just as he was about to reach Shanks.
Whether using a sword, his fists, or his legs, he attacked with Haki wrapped around them.
For a time, Shanks seemed to be enveloped in lightning, attacking from all directions. The sonic booms of their clashes resounded through the sky, and white smoke swirled.
But it was still ineffective... a stalemate had been reached...
Zzizz—
Enel reappeared in the sky, raising his arms. Countless bolts of lightning were raised above his head.
He condensed them into a hundred-meter-sized ball of lightning and threw it directly at Shanks.
The lightning ball became a blur, shooting out. Just as it was about to spread and then re-form as it approached Shanks,
A streak of light pierced the lightning ball.
Enel moved his body, shifting by an inch.
This extremely fast sword light tore through the condensed lightning of his neck, slicing through the skin. A wound appeared on Enel's neck.
Splat—
Beneath that streak of light, another slash was hidden.
It pierced directly into Enel's chest, but was stopped by densely condensed Busoshoku Haki and disappeared.
Two slashes.
Corresponding to the neck and the heart, if he hadn't dodged... he would have died.
Blood slowly flowed from the wound on his neck.
Enel's expression remained unchanged:
"How can he be so fast."
Internally, however, his heart sank slightly.
Almost as soon as the streak of light appeared, the slash had arrived... but the flaw in such a slash was also obvious, its power was not strong enough...
If it were a normal slash, although he could dodge a sliver, he would likely have lost half his neck by now... not to mention the slash aimed at his heart.
Shanks, seeing that the slash had been dodged by Enel, also retracted his aura.
Both parties stared at each other for a moment.
Slowly retracting their weapons, Shanks adjusted his direction and fell freely downwards.
Enel, on the other hand, flickered and instantly appeared on the warship as lightning.
There was no point in continuing the fight.
Neither side could overcome the other. Enel's Devil Fruit abilities and ultimate attacks were ineffective, and Shanks' instantaneous slashes were barely dodged by Enel.
Continuing to entangle would only be a waste of time and cause no further significant damage.
This was also a result of Sakazuki adjusting the strength allocation based on the different Yonko.
Each Yonko had their own unique characteristics, so the strength distribution had to be meticulous.
Just as Enel was ambushed by Kaido's ability lightning earlier, despite Enel being a Logia-type with the Goro Goro no Mi, the distance of ten thousand meters was negligible for lightning.
Even if Enel reacted the moment Kaido attacked, the attack had already arrived.
When entangled, the ten-thousand-meter dive-bomb caused Enel to be severely injured instantaneously...
Both Kaido and Charlotte Linlin could control lightning, which might be disadvantageous.
Therefore, Enel's most suitable opponent was Shanks.
Although Enel might not be as strong as Shanks currently, it was almost impossible for Shanks to defeat Enel either. Enel's speed was too great, and his magnetic field perception was a natural counter to Kenbunshoku killing techniques...
If Kuzan or Borsalino were sent over, the chances of victory would be slim to none... Kenbunshoku killing techniques alone would be insurmountable.
Similarly.
If Enel or Borsalino were sent to Heer Knox's side, they would not be able to protect the soldiers.
Lightning and light were not solid entities, and they could not resist the incoming steam. While easily destroying the steam spears was possible,
They could not protect the soldiers behind them, leading to heavy casualties.
----------
On the sea, the Red Force.
Tap tap—
Shanks landed lightly and raised his hand to stop everyone who was about to speak:
"Can you release my comrade now, Admiral of the Marines."
Barrett grinned and released his arms. Yasopp and the ship doctor, Deck, moved away from Barrett at their usual speed.
Barrett slowly stood up from Shanks' seat:
"As expected of someone called a Yonko."
"You truly have extraordinary capabilities."
Shanks chuckled lightly:
"You flatter me."
"However, the Navy's grand mobilization has caused me considerable trouble."
"I have to give my subordinates an explanation, don't I."
Barrett grinned menacingly:
"What kind of explanation is needed? It's settled by strength of arms."
"The only thing to blame is how weak your pirate subordinates are."
"Prepare yourselves to welcome the Navy's fleet."
He glanced sideways at the resentful Lucky Roo:
"Control your idiot subordinates."
"Don't casually interfere in low-level battles; you lack the foundation to flip the table."
"It's just not time to kill you yet."
"It's more interesting to play slowly..."
Shanks' expression turned serious. Such provocation was enough to ignite anyone's anger...
Boom!!!!
The sea surrounding the Red Force erupted.
Red Conqueror's Haki clashed with a blue ghostly visage, and lightning explosions echoed through the sky...
-------
On the warship.
Enel looked at Barrett, who had returned:
"Did you make an agreement?"
Barrett smiled and said:
"Not an agreement, but a notification."
"Don't let the strong players interfere in low-level battles."
"Anyone can flip the table... but they will suffer more..."
There were some white marks on his body, clearly caused by attacks, but none had broken through his defense.
The most severe was a sword wound that had pierced his skin, exposing some flesh...
-------
The Red Force.
Shanks' expression was grave as he looked at Yasopp and the ship doctor, Deck, who were being bandaged.
Ultimately, they couldn't escape. At Barrett's full speed, the Red Hair Pirates couldn't stop him, and his attacks were difficult to break through.
Even Shanks' slashes, though the most severe, could be endured by Barrett, allowing him to... act with impunity...
Shanks took a deep breath, turned, and looked towards the direction of the Red Line.
Recalling the information revealed by Barrett, his expression darkened. If it were true, it would be more than a little troublesome...
"A warning, perhaps..."
"Sakazuki..."