Chapter 124: The Tiger and the Thunder

[Robin POV]

The solid gold deck of the Ark Maxim radiated heat. Victor had just left to hunt the massive hydra in the distance, leaving Jasmine and me alone with a very angry god.

Enel pushed himself up from the dent in the deck. Jasmine’s hammer strike had disoriented him, but he was far from defeated. Sparks of blue electricity jumped aggressively across his shoulders. His eyes locked onto Jasmine, burning with pure hatred.

Before any of us could make a move, a blinding flash of light painted the entire sky white.

We all froze and looked toward the western horizon. A massive, solid beam of pure white energy shot diagonally into the sky from the jungle below. The blast slammed directly into Shiki’s main floating fortress. In total silence from this distance, the entire island and the smaller rocks around it completely vanished. The beam kept going, punching a clear hole through the thick clouds before fading away.

Nothing was left of the Golden Lion’s armada.

Enel stared at the empty sky. Jasmine let out a low whistle.

“Well,” Jasmine said, resting the heavy head of Coil Mjolnir on her shoulder. “Looks like the ground team is having fun.”

Enel snapped his attention back to us. His pride was deeply wounded. “You Blue Sea insects think you can command the sky?”

He raised his hands. He knew lightning healed Jasmine, so he changed his strategy. He sent millions of volts directly into the golden deck beneath his feet. The metal instantly superheated. The gold turned glowing red and melted into a bubbling, liquid slag. The intense heat wave hit my face, making it hard to breathe.

“I will boil you alive!” Enel shouted.

He swung his golden staff, sending a massive wave of molten gold flying directly at us.

“Move!” Jasmine yelled.

I used Geppo, kicking off the air to launch myself high above the melting deck. Jasmine used Soru, vanishing in a blur of speed to dodge the liquid metal. She reappeared on a solid section of the railing, her body sparking as she absorbed the ambient static electricity in the air. Her muscles tensed as the energy boosted her strength and speed.

Jasmine charged forward, swinging Coil Mjolnir in wide circles. The mechanical coil inside the weapon screamed to life. The spinning motion generated thick arcs of lightning across the hammerhead. She expanded the sharp side of the weapon and brought it down hard.

Enel melted into pure electricity to dodge, reappearing a few feet away.

I did not give him a chance to counterattack. I crossed my arms.

Tres Fleur.

Three arms sprouted directly on Enel’s back. I extended my retractable panther claws from those sprouted hands and coated them in a hard layer of black Armament Haki. I dug the Haki-coated claws deeply into his shoulders, injecting my venom directly into his bloodstream.

Enel grunted in pain. He sent a powerful electrical shock through his own body, forcing my sprouted arms to dispel.

I fell toward the deck. I used Soru to vanish before I hit the molten gold, reappearing behind the ship’s main mast.

“You are annoying,” Enel said. He turned his gaze toward my hiding spot.

He raised two fingers. He did not fire a wide blast of lightning. He condensed his power into a thin, hyper-dense laser of pure heat and electricity. He fired it straight at the mast.

The beam pierced right through the thick gold pillar. I saw it coming a split second before it hit. I crossed my arms over my chest, activating Tekkai to harden my muscles, and covered my forearms with my Intermediate Armament Haki. The beam slammed into my guard.

The force was overwhelming. The attack broke through my Haki and shattered my Tekkai. The burning impact threw me backward. I crashed heavily into the outer railing, my body screaming in pain. A deep burn marked my forearms, and my muscles spasmed wildly from the lingering shock.

I struggled to get up. My vision blurred.

For a moment, the old fear crept into my mind. I saw myself as the little girl running from Ohara. I was an archaeologist. I spent my whole life hiding and surviving. Now I was standing on a flying ship, fighting a man made of lightning, surrounded by monsters like Victor, Ace, and the giant Kaijus. I felt like I was holding the crew back. I was the weak link.

“Robin!” Jasmine yelled.

I looked up. Enel had shaped the molten gold into a massive, jagged spear. He threw it directly at me. Jasmine pushed her speed to the limit, stepping in front of me and swinging her massive hammer to deflect the heavy spear. The impact pushed her back, her boots skidding across the deck as she struggled against the weight of the gold.

She was fighting hard to protect me.

I gripped my burned shoulder. I gritted my teeth until my jaw ached.

No. I was not the woman who ran away anymore. I was a member of the Verdant Abyss. I was their assassin. I refused to be a burden to my family.

I focused inward. I listened to the rhythm of my two synchronized hearts. They were beating fast from the adrenaline. I forced them to beat faster. I pushed my blood flow to its absolute maximum capacity through pure, stubborn willpower. My veins burned. The physical stress on my body was immense, but I pushed harder.

Deep inside my genetics, something finally snapped open.

A massive surge of heat exploded from my core. My body violently shifted. Thick, golden fur with dark black stripes erupted across my skin. My bones thickened. My muscles packed on dense, explosive mass, tearing the sleeves of my jacket. My fangs elongated past my lips.

I stood up. The pain in my arms faded, replaced by a terrifying, overflowing amount of raw power. I had unlocked my Hybrid Were-Tiger form.

I flexed my hands. The heavy, sluggish feeling of my injuries was completely gone. I felt lighter, faster, and unbelievably strong. The seven-times boost to my baseline strength felt like a massive weight had been lifted off my shoulders.

Enel looked at me, his eyes narrowing. “A new shape will not save you.”

He pointed his golden staff at me, preparing to fire another dense laser.

I vanished.

With my new physical strength, my Soru broke the sound barrier. I moved faster than Enel’s eyes could track. I appeared directly in front of him before the lightning could even leave his staff. His eyes widened in shock.

I pulled my fist back, coating my knuckles and my extended panther claws in dark Armament Haki. I punched him squarely in the center of his chest.

The impact sounded like a cannon firing. Enel folded over, his ribs cracking as he was launched backward. He skidded across the hot deck, struggling to stop his momentum.

I did not let up. I crossed my arms.

Cien Fleur: Tiger Clutch.

I sprouted twenty massive, furry Were-Tiger arms all over Enel’s body. They gripped his limbs, his waist, and his neck. With the multiplied strength of my new form, I easily overpowered his physical resistance. I locked him in place.

I used Geppo to launch myself forward, closing the distance instantly.

I unleashed a brutal barrage of Shigan strikes. My fingers, tipped with Haki-coated claws, became a blur of motion. I stabbed into his chest, his shoulders, and his legs over and over again. Every strike pierced through his Logia defenses, pumping heavy doses of my venom directly into his system.

Enel screamed, his body sparking wildly as the venom paralyzed his muscles and clouded his mind. He tried to turn into lightning to escape, but my Haki kept him anchored to his physical form.

“Jasmine! Now!” I yelled.

I canceled the sprouted arms. I spun on my heel, channeling all the explosive power of my Were-Tiger legs into a single kick.

Rankyaku.

A massive, crescent-shaped blade of compressed air shot from my leg. It slammed into Enel, launching him high into the air toward the center of the ship.

Jasmine was ready. She had been spinning Coil Mjolnir constantly, building up a massive electrical charge. She expanded the hammerhead to its absolute maximum size. She coated the dark metal in thick, black Advanced Armament Haki. She leaped into the air using Geppo, meeting Enel at the peak of his flight.

“Lights out!” Jasmine shouted.

She swung the massive hammer down. The Haki-coated metal slammed directly into Enel’s chest.

The impact released a devastating shockwave of kinetic force and lightning. Enel’s eyes rolled back into his head. The blow drove him straight down. He crashed through the solid gold deck, shattering the metal and plunging deep into the bowels of the ship.

The attack did not just knock Enel out. The sheer force of Jasmine’s strike destroyed the main atmospheric generators hidden below the deck.

The Ark Maxim groaned loudly. The massive side rotors sparked and stopped spinning. The colossal golden ship lost its buoyancy.

The deck tilted violently. We began to fall.

The ship plummeted from the sky, tearing through the thick cloud sea. I dropped my Were-Tiger form, my body exhausted from the sudden burst of power. Jasmine grabbed my arm. We both used Geppo to slow our descent, floating safely above the falling ship.

The Ark Maxim crashed into the dirt of Upper Yard with a deafening crunch. Dust and debris flew high into the air. The golden hull crumpled upon impact, burying itself deep into the jungle floor. Jasmine and I landed softly on the edge of the massive crater. I breathed heavily, holding my side, but I felt incredibly proud. We had beaten him.

“Let’s grab his body,” Jasmine said, shrinking her hammer back to its normal size. “Victor will want to make sure he stays down.”

We walked down into the crater, stepping over twisted gold and broken gears. We reached the center of the wreckage where Enel had fallen.

We stopped.

The area was covered in rubble, but the center was empty. A trail of blood led away from the impact zone and disappeared into the shadows of the broken hull.

Enel was gone.

Unknown to us, a few surviving Priests and divine guards had been hiding deep inside the lower levels of the ship. During the chaos and dust of the crash, they had quickly dragged their unconscious God away into the dark jungle, desperate to keep him out of our hands.

Jasmine frowned, looking at the empty space. “Well, that is annoying.”