If this were the usual Enel, after hearing Kaku's last words, he would have instantly shot lightning at him.
But this time, he didn't. Instead, he felt a bit surprised, "Why are you helping me?"
Kaku laughed heartily, "Hahaha, from the moment I decided to board this ship, I was prepared. No matter what happens in the future, I will face it alongside you all. Now that our captain has killed a Celestial Dragon, there's no doubt we'll face plenty of trouble in the future. The captain's strength is unquestionable, we don't need to worry about him. But we, on the other hand, are lagging behind. If we don't start improving ourselves, we'll just be a burden to Takumi. You don't want to rely on him to save you every time, right?"
Kaku's words left Enel silent once again.
It's true... Even though not all Vice Admirals in the world are on Garp's level, Enel had witnessed firsthand the strength of an Admiral. And then there was one of the Four Emperors, Whitebeard. They were all incredibly powerful figures.
With his current strength, the hope of defeating them wasn't very high.
Though he had grown comfortable with his lack of ambition, if his strength stopped improving, there was a real chance Takumi might get fed up with him one day and kick him off the ship...
After thinking it over, Enel made a decision, "Alright, let's go with your plan."
And just like that, the two of them happily reached an agreement.
Takumi didn't pay attention to their conversation, so he had no idea what the two were plotting.
In the following days, except for encountering a few unexpected bursts of bad weather, the journey went smoothly.
Soon, the ship flew into a perfectly calm and tranquil sea.
Takumi glanced at the system navigation, noting that they were close to Amazon Lily. It wouldn't take more than half an hour to reach the island.
"We're in the Calm Belt now," Kaku said as he stepped onto the deck. Looking at the eerily peaceful sea, he said worriedly, "I've heard Amazon Lily is in the Calm Belt, so we must be getting close."
"The Calm Belt?" Enel suddenly recalled something he read in a magazine, "Isn't that the gathering place of Sea Kings?"
Kaku nodded, "That's right."
Turning to Takumi, who was still fishing at the bow of the ship, Kaku said with some exasperation, "In a place where Sea Kings gather, there shouldn't be any fish to catch, right?"
Takumi remained calm, "Kaku, get ready."
Kaku blinked in confusion, "Get ready for what?"
Takumi smirked, "We're having Sea King for lunch."
As he spoke, Takumi swiftly reeled in his line, pulling the baited hook from the calm waters. Suddenly, a massive wave rolled in, and from the heart of the turbulent water, a ten-meter-long, red, centipede-like Sea King emerged.
"Uh..." Kaku's face stiffened with an awkward smile. "Is that a centipede? You can't eat those, right?"
"Be patient, there's more," Takumi said casually.
Suddenly, five more bizarre-looking Sea Kings surfaced around the centipede. Among them, a massive Sea Cow stood out, looking much more edible than the others.
Takumi pointed at the Sea Cow and said, "That one's yours, Kaku. Enel can handle the rest."
"Uh, fighting Sea Kings?" Kaku smiled wryly.
Meanwhile, Enel had already begun twirling his golden staff, striking the drums on his back twice. A Thunderbird shot out from the drum, piercing through the centipede-like Sea King closest to them.
However, the attack didn't do much damage to the Sea King.
"Heh, looks like these Sea Kings are more resilient than I thought," Enel smirked. He struck his drums again, this time unleashing a 60-million-volt Thunder Dragon.
When the Thunder Dragon pierced the centipede Sea King's body, the creature was thoroughly electrified, immediately losing consciousness and crashing heavily into the calm sea, causing a massive splash.
As for the other Sea Kings, they ignored their fallen comrade and surrounded the ship from all sides, preparing to attack.
Seeing no way to avoid the battle, Kaku sighed helplessly and unsheathed two newly purchased swords from Sabaody. Standing on the edge of the ship, he asked Enel, "There are still five left. Can you handle four of them on your own?"
Enel scoffed, "A few measly Sea Kings? To a god like me, they're nothing but trash."
"Other than Takumi, you think everyone is trash..." Kaku muttered before leaping high into the air, landing precisely on the head of the giant Sea Cow, which was still about thirty or forty meters away from the ship.
Kaku's jumping ability never failed to impress.
Meanwhile, Enel manipulated the electricity from his body to control a chimney-like structure on the ship's top deck. Black mist spewed from the chimney, rising into the sky and forming a massive storm cloud filled with crackling lightning, about 100 meters above the ship.
This device was something Enel used to amplify his large-scale attacks. He had only used it once back on Skypiea and hadn't needed it since.
"Yahahaha! Let's see how you like the taste of endless lightning!" Enel laughed maniacally, raising his golden staff toward the cloud. Instantly, countless bolts of terrifying lightning rained down, avoiding the ship and striking the approaching Sea Kings directly.
"Endless Lightning" was a wide-area attack. Each individual lightning strike wasn't particularly powerful, weaker even than the Thunderbird, but being hit by dozens or even hundreds of bolts at once was no joke.
Soon, the struck Sea Kings were writhing in agony, letting out deafening roars.
The calm sea became turbulent as the Sea Kings' thrashing caused waves to rise.
Thankfully, the ship was flying above the sea, so it wasn't affected by the waves, though some spray still splashed onto the deck.
Enel was enjoying the sight of his enemies suffering, so much so that he completely forgot about his weakness as a Devil Fruit user. A wave splashed him directly in the face, drenching him. In an instant, his strength drained from his body, and with a loud thud, he collapsed onto the now-soaked deck.
On the other side, Kaku combined the Six Powers with his swordsmanship, putting in some effort to fulfill Takumi's task. After cutting a large chunk of meat from the Sea Cow, he returned to the ship, only to find Enel lying on the deck. Thinking they were under attack, he quickly jumped onto the ship from the Sea Cow's corpse.
Kaku set down the Sea Cow meat and hurried to check on Enel.
When he saw that Enel was drenched in seawater, and the deck was soaked as well, Kaku facepalmed, sighing, "You're a Devil Fruit user, how could you forget you can't touch seawater?"
Meanwhile, on the shores of Amazon Lily.
"Hey, look over there, something's strange with the sky."
A short-haired woman in a bikini, her hair orange, pointed to a distant storm cloud with surprise.
Her two companions, also in bikinis, gazed at the cloud, their faces showing similar astonishment.
One of them, a brown-haired woman with long, wavy locks, took out a telescope and looked toward the cloud. When she saw a ship flying above the sea, surrounded by Sea Kings, she was stunned. "Uh, is that ship flying? That's insane! Quick, someone report this to Lady Hancock! I'll keep watch here!"
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