Chapter 237: Heavenly Phenomenon: Judgment of Thunder!
The Thousand Sunny floated at the edge of the battlefield like a strangely tranquil oasis within the eye of a storm.
The deck trembled faintly from the muffled explosions echoing in the distance, mixed with the lingering reverberations of clashing steel and bursting lightning.
Luffy lounged lazily atop the grassy deck, a foxtail weed spinning idly between his teeth.
His Observation Haki spread across the battlefield with unprecedented precision.
He sensed the trajectory of Zoro's slashes, the instant adjustments Sanji made after being predicted, the subtle tremor in Yamato's body after direct clashes, Law's surgical tactical network—
And above all…
The boundless aura of Golden Lion Shiki, vast and terrifying like the eye of a storm.
"Man…"
His muffled muttering was suddenly interrupted by an explosive roar that sounded like the earth itself howling.
"ROOOOAAARRR—!!!!"
It wasn't a beast's cry.
It was the terrifying tidal wave formed from thousands upon thousands of savage roars converging together.
The sound came from the far edge of the floating island.
Even across such a great distance, it still made the Sunny's hull vibrate violently.
"T-That is…?!"
Nami, Uta, and Franky all turned simultaneously toward the source of the noise.
In the distant horizon, a colossal wall of dust surged upward like a brown tidal wave rolling toward them.
Within the dust cloud were countless gigantic and grotesque silhouettes.
Winged saber-toothed tigers.
Two-headed rhinoceroses clad in bony armor.
Scaled monstrosities spitting corrosive acid.
All of them were horrifying beasts mutated through the brutal stimulation of IQ plants, their genes twisted beyond recognition.
Their crimson eyes contained nothing but destruction and hunger.
Together, they formed a devastating stampede rushing directly toward the mansion.
At a glance—
There were over ten thousand of them.
The ground shattered beneath their advance, and every structure in their path was flattened instantly.
"This is bad…"
Nami's face instantly paled.
As a navigator, she possessed an instinctive understanding of scale and destructive force.
"The impact from a beast tide this size… could destroy an entire unarmed nation within hours!"
"No problem! Leave it to SUPER me!!"
Franky slammed his steel chest with a loud clang, mechanical calculations flashing through his eyes.
At that moment—
Tap.
A soft landing sound echoed.
Luffy stood up.
At some point, he had already spat out the foxtail grass.
Stretching lazily, his joints cracked sharply one after another.
The eyes that had been focused on the distant battlefield now completely shifted toward the approaching beast tide.
There was none of Nami's concern in them.
Nor Franky's excitement.
Only pure curiosity—
And eager anticipation.
Three months.
Ever since that ultimate battle where he and Kaido had wagered everything against each other, he hadn't truly stretched his body properly.
His crewmates growing stronger was a good thing.
But deep inside him, that instinctive craving for battle, challenge, and testing his own limits had long since begun stirring restlessly again.
Shiki wasn't his opponent this time.
So how could he possibly pass up this little appetizer in front of him?
He rolled his wrist casually, his rubber arm stretching and snapping back into place.
Then his gaze swept across his waiting crewmates.
"Nami."
"Huh? Yeah?!"
Nami responded instinctively, still focused on calculating the beast tide's scale.
"Lend me your Clima-Tact."
Nami: "…Huh???"
She whipped her head around, convinced she'd misheard him.
The Clima-Tact?
That was her personal weapon, created through the combination of Weatheria meteorological science and Sky Island weather technology. It required precise manipulation and advanced climate knowledge to use properly.
Since when did Luffy know how to use technical weather weapons?!
Uta poked her head out from the engine room entrance, equally confused.
Even Franky paused mid-motion while adjusting his steel arm.
Looking at Nami's widened eyes, Luffy grinned broadly, revealing a row of white teeth.
"Don't worry. I'll give it right back."
Nami stared at the crimson-gold light blazing in Luffy's eyes.
Then she glanced toward the monstrous beast tide rapidly approaching beneath a sky-choking cloud of dust.
Gritting her teeth, she tossed the three-section Clima-Tact toward him without hesitation.
"Don't break it! It was expensive!"
"Got it!"
Luffy caught the Clima-Tact easily and weighed it in his hand.
"Well then…"
"Guess I'll say hello first."
Before the sentence even finished—
His figure vanished from the deck.
The next second, Luffy appeared directly above the center of the beast tide as though he had teleported.
Below him churned a sea of mutated monsters.
Twisted roars, savage claws, rolling dust, and the stench of blood and decay surged upward.
A violent wind exploded outward from his position, causing his black coat to whip wildly around him.
Against the backdrop of thousands upon thousands of mountain-sized beasts, his figure appeared incredibly small.
And yet—
That "smallness" carried an overwhelming presence that towered above all living things.
"Then let me see…"
Luffy lowered his gaze and grinned wildly.
Crimson-gold flames burned within his eyes.
"…just where the limit of this 'Mythical Thunder' really is!!"
The instant his words fell—
BZZZZZT—!!!
A deep, savage black lightning erupted violently from every cell in his body.
Black arcs of electricity danced wildly, producing shrill screams that scorched the air itself.
Where the lightning passed, even light seemed distorted and swallowed whole.
The overwhelming heat and destructive aura instantly charred the feathers of several flying monsters nearby, causing them to crash screaming to the ground.
The Clima-Tact in Luffy's hand trembled violently under the torrent of power flooding into it, producing ominous vibrations as though reaching its limit.
"Still not enough…"
"ALL OF IT—GET IN THERE!!"
Luffy roared.
The black lightning around his body surged like rivers converging into the sea, pouring furiously into the tip of the Clima-Tact where it compressed further and further.
And then—
He raised the Clima-Tact high toward the heavens.
SKREEEEEEEEE—!!!!
A colossal pillar of pure black lightning over ten meters wide blasted upward like a reverse-falling meteor, piercing directly into the storm clouds above.
The instant it struck—
HUMMMMMM—!!!
The world fell silent.
Then the clouds began to churn violently under an irresistible force.
A gigantic vortex over 10,000 meters wide formed high in the sky—
Composed entirely of writhing black lightning.
Its center was a bottomless abyss, like a gateway leading directly into divine punishment itself.
Countless gigantic black lightning serpents danced around its edges.
The vortex illuminated the twisted faces of the beast tide below—
And reflected off the suddenly grim face of Golden Lion Shiki battling in the distance.
Luffy stood directly beneath the vortex at the center of the beast tide, holding the Clima-Tact as though it were physically connected to the heavens themselves.
"Heavenly Phenomenon…"
"Judgment of Thunder."
Then—
He casually swung the Clima-Tact downward toward the beast tide below.
As effortlessly as brushing dust from his shoulder.
BOOOOOOOOOOM—!!!!!!!!!!!
The heavens shattered.
At the center of the vortex, it was as though the gates to a divine thunder realm had burst open.
Countless black bolts of judgment rained downward in a cataclysmic storm made entirely of destruction.
"ROOOOAR—!!!"
The gigantic armored rhinoceros at the front barely managed a single howl of terror before being struck directly by black lightning—
And erased completely.
Not even ashes remained.
Then came the second.
The third.
The fourth.
Screams instantly merged into an ocean of despair before being drowned out by the apocalyptic thunderstorm.
Under the all-encompassing "judgment," the beast tide visibly evaporated at a horrifying speed.
In mere moments—
A massive portion of the monster horde that had once covered the horizon and threatened entire nations was completely annihilated.
Luffy slowly lowered the Clima-Tact as the black lightning around his body gradually faded.
He glanced at the slightly warm weapon in his hand, then at the scorched wasteland below—the "land of divine punishment" he had personally created.
Scratching his head, he muttered:
"Ah… guess I overdid it a little."
"This move's pretty exhausting."
His figure flashed once more as he returned to the Thousand Sunny's deck, tossing the Clima-Tact back toward Nami, who still stood frozen in shock.
"Here. Thanks!"
Then he yawned and walked back toward the grassy deck area as though he had merely gone for a short stroll.
Nami stiffly caught the Clima-Tact.
It was still warm.
She stared at the smoking wasteland in the distance where even the terrain itself had been altered.
"…Can the Clima-Tact actually do THAT?!"
Franky's metal jaw hung open for several seconds before finally snapping shut.
"SUPER… freakish!!"
Uta's eyes sparkled brightly as she lunged forward and grabbed Luffy's arm.
"Luffy! That attack was amazing! Do it again! Use it as a special effect for my concert!"
Luffy blinked.
"Huh? No way. Too tiring."
"You damned brat… what the hell are you doing?!"
Golden Lion Shiki's furious roar overwhelmed every other sound on the battlefield.
He lowered his head sharply, golden mane-like hair hanging messily around his face, stained with dirt and blood.
The golden cloak symbolizing his glory and ambition had already been torn to shreds.
Blood dripped from the blades of Oto and Kogarashi—his sword-legs—onto the floating earth below.
The legendary pirate of the old era looked more battered than ever before.
But then—
"Jih… hahahaha…"
A low laugh escaped his throat.
At first restrained.
Then rapidly swelling into pure madness.
He slowly raised his head.
Between the hanging strands of golden hair, bloodshot eyes snapped open violently.
"JIHAHAHAHAHAHA—!!!"
His laughter exploded across the battlefield.
"The gift I spent twenty years preparing for the World Government…!!!"
Shiki's voice was hoarse—
Yet cold enough to freeze souls.
This wasn't mere killing intent.
It was the ultimate madness born from burning away an entire lifetime of ambition, humiliation, hatred, and sanity itself.
And just as that destructive energy was about to spiral completely out of control—
"Golden Lion…"
A calm, steady voice suddenly cut into the center of the storm.
"…You're getting a little too full of yourself."
Before the words even finished—
BZZT—BOOM!!
The air beside Shiki's right cheek suddenly exploded with blue-white lightning.
Sanji appeared like a phantom from one of ROOM's folded spatial points.
It was the exact instant Shiki's fury caused fluctuations in his Observation Haki.
"Diable Jambe: Flanchet Strike — Flash!!"
Wrapped in explosive lightning, Sanji's kick slammed directly into Shiki's face with absolutely no wasted motion.
Time seemed to freeze for an instant.
Shiki's manic grin twisted violently.
Disbelief exploded within his eyes.
He hadn't even managed to block or dodge.
The Future Sight he relied upon had developed a fatal lapse.
BOOOOOM—!!!!
A horrifying impact rang out alongside the subtle sound of cracking bones.
Shiki's head snapped violently to the side as his body transformed into a golden blur launched backward at incredible speed.
The compressed air behind him exploded into visible white shockwave trails like rolling thunder.
"GUH—!!"
Twisting his body forcefully in midair, Shiki dragged his sword-legs through the sky in a shower of sparks before finally stopping several hundred meters away.
Blood and saliva sprayed from his mouth.
Several shattered teeth flew outward in miserable arcs before vanishing into the clouds below.
For the first time—
Golden Lion Shiki looked truly miserable.
He slowly wiped blood from his mouth with his sleeve and raised his head again.
One side of his face had visibly swollen, a clear shoeprint imprinted across it.
Yet the madness in his eyes only intensified further.
His gaze locked onto Sanji floating nearby.
Sanji stared back calmly and spoke word by word.
"As a legendary pirate…"
"…you should understand this better than anyone."
He slowly raised his right foot once more as lightning began gathering around it again.
His gaze sharpened like a blade.
"Observation Haki…"
"Especially advanced applications like Future Sight…"
"…require—"
"Absolute calm."
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