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"God's Judgment!!"

The lightning roiled and hissed, gathering in the palm of Arthur's hand. It compressed, building to a critical mass, before erupting outward—a thick, blinding pillar of pure voltage that filled the entire tunnel, blasting forward without a shred of mercy.

Blazing electric light flooded the corridor. The sheer volume of power had nowhere to escape, detonating violently within the confined space.

RUMBLE!

The structure groaned and failed. Unable to bear the weight of the collapsing rock from all sides, the steel load-bearing pillars buckled under the strain. The ceiling came crashing down, burying hundreds of Revolutionary soldiers beneath tons of rock and earth.

Shielding Vegapunk within a field of static, Arthur shot up through a fissure in the earth, landing back on the surface of Baltigo.

The slaughter below was nothing more than a transaction fee—a trivial price extracted from Dragon for his arrogance. Arthur didn't give the dead a second thought.

It was only a few hundred men. For an organization hell-bent on overthrowing the World Government, such a loss was a drop in the bucket. Zealous recruits could be found anywhere, easily replaced.

However, Arthur had intentionally spared Fisher Tiger.

It wasn't out of mercy, nor an inability to kill him; he could have vaporized the fish-man in an instant. No, he let him live because Arthur intended to crash the party at Mary Geoise himself.

The liberation of the slaves—it was an event destined to shake the world to its core.

In truth, Arthur didn't need Fisher Tiger. He could have stormed the Red Line alone. The sheer thrill of attacking the World Government, an entity that had stood unchallenged for eight hundred years… it was an intoxicating thought.

But there was a risk.

If he went on a rampage, he would inevitably clash with the hidden guardians of the Holy Land—the monsters lurking in the shadows of Mary Geoise. In that chaos, there was no guarantee he could protect the fleeing slaves—specifically, the one who would eventually eat the Luck-Luck Fruit: Baccarat.

He didn't even know if she was part of the group escaping with Gild Tesoro. If she died in the shockwaves of his battle with the Government's defenders, the lead on the Luck-Luck Fruit would be severed cold.

The value of that fruit was incalculable. Arthur had already mapped out its use. Imagine having a crew member eat it, absorb enough luck, and then simply go out searching for other Devil Fruits. It wouldn't be a hundred percent guarantee, but it would certainly tip the scales in their favor.

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Standing on a massive slab of iron he'd ripped from the base, Arthur adjusted his magnetic field and lifted off, carrying Vegapunk away from the White Soil Island.

"You aren't going to sink the island?" Vegapunk asked, puzzled. He couldn't quite read Arthur's mind.

"No need. Destroying it is meaningless," Arthur explained. "Now that their headquarters has been discovered, do you think they'll stay? They'll be packing up and moving to a new base before the dust settles."

As for sparing Fisher Tiger, that was a minor detail not worth mentioning.

Purupurupuru… Purupuru…

The Den Den Mushi in his pocket rang. Its eyes were sharp and red, and it wore a pilot's cap. Arthur answered it while steering his floating iron platform.

"Shiryu?"

"Captain. The mission failed," Shiryu's voice came through, flat and calm.

"What stopped you?" Arthur wasn't particularly invested in the success of such a minor task, but he couldn't imagine anyone in the East Blue capable of blocking Shiryu.

"I met an opponent with… considerable charisma. Red-Haired Shanks," Shiryu said, acknowledging the man's standing with a rare solemnity.

"Is that so… Shanks is already that strong, yet he still hasn't entered the New World?"

Arthur had never underestimated a man like Shanks, but he was surprised the redhead could hold off the current Shiryu.

"What I can't understand," Shiryu continued, "is that a man of his caliber sacrificed an arm for the sake of a child. He said he was betting that arm on the 'New Era'."

"Oh?"

Arthur was genuinely surprised. Even with the timeline shifted by years, Shanks hadn't changed his fate. He had still become the guide for Luffy's path.

Arthur personally preferred the stoic masculinity of Zoro, but he had never looked down on Luffy.

Many hated the kid, thought he was a troublemaker who only survived because of Garp and Dragon. They missed the point. They ignored the brilliance that shone within him.

It wasn't just hot-blooded determination or stubbornness. Luffy had a unique quality: respect.

Whether friend or foe, righteous or evil, he respected his opponents. He respected Bellamy's dreams. He respected Hancock's secret, covering the mark on her back with his own body. He respected Katakuri, covering his mouth with his hat.

And the reward for that respect was loyalty. A man like Katakuri, who had never let his back touch the ground, chose to fall on his back in defeat out of respect for Luffy.

That was charisma. That was the power Shanks saw—a charm only previously seen in Roger. That was why he bet on Luffy to lead the new era.

"Now I'm even more curious," Arthur said, hanging up the snail. A smile played on his lips. He felt a bit like Mihawk must have felt when Shanks told him about the kid—an urge to go see this anomaly for himself.

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RUMBLE!!

The weather on the Grand Line was fickle. One moment, clear skies; the next, dark clouds gathered, and thunder roared.

The sky turned a bruised black, and the air grew heavy with moisture, promising a torrential downpour. As the master of lightning, this terrifying display of nature didn't faze Arthur; it invigorated him.

Vegapunk stood in the gale, savoring the salty air. "Can you control electrons yet?"

Arthur sat on the iron slab, habitually manipulating faint electric charges. "It's difficult, but I'm getting there. Just a few more months, step by step."

By then, his voltage might naturally reach the terrifying level of one billion volts.

"If you master the electron, the attacks you develop will be unstoppable. Even Kaido's body won't be able to withstand them," Vegapunk said, supremely confident in science.

Arthur's old attacks were too crude—brute-forcing voltage and amperage to clear out small fry, but failing against true monsters. It was a waste of the fruit's potential.

"Knowledge is power," Vegapunk said with a faint smile.

"Maybe so." Arthur listened with interest.

Suddenly, his Haki picked up something ahead. Below the cloud layer, a massive ship was flying at high speed.

He turned his head, contemplating for a moment. "There's a poor soul ahead, eliminated by the era. Let's go take a look."

It was a ship the size of a small island, carved entirely from stone. Oars protruded from the sides like the legs of a centipede, and the deck was filled with ornate pavilions and palaces.

The flagship of the Golden Lion Pirates.

The Flying Pirate, Shiki.

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