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If Arthur's memory served him right, the Op-Op Fruit had definitely surfaced in the North Blue.
Historically, a former Marine officer named Diez Barrels had taken it to Minion Island, intending to trade it with the World Government for 5 billion Berries. In the end, Corazon—Donquixote Rosinante—stole it and force-fed it to a young, terminally ill Trafalgar Law.
The general trends of the world remained, but the details had been altered beyond recognition. Arthur's arrival had changed too much. He couldn't gamble on the Op-Op Fruit following its original trajectory. Nor could he gamble on whether the World Government actually had it, even if the chances were slim.
He had placed too much hope on this fruit to let it slip away.
"You are correct, Lord Thunder Emperor. The Op-Op Fruit is indeed in the hands of the World Government!"
Stussy looked brightly at Arthur's indifferent face, not surprised in the least by his declaration of war.
"There is a wondrous place on Ruluka Island called the Rainbow Mist. Time inside is distorted. Those who enter might emerge the next moment as withered old men, or they might never return at all. Some are sent back to the past, others flung into the future... The Five Elders have said they will have someone take the Op-Op Fruit and throw it into the Rainbow Mist."
"If Lord Thunder Emperor does not go there to retrieve it, then I regret to say that you and the Op-Op Fruit are not destined to be together!"
Arthur had never hidden his determination to acquire the fruit. Stussy couldn't understand why the Thunder Emperor, who already possessed the invincible Rumble-Rumble Fruit, was so desperate for the Op-Op Fruit. But she could feel it clearly—he was hellbent on getting it.
"I see!" Arthur narrowed his eyes. Instead of getting angry, he laughed.
"So the World Government wants to ambush me on Ruluka Island? Wahahahaha! I have to hand it to you—you've got me by the balls!"
The Rainbow Mist. Distorted time. The graveyard of ships. If the World Government truly had the fruit and was ruthless enough to toss it in, what then?
Even knowing it was a trap, he had to go. That fruit was the key to his future ascension as the "God of Everything."
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit gave him power at the apex. The Op-Op Fruit would allow him to transcend.
"Show me the way!" Arthur grabbed Stussy coldly, ready to take flight.
He had just developed a world-ending attack—the Positron Cannon. It was only fitting to use a few high-ranking World Government officials as test subjects to christen it.
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SPLASH! WHOOSH!
Kaido swam ten times faster than the Navy's fastest warship. His extreme speed generated a massive tsunami that surged ahead of him.
His ferocious face was twisted with rage. The humiliation burned him. Just thinking about his near-death experience two years ago made his blood boil uncontrollably.
"I've reached the Thunder God Sea. I'm going to beat the Thunder Emperor to death and wash away this shame... Hm? What the hell is that thing flying over my head?"
Kaido muttered to himself, suddenly spotting a chubby little figure in an orange outfit flying above him. The propeller on the boy's head and feet spun rapidly.
"You dare fly over my head? Get down here!!"
Kaido, already in a foul mood, needed no reason to explode. He threw his head back and roared. The shockwave of his bellow blasted the flying figure out of the sky like a swatting hand.
"I'm done for! I'm totally done for-ing!"
Buffalo, carrying the Float-Float Fruit sent by Doflamingo, plummeted from the sky, screaming in terror.
His flailing hands lost their grip on the fruit. It arced through the air and landed right in front of Kaido.
"What is this? A Devil Fruit??" Kaido's bovine eyes widened. He reached out to stuff the fruit into his robe, intending to ignore it and continue his rampage toward the center of the Thunder God Sea.
Just then...
"Kaido. You haven't shown your face in two years, and now you dare barge into my territory? Did you grow a spine again? Leave the fruit and get lost. Don't get in my way—I have business to attend to!"
Lightning flashed in the clouds. Arthur descended from the sky, having flown from Punk Hazard to the edge of his territory. Stussy followed closely behind him, smiling pleasantly.
Under the scope of his Observation Haki, Arthur identified the fruit in Kaido's hand as Shiki's Float-Float Fruit. The spinning boy who had fallen from the sky bore the mark of the Donquixote Pirates. He was undoubtedly the courier Doflamingo had sent.
"THUNDER EMPEROR!!!"
Hearing the voice that haunted his nightmares, Kaido snapped his head up, glaring furiously at the sky.
"I'M GOING TO TEAR YOU APART!!"
Rage instantly consumed his reason. He gripped the Float-Float Fruit he was holding and hurled it violently at the sky like a rock...
WHOOSH!
The Devil Fruit turned into a streak of light.
Arthur didn't dodge. He calmly reached out, caught the projectile, neutralized its immense momentum, and casually tossed it into his Castle-Castle storage bracelet. He looked down indifferently.
"You want a warm-up before I deal with the World Government? You want to be the first to taste the power of the Positron Cannon?"
"BRING IT ON, YOU FOOL!!"
Arthur ignored Stussy's presence completely. He didn't care about hiding his trump card. Keeping secrets? Why bother?
Even if they knew about his ace, what could they do? They were helpless against it.
Besides, Stussy was smart. As long as she was by Arthur's side, she would never have the chance to leak information.
"God's Judgment—Positron Cannon!!"
A sliver of purplish-red electric light bloomed at Arthur's fingertip. In an instant, it blasted toward the top of Kaido's head, a thousand meters away.
'It's not that attack from before... trying to tickle me?' Kaido thought, relieved it wasn't the Plasma Cannon.
But in the next split second, his terrifying, beast-like instincts saved his life again.
Not good. If I take this, I die right here.
The moment the thought flashed through his mind, a flicker of genuine panic cut through Kaido's rage. Without hesitation, he jerked his massive head to the side.
The Positron Cannon released from Arthur's finger reacted violently with every negative electron in the air. It was like a laser cutting through the sky, leaving a blinding, brilliant line of light in its wake.
Silently.
Without a sound, one of Kaido's massive horns—harder than steel, tougher than his own body—simply ceased to exist. It was annihilated into thin air.
It was as if nothing had happened.
Kaido turned his head, raised a hand blankly, and touched the top of his skull. His eyes grew wider and wider. His face filled with disbelief.
"NO!! Fake! It's all fake!"
Screaming like a madman, Kaido turned and fled the Thunder God Sea at the fastest speed of his life.
One strike from a distance, and Kaido was scared into a frenzy.
"What kind of terrifying attack was that??"
Beside Arthur, a trace of genuine fear appeared in Stussy's seductive eyes.
"How can such a horrific ability exist? Even Whitebeard, with the power to destroy the world, couldn't kill Kaido... The World Government is helpless against him... yet you..."
The world-ending power of the Positron Cannon shook Stussy's belief in the absolute supremacy of the World Government to its very core.
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