To the vast expanse of the heavens, six hundred meters was not a large space.
Even for sky pirates, at their most crowded, six hundred meters could only fit a few dozen people.
After all, aerial battles demanded freedom—sky pirates fought in open space, darting and weaving like falcons.
But what if—this strike pierced straight through the sea of clouds itself?
The surviving sky pirates stared in horror at where their flagship, the Waver, had once been. A gaping hole a hundred meters wide had been blown open.
The sea of clouds?
It was gone.
Now there was only a vast black pit, bottomless, and from its edge one could even glimpse the White Sea below.
Blinding lightning had vaporized the clouds by the millions of tons, its unbearable heat erasing layer after layer of vaporous sky.
Even the Divine Punishment Type-1 Cannon couldn't do this—it could only carve at the edge of a cloud island, never bore through the entire sea of clouds.
The entire battlefield fell into a strange, deathly silence.
Every sky pirate who'd been charging forward froze, their gazes locked on the fading afterglow of the lightning strike. Terror gnawed at their sanity.
What kind of destruction was this? What kind of power?
Had the god of Weatheria himself descended?
'So that's all it takes to shatter the cloud sea…'
Ren hovered high above, equally surprised. The thunderbolt he had unleashed had been condensed from the remnants of the thunderclouds forged during the creation of the Angels of Glory.
Its scale and lightning density weren't even that high.
But since the cloud sea wasn't solid ground—its substance feather-light by nature—a single divine strike like that was enough.
If unleashed on land, the blow might only have been about one-fifth stronger than the one he'd used back in Alabasta.
Still—
For the people of the Sky Islands, this was already terrifying beyond measure.
"B-Boss… are they—are they dead…?"
One pirate spoke hoarsely, mind blank with shock.
If their leader was dead, what was the point of continuing to fight?
Before anyone could answer, dazzling golden starlight flared again.
The cold, merciless Angels of Glory moved as if they were perfect machines.
No compassion. No hesitation. No errors.
Golden beams raked across the battlefield, burning flesh to ash and boiling the sea of clouds itself.
"Run!"
"Heso!"
The sky pirates broke completely, scattering in blind panic.
"War units cooling—formation pattern: six per squad. Commence extermination."
The command from Angel of Glory 001 echoed through their psychic network.
The numbered angels instantly reorganized into small teams, wings vibrating as they dove down.
From the black thunderclouds above, lightning bolts fell in rhythm—striking not to harm, but to empower.
Messengers of Light and Flame—Lightning Drawers—
The Angels' wings blazed gold; vents in their armor spat tongues of fire as their speed surged past a hundred meters per second.
Like golden meteors, they streaked across the heavens.
The fleeing pirates looked back in despair—the entire sky had become a shower of golden stars raining death.
"Unrighteous ones!"
Angel 002 raised her Chainsaw Sword, calling lightning into its spinning teeth until molten heat glowed red-white—then she swung.
The pirate who tried to block with his shield was cleaved cleanly in two, man and metal alike melting at the edges.
"Crush them all!"
Under those cries, the Angels of Glory became hunting hounds, pursuing and slaughtering every fleeing foe.
Three hundred angels—each one fighting three enemies at most. For them, it was nothing.
Among them, Vivi's blue hair streamed in the wind as she chased sky pirates through the chaos.
Her control over sand had grown sharper and faster. The training in the Imaginary Chamber under Crocodile's brutal guidance had been hellish—
fail a task? Die.
fail to execute a move correctly? Die.
He'd cut her down with sand whenever she faltered, mercilessly.
Yet because of that, and her own fierce determination to surpass him, her growth had skyrocketed.
"Sables!"
Vivi spread her delicate hands—wind and sand surged forth, swallowing a group of pirates a hundred meters away.
Their screams were brief; golden Angels swooped past, finishing them off cleanly.
They flicked the blood from their blades, turned, and saluted Vivi—left fists pressed to chests.
She blinked, then mimicked the gesture with an awkward smile as they flew off.
The tide of battle had shifted entirely toward Ren's side. Victory was in sight.
But then—
The wind changed.
At the edge of that massive hole through the clouds, violent gales gathered.
From the swirling currents emerged four battered figures—God of Beist, scorched black but alive, and three companions using him as a shield.
Wind-rider, Prism, and Cloud-mist.
Cloudmist reacted first, summoning a dense platform of cloud beneath them—only thanks to that did Beist recover enough to move, and the other two escape death.
"Damn it, that attack came from the sky! Lightning!? Did Enel of Skypiea join the fight!?"
Windchaser cursed, clutching a circular device spewing air currents that kept them aloft.
Radiant Light silently gripped two dials in each hand; Cloudmist did the same.
They scanned the battlefield—their side was annihilated.
It was over. They had no hope of victory.
All that remained was survival.
"Impressive… they actually lived through that."
High above, the Six-Winged Angel looked down, face expressionless.
Truly, the people of this world were strange—unable to withstand even musket fire, yet somehow their bodies endured catastrophes like these.
"Who are you?"
Radiant Light lifted a tone dial to his lips, amplifying his voice like a broadcast.
"Enel of Skypiea! This war has nothing to do with you!"
Ren turned his palm upward, summoning the Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge.
"The war's already begun. What's the point in talking? I'm just a mercenary. If you don't die, I can't report back to my employer."
"Heh… you might not be able to kill us that easily!"
The one who spoke—was Beist himself. His charred flesh cracked and split, revealing fresh, pink muscle beneath.
The resilience of a Zoan fruit user was terrifying indeed.
"Then try me."
"Gladly!"
Beist's wings spread as he lunged skyward. Windchaser spun his airflow disk, stirring up a raging storm.
Radiant Light and Cloudmist melted into the haze, waiting for their chance to strike.
Thunder crackled in the clouds; lightning coiled under Ren's command, shaped by the Thunder Spear.
He wasn't taking them seriously—merely testing new techniques.
One by one, the Mana Crystals at his belt shattered.
Thunder's Protection!
Electrocution!
Soul Trap!
Beist and Windchaser were instantly marked within the area of effect. Countless bolts of lightning solidified into blades that rained down from the heavens.
"Divine Wrath: Myriad Bolts!"
Thousands of thunder-swords fell like rain, roaring like divine fury.
Beist turned into a giant condor, shielding his allies as he dove toward the Six-Winged Angel.
Wind blades howled, clashing with the descending lightning.
Within Windchaser's disk, another, even greater attack was charging—his weapon combined multiple rare dials, far beyond the Type-1 cannon's level.
Cloudmist and Radiant Light, however, were cut off by the storm—they couldn't even approach the lightning-filled sky.
Not that they would have for long.
Because Zoro had arrived.
The small cross pendant on his chest gleamed with Riptide Enchantment, jets of air spurting from the soles of his black boots.
Guided by his Shikigami, the swordsman found Radiant Light's position.
"You look bored. Care for a fight?"
Standing on a tuft of Island Cloud, Zoro glared coldly into the mist.
"Arrogant fool—"
A burst of yellow light flared from Radiant Light's palm.
Flash Dial!
In the next instant, he tore open the pouches across his chest—hundreds of Slash Dials unleashed a storm of cutting waves.
Two-Sword Style: Bull Needle!
Zoro's blades flared, breaking through the storm point-by-point. He turned his head slightly, and the net of slash waves split apart.
"Pathetic tricks."
"Effective ones are enough!" Radiant Light hissed, yanking open another pouch.
Heat Dials pressed against his skin, Burn Dials embedded within the reinforced cloth—
He transformed into a blazing chariot of fire, charging headlong.
"Hot-Car Cannon!"
Three-Sword Style: Oni Giri!
Three black arcs flashed past, blood blooming like crimson fireworks.
Zoro slid to a stop, sheathing his blades in one smooth motion.
"Too weak. Three swords are wasted on you."
Behind him, Radiant Light collapsed, eyes rolling white, falling into his own blood.
Elsewhere, Vivi stood trembling before Cloudmist, who conjured a thick, swirling cloud in her palm.
She looked terrifyingly strong.
Why… why did Vivi have to be the one to face her!?
"Little girl, surrender. Otherwise, you'll drown in this swamp-cloud!"
Cloudmist smirked. She sensed weakness—a soft target.
"…No! I won't let Ren down!"
Vivi bit her lip, eyes hardening.
She had joined this group to repay Alabasta's debt—but deep down, she'd wanted adventure too.
These people had treated her kindly. They trained relentlessly.
Even without Ren's orders, she refused to back down. She needed to prove herself.
"Sand Eye!"
Vivi spread her hands—the Suna Suna no Mi activated. Dust condensed into sand, swirling with fierce wind.
"Fool!"
Cloudmist darted forward, mocking smile on her face. She flicked her palm—creating an Explosion Cloud!
"Die!"
But the cloud drifted, caught by Vivi's sandstorm—then vanished harmlessly in her grasp.
"What—what!?" Cloudmist froze.
So did Vivi—then her eyes lit up.
"Your explosion cloud… it's still just cloud, right? Cloud is made of water vapor!"
Her sandstorm exploded outward, tearing toward Cloudmist.
No matter what type of cloud her enemy conjured, the moisture was instantly sucked away.
Explosion Cloud—nullified.
Swamp Cloud—nullified.
Reflect Cloud—nullified!
In Cloudmist's horrified gaze, Vivi swung her arm—a Crescent Dune blade of sand slashed through her body.
No wound—just a dry husk left behind.
"Not bad at all."
Zoro halted nearby, appearing out of nowhere.
He even offered rare praise before glancing toward the stormy heavens.
High above, two dark figures still struggled toward the blazing light.
Beist spread his wings, bestial eyes locked on the radiant angel.
Too bright. Snuff him out.
Windchaser twisted his disk—Jet Dials roaring at full power.
The compressed wind formed a vortex, then shot forward as a raging blade of air—
Tempest Sword!
The airflow reached twenty-five meters per second, enough to shred anything in its path.
'Interesting… but not enough.'
The Six-Winged Angel raised the Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge, pointing its tip forward.
From the thunderclouds above, a single massive bolt descended—not upon Beist, who instinctively shielded himself—but onto the angel's third pair of wings.
The lightning was absorbed, compressed—spinning around him like rings of starlight.
Brilliant azure light illuminated the darkened sky.
"Divine Wrath: Body and Soul Obliteration!"
Ren twisted his wrist—infinite thunder surged into his blade, and then—flash!
Unlike the massive pillars of lightning before, this beam was hair-thin, yet impossibly fast and powerful.
Beist only had time to see it—before he exploded.
His body was ripped apart by sheer energy and heat, scattering blood-mist that sizzled in mid-air.
Windchaser recoiled in horror, but still thrust his Tempest Sword forward—
Too slow.
Ren's blade extended like a beam of lightning, cutting through both sword and wielder in one blinding instant.
The storm collapsed, air expanding from the heat until the vortex shattered.
Windchaser's body split cleanly in two, falling into the divided sea of clouds below.
From afar, it looked as though Ren had cleaved the heavens themselves—a thousand-meter-long fissure splitting the white sea in two.
"Hmm… not bad."
Ren dismissed the charged lightning, and the Cursed Blade: Thousand Edge reverted to normal.
Its thousand fragments had stretched hundreds of meters to form that beam of destruction.
The so-called Divine Wrath: Body and Soul Obliteration was, in essence, a compressed lightning construct.
Air was a poor conductor; the farther lightning traveled, the more energy it lost.
By combining the traits of Energy Absorption, Strong Linkage, and Cursed Spirit, Ren had minimized that loss—and the surplus energy amplified his attack's destructive power.
Its flaw, of course, was that it couldn't be used as an area attack.
Still, the concept works. I just need to keep refining my techniques.
Ren flapped his wings and descended.
The War of Weatheria was over.
Next—came the journey to Skypiea.
(End of Chapter)