"What?! How is that possible?!" Sid gasped while Aisa and Pierre stood mouths opened behind her.
The Shandians and the horse-bird hybrid cowered near the wall of a cave that Aisa had directed them to. It was deep in the heart of Upper Yard and nowhere Sid had ever been to. Enel had hid his Divine Soldiers here to work on something and now that something was complete and stood tall in front of them. It was the largest ship Sid had ever seen with shiny, yellow, metallic embellishments. She had tried to keep as quiet as she could when her, Aisa, Pierre, and Luffy entered the cave to find Enel. Sid didn't have much of a plan but she knew it was best to stealth in and try to catch the false god by surprise but one of her companions had other plans.
Luffy had rushed in, demanding Enel to reveal himself. Sid had no choice but to hurriedly push Aisa and Pierre towards the wall, behind a wooden support beam. Instead of attacking, she had to switch priorities to being the protector and wait for an opening for Aisa and Pierre to flee. Boo was currently sleeping in Sid's bag to recuperate but every once in awhile, Sid could hear sounds of soft zapping coming in his direction. At least now she knew where that came from.
Enel revealed his powers to be that of lightning, courtesy of a Devil Fruit, which explained the state of Wyper and the other Blue Sea people. Given that he didn't hold back even with Boo and Aisa, it wasn't a shock that he was more than happy to wield it on Luffy.
Enel engulfed Luffy in a bright, blue bolt of lightning and in that moment, Sid was sure he was a goner. However, Luffy was able to get on the ship without any trouble. Enel had concluded that Luffy had managed to evade his attack but Sid wasn't so sure.
Then, her suspicions were confirmed when Enel launched another bolt of lighting, this time hitting Luffy square on. Again, however, instead of resembling their fallen comrades left at Shandora, Luffy stood tall and practically unscathed. Even Enel, the self-proclaimed god, was completely thrown off and Sid knew, by the look of sheer horror and shock on his face, he was the most surprised by this outcome than anyone else in the cave.
"Ahhhhh!" Luffy roared as he ran straight for Enel and landed a hard kick to the stomach. Enel doubled over in pain, with tears, saliva, and soon blood flying out of his face.
"Ehh?! He was able to kick Enel?!" Aisa shrieked and that sound snapped Sid back to attention.
This is the opening!
"Aisa!" she gasped and turned to face the child. She picked up the child and placed her on Pierre, "Go! Now!"
"What?"
"Aisa! Focus! The deal was for you to bring us here. That was it. You've done enough. Now go before you get hurt! Take Boo with you too," Sid hissed. She dug into her bag and thrust a still-sleeping Boo into Aisa's arms. Then she clamped her hands on the sides of Pierre's face, "Pierre! Take them back to Shandia. You've been there before with Gan Fall. You know the way. Go. Do not stop for anyone or anything. Do you understand? Don't even listen to Aisa. Get her out of here."
"But Sid-" Aisa started to protest but Sid gave a hard smack on Pierre's butt and sent the horse racing out of the cave. As soon as she couldn't hear anymore hoof beats, she skated towards the ship with her wavers. She jumped over the side and landed right next to Nami, who didn't even react to her sudden arrival. She was too transfixed at her captain and the man he had just taken down.
"Oy," Sid said and gave a light rap to Nami's shoulder with her knuckles, "Why aren't Enel's attacks working?"
"Lightning..." Nami gulped, "Lightning doesn't conduct through rubber. Since Luffy is a rubber person..it seems..." Her voice dropped to an awed whisper. "Luffy is Enel's natural opponent. He is the one and only person in the world Enel's powers won't work against."
"Again, what is this rubber?!" Sid demanded.
Nami's eyes widened and she looked at Sid, as if seeing her for the first time, "That's right...You guys don't know what rubber is. It must not exist on the White-White Sea."
"Why not? Where does it come from?" Sid asked.
"It comes from a rubber tree."
"A tree?!"
"Gum-Gum...WHIP!"
"Mantra!"
Luffy's extended leg came swinging across the fake god, who closed his eyes and easily avoided the blow by disappearing in a spark of blue light, only to reappear on the other side of the deck the same way.
"Spear!" Luffy shouted, back flipping to his hands and shooting out his clamped feet towards Enel, who again flashed out of the way.
Nami's whole body broke into a sweat. "He's predicting Luffy's moves perfectly."
"Mantra..." Sid growled as Enel started to whack Luffy around the deck with heavy blows from his metal staff.
Luffy slammed against the wall of metal and Enel thrust the base of his staff at Luffy's throat, pinning the captain's head back. The fake god lifted the captain up into the air. Luffy's sandals fell to the deck below and his bare feet dangled in the air while his throat remained crushed under the staff.
"Don't push your luck," Enel said, "Lightning can do more than send electrical shocks. Once I know it won't work, I'll fight accordingly."
"Luffy!" Sid gasped. She was about to make an attempt to save him from getting choked but then was stopped by Nami.
"Wait. It's fine."
"What do you mean it's fine? Do you not care about your captain at all?!"
Sid's question was answered right then when Luffy grabbed the staff and yanked it away from his throat. He only dangled under the staff for a breath before swinging his leg out and towards Enel. "Physical attacks won't work on me!" he screamed just as Enel disappeared in a flash of light again.
"Lightning doesn't work. Physical attacks won't work, either...Just what is this rubber?" Enel asked, voicing aloud Sid's own inner thoughts. He then lifted his staff horizontally in front of him. "Grom Puddling!"
"Eh?!" Sid and Nami watched with widened eyes while Enel used his power to shape his staff into a sharp trident.
"See if this won't work!" Enel shouted, lunging forward at the captain.
"Ah!" Luffy yelped. He leapt to the top of the ship, barely the tips of the trident.
"As I thought," Enel laughed, "Slashing attacks are your weakness."
"Yeah," Luffy admitted, which did not go over well with both Sid and Nami.
"Don't tell him that!" they seethed.
Luffy jumped off of the top and reared his arms back. "Gum-Gum...Gatlin-"
Enel didn't even wait for his opponent this time. He disappeared again and this time, he did not reappear right away.
"LUFFY! Behind you!" Sid cried as a stream of blue lightning came streaking up the yellow metal.
"He's moving through the gold!" Nami gasped.
"Gold? What is gold?" Sid demanded.
Nami did not answer. She could only watch in fear as Enel formed out of the yellow metal with his trident at the ready. He shot out of the wall and towards Luffy, who grabbed the staff but let out a painful cry at the same time.
"Ahhhhh!"
Sid saw three droplets of the yellow metal fall down from where the captain was dangling and when they landed onto the deck, they became sizzling drops of blood. "Did he get him?" Sid cried.
"OW! It's hot!" Luffy roared with both hands clenched tightly around the staff.
"Yahahaha," Enel laughed, "So even if electricity doesn't shock you, the electric heat that builds up on the trident is different, huh?"
"Gum-Gum!" Luffy yelled, fighting through the searing pain in his hands and kicking up one foot high into the air, "Battle Axe!"
Even if Enel sensed his attack, he had nowhere to run since Luffy was still holding tightly to his weapon. He brought his foot down, sending the fake god hurtling down to the ship. He landed with a harsh crash, going through the deck but he didn't stay down for long.
"How dare you, you brat!" Enel seized, poking his head out of the hole he created.
"Gum-Gum...Gatling!" Luffy shouted as he fell back down to the deck.
A cloud of his punching fists came down in a barrage but Enel's mantra was ready for him. Enel smirked and grabbed Luffy by the wrist. He took advantage of the extended limbs and used it to whip Luffy downward, causing him to crash just as hard as he did.
"It's not like you grew multiple arms," Enel scoffed.
"Luffy!" Sid and Nami gasped.
Enel's eyes moved towards them and he twirled his trident in his hand. "I'm God, so I'll do everything as I please. I will create a world that I see fit. I won't let some clueless Blue Sea brat that suddenly showed up get in my way....or you, Shandian..."
Sid's jaws clenched and she instinctively made a grab for her spear but that only seemed to amuse Enel. He raised an eyebrow and his smirk widened. 'Do you dare try what others have failed?"
Sid's mind raced for any possible outcome that would have her survive getting hit by lightning but nothing came to mind. Even if she knew or had whatever this magical rubber was, she wouldn't know the first thing about using it. Defense aside, she didn't even have the proper offense. Physical attacks wouldn't work on him. It was one thing to fight a man, with bones and muscles that functioned normally but Enel was no man.
"What was it that you promised that old man this morning?" Enel taunted and rubbed his chin.
Sid stiffened. Her mind went blank and she dropped her spear. "What...what did you say?"
"That's right. You promised him you would win the war and come back alive. Yahahhaha," Enel laughed, "How did you plan on doing that? You couldn't even save any of the other Shandians. They all dropped like flies."
His smirk than turned into a disgusted sneer. "I thought you all would put up more of a fight. How disappointing."
For a split second, all Sid could see was red and that was all the time she needed to lapse on her judgement.
"Die, you false god!" Sid cried as she skated forward with her waver and jumped in mid-air, launching herself skates first at Enel.
He caught her by the ankle and he laughed right in her face, while her skate was only mere inches away from him. "HA! Let me guess. Sea Prism Stone in your skates like the other one?" he crowed as flickers of lightning passed through his hand, casually burning her skin and sending shockwaves through her legs.
"What does your mantra tell you?" Sid said through gritted teeth as she pulled back her arm.
Enel cocked his head to the side and then his smirk vanished. He didn't even have time to widen his eyes as Sid sent a hard punch across his face with one of Wyper's skate in her hand.
Thwack!
"Gahhhh!" Blood spurted out of his mouth and nose and he let go of Sid. She dropped to the ground and instinctively curled her leg toward her. A nasty burn mark was around her ankles and her muscles were spasming all around her body, but most violently in her calf and thigh. She couldn't endure the pain any longer and she doubled over, with Wyper's skate rolling to the side.
"You are no man..," she panted, "But you are no god, either. God's don't bleed."
"Why you..." Enel snarled. He tapped a drum behind him with his trident and it started to glow bright blue. "30 Million Volt...Hino!"
"SID!" Nami screamed.
The electrical energy from the drum shot out and towards Sid in the shape of a fierce bird, bigger than Pierre in horse form. Sid shut her eyes and braced for her inevitable demise. I'm sorry, old man.
"AHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!" Sid screamed as electricity ripped through her body. Her body tensed and weakened simultaneously. Agonizing pain and complete numbness oscillated within her so rapidly, she couldn't breathe in the smell of smoking flesh.
Sid was already unconscious by the time the last of the light died out. She lied face down with her arms and legs out on the deck.
"Oh no..." Nami whimpered.
"SIIIIIIIIIIDDDDDDDDDDD!" Aisa's shriek pierced through the air, bouncing along the rock walls.
Nami ran to the edge of the ship, watching as the little girl and the horse-bird came galloping back with a still-sparking black Boo hovering just above their heads. "Aisa! What are you doing back here?!"
One of Sid's fingers twitched on the deck.
Aisa bit her lip. "I...I couldn't leave. Not like this...Not without Sid..and Wyper...and...and everyone else."
"Yahahaha," Enel laughed, "Then stay if you want and watch the fall of this nation together with the rest of us."
He walked up some golden steps to what seemed like a throne to Nami. He had two large golden orbs flanking the sides of the throne. He placed his hands on them and smirked.
"Don't tell me..." Nami gasped.
"Max 200 million Volt Vaari!" he roared as electricity shot out of his hands and powered through the ship. The ship started to shake violently and the propellers all around the ships began to spin with just as much force. The ship rose off the ground and made its way up towards the roof of the cave.
"This is bad...This is bad...This is bad..." Nami chanted to herself, "We have to escape!"
"Sid! Luffy! Nami! What should we do?!" Aisa cried from below.
"Behold! The ark that will take me to the land without end, the Endless Vearth! Maxim!" Enel yelled victoriously.
Just then, Luffy pulled himself out of his hole and stood back up on the deck.
"Luffy! Hurry up and beat Enel!" Nami cried and then her hands went to her face, "Ahhh! W-Wait a second. If we defeat Enel, that means this ship is going to fall. Ahhh! But if we don't defeat him, he'll destroy the sky island...But then if we stay here, we'll be taken somewhere."
The highest propellers reached the roof of the cave. Rock and debris fell down onto the deck as the ark carved it's way upwards.
"What're we gonna do, Luffy?!" Nami wailed.
Luffy took the straw hat from his head and tossed it at Nami.
"Don't get so rattled," Luffy said, "You're a friend of the future King of Pirates. Don't show such a pitiful face."
Another one of Sid's fingers twitched.
"King of Pirates? What area does this king govern?" Enel asked from his throne.
"He's the great king of the seas," Luffy declared.
"Oh, how impressive," Enel smirked. The propellers cut through the last bit of the roof and sunlight flooded onto the deck, "Why don't we settle things in the sky?"
Once the propellers were done with the earth, it worked on the trees that loomed overhead. The branches snapped and cracked around them while the wildlife fled their homes with vocal terror.
All five fingers on Sid's right hand bent and stayed there.
"Yahahah. The circuit it to the ultimate feature on this ark is already open and functioning," Enel boasted.
"Ultimate feature?" Nami repeated.
"It's name is Deathpiea. It's despair, the savior of the world..." Enel said cryptically,
"Now...Deathpiea...ACTIVATE!"
A low hissing sound came from above followed by plumes of black smoke coming out of the golden chimney at the top of the ark. It darkened the sky and made no signs of fading away.
"Are those...Are those clouds?!" Nami gasped.
"That's right. Those are thunderclouds," Enel replied, "With my energy, Deathpiea discharges thunderclouds that have extremely turbulent currents. Soon, the clouds will cover all of Skypiea while the energy collects. On my signal, they'll produce dozens of thunderbolts and destroy everything in the nation. The pathetic hideout the Shandians call a village as well."
Sid's entire right arm moved closer to her side and from beneath the split in her sleeve, a patch of black appeared on her skin.
"For example..." Enel continued. He pointed up at the sky and shot a thin string of electricity up towards the cloud. The cloud answered with a crack of thunder and a shot of lightning a million times stronger off into the distance.
"What did you just do?" Nami asked the fake god.
"I...teased the angels a little," Enel smirked.
"You think it's okay for a god to destroy everything?!" Luffy demanded.
"That's right. Lives...and land as well. Now I'll eliminate you. The preparation for the party have already begun." Enel shouted. He thrust his trident forward, which Luffy quickly sidestepped. The pirate swung his leg at Enel but the fake god blocked his attack with just as much ease.
Enel lunged again with his trident. This time, Luffy instinctively blocked the prongs but stepping directly on the flattened surface, pinning it to the ground.
"HOOOOT!" Luffy shouted, jerking his foot back. Steam was coming off of it and the bottom of his foot was glowing bright red.
"Yahahah," Enel laughed, "This is a highly charged spear."
Again and again, Enel jabbed at Luffy with his trident and the captain had no choice but just leap out of the way. Luffy was purely on defense now.
"Damn it. Isn't there some way I can counter that 'predicting movements' thing?" Luffy asked just as the trident came forward again.
Thwack.
"What?!" Enel gasped as a blackened hand held tightly onto the staff.
"SID?!" Luffy and Nami shouted as the Shandian stood in between Luffy and Enel with no signs of letting go of the heated instrument, despite heavy steam seeping out from between her fingers.
Her entire body was black including her wings and her face. The only color seemed to come from her eyes and they were mostly white since her pupils had contracted to the size of pins.
"With my ancestors as a witness, I will protect Shandia," Sid said and took a swing at Enel, who had no choice but to release his weapon and jump back away from the punch, "Even if that means protecting a person of the Blue Sea. LUFFY!"
"Ah! Yeah?" Luffy asked, immediately straightening up his posture and standing at attention.
"Use me as your shield."
-the Shandian Village-
"Aisa! Aisa! Has anyone seen my Aisa? Is she in your tent? Please. Somebody help me look. Aisa!"
Chief Urepo broke his gaze from the statue of Cagara and looked over just as Aisa's mother came running up to him. She grabbed the front of his shirt with both trembling hands. "Chief Urepo! Please help. My Aisa...I haven't seen her since this morning and...and...and...I fear...I fear she's gone into the bat...battlefi-..battle-"
Harsh sobs punctuated her sentence and broke off any remnants of whatever words were left. The chief wrapped his strong, coarse hands over the woman's fist and held it in a firm, reassuring grip. "There is no doubt in my mind that Aisa is at Upper Yard." His hold tightened before the woman could interrupt or, worse, collapse, "But do not worry. I also have no doubt that Sid will be with her. As long as Sid is there, Aisa will be fine."
"How...how do you know that? You can't be sure!" Aisa's aunt demanded as she finally caught up with her sister. She wrapped a protective arm around Aisa's mother, "Even if Sid is a great healer and a great warrior, she's up against Enel! Even if he is a false god, he still has god-like abilities that we have not been able to defeat since his arrival! We need to send someone to go grab Aisa and bring her back!"
Aisa's mother's legs gave out and she fell to her knees with another sob. However, the chief kept her hands in his and he calmly brought himself to the ground with her. "Enel is not the only one who is blessed with a divine gift."
"You think God's Voice is going to help? Even if Aisa could control her power, hearing voices won't keep her safe from Enel's wrath!" Aisa's aunt refuted.
"True," Urepo said, "But I was talking about Sid."
"Eh?" The Shandians within earshot of this conversation stopped their jabbering and gave the Chief their full attention.
"Sid can also use God's Voice?!" Aisa's aunt demanded, "Since when?!"
"Not God's Voice...An even rarer blessing that hasn't appeared in this tribe in many generations. Truth be told, I've only seen signs of it within Sid when she was much, much younger, but I have no doubt that now is the time, she will fully embrace it," Urepo said. He gave Aisa's mother a squeeze and waited until she looked up and gave him her full attention, "God's Armor will protect your daughter."