Chapter 295: Hearth, Sea and Flame
Chapter 295: Hearth, Sea and Flame
__________ POV Narration __________
Kid scowled as he did his best to expel the heat from his body.
'Did I do it?...'
Unbeknownst to him, the God of Hearth was considered the most resilient out of all 4 gods.
Aramaki's burnt feet seemed to turn into roots, and a pristine new body grew on top of them.
The forest god was panting by that point, his body had recovered, but he was pretty much out of steam.
Aramaki's devil fruit was certainly strong, monstrous even, but it was the former admiral's body and haki that brought him down.
He was a lot younger than the other former admirals, almost two decades younger than Kizaru.
The Wooden God had also not been too driven to train in the past, taking advantage of his unawakened devil fruit's rather impressive power.
He only got more fixated on gaining strength after the Marines were almost disbanded and he believed them all dead.
Aramaki had seen Akainu as his mentor and damn near worshipped him and his absolute justice.
He respected most of the marine higher-ups in fact. With the exception of Garp and Aokiji, whose justice he found too flimsy.
Kizaru was relaxed but reliable, Sengoku was straightforward and intelligent, and Zephyr was the mentor of many marine youths, training generations after generations. And finally Akainu, he was stalwart, strong and righteous.
Now the Forest God's willpower was even further stunned by the fact that he was facing people he looked up to.
Aramaki's imagination and knowledge of his devil fruit were also sorely lacking.
He was only using his wood control abilities for the most part, what he was most accustomed to. But a God fruit always came with a myriad of other abilities.
It was very likely that the only reason the remnant of the original God of Hearth allowed Aramaki to awaken was because he felt that Nika and Raijin had also returned.
Still, his resilience was quite annoying to the Marines, and now especially to Kid, whose rage was already easy to provoke in the first place.
"Hey, pirate! How many of those shots do you have left in you?" Zephyr asked as he cracked his knuckles and eyed the panting Aramaki.
"One, two at best, but that's pushing this fuel source a lot. It's extremely volatile, don't want to turn my chest into a bomb." The former satellite also rolled his shoulder, his bones crackling slightly as he did so.
"God or not, my fists will bring him down regardless! Garp also stepped forward, his vigor renewed.
"... I'll just continue making sure none of you die. The others may finish up with the Elders first at this rate." Law's room continued to cover the entire battlefield, as he put himself on a vantage point and took out his serrated blade.
"Hmm, I wouldn't be so sure that the Elders are losing, they're all old monsters, they have plenty of tricks up their sleeve." Sengoku looked towards the gigantic cloud of dust in the distance, signaling that the fight was still very much ongoing.
"Our only real choice is to keep at it... Let's see how much life he has left in him!" Akainu roared out, his fists discharging magma all around them as his voice boomed.
Meanwhile, Enel's thunderous laughter sounded out far above the clouds. He shot lightning pillar after lightning pillar towards IMU, who was continuously struggling, dragging his body along to dodge every attack.
Enel was not just playing around at shooting fish in a barrel, his powers were also continuously heating up the air around him and evaporating any water that IMU continued struggling to collect.
By that point, he had already figured out IMU's regeneration and how it worked perfectly.
'After seeing it so many times even a monkey would realize...' Enel's mind moved even faster, as he concentrated all of his observation haki in his surroundings, he could track IMUs' every move, react in a fraction of a second to them, but he failed to see into the sea god's future.
'Observation killing is never going to stop being annoying...'
At the very least when it came to all Haki aside from observation, IMU still had him beat.
Thankfully Enel's destructive capabilities were truly shining bright, as he brought out the utmost potential of his powers.
IMU was also getting more and more agitated at that point, he kept trying to think of ways to somehow escape Enel and plunge into the sea and recuperate.
Attempting to run away did cross IMU's mind for a split second as well. But with how expansive Enel's senses were, even attempting it seemed foolish.
'I cannot hide from his eyes, I can not outrun him... My only choice is to try my best to kill him here.'
Whilst Enel was a good counter to IMU, the Sea Gods' abilities made him a good counter against all devil fruit users. All he needed was a touch, or to submerge Enel in water somehow, and he'd be able to suppress the Lightning God's powers.
He had the ability to stifle all human desire after all. And humanity's desire for freedom was something he had done his best to suppress for as long as he could remember.
He saw freedom not as the right of sentient beings, but as the very cause of all wrong with the world.
From the moment of his birth, the Sea God knew that the world needed a proper ruler if it was to prosper.
And as the personification of the sea, the very place from which all life originated, who could ever be a better candidate than him?
'I can't afford to lose my crown and throne to these barely evolved monkeys!'
In an instant, IMU shifted his trajectory and rushed downwards, trying to reach the seas, or at least get close enough to control them.
But, as previously mentioned, Enel could now track IMU's every move.
The instant the Sea God's trajectory shifted even slightly, a blanket of concentrated lightning was already covering his new direction.
IMU immediately morphed his body into countless small water droplets, all moving in unison in different downward directions.
Before they could even spread out properly, Enel appeared right underneath them with a smile, the drums on his back turning into an actual net that spread out to catch all droplets.
All of the droplets that made up IMU's body were fully strengthened by his Haki, making them harder to evaporate completely.
The Sea God immediately moved to try and escape through the gaps in the net. He was almost successful, before all of the parts that made out the net started vibrating in quick success.
In an instant, a magnetic field formed around IMU, pushing him toward the center of it all as the net closed.
Enel didn't stop though, he immediately shifted his staff, transforming it into a strange arch that enveloped and combined with the magnetic field, enhancing it further with Armament and Conqueror's Haki.
"Electromagnetic Soul Prison!"
The Lightning God couldn't help but smile as his plan succeded, he could see IMU's watery body struggling to fight back against the magnetism in real-time.
The Electromagnetic Prison was the only way that he could think of to stop the Sea God from descending towards the well...sea.
Enel could try to destroy him again, but he had no real assurance that IMU wouldn't be able to just move around his consciousness and reform his body outside of the cage.
Just a regular lightning cage would have never been able to do the job, as IMU could have tried to do that manually. The Sky King's willpower was now a stoppage point between the Sea God and the outside world.
The metals in Enel's staff were specifically made to conduct electricity to an even higher degree than gold they helped him enhance the magnetic pool of the cage, as well as helped him reinforce everything further with his willpower.
The result? A prison that could even hold gods.
"This temporary restraint is nothing more than a hindrance..." IMU's voice sounded annoyed, but deep down even he couldn't help but be impressed by the sheer ingenuity that Enel displayed.
"Maybe... But how long until Luffy returns at full strength? You are the only person here that can't afford to waste any time." The Lightning God smiled as he then turned to look towards the many islands his army had come on.
"Oh, he won't be returning... Vegapunk's genius is something to behold even for me after all..." IMU smiled, most of his body turning into a drill and attempting to use centrifugal force and haki to break out of the prison.
As he did that, Enel noticed the seas turning red right underneath all of the islands.
"I didn't wish to use this at first, as it will raise the sea levels even further... But at this point I have no reason not to!" IMU's voice rang out in Enel's ears.
'Is that... The Mother Flame?'
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Hope you liked the chapter!
Wasn't able to finish the Naruto ff chapter for today, I'm already too tired for this sh. I should probably try to fix my sleep schedule
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