A thunderclap suddenly erupted.
Both sides of the heated battle were startled and instinctively looked up at the sky.
The dark clouds had become even more ominous.
Countless thunder dragons swirled within the clouds.
*Rumble!*
Another thunderous roar.
Even the magnetic field around the two ships began to distort.
As a blacksmith, Hammer was particularly sensitive to elements like electricity and fire.
He was the first to sense something was wrong. Looking around, he noticed the broken trident.
The trident was now crackling with electricity, and what was most bizarre, the electric current was still slowly intensifying.
"This is bad!"
"Vice Admiral Garp, retreat immediately!"
"Retreat!"
Hammer's desperate shout stunned Garp and the others.
"Don't just stand there, run! Helmsman, change course! Hurry!"
Seeing the strange electric surge still rising, Hammer's hair stood on end.
Rayleigh followedHammer's terrified gaze and saw the sparking trident.
"WHAT THE HELL!
"YOU MARINE BASTARDS!"
The next second, he rushed toward the trident.
He reached out to grab and throw it away.
*ZZZTT*
Unexpectedly, the trident, now full of current and linked to the lightning in the sky, electrocuted Rayleigh the moment he touched it.
Rayleigh's condition snapped everyone back to their senses, and they all turned their eyes toward the broken trident.
"DRAGON! GIVE ME THE POWER POLE!"
Without hesitation, Dragon threw the power pole over.
Hammer caught it and then took out a huge steel plate from his ring.
"Clang!"
He wedged the plate like a pry bar, gripping the staff with both hands.
The next moment-
"Stretch, damn it!!"
Hammer braced the steel plate against the Oro Jackson hull.
Gripping the Power Pole tightly with both hands.
Due to the magnetic field, the two ships were magnetically attracted and stuck together.
If the lightning struck, neither ship would survive.
*Pshh!*
The Power Pole began to extend. Hammer felt an overwhelming force in his hands, it was almost too much to hold.
"Damn it! Help me out! Don't just stand there!"
Dragon was the first to react. He also grabbed the staff and pulled, trying to separate Garp's warship from the Oro Jackson.
The others quickly dropped their weapons and joined in.
*Boom!"*
Another thunderclap echoed across the sky. The lightning-formed dragon was nearly complete.
If the thunder struck now, both ships would be obliterated.
"Damn!"
"Rayleigh, think of something!"
Roger shook his tingling hands, his face anxious.
He could handle being injured, but if the ship was destroyed, none of them would escape.
Rayleigh was thinking as fast as he could, but couldn't come up with a solution.
After all, natural disasters were among the most terrifying forces in the world.
"RRRAAAGH!"! Get out of there!"
At that moment, a strong blue-skinned man rushed forward and grabbed the trident, pulling with all his strength.
It was the fish-man Sunbell.
Relying on the powerful physique of a fish-man, Sunbell clenched his teeth and used all his might.
"SUNBELL! LET GO!"
"Szzzt!"
Electricity surged through his body, and his hands began to blacken, not from Haki but from being burned by the electricity.
"Come on... out!"
Through sheer brute force, Sunbell began to pull the trident out, which had been pinned down by the thunder's magnetism.
"Rumble!"
"Gabban! Get ready to flee!"
Gabban immediately rushed into the ship's cabin.
Both sides, caught in the disaster, were desperately fighting to survive.
With Garp's group joining in, Hammer and his team finally separated the two ships using brute force.
"Full speed ahead! Get us out of here!"
Hammer roared, exhausted.
*CLANG!*
Aboard the Oro Jackson, Sunbell pulled the trident out completely just before passing out.
But due to inertia, the trident flew into the air.
*Rumble!*
Soaring mid-air, the trident became the conductor.
The thunder in the sky was drawn to it, ready to strike.
"Gabban! Now!"
"Who says mortals can't stand tall beneath thunder and lightning?! Watch closely!"
"Divine Departure!"
Roger unleashed his most powerful attack, infused with all his Haki, and swung toward the sky.
At the same moment, lightning came crashing down, drawn by the trident.
Roger unleashed his most powerful attack, infused with all his Haki, and swung toward the sky.
At the same moment, lightning came crashing down, drawn by the trident.
The Descent of Ten Thousand Thunders, nothing could describe it better!
Roger, one of the strongest on the seas, managed to hold the numerous lightning at bay for a few seconds.
Those few seconds were enough for the Oro Jackson.
"Jet propulsion! Go!"
With Gabban's shout, a burst of powerful air blasted from the ship's stern.
In the next second, the ship launched forward using air propulsion.
At the very last moment, the Oro Jackson escaped the lightning strike, sailing away in the opposite direction from Garp's ship.
*Boom!*
*Crack!*
The thunder fell. Everything was vaporized.
"Tch. Roger got away again."
On the battered Doghead Warship, Garp angrily waved his fist, grumbling.
"Come on, Dad, if Hammer hadn't helped, we'd have been toast."
"By the way, Hammer, did your trident really attract lightning on purpose?"
Dragon and Hammer lay sprawled on the deck, enjoying the sea breeze.
"I don't know exactly. I think it's because Rayleigh broke the trident, so the current inside had no direction and got influenced by the weather, turning into a lightning rod..."
Hammer glanced nervously at the sky. He never wanted to experience that again.
"HAHAHA! But thanks to you, Roger was in deep trouble. Just a bit more and we would've had him!"
Garp laughed as he toyed with his gauntlets.
"True. That was the closest we ever got to cornering Roger. Hammer, your weapons are excellent. I'm keeping this longsword!"
Bogard nodded in agreement and threw away his standard-issue sword, sheathing the one Hammer forged.
"Of course you are.." Hammer sighed.
Hammer looked at Garp and Bogard helplessly, he already knew they weren't going to return the weapons.
"Also, Hammer, those patches you added to the ship... they're not ordinary, are they?"
Garp suddenly asked.
Hammer looked at him.
"Didn't expect you to notice, old man."
"Some are normal steel plates, but some aren't."
"Those that aren't have the properties and toughness of seastone!"
Garp: !!!!!
Dragon: !!!!!
Bogard: !!!!!