"God!"
The Handmaidens of God inside the temple stared at Shirogai in disbelief.
"Is this Blue Sea man seeking death by insulting God so openly?"
Ordinarily, anyone who came face-to-face with God would kneel in fear. Yet this stranger looked at Enel as if he were no different from any other man.
"You dare call me weak? You say my power as God is weak?"
Enel lazily dug his finger into his ear, as though Shirogai's words were nothing but a joke, then threw back his head and laughed.
"Yehahahahaha! This is amusing. Truly amusing! No one has ever dared mock me, the omniscient, omnipotent God of Skypiea!"
With an arrogant grin, Enel looked at Shirogai, his expression shifting from mockery to curiosity.
"You insolent blasphemer… I think I've begun to appreciate you."
"Don't take it the wrong way," Shirogai replied, leaning back on the divine couch and biting into a banana, his voice calm, almost bored. "I'm not insulting you. I'm simply stating the truth. If I wanted to, I could kill ten of you in a single minute."
Enel's eyes narrowed, though amusement lingered on his lips.
"Kill ten of me in a minute? Interesting. I rarely meet arrogance to rival my own. Tell me, would you consider joining God's ranks as my chief priest? With your power, you would be most useful."
"Join you?" Shirogai smirked. "Enel, how about you join me instead? I could show you a world far beyond this little sky island, let you face powerhouses that would make you tremble."
"Powerhouses stronger than me?" Enel scoffed. His voice rose with arrogant certainty. "Don't joke. I am the strongest in this world!"
"Is that so?" Shirogai raised one finger lazily toward him.
Zzzzt!
Blue-white lightning danced across his fingertip.
"What!"
The Handmaidens gasped, their eyes wide.
"God's power… how can he use it too?"
"Could this Blue Sea man also be a God…?"
Enel's expression twisted with disbelief, then rage.
"You… you dare copy the power that belongs only to me?"
"This?" Shirogai chuckled, clenching his hand toward the heavens. "It's just lightning. Is that really enough to be called divine?"
Boom!
A deafening thunderbolt tore down from the clouds at his call, exploding against the courtyard stones in a flash of blue-white light. Shirogai lowered his hand, his gaze cold and dismissive.
"If mastering lightning makes one God, then I suppose I, too, should call myself one."
Enel's fury snapped into laughter again. "So that's it. You've been bluffing! Tricks and parlor games—let me show you true judgment!"
He thrust out his staff, unleashing a torrent of lightning.
"God's Punishment!"
Boom!
The temple shook with the violent storm of thunder and light. Enel laughed maniacally, uncaring that his own priestesses were caught in the blast.
"Yehahahahaha! Die, Blue Sea blasphemer!"
But when the blinding light cleared, what stood before him was not scorched ruin.
Hum, hum, hum.
A golden barrier shimmered, surrounding the handmaidens in its warm glow. Shirogai sat calmly at its center, one hand raised casually as if holding up the shield required no effort at all.
"Is that God's Punishment?" he asked with a faint smile. "Pathetic."
Enel's sneer faltered. Then his eyes narrowed.
"So you were the one who shielded that sinner and those Blue Sea pirates earlier! You dare defy God's will?"
"God?" Shirogai let the barrier dissolve into light particles. "I've never seen such a thing."
The priestesses trembled, their awe shifting toward the calm stranger who stood fearless before Enel. Some whispered to each other:
"He blocked God's attack…"
"He saved us. If not for him, we'd be dead."
Enel noticed the change in their eyes. Worship meant for him was drifting toward Shirogai. His teeth clenched with fury.
"I am the one you should bow to! Enough games, blasphemer—God will end you himself!"
With a crackle of thunder, Enel vanished into lightning, reappearing high above.
"Hmph. Die!"
He thrust down his golden staff with lethal force.
Shirogai tilted his head and smiled. "Too slow."
"What?"
"You control lightning, yet you move like this?"
Whoosh!
The staff struck the divine couch, shattering it. But Shirogai's form had already vanished into a ray of reddish-gold light.
Enel's eyes darted wildly. "Where—"
"Enel," a voice whispered by his ear, "have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
"Oh no!"
He tried to dissolve into lightning again, but Shirogai's dazzling foot struck his jaw before he could react.
"Light Speed Kick!"
Smack!
Enel's body was hurled across the sky, crashing violently into the distant forest with a thunderous crack.
Though the Goro Goro no Mi's lightning was among the fastest of all Devil Fruit powers, it was nothing before the absolute velocity of the Glint-Glint Fruit.
Shirogai smiled faintly, his body dissolving back into radiant light as he left the ruined temple behind.
The priestesses sat in stunned silence, staring at each other.
"Did… did I see that right? God was kicked away?"
"It wasn't an illusion. That man really struck down God!"
"Could it be… God has lost?"
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