Teresa acted as if she hadn't heard Enel's wild declarations. Her gaze lingered instead on him himself. Arcs of electricity danced across Enel's body from time to time, and she could clearly sense that this was an energy fluctuation entirely different from Yoki.
"Your ability… is quite interesting." Teresa spoke at last, a trace of curiosity in her tone. "You control lightning?"
Enel froze for a moment, apparently surprised that this Blue Sea woman not only wasn't afraid, but was actually interested in his power. He quickly twisted his expression into one of deeper disdain.
"Hmph, a mere insect thinks it's qualified to talk about a god's power? This is the ability of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, a power only a god has the right to wield! Trash from the Blue Sea who can only crawl on the ground could never understand it!"
"Rumble-Rumble Fruit… a Logia-type…"
Tesoro's expression shifted slightly as he leaned toward Teresa and warned in a low voice, "Miss Teresa, Logia-type users can turn into their element. Physical attacks have a hard time working on them!"
"Elemental, huh?"
Teresa's interest only grew richer.
"Immune to physical attacks? Perfect. I can use you to test the results of my recent training."
She took a light step forward onto the springy island cloud, then crook a finger at Enel floating in the air, smiling.
"Self-proclaimed god, how about keeping me company while I stretch a bit? Let me see whether this 'divine authority' of yours can so much as scratch me."
That almost taunting posture completely enraged Enel.
"Arrogant wretch! Twenty Million Volt: Discharge!"
Enel casually pointed, and a thick thunder serpent roared out, snapping straight toward Teresa!
Faced with that terrifying lightning strike, Teresa didn't even draw her sword. She only shifted her body a fraction, and the thunder serpent scraped past the hem of her clothes, slamming into the island cloud behind her and blasting out a charred crater.
"Hm?" Enel's brows knit together. In that instant when he'd attacked, he had seemed to sense her body making a tiny adjustment. "A coincidence?"
"Divine Judgment!"
Unconvinced, he raised his right hand. A far larger pillar of lightning dropped from the heavens, enveloping the wide area around Teresa, leaving her nowhere to run!
Yet Teresa vanished from where she stood and reappeared off to the side, completely outside the lightning's coverage.
Seeing how relaxed she looked, Enel finally put away his lazy expression.
"Mantra?"
He had sensed it. The woman in front of him seemed to possess an ability similar to his own "Mantra," able to predict his attacks!
"So you're not completely worthless after all."
Enel snorted. His body instantly turned to lightning, elementalizing as he shot toward Teresa at near light speed.
"Thirty Million Volt: Thunderbird!"
A huge thunderbird formed from raging lightning shrieked sharply as it dove at Teresa!
Staring up at the enormous thunderbird, Teresa only commented lightly, "Good speed."
The massive greatsword on her back was somehow already in her hand. She met the thunderbird head-on and swung.
"Sshh—!"
The raging thunderbird was cleaved cleanly in two the moment it met the blade, scattering into chaotic arcs of electricity that dissipated into the air.
"What?!"
Enel's elementalized form re-coalesced not far away, his face showing disbelief for the first time.
"Impossible! My lightning… how could it—"
He simply couldn't comprehend how his attack had been neutralized so easily.
Teresa had no intention of giving him time to stand there stunned. She pushed off with both feet; the island cloud beneath her dipped slightly, and then her figure vanished in an instant!
So fast!
Enel's Mantra flared to its fullest, just barely catching Teresa's movement path. He immediately turned to lightning again, trying to slip away.
However, her sword was faster than he was.
This time, Enel clearly saw the huge blade in her hand become coated in a pitch-black sheen!
"Shhk!"
The greatsword, wrapped in Armament Haki, passed straight through Enel's elementalized chest without meeting the slightest resistance. Blood burst from his chest in a geyser.
"Urgh—!"
Enel let out a muffled groan of pain. He lowered his head to look at the bone-deep wound in his chest, his face full of utter incomprehension.
"Why… why can you hurt me?! I'm a god!!"
He clutched at the wound, roaring in unwilling fury.
Teresa slowly pulled back her sword, the black Haki fading from the blade. She looked at the half-crazed Enel, her voice still calm, yet carrying an unquestionable sense of absolute power.
"Too weak. You rely solely on your Devil Fruit, with not a shred of combat technique."
In that moment, Teresa felt a faint disappointment toward this man who called himself a god.
With strength like his, on the Grand Line, anyone who had Armament Haki could beat him.
"Let's go."
Without sparing Enel another glance, Teresa turned to leave.
Hearing her voice snapped Tesoro out of it; he had still been lost in the battle he'd just witnessed.
The guy was a Logia user, after all. Only Teresa would think he was weak—she was, after all, someone who could fight Hawk-Eye to a draw.
Watching Teresa and Tesoro turn away, Enel screamed hoarsely with all his remaining strength at her back.
"W-wait! Blue Sea… are there… many strong people… like you?!"
He stared fixedly at Teresa.
Teresa stopped, but did not turn around. She only tilted her face slightly, glancing at the kneeling Enel out of the corner of her eye.
"People who can defeat you," her voice rang clearly in his ears, cold as spring water, "there are many."
Many… many people who can beat me?!
Those words echoed wildly through his mind.
He had always believed that by mastering the power of lightning, becoming immune to physical attacks, and wielding Mantra that could read people's hearts, he was already a one-of-a-kind god.
But now, a woman from the Blue Sea had defeated him with such ease—and then told him that in the Blue Sea, there were many people who could beat him?!
What was that supposed to mean? Didn't that make him the biggest joke in the world?!
"N-no… impossible! You're lying!!"
Enel instinctively denied it, unwilling and unable to accept this cruel reality.
Tesoro, watching Enel's state from the side, sighed and couldn't help speaking.
"She isn't lying to you. The sea is far vaster than you can imagine. Strong people are everywhere, and the powers they've built are deeply rooted. The Marine Admirals at Headquarters, the Four Emperors ruling the New World, the Ōka Shichibukai, and all the hidden monsters out there…"
"Teresa-san's strength indeed stands at the very top level of that sea—but she is far from the only one."
Tesoro's words were like the final straw, crushing the last shreds of pride in Enel's heart.
(End of Chapter)
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