76 The Might of Dark Lightning
"Veyron, you are indeed strong. But you should have realized by now this power is not common!"
The power of the two fruits merged together, creating a black lightning that Veyron swiftly evaded.
The strike of black lightning sank into the forest, swallowing everything like a singularity!
'What is going on? He mixed the two fruits!'
Veyron frowned, lightning and darkness merged together. Even Blackbeard had been unable to combine his two fruits. He readied his sword to face another of Peter's strikes, but they were weaker now. The man was on his last breath.
A black lightning sword clashed against him, and Veyron blocked it, releasing the sword and ducking to deliver a blow to Peter's abdomen.
*BOOOMMMM!!!*
Frustration washed over Peter as he found himself thrown helplessly in battle against this boy. It didn't matter what he tried; the outcome remained the same. He felt like a discarded rag, unable to gain the upper hand. The man behind the skull mask groaned and transformed into a black lightning bolt, filled with outrage and ire.
'WHY CAN'T I REACH HIM!?'
*BOOOMMM!*
His movements were as thunderous as his thoughts, and Veyron prepared to face him again, increasing the pressure on the atmosphere. However, maintaining the forcefield cage around the upper yard was taking a toll on his Conqueror's Haki.
Before Peter Hornigold could reach Veyron, his body materialized, and he fell to the ground, groaning in pain and spitting blood.
"HAAAAA!!!"
He writhed and coiled like a headless snake, and Veyron observed black vapour emanating from his mouth. Veyron sighed and placed his sword against Peter's neck.
"It seems even your body can't handle two Devil Fruits... I understand now. It had to be either a Zoan or a Paramecia; it couldn't be another Logia, or else you'd die."
"Ugh, it's because you're too strong, bastard... I never thought... you would be able to fend off the two of them... at the same time," Peter panted, kneeling down and ready for execution. He couldn't do anything else; his body was deteriorating from the inside under the influence of two fruits. A person couldn't simultaneously embody darkness and lightning; even the Yami Yami no Mi couldn't accept this unnatural combination.
"Don't worry. After you die, I'll put those fruits to good use."
Youbi, coated in Armament Haki, descended, prepared to claim a life. But Peter still had one card up his sleeve.
"I won't go down so easily!"
*RUMBLE!!*
His body began to grow in size, resembling a dark bomb with black lightning emitting from it. Veyron's sword, cloaked in Armament Haki, beheaded Peter, ending his life. But Peter's body continued to grow larger.
"Self-destruction!?"
Veyron groaned in annoyance. His Psychokinesis was already focused on maintaining a forcefield around the area, covering a third of the upper yard.
'This is going to be so problematic.'
The white-haired boy grunted, manipulating Peter's ever-growing body as it shot into the sky like a rocket.
*BOOOMMM!!*
Ascending higher into the sky, he saw what looked like a coiling tree emerging from the Upper Yard. It had multiple levels, and at the highest one, he spotted the famous golden bell from the tale of Noland the Liar. He continued soaring past it, going even higher into the skies, leaving behind a concerned Hancock and Primrose.
When he reached a sufficient altitude, he placed a few forcefields around Peter's body. However, by then, Peter's body had transformed into a ball of black lightning, seemingly corroding the very light and turning day into dusk.
*BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!*
It was a devastating explosion in the form of a black lightning thunderstorm. All of his forcefields shattered, except for the gigantic one covering the Upper Yard, which cracked significantly.
Hancock, Primrose, who had been stepping on the corpse of the white tiger, looked at the explosion with worry. It seemed like showers of despair and negativity washed over them. The energy of that devilish fruit was overwhelming. The entire sky had turned pitch black, challenging the authority of the sun.
The black lightning thunderstorm persisted for several minutes. The sporadic lightning strikes that hit the ground shattered the land, leaving gnashing black marks on the soil that would never recover. Eventually, the storm subsided, and the day returned brighter than ever. The nightmare had ended.
*BAANGG!*
Veyron fell next to Hancock and Primrose, grunting, with half of his body covered in Armament Haki and burning.
"Veyron!"
Hancock's motherly concern flared, and she rushed toward Veyron, who felt the burning scar on his body. Even when he had coated himself in Armament Haki, the darkness had still burned him to this degree.
"That was dangerous..."
"Impossible... you survived," the 'corpse' of Guernica stated with a small shriek of disgust. Primrose didn't hesitate; she flickered toward it.
"W-Wait!"
She pierced Guernica's chest and extracted his heart as well. Everything was done in front of a frightened Stussy and an indifferent Tsuru, whose gaze remained fixed on the sky that seemed to dawn with new light.
The man's eyes dimmed, and his life slipped away, just like the countless people he had slaughtered under orders from the government. His body returned to its humanoid shape, but the hole in his chest would never heal.
It was then that Primrose tossed Guernica's heart aside, crushed it, and started walking toward a trembling Stussy. If she had been angry before, her anger had only intensified now that her "baby" had been "marked" by a huge burning scar.
Veyron, for his part, didn't pay much attention to the new burning scar, but it was clear that Hancock and her mother were deeply concerned.
"Wait! Don't kill me!"
Stussy found herself in dire straits. All the CP0 members had been slain one by one, their hearts yanked out. There was no trace of Peter Hornigold's body. The God of Skypiea lay motionless, his soul having departed.
Only Stussy remained, and her attempt to fly away was thwarted as she collided with an invisible barrier.
"Now you plead for your life? I thought you were ordering her to help you. 'Kill all of us,' wasn't it?" Hancock mocked as she and Primrose approached. Tsuru and Gion followed suit, intending to witness the final moments of the last CP0 member—an elite force that could not be underestimated.
Veyron levitated closer to the group, and that's when Stussy's eyes locked onto him with hope.
"Dracule Veyron, I can help you! I CAN BE OF USE TO YOU!"
"I don't need anyone who works for the World Government."
"My allegiance is not with them; I'm with Dr. Vegapunk! Please allow me to live; I can be your double spy!"
"Dr. Vegapunk? She's talking nonsense," Gion remarked, "It's extremely difficult to contact that scientist."
"This is the truth!"
Stussy's body returned to normal from her nosferatu transformation, and she took something out of her pocket—a Den Den Mushi, this one customized to her. She then turned her attention to the group in front of her.
"You're not with the World Government; I can see that. You must believe me. I had no choice but to pretend whilst in front of them, I wasn't sent here to kill anyone!"
"You were acting quite merciless and cold-hearted a while ago," Veyron pointed out. "You watched the citizens of this Sky Island being struck down and slaughtered mercilessly, and you didn't do anything about it."
"That's because they were here! I couldn't break my act in front of them. If you want me to prove this, I can call Dr. Vegapunk directly."
Veyron raised an eyebrow, intrigued. Vegapunk's identity was one of the mysteries he was most eager to uncover.
"Are you interested?" Primrose asked him, her glare indicating her reluctance. She seemed ready to kill Stussy and was waiting for Veyron's decision.
"... I'm a bit interested."
"How can you prove that whoever you call will be Dr. Vegapunk?" Gion inquired.
Stussy hesitated, realizing that they might not believe her even after this.
"If the man really is Vegapunk, I will know," Veyron declared, crossing his arms and landing in front of Stussy.
"Pero pero pero~"
"Pero pero pero~"
"Kacha~"
"Yes?".
"Dr. Vegapunk, this is Stussy."
"Oh, Stussy! You haven't come to visit lately... everything is okay?"
"Actually, things aren't so well, Dr. I'm calling you because I-I have Dracule Veyron in front of me."
"Oh!? The kid!?"
"That's right... and I'm about to end Stussy's life unless you prove to me you're Dr. Vegapunk," Veyron heard the voice on the other side of the Den Den Mushi, it was an elderly voice.
"Please, don't do anything to her... you can ask me anything you want," the voice on the other end of the Den Den Mushi replied with concern.
"Very well. In your Boreas Compass, what is the liquid you used, and what are its properties? Unless you can answer me this, she's dead."
!!!
Under these circumstances of pressure the man could only stutter even if the answer was obvious to him.
"That, that... oh? My compass? Hmn... it should be mercurium, a liquid that expands in high temperatures. In the case of atmospheric pressure, it is also malleable and will level itself on the plate, twisting the arrow and pointing at the spot where the atmospheric pressure is greatest. Like a flying island that still exerts a certain amount of pressure on the atmosphere around it."
'Mercurium? The name is a bit different, but there's no doubt... this is Vegapunk!' Knowing the story of One Piece filled with nutjobs, aside from that old man and maybe Frankie there weren't many characters capable of answering that simple question.
"I... believe you." Sadly, he didn't have much knowledge of Vegapunk as to have any other method of proof.
Stussy let out a sigh of relief as she heard Veyron's confirmation. Her life had been spared. Primrose, on the other hand, reluctantly withdrew her palm, which had been poised to end Stussy's life.
"I answered your question, little Veyron. Now, you answer mine. Are you a Lunarian? Ever since I saw your wanted poster, I've wanted to experiment—meet you!"
Veyron's body tensed, and all his hair stood on end.
"That question will be answered at a later date!"
"Eh!? That's not fair!"
"In any case, I want you to explain who this Stussy is. Does that mean you work with the World Government?"
Before forming any alliance and allowing Stussy to go free, Veyron needed to understand which side of history they were on.
"Stussy is the first successful clone we created. She's like my little girl. I do work for the World Government, but I'm not their puppet, Veyron."
"What is your affiliation?"
"... I don't like choosing affiliations, but if I had to choose... the Revolutionary Army. So, what side are you and your mother on?"
"You know a lot."
"Knowing things is what I'm best at."
"Me and my mother, huh? I don't know what her intentions are or how she plans to achieve them, but I only want to make this world a better place... does that answer satisfy you?"
"Of course. That means you're like me. So, what do you plan to do now? I'm surprised you could evade the other CP0 agents for so long, you're supposed to be in the middle of an operation, aren't you Stussy?"
Vegapunk was convinced they had 'fled' the scene and that was the reason they could talk so calmly to the den den mushi. Nothing farther from the truth.
"About that... Dr. Vegapunk. He and his crew slaughtered every single member, I'm the only one left!"
"Ah!?"
***
Alright, lads so Michael Jackson-this is it. Thanks for your support and congratulations on achieving the objective. But now I have a sad announcement. I have been on my holiday this whole time and that's why I could pull off those many chapters a day, but not anymore. I'm going back to work tomorrow so the schedule will change as I'll try to make my efforts profitable.
I'll be releasing 3 chapters a week: Tuesday, Thursday and Saturday in Webnovel and Scribblehub.
I'll maintain a 1 chapter a day schedule in Patreon. You're free to access this schedule for just 12$ a month, as of now there are more than 30 chapters available but obviously, there will be more as I'll be releasing more chapters there.
For every 500 stones, I'll release an extra chapter and if we reach the top 10 by the end of the week I'll pull out two more.
pa-tre-on.com/photosphere.
Enjoy your day/evening!
