chapter 113

Third person's point of view:

Inside the God's Palace, in Skyguard.

"Captain, that troublesome monk that has been attacking our crew has met with the newcomers and is on their ship right now," a pirate reported while looking up at a regal throne that was at least three meters high.

On the throne was a man, sitting while arithmetically tapping his fingers on the armrest, seemingly deep in thought.

The man was tall. He seemed to be 2.3 meters tall. He had a pale white complexion and long white hair that looked like a piece of cloud floating gently in the air.

The man's visage was nothing much to look at, average in every sense of the word, but his calm demeanor, along with the stunning sight of his cloud-like white hair, made him look unique.

The man, Lokni, turned to look at his subordinates with a thoughtful expression as he stopped tapping the armrest. "What about the men we sent to scout the newcomers' strength?" Lokni asked in a calm tone.

"All dead," the subordinate answered after some hesitation. "How did my subordinates die?" Lokni asked as he resumed tapping his fingers on the armrest.

"One of the people left to guard the newcomers' ship killed them," the subordinate replied in a nervous tone. "One of the people left to guard the ship, you say?" Lokni asked again as his calm expression turned into a frown.

"Tell me, were the people I sent not equipped with Dials weapons?" Lokni asked in an irritated tone, his black hair turning black, crackling with lightning.

"Yes, they were, captain," the subordinate replied in an even more nervous tone, taking a step backward. "Then who I'm I to blame for this failure?" Lokni asked again, his eyes emitting blue light.

"I feed you, I pay you, and I give you the best equipment," Lokni began counting with an outraged tone of voice. "And you useless bastards can't even catch one Monk for an entire year," he continued as veins began bulging on his forehead.

"Not only that, but you're now telling me that one trivial pirate from North Blue has managed to beat more than a dozen of you?" Lokni kept reciting his crew's faults, and the subordinate finally lost his nerve, turning around and making a run for the exit.

"You useless piece of trash," Lokni exclaimed, lightning shooting out of his entire body, striking the fleeing subordinate and turning him into nothing but a charred husk.

"Someone come and take this scum out of my sight and send someone to see what the newcomers are up to," Lokni instructed after taking a deep breath to calm himself as his hair returned to normal.

More subordinates made their way into the throne room with fearful expressions, quickly picking up the charred body of their dead comrade and scurrying away. Still, they all suddenly fell on their asses because of a loud explosion that shook the entire palace.

"Find out what's happening outside, and put a stop to it," Lokni ordered calmly. "Or die trying. I don't need any more useless subordinates," he concluded, closing his eyes and sinking back into his own thoughts.

-0-

Johnny's point of view:

"Oh, this is the place?" I remarked as I stopped roughly two hundred meters away from the god's palace. "I'll have to give to the people who built it," I added with a smile on my face.

"It's alright," Wilson said while shrugging his shoulders, making his lack of interest in human architecture very obvious.

"Well, it doesn't matter either way," I said while cracking my knuckles. "It won't be standing for much longer," I concluded as I began relaxing my muscles and pushing the force I've been building up for a while now towards my fist.

"Flaming King Punch," I said with a smile as I punched forward, the compressed flames along with spring force I've been storing inside my muscles exploding towards the palace.

My punch took the shape of a gigantic fist, gouging everything in its way and creating a semi tunnel in the ground, finally exploding as soon as it reached the palace.

The explosion was nothing to scoff at either, destroying the palace's massive gates and gouging an enormous piece of the building's front.

"That's new," Wilson said with a raised eyebrow. "It's thanks to my devil fruit," I said while shrugging my shoulders, and Wilson merely nodded, taking my word for it.

Flaming king punch is an imitation of the king punch Oda showed us in the Dress Rosa arc, but mine works differently. In principle, flaming king punch was similar to flaming impact fist, but I merely put more force into the former, along with more compressed flames.

Ordinarily, my muscles wouldn't be able to endure the strain of storing so much force in them, but simply increasing their density to make them stronger and make them more durable seems to do the trick, but I digress.

"Here they come," Wilson remarked with a grin as pirates on jet boards began emerging from the palace. "There they are, quickly take care of them," one of the pirates shouted to his comrades, and they quickly began charging towards us.

"Die, you bastard," one of the pirates shouted, taking aim with a burn bazooka and firing at us. "While we're here, let me try something else as well," I said, causing Wilson to nod as I raised my hand and pushed it forward.

I frowned in concentration to try something I've been wanting to try since I found out I can phase through water while Wilson merely looked interested while the pirates began jeering and laughing at my actions.

"Air Barrier," I murmured with a smile, pushing my hands forward, causing the fiery streams the pirate shot towards us to crash into an invisible barrier, stopping in its tracks.

The way Air Barrier worked was simple. I merely manipulate the density of the surrounding air, making it solid and creating a durable invisible barrier, which isn't really necessary in this case. Still, it looks cool, and it could be helpful in the future, so why not?

"Oh, it worked," I said with a satisfied smile. "It looks like we won't be turning into barbeque any time soon," I added jokingly.

"As if that thing could even scratch you or me," Wilson replied with a disdainful snort, finally losing his patience as he jumped into the air towards the pirates.

-0-

Third person's point of view:

Somewhere near the god's palace.

"So, when do we get in, Laffite-YA?" Law asked as he turned to look at the navigator with a questioning look. "The captain said to wait for his sign," Laffite replied with a smile.

"But what is the sign?" Law asked again, seemingly confused. "He said we'll know it when it happens," Elly said while checking her equipment for one last time before the action.

"But what if we miss it?" Law still persisted, asking again. "You still don't the captain that well," Kozue replied to his question with a smile.

"If he said we'll know when it happens, then it'll be something big that we can't miss even if we tried," she added while shrugging her shoulders.

"Yeah, the captain loves his theatrics, so his sign will probably be something even Bob and Doc Q would notice back in the docks," Elly commented jokingly, causing everyone except for confused Law to laugh.

Their laughs suddenly stopped as a sudden, thundering explosion overwhelmed their hearing, along with a gigantic wall of flame charging towards the sky in the palace's proximity.

"See? I told you we wouldn't miss it," Laffite said as he stood up with a smile on his face, twirling his cane. "Let's go," he added, promptly making his way towards the palace's back.

"Joining this crew is going to prove more than I bargained for, isn't it?" Law murmured to himself with twitching eyes. "Yup," Kozue readily replied, smacking him on the shoulder to urge him on as she walked past him with a smile.