A Lonely Throne, Perception and Truth

__________ POV Narration__________

"Haah... Hah..."

A figure, obscured by shadows, was sat on a large throne at the end of a flight of stairs.

Around it was a field of swords and weapons, each step that led up to the throne that was supposed to remain empty was littered with blades, making the throne inaccessible to anyone that wasn't already on it.

The figure looked strong from a distance, its usually red eyes were truly inhuman.

But this time around, it looked quite a bit less lively.

"This isn't right... Big Mom was supposed to die, yet the damned Raijin remnant was there to help her... This doesn't make any sense..."

IMU, the one that sat on the empty throne, spoke out in a tired voice.

The voice that exited its mouth sounded both masculine and feminine in nature.

IMU's nature flowed like water, ever-changing.

But now, for the first time in many centuries, it was forced to grasp at its eye.

The eye in question bled heavily and was forced closed.

None of IMU's predictions told him that Enel would save Big Mom, it felt as if he had gotten scammed.

To make things just a little bit worse, the Mother Flame had indeed also failed in injuring Kaido.

They never really expected it to kill Kaido, but they hoped it would at least damage the Dragon Emperor in some way.

In IMU's prophecy, Kaido was not present during the War. He didn't know whether or not Kaido was dead or injured, the Dragon's fate was left ambiguous in his visions.

With the information he gave the elders, they had no way of knowing if he was to die beforehand or get too injured to take part in it, but with the war fast approaching they wanted to make sure nothing would go awry.

The Mother Flame was something they wanted to test anyway, so this gave them a good opportunity to do so.

They did get to witness the power of the Mother Flame, and their agents in Wano managed to report the damage that it dealt to the land.

But they also reported that Kaido was now much, much stronger than reported.

'But he still won't make it to the war... Will he?'

IMU's mind was reeling with confusion.

On one hand, his prediction was clear when showing that neither Big Mom nor Kaido was going to be there.

More specifically, it even showed Big Mom's cadres on Enel's side. Which made IMU want to get rid of her entire crew and family at once.

But the Personification of the Sea failed miserably and even got injured.

IMU's hand lowered slightly, revealing his now bloodshot and bleeding right eye. It seemed to have lost its usual red colour, turning grey as if covered by something.

'I should be able to heal before the war... But this is still a setback when it comes to preparations.'

IMU also want to try and get rid of Whitebeard after finishing off Big Mom, but with his eye injured, he wouldn't be able to do so anyway.

There was also the possibility of Whitebeard also being able to damage his eye.

The Most destructive devil fruit in the world was Enel's, sure. But Whitebeard was a very close second. To the point where he posed a threat to IMU even at an old age.

It didn't matter that most devil fruit attacks were useless against his eye, Whitebeard's tremors would break it from its core.

And if his and the elder's speculation was anything to go by, Whitebeard was likely back in his prime, which made things even more difficult.

Overall, there was too much uncertainty when attacking Whitebeard, which was why IMU wasn't willing to risk attacking him first and getting injured.

'But why would Enel be there... Don't tell me...'

IMU's teeth ground against each other as a thought appeared in his head.

'Did I... Did I give the cadres of the Big Mom Pirates a reason to join the war against us?!?'

Yes... Oh yes, he did.

He could only scowl at that.

'There's no point in worrying about most of them... But a few are worrisome, and at this rate, fate might shift again and Big Mom might join herself...

As if we didn't have enough on our plate...'

Even though it was unlikely, IMU still thought of the possibility of fate shifting again.

But he knew that it wouldn't happen at all. The wheel of fate was already in motion, and there weren't supposed to be any bumps in the road.

The actions he took, although seemingly self-damaging, were not in any way going to affect the final result that fate had already decided.

So, IMU could just relax on that supposedly empty throne.

'All is well... The world won't forsake me. He can gather as many forces as he wants to, in the end, it won't matter at all...

He will still die, and I will still win.'

In the end, the World Government's plans wouldn't change, and the preparations for the last stand continued.

Meanwhile, Enel was headed for Raijin Island once more.

That was where Zunesha, the gigantic Elephant, decided to make his new home apparently.

It was sat there, waiting.

The Mink Tribe had already also started exploring Raijin island, but they didn't seem too keen on heading towards the centre.

Although the last remnant of Raijin had died, fragments of his soul still lingered in his resting place, not enough to do anything, but enough to set off the animal-like instincts of the Mink Tribe.

They didn't need a book to know that approaching the centre was dangerous for them.

Regardless, the scarred land of the Raijin island was still intriguing enough to keep them occupied for quite a few weeks.

But all of them got startled the moment they heard thunder clap into the skies.

They did know about Raijin Island being usually engulfed in a never-ending storm, but it had been completely peaceful since they arrived there, so they were obviously taken aback by the skies suddenly darkening.

There was a blue spark forming in the middle of that storm, the clouds cleared for a second and the sunshine came back, casting a gigantic shadow over the entire island that fell down upon them along the blistering heat of the sun.

The figure, descending from the now clear skies, was Enel, he slowly descended towards Zunesha, who was seemingly already expecting him.

The Naitamie-Norida Elephant, gigantic trunk was already swiped upwards, becoming stiff at a certain angle as it allowed the Emperor to step upon its leathered skin.

The Giant being's eyes had already angled upwards, gazing at Enel with great expectations.

The Emperor himself was a bit confused at the welcome he was receiving, he hadn't remembered Zunesha reacting in such a strong manner in the original, although he barely remembered a lot about Zunesha in general.

He knew of the Elephant's species, and its connection to Joyboy and the Void Century, but that was about it.

Well, he was going to find out more now, at least...

'Wait a moment... How am I supposed to understand Zunesha again?'

Enel blinked a few times as he appeared before the gigantic eye of the elephant.

His head tilted sheepishly as it still ached from his earlier awakening.

"So... I may have come to see what you are up to, but I don't actually have the 'Voice of all things'..."

Enel scratched the back of his head as he spoke out, laughing sheepishly as he realized that the situation must've been awkward for the elephant as well.

'I don't even know if Zunesha's been trying to speak to me this whole time...'

Enel was about to give up and go greet the Mink tribe, to see if there was anyone who could help him speak to Zunesh but the gigantic Elephant moved first.

Its trunk started swinging around, and Enel raised an eyebrow as he felt the Elephant slowly but surely write down a word into the air.

'Awaken'

He blinked a few times, somewhat confused, and then he turned his head toward the elephant's eye before sighing and nodding.

'I guess I should at least try... Although I don't know how awakening once more will affect me... It can't be that bad anyway.'

"Just, give me a moment, Zunesha..."

Enel closed his eyes as he let out a breath of steam. His entire body seemed to be covered in spaks at that moment.

His back especially shined, it shined so bright that light could be seen even through his white coat, the light then took the form of the rotating drums ever-present on his back.

Next, he opened his eyes, they shone in blue light as he met the gigantic Elephant's gaze.

In that form, his headache was gone, so he spoke out with clarity.

"I should be able to understand you now, right?..."

'... I would hope so.'

An ancient voice thundered in his ears, he blinked a few times before digging his pinky into his right ear.

"Yep... I can hear you. And you're loud as fuck. Pardon my French..."

'You really are similar to Raijin, even in speech patterns... What is French, by the way?'

Zunesha's eye bore into Enel's own as it spoke with a calm and familiarity that was simply unexpected.

"Nothing of any importance in this world..." Enel shook his head and laughed a bit.

"Still, I wasn't sure that this would work, does that mean I have 'The Voice of All Things' now?"

The Emperor asked as his gaze turned to his palm, which he clenched into a fist, still marvelling over the feeling of power his awakening gave him.

'Doubtful... But one of Raijin's many abilities was his perception, he was known to understand all living lifeforms regardless of method of communication...'

"... So if I concentrated hard enough I'd even hear a tree's words?" The Emperor rubbed his chin with a raised eyebrow, quite intrigued by the possibilities of his ability.

'... Well, you can try, but you'll seldom find their 'words' understandable. Regardless, let us get back on track...'

Zunesha huffed a bit as its entire body seemed to shake, its eye then turned to the sun.

'I thank you for coming here, descendant of the Thunder God!' The Elephant's voice thundered in Enel's ears once more, the Emperor blinked a few times before sighing.

"Yeah, it's not a big deal... But how come you moved? I remember that you were cursed to wander aimlessly unless ordered otherwise?"

'Oh? I'm assuming Raijin informed you of that... Alas, there is no need for me to continue serving my sentence when there is a chance for me to redeem myself.'

"Redeem yourself? Would you mind being a bit more specific here?" Enel scowled a bit when he heard even more cryptic talk about the past.

He had had enough of that, he just wanted answers at that point.

'Hmm... I guess it is fine to tell you. If not you, then who else deserves to know, of what truly happened back then?...'

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Hope you liked the chapter! 

Next one's gonna be more on the Void Century from Zunesha's perspective btw :)) 

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