One Piece: Lightning's Heir

~ Support & Read 12 Advanced Chapters on Patreon

❁❁❁❁

"How is the construction of the Thor coming along??" Arthur asked Constance, his tone casual.

He hadn't traveled from halfway across the world just to check if the God's Army was slacking off.

Under that indifferent gaze, Constance—who was, at best, a highly trained soldier—felt a torrent of cold sweat bead on his brow.

The pressure was immense...

"My lord, the Thor was completed a year after you departed. However, it lacks a power source and has not yet been tested in flight!"

The Thor's propulsion system was entirely electric. It was safe to say that Arthur was the only person in the world who could manipulate electrical currents and voltage with the necessary precision.

While Big Mom and others could use their Devil Fruit abilities to control thunderclouds, they couldn't fine-tune the current and voltage.

The only person in the entire world who could perfectly command the Thor was Arthur.

Of course, the Marine Science Division surely had methods for charging electrical systems, but what if it ran out of power mid-voyage??

Constance respectfully led the way to the construction site behind the temple.

The first thing that caught Arthur's eye wasn't the Thor, but... the colossal serpent he had named Jörmungandr.

Jörmungandr spotted Arthur at the same instant.

Many animals identify others by scent. Whether the great serpent did the same was unknown, but it recognized Arthur the moment it saw him. With a strange cry, its massive body tore through the dense jungle, charging toward him.

Arthur leaped onto Jörmungandr's head, calming the massive, excited creature before flying down from its skull—which was several times larger than the temple itself—and landing before the vessel forged entirely of gold: The Thor.

The original design of the Ark Maxim had been hideous, so Arthur had tasked the designer of Skypiea's Wavers with creating a new exterior.

The Thor now resembled the flying aircraft carriers from the movies of Arthur's past life. Combined with its dazzling, all-gold construction, it was the perfect blend of intimidating and ostentatious.

A ship forged from gold had one major advantage—if it sustained damage, Arthur could use his Lightning Metallurgy to repair it in an instant. As long as the entire frame wasn't destroyed, it could be made seaworthy again in short order.

Furthermore, aside from something like the Gravity-Gravity Fruit, very few abilities on the sea could counter the Thor.

The Gold-Gold Fruit allowed one to create and manipulate gold, but... under the electromagnetic force of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, who was controlling whom??

It was a matter of priority. A metallic substance like gold would inevitably be controlled by electromagnetism; there was no escaping it.

————————

"EXCELLENT!!" Arthur gazed at the Thor, a satisfied smile spreading across his face.

He circled the entire vessel twice, then flew up to the golden pavilion at the bow. Inside the pavilion were two glass domes designed for power storage.

Arthur spread his hands, placing them on the batteries and unleashing a torrent of powerful lightning.

"Zzzzzzzzzzzzzzz!"

The crackling current jumped, activating every dormant component of the Thor.

With a slight tremor, the entire ship seemed to defy gravity, slowly beginning to levitate.

"Accelerate!" Arthur commanded, and the ship shot forward.

"BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!!"

A powerful gust of wind kicked up, flattening the trees below as the Thor launched forward with blinding speed.

The controls were incredibly simple. With the press of a single component, he could accelerate, decelerate, stop, and turn at will.

The Breath Dials at the rear of the Thor were also connected to the electrical system. As long as there was enough power, they could continuously expel wind for high-speed flight.

The Impact Dial cannon at the bow could switch between two modes.

One fired an incredibly powerful air cannon, capable of hitting targets still within visual range. The other fired a concentrated blast of lightning.

If he didn't mind the trouble, he could even load an iron ball and use the ship's built-in systems to create an electromagnetic field, turning it into a railgun—and that wasn't even counting future attack methods Arthur planned to develop, like plasma cannons.

In terms of both flight speed and offensive capability, it was second to none on the seas. Arthur refused to believe that any weapon, aside from the Ancient Weapon Pluton, could compare to his Thor.

"Worth the long wait!"

He was overjoyed. Only a vessel like this could carry him as he rampaged freely across the seas.

He returned to the construction clearing behind the temple and landed. As he flew down, he was met by the God's Army and Constance.

"Lord Thunder God, many things have happened on Skypiea in the past two years that I couldn't decide on. I need to report them to you!" Constance said, holding a large stack of logbooks.

"Don't bother me unless it's a major incident affecting all of Skypiea. I gave you authority for a reason, not just for show," Arthur said with a frown.

"Thank you, my lord!" Constance bowed. "There is one more thing. A little over a year ago, about two months after you left for the Blue Sea, a ship illegally landed on Skypiea. At that time, the God's Army was defeated before they could even fight back!"

"Those illegal intruders went to look at the indestructible stone block!"

"You can't be blamed for that..." Arthur waved his hand dismissively.

The people Constance was talking about were undoubtedly the Roger Pirates. Against that level of power, the God's Army stood no chance. Roger or Rayleigh could probably knock them all out with a single glance.

However, as long as the Thor was unaffected, he considered the matter settled!

"Also..." Constance hesitated, as if ashamed of his own incompetence.

"Spit it out!" Arthur was in a good mood and didn't mind handling a few trivial matters.

"A few months ago, a child who could transform into a winged horse suddenly appeared on Angel Beach. He defeated two patrol soldiers and then escaped. We've searched the entire island but haven't found any trace of him..." Constance stammered.

"A winged horse??"

Arthur paid no mind to whether the God's Army had caught the person. He actually let out a soft chuckle.

From Constance's description, he knew this child was undoubtedly Enel. No one else on Skypiea could turn into a horse.

Enel's dream was to reach the Endless Vearth—the moon.

Arthur had a soft spot for people with dreams. He had taken the "Mantra" training method from Enel, so it was only right to give him a chance to achieve his own dream.

He had taken the blueprints for the Ark Maxim, so how was Enel supposed to get to the moon??

Giving him the Horse Fruit was giving him that chance.

Enel managing to reach the Endless Vearth with the Maxim was already a monumental task, yet he had succeeded, becoming one of the few on the sea to achieve his dream. He should be able to do the same with a Devil Fruit ability...

The conditions for fulfilling his dream had been provided. Whether he could achieve it or not was none of Arthur's concern.

❁❁❁❁

~ 12 Advanced Chapters Available on my Patreon

https://p-atreon.com/dragonnx

(Just remove the hyphen to access Patreon normally.)