As time passed, lightning from the cloud layers began to strike the ground of Zou Island. While their range was not big, it posed significant trouble to the Minks in this area.
Especially for Hachi and others, who were currently besieging the Store-Store Fruit user. Initially, Hitsugisukan’s hammer attack had given them a big advantage, but the change in weather once again altered the course of the battle.
Minks could use lightning, but they weren’t immune to it. However, for the Store-Store Fruit user, these lightning strikes were inconsequential. He could directly store and convert the lightning into his own power.
Watching the changes on the man’s body, Zeraora suddenly had a bad feeling. He didn’t have the power to foresee the future; this was a battle intuition developed over the several years.
At first, Hitsugisukan had no intention of letting the guest get involved. Out of respect for the locals, he refrained from taking action and instead assisted in waking up the unconscious Minks. To be more specific, he used Yanyan’s ability to rouse those who had fallen into slumber.
However, it was a drain on Yanyan’s energy. Depending on the situation, different abilities would result in different energy consumption. Unlike Archeops’ Defeatist ability, which naturally doesn’t consume energy, Yanyan’s Sweet Veil was different.
It wasn’t like an evolution stone, where it worked just by being present.
Some abilities affected oneself, some the environment, and some others. Yanyan belonged to the latter category; it uses its own power to keep allies from falling asleep.
While the consumption was minimal, it still existed. Otherwise, there would be no way to distinguish between friend and foe.
Normally, it would use this ability on only a few Pokémon at a time. As the number of individuals increases, it becomes less effective. It woke up a few people in each area, enabling them to count and organize the headcount alongside the Guardians.
“Yanyan, go back to Setsuna. Stay safe.”
“Ya, ya!”
Under the bombardment of natural lightning, the energy meter on the Store-Store Fruit user’s chest gradually reached its limit. A dangerous smile appeared on his lips, and his body now resembled a charged battery.
Besides storing and converting electrical energy into his own strength, he could also discharge it.
Under the indiscriminate lightning barrage of the thundercloud, his energy was almost full. Meanwhile, Hachi and the other Minks had sustained many injuries due to the thundercloud.
“Our mission was to capture, but with so many of you, losing a few won’t matter.”
Lightning crackled in his palms. Although it didn’t emit the usual sound of lightning, the compressed lightning was even more dangerous.
“Store-Store Thunder Cannon.”
His robust arms transformed into cannon, and the stored lightning within him surged forth, the dazzling lightning almost blinding. But, in the distance, a yellow streak of lightning rushed towards him at an even faster speed.
Hachi felt a sudden force by his side, and he was pushed aside. He had been running, but this push threw him off balance, causing him to roll on the ground before coming to a stop.
As he got up and looked at the aftermath of the Thunder Cannon, he couldn’t help but feel a sense of dread. But then he noticed something unusual – he had been able to dodge the attack because he had been pushed aside by someone. The person who pushed him…
Hachi turned to look to the side, and within the lightning, he could vaguely make out the figure of his future son-in-law, Zeraora.
At that moment, a flood of images flashed through his mind, including the heartbroken expression on Setsuna’s face and the miserable condition of Zeraora, and his eyes almost turned bloodshot.
“You b*stard, what have you done!”
His sharp fangs almost broke, but the next moment, he realized that his emotional outburst might have been in vain. Within the lightning, he heard Zeraora’s calm voice.
“Don’t worry, Uncle. This little thing is just an appetizer for me.”
Amidst the lightning, not only Zeraora was unscathed, but he was also absorbing the lightning released by his opponent. The devil fruit user has the unique ability to absorb energy and then unleash it, so his attacks were pure lightning, but lightning attacks were ineffective against Zeraora.
His ability was to store electricity, which not only makes him immune to lightning attacks but also allows him to restore his own energy. But, this ability can only provide immunity to lightning attacks and does not allow him to guide or attract lightning.
However Zeraora is different. Due to the absence of an electricity generation organ, he relies on his fur which possesses the ability to attract electric currents to store electrical energy from outside.
Combining this ability with Volt Absorb ability gave Zeraora more ways to deal with lightning attacks.
“A mere beast being so arrogant!”
The sound of electricity was quite noisy, so Zeraora had to shout to make sure Hachi heard him. Unfortunately, this meant the enemy could hear them too.
Most members of the World Government uphold a principle – i.e. humans are supreme.
Apart from ordinary humans, the Longarm Tribe, Longleg Tribe, Three-Eye Tribe or the Snakeneck Tribe have different structures from normal people, Giants and Dwarves have huge size differences, and Merfolk, Fish-Men and Mink have animal features.
Even though the World Government officially defines Vice Admirals as humans, they still regard them as subhumans or animals. That’s why, when under his attacks, instead of scattering, this group of “beasts” continued to fight back, which displeased him.
Saying that, his two hands merged together, and an even greater electric current was released from his body.
Sensing the powerful electricity outside, rather than feeling anger, Zeraora felt happy.
Even though he has excellent endurance, he still needs to recharge from time to time, so he usually conserves his electricity during battles. However, he had now entered a mode where he didn’t consume any energy, instead the enemy’s attacks were continuously replenishing his energy.
In simpler terms, he has never fought such an “easy” battle before.
After the opponent used both hands, the amount of released electric current instantly increased, and the energy bar on his body was visibly decreasing at a rapid pace. However, to the naked eye, his attacks seemed to have weakened.
After Zeraora unleashed his absorption limit, the frequency of his release couldn’t keep up with Zeraora’s absorption rate. Suddenly, a towering column of light shot up from the lightning, and the originally blue-white lightning was completely replaced by yellow.
“Thanks for the hospitality; now it’s my turn to treat you.”
The raging lightning allowed him to enter Wild Charge state, with claws on both hands springing out, sharpening further as they clashed and rubbed against each other. With the boost from Wild Charge, Zeraora shot forward, driving both claws into the enemy’s chest.
And thus, the Tekkai that had allowed him to stand tall in the group battle got destroyed.
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