Enel lay sprawled across the deck of the Blumarine Jackson, looking like a dried-up salted fish.
(I've been sun-dried into silence...)
His golden turban was askew, and his signature long earlobes drooped limply. Powering the ship was seriously exhausting.
"I... I'm a god, dammit..." he protested weakly.
"God?" Ritter crouched beside him and poked his cheek with a twig, his tone laced with sarcasm. "With power like that, you couldn't even beat a guard dog in the New World."
He clicked his tongue. "Enel's such a letdown. Only lasted through three rounds."
Enel was so mad his earlobes stood upright, lightning crackling at his fingertips. But before the bolts could form, Ritter casually slapped the sparks away.
"Stop struggling, rookie."
Ritter stood and pulled a small notebook from his coat. The cover read: Enel Growth Observation Diary.
Flipping to the first page, he scribbled quickly:
Observation Log:
Observation Haki: B-
Armament Haki: F
Physical Endurance: D
Devil Fruit Mastery: C+
Overall Rating: Not even Warlord-level. Shameful. Tsk.
It was a mock diary, parodying those "System Logs" from other worlds. Since Ritter didn't have a system, he made up his own.
Perona floated nearby with her Kumashi plush in her arms, giggling as she piled on, "Kumashi can sew, too~"
Enel: …
She wasn't wrong, but why did it sound so damn condescending?
He was once the god of Skypiea was this really the path to getting stronger?
Firing his lightning cannons felt amazing, sure, but charging them up was grueling.
Ritter partly just wanted to improve Enel's stamina.
Truly.
"All right! Special training begins now!" Ritter clapped his hands and opened a large chest full of lead balls. "You're in luck. This one's straight from the training I got from the Pirate King himself. So jealous you have such a brilliant and mighty captain, huh?"
Enel's eyelid twitched. "...What the hell are we doing?"
"Observation Haki training!" Ritter grinned. "These are 'dodge-or-die' lead balls. Perfect for pushing your limits. Come on, Enel Observation Haki is all about your will to live!"
"Wait, die?!"
Before Enel could react, Moria had already arranged thirty zombies in a circle. Each one held a lead ball in its hand.
"Fufufufufu... Begin~"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
The balls rained down like a storm. Enel darted frantically between them, though a few still grazed his body and slammed into the deck with thunderous crashes.
"Hey hey hey I'm still growing into my strength, okay?! I'm not blind! These things are all coated in Armament Haki, aren't they?!"
Ritter casually picked his nose. "Obviously. If they weren't, they wouldn't hurt you."
"This isn't training this is murder!"
Ritter lay back on a beach chair, sunglasses on, sipping chilled juice.
"Quit whining. Your wide-range perception is too coarse. You need to learn how to pinpoint every projectile's trajectory. Your Observation Haki's only strong because your Rumble-Rumble Fruit lets you sense bioelectric signals. But your Haki? It's incomplete."
Crackle. Zap. Thud. POP!
"Ow! Dammit, that hurts, you bastard!"
"AGH—"
CRACK! WHAM! POP!
Perona's ghosts floated above with a scoreboard: Hits: 99/100
Enel: "...One more and it's a perfect hundred?!"
BANG!
The final lead ball nailed him in the back of the head. Enel collapsed, drifting into the most peaceful sleep of his life.
Ritter snapped his notebook shut with satisfaction. "Observation Haki leveled up to a solid B. Not bad~"
That afternoon, Ritter looked at Enel with a gleam in his eyes.
"Enel, I've come up with a genius idea."
Had Shanks or Buggy been there, they'd have bolted instantly.
"To help you master Armament Haki quickly. See, Armament Haki is " Ritter crossed his arms, adopting a serious expression.
Enel actually leaned in to listen for once, he looked focused.
BAM!
Ritter socked him in the face. Enel flew straight into the ship's wall, embedding in it before sliding down.
"You didn't explain anything, you lunatic!!!"
"Experience is the best teacher~" Ritter beamed as he pulled out a black club. "Try this one! Kaido-style!"
"Wait, that's NOOOOOOO!!!"
At last, Ritter could enjoy the guilty pleasure of playing Rayleigh and beating the crap out of someone.
Thunder cracked across the deck, bolts flashing like a storm.
Moria calmly handed out insulated suits to his zombies. "Fufufufu... They're having so much fun."
Enel, where are your manners?!
Three days later, when Ritter tried to sneak up and smack him with a sandal
Enel reacted on instinct, arm snapping up and cloaking in black Armament Haki.
SMACK! The sandal bounced off his arm.
Silence.
Perona's ghosts rained down flowers: "Congratulations on graduation~"
Moria applauded. "Fufufufu... Finally, no more screaming."
Tears welled up in Enel's eyes. "I... I finally..."
Ritter gave his shoulder a firm pat. "Not bad. Based on my calculations..."
Enel looked at him expectantly.
"You can now power at least six blasts!"
Enel: "???"
"Next time we run into the Marines, fire off six rounds right off the bat, hahaha."
"See? You've gotten way more in tune with the Rumble-Rumble Fruit, right?" Ritter grinned, holding up two batteries.
Enel: "That's my power, dammit!"
"Don't be stingy~" Ritter jammed a plug into his ear. "Come on, charge me up. This speaker's not working."
Zzzzzzt—!!
The ship's lights flickered wildly.
Enel's hair frizzed straight up who could say if it was from rage or electrocution?
"You're all demons!!!"
Ritter rubbed his chin thoughtfully. "Hmm... If we can stabilize the output..."
Enel: "..."
Why did he ever agree to follow this lunatic?!
Months of hellish training passed. Ritter often called Enel weak, but only in terms of current strength he had real potential.
Finally, Ritter dressed like a Marine Admiral, cloak and all. The words "Final Examiner" were scrawled across his back. In his hand, he held an apple.
"Final test! Use Armament Haki to peel this apple."
Enel: "...What kind of test is that?!"
"Stop whining and do it!"
Grinding his teeth, Enel took the apple, sighing. He focused lightning danced across his fingers, which then darkened as he applied Armament Haki. Slowly, carefully, he began to peel.
Buzz... Crackle... Ssshhh...
The peel came off in one clean spiral.
Ritter wiped away a tear. "They grow up so fast..." Then turned and fed the apple to Laboon.
Enel roared like a shark. "That was my graduation project!! I spent so long and you just fed it to a whale?!"
His Observation Haki was no longer a blunt net. Now it was refined, able to lock onto and predict every incoming attack with precision.
His lightning and Armament Haki merged into a black-red armored form, massively boosting his power.
"Two Hundred Million Volts: Armored Raijin!"
Black-red lightning exploded, shaking the entire sea.
Moria grinned, fufufufu-ing again. "Finally catching up to the Warlords in power."
Perona clapped. "Yay~ No more beatdowns from Captain Ritter!"
At the bow of the ship, Ritter watched the reborn Enel with satisfaction.
"Barely passing grade."
Enel knelt on one knee, lightning blazing in his eyes. "Captain Ritter... I'll never let you down again."
Ritter nodded and turned away. "Enel!"
"Captain, I'm here." Enel's gaze burned with devotion. He braced for his next mission.
"Go charge the battery. I wanna play some music." Ritter's smirk reappeared.
Enel: "You didn't need to add that last part!!!"
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