With a muffled explosion, the priest was blasted away by his own Repel Dial shockwave.
"How is this possible?! Why would the priest be the one blown away?" the guards of Birka's divine garrison shouted in alarm.
"There was a black hole on that guy's chest just now! Who are these people, to possess such strange abilities?!"
"Is this the power of a Devil Fruit?" another priest muttered grimly, narrowing his eyes.
"That guy's control over the Hole-Hole Fruit has clearly become more refined—his power's improved a lot," Bartley observed.
"How could it not improve? Under the pressure of a Navy hero like Garp, who wouldn't level up? Even you and I got stronger," Hemmie added with a chuckle.
Ever since their battle with Garp, everyone's strength had gone up one way or another. After all, those who survived high-level battles like that usually came out stronger.
"So you're a Devil Fruit user... No wonder you dare act so brazenly," the cold and stunning winged beauty said icily, her wings flapping as she slowly ascended into the sky.
"She can actually fly!"
"Could it really be the Angel Fruit? That should be a Mythical Zoan, right?"
"A Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruit, even rarer than a Logia!"
"A human-human model, angel form?" the pirates around murmured in awe.
"Iron Cloud Fist!" the cold goddess raised her fist, and in an instant, clouds gathered and formed into a massive, towering fist that plummeted toward Rosinante and the others.
It was enormous—darkening the skies like a looming mountain. The sheer force behind it didn't seem like something a fist made of mere clouds should be capable of.
"This... This is her Devil Fruit power?"
"Clouds? That kind of power... ordinary clouds couldn't do this!"
"That fist is massive! It feels like the heavens themselves are about to crash down and crush us!"
"GOD BLAST FIST!" Raelmann sprang into action, hurling his own fist to intercept. An earth-shattering explosion rocked the air, blasting the giant cloud fist to pieces.
"It's Captain Raelmann of the Second Division—the Detonator! We're saved!"
"He's incredible! That thing was massive, and he blew it apart with just one punch!"
"Captain Raelmann's the user of the Explosion Fruit. Anything he touches detonates!"
"Incredible!" the pirates roared in admiration.
"This doesn't seem like the power of a Mythical Zoan-type," Jack said, frowning.
"We'll know soon enough—just fight and find out!" Raelmann growled. His feet detonated beneath him, propelling him at supersonic speed toward the so-called god.
"TRIPLE GOD BLAST!" he roared.
The "God Blast" was Raelmann's signature move: a series of chained detonations at maximum power. Once struck, the target would suffer a cascade of explosions from within.
Boom-boom-boom! Explosions erupted across the goddess's body as she was blasted into fragments.
"She was blown to bits!"
"Geez, Raelmann really doesn't hold back. Such a beautiful woman, and he just blew her to pieces!"
"She was the enemy, you idiot! But still... such a shame. If we'd captured her and offered her to the Captain, that'd be one hell of a gift!"
"Morons! Look closely—there's no blood!" Bartley snapped, face grim. "She's not dead that easily."
"Maybe Raelmann should just capture her alive," Hemmie chuckled from the side. "She'd make a nice bedwarmer for the Captain. Our crew is full of rough men—we don't even have a maid. The Captain's our king, after all. How could he not have a proper attendant?"
"Now that's an idea!" Jack chimed in.
"Hey now, I am still here, you know," Rosinante interjected dryly.
"Gods do not die! You think you can harm me?" Clouds reformed in the air, once again shaping into the elegant figure of the goddess. Her voice rang out, cold as steel.
"She's not a Mythical Zoan. Looks like a Logia user," Bartley concluded.
"Logias sure are full of themselves," Raelmann muttered as he used another blast-step to rocket forward, his fist ready again.
"It's useless," the goddess—Shaxia—said with icy confidence. No one could harm her... or so she thought.
Boom! Before she finished her sentence, Raelmann's punch struck her squarely, hurling her through the air.
"You think you're invincible just because you can turn into elements? In the New World, cocky Logia users are always the first to die," Raelman said flatly.
"No... that's impossible! Lady Shaxia is a Logia user—she wields the Cloud-Cloud Fruit!" cried the priests in shock.
Shaxia herself was in disbelief. "How could anyone hurt me? Is it... Seastone?"
"Turning into clouds doesn't make you immortal. There are plenty of ways to hit Logia users," Raelmann scoffed.
Shaxia hadn't originally been Birka's deity. But ever since she accidentally ate the Cloud-Cloud Fruit as a child, no one—not man nor weapon—could hurt her. She'd trained with the fruit all her life, eventually developing true angelic wings rather than decorative ones.
The temple elders, awed by her power and divine wings, declared her the true goddess and forced the previous one to step down.
Over the years, Shaxia was constantly worshiped and praised. She came to believe she was divine. Anyone who defied her was subject to "divine punishment." Birka grew increasingly xenophobic under her rule. Her tyrannical policies went unchallenged—all because she possessed what was thought to be invincible power: the elemental form of a Logia user.
But now Raelmann had shattered that illusion.
"I won't accept this! CLOUD RIVER HEAVEN'S WRATH!"
With her furious shout, the sky itself trembled. Birka's mighty cloud rivers twisted and writhed as they surged toward Rosinante and his crew.
"No! Lady Shaxia's furious!"
"She's going to destroy the whole sky island!" the surrounding civilians screamed in horror.
"Please, calm your wrath, Lady Shaxia!" the temple priests and elders pleaded.
But she wouldn't be swayed.
The cloud rivers roared under her command, converging on Rosinante's crew. Even the surrounding clouds began to shake, as if preparing to engulf them all.
"Logia users are such a pain," Bartley muttered. "Especially when they're fighting on their home turf—an island made entirely of clouds. She could actually destroy this place. If that happens, where are we supposed to restock?"
"This farce ends now," Rosinante said quietly, raising his head.
In that instant, a tyrannical wave of presence exploded from his body—Conqueror's Haki.
The sky trembled. One by one, Birka's residents collapsed into unconsciousness. Then the divine guards, the temple soldiers, the priests, and even the elders—all fell.
"Conqueror's... Haki!" gasped one of the temple elders before fainting.
"It's the Captain's Conqueror's Haki!" one of the Gray Kingdom's pirates said in awe.
"No wonder he's our Captain—only one in a million has that kind of Haki!" another pirate exclaimed.
Shaxia staggered, her mind beginning to fog as the overwhelming force battered her will.
At that moment, a silent figure appeared behind her—utterly soundless. With a hand coated in Armament Haki, he struck her neck with the edge of his palm.
Shaxia's vision dimmed as she slowly lost consciousness.
The last thing she saw... was a young man holding her in his arms.