Chapter 465: A Power Bank?
Enel was laughing loudly, but Ian, having snapped out of it, quickly condensed another projectile and fired it toward the ark.
He had no idea how the ark was designed, so of course he couldn't know where the system that generated the thunderclouds was located. He could only try his luck or simply destroy the entire ark.
However, Enel also reacted in time. Though he didn't understand Ian's railgun ability, he realized it was essentially just a more powerful cannonball, and he actually had a way to counter it.
Seeing Ian condense another projectile, Enel reached out and pressed his hand against the golden cabin. Using his gold-manipulation ability, he tore off a large chunk of gold from the ship, melted it, and shaped it into a very thick shield. Just as Ian fired his second railgun, Enel placed the shield directly in the path of Ian's finger, and it actually managed to block the shot.
Although the golden shield was completely blown apart by the railgun, and the projectile even pierced through and hit Enel, his body had already turned into lightning, so he was unharmed. The railgun's power had been significantly reduced after being blocked, and when it struck the cabin behind him, it only created a hole without penetrating the entire hull.
Seeing this, Ian decided to take matters into his own hands. Spreading his Flame Wings, he charged onto the ark. Perhaps because his continuous attacks had drawn Enel's attention, Enel hadn't expected Ian to board the ship directly. Caught off guard, Ian landed on top of the cabin.
As he landed, Ian drew his Thousand Cherry Blossoms, let out a roar, and swung his long blade downward. A massive sword slash erupted, cleaving the entire ark in two.
He had cut along a straight line from the chimney's position, and this time it worked. With the chimney split open, the churning black clouds finally stopped.
"Damn it!" Enel cursed loudly, emerging from the golden walls of the cabin. He teleported behind Ian in an instant and swung his golden staff down at the back of Ian's head.
His current attack was futile. The thundercloud generation had stopped, and Ian wasn't about to be hit by that staff. With a slight sidestep, Ian dodged Enel's strike, then closed in and swung his blade at Enel.
Enel didn't dare to block Ian's blade. He was afraid of repeating what happened before—having his weapon cut in half and then getting slashed himself. His golden staff had been reconnected using his gold-manipulation ability, and if it happened again, he'd look like a complete fool.
This was the advantage of having Armament Haki hardening. Against someone who couldn't reinforce their weapons with Haki, it was easy to cut through them.
Since Enel couldn't clash head-on, he had to dodge. His body turned into lightning, and he tried to teleport away.
But just then, Ian's empty left hand suddenly reached out and grabbed at the air to his left front, clenching his fist!
With that simple motion, something strange happened. Enel, who was in the middle of teleporting, suddenly froze. He lost control of his body and stumbled, tumbling several times across the deck.
Scrambling to his feet, his face bruised and swollen, Enel stared at Ian in shock. "You... what did you just do to me!?"
Ian was also surprised. It had just been a sudden idea. Since his electromaster ability allowed him to control lightning, could he also control Enel, who was essentially lightning incarnate?
That spontaneous thought had prompted Ian to make that move.
And to his surprise, it actually worked! At the moment Enel teleported, his body was fully elementalized, turning him into a humanoid bolt of lightning. That put him right within Ian's control.
The reason it only resulted in a tug was that when Ian's hand grabbed and controlled him, Enel's power became unstable, causing him to revert from his elemental form back to a normal body, breaking Ian's hold.
Realizing this, Ian felt an urge to laugh triumphantly! This was too unexpected, too surprising!
It seemed he was Enel's true natural enemy and nemesis!
Indeed, while Ian could also use lightning power, he couldn't transform into lightning and move freely like Enel. When using his lightning abilities, Ian's body remained physical, which seemed inferior to Enel. But ironically, this seemingly lower-level difference allowed Ian to do something Enel couldn't.
"Come here!" Ian shouted, opening his right hand and reaching for Enel.
Seeing Ian's motion, Enel was startled and instinctively tried to turn into lightning to teleport away. But the moment his body elementalized, he was drawn by the mysterious force from Ian's hand, flying uncontrollably toward Ian!
If he hadn't elementalized, he might have been fine, but doing so made him vulnerable. Ian's move now resembled Teach's Dark Water, grabbing hold of Enel's Goro Goro no Mi power itself. Enel couldn't escape.
It was just Enel's bad luck. If he had any other Logia ability, like ice or fire, Ian wouldn't have been able to do anything. But he had lightning...
If Enel knew this, he'd probably die of embarrassment...
As he was caught by the force in Ian's hand, the more he tried to turn into lightning to escape, the more he was pulled in. Before he could struggle much, Ian had him in his grasp.
Ian grabbed him by the neck with his right hand, not holding back. He coated his palm with Armament Haki, grabbing Enel's solid form so he couldn't break free. Then, gripping his neck, Ian slammed him into the deck beneath them!
The impact scattered Enel's face. When it hit the deck, his face elementalized, so the blow didn't hurt him. But his neck was still held by Armament Haki, so he couldn't escape.
"Huh, you're pretty clever," Ian said, praising him sarcastically. But then he raised his left hand and punched Enel right in the face!
This was the second time Enel had been punched by Ian. The Armament Haki rendered his elemental body useless, and blood once again streamed from his nose.
"You... you..." Enel's nose was throbbing from the punch, tears nearly streaming from the pain, and his vision blurred.
Seeing Ian so close, he quickly grabbed Ian's arm with both hands and unleashed a powerful electric shock with all his might.
But he forgot—Ian was completely immune to this. No matter how strong the current, it had no effect on Ian, unless he swapped out Misaka Mikoto's card.
Because the power the card granted him was control over lightning, when Enel grabbed Ian's wrist and released the current, it flowed into Ian without any effect.
However, since Ian had Enel by the throat, making it hard for him to breathe, Enel kept discharging electricity instinctively, even though it didn't affect Ian.
Yeah, discharging... that word sounds a bit dirty...
At first, Ian didn't care. He figured Enel could keep shocking him while he kept punching. So he raised his fist to strike again.
But then, Ian noticed something strange. His psychic power was recovering rapidly!
The fight hadn't lasted long, but Ian had expended a considerable amount of psychic power. Yet now, it was recovering much faster than his physical stamina could account for.
What was going on? Ian paused, looking at Enel's hands gripping his wrist, and a not-so-great idea popped into his head.
Damn... Had he just caught himself a power bank!?