One Piece: Reborn as Enel

Chapter 293: A King’s Retrospective and Perspective

__________ POV Narration __________ 

The mind of a king was always a complex one, even more so the mind of the being that ruled the whole world. 

IMU had been the king and queen of the world for all of recorded history.

He had ruled the world with an indifferent gaze, only interfering whenever he felt that balance could be skewed in any direction. 

He had done that for many years, and he had bested many incarnations of Joyboy, alongside the other 2 gods. 

Hell, most hadn't even awakened. Previous incarnations had not even managed to reach him, dying along the way. 

Still, IMU had sought their devil fruits ever since that fateful battle. He wanted to get rid of any possibility of them being reborn into the world.

But even with the wide and expansive range of influence of the World Government, they were unable to completely control every corner of the world.

There were many blind spots, including many Sky Islands, the many parts of the Grand Line and even parts of the expansive Red Line.

This lack of control was what ultimately led to their failure in getting their hands on those 'God Fruits'. 

It was a frustrating matter.

In every generation, every time they even came close to getting those devil fruits, someone would interfere, and it would end up in the hands of the next god incarnation. 

Shanks had been one to do such a thing in their current generation.

But Xebec had his moment as well, killing an entire marine fleet that was escorting one of the God Fruits. 

It was a good thing that they had transported it carefully, alongside 9 other more common devil fruits, and Xebec was unable to realize its value. Only later in his life did the notorious pirate start looking for the God Fruits, but it was too late.

That fruit which was once in his possession had already been eaten by a child... And that child happened to be none other than Aramaki. 

He was a little side project for IMU. After all, it was interesting for him to brainwash one of his old archnemesis into doing his bidding. 

But Aramaki turned out to be a waste of time in IMU's eyes. He was unable to awaken after decades of training, and so IMU had completely abandoned the matter, sending him to just work as a marine. 

All that mattered was that Balance was maintained. That was all the ruler of the world cared about. 

Balance meant that he was the one in charge. After all, maintaining the status quo was necessary.

It was for the good of everybody. Under IMU at least major wars between countries were all but extinct.

His descendants becoming the world's royalty was also only fitting.

The oldest among the 5 Elders were really the oldest children that IMU had ever spawned.

The Elders had proved themselves useful, but his descendants had otherwise devolved into lower lifeforms that IMU didn't care for at all. 

It all went well, some incidents here and there, troublesome criminals looking to disrupt the balance, but their attempts were ultimately futile.

All until Enel stepped into the picture. 

His appearance signalled a shift in balance, and that shift had spiralled...

The thin line that IMU had maintained for so long had bent and twisted, twirling around violently and eventually breaking the scale altogether. 

It was... Jarring.

Seeing his carefully built empire on the verge of collapsing in such a short span of time. 

IMU had not thought much of Enel at first, especially since he was unawakened. After all, no one had really been able to awaken Raijin's full power in the past.

But the Sky King had proven himself a lot more capable than his predecessors. 

He had gathered many allies, formed bonds with many, and even assisted in the awakening of Luffy, Nika's current incarnation.

And now they were all working together their metaphorical blades pointed at the World Governemnt's throat. 

Going into the fight, IMU's confidence had been unshaken, the memory of Enel and Luffy's predecessors was still somewhat fresh in his mind. 

He remembered their fighting styles and the extent of their abilities. He may have been felled a few times during their grand battle all those years back, but he was still the victor.

Now, faced with just two incarnations out of 3, IMU was well and truly not expecting them to be much trouble. 

But the two of them proved to not only be different from the original Gods... They proved to be outright superior.

Luffy's mastery over his powers was shocking to IMU, though he hated to admit it. His willpower was just as strong, and his reality-bending abilities were always annoying to deal with.

The bizarre way in which he turned everything around him to rubber was similar to the Nika of old, but his fighting style was a lot less... serious.

It made it all the more unpredictable. That fighting style combined with Luffy's powerful haki, which surpassed the old Nika? To put it bluntly, it made IMU anxious. 

But the one that had improved most compared to his predecessor was certainly Enel. 

The Sky King's way of using the Lightning God's powers was astonishing, from metallurgy to controlling waves to damage IMU's body constantly, he seemed to be able to control all aspects of Raijin's expansive powers.

Ironically, the old god Raijin had mostly focused on his destructive capabilities, not showing much interest in the other applications of his powers aside from using them casually and for convenience.

But Enel managed to use them to create an attack that would've put Raijin's strongest to shame. 

The Sky King turning IMU's then gigantic body into a hydrogen bomb had done a lot of damage.

It was to the point where IMU was now genuinely unable and unwilling to take on a larger form again.

In the first place, IMU's existence was fluid, made completely out of water. He could use the water in his surroundings to constantly reform himself.

But that explosion had almost completely dried out any and all humidity in their surroundings. Currently, IMU was barely hanging on using some wayward clouds that had rushed in to blanket the hole that Enel had made in their atmosphere. 

The explosion had happened at such a large scale, that the humidity in the air would take a rather long time to recover.

Worst of all, they weren't exactly in a humid environment, IMU tried to make it so, but it would still take over an hour for the air to recover its humidity. 

Due to that, IMU was forced to use Uranus fully.

The ancient weapon was known to be able to suppress all of humanity's desires, but only when used fully would it be able to suppress an awakened God fruit without physical contact.

The Ancient Weapon drained a lot of energy on each and every use. To an already tired IMU, that two-pupiled eye was supposed to be a trump card to end the battle, but now he was faced with a fully recovered Enel.

'At least Nika's incarnation was forced to flee... I should have the next few minutes to deal with this pest.' 

"It's hard to tell what is going on inside that mind of yours. But I only really have one thing to say... I pity you." Enel sighed, lightning sparking around his figure as the drums on his back shivered in resonance with his heartbeat. 

"Pity? Do you pity the king of this world? The one that stands atop the throne within this holy land?" IMU's voice held both vitriol and confusion, his mind not quite grasping what Enel meant.

'Is he mocking my current situation? That would be his last mistake... The three gods before him all acted arrogant at first, only to end up dying in the end.' 

"I pity you because I don't see you as the King of the World right now. I only see you as an enemy. 

But I can also see someone that is grasping at straws, trying his best to remain in power, clinging onto influence like it's his only lifeline..." 

That comment irked IMU quite a bit, his tentacles moved towards Enel, but the sheer heat he exuded evaporated them before they even got close. 

Enel only moved to dodge tentacles whenever they blackened. as IMU started going all out and infusing his Haki within many tentacles randomly.

IMU also started using steam to try and envelop Enel in a cage of water, but the Lighting User was far too agile for such a strategy.

He appeared behind IMU, sitting down on a random cloud with his cheek cupped in his hand. 

"Here I was hoping you wouldn't take my words as an insult. 

But how else am I supposed to see you, when I know nothing about you?

You've been nothing more than an elusive ruler, benefiting from his position for centuries whilst barely providing anything in return to the world." 

Enel seemed wholly unconcerned with IMU now, any trepidation or anxiety that he might've had at the beginning of the battle had vanished completely.

He was now calm. He was in control. 

"You know not what you are talking about, you brat." IMU finally responded verbally, after realizing that attacking Enel was easier said than done.

'He seems awfully chatty now... I guess he's waiting for Nika to recover, but I can also take this time to recover some of the humidity around...' 

Therefore, the personification of the sea spoke out, vocalizing his thoughts.

"These animals would have burned the world 10 times over were it not for me and the balance I established.

This world, and its many races, require a ruler. Those 3 idiotic gods from before also failed to realize that."

Enel raised an eyebrow when hearing IMU finally talk properly. The Sea God's voice was still constantly changing, but it seemed to linger more on the feminine one for now.

"I guess you were never told, but the world during the Void Century was on the verge of ruining itself, wars broke out in every corner of the world.

It was I, that decided to take a step to rectify things, to unite all major kingdoms and form the World Government, to stop that madness!

And it was the three gods that tried to stop me from achieving my goal..." 

Enel blinked a few times, the history of the Void Century was still something that was very much not documented. 

But this was the first time that he heard of events from IMU's perspective.

'Wait... Doesn't that mean that IMU was technically his era's hero?...' 

A noble goal, the means to achieve it, and with fate on his side... IMU was clearly favoured by the world, and destined for greatness. 

"Do you have any semblance of an idea of how many wars have been avoided thanks to my efforts?" The Sea God ended his tirade with a pointed question, which Enel answered without skipping a beat.

"Wars here, wars there... But wars aren't the only bad thing in this world." Enel scowled at IMU's insinuation.

"What's the point of stopping wars, if the world under you is ravaged by corruption constantly, and its casualties are just as horrid as any war?" 

Enel's scowl twisted even further, and he pointed his palm towards IMU, clearly no longer willing to indulge him in conversation. 

"El Thor"

A blackened flash of lightning turned into a pillar which rushed towards IMU.

The Sea God's body moved in anticipation, twisting to the side and managing to take at least half of his body out of harm's way. 

"Well well well... Seems you're no longer able to just tank hits, huh?" Seeing that scene, Enel smiled deviously as the wheel on his back turned violently. 

'Heh, at this rate, Luffy might not even return in time to see IMU's death...' 

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