One Piece : Rise of Thunder King

You can read the advance chapters here : patreon.com/Vigilante04

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Zi Zi Zi~

Boom~

A massive, 100-meter-long Thunder Dragon roared, crackling with thunder and lightning, carrying intense heat as it charged toward Nuoqi Gao. Despite the tattoos covering her body, they didn't diminish her beauty.

"Dark Prison!" Nuoqi shouted, extending her hands forward. A thick black cloud emerged, sealing the area in front of her.

The Thunder Dragon collided with it immediately.

The attack should have caused a huge explosion, but the black screen-like barrier blocked it, causing the Thunder Dragon to quickly vanish.

"50 Million Volt Lightning Strike!" Seeing that the previous attack failed, Arthur launched another.

But Nuoqi Gao simply waved her hands, and the black cloud enveloped her, forming a shield around her in every direction.

Though the move seemed simple, it was incredibly effective. As long as the Dark Prison surrounded her, no Devil Fruit ability, no matter how powerful, could get through—unless it was a close-range physical attack. Of course, the strength of the Dark Fruit depended on its development.

Seeing Nuoqi Gao's full defense, Arthur called out, "Nuoqi Gao, keep this up. I'll test the limits of your defense!"

"Alright!" Nuoqi responded from within the darkness.

"300 Million Volt, God's Punishment!"

Boom~

Arthur's attack had changed. He no longer needed to launch part of his body to release the attack. With his Devil Fruit ability, he could easily send out massive bolts of lightning.

He could even create lightning directly in the air, as positive and negative charges were present everywhere.

The massive lightning strike from the sky was powerful, turning the surrounding area into magma and causing everything to collapse, except for the space covered by Nuoqi Gao's defense.

"400 Million Volt, God's Punishment!"

Seeing that the 300 Million Volt attack caused destruction to the surroundings but left Nuoqi Gao unharmed, Arthur unleashed an even stronger attack.

This time, his God's Punishment was more focused. Though it was only 100 million volts stronger, the power doubled, and it was terrifying.

Boom~

The thunder faded, and Arthur saw the situation at the center of the storm. Despite the fierce attack, Nuoqi Gao remained unharmed within her Dark Prison.

"It seems that Dark Fruit has only been developed for half a year, but with it, Nuoqi Gao already has the strength of a vice admiral."

After testing a few more times and seeing that Nuoqi Gao's defense was reaching its limit, Arthur stopped his attempts. At his signal, Nuoqi Gao began using other techniques.

"Black Hole Traction!" Nuoqi Gao extended her hand toward Arthur. Black clouds radiated from her palm, swirling around.

Immediately, Arthur felt a strong gravitational pull, dragging him forward.

If Arthur hadn't been able to control gravity and fly freely, he wouldn't have been able to resist the pull at all.

Once someone was dragged off the ground and lost their strength, they were completely at the mercy of those with Dark Fruit abilities, unable to use their own powers.

Pop~

Since Arthur didn't have much defense, he was sucked toward Nuoqi Gao. When the jet-black hand touched him, he instantly felt the power of his Thunder Fruit vanish completely, unable to be used at all.

"Dark Binding!" Realizing her own strength, and knowing that even with the Dark Fruit she couldn't hurt Arthur, Nuoqi quickly moved to the next attack.

Seeing that she had captured Arthur, she immediately used her next move. The rotating black clouds transformed into thick, invisible ropes that wrapped around Arthur, binding him tightly.

"Dark Hell Realm!" If this technique were used by Blackbeard, it would be called Dark Cavern Road.

The black clouds spread beneath Nuoqi Gao's feet, and under her control, Arthur sank into the black void and disappeared.

Inside the darkness, all Arthur could hear was his own voice. The feeling of being in an endless void overwhelmed him. He couldn't sense anything with his eyes or perception; it was pure darkness.

After imprisoning Arthur in this dark world, Nuoqi Gao withdrew her ability and then used it again. A black cloud whirled in the air, and suddenly, Arthur dropped from it.

As he saw the light again, Arthur couldn't help but breathe a sigh of relief. The crushing darkness had been very oppressive. After adjusting himself, he landed smoothly on the ground.

"Not bad!" Arthur walked over to Nuoqi Gao, patted her on the head, and nodded in approval. "With the power of your fruit, even an elite lieutenant couldn't touch you. But you wouldn't be able to defeat an elite lieutenant unless they were careless."

"But if your physical strength, skills, and stamina improve, even an elite lieutenant would struggle to face you. And if you're serious, you could defeat them."

Nuoqi Gao heard this and asked, "So should I start training physical arts now?"

"No!" Arthur shook his head immediately, then wrapped his arms around Nuoqi Gao's slender waist. "You don't need to for now. Just focus on developing your Devil Fruit abilities. When the time is right, we'll train others."

"Okay, I understand." Nuoqi nodded, ready to continue her practice.

But before she could move, Arthur, knowing her thoughts, blocked her. Seeing her puzzled expression, he said, "Don't worry. It's been half a year. Let's first experiment to see if you can take a Devil Fruit ability away from someone and give it to another."

"Are you starting now?" Nuoqi Gao frowned, unsure. She had never killed anyone before.

"Yes." Arthur nodded seriously. "Try it. A while ago, I found some common animals that ate basic Zoan-type Devil Fruits. Let's try it and make sure it works 100%. Once we're sure, we can bring back useful abilities."

"Animals... I understand." Nuoqi Gao looked at Arthur with a serious expression. Whether her training over the past six months had been effective depended on today's experiment.

A dozen strange animals roamed a mountain on Rusukaina Island. Though there were no fences, they didn't venture outside the open space.

Arthur had chosen ordinary animals and fed them some low-tier Zoan Devil Fruits.

Since these animals lacked high intelligence, they couldn't control their Devil Fruit abilities, which caused them to change in bizarre and uncontrollable ways.

After placing the animals in the area, Arthur used his Conqueror's Haki to cover the surroundings. The animals tried to run twice but quickly froze in place, too intimidated to escape.

Arthur approached and selected one of the animals, which he couldn't even identify.

Bang~

With a light tap on its head, the animal immediately bled from its eyes, nose, and mouth, losing its life.

"Nuoqi Gao, don't worry too much," Arthur said, noticing her tension. "These abilities are weak, so even if you fail, it's not a big deal. The key is to gain experience and learn how to make 100% of the abilities work."

Nuoqi Gao nodded, her gaze focused on the animal that had just died.

A fruit disappeared from Nuoqi Gao's hand, and she was sent into the dark world. She then looked at the dead animal, placed her hand on it, and used the Black Hole to pull it in.

However, this time the gravitational pull of the Black Hole was slightly different. The area it affected was larger, and the gravitational force was much stronger.

"Huh?" Nuoqi Gao's eyes lit up. "I feel it... is that the Devil Fruit's ability?"

Nuoqi closed her eyes tightly and focused, trying to sense more.

Upon hearing this, Arthur's expression changed slightly, becoming more serious.

He didn't know which Devil Fruit it was or its origin, or if there was even a Devil within it. But for now, those details didn't matter. What mattered was that the ability could be taken away—that was the key!

Nuoqi Gao continued to focus. Time passed quickly, and after about two minutes, she reluctantly opened her eyes and said, "Arthur, I failed. My ability couldn't attract the Devil Fruit's power. It escaped."

"It's okay! Don't worry," Arthur reassured her. "This ability needs to be tested carefully. There are still plenty of these lesser Devil Fruits to experiment with. You can try at least twenty times. Rest now, and then we'll try again."

Arthur tried to comfort Nuoqi Gao, though he was a little disappointed himself. Still, he wasn't overly concerned. As long as they could figure out how to hunt Devil Fruit abilities in the coming months, there was no rush.

After a short break, Nuoqi Gao felt refreshed, reviewed her previous attempts, and said, "Arthur, let's try again. This time, I think the chances of success are much higher!"

"Alright!" Arthur nodded, using his power to pull the animal over. He tapped it on the head, and it immediately died.

"Black Hole Traction!" Nuoqi Gao used the ability again.

A few minutes later, she opened her eyes with a frown and said, "Arthur, I failed again, but I gained a little more experience."

"That's great!" Arthur smiled and reassured her. "You've made progress. Take a rest and think about what went wrong, and then we'll try again."

Nuoqi Gao nodded, taking a break while reflecting on her earlier attempts.

She tried three more times, but each attempt failed. Finally, Nuoqi Gao sighed and decided to stop the experiment for the day, choosing to practice her Black Hole ability for a while.

After discussing with Arthur, they concluded that the main reason the Devil Fruit's abilities were escaping was that the gravitational pull wasn't strong enough. If the traction were stronger, the ability would be firmly absorbed and sent into the dark world.

In the dark world, the Devil Fruit ability, with nowhere to go, would likely attach to the only object available to it.

Arthur speculated that if a person were sent into the dark world, the Devil Fruit ability would probably attach to them, since there would be no other option.

"I still don't know how Blackbeard managed it," Arthur thought, smiling. "I need to keep practicing and try more."

Thinking of Blackbeard, Arthur chuckled. The man was still waiting eagerly in the Whitebeard Pirates, eager for his chance.

The fourth stone mountain had been flattened by Arthur, and after a small battle with Nuoqi Gao, they had completed the rest of the experiments. The rest of the time was spent on a day of breaks.

On Rusukaina a Island, Arthur continued to spar with Nuoqi Gao for three more days. Afterward, he left the island and headed toward the New World.

Half a month later, there was another roar from the fifth stone mountain.

It was now the year 1522 in the Sea Calendar, and only a few months remained before the protagonist, Luffy, set sail.