32 Chapter 32: Iudicium Dei

Third Person's PoV:

"Huff...huff..." The labored breathing of a man can be heard.

At this moment, the man was currently standing tall as his shoulders and chest continuously heaved up and down due to his sporadic breathing. Sweat rolled down from his forehead and the back of his exotic clothes were drenched.

A few meters from him, another man who looks much older in comparison to the first man was also standing tall.

Although his breathing wasn't as labored as the younger man, exhaustion was slowly creeping into his body and he could feel it. A bead of sweat rolled down from the side of his face.

After the rude interruption from the unidentified entity, Josh and Mihawk kept dueling for another ten minutes and the both of them were feeling the after effects of the latest round.

Ever since Josh started to fight in earnest, he had been using a lot of energy, especially from using his devil fruit. Even the monstrous stamina and vitality he obtained after his three years of hard work had been steadily chipped away after fighting for half an hour against one of the strongest men in the world of One Piece.

For the last 10 minutes, Josh used a special technique he came up with specifically for strong individual who he had to get his hands dirty for. Simply shooting lightning bolts at Mihawk from a distance and hoping he'd stay down was not an option for Josh. He had to fight him up close.

The start of the fight showed Josh that he was no where near skilled or experienced enough to take on the world's greatest swordsman. He could only make up the difference with other methods.

Simply using Busoshoku Haki was also not an option, even if it prevented Josh from becoming two little Joshies. It did not make up for the lack of experience and Josh knew that Mihawk would pummel him to the ground ruthlessly, leaving him no room to retaliate.

The method to temporarily make up the difference between the gap in experience was actually quite simple...yet hard to do. If Josh did not possess the necessary skills and experience, he'll just have to make up for it with overwhelming strength and speed.

Josh's normal physical strength was actually higher by a substantial margin when compared to the strengths of pirates from the new world. This is just physical strength we are talking about, like for example; the amount of weights he can lift or how fast he can run.

However, in the face of overly superior battle experience or special abilities, it can be considered as nothing.

Picture this if it helps, a giant who can lift up to tens of tons of weight and has immense physical strength challenges Edward Newgate. He might possess more physical strength than Whitebeard, but does that make him the strongest man in the world? No!

Humans have a limit when it comes to exactly how much physical strength they can obtain. Of course, this differs from world to world. A bodybuilder who has reached the peak of human strength and can lift the most weight in Josh's previous world would be considered an ant in the world of One Piece.

The only way that Josh knew how to get around his short comings is by forcefully strengthening himself. This doesn't mean taking drugs though.

There is a technique Josh developed that allows several of his body's natural attributes to increase exponentially.

The technique was arrogantly named 'Thunder God Mode' by Josh. Essentially, Josh sends manageable amounts of electricity into his body. By doing so, it stimulates all the nerves and cells in Josh's body. Allowing him to move at higher speeds, react faster to incoming attacks, and improves his senses so that he is much more aware of his surrounding. When paired with haki, Josh can become a force to be reckoned with.

*Zzzt Zzzt*

The electric currents surrounding Josh and making his entire body shine a little as if he was a lightbulb slowly receded back into oblivion.

This signaled the end of Josh's use of the Thunder God Mode. The technique was very taxing on his energy, so ten minutes was the most Josh could manage to keep it up.

One can compare the technique to Luffy's second gear as there are some similarities. For one, it is a hard technique to maintain, and two, both of them are life draining so it is advised to be used sparingly.

The Thunder God Mode super charges the cells in Josh's body and that results in the cells dying at a much faster rate than normal. This was why Josh didn't dare to use it until he managed to redirect the electricity away from his brain, lest he be turned into a vegetable for the rest of his life.

"I'm ending..this fight...with one of my ultimate moves!" Josh managed to say in between breaths. He was almost at the end of his endurance.

Josh glanced up at the sky to see nothing but dark cloud menacingly stare back at him. It was as if the clouds would burst with rain and thunder immediately. This didn't dishearten Josh, instead, it made him happier.

From the start of the battle, Josh had been secretly sending off small burst of electricity into the atmosphere, affecting the weather and therefore effectively managed to do the so called "praying for rain".

All he had to do was stall for time because he needed time to summon the thunder storm. The time required should not have been as long as this, but fighting Mihawk at the same time was making it hard for him to properly do it. There was also the thing about Josh's intentions for fighting Mihawk and so he decided to not use it until the very end.

Thunder started to strike their surroundings intermittently and at random. The sky became more and more ominous. Soon, rain slowly trickled down upon everyone and it turned into a full blown storm.

The ocean waves rolled about in frantic disarray followed by gales of wind that threatened to form Tsunamis. With thunder striking down, the scene was one that most ocean travelers feared the most.

With another clap of lightning as the signal, Josh pointed a finger at Mihawk and released a half-assed bolt of lightning that was purposefully brighter than normal.

As soon as the lightning bolt left his hand, Josh dashed towards Mihawk in the top speed that he could currently muster.

Mihawk was prepared for the attack that was thrown at him without any real substance. He simply sidestepped it but was blinded for a second by the unexpected brightness.

To cover up for his lack of sight for that split second, Mihawk activated his Kenbunshoku and what he saw slightly confused him.

Opening his eyes again to confirm, Hawkeye only managed to catch the shadow of a figure sliding under him and another shadow that came straight for his face.

He immediately reacted by trying to cut the shadow apart, but the distance between was too short for him to release another flying slash. The shadow tightly latched itself on to Dracule Mihawk's face.

Josh's lips curled up into a victorious smirk as he stood up behind Mihawk. The double distraction he planned actually worked!

The first step was to take away Mihawk's eyesight momentarily and then keep him occupied with something else.

If one took a closer look at the current Josh, one would see that he was covered in small scratches and cuts. There was even a long gash that ran across his torso area horizontally although it wasn't too deep. The most eye catching thing was that Josh was currently missing a certain item.

Said item happens to be the Cloak of Levitation. It was currently occupied with distracting Mihawk while Josh execute his finisher.

'This damn thing...!! Get off!' Mihawk was struggling to peel off the Cloak from his face. Even someone as calm as him lost his cool in front of something as infuriating as this.

Raising his right hand as high as he could in the air, a thin stream of yellow electricity was shot out from the tips of Josh's fingers. Once it reached the boiling clouds, they reacted. All of the violent thunder seemed to gather at that exact point of contact.

"Iudicium....Dei!!!" Without standing on ceremony, Josh called out the name of one of the most destructive move he had in his current arsenal.

The heavens reacted to the call as it amassed all of the gathered natural lightning from the atmosphere and concentrated it at one single point before slamming it straight down towards Mihawk.

At this point, Mihawk finally managed to rid himself of the annoying yet mysterious flying cape. Just as he glanced behind him, he heard the loud shout of Josh's voice.

Even before the thunder came down, all the hair on Mihawk's body already stood straight as a rod. He felt immense danger coming down directly from the sky, maybe even life threatening.

The last thing Josh saw was another bright light before he completely lost his consciousness and passed out into the sweet embrace of his dream.

[Ding! Host has completed a hidden mission....]