"Dual Ice Spears!"
Facing Shiki's attack, Kuzan seemed to have eyes in the back of his head. Without even turning around, he smoothly condensed several spears behind him and thrust them toward Shiki.
Shiki shattered the ice spears with a single kick, but the impact knocked her backward.
After landing, she bent her legs and shattered the thick ice beneath her — several meters deep — then sprang forward again like a launched missile!
Her right hand formed into a beast's claw, the sharp dragon talons gripping the air while bright lightning crackled between them!
"Thunder — Dragon Claw Strike!"
This claw strike was aimed squarely at punching through Kuzan's chest. If it connected, it could very well rip his heart clean out!
Fortunately, Kuzan had already driven Yayoi back and had time to respond to this technique.
He pulled his ice blade back and spun to slash at Shiki!
The claw and the ice blade collided. Tiny electric currents instantly conducted through the blade and into Kuzan's arm, giving him a sharp sting.
"Lightning?" he questioned.
He could not understand why Shiki possessed such power.
In truth, this was a static electricity ability of the Mink Tribe — a remnant left behind when Nekomamushi and Inuarashi first arrived in Inazuma. It was a relatively common training method among the Oni Corps.
Most Oni could learn this style of electrical combat, but Oni like Yayoi who were based on feathered or scaled species could not.
Shiki was a Raptor-type Oni created by the Velociraptor soul. Though she lacked dense fur, her skin could still generate faint static electricity. However, the charge was extremely weak — it only made Kuzan feel mildly uncomfortable.
In truth, the Enkanomiya Research Division already had a dedicated Evil Eye study project.
The Thunder Evil Eye originally gifted to Yuri was currently under research. Perhaps in another decade or so, they could genuinely develop a full set of Demon King armaments.
With Stussy joining them, many Devil Fruit-related projects had made new progress. But the field that had truly advanced by leaps and bounds was Lineage Factor research.
Ren had only just learned that Stussy was actually a clone of Miss Buckingham Stussy.
If Stussy had not revealed this herself, Ren would never have believed it. The clone of that old hag Miss Buckingham — the woman who claimed to be Whitebeard's wife — had turned out this attractive.
Women in the pirate world truly had unusual shelf lives…
Back on the battlefield, in the blink of an eye, Kuzan had already exchanged blows with both Yayoi and Shiki several times.
These two women were not Fatui Harbingers, but their combat strength was far from lacking. Working together, they left even Kuzan at a loss for a brief period.
Moreover, even if his only enemies were Yayoi and Shiki, that would be one thing — but the battlefield also had a meddler stirring up trouble…
"Ice Time!" Kuzan seized the moment when Shiki's feet touched the frozen sea surface, instantly releasing cold air to freeze her lower body and lock her to the ice.
He knew this would not hold her for long, but during this opening, he spread his arms and lunged toward Shiki, intending to use his body's temperature to encase her entirely in ice.
But the moment his body closed around Shiki, a blinding flash of light struck him head-on. The searing laser instantly scattered his form!
"Borsalino!"
Just as he was about to succeed, his own teammate ruined it — and this had happened multiple times already. This finally made even the even-tempered Kuzan angry, and he called Yellow Monkey by his real name.
Seriously, what kind of person was this? He was about to win, and this guy just had to interfere. If Kuzan did not know Yellow Monkey was a graduate of the Marine Academy, he would have suspected the man was a spy from the Revolutionary Army.
In the blizzard, Yellow Monkey's fight against Yukiko was equally frustrating.
The blizzard significantly reduced his laser beams' penetrating power, and Yukiko essentially refused to engage him directly. Every time he launched a beam attack, it was either scattered or redirected by Yukiko's refraction toward Kuzan or Sakazuki.
But what could he do?
He could not simply stop fighting.
All three of their combat styles relied heavily on their Devil Fruit powers. They knew Haki, sure, but without their fruits, their fighting ability would be drastically diminished.
But now both teammates had lodged their protests, forcing Yellow Monkey to choose close-quarters combat. He was already regretting not having listened to his teacher Z's advice and trained more in swordsmanship and martial arts.
"Ama no Murakumo!"
Yellow Monkey's left hand formed a palm while his right made a fist, and from his left palm he drew out a long sword of flashing light.
"Ama no Murakumo?"
From within the swirling snowstorm, Yukiko suddenly spoke — as if mocking Yellow Monkey for using that name beyond his worth.
She wore a white kimono, her dignified figure gradually emerging from the ice and snow. The black Yukikiri was belted at her waist. Yukiko's hair had turned white, and her pale fingers appeared bloodless.
The contrast of black and white made the Yukikiri all the more striking.
She slowly drew the blade. The slender edge was cold, and fine snowflakes settled upon its mirror-bright surface.
"Miss Yukiko seems to have an opinion about my Ama no Murakumo," Yellow Monkey said with his usual drawling nonchalance.
"I simply want to see if you are worthy of that name." Yukiko's voice was icy cold. She took a step forward but left no footprints in the snow-covered ground.
Yellow Monkey was still watching her closely when he suddenly realized she had vanished from sight in the blizzard.
The next instant, a piercing cold stabbed at his back.
"Origin Flow — Snow Phantom."
Yukiko struck like a specter. Her posture was elegant, the blade light yet bone-chillingly cold!
Yellow Monkey immediately drew his sword to counter. The light blade collided with the Yukikiri.
Yukiko's strike missed. She landed lightly, her right hand trembling the blade — and every snowflake on its surface was sliced perfectly in half!
"Origin Flow — Frost Sky."
"Origin Flow — Hazy Moon Snow."
Yellow Monkey felt that the moment he had drawn the Ama no Murakumo, this woman named Yukiko's attacks had become far more ferocious. His own swordsmanship was honestly not that impressive, while her blade work danced like lethal snowfall.
Fortunately, relying on his fruit ability, Yellow Monkey had sustained virtually no injuries.
This was the advantage of a Logia-type user.
Between elementalization and Observation Haki, the probability of being hit was already greatly reduced. Even when struck, the wounds were never particularly serious.
The same applied in reverse.
Whenever Yukiko encountered an attack she could not easily dodge, she would unhesitatingly transform her body into snowflakes.
If they had health bars, it would not be hard to notice that after all this fighting, both of them had lost exactly zero HP.
[
Dear Readers,
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