"Scatter!"
Sanji's eyes turned cold. His right leg trembled violently as Diamond Inner Energy erupted from within, blasting the ice encasing him into fine powder like a miniature explosion.
He flipped gracefully through the air, searching for another opening.
"My turn!"
Nami, standing at the rear, raised her golden staff high above her head.
Around her, dozens of golden arrows aligned into a terrifying formation under the pull of her electromagnetic field.
"Magnetic Matrix—Thunder Barrage!"
At her command, dozens of wrist-thick blue electromagnetic pulses burst forth from the arrows.
They interwove into an inescapable net of death, sealing off every possible escape route for Aokiji.
Each beam carried extreme kinetic force and heat.
The instant Aokiji sensed the danger, his body dissolved into scattered ice fragments, darting rapidly through the gaps between the rocks in elemental form.
Zzt! Zzt! Zzt!
The electromagnetic blasts tore through his afterimages, obliterating several hundred-meter-tall hills behind him into nothingness.
Even the waves crashing along the shore were blasted into hundreds of towering reverse surges.
"What a… terrifying technique."
Amid the dense barrage, Aokiji reformed on the opposite side of the rocky field.
Several scorch marks had appeared on his suit, and the lazy look in his dull eyes had finally vanished completely.
Four monsters who had reached mid-level Diamond Indestructibility had formed a perfect encirclement.
Ronan's long spear danced with thousands of lightning bursts, every strike carrying a space-tearing shock force.
It clashed relentlessly with Aokiji's indestructible ice saber, producing thunderous impacts like a blacksmith hammering steel.
Luffy's massive body moved across the battlefield like a phantom, his Kong Gun strikes raining down from above, forcing Aokiji to constantly reinforce his defense with Armament Haki.
The entire island trembled under the collision of the five.
Cracks spread across the coastline. Ancient forests were shredded into splinters.
The aftershocks of the battle whipped the surrounding seas into towering waves dozens of meters high.
As a Logia Admiral, Aokiji should have dominated with wide-area devastation.
But under the relentless close-range assault and Haki pressure from Ronan and the others, he was forced to rely on physical combat and Armament Haki—methods he rarely used.
Aokiji let out a low shout, no longer relying solely on his Devil Fruit.
Left hand clenched into a fist, right hand gripping his blade, he displayed the terrifying foundation of an Admiral—Rokushiki techniques and top-tier Haki at the peak of the seas.
His fist collided with Luffy's giant punch, shockwaves overturning the surrounding rocks.
His ice blade deflected Zoro's slash, sparks scattering across the wasteland.
Robin clenched her fists tightly, her nails digging into her palms.
She watched those four figures fighting the world's highest combat power for her, tears in her eyes drying in the raging wind.
"So this is… the power of comrades?" she murmured.
Though Usopp and Chopper were pushed back again and again by the shockwaves, they didn't flee.
Amid the violent tremors, Usopp searched for openings, firing interference shots one after another.
Though they couldn't harm an Admiral, they constantly disrupted Aokiji's Observation Haki amidst the relentless assault.
At the center of the battlefield, Aokiji once again blocked Ronan's mountain-splitting spear strike with Armament Haki.
Looking at these youths—growing stronger with every moment, their bodies as hard as divine steel—he felt a shock unlike anything before.
"Sengoku was right… their growth speed can't even be described as terrifying anymore."
Surrounded on all sides and locked down by Nami's long-range bombardment, Aokiji slowly exhaled a breath like a cold arrow amid the dust, lightning, and flames.
His gaze turned completely cold. The last trace of laziness vanished, replaced by the absolute authority of a Marine Admiral.
"This is getting tiresome… young people these days really have too much stamina and drive."
He murmured softly.
Then his right hand slammed onto the shattered ground beneath him.
"Ice Age!!"
BOOM!!!
In that instant, the world lost all sound.
From Aokiji's palm, a deathly pale wave of freezing energy surged outward at supersonic speed.
This was no longer simple ice—it was a transformation of the environment itself, like an awakened Logia rewriting the world.
The crashing waves froze midair, forming hundred-meter-tall crystalline sculptures.
The once-lush island, as the pale ripple passed over it, had all its heat stripped away—trees, rocks, even moisture in the air frozen instantly.
Within moments, the sea for dozens of miles became an endless white continent.
Sunlight reflected off the ice—not warmth, but a chilling brilliance that struck fear into the heart.
Frost fell like shattered moonlight from the gray sky.
At the center of this frozen, silent wasteland stood Admiral Aokiji.
He exhaled a pale breath that crystallized into ice particles the moment it left his lips.
Before him stood four massive frozen figures, locked in different poses—ice statues suspended in time.
His gaze was deep and cold, like a god passing judgment.
"What a pity…"
He murmured softly, adjusting his slightly crooked eye mask, a trace of regret flashing through his otherwise indifferent heart.
He hadn't come here intending to capture these rising rookies.
He only wanted to take a look at the "remnant of Ohara" he had once let go.
But the fight had gone this far—it had stirred his interest beyond expectation.
"To have lasted this long against me… you can take pride in that."
Aokiji slowly turned to leave.
But just as he took a step—
Crack… crack!
A faint sound.
Yet in that deathly silence, it rang out like thunder.
Aokiji froze.
For the first time, shock appeared in his usually lifeless eyes.
He turned stiffly, looking toward the massive block of ice encasing Ronan.
At the center of the five-meter-thick frozen prison—formed by awakened Logia power—the man holding the spear should have been in suspended animation.
By all logic, he should have been trapped for hours.
But now…
Within Aokiji's Observation Haki, that suppressed life force—
Exploded.
Ronan's entire body roared at the cellular level.
Thunder Diamond Inner Energy surged violently through his meridians.
"Break… for me!!!"
BOOM!!!
The ice imprisoning Ronan shattered like fragile porcelain, exploding into countless glittering fragments.
But this… was only the beginning.
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