Boom!!
The instant he sensed the freezing aura rushing toward him, Kaito reacted without hesitation.
Armament Haki surged through his body, dispersing the invading cold before it could spread any farther. At the same time, the layer of ice beginning to form around his golden sabers shattered into countless fragments.
"Dragon-Subduing Leg—First Form: Dragon Battles Across the Wilderness!"
Majestic Armament Haki poured into his right leg.
Accompanied by a roar that echoed like the cry of a dragon, Kaito unleashed a lightning-fast kick toward Kuzan.
Danger!
A crimson light flashed across Kuzan's eyes.
His Observation Haki instantly detected Kaito's counterattack.
His expression shifted slightly.
Without the slightest hesitation, he activated his Logia ability.
His body transformed into ice.
Boom!!!
The human-shaped block of ice exploded beneath the overwhelming force of Kaito's kick.
The remaining power continued forward as a dragon-shaped shockwave, blasting across the glacier and carving an enormous trench through everything in its path.
Broken ice scattered in every direction.
Some of the shattered fragments flew through the air before quickly reforming into Kuzan's body a short distance away.
As soon as he rematerialized, Kuzan thrust both palms forward.
Five enormous icicles shot out simultaneously, each one aimed to seal off Kaito's avenues of escape.
"Dragon-Subduing Leg—Second Form: Dragon Appears in the Field!"
Facing the incoming barrage, Kaito's figure blurred.
In an instant, he erupted with a burst of speed far beyond anything he had displayed before, disappearing from the icicles' attack zone before they could reach him.
This was the second technique he had developed within the Dragon-Subduing Leg.
Unlike the offensive Dragon Battles Across the Wilderness, Dragon Appears in the Field was purely a movement technique.
By combining the principles of Shave with the explosive recoil generated by compressed shockwaves, it allowed Kaito to accelerate to speeds vastly beyond his normal limits.
The five icicles struck empty air.
They crashed into the glacier instead.
As Kuzan's freezing power spread outward, towering ice formations erupted across the frozen sea.
Meanwhile, Kaito had already curved around at incredible speed, approaching Kuzan from the flank.
"Dual Sword Style... Imitation Beast: Crimson Tiger!"
Both golden sabers rose above his shoulders.
Kaito lunged like a hunting tiger, descending from above as he unleashed a ferocious cross slash.
Boom!!!
A thunderous explosion echoed across the glacier.
The frozen ground shattered beneath the impact.
The enormous crater left behind resembled the bite marks of a gigantic beast, jagged gouges crisscrossing its interior.
Ice exploded into the sky.
Beside the newly formed crater, scattered ice fragments gathered together.
Kuzan's body quietly reappeared.
This was the natural advantage of a Logia user.
Especially one of Kuzan's caliber.
With active elementalization combined with highly developed Observation Haki, even attacks imbued with Armament Haki could often be avoided by splitting his body apart at the precise moment before impact.
Kaito's devastating slash had been neutralized once again.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
Watching Kaito descend into the crater, Kuzan made his move immediately.
Before Kaito could land, freezing energy condensed around Kuzan's arm.
With a powerful swing, another gigantic ice pheasant burst forward.
Boom!!!
The enormous bird shrieked through the air.
Kaito sensed it too late.
Unable to dodge, he could only twist his body in midair and cross both golden sabers before himself.
A deafening collision erupted.
The gigantic ice pheasant slammed into his crossed blades with overwhelming force, driving him backward until he smashed directly into the icy wall surrounding the crater.
Rumble—!!
The entire glacier shook violently.
Unable to withstand such tremendous impact, the frozen wall shattered apart.
Massive chunks of ice collapsed inward.
Jagged icebergs erupted around the breach.
Kaito disappeared beneath the collapsing ice.
Zheng!
Before the echoes of the explosion had completely faded—
A brilliant golden blade of light burst from beneath one of the newly formed icebergs.
A crescent-shaped Slash Wave erupted outward, splitting the iceberg cleanly in two.
Kaito burst free.
Using Moonwalk, he stepped into the sky once more.
Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!
A dense chorus of piercing sounds filled the air.
During the brief moment Kaito had been buried beneath the ice, Kuzan had already condensed countless ice spears.
Every one of them was reinforced with powerful Armament Haki.
They shot toward Kaito at astonishing speed.
Without even a moment to catch his breath, Kaito swung both golden sabers in rapid succession.
Clang!
Clang!
Clang!
One spear after another shattered beneath his blades.
Most of them were cut apart.
Yet many still slipped through the gaps in his defense and continued toward him.
But...
If one looked carefully—
The spears never actually touched his body.
Each one stopped just short of making contact, as though striking an invisible barrier.
Kaito had wrapped himself in a layer of invisible Armament Haki.
The astonishing density of his Haki formed a defensive armor around his body.
The incoming ice spears struck the invisible protection before exploding into countless fragments.
Using the force of the impacts, Kaito allowed himself to fall backward.
He landed steadily upon the glacier.
The instant his feet touched the frozen surface—
Boom!
The glacier beneath him exploded into a crater.
Whoosh!
Before Kuzan's barrage had even finished, Kaito activated Dragon Appears in the Field once again.
His figure vanished like lightning as he escaped the attack zone.
There!
A crimson flash appeared in Kuzan's eyes.
Cold energy condensed rapidly within his right hand.
Without aiming directly at Kaito, Kuzan suddenly thrust his palm toward a point ahead of Kaito's trajectory.
The compressed sphere of freezing energy shot forward.
As it flew, it expanded rapidly.
Within the blink of an eye, it had grown to the size of a small house.
Boom!!!
The freezing projectile detonated exactly where Kuzan had intended.
An enormous iceberg instantly formed.
Encased within it...
Was Kaito.
Just as I thought...
He's incredibly difficult to deal with.
Setting everything else aside...
His Observation Haki clearly surpasses mine.
Inside the iceberg, Kaito remained completely conscious.
The freezing power had failed to reach his body because his invisible Armament Haki armor continued to isolate the cold.
Through the transparent ice, his Observation Haki remained locked onto Kuzan outside.
A rare trace of seriousness appeared in Kaito's expression.
Although he had realized it only after the fact...
The freezing projectile had never been aimed directly at him.
Instead, Kuzan had predicted the path Kaito would take using Observation Haki and attacked that location in advance.
By the time Kaito arrived...
It had already been too late to evade.
This wasn't simply an exchange of techniques.
It was a direct contest of Observation Haki.
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