"Ma~"
"Mock Town... still has survivors?"
Kuzan's eyes sharpened slightly.
Five massive warships were carrying out a top-secret mission—transporting Skypiea's gold to Alabasta.
This was the very first cornerstone of the Navy's independence, the opening movement of the new era painted by Hawke.
Failure was not an option.
Since they had been discovered... there was no other choice!
With a casual wave of Kuzan's hand, the moisture in the air instantly condensed.
Two razor-sharp ice spears materialized out of nothing, their tips gleaming with a deadly cold light as they shot toward Teach hidden in the ruins!
Their speed was as swift as lightning!
"Bad!"
Inside the ruins, Teach's fat-laden body trembled violently!
He threw away the telescope in his hand, rolled across the ground, and dodged to the side.
"Shhhhk—!"
One ice spear grazed his scalp, taking a lock of hair with it.
The other, however, pierced straight through his calf!
"Waaaooooooohhhhhh!!!"
Clutching his impaled leg, Teach screamed.
The side effect of the Dark-Dark Fruit made him suffer several times more pain than ordinary people whenever he was injured!
Now, that bone-chilling cold and searing pain nearly drove him into unconsciousness.
Just then, two more ice spears carrying the aura of death sliced through the air!
Seeing the incoming spears, Teach endured the agony and stretched out his right hand, fingers spread wide, palm facing the attack!
"Dark Water!"
A bottomless darkness burst forth from his palm!
The darkness seemed alive, exuding a powerful gravitational pull that spiraled into a vortex.
The two ice spears, strong enough to pierce steel with ease, were dragged in the instant they touched the darkness, vanishing without a trace!
"Hmm...?"
On the flagship, Kuzan's gaze flickered with a trace of curiosity at the bizarre sight.
A Devil Fruit ability?
What fruit is this?
It wasn't physical resistance, nor was it destructive energy.
It was... absorption?
"Tap—"
With a light touch of his toes, Kuzan leapt from the ship, his body gliding like a feather as he sped toward the ruins of Mock Town.
...
Teach looked at the approaching blue figure, his heart gripped tight by an invisible hand.
Bad!
Bad!
A Marine Admiral was coming straight for him!
His mind raced furiously, cold sweat soaking his back.
If he were still under Whitebeard's flag in the New World, with Pops to protect him...
These highest combat powers of the Marines would never dare to act so casually.
But now things were different.
This was Paradise, and he had already left Whitebeard's crew, a drifting weed with no roots.
In terms of raw strength, having just obtained the Dark-Dark Fruit, there was no way he could stand against Admiral Aokiji.
Escape!
He had to escape!
The only chance was to gamble everything, create enough chaos, and flee in the confusion!
"Dark Vortex!"
Teach slammed his palm onto the scorched ground beneath him!
"Vmmm—!"
Like a tidal wave, darkness surged outward from his hand, spreading madly in all directions!
Everything it touched—ruins, charred planks, even light and sound—was mercilessly devoured by the darkness, swallowed into endless void!
Enduring the agony in his leg, Teach suddenly detonated the dark energy gathered underground!
"Dark Star—!!!"
All the consumed debris, fused with pure darkness, condensed into a massive spinning black sphere that shot toward Kuzan, who had just landed!
"Ma~"
Kuzan watched the black star and spoke calmly.
"If I'm not mistaken... this is the Dark-Dark Fruit."
In that instant, the atmosphere around him shifted completely.
An aura of absolute zero from the Ice Age erupted from his body!
"Ice Age!"
Kuzan slowly raised his hand and made a light grasping motion toward the black star.
The enormous dark sphere, forged of void and ruins, abruptly halted in midair!
Then, with impossible speed, layers of glowing blue ice crystals spread from its very core outward!
"Crack—crkkk—crunchhh!"
The rotation stopped.
The gravitational pull vanished.
That darkness, which devoured everything, was frozen in time itself, its very essence sealed!
In just an instant, the raging Dark Star became a gigantic ice sculpture suspended in midair, crystal clear and hauntingly beautiful.
"What?!"
Teach's expression froze solid.
His proudest technique, the one he believed could swallow anything, had just been... frozen?!
Then how was he supposed to escape?!
"Shhhk—"
In the next second, Kuzan appeared right in front of him.
"Ice Coffin—!"
"Crack! Crackkk—crkkk!"
Teach felt his body lose all sensation in an instant!
The freezing cold raced up from his pierced ankle!
His blood, his marrow, his organs, his heart...
All of it was completely frozen in that absolute cold!
Teach, along with the horrified expression on his face, was sealed entirely inside a transparent ice coffin!
Kuzan's figure slowly rose above the coffin.
He looked down at the frozen pirate, his voice calm.
"Ma~"
"It's over."
He slowly lifted his foot, ready to crush the ice coffin—and the man within—into shards.
At that very moment!
"Vmmm—"
A blaze of orange-red fire streaked across the sky like a meteor.
A small boat powered by flames sped across the sea with astonishing speed!
At the bow stood a young man, shirtless, wearing a cowboy hat, his eyes locked tightly on the scene.
When he saw who was sealed inside the ice coffin, his pupils shrank sharply!
Teach!
Then his gaze shifted upward, falling on the man standing atop the coffin, his entire body exuding terrifying cold.
Marine Admiral Aokiji, Kuzan!
How could this be?!
He had been chasing the traitor Teach this whole time—how did he end up running into one of the Navy's highest powers here?!
"Ma~"
Kuzan noticed the newcomer too.
He tilted his head slightly, looking at the young man wreathed in flames, and a faint smile tugged at his lips.
"Isn't this the Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division Commander, Fire Fist kid?"
He slowly retracted his raised foot, but in an instant, his eyes turned chillingly cold.
"Since you're here..."
"None of you are leaving!"