Before his words had even finished—
"Ice Saber."
With a casual flick of his hand, Kuzan condensed the moisture in the air into a razor-sharp ice katana and grasped it.
Whoosh!
His figure blurred, closing the distance in an instant. The ice blade thrust straight for Rain's heart!
Straight to it? Young Kuzan was this aggressive?! Rain's heart jolted.
Then he remembered: at this stage, Kuzan still believed in "Burning Justice." He looked lazy, but when it came to crushing "evildoers," he was all passion.
That thrust was lightning-fast.
But Rain didn't retreat—he stepped in.
The moment Kuzan moved, Rain's terrifying Observation Haki had already predicted every line of the strike.
"Paper Art!"
Rain's body slid sideways at an impossible angle, boneless and fluid, perfectly grazing along the icy edge as it passed!
Their figures crossed.
"Oh?" Kuzan blinked.
He hadn't expected the other man's Observation and body control to be this strong.
Using Paper Art in front of him took insane confidence—one mistake and Rain would be severely wounded.
But Kuzan was Kuzan. His reaction speed was monstrous. The instant his first strike missed, he began to turn—
"Too late."
Rain's voice sounded right by his ear.
In the moment they crossed, Rain's right fist—already coated in pitch-black Armament—was waiting. A heavy punch packed with terrifying force slammed into Kuzan's chest.
BOOM—!!
A deep, brutal impact.
Under Armament's "grip," Kuzan's Logia body was forced into solidity.
"Hmph!"
Kuzan's pupils snapped tight.
But—he didn't fly back like Rain expected.
His feet stayed planted, taking the full force to the chest.
Kuzan glanced down at his expensive dark-blue shirt. A faint fist mark had appeared.
He exhaled cold breath, lifted his head, and for the first time his eyes carried genuine seriousness.
"…That hurt."
Kuzan's expression fully sobered.
"To hit my solid body head-on… no—this Armament…" he felt the pain reverberating inside, as if the blow had shaken him from within.
"…What kind of monster did you crawl out of?"
Rain shook out his tingling right fist, eyes narrowing behind the lenses.
Inside, his caution was far deeper than his face showed.
That punch had been eighty percent power, plus an advanced Armament application—internal shock. He'd expected at least a minor injury.
Instead, he'd left a shirt print.
So this is Kuzan… no wonder he's the youngest of the future three admirals.
Even as a vice admiral, he's already leagues beyond ordinary vice admirals… no wonder Saul got almost one-shot in canon. This guy was a monster from day one.
"Ara ara…" Rain shook his numbed fist and even copied Kuzan's lazy tone. "Looks like if I don't show some real skill, I can't keep you here."
Kuzan's temple twitched.
"Big mouth, brat."
He stopped talking. Combat mode—fully on.
"Ice Block: Partisan!"
With a sweep of one hand, several razor-sharp ice spears condensed instantly, screaming in from all directions on a gust of bone-freezing wind.
"Parlor tricks."
Rain didn't move. Facing the incoming spears, he simply swung a few casual slashes.
Whip! Whip! Whip! Whip!
Four intensely compressed crescent vacuum blades shot out—faster than the spears.
With Observation Haki locking the lines, each slash landed perfectly on a spear tip.
Crack!
The spears shattered midair into a storm of ice crystals.
"Oh? Your swordsmanship's not bad," Kuzan remarked, a flicker of surprise in his cold eyes.
"Then how about this?"
Kuzan stomped.
CRACK—!
A visible wave of cold slid along the ground like a living serpent, racing toward Rain's feet.
The intent was clear: freeze Rain's footing, limit his speed, end the fight.
"Geppo!"
Rain stamped the air and sprang upward, lightly avoiding the creeping ice, hovering in midair.
"Trying to go up?" Kuzan sneered—and blurred, stepping on air to chase him.
"Ice Saber."
In midair, Kuzan formed another ice blade and slashed at Rain, who had fewer places to pivot.
"Tch. Annoying."
Rain twisted midair, Armament coating his blade.
Clang!
Haki-coated steel smashed into ice saber midair.
The shock numbed Rain's arm and sent him flying backward.
And in the instant he was pushed away, old force spent and new force not yet born—just as he was about to drop—
Rain's Observation Haki spiked.
He saw the future.
One second later—Kuzan would seize the opening, slam both hands to the ground.
He saw the all-devouring "Ice Age."
He saw himself landing—and the earth freezing solid beneath him.
Shit—I'm going to get frozen!
That "future" flashed through his mind, and reality followed right behind it.
Kuzan on the ground did exactly as Rain had seen—he caught the opening and drove both hands down into the earth.
"Ice Age!"
RUMMMMMBLE—!!
A sheet of ice surged outward like a white tsunami, fast as a waking ancient beast, swallowing everything.
It was impossibly fast.
The land itself seemed to howl.
Kuzan's goal was simple: the moment Rain touched ground, freeze him—along with the earth—completely.
But Rain, in midair, didn't panic.
With the talent "Whirlpool Sense" granting extreme bodily stability, he forced his falling body into control and twisted into—
a two-handed overhead strike posture.
Gathering everything into one point, aimed at the onrushing ice and the man behind it—
KRRING—!!
A crisp blade cry that felt like it could cut the soul.
A terrifying slash, black enough to devour light itself, cleaved down.
"One-Sword Style: Sea-Sunder!"
In this moment, Rain poured all his Haki, all his strength, all his focus into this peak strike.
He hung in the air, blade descending.
Before him, the unstoppable "ice river" was split—hard—into a hundred-meter corridor of bare ground.
Where the blade wave passed, ice shattered into dust.
And the black slash didn't stop.
After ripping through Ice Age, it tore straight toward Kuzan himself.
Kuzan's face changed violently.
He hadn't expected such a domineering counterattack from someone cornered in midair.
He instantly abandoned controlling Ice Age further, crossed his arms in front of his chest, flooded himself with his strongest Armament, and formed a multi-meter-thick ice shield.
BOOM—!!!!
Black slash and ice shield collided head-on.
The blast wave exploded outward, knocking nearby buildings flat.
Kuzan was driven backward by the overwhelming force.
His ice shield cracked apart, piece by piece.
When he finally stopped, the surroundings were wrecked.
Kuzan lowered his crossed arms.
A thin line of blood ran down his forearm and dripped onto the newly formed ice, blooming a sharp red.
He was injured.
Kuzan looked down at the shallow cut on his arm, then at the "glasses guy" in the distance, now breathing hard after landing.
Rain's chest heaved as he stared at Kuzan.
"Damn… I used my big move and all I got was a scratched arm…"
~~~
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