Unmatched Combat Power!
"Youth is truly wonderful."
Aokiji's lips parted slightly, a chill emanating from his mouth. He remained relaxed, hands in his pockets, clearly not viewing the two before him as serious threats.
"One-Sword Style: Parting the Sea!"
"Greatsword Style: Heavenly Sword World—Heavenly Devourer!"
Without exchanging a word, relying solely on unspoken understanding, black and white sword energy intertwined, tearing two V-shaped cracks through the ice. At the apex of the V, where the energies converged, stood Aokiji.
"Crack~"
There was no grand collision as might be expected. The sword energy sliced cleanly through Aokiji, producing a crisp shattering sound as ice broke apart.
Where Aokiji had stood, a humanoid ice sculpture was cleaved into several pieces in an X-pattern and slowly collapsed to the frozen sea.
Though it appeared to be a clean hit, neither Yang Ning nor Esdeath showed any relief. Both possessed Observation Haki, and in their perception, the overwhelming aura remained completely intact—untouched, unshaken.
Esdeath warily scanned her surroundings—when suddenly, a gust of icy wind swirled up behind her.
"Little girl, where are you looking?"
The frosty particles instantly condensed, reforming into Aokiji's true body.
Even before she turned, Esdeath reacted upon hearing his voice. Without looking back, she swung her black greatsword in a swift, blind reverse slash.
"Clang!"
A sharp metallic ring echoed. Only then did Esdeath fully turn—and her pupils shrank. The man before her had blocked her strike with his bare hands.
His palms were coated in Armament Haki—black and hardened—but unlike Sylvester's, Aokiji's Haki was refined, dense, and effortlessly controlled.
Having missed her opening, Esdeath pulled her sword back to strike again—but Aokiji gripped the blade firmly in his hand.
"Thump!"
A powerful uppercut, not yet fully hardened with Haki, slammed into Esdeath's abdomen. She coughed up blood, curled inward like a shrimp, and flew half a meter into the air.
Yet even in midair, even as she fell, she clung tightly to her greatsword.
"Stubborn little girl."
Aokiji looked down at her. Just as he prepared to deliver another blow, a whoosh sounded from behind.
Yang Ning had arrived. He leapt high, Kotetsu raised, and brought it down in a jumping slash aimed straight at Aokiji's head.
"Let go of my cook, you bastard!"
A faint, almost imperceptible smile touched Aokiji's lips. He released Esdeath's sword, crossed his arms, and icy vapor rapidly swirled between his palms.
"Ice Saber."
"Clang!"
Kotetsu's downward strike met the crystalline blade—and shattered it with a crackling burst. Even Aokiji's eyes widened slightly in mild surprise at the sheer force behind the blow.
With the Ice Saber destroyed, Yang Ning's momentum carried him backward. He landed smoothly, one arm steadying Esdeath, both now flanking the Admiral from front and rear.
Esdeath had already recovered. She wiped blood from her mouth and assumed a low sword stance, ready to coordinate with Yang Ning in a pincer assault.
"Swish! Swish!"
Yang Ning struck first—broad, powerful swings meant to overwhelm. Esdeath followed in perfect sync, her technique shifting between light, feinting slashes and sudden heavy blows.
Aokiji remained calm, conjuring another Ice Saber. He'd already assessed them: Yang Ning's offense was terrifying in raw damage, but his swordsmanship lacked refinement—barely meeting the threshold of a true swordsman. Esdeath, however, was different. At her age, her mastery was exceptional. Her sword intent—cold, sharp, precise—stirred a strange sense of familiarity in him, reminiscent of certain warriors from the New World.
"Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!"
Despite being outnumbered two to one, Aokiji handled them with ease. His decades of combat across the seas made this exchange feel routine. The Ice Saber shattered and reformed between his hands, its frost-laced edge deflecting strikes with minimal effort.
Yang Ning and Esdeath, meanwhile, were pushing their limits. Every movement was deliberate, every breath controlled.
Yang Ning gritted his teeth, frustration boiling inside:
*Damn it—I should've just abandoned restraint! Slaughter everything in sight! Not even a Marine Admiral could survive a full Soul-Sucking Strike at point-blank range!*
He could lament his humanity later. Right now, the real problem was endurance. He glanced toward the *New Windbreaker*. Sylvester and Arthur were working frantically beneath the hull—but the ice-breaking was only about a fifth complete.
"Hey, young pirate… what are you looking at?"
Aokiji's lazy voice cut through Yang Ning's thoughts. He turned—and saw a black fist, wreathed in chilling aura, already filling his vision.
"Bang!"
Yang Ning took the punch head-on and was sent flying across the ice, tumbling for nearly a hundred meters before skidding to a stop.
Aokiji retracted his fist, shaking it slightly. A flicker of surprise crossed his face.
"A strange pirate. I don't sense any Armament Haki… yet your body is this hard? Is it some kind of special constitution?"
The hardness reminded him of someone—*a certain woman who laughed like a storm*—but he pushed the thought aside.
"What are you staring at now, Marine!"
Distraction in battle was fatal. And Esdeath never missed an opening.
Her greatsword—black as midnight—sliced diagonally with deceptive weight.
Aokiji summoned an ice spike and parried upward.
But the instant their blades clashed, his eyes narrowed.
*This strike… has no real force.*
"You've been tricked, Marine!"
The "heavy" greatsword twisted with impossible lightness, slipping past the ice spike's guard. The edge slid forward, aiming to slash Aokiji's neck.
At such close range, with no time to phase into ice form, Esdeath was certain the blow would land.
It didn't.
"Clang!"
A thin layer of Armament Haki—black and solid—flared across Aokiji's neck, halting the blade just short of skin.
"Oh dear," Aokiji murmured, eyes downcast, using his height to look down at the silver-haired swordswoman before him. "I almost got killed."
Esdeath didn't lower her sword. She met his gaze with unwavering resolve.
A chill seeped from Aokiji's lips again. Black Haki crept up his arms. Frost gathered in his palms.
"As a sign of respect… I'll get serious now."
"Crack!"
The moment he braced against her blade, his body shattered into countless ice fragments, sending a gust of freezing wind through the air. The shards quickly coalesced into a human shape directly before Esdeath.
Having learned her lesson, Esdeath didn't hesitate. She drew her sword back to shatter the reformation mid-process.
But the instant her blade moved—a fist had already solidified beneath her chest.
"Fist Bone—Ice Fist!"
A crystalline block of ice encased his knuckles, and a massive, frost-laden punch blasted Esdeath high into the sky.
Before she could even register the pain, Aokiji's body dissolved into ice shards that shot upward—reforming instantly above her.
His dark hand clamped firmly onto her face.
"Fall from the sea!"
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