Aokiji wore a Marine cap covered in frost, giving off a chilling air.
Magellan was surrounded by drifting poison mist, making him look dark and terrifying.
And on the right side, three empty silhouettes were especially eye-catching.
Beneath them, the gold-stamped words To Be Filled shone brilliantly in the reflected snowlight, so bright it almost hurt to look at them.
"I heard Admiral Ryokugyu was in the South Blue yesterday…"
A young worker could not help speaking, his voice carrying curiosity and longing.
But before he could finish, Glaz grabbed his sleeve hard.
Glaz gave him a warning look, silently telling him not to run his mouth.
Just then, the creaking sound of boots stepping through snow came from within the blizzard.
Everyone turned to look and saw the new king of Drum Kingdom, Dalton, walking over in silence.
Thick snow had piled up on his horned helmet, making him look like a moving ice sculpture.
He stared at the recruitment poster with complicated eyes, as if countless thoughts were surging through his heart.
Back when Wapol ruled, this wall had been covered in wanted posters, symbolizing oppression and fear.
Now, it had become an ambitious display board for the Marines, hinting at the new fate this kingdom was about to face.
The harbor bell rang twelve times, its deep, solemn sound echoing through the wind and snow.
Along with the bell, more Marine warships slowly broke through the frozen sea and sailed in.
Their bows plowed open white trails through the ice, like the hand of fate carving deep marks across these waters.
...
Marineford.
Trial grounds, noon.
The blazing sun hung high in the sky like a burning ball of fire, mercilessly pouring down endless light and heat.
The fierce sunlight roasted the basalt ground of the training field until even the hard, cold stone seemed to have been infused with scorching energy, releasing waves of suffocating heat.
The air was filled with sweltering currents. That heat wrapped around everyone like an invisible giant hand, making it difficult to breathe.
Sweat evaporated almost the instant it appeared on their skin.
In that tense, oppressive atmosphere, the gravity over the entire island suddenly twisted without warning.
The change was not gradual.
It struck like a sudden storm, shattering the original balance in an instant.
The space around them seemed to be stirred by that strange force, producing a faint hum, as if warning of the terrifying impact about to come.
"Gravity Blade: Fierce Tiger."
With that low, powerful murmur, Fujitora slowly raised the cane sword in his hand, a weapon that seemed ordinary yet contained endless power.
In the next instant, a mysterious purple-black halo rose from the blade like a strange nebula flickering in the night sky.
It flowed along the sword, winding across the metal until it covered the entire edge.
The light was deep and cold, carrying an aura that made people's hearts tremble.
Fujitora's expression remained firm.
His arm suddenly swung, and the edge of his blade pointed straight toward the tenth towering granite rock formation, twenty meters tall.
Under everyone's stunned gaze, that massive structure, which should have been practically indestructible, was split vertically with ridiculous ease, like a fragile stack of toy blocks.
Huge chunks of stone flew toward both sides.
Yet what truly shocked people was that the cut surface was smooth as a mirror, without the slightest roughness or flaw.
Under the dazzling sunlight, the polished surface reflected a blinding light, like an enormous mirror that captured everything around it with perfect clarity.
Before the broken stones could even hit the ground, an even more powerful invisible force quietly emerged.
It was Fujitora's gravity field.
Under that overwhelming power, every piece of rubble was frozen in midair.
They hovered there, maintaining a delicate balance with one another, forming a magnificent belt of suspended meteorites.
The stones looked like works of art trapped outside the flow of time, silently displaying Fujitora's extraordinary strength.
"Hey, hey, isn't this already way over the standard?"
At the edge of the training field, the Marine staff officers responsible for observation immediately fell into chaos.
They hurriedly adjusted the instruments in their hands, trying to accurately record the astonishing data.
But the rapidly rising gravity values far exceeded their expectations.
The gravity needle spun wildly across the dial with rapid clicking sounds, as if screaming about how impossible everything before them was.
In the end, unable to withstand the pressure, the gravity needle burst apart with a sharp pop, sending fragments flying in every direction.
Fujitora merely turned his head slightly.
His sightless eyes calmly "looked" toward the even fiercer battlefield on the other side.
At that moment, it was as if the entire world lay within his control.
Beneath the sunlight, his figure appeared even taller and more mysterious.
On the other side, the atmosphere suddenly turned tense and bizarre.
"Woods-Woods Fruit: Strangling Garden!"
Along with that shout, filled with provocation and arrogance, a mysterious power awakened instantly.
Ryokugyu Aramaki's wild laughter spread through the air like surging waves.
Within that bone-chilling laughter, the originally calm and orderly western training field transformed completely into a primitive jungle in the blink of an eye.
Beneath the ground, endless vitality and danger seemed to be hidden.
Carnivorous flowers three meters across burst violently out of the earth, carrying an aura that made the blood run cold.
Their enormous petals opened like greedy mouths, ready to swallow anything that came close.
At the same time, countless thick vines stretched and twisted like vicious giant pythons, locking onto more than ten brave challengers who had come forward to test themselves.
The challengers were trapped among them, struggling desperately but unable to break free, their faces filled with fear and helplessness.
Amid the chaos, one bounty hunter with a bounty of over a hundred million stood out.
He was known for his superb skill and stubborn willpower.
At that moment, he clenched his teeth and swung the razor-sharp weapon in his hand, pouring every ounce of strength into the strike.
At last, he managed to cut through the vines binding him.
But before he could breathe a sigh of relief, the situation changed again.
The instant he let his guard drop even slightly, a suddenly blooming Rafflesia appeared before him.
The flower gleamed with a strange light, like the eye of a demon.
Then a large cloud of anesthetic pollen sprayed from its stamen, rushing straight into his face.
In an instant, his vision blurred.
His consciousness faded away, and he collapsed heavily to the ground without another movement.
"You think that little bit of ability is enough to become an Admiral?"
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