The warship carrying Aokiji soon came face to face with the Beasts Pirates' ship.
Looking at the several powerful figures standing on the opposing deck, Aokiji's pupils contracted slightly.
"No wonder Luo Xing only sent a single ship… so it's these monsters."
Aokiji recognized all six of them.
Shiryu of the Rain, former Chief Jailer of Impel Down—Aokiji had seen him a few times before.
Jinbe, Knight of the Sea, former Warlord of the Sea—he had attended the original Warlords' meeting at Marineford.
As for the other four vicious-looking figures, they were all Level 6 prisoners from Impel Down.
Aokiji narrowed his eyes, danger flashing across them.
These six were all major enemies of the Marines and the World Government.
If he could capture or kill them here, his merit would instantly rival Akainu's.
And then the Five Elders would have no reason to oppose his rise to Fleet Admiral.
Yet before Aokiji could even speak—
Shiryu drew his blade, Raiu, licked the sharp edge with his tongue, and said in a bloodthirsty tone:
"So it's Admiral Kuzan, the government's so-called highest combat power. Perfect. I'll use your blood to test the edge of my blade."
Aokiji's expression sank.
"Shiryu, a traitor like you still dares talk big?"
"Because of your betrayal, Impel Down was destroyed, and Magellan was killed."
"Today, I'll execute you myself!"
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
Aokiji thrust out his right arm. Endless ice gathered into a gigantic ice pheasant, which shot straight toward Shiryu's ship.
If that attack landed, the entire vessel would surely be sunk.
But the six on board showed no panic at all.
The move was powerful, yes—but to them, after consuming monster cells, it was far from enough to decide victory in a single blow.
In fact, aside from Shiryu, the others had no intention of moving just yet.
Shiryu clenched his cigar between his teeth and let out a vicious laugh. Then he swung Raiu straight at the incoming ice pheasant.
Buzz!
A massive slash wave tore through the air, instantly splitting the enormous ice bird in two. Its momentum did not stop there, and it continued toward Aokiji's warship.
Aokiji was visibly startled.
When had Shiryu become this strong?
The old Shiryu had been powerful, but he still couldn't defeat Magellan. There had always been a clear gap between him and an Admiral like Aokiji.
Yet that strike just now had so casually shattered his Ice Block: Pheasant Beak.
Aokiji's heart skipped.
A bad feeling rose within him.
Shiryu had absolutely grown much stronger than before.
And there was only one thing capable of doing that—
The monster cells invented by Luo Xing.
"Don't tell me… all six of them ate monster cells?!"
The thought genuinely shocked him.
If that was true, then forget capturing them—he might end up in an extremely embarrassing situation himself.
Aokiji no longer dared hold back.
He decided to go all out.
Leaping into the air, he dodged Shiryu's slash wave. Then, clasping his hands together, he shouted:
"Ice Ball!"
Crack! Crack! Crack!
Several thick pillars of ice shot from Aokiji's hands at incredible speed toward Shiryu and the others.
Those pillars carried extreme cold. The moment they touched anything—man or object—it would be frozen solid.
"Kuzan, you're underestimating the current me far too much!"
Shiryu's grin widened.
Raiu flashed again and again, leaving only countless afterimages.
In an instant, he reduced all of Aokiji's ice pillars to shards.
Then he followed up with another enormous slash wave.
Aokiji, still in midair, had no room to evade. His body was cut in half and fell toward the sea.
"Kishishishi! So this is one of the government's so-called highest combat powers? That was easy."
Avalo Pizarro, Catarina Devon, and the others let out scornful laughter.
But Jinbe frowned and said:
"There's no way it's that easy. Every Marine Admiral possesses unimaginable strength. Don't think that just because you ate monster cells, you can look down on them."
As Jinbe said, Aokiji was not dead.
His severed body fell onto the sea, but instead of sinking, it froze the water beneath him into solid ice.
"Ice Age!"
The frozen sea spread out at incredible speed, and in the blink of an eye, the Beasts Pirates' ship was trapped in ice.
Aokiji's body reformed, and he said coldly:
"Now you have nowhere to run."
The moment he said that, Shiryu burst into loud laughter, as though he had just heard the funniest joke in the world.
"The one with nowhere to run is you, Admiral Kuzan!"
The four who had just been proven wrong didn't look embarrassed in the slightest. Instead, they joined in with savage laughter.
"Let's all attack together and kill this Admiral!"
With that, the four of them jumped onto the ice alongside Shiryu and surrounded Aokiji.
Of the four, the strongest was Catarina Devon. She was a Mythical Zoan, the Nine-Tailed Fox, with a very peculiar ability—one that seemed capable of confusing or deceiving enemies.
In any case—
The four strengthened by Demon-level monster cells already had the power to challenge an Admiral.
Add Dragon-level Shiryu into the mix, and Aokiji simply could not withstand them. Very quickly, he found himself in extreme danger.
At last, even Jinbe stopped standing by.
As a Fish-Man, the sea was his home ground.
He smashed through the ice and plunged beneath the ocean. Down there, he used Fish-Man Karate, taking control of the sea current itself.
"Ocean Current Shoulder Throw!"
BOOM!
A massive column of seawater over ten meters thick burst upward from beneath the seabed and slammed straight into Aokiji's chest before he could dodge.
Aokiji was blasted away, crashing directly into the warship he had arrived on. The entire warship was destroyed by the impact.
He was hurled down toward the sea. Fortunately, his reactions were fast enough that he froze the surface beneath him in time.
If he had fallen into the deep ocean, he would have been as good as dead.
Struggling back to his feet, Aokiji wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression turning extremely ugly.
He had grossly underestimated the strength of the six in front of him.
At that moment—
Seeing that Aokiji was in trouble, Kong, Sengoku, and the others rushed over at top speed.
They too were deeply shocked by the power of Shiryu and the others.
Sengoku pulled Aokiji back onto a ship and asked with concern:
"Kuzan, how bad are your injuries?"
Aokiji replied:
"Nothing too serious. But these bastards all ate monster cells. Their strength is nothing like it used to be. They're far more troublesome than expected."
"Monster cells again… Luo Xing's invention!"
The leader of CP0 snarled in fury.
Luo Xing's inventions had brought the World Government unprecedented trouble.
The destruction of Impel Down. The loss of Sabaody. All of it was because of that man's inventions—especially the Anywhere Door—which had let him toy with them again and again.
CP0's leader had already been furious for a long time.
Now he could no longer endure it.
He turned to the rest of CP0 and barked:
"All of you, move! Kill those six bastards!"
More than ten CP0 agents moved out at once.
All of them were masters of the Six Powers and could use Moonwalk to move through the air.
One after another, they rose high into the sky.
Then, as if they had already coordinated beforehand, they all unleashed Tempest Kick at the same time.
Buzz! Buzz!
In an instant, dozens of slash waves rained down like a storm, densely packed as they shot toward the six below.
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