The smile on Garp's face truly faded for the first time, and a glimmer of genuine surprise flashed in his eyes.
"Recovered?"
He had witnessed the freakish recovery ability of Zoan-type awakeners; that was a form of regeneration fueled by high-speed life force.
But the feeling Lorne gave off in his Observation Haki just now did not resemble that state.
"Truly a... kid full of secrets."
Lorne, by the edge of the ice pit, panted lightly, still feeling a lingering fear.
Conventional elemental magic, whether for defense or control, had very little effect in the face of this kind of unreasonable Armament Haki.
Defenses would be pierced directly, attacks would be easily blocked, and even sensory abilities couldn't gain any advantage in the face of the opponent's Observation Haki.
Without having learned Haki, he was still lacking quite a bit after all!
Since that's the case... time to take a gamble!
Lorne's gaze became unprecedentedly grave as he frantically mobilized the little remaining vast magic and mental power within his body, pouring them into an original combination spell that he had never used in actual combat.
"Eternal Freeze Chronology!"
He let out a low shout, and a complex and profound magic circle appeared before his chest.
Hum—!
A power completely different from the previous Cold Domain spread silently with him as the center.
Within the domain, the flow of air became sluggish, floating ice crystal dust solidified in mid-air, the speed of light propagation seemed to be slowed down, and the entire world exuded an eerie sense of viscosity.
Garp's figure, just as he was preparing to charge again, showed a visible stagnation for the first time.
His movements were no longer that uncapturable lightning, but had turned into frame-by-frame slow motion.
It wasn't that he wanted to slow down, but everything around him—space, air, moisture, dust, and even the energy transmission he himself erupted—was being forcibly solidified and slowed down by an invisible force!
"Interesting!"
A stunning brilliance erupted in Garp's eyes; it was a kind of excitement and appreciation like discovering a new toy.
"To think you could actually interfere with my movements!"
He let out a low growl, no longer holding back.
"Haaahhhh!"
An aura far more terrifying and incomparably stronger than before erupted from within his body!
It was no longer pure pitch-black, but Conquerors Haki mixed with countless black and red lightning bolts!
"Crack... crack, crack..."
Conquerors Haki and Armament Haki forcibly pried open this sluggish domain with the most brutal and overbearing posture.
But it was precisely this brief instant of stagnation.
Lorne's figure had already vanished from his original spot, appearing at Garp's side by utilizing the fleeting combat opportunity created for himself by the Eternal Freeze Chronology.
In his hand, he was already holding an ice crystal longsword constructed from pure magic, though it was unclear when he had summoned it.
"Ding—!"
The ice crystal longsword slashed fiercely onto Garp's fist, which was wrapped in pitch-black Haki!
Clang!
A loud sound like metal clashing exploded!
A spreading circle of ice crystal white marks spread wildly from the point of contact.
Before the frost could spread, the pitch-black Haki on Garp's fist knuckles shook violently, and the ice crystal longsword shattered into pieces upon the sound, instantly breaking into a sky full of light spots.
The space where the two made contact underwent visible, violent distortion.
The pitch-black Haki and pure white magic frantically eroded and annihilated each other, emitting a teeth-grinding sizzling sound.
Ripples of black and white intertwined energy spread out in all directions with the contact point as the center, scraping another thick layer off the solid ice field beneath their feet.
Lorne groaned, feeling a terrifying force mixed with a brutal mental shock pouring back along the shattered longsword, acting upon both his mind and body simultaneously.
His entire person flew backward uncontrollably once again.
"Pfft!"
Another mouthful of blood sprayed from his mouth.
His feet plowed two deep ravines into the solid ice surface, and he slid for a full several hundred meters before barely stopping, kneeling on one knee, and breathing heavily.
"Wahahahaha! Not bad, kid!"
Garp shook the fist that had been struck; not even a white mark was left on it.
He grinned, revealing a laugh that was hearty to the extreme, his loud voice spreading across the entire ice field.
"It's just that your physique is too poor!"
Hearing these words, Lorne, who had just steadied himself, nearly coughed up another mouthful of blood.
Comparing physiques with human monsters like you?
Isn't that just purely asking for trouble? How long has he actually been training since he transmigrated?
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