"Got him!"
Doflamingo suddenly appeared behind Aokiji, waves of threads entangling Kuzan's lower body.
Simultaneously, his right hand formed a black claw and swung at Kuzan's back. In an instant, five claw strikes carrying a pitch-black light flashed.
In this moment, the cold current in Aokiji's eyes overflowed. He knew clearly that he had to fight desperately now.
"Ughhhhhhhh!!!"
Roaring abruptly, he raised both arms to block the sides of his neck, his right palm facing the sky as if holding something up, his left hand clenched into a fist, left arm protecting his neck.
A terrifying ice-blue jet stream burst from his body. In an instant, a crystalline iceberg a hundred meters in diameter rose from the ground.
Crack crack crack!
Boom!
The iceberg condensed in an instant, then exploded in a flash. Doflamingo's threads were instantly frozen into ice threads and shattered. Blocks of ice shot out explosively in all directions.
Bang bang bang bang! Ice crystal clusters sprayed in all directions like cannonballs.
Merlin, having swapped positions with the shadow left in mid-air, appeared in the sky at this moment.
Below.
Aokiji's figure was like lightning, leaving afterimages as he ran. In a blink, he arrived in front of Doflamingo, who was flying backward. In his view, he and Merlin were "evenly matched," but now this clown came over acting self-righteous.
So he would take him out of the game first.
Seeing Aokiji arrive in front of him in a blink, Doflamingo's eye corner twitched. The terrifying cold current around Aokiji stiffened his body. His full-body Haki surged out, but the moment his body recovered, a cannonball-like right fist carrying ice-blue flame light smashed into his chest.
Crack! With a sound, under Aokiji's full outburst, Doflamingo was frozen into an ice sculpture in an instant, and then instantly the ice layer on his body surface shattered due to the impact of the fist force.
Splurt! A mouthful of bloody ice chips sprayed out.
In an instant, Doflamingo shot backward, smashing through the ice surface, tumbling and bouncing away all the way.
At this time, Merlin's figure quietly arrived at Aokiji's side. A dark red thunderbolt flashed. Crack! With a sound, Aokiji's left arm, which blocked in time at his side, slammed heavily into his own ribs under the impact of immense force. Bang! His whole person flew sideways.
Rolling continuously on the ice surface.
Merlin took a moment to glance at Doflamingo lying on the ground panting heavily, his eyes extremely speechless. Then he kicked off the ground, and as the ice surface shattered, he crossed dozens of meters to arrive in front of Aokiji.
Clang!
The falling slash light collided with Aokiji's ice right fist. Immediately after, blade light cascaded like a waterfall, shrouding him like a dark red shadow curtain.
Bang bang bang bang bang...
Black ice shields manifested around Aokiji in a flash, only to be shattered by Merlin.
Sky-filling ice chips danced around the two. Suddenly, ice flames rose in Aokiji's eyes. Crack! The surrounding ice chips expanded instantly. A hundred-meter diameter block of hard ice froze Merlin inside instantly.
Aokiji's eyes were fierce at this moment. He rushed wildly towards Doflamingo, who had just stood up. Arriving in a blink, he swung his fists like rain, heavy and powerful.
Doflamingo roared, constantly swinging his fists to block, but under the fists of Aokiji in a berserk state, he could only be beaten passively.
Immediately after, just as Doflamingo was smashed flying by an uppercut.
Kuzan leaped violently into mid-air, raising his right fist to charge power. In the instant ice flames interwoven with black lightning and ice-blue cherry-red halos bloomed.
"Bone Fist: Comet Impact."
In this instant, Doflamingo felt a threat like impending death. His pupils contracted suddenly. Layers of spiderweb walls comparable to steel stacked up in front of him.
In the next moment—Boom!!!
The terrifying ice flame impact slammed into the spiderweb walls, freezing them into ice blocks in an instant, then shattering in a blink. Then, the force of Kuzan's punch continued unabated, smashing into Doflamingo's chest.
Bang! A muffled sound.
Blood instantly spilled from Doflamingo's mouth and nose, but froze in the cold current around Kuzan. He was blasted onto the ice surface with one punch.
With a loud boom, a hole five meters in diameter appeared on the ice. In a blink, his eyes rolled back, his body smashing through the ice layer fully fifteen meters thick, and he was smashed into the sea.
Just landing from the air, a suddenly transparent Merlin appeared behind Aokiji, kicking his lower back. Kuzan shot backward with a thud.
In this moment, a shadow tentacle as thick as an arm shot out rapidly from under the feet of the appearing Merlin, rushing into the ice hole and submerging into the sea water, pulling Doflamingo up from it. Looking at him frozen into a popsicle, Merlin lowered his eyelids. Amidst lingering black flames, the freezing calamity on Doflamingo's body was absorbed rapidly. Simultaneously, electric shock calamity poured into his body. Doflamingo's eyes bulged instantly, then the electric shock calamity was absorbed.
Doflamingo trembled and panted heavily, looking at Merlin with complex eyes.
At this time, Merlin stared at Aokiji, who stood up a hundred meters away wiping blood from the corner of his mouth with a gloomy face. The three looked at each other like this.
And at this moment, Perona's spirit body suddenly appeared on the ice not far away and flew over. Seeing Merlin, Perona shouted in panic, "Lord Merlin! The Marines are here. It's Tsuru, and Hawkeye Mihawk, and Crocodile."
Merlin narrowed his eyes, turning his head to look at Doflamingo. "You go first; I'll catch up later."
A look of discomfort flashed in Doflamingo's eyes. He knew now was not the time to be brave. Although his injuries disappeared, his stamina was almost bottomed out. He gritted his teeth. "Good! You be careful."
Saying this, he reached upwards, shooting a thread to bind a cloud in the sky, flying up in a blink.
At this time, Perona floated beside Merlin, looking at the broken environment around, shock flashing in her eyes.
Merlin looked at Perona and said, "You go back too. You guys evacuate here first; I'll come later."
Hesitation appeared in Perona's eyes. "Where do we meet then?"
Merlin said softly, "Just run, don't worry, I'll catch up to you."
Hearing this, Perona bit her lip. "Then you must come back. I don't want you to be caught by the Marines."
Saying this, her spirit body submerged into the ice surface and disappeared from here.
Merlin stared fixedly at Aokiji to prevent him from interfering. As for why Merlin wasn't worried about finding them, it was because a part of his main body's shadow was inside Perona and the others' main bodies.
Firstly, the combat instinct carried by his shadow allowed them to get twice the result with half the effort in training.
Secondly, relying on the form-shadow symbiosis, Merlin could mysteriously sense their specific locations.
After synthesizing the Shadow-Shadow Fruit origin with the Demon Form, Merlin's shadow could split into thousands of sub-shadows without affecting his own existence, just like the "ten fingers" medium of the Calamity Fruit.
Monet, Yor, and others all had a portion inside them. Even though carrying Merlin's sub-shadow consumed their stamina, overall, the pros outweighed the cons. Merlin had split out a total of six portions of varying content so far.
At this time, Aokiji's gaze calmed down. He knew it would probably be quite easy for Merlin to leave if he wanted to. However, doing nothing wasn't his style either.
"Aren't you running?"
Saying this, he clenched his fist and walked towards Merlin. Merlin chuckled lightly. "Why strike so hard at Doflamingo?"
Kuzan said calmly, "When fierce beasts fight, they will definitely kill the jackals peeping around first."
Merlin nodded, not finding anything wrong with Aokiji's words. After all, the weakest one in the field just now was him. At this time, Aokiji arrived in front of Merlin in a blink with extreme speed and punched out. Merlin swung his blade, colliding with Aokiji's fist.
Crack crack crisp sounds continued. At this time, Aokiji's other fist chiseled towards Merlin's chest like lightning. Bang! Merlin raised his left leg to block.
Immediately after, a burst of terrifying electric current spewed out.
A set of high-purity ice armor condensed on Aokiji's body surface to isolate the electricity, but under this electric impact, he was blasted back.
The moment the electricity retracted, Merlin rushed over with his blade. A dark red lightning fell from the sky; Aokiji swung his fist to block.
Clang clang clang clang muffled iron-striking sounds rang out consecutively.
Merlin slashed continuously, Aokiji counterattacked with fists. Crystalline ice chips drifted around them. With a muffled boom, Aokiji kicked Merlin in the abdomen, and immediately Merlin slashed his shoulder and neck.
Crack! With a sound, both flew backward rapidly.
While flying backward, Aokiji glanced at the long, narrow, bleeding slash mark on his shoulder and neck. Even with Haki protection and elementalization in advance, he still suffered some light injuries.
But it wasn't a big problem. Amidst the permeating ice-blue freezing mist, the wound was frozen.
In mid-air, crack crack bulging crisp sounds appeared in Merlin's abdomen. Shadows reset the broken bones, Haki dispersed Aokiji's invading Haki, and black flames wrapped and permeated inside the body, absorbing the calamity.
Merlin half-squatted on the ice, panting violently. This full-power state consumed too much stamina. However, Merlin looked brightly at Aokiji, who also stood up a hundred meters away at this moment.
But compared to himself, Aokiji's condition was obviously much better.
Wiping a trace of blood flowing from the corner of his mouth, Aokiji's gaze was icy cold.
At this time, Merlin's gaze moved. Three extremely fast figures rushed over from not far away: Gion, Hawkeye Mihawk, and Sand Crocodile Crocodile.
For a moment.
The pressure felt a bit too great.
This lineup was luxurious enough.
In a few breaths, Gion stopped beside Aokiji, and Crocodile appeared on the right.
Hawkeye stopped on the left, looking at Merlin with burning eyes. Suddenly, Mihawk spoke to Merlin: "Your sword is not bad."
Merlin glanced at the great sword Yoru on his back, a smile rising on his lips, and raised his katana. "Demon Blade - Zanye (Night Cutter/Slayer)."
At this moment, Mihawk's expression became indescribable. "Zanye?"
At this time, Crocodile couldn't help snorting with laughter. "Hehehe, Hawkeye's great sword is called Yoru (Night), your sword is called Zanye. Interesting!"
Merlin glanced at him. "Actually, my swordsmanship can also be called Crocodile Slayer."
"Heh!" Mihawk's mouth curled up into a smile. "Crocodile Slayer? Good name."
Crocodile's mouth twitched, looking at Mihawk unkindly. "Which side are you on? You bastard."
Saying this, he looked at Merlin unhappily. "Are you looking for death?"
Merlin said to him faintly, "The last person who said that to me, the grass on his grave has grown tall. By the way, his name was Moria.
"Seems like he was your companion, right?
"Mmh, I buried him personally. Want me to build an unnamed mound for you too?"
"Pfft!"
Gion couldn't help laughing out loud. Crocodile looked at Gion with a black face. "Bastard, whose side are you on?"
Gion's shoulders shook as she spoke, "Sorry, a bit funny."
Crocodile's eye corner twitched uncontrollably.
Mihawk's mouth also curled up.
Aokiji said dissatisfiedly at this time, "Since you're here, let's send this guy to Impel Down together.
"Oh right, this guy is very strong."
As soon as these words came out, all three looked over. Aokiji looked wretched, while Merlin was pitch-black all over, making it hard to see specific injuries.
However, at this time, Gion drew her sword, and Crocodile only gathered sand around him without extra movement.
As for Mihawk, he didn't move at all. At this time, Mihawk said, "If it's a gang fight, I won't participate."
Aokiji's expression didn't change; he had anticipated this. He was mainly speaking to Gion.
Merlin narrowed his eyes slightly. It was time to retreat. Shadows separated from his body, converging into an exaggerated shadow bow in his left hand.
A shadow arrow appeared in his right hand.
Just as he was about to move, suddenly, the sky darkened. Everyone present looked up, only to see a giant rock a thousand meters in diameter—no, an island—falling from the sky.
Merlin's gaze was somewhat blank. But at this time, Kuzan knelt on the ground, pressing both hands on the ice surface. Amidst crack crack freezing sounds, an ice pillar hundreds of meters in diameter rose instantly upward.
Hundreds of meters high in a breath—Boom! It collided with the base of the falling island.
Soil and rocks crumbled, falling from the sky.
At this time, an exaggerated, boisterous laugh burst from the sky: "Jihahahaha!!! The Marines are still so shameless, still so fond of bullying the few with the many."
Immediately after, the island atop the ice pillar underwent drastic changes with rumbling sounds. In a few breaths, a giant rock lion nearly eight hundred meters in diameter appeared in the sky.
Immediately after, a black human figure descended from the sky, floating two hundred meters in the air. The comer wore a wide-sleeved Wano-style orange and yellow swordsman outfit, with a pair of cold-gleaming long swords bound to his legs as prosthetics.
His long golden hair looked like a cape and a lion's mane, but what ruined the atmosphere a bit was a patinated ship's steering wheel stuck in the top of his head. The comer laughed wildly, looking down at the people below with a disdainful gaze.
"Flying Pirate, Golden Lion Shiki."
At this moment, Gion squeezed out this title from her mouth, her gaze unusually solemn. But at this time, the Golden Lion didn't look at her but looked at Merlin and Mihawk in the field with interest. "Hawkeye and White Demon, I quite fancy you two. Giving you a chance to follow me."
Saying this, he spread his hands, issuing an invitation to the two: "Want to come and conquer the world with me?"
Crocodile, whose name was not called, had a gloomy gaze.
At this time, Mihawk held his sword down at his side, his gaze sharp as a demon hawk. "Conquer the world? Not interested. However, I am a bit interested in comparing swordsmanship with you."
Golden Lion's gaze turned gloomy. At this time, he looked at Merlin. "As long as you get on my ship, I will take you away from here."
Two months ago, Golden Lion learned about the grand occasion in the North Blue from the newspaper.
So he came to see if he could find a few subordinates who caught his eye.
But after searching around, he didn't find many worthy ones. Now he finally fancied two brats who were passably decent.
Unfortunately, one didn't give him face.
Merlin laughed softly and said in a calm tone, "Can I be the captain?"
Golden Lion's gaze turned completely gloomy. In the next moment, the giant rock lion descended from the sky towards Merlin. Killing at the slightest disagreement—this was very Golden Lion!
A huge shadow descended from the sky, shrouding Merlin.
At this moment, looking calmly.
But the shadow arrow in Merlin's hand swelled abruptly. Five meters in diameter, a hundred meters in length. A giant shadow arrow, under Merlin's control—Bang!—slammed heavily into the ice surface.
"Shadow Bind."
In the next second, the falling giant rock lion froze in mid-air just like that.
Golden Lion was greatly shocked seeing this. Gion and the others also looked astonished. At this time, a smile played on Merlin's lips, but his eyes were as cold as frost. "Old undying! Giving you face, am I?"
In this moment. With a turn of his palm, a portion of shadow condensed into a shadow arrow in his hand. Then, raising the bow with his left hand and nocking the arrow. Twang twang twang! Shadow string pulled full, arrow tip pointing straight. Whoosh!
Releasing the shadow string, the shadow arrow turned into a black lightning bolt aiming straight for Golden Lion's torso.
In this moment, cold light flashed in Golden Lion's eyes. Looking at the shadow arrow, he didn't even dodge. In the next instant, the shadow arrow flew past his side.
A mockery curled up on Golden Lion's lips. "Just this aim..."
However, just as the shadow arrow flew past his side, a light flashed in Merlin's eyes. Form and shadow swapped—Swish! Merlin's figure appeared behind him. In this moment, Golden Lion's pupils contracted suddenly, and he leaned forward violently.
Right leg kicking upward.
Clang—
Merlin's Zanye slashed at the sword edge he kicked over in this instant.
Violent wind spread from between the two. Merlin's figure flew backward and upward, while Golden Lion flew backward and downward.
At this time, the giant shadow arrow and small shadow arrow below suddenly softened and merged, flying towards Merlin in the sky. The giant rock lion instantly lost support, but at this time, an ice pillar rose from the ground—Aokiji struck again.
The shadow flew into Merlin and merged into his body. In the next moment, a pair of shadow wings grew from Merlin's back.
Flying in the air, he looked coldly at Golden Lion ten meters below at this moment.
In this moment, it was Merlin looking down on him.