Boom!
The sword light roared.
Above, it reached the open heavens.
Below, it tore toward the dark seabed.
Between sky and sea, nothing else seemed permitted to exist—
only that single slash.
It stretched hundreds of meters, obliterating the air itself and shattering the waves into violent spray.
The ten thousand ice spears Kuzan had unleashed—
were erased on contact.
They couldn't even slow the blade for a single instant.
At the port, the ground trembled.
People lost their footing and crashed to the ground, staring in terror at the slash that seemed capable of splitting the sea apart.
"My God—!"
"Mom—!"
No one had ever seen a sword light like this before.
Could a human really cut like that?
Everyone who witnessed it was stunned senseless. Some collapsed face-first onto the ground, overwhelmed by the pressure, their bodies giving out entirely.
This was—
Draw Slash.
The ultimate expression of Sword God Soderos' path.
A strike worthy of being called peerless.
A cold glint flickered in Kuzan's eyes.
Kuzan slid backward across the frozen sea, ice forming instantly beneath his feet to carry him away at high speed.
At the same time, his fingers tapped lightly through the air.
Invisible ripples spread outward.
The sea—
stilled.
Then—
cold erupted.
Its range—
ten thousand meters.
The dark ocean churned violently before rising under his will, freezing into an endless expanse of ice.
Rumble…
The deep sea seemed to boil.
Massive slabs of ice burst upward and gathered behind Kuzan, forming a colossal frozen arm—hundreds upon hundreds of meters long.
It looked like a giant from the abyss had thrust its hand into the world.
And at that moment—
Kuzan stopped retreating.
His body aligned with the frozen arm.
Then—
he punched.
A simple strike.
No flourish.
No technique.
Just raw, overwhelming force amplified to an absurd scale.
It carried the momentum to shake heaven and earth—
yet not a single drop of seawater stirred.
Because within ten thousand meters—
everything had already been frozen solid.
A tyrannical slash.
A tyrannical fist.
Then—
they collided.
The sword light—
stopped.
The massive frozen arm—
froze in place against it.
Kuzan stood firm upon the sea, his white coat snapping behind him in the wind.
Far away—
Kairos hovered in the air, one hand gripping the blade, black hair whipping wildly upward.
Then—
Kuzan's sleeve slipped back just enough to reveal his wrist.
And in that instant—
the world exploded.
A sound beyond sound tore across the sea.
It was as if the ocean itself had detonated.
A visible shockwave surged upward into the sky, then slashed outward in all directions like a blade.
The ten-thousand-meter frozen sea—
shattered.
And the moment it broke—
the restored seawater surged upward, driven by the explosion, rising into a towering wall a thousand meters high.
A tsunami—
born in an instant.
"What?!"
At the Fire Country port, everyone froze.
They looked up in disbelief.
The wave came crashing toward them—
mixed with jagged shards of ice, each one sharp enough to cut through flesh like a blade.
If it hit—
everyone there would die.
Robin included.
She stood motionless, staring at the descending wall of destruction.
Everything had happened too fast.
Too fast to react.
For a fleeting moment—
she could already see her fate.
Crushed beneath the sea.
Then—
Shing…!
A sword light tore across the horizon.
Like a falling star, brilliant and blinding, it struck the wave head-on, slicing through part of the incoming tide.
At the same time—
a freezing current surged outward.
Wherever it passed—
the seawater froze solid.
Faster than the wave itself.
That tsunami—
stopped.
Just half a meter from the port.
One half—
cut away.
The other—
frozen into a towering wall of ice.
Far out at sea—
Kairos stood with the Magic Blade Thousand Blades held steady, faint blue light rippling across its fractured edge.
Opposite him—
Kuzan stood with one arm slightly raised, cold mist curling from his palm.
At the exact same moment—
both of them had withdrawn.
Both had acted—
to stop the disaster.
At the port—
no one spoke.
Mouths hung open.
Hearts pounded wildly between terror and relief.
Robin's face was pale.
Her eyes locked onto Kairos.
At that moment—
she wasn't thinking about her own survival.
She realized something far more important.
Kairos…
would not lose easily.
Her gaze sharpened instantly.
She turned and ran.
"Staying here is suicide! Move! Get away from the harbor!"
Her voice snapped people out of their daze.
Using her Devil Fruit, she began dragging those too frozen to move out of danger.
One by one—
the crowd broke free from shock and fled.
As they ran, one man glanced back at the distant figure standing on the sea, blade in hand, and shouted in confusion—
"It makes sense for Admiral Kuzan to save us… but why would the pirate Kairos do it?!"
No one had an answer.
But the question stayed with them.
At last—
the port was empty.
No one remained to interfere.
Only the sea.
Only the two of them.
"You really did step in," Kuzan said at last, white breath escaping his lips. His breathing had grown heavier, and his right wrist trembled faintly—the aftermath of that clash.
"You sound awfully sure of me," Kairos replied calmly, running a finger along the Magic Blade Thousand Blades.
The blade hummed softly—
its thousand fragments trembling, eager to break free.
Kuzan said nothing.
The tremor in his hand faded.
His fingers slowly clenched into a fist.
And at that moment—
the sea began to shake.
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