Kaito's footsteps stopped, and his legs bent slightly.
Boom!!!
Terrifying power suddenly erupted from his legs, causing the ground beneath him to collapse into a huge, deep crater.
The air in front of him was violently pushed aside by the tremendous force, and a ring-shaped sonic boom rapidly formed in the air.
Kaito exploded forward at an astonishing speed in an instant. His body seemed to fly through the air as he shot straight toward Kuzan in the distance, moving with the momentum of breaking through the sound barrier.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
Cold air surged from Kuzan's right arm.
The moment Kaito launched himself forward, Kuzan's Observation Haki immediately sensed his movement.
Without the slightest hesitation, Kuzan swung both arms and unleashed a massive ice bird.
However, unlike the enormous ice bird that had attacked the War Pirates' fleet earlier, this time the huge ice bird was also reinforced with powerful Armament Haki.
After experiencing their previous battle, Kuzan clearly did not underestimate Kaito.
On the contrary, he regarded him with extreme caution.
To increase the power of Ice Block: Pheasant Beak, Kuzan was even willing to consume more energy by coating the attack with Armament Haki.
Zheng!
Kaito's figure flashed forward like lightning.
The moment the enormous ice bird appeared within his field of vision, he swung his saber and slashed at it.
Golden light erupted.
A crescent-shaped slash hundreds of meters long tore through the air and flew toward the ice bird.
Bang!!!
The slash collided with the ice bird in an earth-shaking explosion.
Kuzan had used Armament Haki to strengthen the power of his ice bird, but Kaito's slash was also much stronger than before.
Whether it was his progress in swordsmanship or the growth of his overall strength, the slash Kaito could unleash now was far more powerful than it had been in the past.
During the astonishing collision, the slash and the ice bird reached an evenly matched stalemate.
Then, amid the fierce confrontation, both attacks exploded simultaneously.
Billowing shock waves mixed with shattered ice radiated in every direction, and the terrifying force even blasted a massive hole into the glacier beneath them.
But the slash had not stopped Kaito's momentum.
Moving at incredible speed, Kaito pierced through the surging shock waves and shattered ice like an arrow, charging directly toward Kuzan.
The light of his blade flashed.
The moment he reached Kuzan, Kaito immediately swung his saber again, sending a sharp slash toward the Marine Admiral.
So fast!
Kuzan's pupils contracted.
Not only had Kaito's slash become stronger, but his explosive speed had also improved tremendously.
No.
The increase in his speed was even greater than the increase in the power of his slash.
Even though Kuzan had already anticipated Kaito's movements with Observation Haki, he was still caught somewhat off guard when Kaito suddenly appeared in front of him, leaving him little time to respond.
Pooh!
The blade was razor-sharp.
Kaito's golden saber slashed into Kuzan's chest.
But at the very moment the blade made contact, Kuzan's body rapidly transformed into ice.
It was obvious that Kuzan had activated his elementalization in response.
However, before Kuzan could completely transform into his elemental form, Kaito's slash underwent a sudden change.
Bang!!!
An astonishing explosive force suddenly erupted from the blade.
Deafening sound waves, scorching flames, and violent impact energy burst forth simultaneously.
The terrifying explosion instantly formed a torrent of destructive energy that engulfed and crushed everything within dozens of meters ahead of Kaito, including Kuzan.
The howling shock waves spread violently in every direction.
Even the glaciers hundreds of meters away shook violently.
Cracks spread across the ice like a giant spiderweb.
When the explosion finally dissipated, a huge fan-shaped crater had appeared in the glacier ahead of Kaito.
Ice splashed everywhere.
Countless fragments of shattered ice were thrown out from the crater by the force of the explosion.
One of those fragments flew through the air for a certain distance before suddenly releasing a powerful chill.
Cold air condensed around it.
In an instant, the figure of Kuzan re-formed from the ice.
He immediately raised his hand and fired.
A mass of cold air shot toward Kaito.
It rapidly expanded from something small into an enormous mass of ice nearly the size of a house, blasting toward Kaito like a cannonball.
Kaito turned around and swung his saber.
A razor-sharp slash shot forward, splitting the incoming mass of cold air cleanly in two.
Whoosh!!
The two halves of the frozen attack flew past Kaito, one to his left and the other to his right.
When they landed on the glacier nearby, the cold air immediately spread outward, freezing two small icebergs in an instant.
Kaito landed on the glacier below.
His feet dragged across the ice for several meters before he finally stabilized his body.
His expression was even more serious than before.
The reason was simple.
There was a wound on his chest.
The clothes covering his chest had been torn apart, revealing a scorching blade mark carved into his flesh.
That strange speed... and that explosive attack.
In the past half a year, this opponent hasn't only grown stronger. He must have also eaten some kind of Devil Fruit...
Feeling the pain in his chest, Kuzan stared intently at Kaito.
On the other side, Kaito lowered the blade in his hand and looked toward Kuzan's chest.
When he noticed that his explosive slash had only left a scorching blade mark on Kuzan's body, Kaito's eyes narrowed slightly.
Crocodile's development of the Sand-Sand Fruit was naturally not weak.
It could even be described as excellent.
But when compared with a top-tier combatant like Kuzan, there was still a significant difference.
Aside from the obvious gap in their overall strength, there was also a considerable difference in the development of their respective Logia Devil Fruits.
Although his explosive slash had successfully injured Kuzan, the severity of the injury was clearly not enough to satisfy Kaito.
"Two Thorny Spears!"
The change in Kaito's thoughts occurred in only an instant.
To everyone watching from the outside, Kaito and Kuzan had already resumed their fierce battle after only a brief confrontation.
Cold air crazily surged from Kuzan's body.
With a wave of both arms, countless ice spears immediately condensed in the air on either side of him.
Just like Ice Block: Pheasant Beak before them, these ice spears were also coated with powerful Armament Haki by Kuzan.
Shhhhhh!
The piercing sound of the ice spears cutting through the air was deafening.
All of the ice spears seemed to transform into a torrential downpour as they shot toward Kaito.
Kaito did not retreat.
Instead, he advanced.
Facing the incoming barrage of ice spears, Kaito charged forward forcefully.
His twin blades swung rapidly, drawing an impenetrable golden line in front of him.
Amid the endless sounds of impact, Kaito continuously shattered the ice spears blocking his path.
One after another.
He cut through every spear that came toward him until he finally broke through the entire barrage and reached Kuzan.
Zheng!
Without stopping his attacks, Kaito, who had broken through the ice spear assault, swung his blade again.
A gigantic slash shot toward Kuzan.
Cold air suddenly surged upward from beneath Kuzan's feet.
A massive ice wall abruptly rose in front of him.
Bang!!
The slash struck the ice wall.
The slash was not only incredibly sharp.
It also contained terrifying explosive power.
With a thunderous roar, the ice wall shattered.
The aftermath of the explosion transformed into scorching flames and a violent shock wave, sweeping toward Kuzan behind the ruined ice wall without losing any of its momentum.
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