Kuzan quickly retreated.
His reaction was anything but slow.
The moment the ice wall exploded, he immediately reacted and avoided the aftermath of the explosion with several rapid leaps.
His afterimage swept away like a ghost.
Just as Kuzan came to a stop, a figure broke through the aftermath of the explosion from the side and appeared near him.
Ding! Boom!!!
The blade flashed sharply, and the ice shattered.
The figure that appeared beside Kuzan was Kaito.
Kaito attacked Kuzan with a slash. Kuzan also relied on the keen insight of his Observation Haki to perceive Kaito's attack and immediately condensed an ice blade to block the slash.
Clang!
Sparks flew.
Although Kuzan's ice blade was reinforced with Armament Haki, it was still not enough to withstand Kaito's slash.
The terrifying sharpness and violent explosive force instantly destroyed the ice blade, and the remaining momentum of the attack continued forward, cutting Kuzan into pieces.
"Dragon Subduing Legs: Dragon Fighting in the Wild!"
A red light flashed through Kaito's eyes.
The moment his slash landed, Kaito did not stop moving. He immediately kicked forward, unleashing a violent, dragon-shaped impact cannon that swallowed a piece of shattered ice thrown out by the explosion.
The Dragon Blaster contained Armament Haki.
However, just as the shock wave approached, the scattered ice immediately erupted with billowing cold air, forming a massive ball of ice.
Boom!!!
The dragon-shaped shock wave blasted the ice ball into the distance, causing cracks to spread across its surface.
But such damage obviously had not reached the core.
As the ice ball crashed into the distance, shattered ice scattered everywhere, revealing Kuzan inside.
"Ice Time Capsule!"
Cold air poured from Kuzan's mouth.
As his figure emerged from the shattered ice, his sharp eyes locked onto Kaito. He immediately raised his hand and fired a wave of cold air that traveled rapidly along the ground.
"Dragon Subduing Legs: Dragon in the Field!"
The cold-air shock wave moved incredibly fast.
But Kaito was even faster.
His figure disappeared from its original position in an instant, causing the incoming cold-air shock wave to miss completely.
After using the Light-Heavy Fruit to adjust his own weight down to just one kilogram, Kaito's speed was already as fast as lightning.
And after using Dragon in the Field, his speed could only be described as reaching an unbelievable level.
It was almost like teleportation.
After avoiding the cold-air shock wave, Kaito instantly crossed the distance between them and appeared beside Kuzan.
"Dual Sword Style: Magic Eagle!"
Without the slightest hesitation, Kaito swung both swords and once again unleashed a sharp slash toward Kuzan.
Kuzan immediately retreated.
Although Kaito's speed had reached an astonishing level, it was still not enough to completely escape Kuzan's Observation Haki.
The moment Kaito approached, Kuzan avoided the slash and immediately widened the distance between them without hesitation.
Naturally, Kaito pursued him at once.
One closed the distance.
The other widened it.
The fighting styles displayed by Kaito and Kuzan were almost exactly the same as during their previous battle.
There was no helping it.
Kaito was the type of fighter who possessed high attack power, high defense, and extremely high agility.
Although he had methods of attacking from a distance, he was undoubtedly better suited to close-quarters combat.
Kuzan, on the other hand, was the complete opposite.
Although he was a hexagonal fighter with no obvious weakness, when his physical strength and defense were inferior to Kaito's, using the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit for long-range combat was undoubtedly more advantageous.
Of course, compared with their previous battle, this fight was still somewhat different.
During their last confrontation, Kaito's Observation Haki had always been at a disadvantage because he was far behind Kuzan in that area.
At the time, he had been forced to withstand Kuzan's attacks almost entirely by relying on his extraordinary physical constitution.
But that was no longer the case.
After nearly half a year of focused training in Observation Haki, Kaito's Observation Haki had grown tremendously.
This had significantly narrowed the gap between the two.
Although there was still a difference, with the assistance of the Light-Heavy Fruit, Kaito's increased speed was enough to make up for the remaining gap.
His greatest weakness had been overcome.
Kaito's advantages could now be displayed to their fullest.
In terms of attack power, his powerful Armament Haki, Great Swordsman-level swordsmanship, unparalleled physical strength, and the explosive power of the Bomb-Bomb Fruit combined together were enough to make even Kuzan reluctant to confront his attacks head-on.
The same applied to his defense.
In addition to the protection provided by his Armament Haki, Kaito's "Man of Steel" ability had already filled the gap in his defenses.
Even if Kuzan froze him with the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit, it would still be difficult to cause serious damage to him.
And then there was agility.
The increase in speed brought by the Light-Heavy Fruit not only made up for Kaito's disadvantage in Observation Haki, but also made it difficult for Kuzan to escape from his attacks.
Every time Kuzan attempted to create distance, Kaito could immediately close the gap again with his incredible speed.
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Slashes flew through the air.
Cold air surged in every direction.
The battle between Kaito and Kuzan had entered an intense stage almost from the very beginning.
Wherever the two passed, roaring waves of air continuously erupted.
At the same time, glaciers were repeatedly destroyed and frozen again.
On another part of the battlefield, the battle between Kizaru and Crocodile was also raging.
A high concentration of light energy condensed into a sword.
Kizaru swung the sword.
The golden blade of light not only sliced through the incoming sand blade but continued forward, slashing toward Crocodile's neck.
Thunder suddenly appeared.
A pillar of lightning formed by Enel's "God's Judgment" descended from the side, engulfing both the lightsaber and Kizaru.
Although the lightning pillar was not coated with Armament Haki and therefore could not directly injure Kizaru, who was also a Logia user, it was not completely ineffective.
Under the assault of the thunder and lightning, Kizaru's body and his lightsaber made of light collapsed one after another.
Crocodile seized the opportunity to retreat into the distance.
As his body collapsed into light particles, Kizaru's figure gradually re-formed beside the thunder pillar.
The Goro Goro no Mi really deserves its reputation as one of the strongest Logia abilities.
After reconstructing his body, Kizaru followed the source of the lightning with his gaze and looked toward Enel.
He silently evaluated the situation in his mind.
Although Enel did not know Armament Haki and therefore could not truly threaten him, the power of the Thunder-Thunder Fruit that he displayed was extremely troublesome to deal with.
And judging from his repeated ability to intercept Kizaru's laser attacks, he seemed to possess extremely profound Observation Haki as well.
This is really troublesome.
If there were only one opponent, I could deal with him.
But dealing with both of them at the same time would be difficult to resolve quickly.
After looking at Enel, Kizaru turned his attention toward Crocodile, who had once again retreated into the distance.
For a moment, he felt helpless.
Both of his opponents were Logia Devil Fruit users, and both possessed considerable strength.
This time, it really wasn't that he wanted to slack off.
They were simply too difficult to deal with.
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