Bang!
The frozen sea instantly shattered under Shanks’s slash, splitting into pieces.
As the giant ice rolled and seawater surged, Liam, although the Ice Mass stabilized the bicycle, found himself swaying on the rear seat. Eventually, he jumped off, grabbing onto ‘B.I.B.’ to steady himself on the broken and rolling ice.
“…,” Kuzan waved his large hand, sending forth a chilling gust from his palm. The gushing columns of seawater from the cracks immediately froze, acting like adhesive, re-freezing the shattered and rolling ice layer.
“Wow, what an impressive Devil Fruit ability!” Shanks exclaimed.
He raised his sword again and slashed once more. The blade’s light turned into flying slashes, striking the rugged ice layer covered with spikes. This time, his slash only left deep and shallow scars on the ice, failing to shatter it.
“Has the ice become even harder? Indeed, you’re the Vice Admiral of the Marine Headquarters!” Shanks said with slight admiration. “Could it be that you’ve developed your fruit to the level of ‘Awakening’?”
He tightened his grip on the sword’s hilt.
“…,” Kuzan’s suit exuded a cloud-like cold air everywhere as he spoke. “I must remind you…”
With a swift motion, the dark energy enveloped Shanks’s entire fist.
Kuzan squatted down, his hand pressing on the icy surface. “The kid you’re supposedly helping is also a Devil Fruit Ability user.”
Liam shouted from behind, “I’m not afraid!”
“You see…” Shanks chuckled, as Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) rapidly spread from his fist to the blade.
The once shining and sharp blade’s edge turned pitch black, resembling a “Black Blade.”
Kuzan’s gaze sharpened as Shanks swung his sword.
The blade energy almost materialized, the purple-black energy erupted like lightning as the slash descended, forming a huge arc-shaped strike. Starting from the black blade’s edge in Shanks’s hand, it fell onto the rolling and solidified ice layer, onto Kuzan’s face, which revealed a surprised expression, onto Kuzan’s bicycle, cleaving it into two…
Bang!
The might of this strike, imbued with Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki), was formidable.
The ice layer reinforced by Kuzan’s fruit ability, Kuzan himself, and Kuzan’s bicycle were all split in half by a single slash.
The ice layer neatly split into two halves, churning and shaking in the surging seawater.
“Wow! Isn’t this a bit too awesome?!” Liam exclaimed in Chinese. “Watching anime is one thing, but witnessing this kind of non-human combat is another!”
“Advanced Busoshoku Haki? Ryuo (Flowing Sakura) Haki? Or mixed with Haoshoku Haki eruption?” Liam gasped for a cold breath – it was truly cold nearby due to Aokiji’s influence – looking at Shanks, whose black blade’s edge still emitted strands of black energy.
This appearance, this demeanor, in that moment just now, Liam couldn’t help but be shocked and frightened, almost embarrassing himself by kneeling down.
Liam exclaimed in Mandarin Chinese, “Truly worthy of Shanks, effortlessly putting on an aura that others can’t!”
The ice layer shook violently. Liam, not really affected by the ice’s movement thanks to the support of ‘B.I.B.’ nearby, barely managed to stay steady and not fall off.
Although he wasn’t a Devil Fruit Ability user, the sea beneath the broken ice was no joke! It was freezing!
Oh, as for Kuzan, who was split into two halves by Shanks’s slash, naturally, he wouldn’t be killed by Shanks like this.
The cross-sections of his left and right halves were ice crystals, each standing on one leg on the split ice layer, stable as a rock.
“Indeed, with Elementalization, having an ice body makes it difficult to coexist with Busoshoku Haki,” Shanks chuckled. “So I had to use Kenbunshoku Haki to predict my slash and split your body in advance…”
“…,” A surge of cold air erupted between Kuzan’s split body parts, attracting each other, pulling the ice layers beneath their feet closer together.
The bent-over left half of his body reached out and scooped up some seawater before the ice layers gradually closed in. The seawater poured through his fingers, quickly freezing into an ice sword.
Bang! The ice layers closed together.
Liam stumbled a step.
Kuzan’s body merged, grasping the ice-water sword and rushing towards Shanks.
Shanks raised his sword to meet him.
Both men tightened their grip on their swords.
The famed blade “Griffin” and the ice water sword quickly wrapped in a layer of black Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) Haki.
Shanks and Kuzan locked eyes and, without hesitation, swung their blades at each other.
Bang!
A staggering gust of wind spiraled out from the clash of their blades.
Liam, hugging his body, muttered, “Damn, all I’m getting is a blast of cold wind! So cold!!”
Shanks’s black hand grabbed the black blade, his eyes as sharp as an eagle’s, and red-black lightning burst from his blade.
“Hmm?” Kuzan saw tiny cracks appearing on his own black ice sword’s blade. The cracks continued to widen until, with a puff, the ice sword shattered into powder.
Naturally, he could repair the ice sword using his ability. But the prerequisite was to remove the Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) Haki from the ice sword. However, an ice sword without Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) Haki couldn’t withstand the Black Blade of Shanks in front of him…
More cold air emanated from Kuzan, enveloping Shanks in front of him.
Shanks shuddered and stepped back. “Wow, so cold, so cold!” He stuck out his tongue, continuously patting his shoulders, arms, and the ice layers that had formed on his body. With a cracking sound… the ice Mass fell off, revealing the black Busoshoku Haki (Armament Haki) he had covered these areas with using Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki) Haki to sense danger. “It would be great if you had a good sword. Maybe we could have a few days of good slashing!” Shanks chuckled.
He seemed to recall some distant memories, a slightly nostalgic expression on his always cheerful face.
Kuzan said coldly, “Few Logia Ability users continue to be swordsmen…”
Shanks chuckled, “Seems like it… I heard that the fierce Sakazuki of the Marines was originally a swordsman too. Couldn’t Elementalize the sword, so he just stopped using swords altogether?”
“You talk too much…” Another surge of cold air burst from Kuzan, sweeping across the sea, and leaving behind a solid ice layer.
“I agree!” Shanks wielded the Black Blade, releasing a dozen black Sword Energy slashes in a row.
Thus, the sea ice was continuously shattered, solidified, shattered, and solidified under the frenzied onslaught of these two, soon turning into a chaotic mess.
Liam, his arms hugging himself, shivering from the cold, complained, “Th-this-this-this-this is so so so… there’s no-no-no place to to to to even even stand…”
Wherever he stepped, it seemed to be protruding ice spikes, neither a place to stand nor to not stand.
…
In the end, this unexpected encounter at sea ended with Kuzan’s voluntary withdrawal, witnessed by Liam.
Fighting at sea was indeed a significant disadvantage for him as an Logia Ability user. If he accidentally fell into the water, he couldn’t activate his ability and would be unable to move, eventually drowning…
… Kuzan brushed off the ice debris on his suit’s shoulders and glanced back at the boy, who was quite frozen, feeling somewhat speechless.
The boy, with his eager support for Shanks, made it seem as if he, the Vice Admiral of the Marine Headquarters, was rushing to please him…
……
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