In the New World, the sky was like tourmaline, cloudless for thousands of miles. A gentle breeze blew; the weather was exceptionally fine.
A sea vessel sped across the ocean. Bege lay on a deck chair, legs crossed, leisurely sunbathing as they sailed towards their next destination.
"Is there something wrong with my eyes? Why do I see someone riding a bicycle on the sea?" The crewman controlling the ship rubbed his eyes and asked the crewman beside him.
"Are you stupid? Are you stupid? How could someone ride a bicycle on the sea? Are you an idiot?" The crewman next to him shot him a disdainful look, then followed his gaze. His eyeballs nearly popped out. He slowly rubbed his eyes and looked again.
"Could it be... a mirage we're seeing?" the two crewmen muttered, tapping their heads and rubbing their eyes. They looked several times, but the result was the same.
They immediately notified Bege.
Bege was roused from his drowsy state. He lifted his sunglasses, tilted his head, and looked out at the sea. Indeed, he saw a tall, slender figure riding a bicycle on the water, heading in his direction.
To be able to traverse the sea in such a manner, there was only one person.
One of the three Marine Admirals, user of the Ice-Ice Fruit, Aokiji Kuzan.
In the past three years, the three Marine "monsters" had been frantically capturing pirates. One pirate crew after another had been sent to their doom or imprisoned in Impel Down, accumulating a vast amount of merit. After "Steel Bone" Kong was promoted to Commander-in-Chief, Sengoku became Fleet Admiral, and subsequently, Akainu, Kizaru, and Kuzan were promoted to Marine Admirals.
"He's coming straight for us. This is going to be a bit troublesome," Bege scratched his head. He wasn't really in the mood for a fight right now.
"A Marine Admiral! Holy cow! Godfather, we should run!" one of the crewmen exclaimed, his face paling in fright.
"He's an Ice-Ice Fruit user; he's very fast on the sea. This ship won't be able to outrun him. Forget it, maybe he's just here to ask for directions. Don't worry about him," Bege waved his hand dismissively, slid his sunglasses back onto his face, and continued to lie down, sunbathing.
The two crewmen exchanged a look of utter helplessness. They didn't dare disturb Bege's rest. Silently, they adjusted the ship's course, trying to steer around Kuzan.
But Kuzan headed straight for them anyway. A path of ice, dozens of centimeters wide, extended forward from under his bicycle as he approached their ship.
The two crewmen had no choice but to stop the vessel. Kuzan, still on his bicycle, lazily asked, "Hey there, lads, do you happen to know which way Elan Island is?"
"He really is just asking for directions," the two crewmen thought, exchanging a peculiar glance.
One of them quickly pointed in a direction. "Elan Island is that way."
"Ah, so it's that way. Almost went the wrong way," Kuzan said, rubbing the back of his head in vexation.
Kuzan's expression then turned even more helpless, almost conflicted.
"Can't my eyes just stop looking around so much? Now this is a pain. I've spotted someone nasty."
Kuzan's gaze flicked towards the lounging Bege, and his expression instantly turned serious. A chill emanated from his body. The sea surface beneath his bicycle rapidly froze, immobilizing the entire ship.
"We've been spotted!" The two crewmen's faces changed drastically, and they quickly distanced themselves from Kuzan.
Bege lifted his sunglasses, his expression also one of slight exasperation.
"Thought I could avoid this."
"Hey, Kuzan, you can't catch me alone. Why not just pretend you didn't see me, and we go our separate ways?" Bege said listlessly.
"Now, how could I do that? I am a Marine Admiral, after all. Seeing the Demon Dragon right here and just pretending I didn't... that wouldn't sit right, would it?" Kuzan's expression was stern, the chill around him intensifying. The air, moments ago warm as spring, instantly plunged into a bone-chilling winter.
"What a pain," Bege leaped up, landing beside his two men. He absorbed them into his internal castle and then immediately tried to retract the ship as well, but Kuzan didn't let him have his way.
The entire ship instantly froze over, and an icy mist surged towards Bege.
Bege leaped up again, landing on the frozen sea surface.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
A biting cold wind howled. A massive ice bird flew from Kuzan's hand, freezing everything in its path as it charged towards Bege.
Bege shattered the ice bird with a casual punch, sending countless ice shards scattering in all directions.
An even colder gust of wind blew towards him. As it hit his body, even his clothes began to form a thin layer of ice.
Within the frigid wind, Kuzan appeared in a flash, wielding a giant ice spear, and thrust forward.
Bege casually drew his Fire Cloud Sword and parried the ice spear. A bone-chilling cold aura was suddenly released, and with a series of cracking sounds, a layer of ice covered the Fire Cloud Sword. This chilling energy rapidly spread along the sword towards Bege's hand.
Not only that, but the ice surface beneath his feet also began to emit a cold aura. His feet were quickly encased in ice, the frost creeping up his thighs.
"What a troublesome ability," Bege grunted. He exerted force, and the ice spear was swung aside and broken. The ice layer under his feet also shattered. He retreated a step, and with a flick of his sword, the ice encasing it instantly broke apart. The Fire Cloud Sword began to glow, radiating intense heat.
The cold air, like a gale, continuously battered Bege, attempting to engulf him and slow him down. Kuzan's figure appeared once more.
"Ice Block: Twin Spears!"
Two massive ice spears materialized beside him and shot out instantly.
Bege swung his sword twice, slicing the ice spears apart.
Kuzan took another step forward, an ice saber forming in his hand, which he swung fiercely at Bege.
"Ice Slash!"
There was a distance of two to three meters between Kuzan and Bege; when the ice saber swung out, it couldn't actually reach Bege's body. However, what the ice saber unleashed was a fan-shaped wave of cold air, which instantly condensed into a massive, fan-shaped blade of ice that slammed directly towards Bege.
Bege reacted quickly, instantly raising his sword to block the fan-shaped ice blade, his body retreating.
Kuzan pursued relentlessly, his ice saber swinging continuously. In an instant, seven or eight huge, fan-shaped ice blades condensed in the air, slashing towards Bege.
Bege's reaction was equally swift. His superheated Fire Cloud Sword met all the ice blades, yet his figure was forced back as if teleporting.
"Ice Age!"
Kuzan's cold voice rang out, and an endless chill emanated from his body.
"Crack, crackle, crack!"
In the blink of an eye, the entire nearby sea area was frozen solid. A terrifying icy mist rose from the ice surface, growing ever thicker. On the open sea, with abundant moisture in the air, Kuzan could wantonly condense water vapor into solid ice or freezing fog.
Across the completely frozen sea, the icy mist swirled, and the temperature instantly plummeted to tens of degrees below zero. Any living creature caught within would be instantly frozen solid, from the inside out.
This sudden, drastic drop in temperature posed a significant threat to Bege as well; his blood even showed signs of coagulating.
His externalized space activated. An invisible barrier blocked the icy mist. Ten centimeters from his body, the space slowly began to show a thin layer of ice—the freezing mist was actually trying to freeze his invisible barrier.