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"ADMIRAL AOKIJI??"
Momonga and the other Dove-leaning Vice Admirals' eyes went wide, their entire bodies trembling.
That appearance, that voice, that tone—THEY WOULD NEVER FORGET IT.
The absolute leader of their Dove faction, the former Marine Admiral, one of the candidates for Fleet Admiral, the man who had died at the hands of Sky Sovereign Rowen during the Summit War...
The former user of the Ice-Ice Fruit, Admiral Aokiji.
"KUZAN?? WHAT IS GOING ON??"
Gion stared at Aokiji in horror.
Resurrection??
How could such a thing be possible?
But the proof was right before their eyes. Both Crocodile and Kuzan had died at the hands of Sky Sovereign Rowen...
But now, they had truly returned from the dead and were standing right here.
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"Kuzan... What the hell is going on??"
For the first time, all of the Five Elders began to break out in a cold sweat.
What could be more incredible, more God-like, than an immortal body??
Resurrection, without a doubt.
If they could rationalize Crocodile's return—perhaps he had been secretly captured by Sky Sovereign during the Alabasta incident and later recruited, his death faked—Kuzan was a different story.
He had been killed by Sky Sovereign in front of the entire world during the live broadcast of the Summit War.
His resurrection... was undeniable.
THE UNKNOWN BRINGS GREAT FEAR.
At this moment, the Five Elders, who had always been fearless with their immortal bodies, felt true terror for the first time.
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"Aokiji... so it was you who froze me just now. YOU'VE BETRAYED THE MARINES!"
Akainu bit down hard on his cigar, his eyes bloodshot.
His sense of justice and Aokiji's had always been like fire and water.
But for this man, who had joined the Marines with him, trained under Z with him, become a Vice Admiral with him, and then an Admiral with him... he had always treated him differently from others.
Just like in the original story, when the two had fought to the death for the position of Fleet Admiral, Akainu—the man of iron blood and cold cruelty, had unexpectedly spared Aokiji's life when he was completely defenseless.
Aokiji was an absolute peak powerhouse on these seas, and the power of his Ice-Ice Fruit was chillingly effective in a war.
To let such a top-tier fighter go, who then joined the Blackbeard Pirates and was directly responsible for the capture of the legendary Marine Hero, Garp, on Hachinosu—It was, without a doubt, a major stain on Akainu's career.
But in this timeline, Aokiji hadn't fought him for the Fleet Admiral position but had died on the battlefield at the Summit War.
Akainu had even placed a photo of Aokiji in the most prominent spot on his Fleet Admiral's desk.
But now, he had thought it was Sky Sovereign Rowen who had used the Ice-Ice Fruit to stop his magma. He never imagined it was Aokiji!
How could Akainu accept this??
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"Arara... Aokiji? I'm not a Marine anymore. 'Aokiji' died for the Marines on the battlefield of the Summit War."
Kuzan scratched his head.
As a Special Elemental Homie, his hair was now made of ice. Though he still had his lazy demeanor, his now-icy eyes flashed with an astonishingly cold light. He had no regrets about his time in the Marines.
"I AM NOW A FIGHTER UNDER SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN... KUZAN!"
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A frightening wave of frost, wrapped in a bone-chilling wind, howled furiously in the atmosphere, with Kuzan at its center.
Kuzan's words brought immense pain to Momonga and the other Dove Vice Admirals, but they couldn't say a word against him.
To die on the battlefield was the highest honor for any Marine, to dedicate one's life and everything to justice.
Admiral Aokiji—no, Kuzan truly owed the Marines nothing.
But to see the man they had once followed now standing on the opposite side... it brought a deep, heartfelt pain to Momonga and the others.
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"You... have no Haki on you. What are you now?"
Akainu didn't respond further.
For powerhouses of their level, their Wills were already forged like iron. To try and change their minds with words was simply naive. Similarly, for Kuzan to be able to say such words, to declare himself a fighter under Sky Sovereign, meant that the man had already made his final decision.
All he could do was to kill this former colleague, now his enemy, once again.
But Akainu still found it strange.
Kuzan's presence was strong, but it was purely the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit. There wasn't a single trace of Haki.
Kuzan had inherited Garp's "Iron Fist"—his Armament Haki was among the strongest on the seas.
But now—there wasn't a single shred of it.
And Kuzan's form was completely elementalized.
While it wasn't strange for a Logia user to fully elementalize, maintaining that state consumed a large amount of unnecessary stamina. Generally, Logia users would only partially elementalize in battle, just enough to use their powers, which didn't affect their combat strength and saved stamina.
Unless—
Akainu's eyes scanned the battlefield.
Just as he thought.
Crocodile, and that man who called himself "God Enel"—they were also in a fully elementalized state.
"Homies... BIG MOM'S SOUL-SOUL FRUIT ABILITY," Akainu said coldly.
"Arara, as expected of you, Sakazuki. That's right. We are now Special Elemental Homies," Kuzan admitted without hesitation.
The signs were obvious. And Elemental Homies had been made famous by Big Mom years ago. It was impossible to hide it from a top-tier powerhouse like Sakazuki.
Besides, there was no need to hide it.
At this point, both sides' combat strengths were more or less on the table. A small piece of information like this was irrelevant.
"But the Soul-Soul Fruit alone can't do something like this..." Akainu said, his eyes fixed on Kuzan.
If the Soul-Soul Fruit could bring people back from the dead—how could Big Mom have never shown such an ability?
It definitely wasn't just the Soul-Soul Fruit.
There had to be other Devil Fruit abilities involved.
And the only one who could do this was—without a doubt—the man who could use countless Devil Fruits, who could even combine them to unleash power beyond their individual limits...
SKY SOVEREIGN ROWEN!
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Kuzan just smiled at this, saying nothing more.
Rowen's abilities were already known to the world.
During the Summit War, Rowen had used the Munch-Munch, Magnet-Magnet, and Rumble-Rumble Fruits to kill him in a single blow.
From then on, Sakazuki's Magma-Magma Fruit was no longer known as the Devil Fruit with the highest attack power—but the single Devil Fruit with the highest attack power. Rowen's Super Electromagnetic Cannon had long since surpassed it.
It wasn't hard to guess that Rowen had used multiple Devil Fruit abilities to "resurrect" them.
"Kuzan, Crocodile, and the former Rumble-Rumble Fruit user..."
Akainu's expression was grim.
Except for Crocodile, whose combat power wasn't at the Admiral level, both Kuzan and this "God Enel," with the power of their Devil Fruits alone, even without Haki, were definitely Admiral-level fighters.
And with the power of the Ice-Ice and Rumble-Rumble Fruits, they weren't just Average Admiral-level fighters.
The number of Admiral-level fighters on the enemy side had now increased from four to six.
He had thought that with all the Five Elders here, their forces would have an absolute advantage. But now, they had no advantage at all—they were even at a disadvantage.
The Ice-Ice Fruit's ability was just too much of a constraint on his Magma-Magma Fruit. Because magma was tangible, it could carry the localized destructive power of a volcanic eruption. But because it was tangible, its attack speed wasn't that fast.
The Ice-Ice Fruit was different. The Omnipresent freezing aura could instantly attack any part of a sea area. He couldn't even avoid a direct confrontation with Kuzan.
Even if Kuzan were fighting someone else, he could still mobilize the freezing aura spreading through the atmosphere to limit his magma ability.
AND—
THERE WAS ONE MORE, EVEN WORSE POINT.
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"The Ice-Ice Fruit ability just now was used by Kuzan... THEN WHERE IS SKY SOVEREIGN??"
Warcury's expression darkened.
Saturn's earlier judgment that Sky Sovereign was on this island was based on the appearance of the Ice-Ice Fruit and the intel from their spy among Vegapunk's satellites, York—a double guarantee that should have made the judgment infallible.
This judgment was shared by all of them.
But who would have thought that Kuzan, through some unknown means using Sky Sovereign's Soul-Soul Fruit ability, had been resurrected as a Special Elemental Homie, able to use the Ice-Ice Fruit's power just as well as he had in life.
This had created a major flaw in their previous judgment.
With only York's intel and without the confirmation of the Ice-Ice Fruit, they couldn't be 100% certain of Sky Sovereign's location.
Never mind whether York was reliable—Sky Sovereign's bizarre Devil Fruit abilities were more than enough to create a convincing deception.
How had the Marines been deceived during the operations against the Big Mom and Beast Pirates?
Wasn't it through Sky Sovereign's Devil Fruit abilities?
"IS SKY SOVEREIGN HERE OR NOT??"
Saturn's face twisted with rage.
"It seems... we need to confirm."
Warcury stepped forward.
"ROARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!"
Warcury let out a sudden, ferocious roar.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
An incredibly horrifying wave of Conqueror's Haki formed a storm of crimson-black lightning, engulfing the entire island of Egghead.
The Roar Of Conqueror's Haki.
"WHAT A STRONG HAKI!"
Cold sweat dripped from the foreheads of the crew. This Haki was too strong.
Even stronger than Luffy's.
According to the intel Rowen had given them, Warcury's combat power was among the highest of the Five Elders, and his Conqueror's Haki was the strongest of all.
BUT—
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"Shishishishi!"
Luffy grinned widely.
Because of his increased strength, Luffy wasn't temporarily suppressed by Warcury's roar like in the original story.
Instead, his eyes flashed with an even more astonishing crimson-black light.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
Luffy let out a cheerful laugh, and his own Conqueror's Haki roared out, also forming a terrifying storm of crimson-black lightning.
Luffy's current Conqueror's Haki was now strong enough to create a horrifying Haki storm.
The Roar Of Conqueror's Haki.
"NIKA!"
The other Five Elders' faces turned ice-cold.
Nika's Haki was stronger than they had expected.
However, there was still a gap between his and Warcury's.
But the next moment—
"WORORORO! ALL THE FIVE ELDERS ARE HERE! THIS IS AN EPIC WAR!"
A loud laugh echoed through the sky.
WHOOSH!
A figure, wrapped in crimson-black lightning, plummeted from the sky.
"THIS VOICE AND AURA IS—!"
The Five Elders' faces were incredibly grim.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
A horrifying wave of Conqueror's Haki roared out from this figure.
BOOOOOOOOM!
It also formed a storm of crimson-black lightning!
The Roar Of Conqueror's Haki.
BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOM!
The three storms of Conqueror's Haki—two against one—collided with Warcury's.
An overwhelming presence split the sky in two!
The sea continuously churned with giant waves. The entire island of Egghead was shaking violently.
BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANG!!
The energy of the three Haki storms clashed, canceling each other out.
Soon, the storms dissipated.
The figure that had fallen from the sky—now appeared before everyone.
"WORORORO! LET THE WAR BEGIN, FIVE ELDERS!"
Though the face was that of a smaller Doflamingo, a Seraphim created by Vegapunk's research.
The familiar laugh, the familiar aura, and the frightening Conqueror's Haki wrapped around him, made the Five Elders immediately recognize this person's true identity.
"KAIDO!"
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