Check out advanced chapters on P@treon: [email protected]/CosmicKaminari
----------
"Boss, what are we going to do with these Marines?"
On Long Ring Long Island, a man who looked like a hamburger walked up to Foxy and asked.
Behind him, several Marine soldiers lay scattered on the ground.
"Marines are useless, and they can't play our Davy Back Fight games, so just toss them aside," Foxy replied with his signature laugh, turning to his crew.
But the next moment, he stared at the sea with wide eyes.
"Hey! What is that?" he exclaimed. "How can people fly in the sky?"
After hearing Foxy's words, the crew members of the Foxy Pirates turned their heads to look.
"Whoa, there really are two people flying in the sky!"
"I wouldn't call it flying... more like walking on air, right?"
"Wait a minute, Captain, they seem to be heading right for us!"
Foxy's mouth split into his characteristic laugh as he walked to the front of his pirate crew.
"Don't panic, they're just people who can walk on air," he said confidently. "Don't forget my abilities. Those two look special - I'll use my powers to make them join our crew, fehfehfeh!"
Though he didn't know who Ikki was yet, just seeing his ability to walk on air was enough for Foxy to want to recruit him.
His words reached the ears of Ikki, who had just arrived at the coast.
Ikki smiled and kicked the air behind him with his legs. The sudden burst of speed made Ikki's figure disappear from the sight of the Foxy Pirates.
When he reappeared, Ikki was already standing right in front of Foxy.
"Huh?!"
Foxy's eyes widened, and he couldn't help but take a few steps back.
"You... when did you get here? Are you a ghost?" Even the usually fearless Foxy felt a little scared when confronted with something he couldn't understand.
When the surrounding Foxy Pirates heard the word 'ghost,' they instantly came to their senses and ducked directly behind their captain.
"Ghost? No, no, I'm a living human being," Ikki said with a wave of his hand.
"What? If you're human, you should have said so earlier!" Foxy exclaimed, recovering his composure. "Hey, what's your name, and why can you fly through the air? By the way, are you a pirate?"
Foxy, who was keen on stealing crew members from other pirates through Davy Back Fights, was already planning how to make Ikki lose to him in one of his games.
"Pirate? I'm not that kind of being. If you insist on a label, I'm your mortal enemy," Ikki said softly, gently restraining Nojiko's hand as she reached for her knife.
After shaking his head slightly at Nojiko and whispering something in her ear, he continued addressing Foxy:
"Foxy, user of the Slow-Slow Fruit ability. I'm somewhat interested in your powers. Would you mind using your ability against me?"
Hearing this, Foxy was stunned.
"You know me? And my abilities? Then why would you want me to attack you?"
"I just want to test whether your ability works on me," Ikki replied with a smirk.
It was knowing the abilities of the Slow-Slow Fruit that made Ikki want to test it. In the world of One Piece, there were fruits like the Slow-Slow Fruit, Love-Love Fruit, and even the Hobby-Hobby Fruit that had quite broken powers.
These Devil Fruits made Ikki think they operated on a conceptual level of cause and effect.
Similarly, Law's Op-Op Fruit's teleport swap could also be considered in this category. Even Doflamingo could be easily swapped by Law's Op-Op Fruit.
However, when facing Emperors like Charlotte Linlin and Kaido, Law was unable to switch their positions because of their overwhelmingly powerful Haki.
It seemed that with strong enough Haki, one could resist the effects of the Op-Op Fruit. Given this, Ikki wanted to see if Haki could work against abilities like the Slow-Slow Fruit.
"Are you a fool for actually asking me to attack you?" Foxy looked at Ikki in disbelief.
"Boss, run!! He's that bounty hunter who fought Golden Lion - the one from the newspaper!" one of the pirates behind Foxy called out, his voice trembling with fear.
Bounty hunters were mortal enemies to pirates like them.
"What? Ikki?!" Foxy and the other pirates' eyes widened in shock.
Although they hadn't known about Golden Lion before, they'd read about Ikki and Golden Lion's battle in the news. They'd even learned that Golden Lion was a pirate with a bounty of 4.8 billion berries.
And now, the bounty hunter who defeated Golden Lion was standing right in front of them.
How could Foxy and his crew not panic? Everyone swallowed nervously and began to retreat.
Just as they were about to flee, Ikki's eyes narrowed, and powerful Conqueror's Haki surged from his body, instantly knocking out all the pirates except Foxy.
"What... what happened? Why did everyone faint?" Foxy stared in horror at his crewmates who had dropped like wheat.
"Enough stalling, Foxy," Ikki said as he walked toward him. "I'm giving you a chance. If you don't act, I'll come for you."
Foxy backed away, but Ikki kept approaching.
"Damn it, you're forcing my hand!" Foxy gritted his teeth, made strange gestures with his hands, and shouted, "Slow-Slow Beam!"
He fired a pink beam of light at Ikki.
Ikki's eyes focused, and as the beam approached, a large amount of Armament Haki immediately condensed around his body where the beam was about to hit.
The Slow-Slow Beam penetrated Ikki's clothes, and when it touched the skin covered by Armament Haki, its invasion of Ikki's body slowed down. Despite this, the beam continued to move toward Ikki's body and had even penetrated his Armament Haki-hardened skin.
A trace of strange power began to spread through Ikki's body.
Seeing this, Ikki frowned and immediately maximized his Armament Haki, even activating his Conqueror's Haki.
The high-level Conqueror's Haki suddenly spread. Foxy, slightly affected by it, widened his eyes and fell to his knees.
"Tch!" Ikki grunted, and drove his fist, infused with both Armament and Conqueror's Haki, into the beam.
The fist, surrounded by a black and red aura, twisted the Slow-Slow Beam and finally destroyed it.
"Ikki, are you okay?" Nojiko asked worriedly, looking at him as he caught his breath.
"I'm fine," Ikki nodded, dispersing his Haki. "That Slow-Slow Beam is really troublesome. If it's not necessary, it's better not to try countering this kind of power head-on. Although strong enough Haki can offset it, the drain on your Haki is too great."
As he spoke, Ikki took a long look at Foxy, who was kneeling before him.
Although Ikki's Armament Haki had only reached the intermediate level and his life force was only at S level, Foxy was just a pirate with a 24 million berry bounty. Yet the beam fired by such a pirate had given Ikki pause.
No wonder Vice Admiral Momonga had stabbed his own palm to prevent being turned to stone by Boa Hancock's Love-Love Fruit. For someone of Hancock's level, even if Haki could defend against her ability, the user's personal strength would need to be significantly higher than Hancock's.
"Stand up, Foxy. Let's try again," Ikki said, drawing Zangetsu from the scabbard at his waist and releasing its Shikai form.
This time, he planned to test Zanpakutō's abilities.
"Again?" Foxy looked at Ikki fearfully.
When he saw Ikki's cold expression, Foxy had no choice but to stand up and fire another Slow-Slow Beam.
"Getsuga Tenshō!" Ikki shouted, swinging Zangetsu. His physical strength was automatically converted into spiritual power by Zangetsu, forming a crescent-shaped energy wave that rushed toward the beam.
When the Slow-Slow Beam hit the crescent wave of the Getsuga Tenshō, it instantly collapsed and dissipated in the air. Foxy himself was swept into the sky by the strong wind generated by the crescent wave rushing past his body.
'The power of a Zanpakutō seems very effective against this type of Devil Fruit ability,' Ikki thought with a surprised smile as he felt the weight of Zangetsu's Shikai form in his hand.