"It's not just for show!"
"Just as I thought..."
"After transforming into the Azure Dragon, he can actually use Kaido's abilities!"
As Ragnar displayed Kaido's techniques one after another, Aokiji's expression grew darker than the storm overhead. A heavy solemnity clouded his sharp gaze.
"Ice Age—Three Feet of Ice!"
Faced with the searing heat of the incoming Hot Breath, Aokiji didn't have the luxury of contemplation. He slammed his left palm against the ground, and an immense surge of frigid energy erupted outward.
BOOM—
In an instant, a towering ice wall over 100 meters high and 10 meters thick rose from the frozen landscape, intercepting the blazing breath.
But—
Swoosh—!
A piercing sound broke through the air behind Aokiji.
A tall, half-human, half-dragon figure moved like a phantom—faster than the eye could follow. Ragnar had already appeared behind Aokiji, his entire right fist crackling with overlord-colored Haki.
"Thunder Bagua!"
Ragnar clenched his fist, and arcs of black lightning infused with Conqueror's Haki burst outward, wrapping his arm in divine fury.
He didn't need a kanabo. His fist was the weapon.
He vanished like a teleporting shadow and swung his punch with terrifying force.
"Hybrid form...?" Aokiji's eyes widened.
Despite his Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation), the timing and speed of Ragnar's strike completely exceeded expectations. Caught off guard by the initial distraction of the hot breath, Aokiji could only react instinctively—his black ice blade raised in defense.
CLANG!!
A deafening clash echoed.
Black lightning exploded around them as their Haki collided, sending shockwaves outward.
Aokiji managed to block—but barely. Ragnar's monstrous force transmitted through the blade, sending a painful jolt through Aokiji's chest. His feet sank into the ice as fractures spiderwebbed outward beneath him.
Crack—Crack—BOOM—
The frozen ground caved layer by layer under the impact.
"He blocked it...!"
Relief flickered in Aokiji's eyes—but only for a second.
Ragnar, still in his human-beast form, suddenly opened his mouth.
"Hot Breath!"
A blazing torrent of heat roared forth like a tidal wave.
Hissss—!
Aokiji had no time to dodge. He released an intense cold current, colliding directly with the blast.
The two opposing elements clashed—fire and ice—churning up a thick white mist that engulfed the battlefield.
"Vajra: Dysprosium!"
Within the mist, a shockwave exploded.
It wasn't a slash, but the air-shattering result of Ragnar's Armed Haki-infused punch, displacing the atmosphere with brute force.
Aokiji had already elementalized, his body dispersed into ice particles—but it wasn't enough.
Ragnar's Haki bypassed the intangibility, striking even elemental forms with devastating force.
BOOM—!!
Aokiji was blasted out of the mist like a cannonball, flying back hundreds of meters. Blood trickled from his lips, and his chest was visibly dented—a testament to the raw might of Ragnar's punch.
For the first time, the Admiral of the Navy was clearly at a disadvantage.
But Ragnar gave no quarter.
Just as Aokiji's body flew backward, Ragnar's ghost-like speed kicked in again. He flashed forward with a single step, already reappearing above the wounded admiral.
"Descend the Third World—Induce Naraku!"
With a roar, Ragnar raised both hands as if wielding a massive, invisible kanabo.
Conqueror's Haki crackled madly around him like a lightning storm.
And then—
He brought it down.
Top to bottom, like divine judgment.
"Is this guy a Human-Human Fruit: Mythical Type—Erlang Shen model user, or is he a Fish-Fish Fruit: Mythical Type—Azure Dragon model user?"
Aokiji's expression darkened as a terrifying gust of wind howled behind him, carrying the high-pitched whistle of compressed air breaking apart.
Still reeling from his earlier exchange, Kuzan spun mid-air instinctively. In both hands, he summoned ice spears, formed instantly from moisture in the air, and reinforced them with Armament Haki.
With a sharp thrust, he launched both weapons at Ragnar's chest—
"Twin Ice Fang!"
Clang! — Bang!
But Ragnar's monstrous, half-human half-dragon form towered over Aokiji. His vast reach and brute force allowed him to strike even without contact. Wrapped around his scaled fists, Haki surged like coiled serpents.
Though their weapons clashed simultaneously—ice spear against scaled fist—the shockwave from Ragnar's Third Realm Art: Inducing Naraku reverberated forward.
Crack!
The blow didn't strike Aokiji's head, but it connected hard against his chest—the exact spot where Ragnar had landed a Kongo: Earth-Shatter punch before. The area had already been weakened.
Bone gave way with a sickening crunch.
"Ghhh—!" Aokiji grunted, and blood sprayed from his mouth in a fine mist of frost and red. His body was flung backward like a ragdoll shot from a cannon, carving a deep channel through the air before slamming into a massive glacier.
Boom!
The iceberg cracked on impact, partially collapsing under the force.
By contrast, Ragnar, though struck by the ice spears, only skidded back several meters before bracing his claws into the frost-layered earth.
He lowered his gaze to the frozen spears impaled in his chest, staring at the thin webs of cracks forming in the ice armor that covered his torso.
Beneath the layer of frost, a faint glimmer of red emerged.
Blood. His own.
A sensation he hadn't felt in ages—a sharp cold, mingled with pain.
He was injured.
"…Huh," Ragnar chuckled lowly, his eyes flicking toward Kuzan, who remained half-buried in the ice.
"Besides my old man, you're the first person who's made me feel pain."
He clenched both hands around the ice spears still stuck in his body.
"Admiral Aokiji... Not bad."
Crack.
With a flex of his hands, the frozen spears shattered into fine powder, blasted away by force alone.
"But this… is just a scratch."
Visit patreon.com/ShiroTL for more chapters.