"Damn it."
"I always thought that white sword's power was to release freezing air and create ice."
"Whether it was the release of freezing air or ice creation, it had to rely on that white blade."
"But I never expected... it wasn't like that at all."
"It's true he can only use the ability with that sword—but the sword's power isn't releasing cold or freezing the air—it's changing his own body temperature."
Vasco Shot's face twisted darkly.
He'd landed a correct guess. Rosen's expression confirmed it. Sode no Shirayuki's true nature had been revealed—but instead of satisfaction, all Vasco felt was cold humiliation.
His entire strategy had hinged on one thing: that Rosen had to swing that white blade to counter flames. So when he saw that Rosen neither dodged nor had space to block, he went all-in—igniting an explosive inferno with the Glug-Glug Fruit.
And sure enough, Rosen didn't block.
Didn't dodge.
But the flames were snuffed out anyway.
Because the ability wasn't external.
It was internal.
He didn't need to swing the blade. He only needed to drop his body temperature—and the fire would die.
In hindsight, throwing that fireball was meaningless.
It would have been better to simply charge in and hammer him with Haki-covered fists.
He thought he saw a weakness.
He thought he could exploit it.
In the end—it was just a cruel joke at his own expense.
"Since you've already guessed that Sode no Shirayuki changes my body temperature…"
"Why don't you guess again—how low can it drop?"
Rosen's eyes were sharp, but his tone was calm. Almost playful.
Vasco Shot didn't reply.
Maybe he was still thinking.
Or maybe the sting of humiliation still had him reeling.
"Absolute zero."
Rosen answered for him.
"What?"
In that instant, Vasco Shot's pupils shrank.
Even as a pirate, even as a prisoner locked deep in Impel Down, he knew what absolute zero meant.
It was the very bottom of temperature—where even atoms stopped moving.
It meant... being touched was death.
And then—
Before he could react, before his brain could fully process what Rosen had said—
Rosen vanished.
One blink—and he was gone.
A blur.
No sound.
No gust of air.
Just a silent phantom that dissolved into the void.
"Not good!"
Vasco Shot's instincts screamed.
Suddenly—Rosen was in front of him.
As if space had folded.
A blade of white snow descended like divine lightning, slicing toward him with a slash too fast to comprehend.
"Shit—!"
There was no time to verify if Rosen had been bluffing about absolute zero.
There was no time to confirm if that blade could really kill with just a graze.
He just moved.
Backpedaled.
But Rosen's speed—boosted by Hirenkyaku—was far too fast.
Too fast.
He couldn't get completely clear of the range.
In desperation—
Vasco Shot coated his left arm in Armament Haki and raised it like a shield, meeting the white flash head-on.
Clang—
It felt... soft.
There was no pressure. No sharpness. No pain.
Like being tapped by a child with a toy sword.
But then—
Snap—
His entire arm froze.
Left arm, shoulder, half his torso—instantly turned to ice.
Even the nerves were gone. He couldn't feel the cold. Couldn't feel anything.
It was like the limb had never existed.
As if he'd been born with only a right hand.
A creeping terror twisted through his chest.
He'd hoped he could just cut the arm off.
That would've been fine—pirates survive worse.
Especially with a Logia or Paramecia ability—an arm wasn't everything.
But this wasn't just an arm.
The freeze had already devoured half his chest. His ribs. His lungs. His core.
Cutting all of that off? Suicide.
No pirate could survive that.
"Even Haki can't defend..."
"No—my Haki's working. Otherwise the whole body would've gone."
"But his ability... it's just too strong. My Haki... isn't enough."
Staggering away, Vasco Shot escaped Rosen's range, but the price was clear.
Half his body—gone.
Meanwhile—
Rosen simply exhaled.
His breath fogged white, and he flicked Sode no Shirayuki to the side, scattering a burst of snow.
Snap—
A sound echoed.
Someone was rising.
It was Catarina Devon.
Her body, bloodied and battered from the Getsuga Tensho, was crawling up again—pushing off the cracked stone floor with trembling arms.
She'd taken Rosen's Getsuga head-on.
And yet—
Still alive.
The resilience of a Mythical Zoan was on full display.
But...
Though she still breathed, her face was pale and grim.
There was no pride in surviving.
No confidence in enduring.
Her expression was identical to Vasco Shot's—numb with horror.
Two monsters.
Top-five in all of Infinite Hell.
Together, they should've been invincible.
And yet—
Rosen hadn't even been scratched.
One was half-frozen.
The other was slashed to pieces.
The battle was over before it began.
Snap—
Rosen stepped forward. Just one foot.
Fwoosh—
As if responding to a command, Vasco Shot and Catarina Devon both leapt back—retreating fifty meters in unison.
Rosen raised a brow.
"Didn't you say..."
"...you'd kill me right here?"
There was a quiet laugh in his voice now.
He looked from one to the other, voice casual.
"So why run?"
"With all your strength and Haki and Devil Fruits... shouldn't you be charging forward?"
"Or could it be... you two monsters erased from history—are afraid to approach?"
He smiled.
They froze.
Like statues.
Their faces contorted in embarrassment—exposed, cornered, their bravado turned to ash.
Rosen's gaze bore through them, as if their thoughts were laid bare beneath a spotlight.
...
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