The Straw Hats had already tossed aside the useless CP9 recruit Nero, and with Spandam in tow, they stormed into the tavern where Robin was being held. There, they broke her chains and freed her.
At first, Robin refused to leave with them, unwilling to drag them into her fate.
But after the crew's repeated pleas, she finally relented and agreed to go with them.
When they emerged onto the street, they found the citizens standing all around—holding umbrellas, wrapped in raincoats—yet every single one of them was frozen like a statue, their gazes fixed skyward.
Puzzled, the Straw Hats followed their eyes upward.
And what they saw made their blood run cold.
A towering tsunami loomed above, about to crash down upon Water 7's inner district—upon them.
It was a scene of utter annihilation, the kind that spelled the city's end.
Nami, Usopp, and Chopper, paralyzed with terror, could only stand rooted in place.
But in the very next moment, the winds shifted.
A frigid chill spread through the storm.
The wave, that monstrous wall of water, froze solid in an instant, transformed into an enormous mountain of ice.
The Straw Hats stared, eyes wide, stunned as though witnessing Enel's divine "Raigo" once more.
"Incredible…" Sanji muttered, the cigarette falling from his lips, its ember drowned instantly in the rain.
Even from this distance, they could feel the cold seeping into their very skin.
Robin rubbed at her sore wrists, raw from the Seastone cuffs, and at the sight before her she immediately knew who had done it.
It could only be him.
The power of Admiral Aokiji—Kuzan.
No one else was capable of such a feat.
And indeed, it was so.
"This… is the power of one of the Navy's three Admirals," Robin said solemnly to the crew that had come to save her.
The Straw Hats all turned toward her.
She pointed to the frozen wave. Upon it was encased a ship—pierced through by countless ice spears, immobilized within the mountain of frost.
"See that? In one move, Aokiji completely froze Davy Jones' crew. And yet we couldn't even handle his subordinates. That is the difference between us and an Admiral."
The crew's hearts tightened at her words.
"If you truly mean to take me with you," she continued softly, "then enemies like that are what you'll have to face someday. We may escape once… we may escape twice… but eventually, we will stand before an Admiral in open battle."
Her meaning was clear: she wished they would reconsider, for their own sake.
Impulsive as ever, Luffy opened his mouth to reply—but Zoro spoke first.
He didn't answer Robin. Instead, his finger lifted toward the frozen mountain.
"Look. The ice is trembling."
"…What?!"
Robin spun around, eyes widening. The frozen tsunami was shuddering violently, fissures spreading across its face, creaking with an eerie sound that chilled even more than its frost.
Unease and dread rippled through the city streets.
Kuzan descended from the air, landing lightly upon the frozen wave, his breath spilling out in a visible cloud.
His eyes narrowed toward the black ship sealed within.
"I only froze the outer shell. Smoker and the CP9 agents inside should be unharmed."
So he said, though he wasn't entirely convinced. Extending his Observation Haki, he probed within the ship to sense how many life signs remained.
But the ship itself gave off an uncanny aura, blocking his perception. And then—he touched upon a darker presence. Davy Jones.
Kuzan's stance stiffened at once.
Crack.
The ice split.
From within, Davy Jones emerged, boots striking the slick frost as he pulled a black staff free—then drove it down, embedding it deep into the frozen sea.
"This ship of yours… what the hell is it?"
Kuzan tilted his head upward.
The vessel was repairing itself. The wounds from ice pillars and battle damage—the shattered wood, the missing planks—were knitting back together as if alive.
What in the world…?
Could it be… a ship that had eaten a Devil Fruit, like Spandam's ridiculous "elephant sword"?
Kuzan frowned, baffled.
"It is the Terror Ghost," Davy Jones said at last, his first words since their meeting. His tone was low, detached. "It is my ship. It is also a part of me."
"Still clinging to your little 'Lord of the Deep' act?" Kuzan shook his head, black tufts of hair swaying with the motion. "Doesn't matter. You'll have plenty of time to explain in the interrogation chambers of Impel Down."
His voice hardened. The Admiral's patience was gone.
Step.
As Kuzan advanced, a surge rose beneath his boots.
His eyes flicked downward.
The frozen wave was cracking, fissures spreading like veins. Beneath the ice, the ocean roared and battered, like a beast caged and enraged.
The source… was that black staff Jones had driven into the sea from the very start.
Davy Jones was wielding Aqua Laguna itself.
"You can't be serious…"
Kuzan poured frost through his legs, forcing more cold into the wave, but it was already too late.
"Every sailor walks this path," Davy Jones said, leaving his staff buried in the ice as he strode forward, forcing Kuzan to brace.
"Before they set sail, they scorn the sea. Once at sea, they fear it. Time passes, they adapt to it. And then, in one moment, they rediscover their awe. The ocean is ever-changing. Just a little nudge, and she unleashes endless fury!"
The instant his words fell, Aqua Laguna erupted.
The frozen wave convulsed, shuddering so violently that Kuzan thought, for an instant, of Whitebeard's fearsome Sea Quake.
The ice split apart, water geysered skyward, and his frozen cage could no longer hold the raging ocean.
BOOOOM!
The wave exploded. Aqua Laguna burst into countless water pillars, spearing out in every direction like artillery shells, smashing through Water 7's inner district.
The deafening thunder of impact sent citizens fleeing in panic as craters opened where the torrents struck.
The Terror Ghost plummeted from the sky with a howling roar.
And above it all, black wings of flesh unfurled from Davy Jones' back, lifting his body into the air.
"…What the hell?"
Kuzan's brow furrowed, his expression dark. With rain hammering down around him, he launched into Geppo, kicking off the air toward his foe.
Swish—
Every rush of water that surged his way, he froze with a sweep of his arm, locking the sea into falling spears of ice.
His right arm swung wide, Hie Hie no Mi's power forming a giant ice bird.
It screeched, wings spread, turning the downpour itself into a storm of jagged icicles.
Keeeeen!
The "Ice Pheasant Beak" dove, its beak aimed at Davy Jones' heart—
But from the tatters of his coat, black tentacles lashed forth, wrapping the bird and crushing it into shards of frost.
Armament Haki.
Kuzan's eyes narrowed. One glance was enough.
At the same time, his instincts screamed. He twisted midair, Geppo and Soru bursting in unison to evade the strike from behind.
A hand of water had surged for him, shaped from the storm itself.
Aqua Laguna—and the very downpour—were Jones' weapons.
The field was his.
More water-hands rose, grasping.
If they bound him, even an Admiral would fall prey to the Devil Fruit user's greatest weakness. A little water could be frozen and endured. But full immersion… and his body would collapse in helplessness.
Thus Kuzan dodged and froze, never letting sea spray nor rainfall touch him.
He knew it—this battle had to end quickly.
Closing the distance in a burst, his left fist feinted. His right fist, armored in frost, came in from below with a crushing uppercut.
But before it landed, his Observation Haki flared, showing him the future—
He pulled back, flipping away.
Bang!
A pistol roared in Jones' hand. The bullet whistled through empty air.
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