Chapter 268 - 126

Chapter 126Since there's nothing good to talk about."Then fight!"*Whoosh!*Luffy stomped the ground with one foot, the terrifying force of the impact instantly cracking the frozen earth into a spiderweb of fissures.The steam from Gear Second erupted with a roar as his crimson figure vanished like a ghost, reappearing the next moment at Kuzan's side and rear.Without the slightest pause, his arm ballooned out rapidly, the crackling sound of his bones stretching clearly audible.Third Gear: Bone Balloon!Jet-black Armament Haki flowed like ink, swiftly coiling around the massive fist, dyeing it an ominous dark gold. He looked down at the man below, his expression growing even more ferocious, his voice like thunder:"I'm telling you right now, you're not taking Robintoday!"*Huff!*The giant fist tore through the air, carrying suffocating wind pressure like a black mountain, crashing down towards Aokiji's head!This strike.Luffy held nothing back, unleashing his full power!"How truly terrifying,"A hint of unconcealable surprise finally appeared on Aokiji's face. "Has your Armament Haki already reached the level of flowing and external emission?"The accumulation of quantity, the change in form, and the degree of Devil Fruit development... all in such a short time?Facing this mountain-crushing blow, Aokiji didn't dare be careless. He crossed his arms overhead to block, the same profound Armament Haki covering them. Simultaneously, frigid freezing energy condensed on his arms, forming two even larger crystalline ice fists to meet Luffy's Rubber GiantPistol head-on."Ice Fist!"The moment the fists collided, it was like two icebergs crashing together. A deafening roar accompanied by a visible ring-shaped shockwave violently expanded, shattering the firmly frozen ice surface around them once more.The shockwave even caused the going merry far out on the sea to rock violently.The ice beneath Aokiji's feet cracked inch by inch, but his tall frame remained unmoving like a reef.After all, he too had undergone hellish training under Garp in his youth, tempering his body day and night in that near-masochistic manner until he could smash retired, iron-clad warships.His martial arts and physical strength ranked among the top even among the Admirals.With his first strike ineffective, Luffy stomped fiercely in mid-air, creating a sonic boom. Using the recoil, his body shot higher again.He took a deep breath, the giant fist pulling back once more, pouring all his strength and Haki into it. The jet-black color swirled around his knuckles."Gomu Gomu no Bajrang Gun!"A massive shadow enveloped the ground.A highly condensed torrent of black and red impact pressed down towards Aokiji.Against such a formidable enemy, one must hold nothing back."A giant's technique? You've even learned that?"Well-traveled and knowledgeable, seeing this familiar stance and terrifying might, Aokiji couldn't help but sigh in amazement again.The comprehensive strength Luffy displayed, especially the depth of his Devil Fruit development and the breadth of his Haki application, had undoubtedly crossed the threshold into the realm of the sea's true powerhouses.In terms of the absolute intensity of Haki, or the seasoned mastery of abilities, Luffy might still fall short compared to a peak expert like him who had immersed himself in these arts for decades.But does falling short mean he can't win?No!Combat was never a simple comparison of stats on paper.If it were, ordinary pirates could just surrender when they encountered a Four Emperor or an Admiral. Why, then, did the positions of Emperors of the Sea and Marine Admirals still change hands? Why did even the Pirate King fall?In battle, besides raw power, will, conviction, tactics, and even a moment of inspiration were all keys to determining victory.*BOOM!*The Hegemony impact came too fast and too fierce, arriving almost the instant Aokiji finished blocking the first heavy punch.The terrifying shockwave completely swallowed his position. The thick layers of ice covering the ground around him shattered like fragile glass at that moment, crushed to dust!Ice shards mixed with soil and grass roots shot skyward, forming a huge crater."Huff..."At the crater's center, Aokiji exhaled a breath of icy-cold air laced with ice crystals. A thick layer of white frost covered his body, especially at his feet, which had completely elementalized, merging with the newly formed ice surface below. He continuously released cold air, maintaining the stability of his footing.As a user of the Ice-Ice Fruit, in an environment of glaciers, he could exert even greater power and recover faster.His hands still maintained their upward blocking posture. An external barrier formed by his Armament Haki had withstood the core force of the Hegemony impact. However, his expression was no longer as relaxed and composed as before."Your Haki reserves are just too monstrous. How did you manage it?"Kuzan asked in a low voice, a trace of disbelief in his tone.After continuously using large-scale external Hakitechniques like that, Luffy was only slightly winded, far from exhausted.If Luffy were a prime powerhouse in his thirties or forties, at the peak of physical and experiential prowess like him, possessing such vast Hakireserves would be somewhat understandable.But a young man of seventeen or eighteen, with total Haki and recovery speed almost on par with his?What did that make those of them who had trained for an extra twenty or thirty years? Had they all lived their lives in vain?"You guess?"Luffy grinned, though the smile was somewhat gritted, carrying a fierce edge.I trained while you walked, ate, even slept! I fought life-and-death battles in my dreams, not daring to stop for a moment!Only he himself knew how much he had endured.But the potential and gains squeezed out through that devilish training and plan were also known only to him.Moreover, despite his young age, under Garp's 'loving' iron fists, Luffy had long been tempered through a thousand trials. He had undergone the harshest Marine soldier training beneath Garp's knuckles.If he were in the Marines, he'd already be a ten-year veteran.Chapter 181 This Kid is Ridiculously StrongAokiji twitched the corner of his mouth, saying helplessly, "Teacher Garp really raised one hell of a troublesome grandson.""Then go fight that old man," Luffy said."Seems we both have a bone to pick with that old geezer," Aokiji also smiled.Luffy threw a punch, using the recoil to adjust his posture in mid-air. His rapid breathing technique, combined with Life Return, was frantically restoring his stamina and Haki. He was preparing to launch another fierce assault.Just then, the air beside him abruptly chilled. A massive ice mirror instantly crystallized into shape. Immediately after, Aokiji's figure flashed out from the ice mirror as if teleporting, his speed extraordinarily fast!"Ice Time!"Aokiji's palm, carrying an absolute zero capable of instantly freezing steel, reached for Luffy's arm.Luffy's Observation Haki screamed warnings. At the last possible moment, he twisted his body to evade, but the outer part of his arm was grazed by the terrifying cold. Instantly, a thick layer of solid ice encased it!"Tch!"Luffy grunted, reacting with lightning speed. The muscles inside the frozen fist vibrated at high frequency, pushing the properties of Rubber to the limit. Simultaneously, the flowing Armament Hakiinside struck the ice layer like a drill.*Crack.*The ice shattered and burst apart from within."What a pain. Couldn't you just stay frozen obediently?"Aokiji sighed, his hands grasping empty air in front of him. A mass of ice crystal fragments rapidly coalesced, transforming into countless sharp ice spikes and icicles. "Ice Block: Pheasant Beak! Scatter Shot!"An ice barrage denser and faster than before, like a storm of pear blossoms, covered Luffy!Wherever it passed, the air froze, leaving white trails of ice."Then try this!"Luffy's pupils contracted. He focused more of his flowing Haki onto the surface of his body. At the same time, his fists pummeled out like pile drivers. The fists rubbed against the air at extreme speed, the resulting high temperature igniting the air, creating fiercely burning flames."Gum-Gum Fire Fist Gatling!"Flame and ice, two forces of extreme attributes, collided violently in mid-air!*Boom-boom-boom-boom!* Explosions rang out incessantly. Flames and ice shards flew everywhere. A massive amount of white steam billowed out, instantly shrouding the entire battlefield, obscuring all vision."You even developed attribute-based attack techniques?"Aokiji was astonished by Luffy's ability to quickly find counter-strategies mid-fight."Your combat experience and adaptability are nothing like a rookie pirate who just set sail."True enough.What rookie pirate just setting sail could use Haki?Who could wield Haoshoku proficiently?Who could develop a Devil Fruit to such an extent?Aokiji was currently quite the headache.His earlier words were half-truths, but his original intention truly wasn't to capture Luffy.With that connection to Garp, he had some sense of human relations. He wasn't like Akainu, that proponent of Absolute Justice who couldn't tolerate a single grain of sand.Moreover, he also wanted to repay some of the debt Smoker owed from the Alabasta incident.His original purpose was to warn the Straw Hats what kind of colossal force they were opposing by harboring Robin, to make them back down in the face of difficulty, or at least be more vigilant.However, he had misjudged Luffy's determination, and even more so, Luffy's strength!Now he had backed himself into a corner, caught between a rock and a hard place.Today's fight... it would be hard to end without a clear victor."Ara ara, I must not have checked the calendar before leaving today."Aokiji sighed, his gaze gradually turning sharp and icy. "It seems now that throwing you into Impel Down might be the more responsible choice for the World Government."Let this monster grow for a few more years outside, and who could stop him then?Indeed, his initial premonition was correct. This Straw Hat kid was a massive latent threat!Aokiji stopped holding back. He leaped high into the air, spreading his arms. Facing the fog-shrouded battlefield below, he slowly drew in a breath, as if intending to suck all the surrounding heat into his body.The next moment, he exhaled violently."Ice Age!"Though not on the terrifying, thousand-mile freezing scale of its use on the open sea, the ultimate cold capable of altering an island's environment spread out from him in all directions like white ripples of death.*Crack-crack!!*The fog instantly froze into ice crystals and fell. The remaining trees on the ground, even the air itself, emitted sounds of strain as they froze.Within the visible range, the entire Long Chain Island was covered at an astonishing speed by a layer of solid ice several meters thick, transformed into a veritable kingdom of ice and snow!And the center of the cold ripple charged directly towards Luffy's position."Luffy!"Not far away, Robin, who had been watching the battle nervously the whole time, cried out in horror.She saw Luffy's figure stiffen abruptly the moment it made contact with the white ripple. Starting from his feet, solid ice spread upward like a living monster. In the blink of an eye, his entire body was transformed into an ice statue frozen in a combat stance!Robin gritted her teeth, a flash of resolve in her eyes. She crossed her arms over her chest."Cien Fleur: Gallows!"In that instant, Aokiji's head, neck, shoulders, arms... anywhere arms could sprout, were instantly tightly bound and constricted by countless arms blooming from the air!Robin tried, as she had with other enemies, to choke Aokiji unconscious using the strength of these arms.However, she encountered unprecedented resistance.Aokiji's neck seemed forged from ten-thousand-year cold iron. The arms strained with all their might but couldn't budge it an inch. Instead, they were eroded by a rebounding chill and began to be covered in frost."Attacking me isn't a wise choice, Robin."Aokiji tilted his head, exhaling a puff of icy white air. The arms binding him instantly froze into ice sculptures, then shattered into pieces. "The gap between our levels is far too great."He looked at the frozen Luffy, then at Robin's pale face, his tone carrying a hint of complexity. "Robin, you should accompany him to Impel Down as well. Perhaps that place is relatively safer for the both of you."