Chapter 298 - 156

Chapter 156Aokiji was an Admiral after all, so it was understandable for his Devil Fruit development to reach such a level."But it's too cold."Luffy rubbed his almost numb arms. As the cold wind blew, sleet began to fall.The white mist exhaled while speaking instantly condensed into ice crystals, almost obscuring his vision, before quickly being scattered by the wind.It was too cold. Luffy didn't know how many degrees it was, but in Foosha Village during winter, he would always run around in shorts and a t-shirt, and Makino and the village chief's pleas for him to wear more clothes were useless.But now, his proud, robust physique seemed so fragile in the face of this awakened Ice Age.Sure enough, the power of a Devil Fruit was more terrifying than a natural disaster, especially a developed Logia-type.Luffy seemed to see Vivi's future.The upper limit of the Wind-Wind Fruit was definitely not lower than any other Logia-type Devil Fruit. One must know that sailing at sea, the most feared thing was encountering a storm.If they really encountered a storm of several tens of levels, the entire ship could be destroyed.That being said, what Luffy needed to do now was adapt.If the enemy doesn't move, I don't move.Aokiji wasn't bothering him, so Luffy didn't want to fight him for now.He forced himself to stand straight, no longer shivering, but instead tried to feel the cold, attempting to make his body remember this sensation.Don't underestimate his adaptability!Just then, a few lines of translucent characters appeared before his eyes:[Physical energy has been compressed and trained, your body strength has increased, Armament Haki proficiency +1][Cold Resistance +1]"It really came at the right time."Luffy grimaced, yet a hint of a smile appeared on his face.Indeed, pain and hardship were the best catalysts for becoming stronger. Although the process was agonizing, the rewards were tangible."I'll definitely encounter Aokiji again in the future. To not fall behind in a fight with Aokiji, this kind of special training is necessary."He subconsciously wanted to say to activate Gear Second, using the accelerated blood flow to generate heat and dispel the cold.But as soon as he opened his mouth, the icy cold wind rushed in, stinging his throat, and he immediately closed his mouth, knowing better.Just that one moment, he felt a thin film of ice covering his tongue, as if the inside and outside of his mouth were two different worlds."Gear Second!"He switched to driving it with his will. His skin instantly turned crimson, and white steam surged out. Blood rushed under pressure, and a warm current finally rose from deep within his body, dispelling some of the cold.The surrounding steam, upon contact with the extremely cold air, skipped the liquid phase and directly sublimated into tiny ice crystals, encircling Luffy like a shroud of icy mist."Phew."Luffy let out a long breath, feeling a little better.But he quickly realized that this was only a temporary measure.Resisting the cold required consuming heat, and his internal heat reserves were limited. Under the high consumption of Gear Second, it probably wouldn't last long.Once the heat was exhausted, he would still freeze into an icicle in this icy world.Then he would revive, get frozen to death again, and the cycle would repeat.This was the disgusting part about Logia-types, especially an awakened ability user like Aokiji who could change the environment. He wouldn't feel a trace of cold in his Ice Age domain, while his enemies had to constantly endure the erosion of the environment."Is Haki useful at this time?"Luffy's mind raced.Coincidentally, he had vaguely had an idea before, wanting to develop a new form that combined Devil Fruit abilities and Haki more deeply. The extreme environment at hand was the perfect place to test it."Anyway, this is a dream. If I die in a dream, I die."Luffy laughed self-deprecatingly. He was quite experienced by now, and besides, this cold, apart from being a bit painful, had no other drawbacks.Armament Haki and Observation Haki could both be tempered in the process of resisting severe cold and perceiving subtle environmental changes.Coupled with the constantly increasing Cold Resistance, and his inherent passive talent, Life Return, their proficiency was steadily improving.In other words..."Aside from being a bit painful, everything else is fine."Then, let's begin!Luffy calmed his mind and focused on his body.In previous battles, Armament Haki was basically only coated on his fists and arms, serving to enhance attack and defense.When using Gum-Gum Giant Pistol, he would then coat Armament Haki over the entire giant fist to increase its attack power."In that case, can it be combined more deeply with Gear Second?"This bold idea emerged."Instead of coating the Armament Haki on the surface, integrate it into the high-speed blood flow of Gear Second, allowing the power of Haki to flow throughout the body with the blood, strengthening every cell from within, forming a 'Gear SecondArmament Haki Plus' state?"This seemed like something only a Rubber Human's physique could achieve.Luffy was well aware that using Armament Hakiwould consume a lot of stamina, and Gear Secondwould also consume a lot of stamina. This combat stance was destined to be a short-term burst.He glanced at Aokiji, who was still like an ice sculpture in the distance, and decided to try.So, on the basis of Gear Second, Luffy began to try to mobilize the Armament Haki within his body. This was much more difficult than he imagined. Armament Haki usually existed in the form of coiling and coating on the body surface or weapons. Integrating it into the flowing blood required extremely precise control.Initially, under his reddened skin, only faint, pitch-black lines flickered, extremely unstable, as if they could be washed away by the surging blood at any moment.Intense pain also followed, as if countless tiny needles were piercing his blood vessels.Luffy gritted his teeth, veins bulging on his forehead, sweat beads freezing as soon as they seeped out. With powerful willpower, he forcibly stabilized the flow of Haki, allowing the black lines to gradually become clearer and spread.As Armament Haki integrated deeper into his body, an unexpected change occurred: the steam that had been emanating from his body surface due to the rapid blood flow disappeared.It wasn't that the heat stopped radiating, but rather that the Armament Haki integrated into his body seemed to form an invisible, contained barrier, firmly locking most of the heat and energy within his body, reducing unnecessary dissipation.Visibly, Luffy's body shape underwent a significant change.His skin was still the red of Gear Second, but it was covered with distinct, unique patterns, winding like a circuit diagram, with red and black interwoven.Luffy stood there, and the surrounding cold seemed to be repelled by this condensed power by a few degrees."Gear Second: Inner Core!"Luffy roared, feeling the surging power and astonishing heat within his body.In this form, his resistance to cold was greatly enhanced, and his strength and speed also seemed to be a notch higher than ordinary Gear Second!The next second after he initially mastered this new form, Aokiji, not far away, suddenly moved. As if awakened by the energy fluctuations emanating from Luffy, he raised his hand and launched an Ice Ball. The huge ice chunk struck like a meteor."I've been waiting for you."Luffy's eyes sharpened. With the enhancement of his new form, his reaction speed was astonishingly fast. His body flashed, easily dodging the Ice Ball. He pushed off with his feet, the ice surface shattered, and he shot towards Aokiji like a cannonball."Triple Release!"His fist, coiled with the Inner Core Haki, was no longer simply red, but glowed with interwoven red and black, smashing fiercely towards Aokiji.By adjusting Haki and then gathering and releasing it, Luffy found a very novel attack method.This release was like the effect of flowing Haki, and when it became a move, its power increased geometrically.Aokiji elementized to evade, creating a large vacuum zone in the cold air behind him.He dodged, yet didn't completely dodge. A trace of blood spilled from the corner of his mouth. As if enraged, countless ice spears instantly condensed around him, shooting towards Luffy like a rainstorm."It's useless!"Luffy laughed loudly, his fists turning into countless afterimages, "Gum-Gum Jet Pistol!"The red and black fist shadows collided with the ice spears. With just a slight touch, the ice spears shattered, and the cold wind carried ice crystals scattering everywhere.His fists were not only stronger, but the Inner Core Haki also seemed to have some interfering effect on Logia-type elementization, preventing Aokijifrom completely ignoring physical attacks as before.Luffy was already accustomed to Aokiji's attack methods.But in this extreme environment, Luffy had to constantly maintain his new form and high vigilance. A slight carelessness, a moment of slow action, could lead to Aokiji seizing the opportunity to instantly freeze him.It was indeed a tough fight!But Luffy was also very good at getting in people's faces.In a short while, Luffy, relying on the power of his new form, actually fought back and forth with this dream Aokiji, who had been strengthened by the system. He even seized an opportunity and broke one of Aokiji's ice legs with a heavy punch.However, good times don't last.This new form consumed far more stamina than he had anticipated.Under the dual consumption of the extreme cold environment and high-speed combat, his stored heat and energy rapidly depleted.Finally, after a fierce clash, Luffy felt his body empty, his state was forcibly dispelled, and the new form vanished. The biting cold instantly enveloped him again, and his movements became stiff and sluggish.Although Aokiji had a broken ice leg, his movements didn't seem to be greatly affected.He seized the moment Luffy was exhausted and pointed a finger.Ice Age: Capsule!The extremely cold freezing air instantly engulfed Luffy. This time, he was powerless to resist, and his consciousness rapidly dissipated in absolute zero.Even though he saw Aokiji's leg broken by him not far away, there was nothing he could do.Stamina was exhausted.Then let's do it again!The scene changed, and Luffy revived on the spot, grinning at Aokiji.Aokiji: "..."There's something I want to say, but I don't know if I should....[Warning, time to wake up...]Luffy suddenly opened his eyes, his consciousness returning to reality.From the soreness in his body and the lingering trace of coldness, he realized he had finished sleeping.He sighed faintly, his face filled with despair."Is this really considered sleeping?"Luffy wailed inwardly, this was torture!He used to think sleeping was the happiest thing in a day, and it was an old tradition of the Monkey family to be able to sleep anywhere, anytime.But now it was different. Dreams had become an extra training ground, and every time he fell asleep, he didn't know how many times he would die.He fought Aokiji fiercely in his dreams, dying in countless different ways!The only thing to be thankful for was..."At least when studying, I can enter a dual-tasking state, only consuming mental energy, and I can still do other things like slacking off."Although slacking off and sleeping led to extra training, could you not slack off? Absolutely not.[Warning, punishment countdown...10, 9...]The lingering drowsiness, accompanied by a sharp warning sound, gave him a jolt, completely waking him up.Only then did he realize he was sleeping on the grass, with Vivi next to him, curled up and holding his arm, seemingly sleeping soundly, muttering something in her dream:"No more... I won't eat anymore..."Luffy: "..."Did they actually sleep outside all night?Luffy rubbed his slightly throbbing temples. He would probably be thoroughly questioned by Namiand the others when they got back.With his slightest movement, Vivi woke up. She seemed to be a light sleeper, or rather, hadn't slept deeply at all.After what happened last night, Vivi's heart suddenly skipped a beat, her cheeks instantly flushed red, and she quickly released Luffy's arm, sitting up somewhat flustered.