"Ice Time."
The moment Luffy's fist touched his body, Aokiji's arm instantly crystallized, and an extreme chill surged backward along the strike.
In an instant, the violently crackling lightning around Luffy's fist was coated in a layer of deathly pale frost.
In less than half a breath, the ten-meter-tall Luffy—his entire arm, shoulder, and even his massive torso—was sealed within several meters of solid ice.
That imposing Thunder Giant turned, in the blink of an eye, into a towering blue-white ice statue standing on the wasteland.
"Luffy!!" Usopp and Chopper screamed in terror.
But Aokiji's expression didn't relax—instead, it grew even more serious.
Crack…
A faint sound of breaking echoed sharply through the silence.
Across the smooth ice imprisoning the Thunder Giant, spiderweb-like cracks suddenly spread in all directions.
Inside, Luffy's mid-level Diamond Inner Energy surged like a long-suppressed volcano, violently churning beneath the frozen shell.
"Break… for me!!!"
BOOM!!
With Luffy's furious roar, the ice that could freeze Sea Kings exploded apart. Countless sharp shards shot outward like meteors.
Luffy landed back on the ground, steam rising from his body.
"As expected of a Marine Admiral… to push a Logia power this far."
"Now… it's my turn."
While Luffy and Aokiji faced off, Ronan—who had been silent until now—finally moved.
A cold mechanical voice echoed in his mind:
[Ding! Host detected entering a life-and-death battle. Fivefold training multiplier activated!]
In an instant, two dark-golden beams burst from Ronan's eyes.
The long spear in his hand responded to his battle intent. The Seastone patterns along its shaft glowed faintly with a destructive crimson hue under the overload of electrical energy.
"Admiral Aokiji—take this spear!"
Ronan's body became a streak of black lightning, instantly cutting into Aokiji's flank.
"Xingyi Thirteen Spear! Turning Cleave!"
Without stopping, his left foot slammed forward. Using the momentum, his body spun violently like a top, rotating a full 180 degrees.
The centrifugal force from that spin was perfectly locked into the spear by his Diamond Inner Energy.
Gripping the spear with both hands, he condensed all his strength and Armament Haki into the Seastone tip—and brought it crashing down toward Aokiji's head!
"Ice Saber."
Aokiji's expression turned serious as he faced the terrifying strike.
With a casual grab, moisture in the air condensed instantly into a translucent blade of ice.
As his dense Armament Haki poured into it, the originally white blade turned black-red in an instant—Haki pushed to its extreme.
CLANG—!!!
For a brief moment, sound seemed to vanish.
Then came a shockwave powerful enough to tear eardrums apart.
With the two as the center, the granite beneath their feet shattered into dust.
A terrifying blast expanded outward in a ring, uprooting towering trees in the distance.
Even the clouds in the sky were torn apart by the rising air pressure.
The aftermath of the clash became a hurricane-level shockwave, forcing even distant Usopp and the others to shut their eyes.
Crack!
A breaking sound rang out.
The ice saber in Aokiji's hand—reinforced with Armament Haki—finally gave way under Ronan's mountain-crushing force, shattering into countless glittering fragments.
But Ronan also felt the backlash.
A tidal force surged through the spear into his arms.
He let out a muffled grunt as his body was launched like a cannonball, flying hundreds of meters before smashing into a massive granite cliff.
Rumble—
The rock face collapsed, dust billowing into the sky.
Aokiji lowered what remained of the ice blade and looked toward the ruins, muttering,
"One after another… monsters at this level, huh? That strange force behind that strike… it actually bypassed Haki and shattered my ice saber…"
From within the rubble, stones shifted.
Ronan stepped out, spear in hand, his expression calm.
Aside from some torn clothing, not a single mark could be seen on his body.
"So this is the power of mid-level Diamond Indestructibility."
He rolled his shoulder slightly, spear tip pointing at Aokiji.
"Admiral… warm-up's over."
The moment his words fell, Zoro—who had been waiting—had already completed his buildup.
Lowering his stance, his left hand steadied the sheath of Wado Ichimonji while his right arm tightened like coiled steel.
"One-Sword Style… Iai… Thunder Extreme: Death Lion Song!"
CLANG!
The moment the blade left its sheath, a piercing metallic shriek split the sky.
This was no longer a simple flying slash—it was a vacuum lightning blade formed by cutting through the air at extreme speed.
The white slash, wrapped in blue lightning, carved a three-meter-deep scorched trench across the granite ground as it passed.
Even before it reached him, the sheer sharpness made Aokiji feel its deadly edge.
His eyes narrowed as his Observation Haki locked onto the near-instantaneous attack.
He didn't dare take it lightly—his ice saber was once again coated in Armament Haki.
"One fiercer than the last… this slash is already brushing the threshold of a great swordsman."
BOOM!!!
The black-red ice blade collided head-on with the lightning slash.
A horrifying metallic distortion rang out as Aokiji's feet slid several meters backward, grinding against the stone and kicking up dust.
Zoro watched him block the attack without injury, a feral grin spreading across his face—the thrill of a swordsman meeting a true opponent.
"As expected of an Admiral… now this is a fight worth having!"
At the exact moment Aokiji blocked Zoro's strike, the air behind him distorted slightly.
Sanji had already appeared at his back.
His right leg, driven to the limit by Armament Haki and Thunder Diamond Inner Energy, burned with a crystalline blue plasma of flame and lightning.
"Diable Jambe—Thunderfire Meteor Kick!"
The kick came down from above with a shriek that tore through the air, aiming straight for the back of Aokiji's head.
Aokiji's Observation Haki covered the entire battlefield—even while blocking Zoro, he reacted as if he had eyes on his back.
His left hand moved behind him.
Countless ice crystals condensed instantly into a thick "Ice Shield."
THUD!!
Sanji's kick slammed into the shield. The extreme heat and lightning immediately began melting the ice.
But the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit was absolute—at the moment of contact, countless transparent ice crystals spread along Sanji's leg, trying to extinguish that blazing blue flame.
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