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worm novel 200 . xyz '
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Mock Town, this paradise where pirates gathered.
Ice spread to the surrounding waters, freezing all the ships and causing the temperature of this area to instantly plummet below zero.
At the same time, an explosion echoed from the coast in the opposite direction of the town.
Billowing white fog steamed upward like a spectacular volcanic eruption.
This instantly alarmed the countless pirates and residents in the town. They rushed out one after another to watch the commotion.
"Hey, does anyone know what happened?"
"Everything was completely fine just a moment ago. How did the ocean suddenly freeze over?"
"My god, now no one can leave or enter Jaya."
"What in the world happened to the waters over there?"
Panic washed over the faces of the Mock Town residents and pirates as they exchanged worried murmurs.
Seeing the white fog steaming up from the other side of the coast, they walked over out of curiosity.
However, they stared in utter shock upon discovering the source of the commotion.
Several figures seemed to be confronting each other on the vast expanse of the frozen ocean. The billowing white fog was steaming up from the very center of their standoff.
"Ah, ah..." A blond young man gaped without being able to utter a single word.
Holding up his binoculars, he witnessed a scene that shook him to his core.
A long while later, a shrill scream resounded throughout the entirety of Jaya.
"That is Marine Admiral Aokiji!"
In an instant, the previously noisy and lively atmosphere completely cooled down.
"Hey, what are you talking about, Bellamy? You must be joking, right?"
"How could a marine admiral appear in this backwater place!"
"Yeah, are you messing with us, kid?"
After a moment of silence, several famous pirates glared at the still-young Bellamy.
Even though this young man had recently gained the favor of a big shot from the New World.
But as long as they did not provoke that big shot, they believed he would not stick his neck out for Bellamy.
However, Bellamy completely ignored the angry questions of the crowd. He turned and fled toward the town with an utterly pale face.
He even threw his binoculars away, having no time to explain anything to these pirates.
Seeing this scene, the pirates who had just been questioning him angrily were instantly stunned.
Someone picked up the binoculars and looked toward the frozen ocean surface in the distance.
The next moment, he let out a miserable shriek. Throwing the binoculars away, he ran off without looking back just like Bellamy did.
"Damn it, is this real?"
Two people in a row had reacted as if they had seen a ghost. At this point, some people began to believe it.
Especially some veteran pirates, who recalled the rumors and information regarding the marine admirals.
One of them supposedly possessed the ability to freeze the entire ocean.
As a result, these veteran pirates turned and ran away without even daring to take a look.
Seeing pirates with bounties in the tens of millions of berries fleeing in such panic, no one could sit still anymore.
Panic instantly spread to the depths of every pirate's heart.
With their ships frozen, these pirates simply ran onto the ice. They just wanted to leave Jaya and get as far away as possible.
At this moment, a marine warship sailing toward Jaya encountered the exact same predicament.
They could already see the coast of the island.
Rumble!
Suddenly, the spreading ice completely froze the hull in place. The sudden halt nearly threw the marine soldiers on the deck overboard.
It took quite a while before the marines on this warship gradually calmed down.
"Report! Vice Admiral Gion, the ocean suddenly froze over, and our warship cannot move!"
An adjutant hurried over to report.
Standing at the bow, Momousagi furrowed her brows and raised her binoculars to look at Jaya.
The view through the lenses clearly showed countless silhouettes fleeing frantically from the coast.
Meanwhile, thick white fog steamed up from the other side of the island.
"That is... Admiral Kuzan!"
Momousagi lowered the binoculars a moment later, deep shock written all over her face.
Even though she did not see Aokiji, he was likely the only person in this sea capable of freezing the entire ocean.
Furthermore, the headquarters had already mentioned that they would consider dispatching an admiral.
"To think Kuzan arrived a step ahead of us. It seems he has already started fighting Lius."
Momousagi took a deep breath as her expression turned grim.
Her words prompted a chorus of sharp gasps across the deck.
"What? The Lius Pirates actually alarmed Admiral Aokiji?"
"What a terrifying rookie!"
"Hehe, but with an admiral stepping in, even the most terrifying rookie will be driven to despair!"
"Absolutely. After all, they represent the highest combat power of our marines!"
After their initial surprise, the many marine soldiers laughed.
As the highest-ranking officer of this warship, Momousagi did not laugh. Instead, she looked even more solemn.
A monster capable of injuring Garp would not be captured so easily.
"Pass down my orders! Leave a hundred men to guard the ship. The rest of you, follow me to capture the pirates!"
After thinking for a moment, Momousagi gritted her teeth and drew the famous sword from her waist, pointing it toward Jaya as she issued her command.
"Yes!"
The soldiers on the deck responded in unison.
Following Momousagi, the marine soldiers leaped onto the ice one by one and charged straight toward the distant island.
Though there were only a few hundred of them, their imposing momentum felt like thousands of galloping troops.
The pirates who had just escaped the island and were about to celebrate their survival felt their scalps tingle in fear upon seeing the approaching marines.
At this time, on the frozen battlefield at the other end of Jaya.
The scorching flames melted under the shockwave of cold air, steaming up into a vast fog that obscured the vision of this entire area.
"Oh my, so it's the power of the Flame-Flame fruit. That looks quite troublesome!"
Aokiji stepped out from the fog-covered ice and fixed his gaze on Ace blocking his path. "Allow me to introduce myself," he drawled lazily. "My name is Kuzan, a marine admiral. I am here to capture Nico Robin!"
"Aha, I am Portgas D. Ace. Nice to meet you!"
Seeing Aokiji's politeness, Ace instinctively returned the gesture and introduced himself.
"Is it really necessary for you two to act like this?"
Nami shrieked in disbelief from behind.
"Even though we are enemies from different factions, well... forget it. Since we are enemies, we shouldn't care so much about being polite."
Aokiji paused mid-sentence to ponder his choice of words before getting straight to the point. "It seems none of you will come quietly with me anyway."
"In that case, let's settle this with our fists!"
Waves of icy killing intent washed over the tall man's dark face.
Even though he had yet to make a move, this shift in attitude made Robin feel as if all the blood in her body was freezing solid.
Clenching his fists, Ace took a bold step forward with a commanding presence. "After all that talk, we still have to fight. Our elements counter each other, so it's not like I don't have the power to fight back!"
Aokiji was just this kind of person in the anime. His wavering justice eventually led to his lazy personality.
Now, looking at the little girl he had let go because his close friend had died tragically by his own hands, his heart was far more conflicted than anyone else's.
But...
The admiral suddenly looked up with icy eyes, his voice carrying a bone-piercing chill.
"If you were willing to hide in the dark corners for the rest of your life, that would have been a tacit understanding between you and me."
"But now, if your choice is to follow the monster under the Golden Lion, then prepare to be killed by..."
"Hey! Aokiji, right?"
Before Aokiji could finish, Lius, who was standing beside Robin, could not help but interrupt.
His tone was calm but contained an unquestionable attitude. "Even if you are a marine admiral, you cannot casually threaten my crew members!"
For a brief moment, the surrounding world plunged into absolute, dead silence.
But soon, Aokiji raised his head abruptly. Half of his body had already turned to ice, radiating billowing cold air.
"Then go to hell!"
A torrential wave of freezing air surged forward like a giant frost beast opening its bloody maw, pouncing fiercely toward Lius.
"I am your opponent right now!"
Seeing this, the fully prepared Ace immediately shouted in anger.
"Mirror Flame!"
Ace thrust his right arm forward as he shouted. Flames erupted from his arm and transformed into a massive wall of fire, completely blocking the path.
The scorching heat melted the ice in front of him, churning up a sky full of mist.
Rumble!
The next moment, ice and fire clashed once more.
The alternating currents of cold and hot air acted like a category five hurricane, shattering the surrounding ice into pieces.
"Our elements really do counter each other!"
Right then, Aokiji's faint voice drifted over.
In the steam-filled environment, ice crystals instantly condensed one by one, bringing even the rushing airflow to a complete halt.
Whoosh!
Countless ice crystals quickly formed an ice bird that flapped its wings and crashed toward Ace.
At the same time, the tall admiral kicked off the ice and leaped high into the air. With a quick flash, he attempted to pass directly over the young pirate's head to pursue Robin on the ship.
"I told you, your opponent is me!"
Ace's freckled face filled with anger upon seeing this.
His hands turned into flames as his body rapidly spun around, transforming him into a burning pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky.
Boom! The incoming ice bird collided and instantly melted into white fog.
Meanwhile, Ace soared into the sky. Flames gushed from his right arm as he ruthlessly smashed it toward the approaching marine.
"Fire Fist!"
The fiery fist carried an all-destroying power.
Even before it made contact, the intense heat began to melt the nearby ice, roasting the admiral's body and producing endless plumes of white mist.
"Oh my, what a troublesome ability!"
Crossing his arms, Aokiji took the attack head-on. The sheer force blasted him backward, slamming him heavily into the ice.
The tremendous impact caved in the ice, creating a deep crater tens of meters in diameter.
"Wow, he succeeded!"
Nami could not help but cheer from the ship.
"Is this real?"
Astonishment colored Robin's face as her eyes widened in disbelief.
In her mind, the unrivaled marine admiral had actually suffered a setback at Ace's hands. It felt completely surreal, like a dream.
However, Ace did not smile upon landing on the ice. He heaved for breath, his expression growing increasingly solemn.
Lius, who was watching him from the ship behind him, did not smile either.
He furrowed his brows, his gaze gradually turning serious and cautious.
"This is far from over. If a marine admiral could be defeated so easily, he wouldn't be an admiral!"
Though he did not want to admit it, Lius still offered a faint reminder.
Sure enough, just as his voice faded, a body formed from endless frigid air appeared out of the deep crater in the distant ice.
"It seems I can't even slack off here. In that case, I will get a little serious!"
Cracking his neck, Aokiji looked calmly at Ace and gave his warning.
Hearing these words, the faces of the cheering girls instantly turned pale white, and terror once again surfaced in their eyes.
They had originally thought that this was all a marine admiral amounted to.
They never expected that the incredibly destructive clash just now was merely the result of the man slacking off.
Boom! At this very moment, Ace and Aokiji clashed once again.
A spear made of flames collided with a saber formed of solid ice. The clash of heat and cold, the alternating dance of fire and frost, produced a massive amount of steam that instantly blanketed the area.
Faintly, through the white fog, one could only see crimson and blue energies constantly intertwining. They generated violent air currents that ravaged the surroundings like a hurricane.
The fierce winds howled. Had Lius not unleashed his armament haki to block it, Nami and Robin would have been blown away.
"Lius, what do we do now?"
Raising her hands to block the incoming gale, Nami peeked through the gaps between her fingers and asked with a terrified expression.
"What else can we do? Get ready to run!"
Lius threw his hands up in a rather shameless shrug.
Hearing this, the two girls stiffened but quickly accepted the reality.
They had to admit that with Lius's current strength, he could not gain any advantage against a marine admiral.
On the contrary, if they dragged this out until other marine reinforcements arrived, it would be too late to leave even if they wanted to.
Lius felt absolutely no shame regarding this matter.
After all, he was not like the original protagonist, Luffy. No matter how many times that guy was instantly defeated, he could always revive with full health in the very next chapter, miraculously grasping the exact ability and method needed to defeat his enemy.
This was reality! The protagonist could fail countless times, but a villain only needed to fail once to lose everything.
Although Lius was not a villain, he was not the protagonist either.
Therefore, he was not arrogant enough to believe that his plot armor could allow him to defeat any enemy far above his level. Such things only existed in an ideal world.
Reality was just this cruel!
Even with his conqueror's haki infusion (the move he used to catch Garp off guard and injure him), it might not necessarily be effective against Aokiji.
After all, creatures like the admirals were hailed as the highest combat power of the marines. Whether it was physical constitution, haki, physical martial arts, or devil fruit abilities, they were basically all maxed out.
In the anime, even the slacking Admiral Kizaru, who was criticized by Zephyr for relying too much on his devil fruit and neglecting his physical training, managed to pressure the legendary Pluton Rayleigh with just a photon sword during the Sabaody Archipelago incident.
One had to remember that Kizaru was in a completely relaxed and casual state at that time!
Therefore, admirals were not ordinary creatures. They were genuine monsters with nearly maxed-out stats across the board and practically zero weaknesses.
Right now, there was still an insurmountable gap between Lius and an admiral. This was a fact he had to admit.
Boom! Suddenly, a loud blast echoed from the white fog.
A crimson figure wreathed in flames flew out backward, slamming ruthlessly into the ice near the sailboat and kicking up an endless cloud of mist.
"Cough, cough, it's already been over two minutes!"
Struggling to his feet, Ace wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth and shouted without looking back.
Although his entire body was engulfed in flames, he was still covered in wounds. They did not look fatal, but they were still a shocking sight.
This was the power of an admiral.
"You two, be ready to run at any moment!"
Lius stepped forward, resting his hands on the hilts of his swords at his waist as battle intent boiled in his eyes.
Following his words, he stomped his foot. The white fog exploded in place as his entire person vanished instantly.
When he reappeared, he had already leaped into the dense fog.
"Hunting Cross Slash!"
He let out an explosive shout. Wielding both swords, Lius brought the crossed blades down in an X-shape.
In an instant, the rolling mist was sliced into four pieces like a torn rag, revealing the scene on the ice below.