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worm novel 200 . xyz '
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"Your turn?"
Aokiji looked up to face the swift, fierce strike.
He swung his ice blade upward to directly intercept the diving pirate.
Crossed twin swords collided with the frozen blade. The resulting shockwave instantly shattered the ice beneath the admiral's feet, kicking up a surging cloud of frost.
"Yeh, my turn!"
The young man grinned broadly before pouring even more strength into his arms.
The overwhelming pressure caused the frozen ground to collapse completely, swallowing Aokiji straight down to his waist.
Using the massive recoil to his advantage, Lius flipped backward and landed smoothly. He pushed off the ground a split second later, pouncing forward like a hunting lion.
"Hunting: Void Sever!"
Wreathed in armament haki, Yubashiri and Kitetsu sparked with arcs of black lightning. The twin blades instantly sliced right through Aokiji's neck.
Swish.
The curly-haired head detached from the trapped body, tumbling high into the air.
"Really? Did he succeed?"
Watching from afar, Nami widened her eyes in sheer shock.
"Is the admiral dead?" Robin gasped in disbelief.
Just then.
Just as the two women spoke, a calm voice echoed from the severed, tumbling head.
"No! Don't be naive!"
Following those words.
The headless body trapped in the ice completely shattered into icy dust under their watchful gazes.
Limitless frost gathered around the airborne head, rapidly condensing to form a brand-new body.
He landed softly on the frozen surface. The admiral looked at Lius with an indifferent gaze that finally held a hint of genuine seriousness.
"Impressive. It seems you've practically mastered that Golden Lion's swordsmanship."
"It seems you already possess the qualifications of an emperor!"
The sheer destructive power still fell short of Shiki in his prime.
But in terms of pure sword technique, Lius had nearly perfected it. Any future breakthroughs would rely entirely on his deeper comprehension of the blade.
"Thanks for the compliment!"
Lius answered without an ounce of humility.
"Well, what an impolite brat!"
The marine's gaze bypassed him entirely to land on Robin aboard the ship. "My primary target this time is Nico Robin. If the rest of you step aside, I can let you off the hook for today."
Upon hearing this.
Robin lost all color in her face.
Even while leaning against Nami, her tall figure trembled uncontrollably as if plunged into a freezing cavern.
Having lived a life filled with endless betrayal, she stared at Lius's back with terror swirling in her eyes.
Catching sight of her reaction, Nami tightened her comforting grip around the older woman's shoulders.
Back down on the frozen sea.
Lius raised a brow with a scoffing laugh. "Trading a companion for the right to survive is something I simply cannot do!"
"Don't pirates represent betrayal?"
Kuzan stared at him with chilling intensity. "A woman like Nico Robin will bring nothing but endless calamity to anyone foolish enough to call her a companion."
"That is simply her fate!"
Those icy words left Robin looking completely deathly pale.
The crushing psychological blow drained every ounce of the will to live from her eyes.
However.
Just then, a massive fist of roaring flames blasted straight toward Aokiji.
"Fire Fist!"
Ace poured all of his furious roar into the strike.
Searing heat instantly vaporized the frozen surface in its path. The seawater below boiled wildly with rolling bubbles.
Boom!
Fire and ice violently clashed to release another massive shockwave of thick white mist.
The entire ocean surrounding Jaya was quickly swallowed by the dense fog.
"No one's life can be defined. This is the meaning of freedom!"
Ace marched directly toward the admiral with a low, threatening voice.
A sensitive nerve deep within his heart had been struck. His fury erupted as violently as his flames.
"It always feels like a massive joke to hear pirates preaching about freedom."
The marine scoffed from within the hazy mist.
"Freedom isn't just mindless indulgence. It is a fiery dream!" Ace fired back through gritted teeth.
"Hahaha! Isn't the real joke placing an eighty million berry bounty on an eight-year-old girl?"
Lius threw his head back in roaring laughter. "Just because she sought knowledge, she was forced to watch her family die and suffer through an endless, terrifying manhunt."
"Hey, Kuzan. Don't you marines feel the slightest bit of shame!?"
A heavy silence fell over the admiral. His dark complexion turned incredibly grim as an unreserved, suffocating killing intent erupted from his gaze.
"The humanitarian disasters caused by the rulers of this world easily rival the chaos brought about by pirates!"
Lius continued with a mocking laugh.
Following those bold words!
A bizarre silence blanketed the frozen wasteland.
Conflicting ideologies naturally placed them on opposing sides. Rather than wasting breath trying to convince the other, it was always better to let their fists do the talking.
Lius, Ace, and Aokiji clearly understood this fundamental truth.
As soon as the brief silence broke, all three men attacked at the exact same time.
"Pheasant Beak!"
The admiral swung his arm in a backhanded arc toward Ace.
A gigantic ice bird shot forth from his sleeve. It flapped its frozen wings like a living creature and ruthlessly charged at the fire user.
Terrifying cold radiated from its body to instantly refreeze the boiling seawater below.
At the exact same time.
He casually blew out a breath of frigid air to forge a brand-new ice blade before spinning around to slash at Lius.
The sheer chill radiating from the sharp edge was potent enough to instantly freeze a person's blood.
"Eh?"
Watching the rapidly enlarging blade in his vision, Lius frowned slightly upon realizing his blood circulation was actually slowing down.
The man capable of freezing an entire ocean in an instant truly possessed a terrifying level of strength.
In the animeline, he had managed to fight fellow admiral Akainu and his magma powers to a standstill for ten straight days. He only lost by the slimmest of margins.
That very battle had permanently altered the climate of an entire island.
"Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar!"
A fierce roar echoed from the other side as Ace transformed both hands into pure flame. He spun his body rapidly to generate a massive pillar of fire that shot straight into the sky.
The searing flames violently collided with the gigantic ice bird, instantly producing a rolling sea of steam.
"Fire Fist!"
Hovering high in the air, Ace threw a devastating punch forward.
The crimson fist of fire crashed downward like a blazing meteor.
"Hah!"
Taking advantage of the slightly warmer air, Lius raised both of his swords to successfully parry the incoming frozen blade.
Clang!
The crisp sound of clashing metal rang out.
Terrifying sonic ripples blasted outward to violently scatter the surrounding fog. The two men were left completely exposed in their tense stalemate.
"Ice Time!"
The admiral remained completely expressionless. A bone-chilling frost traveled down his arm into his blade, rapidly creeping up the steel edges of Yubashiri and Kitetsu toward Lius's gripping hands.
The deadly frost was just inches away from completely freezing his hands.
Rumble!
The massive fist of fire came crashing down from above to illuminate the area with the brilliant, scorching light of a miniature sun.
Forced to abandon his current target, the admiral quickly spun around to intercept the fiery attack.
An endless wave of steam exploded from the violent clash of elements. The extreme fluctuations between boiling heat and freezing cold threw the surrounding atmosphere into utter chaos.
The erratic air currents swung wildly between violent gales and dead silence.
Within the thick, rolling mist, violent sword slashes flew indiscriminately. Bursts of crimson flames constantly clashed against waves of azure frost in a truly dizzying spectacle.
Back aboard the ship.
Nami and Robin tightly gripped each other's hands. They nervously held their breath while watching the chaotic three-way battle.
Even with Ace and Lius fighting at full strength, neither girl truly believed they could defeat an admiral.
"What do we do? Their stamina won't be able to hold out much longer!" Nami muttered with trembling lips.
Deep waves of isolation, helplessness, and sheer despair washed over her heart.
Hearing those panicked words, Robin suddenly widened her eyes as a faint glimmer of hope crossed her beautiful features.
"Nami, that devil fruit ability you used earlier... you can actually..." She leaned close to the navigator's ear and quickly whispered a plan.
...
"You're right! You're so smart, Robin!"
A bright light of hope quickly replaced the dull despair in Nami's eyes upon hearing the strategy.
This was truly the most terrifying enemy she and Lius had ever crossed paths with.
It would be an outright lie to claim she wasn't panicking.
She had been so terrified that she actually forgot about her own ability to support him in battle.
Thanks to the timely reminder, she instantly snapped back to her senses and shot the older woman a deeply grateful look.
"It is merely a survival instinct I developed as a child."
Robin offered a bitter smile.
Having spent her entire life running from endless bounties and ruthless killers, she was more than accustomed to struggling for survival in seemingly hopeless situations.
Even when faced with the suffocating terror of an admiral, her core instincts refused to just lay down and die.
"I'm coming to help, Lius!"
Nami took a deep breath and quickly hopped onto the ship's figurehead. She crossed both hands over her heart as a brilliantly holy light began to radiate from her body.
She instantly transformed into her celestial maiden form to bathe the surrounding area in pure, glowing light.
"Holy Goddess!"
She waved her hand gracefully. The holy light cascaded down like glowing rain to directly envelop the two fighters clashing within the fog.
The warm glow instantly washed away their mounting exhaustion, filling both men with an explosive surge of renewed energy.
Boom!
Lius delivered a devastatingly powerful cross-slash that nearly severed the admiral's ice blade completely. A visible web of cracks rapidly spread across the frozen weapon.
"What!?"
Forced to retreat several steps, Kuzan snapped his head toward the source of the holy light with noticeably shrunken pupils.
A tall, elegant figure with four pairs of snow-white wings stood proudly upon the ship's bow. She continuously showered the battlefield with a restorative light that forcefully pushed the two exhausted pirates well past their physical limits.
"Fire Fist!"
Refusing to give his opponent a single second to think, Ace launched yet another flaming strike.
Boom!
Frost and fire violently collided to unleash a massive shockwave that forcefully separated the combatants.
The sheer intensity of the flames was completely different from before, as if they were being wielded by an entirely different person.
"Just what kind of devil fruit is that?"
The experienced marine was left completely dumbfounded.
The weak girl he hadn't even bothered to pay attention to was now displaying an unprecedented, angelic form.