Smoothie: "As expected of an Admiral… he can freeze a vast stretch of sea in an instant. That kind of ability is really troublesome in a naval battle."
Cinnamon: "Big Sis is right. As long as they have the power to freeze the ocean, it becomes very hard for Marine Devil Fruit users to fall into the sea."
Whitey Bay: "Admiral Kuzan is strong, but Arton is just as strong. If he can instantly melt the glaciers Kuzan created, Arton's flames are probably a good deal stronger than Ace's."
Makino: "In a certain sense, it might actually be a good thing Ace didn't see Arton use Signora's flames earlier."
Yamato: "If Ace really pushes himself, could he surpass Signora template? Ugh, this is such a headache, my brain hurts."
Ulti: "They're finally going at it for real—so who's going to win? No, wait, the winner is definitely Arton. If he gets caught, who am I supposed to beg templates from?"
Vivi: "That's right. If it's Arton, he's definitely going to win."
Boa Hancock: "Do not disappoint me, Arton..."
…
Boom!
Arton's figure crashed head-on into Kuzan's, the chill of ice and the power of flames exploding apart in an instant.
After that, the two of them seemed to share an unspoken understanding as they faced each other and continuously hurled ice and fire, purely pitting their energy attacks against one another as if they had abandoned close-quarters combat altogether.
There was no longer any refined hand-to-hand technique, no use of Armament Haki or Conqueror's Haki, but ice and fire were, after all, two forces standing at opposite ends of the scale.
When these two forces collided at close range, they kept generating turbulent shockwaves of exploding energy.
Those raging currents didn't distinguish between friend and foe; they scattered their temper across both Arton and Kuzan without the slightest restraint.
Arton and Kuzan in turn unleashed even greater power to disperse the chaotic currents, and fresh waves of flame and ice smashed into each other again, triggering ever more terrifying explosions.
For a time, the entire stretch of sea was wrapped in the roar of detonations.
In just a few short minutes, those terrifying turbulent currents had spun up into countless waterspouts that spiraled outward in all directions.
A few pirate ships that were relatively close by, seeing such a terrifying weather phenomenon, immediately turned tail, afraid that if they ran too slowly they'd get dragged in.
And as time went on, the sky and sea were still changing at a speed visible to the naked eye, warping the surrounding waters.
"Impressive. If I didn't already know you weren't a Logia user, I'd honestly think you'd eaten some kind of flame-manipulating Logia Devil Fruit—one even stronger than the Flame-Flame Fruit."
Kuzan spoke with a tight frown as he looked at Arton, wreathed in flames. "I never thought I'd see a mythical Zoan Devil Fruit user handle natural fire on this level."
No wonder he felt worried; after all, the advantage Logia users were supposed to have over mythical Zoans lay in being able to manipulate elemental forces far more freely.
Mythical Zoan users could sometimes control certain elements, but because they had that solid, physical "beast form template," when it came to manipulating natural elements they were definitely weaker than Logia users, but this rule seemed to completely fall apart in Arton's case.
And while Logia users also had the ability to turn into their element, in the face of someone who wielded Haki, even that advantage didn't seem all that useful anymore.
Chapter 488: The Knock Up Stream Is Coming!
It wasn't just Kuzan who was shocked—everyone watching Kuzan and Arton's battle through their diary copies was just as stunned.
Especially the members of the Flameblade Pirates who were not far from the battlefield.
"Signora's flames really are crazy strong." Carina muttered. "It's kind of making my heart stir a little."
"Even so, your ability isn't bad either, Carina." Nami complained.
"It's not bad, sure, but I still feel like I'm a bit behind Robin." Carina shot Nami a sidelong look as she spoke. "And speaking of Devil Fruit abilities, you've definitely got the better end of the deal than me, Nami."
"Hmph, even if you're jealous, there's nothing you can do about it." Nami pushed out her full chest proudly.
Kidding aside, the template she'd gotten was the Raiden Shogun.
And the Raiden Shogun was someone who'd even cut down La Signora.
Which template was stronger and which was weaker—you could tell at a glance.
"It must be nice… If only I could have a template like the Raiden Shogun too…" Ain murmured to herself. "No, wait, even a template like La Signora's would already be more than good enough."
It wasn't that she didn't want something as powerful as the Raiden Shogun's template.
It was that she knew a template on that level was basically something you could only run into by pure luck.
All this time, Arton had only ever drawn a god-tier template like the Raiden Shogun once.
Because of that, Ain didn't really believe she'd be lucky enough for Arton to draw another god's template—and then just happen to assign it to her.
Besides, she felt that La Signora's template came with a very generous bosom.
If she could get a template like La Signora's, maybe her own chest would keep getting bigger too.
Only with a sufficiently ample chest, she'd naturally be able to earn even more points from Arton.
And as long as she had enough points, even a relatively weak template was something Ain was confident she could grind up to a powerful level.
"That's true, yeah. If La Signora's template can burn out flames like that… Then it really is more than good enough for us." Uta said after listening to Ain. "From here, it looks like an iceberg and a volcano crashing into each other."
"It kind of has the same vibe as Kuzan fighting Sakazuki." Nami said with a grin.
Suddenly, her expression shifted and she hurried over to the rail.
"What's wrong, Nami?" Uta asked curiously.
"The sea currents are changing—fast." Nami said seriously.
"Changing fast?" That must be because of Captain's fight with Kuzan, right? But the weather changes their fight is causing shouldn't be affecting our side over here at all, should they?" Uta looked toward where Arton and Kuzan were fighting, confused.
"Nami doesn't mean that." Carina said. "She's talking about what's happening under the surface."
"You felt it too, Carina?" Nami looked back at her.
"Yeah. I'm not on your level, but my skills as a navigator are still decent enough." Carina nodded firmly.
"What are you two even talking about? I don't really get it." Uta scratched her head in confusion.
"It means the Knock Up Stream Arton's been waiting for is about to arrive." Nami said, and Carina nodded in agreement.
"What? The Knock Up Stream is coming now?" Uta's eyes went wide as she looked anxiously toward where Arton and Kuzan were clashing. "But Arton is in the middle of fighting Kuzan!"
....
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