"It looks like you understand me pretty well, huh." As Kuzan spoke, he continued gathering the power of frost so he could deal with Arton's next attack.
"More or less. I just happen to know you used to train with Garp." Arton said with a smile. "I even heard he acknowledged how hard your fists are."
Hearing that, Kuzan's eyes narrowed.
If Arton only knew Kuzan had trained under Instructor Zephyr—another man famous for focusing on physical training—Kuzan could've understood that. After all, Zephyr having trained countless Marines, even shaping future Admirals, wasn't exactly the hardest thing in the world to trace.
But Garp was different. Kuzan following Garp for training was practically a secret even within the Navy. He couldn't figure out where Arton could've heard something like that.
Even if Arton had Tashigi aboard—someone who used to be in the Navy—Kuzan still didn't believe she'd know anything about Kuzan and Garp.
"I'm honestly curious what kind of intelligence network you have." Kuzan said with a sigh of amazement. "The more I learn, the more I want to keep you here and ask you properly about all this."
"Let's not. I'm not interested in chatting with a big guy like you. This is basically my last move. I hope you've prepared to take it."
Arton extended a hand toward Kuzan. The flaming butterfly—condensed with the intense magical power of both Arton and Robin—floated forward, drifting toward Kuzan.
Its speed looked slow… and yet in the blink of an eye, Kuzan saw that it had already reached a point not far from him.
Kuzan immediately focused and threw the ice sphere in his hand.
The flaming butterfly and the extreme-cold ice sphere collided, and the space around them fell utterly silent.
Then came a screeching hiss of vaporization, and the area was instantly engulfed in steam hot enough to scorch a person to nothing.
"This is something else… It should have been a melting reaction, but it turned into a vaporization reaction instead."
Arton muttered with a hint of admiration, then snapped his wings and shot toward the Flameblade Pirates.
The moment he landed, the Fusion Mode between him and Nico Robin abruptly ended.
Robin separated out of Arton's body, so weak she nearly collapsed, forcing herself to stay upright.
But Uta—who already considered Robin a companion—immediately supported her by the arm.
"Are you okay, Robin?" Uta asked.
"Thanks for worrying, I'm fine, more importantly—when is the Knock Up Stream coming?" Robin asked, unable to hide her concern.
After all, there was still a Navy Admiral not far away. He could rush over and stop them at any moment. If he intercepted them, they might not be able to ride the Knock Up Stream up to Sky Island at all.
"It's about to hit. Get ready for the impact." Arton said solemnly.
Once he returned to the ship, his Observation Haki immediately picked up the turbulence surging beneath them.
At that very moment, an incredibly violent Knock Up Stream was racing up from the deep sea, rapidly closing in on their position.
Hearing Arton's words, the women did exactly as told and braced themselves.
At the same time, not far away, Kuzan suddenly burst out from the chaotic energy flow.
Staring at Arton and Robin now back aboard their ship, Kuzan looked puzzled.
"You're not fighting anymore, Arton?" Kuzan asked.
"A quick exchange is enough. You can go back and report you did your job, and I got to loosen up a bit. Besides, you can't actually keep me here anyway, can you?"
"If there's a chance later, we'll meet again, Kuzan." Arton said with a smile.
Chapter 492: Kuzan – Let Sengoku Worry About It
Ulti: "Eh? Is Arton really planning to stop fighting already?"
Hina: "Is he going to run? But will Admiral Aokiji actually let him get away?"
Kujaku: "No way, right? Aokiji took a direct order from Fleet Admiral Sengoku. He should still choose to properly carry out his mission."
Doll: "Hard to say. Sometimes Admiral Aokiji is just like Admiral Kizaru—he likes to slack off. Facing such a troublesome opponent like Arton, it's hard to believe he's eager to go all out just to keep Arton and his crew here. And besides…"
Gion: "Besides, even with Admiral Aokiji's strength, I doubt he can single-handedly pin down the entire Flameblade Pirates."
No matter how much Gion wanted Aokiji to pull off a miracle and capture Arton along with everyone in the Flameblade Pirates—stopping them from growing stronger through the diary system and giving her more chances to "re-educate" Arton—she knew very clearly that Arton plus the full strength of the Flameblade Pirates was no weaker than a Marine Admiral.
Add to that the still-hidden cards the Flameblade Pirates were keeping in reserve, and it made Aokiji capturing them all by himself an extremely difficult task.
Kalifa: "If Arton doesn't want to keep fighting, then he must have already calculated a way to escape. Could it be that the Knock Up Stream is about to appear?"
Whitey Bay: "So this means Arton is finally about to head for Sky Island."
Domino: "If Arton really goes up to a Sky Island ten thousand meters above the sea, even Admiral Kuzan will have a hard time chasing him."
Sadi: "Judging from the way he just fought Arton, even if he could chase them up there, it wouldn't change much."
Admiral Kuzan heard what Arton said and was just about to question him when the ice field beneath his feet suddenly began to shake violently.
He braced himself, frown tightening.
"An earthquake? How could there be an earthquake on the surface of the sea?"
"Wait… that is—" Kuzan's eyes went wide as he looked toward the Flameblade Pirates' ship.
His Observation Haki clearly picked up something rushing toward their location at incredible speed.
Before he could do anything about it, a massive water column burst straight up from beneath the pirate ship, carrying Arton and the others into the sky.
Kuzan's eyes sharpened and, almost on reflex, he swung an arm, sending a blast of freezing air toward Arton and his crew.
Every stretch of sea the cold wave passed over froze solid in an instant—proof enough of just how powerful that sudden strike was.
Unfortunately for him… Arton had already prepared for this.
The moment he sensed Kuzan's cold closing in, Arton didn't hesitate to call on Emiya Shirou's template and used Projection Magic to forge a Spiral Sword.
He summoned a great bow, nocked the Spiral Sword onto it like an arrow—
Whoosh!
A streak of radiance shot across the sky.
The spiral "arrow" Arton fired crashed head-on into Kuzan's wave of freezing air.
In that instant, an explosion even more violent than before erupted. For a moment, the weather over the surrounding sea went completely out of control.
Kuzan used Moonwalk to drive himself rapidly upward. By the time he broke through the chaotic energy currents and could see the Flameblade Pirates' ship again, it was already soaring more than a thousand meters above the surface.
Seeing this, Kuzan could only shake his head helplessly.
"So this is the power of nature, huh…" He let out a long sigh.
Looking at the Knock Up Stream that seemed to carry the entire strength of the ocean along with it, even he—wielder of the Ice-Ice Fruit—felt there was nothing he could do about it in that moment.
"Forget it. I've already done everything I could. I'll report what happened here to Sengoku-san. He shouldn't have much to say about it."
Kuzan shook his head and looked up at the sky where the Flameblade Pirates had already vanished from sight.
"It's just… where exactly are you planning to go on that Knock Up Stream, Arton?" Kuzan murmured to himself.
....
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