Moria, clutching the moaning Tashigi in one hand, intended to crush her outright.
"Tashigi!"
Not far away, Smoker, who had been keeping an eye on Tashigi, paled dramatically.
His body dissolved into smoke, evading Perospero's attack, and he flew over at high speed.
Simultaneously, his smoke fist, coated in Armament Haki, appeared in front of Moria before he did!
Moria cackled weirdly, his massive body shattering once again and reappearing on the other side, still holding the coughing, bloodied Tashigi.
The next moment, a strangely shaped weapon swung fiercely toward his head.
At the same time, a burst of white smoke shot out from Smoker's body, rapidly enveloping Moria!
"White Smoke Swamp!"
Clang!
Moria swung his giant scissors, blocking Smoker's jutte.
He then hurled the unconscious Tashigi toward Smoker, while a substantial amount of Armament Haki quietly coated the large scissors.
Seeing Tashigi flying toward him, Smoker hastily reached out with both hands to catch her.
Swish!
Two jet-black scissors sliced through the smoke, two streams of blood spurting into the air mid-flight!
Thud, thud!
Two arms, about a foot long, fell from the sky, landing in the blood-soaked mud.
The five fingers on those arms still clutched a jutte.
Mid-air, Smoker bit his gums until they bled, several smoke tentacles shooting out from his body to wrap around Tashigi, swiftly pulling her back.
"Kishishishi, Smoker, don't be in such a hurry to leave."Moria let out a sinister chuckle as his body dispersed, transforming into countless black bats that swarmed toward Smoker like a dark cloud!
Whoosh!
Suddenly!
A blurry afterimage streaked across the ground at extreme speed, crackling with electricity as it slammed directly into the swarm of bats Moria had become.
"Magnetic Impact! Railgun!"
A hoarse middle-aged voice rang out.
Then, a blinding flash erupted. Countless bats shrieked shrilly, emitting wisps of green smoke before vanishing.
Thud!
Moria's massive body landed heavily, his face noticeably pale.
"Eustass Kid? Weren't you killed by Caesar? Huh? Wait, you're not..."
Moria stared in astonishment at a short, middle-aged man with an extremely sleazy appearance, wearing a hat and smoking a cigarette.
The man's hands crackled with electricity as he glared angrily at Moria.
"Gecko Moria, you weakest of the Seven Warlords! Since you didn't die two years ago, I'll send you on your way now!"
The newcomer was none other than Marine Headquarters' Admiral candidate, codenamed Chaton—Tokikake!
With a cigarette in his mouth, Tokikake's right fist was coated in Armament Haki while simultaneously crackling with the magnetic currents he'd recently acquired.
He stomped the ground and vanished from Moria's sight as if teleporting.
"Where did he go?"
Just as Moria began searching for Tokikake's whereabouts, his towering body suddenly arched forward.
His legs gave way, and he crashed to his knees with a heavy thud.
Tokikake's right fist shimmered with magnetic energy as he used Soru to vanish from his position, delivering a punch that forced Moria to his knees!
His combat prowess had long surpassed that of an ordinary Vice Admiral, with Haki mastery rivaling an Admiral's.
Alongside Momousagi, he was one of Marine Headquarters' two primary Admiral candidates.
If Tokikake's previous strength had been just a step away from Admiral level...
Now, after consuming the Magnet-Magnet Fruit, he had barely reached that threshold.
Though Moria had undergone significant transformation, he was still far from adequate.
"Cough! Bastard."
As Moria struggled to push himself up from the ground, Tokikake's expression remained icy.
In a flash, he reappeared directly in front of Moria's head, delivering a crackling electric kick to Moria's cheek!
Bang!
Moria's enormous body flipped through the air before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Gwah!"
He vomited blood, his left leg shattered by Tokikake's kick, one eyeball bursting like glass.
Fast—Tokikake was impossibly fast!
So fast that Moria couldn't even switch between his Shadow Master and main body before being relentlessly pummeled.
"Die, Gecko Moria!"
Gone was Tokikake's usual playful smirk, replaced by pure rage and murderous intent.
With countless comrades dead or wounded, even his typically cheerful and optimistic self couldn't maintain composure.
Tokikake stretched out his right hand, and Tashigi's dropped weapon, Yubashiri, flew from the distance into his grasp.
He leaped high, swinging the blade toward Moria's neck!
"Ice Storm!"
Just as the sharp edge was about to slice into Moria's throat, the surrounding air temperature plummeted drastically, turning bone-chillingly cold in an instant.
Tokikake's expression shifted as he tried to retreat.
But a violent gust of frigid air swept through, instantly freezing everything within hundreds of meters solid!
Even Smoker, who had been carrying Tashigi away, was no exception—his armless body encased in thick ice, suspended mid-air!
Freed from the swirling white smoke, Tashigi's unconscious body plummeted from the air and crashed heavily onto the ground.
Within the ice, Tokikake's eyes widened, filled with utter disbelief.
"Admiral Aokiji...!"
A gaunt man walked forward expressionlessly, strolling through the frozen world with eyes devoid of any emotion, only emptiness and numbness.
"Admiral Aokiji!"
In the distance, caught in the sudden cold wave, many Marine officers had parts of their bodies frozen by the ice to varying degrees, allowing their opponents to seize the opportunity and strike them down.
Marine soldiers looked on with shattered expressions at Kuzan, who appeared completely different from the lazy admiral they remembered.
Some Marines cried out, attempting to awaken Kuzan's subconscious.
However, what greeted them was a sky filled with shooting ice spikes.
Thud, thud, thud...
Like a violent storm, the ice spikes pierced through the bodies of Marines clad in snow-white justice cloaks wherever Kuzan passed, eliciting agonizing screams as they were pinned to the ground.
Though Moria had narrowly escaped death, his gaze toward Kuzan was also tinged with an unshakable fear.
Because Kuzan's expression and aura were unbearably cold.
At this moment, he seemed more attuned to the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit than ever before.
The Ice-Ice Fruit embodied the power of frost.
It was the polar opposite of the Magma Fruit's extreme heat.
Once, the master of this powerful Logia-type Devil Fruit was a passionate champion of justice.
His fervor for justice burned like fire, consuming his youth.
Though his abilities were cold, his heart was warm.
But now, his heart had become as frigid as the solid ice formed by the Ice-Ice Fruit.
Even killing his former comrades, with whom he had spent countless days, could not stir the slightest ripple in Kuzan's heart.
Crack...
The ice split into fissures as Tokikake burst through the thick layer of frozen ice.
He was about to rush forward to stop Kuzan when he noticed Smoker, who was also encased in ice.
Tokikake leaped into action, his five fingers gripping the ice in front of Smoker and applying slight pressure.
Crack, crack.
The ice shattered.
Smoker, already weakened from excessive blood loss, now suffered from the invasion of the cold toxin, his face growing deathly pale.
"This is bad. Smoker needs treatment immediately, or he'll die..."
Thud!
A crystal-clear ice spear pierced through Smoker's heart and stopped right between Tokikake's eyes.
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