Chapter 123: The Battle Officially Begins
On the pirate ship, a group of bizarrely shaped pirates looked at the gradually departing figure and subconsciously exclaimed, "Brother Katakuri! Where are you going?"
The man named Katakuri didn't even turn his head. "To the battlefield," he said flatly, before gradually disappearing into the area ravaged by wind and extreme cold.
On the ship, a group of young men and women looked at each other. Finally, they looked at the man with the large lolling tongue and top hat.
"Brother Perospero, what do we do now?" a young woman with short red hair and a red feather coat asked subconsciously.
The eldest son of the Charlotte Family, Perospero, looked in the direction Katakuri had disappeared, his eyes filled with hesitation. But in the end, he gritted his teeth and made a decision. He couldn't let his younger brother face the Marine Headquarters' fleet alone.
Then, he turned and instructed the group of young men and women, "You all fall back to the outer edge of the glacier. Be careful not to let the ship get frozen, and be ready to pick us up for retreat at any time!"
After leaving these words, he also jumped off the pirate ship and stepped onto the ice-mist-filled glacier.
Just as Aokiji had said, even though the sea beneath them had been frozen into a glacier dozens of meters thick that stretched to the horizon by his Ice-Age ability, the continuously howling wind was still a terrifying natural disaster capable of annihilating everyone here except for a few.
The wind howled, sweeping up the ice mist and low temperatures radiating from the glacier, forming a polar storm that continuously stripped people of their body heat. It was bone-chillingly cold, and the ice mist was everywhere, reducing visibility to a minimum. The roar of the polar storm was deafening, as if it would tear the soldiers' eardrums.
Beyond a few meters, one could not see their own hand. It was difficult to get one's bearings. Ice shards, swept up by the wind, formed sharp ice blades that continuously scraped bloody gashes on the soldiers' bodies.
Aokiji's actions seemed to have transformed an imminent destruction into a slow, approaching death.
Aokiji stood on the glacier, slowly exhaling a breath of cold air. He then manipulated the glacier, erecting walls of ice near each warship that would block the wind as much as possible without obscuring the soldiers' line of sight.
After doing all this, he looked up with a puzzled expression. Combining his eyes with his Observation Haki, he searched in the direction the storm was coming from for the culprit who had caused all this. However, no matter how he searched, there was nothing unusual within the range of his Observation Haki. It all looked like a naturally occurring disaster.
"Did the culprit cause all this from an area outside the range of my Observation Haki?" A shadow of gloom flashed in Aokiji's eyes, and a look of helplessness appeared on his face.
To resolve this storm and save the lives of the Marine soldiers, he had to leave this place and kill the culprit who was continuously creating the storm. But once he left, these soldiers he had placed here, who had little combat effectiveness in this extreme environment, would probably be killed in the next second.
Could the old senior, Momousagi, and Chaton protect these soldiers who had become a burden under this natural disaster? They might be able to protect a part of them, but the vast majority would die.
For a moment, the elites of Marine Headquarters, who were supposed to be cooperating with the flag officers to capture Louis, had now become a liability that was dragging down Aokiji and the other leaders.
In the end, Aokiji picked up his Den Den Mushi and issued an order to his two juniors, sending them to deal with the culprit of unknown strength. "Gion, Tokikake. Go against the storm and take care of the culprit!"
At the same time, he also informed them of the risks of this action and told them to be careful. This was a rather risky order because Aokiji didn't know the level of the existence that could create a storm of this scale. If it was someone they could handle, that would be fine. But if it was a monster close to the top tier, then Aokiji would be the sinner who had sent his subordinates to their deaths.
After hearing the order, Momousagi and the others agreed without the slightest hesitation. They picked up their weapons, prepared themselves, and jumped directly off the warship, heading against the storm to find the unknown enemy.
After issuing this order, although Aokiji's expression did not change, a shadow of gloom flashed in his eyes, and he sighed in his heart. Then, he once again took out his Den Den Mushi, dialed Fleet Admiral Sengoku who was waiting for news at Marine Headquarters, and reported the current situation in detail.
"The plan has failed before it even began."
"Because of a storm, the direction of this war is no longer in the hands of us Marines."
Aokiji explained that the moment the storm arrived, the rhythm of the war had been seized by the enemy. Now, how to ensure the survival of the elite soldiers who were shivering in the polar storm had become a headache for the Marines. If they unfroze them, the churning sea currents would swallow them. If they didn't, the polar storm would strip them of their lives bit by bit. And raising the temperature of the glacier also carried the risk of the storm tearing it apart. If he could go back to yesterday, Aokiji would definitely not have brought these soldiers with him.
After integrating the information sent by Aokiji, Sengoku's brow furrowed tightly.
Just then, a series of brilliant flashes of fire lit up in the direction of the warships, illuminating the dim sky. The fierce polar storm drowned out the sound of the explosions. Only the firelight from the blasts told everyone that a further attack had occurred.
Aokiji's expression changed. His body turned into a cold current and merged into the glacier beneath his feet, rushing rapidly in the direction of the explosions. But he soon stopped, canceling his Logia elementalization, and frowned as he looked up at the sky.
His eyes, combined with his Observation Haki, discovered the black cannonballs that were mixed in with the storm. A dense barrage of cannonballs was being carried from a distance by the strong wind, landing precisely in the areas where the warships and soldiers were concentrated, bringing a bit of "warmth" to the freezing soldiers.
Not far away, a number of flag officers also quickly noticed and stepped forward, using their respective weapons to block the cannonballs that were carried in by the cold wind. For a moment, in the bone-chilling storm, flashes of firelight, flying slashes, and shockwaves flickered one after another, briefly tearing through the storm, disrupting the airflow, and allowing a series of roars to reach everyone's ears.
"Sorry, Fleet Admiral Sengoku. If you want to understand the situation, please call my adjutant's Den Den Mushi directly." Aokiji's expression was now extremely serious. After briefly explaining the situation, he casually hung up.
Aboard one of the warships carrying a giant Vice Admiral, the giant with a T-shaped steel helmet was swinging a huge battle-axe to block the cannonballs.
Just then, with an angry roar, a cold and heavy kanabō extended from the impenetrable ice mist and swung straight at the giant's head.
"!!"
"A giant?!"
The huge weapon and the angry roar made the giant Vice Admiral instantly aware. His gaze became sharp, and he quickly sidestepped to dodge the heavy kanabō, letting it land in the frozen wave of the glacier, shattering it at the waist and sending house-sized fragments falling everywhere.
The giant in the Justice cape swung his sharp battle-axe in a backhand motion, cutting toward the large hand holding the kanabō.
The next moment, a giant shield with a face on it pierced through the ice mist and quickly blocked the axe.
CLANG!
The two heavy weapons collided in mid-air, creating brilliant sparks. The powerful shockwave sent many Marine soldiers flying.
The giant Vice Admiral, Ronse, looked at the giant face that was faintly visible in the ice mist, an angry expression on his face. "Hey, young man! Why did you become a pirate! And even committed a great mistake like attacking Enies Lobby! Don't you know that will only deepen the impression that all giants are vicious barbarians?!"
To this, Goldberg swung his shield with all his might, briefly disrupting the storm and revealing his own round body and grim face to his kinsman.
"Oh? Then do you know that your own kinsmen were deceived and stayed in that place for fifty years?"
Ronse's face changed, and he pressed his lips together, saying nothing.
Seeing this, Goldberg's impression of this kinsman fell to an extreme low. He frowned, and once again swung his giant shield and kanabō, launching a torrential assault on the Marine Vice Admiral.
"A person like you is simply unworthy of being a giant."
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