Whoosh!
Kizaru reformed in midair as a flash of golden light, his body coalescing above the battlefield. His usual lazy tone carried a rare edge of caution.
"Oh my, how frightening. Kuzan, why did you suddenly turn your attack on me?"
He had only seen Aokiji facing Shirogai Yamikuro, yet the next instant, Aokiji's Ice Age had lashed out at him instead. The surprise was written across Kizaru's normally unreadable face.
"I was clearly aiming at The Plunderer…"
Aokiji's gaze shifted back toward Shirogai, who stood calm and unmoving, a faint smile tugging at his lips. Something in that serenity unsettled him.
"…Was it you? An illusion-type ability?"
"That's right," Shirogai replied softly, his voice calm but edged with steel. "The awakened power of the Whisper fruit, I can stir the heart, nudge thoughts, and bend emotion."
He tilted his head, eyes carrying a faint sorrow as he studied Aokiji.
"You've always harbored doubts about Kizaru. That slight wariness, that buried thought of clashing with him—" Shirogai's smile deepened, though it carried no warmth, "—all I did was let it surface."
"Devil Fruit awakening…?"
Kizaru's expression darkened, the usual mockery gone from his tone. His eyes sharpened as he studied Shirogai.
"Could it be… you've already awakened your Devil Fruit, Shirogai San?"
Few in the world had ever reached awakening. Those who did—monsters like Doflamingo—were among the strongest alive.
"Heh. What do you think, Kizaru?"
Shirogai didn't answer directly. His silence was louder than any admission.
The first of his awakened abilities: the Whisper-Whisper Fruit.
Its awakened form—Abyss Whisperer.
It allowed Shirogai to silently peer into hearts, to stir joy or hatred, greed or sorrow, bending emotion without shattering the victim's will. He was like a phantom whisperer lurking in the abyss of the human spirit, tugging on strings of desire and doubt.
And Admiral Aokiji had strings to pull.
The suspicion that the justice he followed was rotting. The unease at Kizaru's detached loyalty. Shirogai hadn't invented those thoughts—he had simply fanned their flames.
Aokiji thought he was fighting Shirogai. In truth, his own heart had turned his hand against his comrade.
Eyes could deceive. The heart could not.
But this was only one of Shirogai's awakenings. The second was the Smoke-Smoke Fruit, a manifestation of his paradoxical nature—righteous yet ruthless, shadow and light entwined.
Not every Devil Fruit within him had awakened. Awakening required more than raw power. It required alignment—mind and body, will and ability as one. Few could reach it. Most never would.
Yet Shirogai had already breached that wall twice. And it had given him ideas—dangerous ones.
"Oh my, oh my~~" Kizaru muttered, stroking his beard with mock calm that didn't reach his eyes. "This is troublesome. If you can awaken every fruit you've consumed…"
Aokiji's jaw set, his body flaring with Armament Haki. Blackened steel-like armor covered him from head to toe.
"This time, I won't be deceived."
Frost and Haki merged in his fist as he lunged forward.
"Ice Fist!"
Shirogai chuckled lightly.
"Your resolve is strong, Kuzan. But if not for you, I would never have perfected my own Haki."
His body gleamed as jet-black lightning flickered across his skin. His entire frame became coated in Armament Haki, every inch radiating condensed might.
"Armament Haki—Full Body."
Their fists met.
Boom!
The shockwave tore across the island, splitting fractured earth wider as seawater surged into gaping cracks. The force shook the heavens, two titans clashing in pure strength.
Aokiji gritted his teeth, driven back one step, then two, then three, as Shirogai's obsidian fist pressed harder. His legendary strength—honed under Vice Admiral Garp himself—was faltering.
Kizaru's eyes widened.
"How terrifying…!"
The ground quaked as Aokiji was finally blown backward, crashing through the forest in a storm of shattered ice. He tumbled, rolling until the sea itself stopped him—only for his powers to instantly freeze the ocean beneath his body, preventing the water from swallowing him whole.
"Haa… haa…"
Lying on the frozen sea, Aokiji covered his eyes with his trademark mask, shielding them from the sun.
"Shirogai Yamikuro… such Haki, such force…"
He exhaled sharply, and the freezing air radiated across the waters. In moments, the sea for miles crystallized into a frigid wasteland.
Pushing himself upright, Aokiji turned back toward the forest.
"Arara… no. With Borsalino still here, I can't go all out."