"A pirate like you… is better off dead."
Kuzan let out a slow, misty breath, and the air around him instantly became frigid.
The temperature dropped so fast it felt like the night itself had turned to ice.
The usual chaotic noise of Mock Town began to fade away, replaced by a cold, heavy silence.
The very air seemed to freeze solid.
"Heh—" Bellamy just raised an eyebrow at Kuzan's words, then let out a loud, mocking laugh.
"I'm a great pirate of the new era! You think you can scare me?"
"Spring—Snipe!"
Suddenly, Bellamy's legs coiled up like massive springs, his feet transforming into tightly wound coils of pure energy.
The next second, with a sound like a cannon firing—BOOM!—his entire body shot forward, becoming a blurry projectile aimed straight at Kuzan.
"Hmph."
Kuzan's expression didn't change.
His cold eyes stayed locked on Bellamy's rapidly approaching form.
He slowly lifted one hand, a swirl of freezing energy gathering in his palm, instantly forming a sharp, icy wave.
"Ice—Time Capsule."
A massive blast of frigid air erupted from Kuzan's hand, like a tidal wave in a blizzard, and swept towards Bellamy.
Before Bellamy could even get close, the freezing air touched him.
In an instant, his speeding body froze mid-charge.
His powerful spring-legs were locked solid, leaving him hanging in the air in a ridiculous-looking pose.
—Crack—
Frost spread over his body in a heartbeat, encasing him completely in a thick layer of glistening ice.
He became a frozen statue, shimmering under the pale moonlight, unmoving.
Kuzan's gaze was completely indifferent.
He took a single step forward and waved his hand.
The air around him condensed again, forming several sharp ice spears that hovered and rotated slowly, making faint crackling sounds.
"It's over," he murmured, and with a light flick of his fingers, the ice spears shot forward like meteors.
They pierced straight through Bellamy's frozen body.
"CRACK—!"
With a sharp, shattering sound, the ice sculpture that was once Bellamy exploded into a million tiny fragments.
The glittering shards rained down into the dark sea below, splashing silently into the water as if he had never even existed.
"..."
Mock Town fell into a dead, suffocating silence.
Everyone stared, wide-eyed, at the falling bits of ice, their brains struggling to process what they had just seen.
"That guy… he took out Bellamy… in one move…" a pirate stammered, his voice trembling so hard he could barely speak.
That was Bellamy the Hyena, a 55-million-Belly pirate, and he was gone in the blink of an eye.
"Good... heavens!"
"This..."
"That's... terrifying..."
The air was thick with a heavy, oppressive tension.
The icy aura coming from the warship made even the toughest pirates in the crowd shudder.
One of them suddenly turned deathly pale, and with a quiet hiss, he realized he had wet himself in fear.
Kuzan cast a cold, emotionless glance over the pirates on the shore.
He didn't need to use Haki to know that these scumbags were up to no good.
'This town', he thought, 'there's no reason for a place like this to exist.'
He turned and looked back at Mike, a silent question in his eyes.
'Is this town useful to you?' his gaze asked. 'If not, let's not waste any more time here.'
Mike was leaning lazily against the ship's railing, a cigar hanging from his lips.
"Whatever you want, Admiral," he said with a shrug. "Your call."
Kuzan nodded as a cold smile touching the corners of his mouth.
He raised both hands high into the air, his voice deep and commanding as it echoed across the now-silent town.
"Ice Age—!"
The moment the words left his lips, the very air seemed to crack.
A chilling silence fell over everything.
The temperature plummeted, and every last bit of warmth was sucked away, as if time itself had frozen solid.
A tidal wave of pure cold surged out from the warship, spreading with impossible speed.
The once-rowdy town fell completely silent.
The noisy bars, the bustling streets, the shouts of the pirates—all of it was swallowed by the
cold.Every inch of land, every single building, was instantly covered in a thick layer of frost.
Mock Town had become a silent, frozen wasteland.
"Phew—" Mike slowly blew out a puff of smoke, watching it curl and disappear in the frigid air.
He squinted, admiring the incredible spectacle before him with a smile.
"Admiral, when you're full of fighting spirit… you're a real monster!"
This ice-sculpture version of Mock Town was actually quite a sight to see.
....
Meanwhile, inside one of Mock Town's restaurants, a rough-looking, middle-aged man was happily munching on a cherry pie.
He was big and burly, with dark skin and a white shirt he wore unbuttoned, showing off his muscular chest.
"Boss, this cherry pie is amazing!" he boomed, giving the owner a big thumbs-up.
This was the captain of the Blackbeard Pirates—Marshall D. Teach.
Beside him sat his crew: a huge man in a wrestling mask named Jesus Burgess, the helmsman; a quiet man in a strange hat with a long rifle named Van Augur, the sniper; and the sickly-looking ship's doctor, Doc Q.
"Boss, pack up another 250 cherry pies for me and the boys to eat on the way!" Teach said with a proud grin, looking at his crew.
These were the powerful subordinates he had gathered since eating the Dark-Dark Fruit.
One of them had even gone to Marine Headquarters to try and get him a spot as a Warlord.
As long as he could prove his strength, how hard could it be?
But in that exact moment, the atmosphere in the restaurant changed.
The warm air vanished, replaced by a biting cold that spread with terrifying speed.
Teach looked up, his heart suddenly sinking.
This wasn't just a drop in temperature.
This was a cold that felt like it could pierce right through your skin and freeze your bones.
"This chill..." he whispered, a flicker of real fear in his eyes as alarm bells screamed in his head.
"This isn't normal!"
"Are we gonna freeze to death, Captain?" Burgess asked, staring as frost began to form on his skin.
"It's so cold, Captain!" Doc Q shivered.
"Freezing to death… is this our fate?" Van Augur said, his visible eye wide with despair.
"Dammit!" Teach clenched his fists, feeling his own body starting to stiffen.
These were the crewmates he had worked so hard to find.
He couldn't lose them here!
If they died, his dream of becoming the Pirate King would die with them!
There was no time to think!
With a desperate roar, he yelled, "Dark Vortex!"
The power of the Dark-Dark Fruit erupted from his body, creating a powerful suction that began to devour the freezing cold around them, pulling it all into himself to protect his crew.
"—Clack, clack, clack—"
Teach's teeth chattered violently.
The fruit's side effect kicked in, making him feel double the agonizing pain of the cold.
Suddenly, a faint sound echoed through the frozen restaurant.
—Crack—
"Captain…"
"Captain, your leg—"
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