Ice cones, dense and sharp, aimed at Kuina and Nojiko, flying toward the two women in an instant.
"Wait… What the hell! 'Ice Mass: Two Thorn Pikes' is supposed to be two spears! What is this?!" Leno yelped. 'So the manga misled me—he can fire as many as he wants?!'
"Clang, clang, clang…"
Reading each other perfectly, Kuina and Nojiko moved as one—black and white figures weaving and covering, parrying and splitting—until every last icicle shattered.
Aokiji stepped from the white mist, half his body already elementalized. He slapped his hands together, then pulled them apart; spheres of ice budded between his palms and blitzed toward the pair.
"Ice Ball." Aokiji set his stance, eyes on the women.
"Whoosh, whoosh, whoosh…"
Kuina and Nojiko went ultra-cautious—Observation Haki fully open—slipping past the orbs, sometimes meeting them with a blade. The instant steel met ice, frost seized the blade and raced up toward their arms.
"Crack! Crack!"
Wrapped in Armament Haki, they burst the ice from their forearms and drove in, crossing paths; one split high, the other low—front and back, up and down, left and right—relentless, all-angle offense.
Watching the two figures flicker around Aokiji, Leno nodded, pleased. "Their offense is mature now. All those pirate skirmishes weren't for nothing."
"Sugoi! Sugoi!" Chopper sparkled. "Kuina and Nojiko are that strong?! Can they beat Aokiji?"
"Aokiji hasn't really shown his true power yet," Robin murmured.
"If an Admiral were that easy to topple, he wouldn't be called top-tier," Leno added.
As they spoke, a sudden bristle of ice spikes erupted from Aokiji's body, forcing the two women to disengage—then more ice orbs and spears streamed from his hands. Time wore on; their breathing grew ragged. Constantly warding off the freezing effect with Armament Haki burned stamina fast, and they were forced down to the ice to alternate attack and guard.
The moment their feet touched the frozen surface, frost climbed their ankles. It reached their calves in a blink. Just as they braced to shatter it with Haki, Aokiji's voice fell like a verdict:
"Ice Time Capsule."
Shff—
A wave of killing cold swept past. Both women became statues of ice.
"Kuina! Nojiko!" Nami went white, panic shredding her voice.
Chopper and Carmen's eyes flew open in horror. They'd been winning seconds ago—how were they frozen solid now?
Robin's face drained. She clutched Leno's arm. "L-Leno… will they be okay?"
"Leno, go save them—now!" Nami cried, tears brimming.
Chopper and Carmen chimed in, babbling pleas.
"Calm down. They're fine. Watch—they're coming out."
Even as Leno spoke, Kuina's and Nojiko's eyes twitched within the ice.
Bang! Bang!
They exploded free, gasping hard. But the instant their feet touched the ice again, frost surged up from below.
Relief flashed across the others' faces—only to stall as the frost swallowed the women's calves a second time.
"Don't stay on the ice! Fly up quickly!" Robin suddenly shouted.
On cue, they shattered the ice at their legs and beat their wings, lifting into the sky. They traded a look, a shiver still in their eyes.
"This guy… he really has Awakened," Leno muttered, watching Aokiji. When he saw Kuina and Nojiko freeze the instant they touched the ice, Leno already had a suspicion, and the subsequent events confirmed it.
This field of ice Aokiji created was like his personal domain. Anyone inside was subject to its constant freeze—bleeding stamina and Haki every heartbeat.
Leno watched the two flagging figures overhead and shook his head. 'The outcome's obvious now.'
"Awakened? What's that supposed to mean, Stupid Leno—explain!" Nami demanded. Robin and the others turned to him, too.
"It's Devil Fruit awakening. After you eat a Fruit and grow stronger, you unlock more abilities in stages.
"Take Kuina's Angel Fruit—she's developed Holy Healing, Holy Judgment, suppression against 'darkness'-type powers, and now Divine Fire. Step by step."
"Awakening is the Fruit at its extreme—a state we call 'awakening.' It's incredibly hard to reach and needs serious grinding. In general, Zoans awaken relatively easier, Logias are very hard, and the hardest are Paramecia." Leno rattled through the primer.
They mulled it over. If Aokiji's Ice-Ice Fruit had awakened… who could beat him?
"Leno, if he's awakened, aren't Kuina and Nojiko in real danger?" Robin asked, anxious.
"Yeah—hurry up and think of something!" Nami latched onto his sleeve.
"Please save them, Leno! Kuina and Nojiko are our precious friends!" Chopper tugged at his pant leg, eyes swimming.
"Of course I'll save them, silly. Leave it to me." Leno patted Chopper's head gently.
Leno stood up, glanced at the women, and smiled. "I'll go prepare first. You all stay safely on the ship." With that, Leno vanished in a flash of electric light.
As he disappeared, all eyes swung back to the battlefield.
Exhaustion gnawed at Kuina and Nojiko; Aokiji's Ice Balls kept coming like he had an endless supply. When they finally started to falter, he slammed his palms to the ground—
"Ice Pillar."
Rumble—
A thick ice column thrust up beneath him, carrying Aokiji swiftly toward the airborne pair.
"Ice Gauntlets."
The extremely cold aura covering his hands rapidly approached the two women. Just as Aokiji was about to end the fight, his Observation Haki screamed a frantic warning.
Reluctantly, Aokiji withdrew his attack and instantly disappeared from his spot.
Crack! BOOM!
The very moment Aokiji vanished, a thick lightning bolt crashed down. The Ice Pillar where he had been standing instantly shattered into a thousand pieces of ice dust.