Chapter 8
Behind Admiral Aokiji (Kuzan), countless Marine grunts were watching Ice Age unfold—a terrifying, overwhelming freezing attack.
Their blood boiled with excitement.
"Hahaha, look at that! Admiral Aokiji's ice is on another level!"
"Exactly! One move from Aokiji-sama and half the barrier around Sabaody is already frozen solid!"
"That so-called Tian Chen the Great Emperor's ice? It's all show—terrifying aura, sure, but compared to Aokiji-sama's freezing power? Not even close!"
"Haha, that's obvious, isn't it?"
"Our Admiral Aokiji ate the Logia-type Ice-Ice Fruit—the strongest ice-based Devil Fruit there is! Snow-Snow Fruit, Frost-Frost Fruit? Those are just inferior versions in front of the real deal!"
They praised him without the slightest shame or hesitation.
Meanwhile, Aokiji's old face actually flushed red. He felt like these clueless subordinates had just slapped him across the face—hard.
What kind of eyesight do these guys even have?!
Aokiji desperately wanted to yell: Shut up! All of you, shut the hell up!
My ice… seems to be weaker than hers… Can't you see the entire sky is still under her freezing influence? Snow falling everywhere, covering thousands of miles!
Anyone capable of altering the climate over such a massive area… How could they possibly lack the power to freeze things solid?
Clearly, the other side had perfect control over their power release— They simply chose not to blanket the world in ice.
And worse… His own Ice Age still hadn't broken through that damn barrier!
"Ahem…"
"Pure Ice Age alone… isn't enough to destroy the barrier directly."
"But under this level of freezing, the barrier's defense must have been severely weakened. It should be very fragile now."
"You lot—open fire with the cannons. A concentrated bombardment should shatter it in one go."
Aokiji spoke with visible hesitation.
"Yes, Admiral Aokiji!"
The Marines instantly lit up with excitement. Even the Admiral was giving them a chance to shine!
They quickly rolled out dozens of cannons.
"Come on, brothers!" "Fire!!"
BOOM!
"Keep firing!" BOOM BOOM!!!
A dense hail of cannonballs rained toward the frozen barrier layer.
Inside Sabaody Archipelago, the residents watched in horror as Aokiji instantly froze a huge section of the barrier. Although the barrier held firm against his strongest attack, now they faced an endless barrage of shells.
Panic began to spread again.
The Heroic Spirit Army immediately stepped in to maintain order.
"No need to worry." "The Great Emperor's power cannot be shaken." "Please return to your normal lives."
Hearing the guards speak with such absolute confidence, the people finally calmed down—and their bravado returned.
That's right! This is Tian Chen the Great Emperor we're talking about! A man who steps on air, commands nine golden dragons—how could his power possibly be broken?!
With that realization, the islanders started getting cocky.
"Heh heh, the Marines are nothing special. Hundreds of warships? So what? They still can't even scratch the Great Emperor's barrier!"
"Exactly! Who said the three great Admirals are the strongest? In front of Tian Chen the Great Emperor, they're just clowns."
"Hmph! If the Marines dare step inside, I'll slap them myself!"
"Don't talk about the Marines—even if Fleet Admiral Sengoku and Hero Garp came in, I'd give each of them a solid slap!"
"Yeah! What's there to be afraid of? As long as this barrier holds, next time a Celestial Dragon shows up outside, I'll run out, beat the hell out of them, then run right back in!"
The bragging escalated. Everyone was hyped, feeding off each other's energy. The whole island turned into one giant victory party atmosphere.
Meanwhile, outside the barrier, after bombarding for a long time, the Marines finally noticed something was wrong.
They were dumbfounded.
"What the hell?! This barrier is way too durable!"
"We've fired thousands of shells—zero reaction!"
"Hmph, this Tian Chen the Great Emperor must be using some crooked, evil power!"
"Ahem… everyone calm down! We were just testing the waters earlier!"
"Wait until the main force gets serious—tens of thousands of shells at once. That kind of firepower… tch tch, forget breaking the barrier, we could sink the whole Sabaody Archipelago!"
Many Marines had already heard rumors: Tonight they might activate Buster Call mode. Otherwise, why bring hundreds of warships and this much ammunition? They were clearly prepared for indiscriminate, apocalyptic bombardment!
At the same time, on another side of the encirclement…
"Report to Fleet Admiral! Admiral Aokiji made his move and we bombarded for several minutes, but we still couldn't destroy the barrier!"
"And then… then we saw the people inside Sabaody start taunting us even harder."
"They were saying things like 'Come on! Come in! Hit us! You can't even get in—you're all dogs…'"
"They even said if you and Vice Admiral Garp came inside, they'd slap you both!"
Sengoku's face darkened with black lines.
"Enough!"
"Go inform the other Admirals—prepare to attack together. We must break this defensive barrier as soon as possible."
Sengoku refused to believe it. With so many people… They couldn't break a thin resin membrane?!
...