Between heaven and earth, only a deathly silent white remained.
The white breath exhaled by Kuzan quickly condensed into frost in the air.
The originally clamorous and tragic battlefield had now turned into a giant art gallery of ice sculptures.
Thousands of Marine elites, along with those hideous zombies who were devouring their comrades, were frozen in an instant by the absolute zero temperature.
The waves remained suspended in mid-air in a crashing posture, with every drop of splashing water clearly visible.
Even the bloody scent permeating the air was completely locked away by the severe cold.
This was the peak combat power of Marineford.
Admiral Aokiji horrifyingly powerful.
Poof—
A cloud of white smoke struggled to gather on the ice, and Smoker reformed into human shape, kneeling on the ice and coughing violently.
As a Logia-type Smoke-Smoke Fruit user, he was one of only two people on this ice field who could still move freely.
But he would rather have been unable to move.
Looking at the lifelike ice sculptures before him, the faces of his comrades frozen in the second before death, Smoker bit down hard on the two cigars in his mouth.
This was the power of an Admiral.
To stop the plague from spreading, he did not hesitate to bury both friend and foe alike.
"Wonderful, truly wonderful."
A sudden burst of applause broke the dead silence.
The hatch on the top floor of the flagship was pushed open.
Three figures wearing white suits and eerie masks walked out.
The tall agent in the lead even held an unfinished goblet in his hand, looking down condescendingly at this frozen hell.
"As expected of Marineford's peak combat power. We'll take over the cleanup work from here."
The tall agent's voice held no trace of respect, but rather a matter-of-fact arrogance.
The agent wearing the smiley-face mask chuckled, leaped lightly off the deck, and landed on the ice.
His leather shoes stepped on the ice, making a crisp sound.
He walked up to the giant block of ice containing Deadpool and reached out to tap the surface.
"What a perfect specimen."
"That freak who can regenerate indefinitely, and that virus that can devour everything... Dr. Vegapunk will be driven mad with joy."
With that, the three CP0 agents fanned out in a triangular formation, taking out specially made Sea Stone chains and restraints.
They were the strongest shields of the Celestial Dragons and the scavengers who handled the World Government's dirty work.
"Do it."
The tall agent gave the order.
The chain in the smiley-faced agent's hand whipped out, coiling toward the red figure inside the ice.
Crack.
An extremely faint, crisp sound suddenly echoed across the empty ice field.
The smiley-faced agent's hand froze in mid-air.
He looked at the ice block in front of him in bewilderment.
A crack appeared on the originally mirror-smooth ice surface.
Then came a second, a third... like a spider web, it instantly covered the entire iceberg.
A hair-raising dark red light seeped through the cracks in the ice.
"Get back!"
Kuzan's sharp shout came from behind.
Too late.
BOOM—!!!
The iceberg exploded.
Ice shards shot out like shotgun pellets, and several nearby Marine ice sculptures were shattered into dust by the impact.
Amidst the flying ice mist, a large hand covered in a black-and-red carapace suddenly lunged out.
The speed was faster than a visual afterimage.
Pfft!
The smiley-faced agent didn't even have time to activate Haki before that large hand clamped onto his face.
Immense force instantly crushed his mask, grinding it along with the bridge of his nose into powder.
"Ugh!!"
The scream was choked in his throat.
"Hmm... let me think, what does this taste like?"
Deadpool's voice drifted from the ice mist, carrying a hair-raising pleasure.
The muscles all over his body were writhing; the injuries from being frozen had long since healed under the terrifying activity of the Blacklight virus.
"It's the taste of the privileged class. A bit fishy, but very chewy."
Before his voice had even faded...
Countless black-and-red tentacles exploded from Deadpool's palm, instantly piercing into the smiley-faced agent's orifices.
"Stop!"
The other two CP0 agents' eyes nearly burst from their sockets.
They simultaneously activated "Soru," their figures vanishing instantly and reappearing at Deadpool's sides.
Two pitch-black fingers, accompanied by a whistle that tore through the air, stabbed fiercely toward Deadpool's temples and heart.
"Finger Pistol: Yellow Lotus!"
"Too weak, too weak."
Deadpool didn't even turn his head.
A layer of black biomass suddenly welled up on the surface of his body, instantly hardening into a chitinous armor.
Clang! Clang!
The Finger Pistols, capable of piercing steel, struck the armor, only sending up two sparks.
"What?!"
The pupils of the two agents shook violently.
It was actually this hard!
"Courtesy demands reciprocity; I'll give you a finger too."
Deadpool grinned, revealing the interlocking fangs in his mouth.
His shoulders suddenly split open, and two thick tentacles shot out like venomous snakes, striking back at a speed even faster than the Finger Pistol.
Pfft! Pfft!
Two muffled sounds.
The chests of the two CP0 agents were instantly impaled, leaving them hanging in mid-air.
"AAAAAAAA!!"
Shrill screams echoed across the ice field.
But soon, the screams turned into gurgling swallowing sounds.
Under the horrified gaze of Kuzan and the surviving Marines, the bodies of the three CP0 agents representing the World Government's peak combat power shriveled at a visible rate until nothing remained.
Their flesh, bones, and even the muscle memory of Finger Pistol and Haki all flowed through the tentacles into Deadpool's body.
"Phew..."
Deadpool casually tossed aside the three mummified corpses.
He took a deep breath, a look of intoxication appearing on his face.
The black-and-red armor on his body became even thicker, and his originally streamlined muscle lines were now filled with an explosive sense of power.
A visible wave of dark red air radiated outward with him as the center.
It was a mixture of pure killing intent and life energy.
"This feeling..."
Deadpool clenched his fist, and the air exploded in his palm, producing a deafening sonic boom.
"AWESOME!!!"
He suddenly roared toward the sky.
The sound waves rolled out, shattering the glass of the distant warships.
He had become stronger again!
His physical strength had increased by at least ten percent!
Standing on the shattered iceberg, Deadpool extended the arm that had just devoured the three CP0 agents and licked his lips with lingering desire.
"Though the texture is a bit like expired luncheon meat, I have to say, the nutritional value of the watchdogs raised by the World Government is indeed ridiculously high."
He let out a satisfied burp, and a dark red glow flowed across the surface of the black-and-red biological armor.
That wasn't a reflection.
That was life energy almost overflowing from his body.
Kuzan's expression was so dark it looked like it could drip water.
These three idiots not only failed to help but instead became the opponent's nourishment!
What surprised him more, however, was that this guy could actually insta-kill three CP0 elites.
He could also defeat the three of them with overwhelming force, but he couldn't achieve an instant kill.
Has this guy been hiding his strength?
Kuzan exhaled a cloud of ice mist.
It seemed a fierce battle was unavoidable today.
Just then, a heavy sound of footsteps came from the side of the ice field.
Crunch. Crunch.
Abel dragged that heavily deformed black tower shield and walked over step by step.
He walked very slowly.
Every step left a deep footprint on the ice.
At this moment, this Foundation Task Force Captain looked incredibly disheveled.
His bronze skin was covered in fine cracks, and the light from the eerie black tattoo on his chest was dim, like embers that could go out at any moment.
Kuzan's voice held unconcealed mockery.
He exhaled a breath of cold air, his gaze sweeping over the red figure laughing wildly in the distance.
"So, Super Captain, what moves do you have left now?"
"Honestly, did you offend someone within your Foundation? Otherwise, why would they send you to hunt down an enemy whose strength far exceeds your own?"