“Garp, once again it’s your family and your son’s subordinates.”
There was already a Kaido here—if another Dragon were to appear, then Sengoku would have to seriously consider changing the strategic objective. With two of the Four Emperors’ crews plus the Revolutionary Army involved, it would become incredibly difficult for the Marines to handle, especially with Garp showing no intention of making a real effort.
Garp, however, hadn’t remained seated the whole time. Just moments ago, he had punched Marco, who was attempting to rescue Ace, sending him flying.
The First Division Commander being punched away did manage to boost Marines’ morale, but as Garp’s longtime partner, Sengoku was fully aware of just how much force had really been used in that punch.
Rather than saying Garp’s punch was to take Marco out of the battle, it would be more accurate to say that punch preserved most of Marco’s strength, allowing him to handle other enemies.
If Garp hadn’t acted at that moment, Sengoku would have. As the Marine Fleet Admiral, he couldn’t just stand by and let someone openly take Ace away—especially not someone like Marco.
“…”
Garp didn’t say anything. He didn’t even know what he should say. Instead, it was Sengoku who began to speak, launching into a public address.
“Don’t panic! It’s just a mere rookie! But don’t underestimate him either—he will be a source of evil in the future!
Straw Hat Luffy, sworn brother of Fire Fist Ace, grew up with him from childhood. His bloodline—he’s the biological son of the revolutionary Dragon!!”
The revelation that he was the revolutionary Dragon’s son appeared to be a call to all Marines to do everything in their power to eliminate him. But in reality, the statement carried another, deeper meaning.
Given Luffy’s strength, ordinary Marines couldn’t pose much of a threat to him. Nearly all Vice Admirals and above on the battlefield were already engaged in combat, with no capacity to divert their attention.
The only ones capable of dealing with Luffy were the top-tier fighters, and those people were all Marine high command. And these people also knew the truth—that Dragon was Garp’s son.
In a sense, Sengoku’s words were a warning to these people: Luffy is Garp’s grandson—go easy on him.
Akainu and Kizaru didn’t care about any of this. They were too tied up at the moment. The destructive power of Whitebeard, who was in the prime of his life, was absolutely terrifying—each attack of his demanded their full attention just to block.
The most relaxed of them all was actually Kuzan—at least, he had been until now. The average division commanders had no way to handle him.
After hearing Sengoku’s shout, his attention shifted to Luffy.
“Mister Garp’s grandson…”
Before he could take any action, his brain suddenly sent him a danger signal.
“Thunder Bagua!”
Boom!
Kuzan’s figure reformed in the distance. By dispersing his body in time, he successfully avoided Yamato’s attack.
“Ara ara, miss, I remember you’re not the type who enjoys fighting, right? And you don’t really have anything to do with the Whitebeard Pirates either, do you?”
Facing Yamato, who had suddenly targeted him, Kuzan was a bit confused. Among the current three Marine Admirals, he was the one who had interacted with Yamato the most. If he were to give an opinion, he’d say Yamato was nothing like Kaido.
Every time he encountered her, she gave off the vibe of a tourist, completely lacking the intention to fight.
“That’s right, I don’t. I don’t want to fight—but exactly because I don’t want to fight, I have to fight you.”
“Don’t you think that statement’s a bit contradictory?”
With Kaido starting to move, Yamato’s plan to slack off also had to change. Hancock and Jinbe could play their parts in the performance from a distance, but if it dragged on too long, Kaido definitely wouldn’t approve. So she needed a new opponent.
Over on Whitebeard’s side, two Admirals were already being held off. She had no interest in jumping into that mess. If she got dragged into that, it would probably be even more troublesome. Whitebeard had no real relationship with her—she didn’t want to put in that kind of effort.
Naturally, that left Kuzan as the best option.
Every girl has her own little secrets, and Yamato was no exception. There were things about her even Kaido didn’t know—like her immunity to ice.
Kaido’s abilities covered a broad range: lightning, fire, and wind were his go-to elements. Aside from that, he had his overwhelmingly powerful physique. Ice, however, was not among his usual powers.
Since the Icicle Plate had only just returned, there were no members in the Beasts Pirates who specialized in using ice, either. As a result, Yamato’s newly acquired ice immunity had never had a chance to reveal itself within the Beasts Pirates.
But Kuzan, being the Ice-Ice Fruit’s user, relied primarily on ice-based techniques. Compared to light and magma, the explosive power of Kuzan’s ability was slightly weaker in head-on combat. Facing Yamato, who absolutely countered him, he was left with only physical combat options.
And when it came to physical combat, Yamato—having been thoroughly beaten up by Kaido for years—certainly wasn’t afraid. Looking across the entire battlefield, Kuzan was the one with the big reputation and powerful strength, but ironically, he was also the one least likely to cause any effective damage to her.
By taking advantage of Kaido’s lack of intel, she believed she could perfectly carry out her plan to slack off.
“Whatever. For the sake of my beautiful future life, I’ll have to trouble you to show off some of that power of yours.”
“A beautiful life would be if all of you disappeared—that would be truly beautiful. Ice Ball!”
Compared to those pirates who exist purely for the sake of plundering and slaughter, Yamato was much kinder. But her identity was still that of a pirate.
To the Marines, pirates were the root cause of instability on the seas.
Kuzan raised his hand and aimed at Yamato. Several icicles shot out from his palm. As soon as they struck, Yamato was encased in a ball of ice. But Kuzan didn’t feel the slightest bit of ease.
“Ice Saber!”
Cold energy gathered in his palm and formed into a curved blade. Reinforced with Haki, he slashed it toward the ice ball he had just created.
His Ice-Ice Fruit made it difficult to kill an opponent outright. Even if they were turned into an ice sculpture, as long as they thawed out, their life wouldn’t be in danger. To actually kill someone, he had to shatter them at the moment of freezing.
The ice blade, thin as a cicada’s wing, was extremely sharp. With Haki’s enhancement, this hastily formed weapon was no worse than a typical Famed Sword. But before he could even get close, the ice sphere had already shattered into pieces.
At this moment, Yamato had entered her Human-Beast form, swinging her kanabo to block his weapon.
“As expected, attacks of this level can’t restrain you anymore.”
“Try a little harder, and maybe you’ll succeed. Let me see how far a headquarters Admiral can really go!”
Forget Kaido—Kuzan himself didn’t even know what Yamato’s ability actually was. He’d never heard of any ability that was completely immune to freezing.
He simply assumed Yamato had a stronger resistance to his ice because she could also use ice herself.
Although Yamato had fought Kuzan before, she hadn’t been focused on the fight. If Kaido hadn’t been watching from the side, she would’ve run off who knows where long ago.
Under Kaido’s coercion, Yamato had been forced into giving her all—and that, in turn, reshaped Kuzan’s understanding of her.
“Mahoroba!”
“Ice Block: Pheasant Slash!”
Kuzan focused most of his attention on Takeru, paying no mind to the cold energy layered on top of it.
“You and I are both ice. Ice can’t hurt ice.”
“That’s… not necessarily true. Ice Dragon Spiral Kill!”
The cold energy around the front of Takeru condensed into an ice dragon, spreading along Kuzan’s ice saber to his arm.
There was no Haki added, nor was it a physical attack, so Kuzan didn’t take it seriously. But in the next moment, a strange sensation came from his arm.
“Ice Block: Pheasant Peck!”
He raised his left hand and released an ice bird. A massive bird made of ice crashed into Yamato in front of him. Yamato’s ability only granted immunity to the effects of freezing—it didn’t make her immune to the physical impact of ice itself. The giant ice bird, with a wingspan of over ten meters, gave Kuzan the chance to widen the distance between them.
“Hey, hey, this is getting a little ridiculous.”
On Aokiji’s right wrist, several black-and-purple blotches had appeared. As the Ice-Ice Fruit’s user, he knew exactly what that meant.
It was commonly known as—frostbite.
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