CHAPTER 31

 "Asshole!"

  "Sakazuki, is this what you meant by 'no need to worry'?"

  Seeing the G1 Naval Base engulfed in a hellish inferno, Aokiji's expression darkened. The fury in his eyes burned even hotter than Sakazuki's magma.

  "Ice Time: Blizzard Howl!"

  Scolding Sakazuki, Aokiji shot into the air and released a massive wave of freezing mist over the G1 base.

  Whoosh—!

  A frigid wind roared down, rolling in with a blizzard that blanketed the burning wreckage.

  Hiss... crackle... hiss...

  The lava hissed violently as it cooled, blackened, and was finally extinguished beneath the frost.

  Even though Aokiji reacted quickly, dousing the blaze, his expression remained grim. With Kenbunshoku Haki (Observation Haki), he perceived the extent of the casualties instantly—it was catastrophic.

  Krrk—

  Akainu's fists trembled, clenched tight beside his legs.

  In the name of absolute justice, he had never hesitated to sacrifice his own men if it meant eradicating pirates.

  But only when there were results.

  Now, his Meteor Volcano razed the G1 base, incinerated elite soldiers... and yet the enemy stood untouched.

  This wasn't just a military disaster.

  It was a personal failure, a smear on his record. And worse—it jeopardized his standing in the race for Fleet Admiral.

  "…It's you!"

  With the sky finally cleared of ash and no fog to obscure his view, Akainu saw the face above.

  "True Lord Ragnar!"

  Aokiji's tone turned glacial as he uttered the infamous moniker—no longer just a title in the Beasts Pirates, but a name that echoed across the New World's underworld and into Marine HQ.

  "Rag… nar!"

  Akainu growled each syllable, his tone murderous as he glared at the man standing atop a drifting cloud.

  "You two," Ragnar said, calm and lofty, "don't you enjoy this kind of farewell ceremony?"

  "…What do you mean?" Akainu's eyes narrowed.

  "Literally."

  Ragnar's voice rolled like thunder:

  "It means uprooting every last one of your bases—G1 through G5—and driving the navy out of the New World."

  "After all," he added with cold arrogance, "we can't let you retreat without giving you a proper send-off."

  Fury erupted among the Marine officers.

  "Drive us out?!"

  "Who the hell do you think you are?"

  "Even your father was captured when he challenged G1. You think you can do better?!"

  Akainu barked a laugh filled with venom.

  "You're right," Ragnar said with quiet certainty, "I alone will do it."

  His voice wasn't loud, but it echoed across the sea like a divine command.

  Firm, heavy, unshakable—like an emperor announcing judgment.

  "…Tch. Big words."

  Aokiji stepped off the warship. The moment his foot touched the ocean, it froze into a solid plain of ice.

  Boom!

  The surrounding sea turned into a boundless glacial battlefield, waves silenced beneath layers of permafrost.

  As far as the eye could see, no more flowing tides—only a silver sea of deathly stillness.

  "You'd better pray you inherited your father's immortal body," Aokiji said lazily, his sharp gaze fixed on Ragnar.

  "Otherwise, you won't even survive long enough to become his cellmate."

  Crack!

  Suddenly, the ice field rumbled.

  Rumble—crackling—crack!

  Massive ice spears surged from the frozen sea, erupting like dragons from the deep, their piercing tips aimed at Ragnar in the sky.

Each icicle shimmered with deadly intent, brimming with a bone-chilling aura. The moment they touched anything—flesh, steel, or stone—it would instantly freeze solid, covered in a rime of unyielding ice.

They weren't just frozen lances.

They were spears of annihilation.

Each one was honed to a lethal point, sharp enough to pierce fortress walls and thick hulls of warships.

Each one tore through the air like a meteor, howling with a high-pitched screech as they sliced toward their target at terrifying speed.

There were hundreds of them.

From a distance, it resembled a legion of frozen titans unleashing a barrage of spears, blotting out the sky as they descended.

"He's serious from the very beginning…"

Akainu stood nearby, his expression unmoved but his gaze sharp. His eyes flicked toward Aokiji.

Though their philosophies had clashed for over a decade, and though they barely saw eye-to-eye on the meaning of justice, he still knew his rival well.

Both as a man—and as a warrior.

Aokiji. The man wielding the Hie Hie no Mi. One of the Navy's most dangerous weapons.

But the man standing across from Aokiji did not flinch.

Ragnar.

There was calm on his face, but in his eyes—a trace of gravity surfaced.

"A natural Logia Admiral... Not someone the likes of the Three Disasters or the Six Flying Brothers could compare to."

Then, without hesitation, Ragnar acted.

"Samadhi Fire."

He inhaled. Deeply.

Then exhaled—a single thread of golden flame.

At first, it was like a whisper. But in the blink of an eye, it expanded with explosive fury.

A golden inferno erupted outward, billowing toward the descending icicles like a divine wildfire.

The two forces collided.

Hissssss!!

The flames roared. The icicles sizzled.

Clouds of white mist burst into the air as heat and cold clashed head-on. In the blink of an eye, the front wave of icy lances disintegrated—melted, evaporated, turned to nothing more than curling wisps of steam.

Not even water remained. Only mist.

A dense, silver-white fog now hovered where destruction had nearly fallen.

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