The instant Jhin saw Kuzan, he still felt a trace of surprise, even though he already knew the Marines had retreated to Migo Town. The ICE Marine Branch had suffered a crushing defeat at the hands of the Beasts Pirates, yet this Marine Rear Admiral had not led his men to flee. Instead, he remained on an island so close to Lodestar Island.
For a Marine Rear Admiral of his intelligence, he should have known what consequences this would bring. With the Beasts Pirates attacking again, Kuzan and his men had no escape. For the Marines, this meant complete annihilation.
"Leave?"
"I am a Marine!"
"This time, I cannot allow myself to retreat again."
"Protecting civilians is my duty!"
As Kuzan spoke, he raised his left hand and pointed toward Jhin in the air. An icicle shot forth from his palm, sharp and cold, piercing toward Jhin's chest.
Facing Kuzan's words and attack, Jhin's expression only tightened. Without saying more, he spread his wings to evade, while his long blade swept across his side.
The icicle's speed was far too fast. Relying on evasion alone was not enough. Only by adding a parry could Jhin be sure of avoiding it without fail.
The icicle sliced past, shards scattering under the clash of his sword, glittering in the sunlight.
But suddenly, the force behind the strike vanished. When Jhin turned his head toward the shore, he saw only Kogarashi thrust into the ground. Kuzan's figure was gone.
In the next moment, Kuzan emerged from the icicle beside him, body condensing out of the ice, gripping an ice blade and stabbing toward Jhin's chest.
"A Logia user, yet fighting in this way."
"Far more troublesome than most. As expected of a Headquarters Rear Admiral."
Jhin could not help but mutter in admiration. During the assault on Lodestar Island, Kaido had been the one to clash with Kuzan. Jhin had only glimpsed their battle from afar near its end.
Now facing Kuzan himself, the feeling was completely different. Truly, only a Marine capable of fighting Kaido head-on could wield such strength.
Without time to think, the flames on Jhin's back vanished, his form blurring into an afterimage. He reappeared beneath the icicle, fire roaring once more at his back. His long blade wrapped in Armament Haki slashed upward with violent force.
Kuzan had not expected such speed. The icicle snapped apart before Jhin's blade could touch it, Kuzan's body dissolving into mist, scattering into the air.
A chill brushed Jhin's shoulder. He turned sharply and saw Kuzan reforming behind him, a hand pressing onto his shoulder.
"Ice Ball."
Frost burst forth. In an instant, Jhin was sealed inside a sphere nearly ten meters wide, crashing toward the ground.
Boom!
The ice sphere struck, carving a crater, but its hardened surface did not crack. Within, Jhin was frozen mid-motion, head turning, eyes wide with shock, transformed into a lifelike ice sculpture.
Like an insect sealed within amber.
With a soft sound, a white figure dropped onto the top of the ice sphere. Kuzan stood with hands in his pockets, white cloak fluttering, thin mist of frost escaping with each breath.
He lifted his head and looked out across the sea, face stern.
At this time, under Kuzan's Devil Fruit power, Migo Town's port had become an ice harbor.
The sea was frozen solid, a layer of ice several meters thick stretching thousands of meters across, locking the Beasts Pirates' ships in place.
In the sunlight, cold mist rose from the vast ice, blurring the vision of Kaido and his men.
"Captain, Jhin seems to have lost?!"
At this point, the Beasts Pirates had yet to form the rigid hierarchy they would one day hold. Even Jack, the so-called King of the Ships, was nowhere to be seen.
For now, aside from Kaido himself, the strongest force of the crew was his first companion, Jhin.
As for Queen the Plague, though already part of the crew, he was still a scientist at this time. His research into human modification had yet to realize his ideal body, and his strength could not compare to the Lunarian Jhin.
Holding a telescope, Queen watched the battlefield anxiously and spoke to Kaido beside him.
Kaido's Observation Haki was sharp. He could clearly sense the battle.
To Queen's worry, Kaido only grinned. "Jhin will never be defeated so easily."
As if to prove him right, flames suddenly erupted within the ice sphere.
Kuzan felt the tremor beneath him and leapt away, flipping lightly to land beside Kogarashi. His hand grasped the sword's hilt as he fixed his gaze on the ice sphere.
Moments later, the sphere exploded. Shards blasted outward, smashing houses, fragments pelting toward Kuzan, only to pass harmlessly through his body of ice.
"What is that…" Kuzan narrowed his eyes. From the shattered ice, Jhin emerged wreathed in flames.
"Did Yoriichi's Flame-Flame Fruit go missing?!"
His first thought was that Jhin had eaten a Devil Fruit. But he quickly dismissed it. Those black wings could not be natural. Surely that was the sign of a Zoan fruit. For him to also possess a Logia ability was impossible.
As for conjuring fire without a fruit, Kuzan had seen stranger things. He knew of men who could summon flames without ever eating a Devil Fruit. The world was vast, and he had long since learned to accept such mysteries.
The flames on Jhin's body faded, leaving only his back and his blade still burning. He swung once, sending a fiery slash at Kuzan.
Kuzan did not dodge. His chest turned to mist, the slash passing through him to carve into the town behind.
Dust rose. A five-story building was cut clean in half and collapsed.
Kuzan lowered his head slightly, breath curling out as frost. His eyes grew cold as he lifted his blade before him.
"Such a troublesome opponent. This is the first time I have faced a Logia like this."
Jhin gripped his long blade, staring at Kuzan. The flames on his back began to extinguish.
Kuzan's brow furrowed, his muscles tensing.
In their brief exchange, he had already noticed. The fire on Jhin's back seemed linked to his speed. When the flames vanished, his speed soared. When they reignited, his physical power surged instead.
As the fire went out again, Kuzan focused, Observation Haki locking onto Jhin.
The next moment, Jhin's figure disappeared.
Kuzan's eyes widened. He could not see him, but his Haki screamed warning. A powerful presence was rushing straight at him.
Without hesitation, he raised his blade.
A black slash crashed down from above.
Clang!
Sparks rang as Jhin appeared before him. Before Kuzan could react, Jhin's massive frame swung a brutal kick into his waist.
Kuzan managed to harden his body with Armament Haki, but dared not rely on elementization. The attack came too fast. He remembered Yoriichi's sparring lessons, never trust partial elementization against an opponent who could change direction in an instant.
The kick connected, hurling him into a house that collapsed with a crash.
Jhin did not wait. He spread his wings, fire extinguishing again as he lunged forward, blade thrust ahead to finish Kuzan.
But from the smoke erupted countless ice needles, a storm blotting out the sky.
Jhin's eyes narrowed. Flames reignited. He raised his arms and charged straight through, body tanking the sharp barrage as he forced into the smoke.
Steel hissed.
At the last second, Kuzan rolled away clumsily, abandoning elegance for survival. A blade tore into the ground where he had lain.
Glancing aside at Jhin's towering figure, Kuzan's body dissolved into mist once more and vanished.
Flames surged back around Jhin, melting the ice needles until they hissed away as vapor. His clothes were shredded, but his body showed no wounds.
The smoke thinned. Kuzan reformed a short distance away, brushing dust from his white suit. His eyes revealed surprise.
"My strike landed… why is he unhurt?"
"An animal-type Devil Fruit, yes. But why?"
He could not understand. Unless he solved this mystery, defeating Jhin would be no simple task. And this was a dire thought, for Jhin was not alone. The Beasts Pirates waited just offshore.
As that weighed upon him, the sky suddenly darkened.
Kuzan looked up. A massive azure dragon coiled in the clouds, its vast body stretching for thousands of meters.
"Jhin!"
"You're too slow!"
Kaido's thunderous voice boomed, his colossal dragon head emerging from the clouds to glare down.
Jhin lifted his head, wings spreading, vanishing in a blur.
In the next moment, Kaido opened his jaws. A torrent of flames surged downward toward the harbor.
Boom!
The inferno roared, aimed not only to kill Kuzan, but to wipe out every civilian at the port.
Sizzle!
Yet the expected sea of fire did not come. Instead, steam hissed violently, as though water had fallen into red-hot iron.
Billows of vapor rose, shrouding Kaido's sight.
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