The colossal Sea Kings in the area turned to ice statues in the blink of an eye, then shattered into drifting shards. The thousand-meter tsunami that had been roaring toward them froze solid under countless awed gazes.
Kuzan exhaled, tension easing from his shoulders.
Rakuya, however, did not look surprised that Kuzan had stalled the wall of water. A faintly amused smile tugged at his lips.
Moments after the freeze, the distant ice face a kilometer high jolted as if struck by an unseen hammer. In the few seconds since it had solidified, fractures spidered across it, and then it burst apart again.
A frozen shell could not truly stop an annihilating wave.
"No good," Steel Bone Kong muttered, face grim. Kuzan lifted his chin, eyes narrowing as the ice crumbled in the face of that titanic surge.
"I'll handle it."
Sakazuki, seeing Kuzan's defense failing, flashed to the front. Wind and spindrift tore at him, only to boil away in the heat rippling from his body.
Both fists became magma. He swept his arms and a barrage of blazing hammers slammed into the descending sea. Water exploded into steam.
"Meteor Volcano!"
"Ice Age!"
They attacked in tandem. The sky bloomed red and white as hundreds of pillars of magma and cold roared at the oncoming wall.
Boom. Crash.
Flame towered. Frost howled.
The thousand-meter wave weakened under their combined assault. By the time it neared the Marines' foothold, it had dwindled to a surge only tens of meters high, far less devastating than before.
Even so, that much water still swept away four or five battleships, dragging them under. Men and hulls vanished all at once.
In the wake of the wave, Sea Kings surged up again. Vast bodies slammed into hulls, pitching ships deep into the troughs and threatening to tear them apart.
"Damn it. Who is controlling them?" Sengoku's face went iron blue. The Marines' ironclad armada, mauled by sea beasts in their own element. It was galling.
And their keels were lined with Seastone.
"It has to be Rakuya," Kong growled through clenched teeth. "Tch. Troublesome. Unbeatable in the sky, and just as untouchable on land. We have no answer."
For the first time, Garp spread his hands, a shadow crossing his usually carefree face. "Feels dangerous."
Kong's expression darkened to near black. He snapped, cold and sharp, "All Marines of vice admiral rank and above, protect your own ships. Kill every Sea King in range."
He had scarcely finished when a strangely built Sea King lunged from beneath a battleship. Fangs bristled in a cavernous maw as it clamped down for the keel. Iron meant nothing before that bite force.
"Troublesome."
Kuzan's tone soured, but his movements stayed unhurried. As the jaws shut, he flashed forward. Twin lances of ice sprang from his hands and drove up through the creature's gullet.
Cold flooded outward.
The gaping monster froze solid mid-bite, then splintered into fragments with a crisp crack.
"Hmph. Mere Sea Kings dare bare their fangs at the Marines?"
Sakazuki's eyes were like winter ash. Magma burst from his right arm.
"Canine Crimson Lotus!"
A gigantic molten hound surged forward, jaws open, body wreathed in flame and blood-red heat. It slammed into a Sea King and swallowed it whole. In an instant, the beast burned to cinders.
Fighting erupted everywhere. Each ship had at least one vice admiral directing the defense. When three or four Sea Kings attacked at once, even seasoned officers found themselves scrambling, barked orders breaking into curses as the deck pitched.
"Let's see how long you can hold. Marine Headquarters… this will be your grave."
Rakuya hovered above the sea, gaze like a winter blade. He stood alone and sovereign, watching without a ripple of emotion. He lifted his right hand.
Lightning spears crashed down. The light turned the night to day. Bolts stitched across the fleet, striking hull after hull. The ironclad ships conducted the fury mercilessly. In a matter of seconds, Marines stood with hair on end and faces charred black. Some dropped where they stood, bodies holed through by thunder.
Lightning webbed through the air.
Rakuya looked like the master of the storm, holding wind, rain, and thunder in his palm.
A god.
A god in truth.
"Now then…"
Somewhere, an old man murmured. A human silhouette coalesced atop a battleship.
He wore a plain white robe. His face was scored with age but lit by an occasional glint of keen light. Hair and brows were white. His features were lean, the cords on his hands and feet standing out. His back was straight. His eyes were bright.
The instant he appeared, the air thickened.
Space itself seemed to bow under invisible pressure.
Rakuya's brow lifted a fraction. When he saw the old man clearly, understanding dawned.
One of the Five Elders.
"Heh. No wonder the Marines dared to take the field against me. So there was a shield waiting behind them," Rakuya said lightly, utterly unafraid.
"My lord."
The old man stood at the prow. Around him, even the Marine admirals unconsciously ceded him primacy.
He ignored Kong and the others. He simply looked up at the man in the sky who seemed to command everything. "You are Rakuya?"
His voice was calm, his lined face faintly smiling.
"One of the Five Elders, is it? Kong, this is your trump card?" Rakuya smiled as well.
"Hmph. Whelp, there's no escape. Before a Lord of the Five Elders, you will not leave alive today."
"Is that so?" Rakuya's smile thinned.
The old man vanished and reappeared in the air. A thunderbolt speared him, but only a fine scorch trace crawled across his skin before the lightning guttered out.
"Heh. So that is why you dare show yourself. A mutated body," Rakuya said softly, cold amusement in his eyes. "The Five Elders consumed what you call a Life Fruit, and the result was… aberrations."
Not only did they possess bodies that refused to die. Their very flesh had changed.
Once, Rakuya had not known what forms those changes took.
Now he could guess the one standing before him.
Flesh, transfigured.
Monstrously strong.
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