A sharp, curious look flashed across Aokiji's face as he turned toward the source of the voice.
But there was no one there.
"Huh?" he muttered, frowning. The voice had sounded close, too close like the speaker was standing right beside him. Yet the air around him was empty.
Then a thought struck him. His brows twitched. Half a year ago, at Marine Headquarters, there had been that mysterious incident... Could it be? The invisible man who ambushed Akainu?
"Hey, Kuzan," the voice came again, lazy and teasing. "When someone's talking to you, maybe don't look down your nose at them. Kinda rude, don't you think?"
The words were crystal clear, right by his ear.
Aokiji froze, then slowly looked down.
And there he saw it a black-and-white mask with a twisted, grinning smile painted across it. The kind of grin that made your scalp prickle.
"You're...?" Aokiji's eyes narrowed. The masked man was wearing a Navy uniform, which only made the situation stranger. "Who are you?"
"Just passing by," the man replied lightly, voice rough with a faint hint of amusement.
Liam Ross tilted his head back to look up at Aokiji. Standing at barely one-seventy tall, he had to crane his neck to meet the Marine's gaze. Aokiji, towering close to three meters, simply looked down with ease.
The contrast was almost absurd a giant and a man half his size, locked in standoff.
Liam inwardly grimaced. He made a mental note: I'm finding a way to get taller after this.
Height differences during a fight? A nightmare.
Aokiji didn't understand what "just passing by" meant, but the tone, the mask, and the timing told him enough this man wasn't here for small talk.
"You're here to save her?" His tone chilled, cold mist curling from his fingers.
Across the seas of the Grand Line, few dared oppose the Marines, especially not here in the first half of the world. Yet this masked stranger had.
He had interfered. He had defied the law.
That alone was a crime.
Aokiji's decision was instant: whoever this man was, he would be captured and sent straight to Impel Down.
"Sometimes," Liam said evenly, "mercy is the higher justice. She's just a child hardly a threat to the Navy or the world government. Tell me, what good does it do you to slaughter her too?"
The masked man's voice was calm, almost casual, but his words carried an edge sharper than steel.
Aokiji's eyes narrowed. "Do you know what happens if she's allowed to live?"
"Oh, I know what you're about to say," Liam interrupted with a faint, knowing smile. "But really what of it? The future of this world has nothing to do with me. Or maybe it does with you. Maybe it's your world government that's afraid of something."
Aokiji's eyes hardened, his hand brushing his glasses aside. "What exactly do you know?"
"Want to find out?" Liam's grin widened behind the mask. "Then ask the one who's been keeping all your secrets."
Aokiji's expression darkened. He didn't wait for more talk.
"Ice Ball!"
With a wave of his hand, five sharp ice pillars shot forward like frozen spears, racing toward Liam.
The masked man's arm darkened, coated with Haki.
A deep hum filled the air
Then crash!
His fist shattered the icy barrage in a spray of glittering shards.
Aokiji darted upward, launching another attack midair.
"Frozen Time Capsule!"
A spinning wave of frost burst from his hand, sweeping across the ground, freezing everything it touched.
Liam slammed both palms down. "Wall of Earth!"
With a rumbling crack, a massive wall of packed soil rose before him. The freezing blast struck it, encasing it in glittering blue ice.
Aokiji's eyes flickered with intrigue. "A Devil Fruit? Earth powers... a new type?"
Liam raised his arms, the ground trembling beneath him. "Earth Dragon Spiral!"
Two colossal dragons made of packed earth erupted from beneath Aokiji's feet, twisting together and lunging at him.
Boom!
The twin dragons smashed through him, his body exploding into shards of ice.
Liam didn't even flinch. "Too easy."
He lifted a hand, the ground splitting once again. "Earth Prison!"
Four thick walls of dirt rose around the spot where Aokiji's body had scattered, closing in to trap him
But a flash of light shot upward, and Aokiji reformed midair, escaping the snare by inches.
The sky shimmered.
"Been waiting for you," a cold voice murmured behind him.
Aokiji's instincts screamed. "Not good Frozen Moment!"
But it was too late.
Liam's Haki-clad fist slammed into his back like a meteor striking the earth.
BOOM!
The blow sent Aokiji hurtling downward, crashing straight through the mast of a Marine battleship anchored below. The entire ship rocked from the impact.
"Enemy attack! Enemy attack!" Marines screamed, pointing their rifles toward the smoke and rubble.
A tall, ice-coated figure stepped from the wreckage, unfazed. Aokiji's body could take a beating; even that punch hadn't done lasting harm. But it had earned his respect.
The masked stranger was strong General-level strong.
"Vice Admiral Kuzan?!" the soldiers gasped. "He was hit?!"
The disbelief rippled through the crew. Who could possibly do that to him?
Ignoring their panic, Aokiji pulled out his transponder snail and called Akainu.
"What is it, Kuzan?"
"There's a man here an Earth Fruit user. His strength is comparable to an admiral."
Silence. Then Akainu's deep, grim voice: "Whoever it is, he cannot be allowed to interfere. Hold your position I'm on my way."
The line went dead.
Aokiji put the snail away, leapt into the air, and stepped across the sky on Moonwalk, heading back toward the coast.
Liam was waiting, arms folded, a smirk playing at the corner of his lips. "Took you long enough."
The two stood at a standoff once more, their auras clashing invisibly between them.
After that brief exchange, Liam had gauged his own power. He was close to the peak of a lower-tier admiral strong, but not yet at his future height.
Aokiji, twenty years younger than the man who would one day stand on Marineford's battlefield, was still growing into his full potential.
"Who the hell are you?" Aokiji demanded, his gaze sharp.
Liam's voice was steady. "You can call me... Emperor Ross."
"Emperor Ross?" Aokiji frowned, confused. "Never heard of you."
"That's fine," Liam chuckled. "I'm not here to make a name for myself. Just couldn't stand by while you bullied a child."
"She's a criminal," Aokiji said firmly.
"Criminal?" Liam's tone sharpened. "Did she burn, rob, or kill anyone? Or did she simply learn something your government didn't want her to know?"
Aokiji's silence was telling.
Liam shook his head. "You know the truth better than anyone, Kuzan."
If Aokiji weren't a man of decency, Liam wouldn't have wasted his breath.
But before either could say more
"Great Eruption!"
A blazing crimson hound of molten magma tore down from the sky, its jaws wide open, lunging straight at Liam.
The sea of justice was about to ignite again.