The Sword of Unity, the Fists of Brothers

"Wake up, you brat!"

As Akainu jumped off the Execution Platform, Luffy and Ace rushed to his side.

"I will definitely sever your cursed bloodline!"

In response to Akainu's declaration, Ace's arms burst into flames. A smirk spread across his face, revealing his defiant and untamed nature.

"Sorry, my brother and I haven't received much education! We can't be bothered to listen to your high-sounding principles."

"Here we go, Luffy!"

Armament Haki covered both fists, and Luffy, looking delighted, struck the same pose.

"Leave it to me, Ace!"

Just like when we went to the front lines two years ago.

On the other side:

"Ice Blade - Greatsword!"

With a wave of his hand, Aokiji instantly conjured a massive ice blade above his head. The ice was not ordinary, crystal clear, but rather the kind of solid ice found only on towering peaks or in the heart of polar regions, so hard that it was difficult to cut or chisel it.

Immediately afterwards, this enormous ice blade, as solid as a warship, with its indestructible quality, immense weight, and unstoppable force, met Roman, who had cleaved through the 'Ice Age,' with the intent to bury him there!

The next moment, in the sudden burst of black and white light, the ice blade crumbled! The extreme solidity and weight it had previously seemed to be nothing more than a soap bubble illusion that could burst at the slightest touch.

"Momo - Fifty-Fold Tremor Sword!"

The longsword, gleaming with a scorching white light, met the challenge head-on. Covered in Armament Haki, the jet-black sword was also wreathed in a violent surge of vibrations that occurred hundreds of millions of times per second. With Roman's swing, it blasted the air into glass-like cracks, shattering everything in its path.

"Oh dear, oh dear, this familiar power..."

With a swift grab, Aokiji conjured a military knife, even more condensed like millennia-old ice, into his hand. Although it quickly shattered under the combined attack of Roman's Armament Haki and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, Aokiji could have as many of these weapons as he wanted.

"This familiar attack pattern, and that little girl interfering with my abilities..."

Behind Roman, Nami also activated her 'Frozen Page' ability to compete for control of the ice on the battlefield. Although her second-rate skills were certainly not as good as Aokiji's, it would be enough if she could distract Aokiji and prevent him from launching a wide-range attack.

"Is it the two of you? Vice Admiral Roman and Colonel Ann?"

The 'Aokiji' in front of him is still the version from two years ago, so his 'memory' of Roman and Nami is still stuck when he first joined the Navy.

"Mr. Kuzan, this is not the time for casual conversation. Even you, without your Haki, need to be careful. We've been tempered in the flames of war for two years; underestimating someone will lead to serious consequences!"

"Oh dear, it seems I'm the one being underestimated."

"Ice Storm!"

Even though Nami interfered with his control over his abilities, Aokiji was, after all, Marine Admiral. Even if he couldn't use his large-scale Disaster Skills, he could still easily use his small-scale ice abilities.

As Aokiji opened its beak and blew, a surge of icy breath, like a giant wave triggered by a tsunami, rushed toward Roman.

As the icy breath rushed in, the surrounding air swirled rapidly around it, forming a huge vortex. The air affected by the icy breath instantly liquefied and solidified, and the low pressure of the vacuum quickly formed a huge whirlwind, which swept down on Roman with countless rapidly spinning ice crystals, leaving him nowhere to escape!

Just as Roman was about to dodge, Aokiji's gaze suddenly shifted from lazy to fierce behind the Ice Storm! At the same time, he suddenly grabbed at Roman with both hands from afar.

"Ice Block 'Ice-Time: Two Spikes'!"

The two enormous, reinforced ice spears, their spiraling tips tapering rapidly, swirled with icy mist as they thrust forward, obscuring the exact point of attack and making it impossible to pinpoint the exact location of the spears. However:

"It's useless against Observation Haki—"

Before Roman could finish speaking, the ice spear suddenly spun, and the spear tip, seemingly integrated into the ice, suddenly became clearly visible, transforming into Dragon Spear tens of meters long out of thin air. The rapidly spinning spear tip seemed to leap over the 'distance' between the two of them and pierced in front of Roman.

!?

This thrust was completely unexpected by Roman. Even without the aid of his Haki, it was still able to silently pierce through the sharpness of any metal! Coupled with the chilling aura that was about to erupt from the ice spear, it was almost impossible to resist head-on.

At the last second, Roman dodged at full speed! Simultaneously, he switched from holding the sword with both hands to one, using the other hand to block in front of him—

Click!

"Haki isn't everything, little Roman."

"Tsk, as expected of Admiral..."

Even though he used the 'Shield' to block the ice spear at the crucial moment, a huge layer of ice still covered half of Roman's arm. Fortunately, the White Knight and Armament Haki provided some protection, otherwise he would have lost an arm.

Thump,

Roman unleashed his Armament Haki, shattering the thick ice on his arm, and charged forward again with his sword.

"Again!"

·······

What an outstanding group of young people!

Standing atop Marineford's highest fortress of justice, the Red Earl surveyed the three battlefields below. Despite being just a group of young men in their early twenties, they were putting on a formidable fight against the Three Admirals of the Navy, even though these Three Admirals were 'incomplete versions' lacking Haki; they were still incredibly powerful.

"This era belongs to you..."

And in our time,

The Red Earl glanced down at what he held in his hand: it was a Devil Fruit that looked like a purple apple, covered with curling patterns.

Zoan, Bat-Bat Fruit, Mythical Zoan, Vampire Form.

The legendary Devil Fruit!

Our era will not end!

Gol D. Roger, Edward Newgate, Shiki... those heroes who once aimed to become the 'King of the Pirates'. You've all grown old, but I won't—

I'll take the throne of King of the Pirates for you!

"Um?!"

Roman glanced up at the towering Marine Headquarters building, its empty facade causing Roman to shake his head. After forcing Aokiji back with a single sword strike, Roman leaped backward, returning to Nami's side.

"Nami, are you ready with that move?"

"No problem,"

Roman, clad in White Knight armor, crackled with Electric Light, and Nami was simultaneously enveloped in lightning! He looked quite like a 'Little Thor,' of course:

Unlike Enel, who was 'invincible' Rumble-Rumble Fruit, Nami's lightning is a level weaker, and Roman's development of his 'Lightning Ability' is even worse than Nami's. Therefore:

Crackling sounds~~

Nami's ability creates a void electromagnetic acceleration circle, much like 'Super Electromagnetic Wave 2.0'. Roman places his longsword, made of Wapol Metal, within the rings of lightning, and then:

"Take this! A 'Railgun' worth 50 million Beli!"

That's right, this move is the "Railgun 3.0" developed from the "Poneglyph".

A second shot!

Because the longsword, which is a 'bullet,' carries a continuous current given by Roman, the magnetic field generated by the bullet will 'interrupt' the magnetic field of the acceleration coil when it passes through Nami's Void Acceleration Coil, and then reconnect with the magnetic field of the next coil.

Before the projectile leaves the coil, the coil's magnetic field exhibits continuous superposition of recovery and strengthening due to the constant 'cut-off' and 'reconnection'. This 'reconnection phenomenon' is the origin of its name.

"MoMo - Fifty Times Armament Haki Compression!"

At the same time, Roman's outward-released Armament Haki was compressed and wrapped around the longsword, ensuring that no matter what kind of Logia it was, it would be difficult to escape this attack! It can be said that this was an attack that had exhausted all of Roman and Nami's energy and Haki.

"Oh? Then I'd like to see what tricks you're up to."

As Aokiji's entire body was instantly covered in millennia-old ice, layers of 'Ice Wall' rose from the ground. But he couldn't have imagined:

This was the fastest, strongest, and most domineering glorious sword strike Roman and Nami had ever unleashed—

"Combination Technique: Shatter the Vacuum!"

A flash of light, nothing earth-shattering, nothing Haki. Yet the battle was over in an instant!

Despite being covered in thick ice armor— Logia defense comparable to top-tier Armament Haki— Aokiji's chest was still bruised by this single shot.

Even along the trajectory of this blast, a pitch-black 'cylinder' silently pierced through the air and the Ice Wall in its path! That was the mighty power of the fusion of Haki and knowledge, fruit and technology! That was the absolute 'spear' capable of piercing through all defenses in this world! That was a technique that could only be dodged, not directly confronted.

"That's terrifying..."

Before he could even utter that one thought, Aokiji exploded into a cloud of smoke with a 'bang'.

"You won?"

"We won!"

"Yay!!"

Faced with Nami's jubilation, Roman, exhausted and kneeling on the ground after the attack, had no choice but to pour cold water on her.

"Don't be too happy yet. We're just taking advantage of the fact that this 'Aokiji' doesn't have Haki. Otherwise, he would have to be out of his mind to withstand such a terrifying attack!"

Even if any master of Haki had never witnessed Roman and Nami's 'Combination Technique,' their Observation Haki would alert them... no, it should be said that they would frantically control their instincts to dodge, and would never do something as foolish as trying to withstand the attack head-on like a 'Tekkai.'

On the other side,

"Fire Fist!!"

"Fire Fist Gun!"

Faced with the fists of the two brothers rushing towards him side by side, Akainu also unleashed his own massive magma fist at the same time.

"Hellhound's Crimson Lotus!"

"I am magma capable of burning away flames, do you think this kind of fire-playing attack is meaningful?!"

"Ooooooo!!!" x2

However, his response was a roar of brotherly unity, and Luffy and Ace taking steps forward simultaneously, and:

Armament Haki wrapped around his two fists!

Don't misunderstand, that's all Luffy's Haki. He released his Armament Haki and wrapped it around Ace, and only Ace could accept his Haki. After all, no normal strong person would allow someone else's Haki to surround them. Therefore:

"What--?!"

The enormous Magma Fist was forcefully shattered, and two flaming fists rapidly enlarged in Akainu's eyes.

Thump!! X2

The former Marine Admiral only managed a gasp of surprise before being blasted into the Execution Platform behind him! After piercing through a section of buildings behind him:

Thud~~

Before he could utter a single word, he collapsed to the ground and turned into a leaf.

"Luffy ~~"

"You... defeated Kizaru?"

When faced with Luffy's question, Zoro smiled proudly.

"Didn't we say we'd leave it to us?"

Sanji a cigarette.

"Easy... I'd like to say that, but to be honest, everyone is badly hurt."

"Hey, aren't you going to ask me anything?"

Seeing Roman being supported by Nami and looking like a 'lazy prince', Luffy chuckled.

"Roman, you've never given us any worry, so what's there to ask?"

Pshaw, even if you praised me like that, I wouldn't be happy...

"Oh, right, Ace— "

When Luffy Guotou, all that was left beside him was a single leaf, and:

A sentence drifting in the wind. "We will fight side by side again"... or is it an illusion?

"Ace, thank you."