A dazzling blade of light, wrapped in biting cold, struck the fists of the two pirates head-on.
"Crack, crack, crack~" The cold crept up their arms like a bone-deep curse, then quickly spread across their bodies.
The two pirates' faces changed dramatically. They hadn't expected Mosen to know swordsmanship, let alone weave his Devil Fruit Ability into it. The strike had left their bodies almost completely numb, and they couldn't even pull away.
Since they couldn't retreat, the two decided to fight to the death. They focused the Haki they had left into the arm that hadn't been frozen, then swung at Mosen.
But just as their attacks were about to hit him, Mosen suddenly vanished from in front of them.
The next second, Mosen's voice rang out behind them. "Finger Pistol: Icebreaker."
"Crack!" With a sharp snap, their bodies fractured inch by inch and shattered across the ground. Only the arms they'd just covered in Armament Haki remained intact.
After dealing with the two prisoners, Mosen released his Observation Haki to check on everyone else, then let out a long breath.
The battle had taken a lot out of him. If two more prisoners showed up, he wouldn't be able to hold them off.
Fortunately, things seemed to be going fairly well for the others too.
Mia had probably had the easiest time. Using Future Sight, she'd toyed with the two prisoners who attacked her. Then she'd conjured Kaido straight from the wanted posters Mosen had given her and killed them both with a single Thunder Bagua.
Ian also seemed to be handling things with ease. Over the past two months, he'd focused most of his energy on developing his Devil Fruit.
The Condense-Condense Fruit could solidify anything that wasn't already solid. At first, Ian had only focused on liquids. Seeing this, Mosen had pointed out that gases were non-solid too—and even air counted.
Ian had immediately understood and begun practicing how to solidify air with his Devil Fruit Ability.
In the battle just now, Ian had made full use of his fruit's properties. Whenever the two prisoners tried to charge him, he solidified the air in front of them. They hit it as if they'd run into a wall and bounced away.
They couldn't get close to Ian, while he kept attacking them with a homemade slingshot. Before long, he'd taken them both down.
Paddy had had the easiest fight of the five. She'd faced three prisoners, but when Mosen checked with his Observation Haki, she'd already knocked them unconscious.
The only one who hadn't dealt with his prisoners yet was Michael.
Mosen had the home-field advantage, Mia could summon a Great Pirate worth billions of Beli, Ian could keep his opponents at a distance with his Devil Fruit Ability, and Paddy was so powerful she was invincible in Extreme Cold Hell. Michael, on the other hand, could only rely on swordsmanship and the Six Powers.
Fortunately, Michael hadn't been idle over the past two months. He'd learned all the Six Powers from Mosen. If he still only knew Finger Pistol and Shave like before, Paddy might have had to help him.
A moment later, Michael also finished off the two pirates who'd attacked him.
That left every pirate in Extreme Cold Hell with a bounty of at least 300 million Beli dead.
"Mosen, what do we do now? Bury them?" Ian asked.
Mosen thought it over, then used the Frozen Lineage Factor to freeze the remaining nine prisoners into ice statues.
"Mosen, what are you doing?" Mia walked over and asked.
"I'm going to reform Extreme Cold Hell."
"Reform it? How?"
"By putting the prisoners where they belong. If we let them wander around Extreme Cold Hell, sooner or later something like this will happen again. We have to lock them up."
Mosen wasn't saying this on a whim. He remembered that in the original story, the prisoners in Extreme Cold Hell were kept in cells too.
When Luffy rampaged through Impel Down and was defeated by Magellan, Magellan sent him to Extreme Cold Hell based on his bounty at the time. Luffy had been locked in a cell there.
But now the prisoners in Extreme Cold Hell were allowed to roam wherever they pleased.
So Mosen guessed that something had happened in Extreme Cold Hell in the future, changing how the prisoners were held.
Now, he planned to bring that change forward. It would also pave the way for his departure from Extreme Cold Hell.
After all, he'd confidently promised Garp that he wouldn't leave until he'd dealt with the dangers in Extreme Cold Hell.
The next day, Mosen took the frozen prisoners' corpses to Magellan's office.
As soon as he saw Magellan, Mosen got straight to the point and explained what had happened the night before.
After hearing Mosen's account, Magellan jumped up from his chair. He'd never imagined that the prisoners in Extreme Cold Hell with bounties of at least 300 million Beli would join forces.
But Magellan soon noticed something didn't add up.
If the prisoners really had joined forces, how had Mosen managed to hold them off by himself?
Mosen had expected Magellan to ask that. He slowly spread his hands, and an ice blade appeared out of thin air in his grasp.
Mosen knew he couldn't hide the fact that he'd awakened the Frozen Lineage Factor. It would be even harder to conceal once he returned to Marine Headquarters.
So he'd decided to openly reveal that he'd awakened the Frozen Lineage Factor and make it one of the bargaining chips he could use when he returned to Marine Headquarters.
Magellan's expression changed as he watched. He quickly asked Mosen, "Didn't your Lineage Factor modification fail? How can you suddenly use the Ice-Ice Fruit's powers?"
"Ever since I came to Extreme Cold Hell, I've noticed that my body's been getting healthier. You must have noticed too.
"When I first arrived, I was skinny. Now I'm much stronger. I think the Frozen Lineage Factor gradually merged with my body during that time.
"About two months ago, not long after Mr. Garp left, I suddenly realized I could control the snow and ice in Extreme Cold Hell. That was when I realized my Frozen Lineage Factor must have awakened.
"Because of the Frozen Lineage Factor, this frozen wasteland of Extreme Cold Hell is basically my home turf. Last night, I used its power to hold off the prisoners when they attacked."
After hearing Mosen's explanation, Magellan frowned. He didn't think even an awakened Frozen Lineage Factor could have been enough for Mosen to withstand so many prisoners with bounties of at least 300 million Beli working together. Mosen had to be hiding something.
Just as Magellan was about to press him further, he noticed the mark of Finger Pistol on one of the corpses. Mosen had also just mentioned Garp, and Magellan immediately understood.
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