"Crack, crack, crack~" The instant the burly pirate's fist landed on Mosen's arm, a layer of white mist crawled up it like a persistent parasite. Half of the burly pirate's arm visibly froze over.
The burly pirate's expression shifted. He immediately pulled back his fist and retreated.
Seeing this, Mosen smiled faintly. "Think you can run? Soru!"
The next second, Mosen vanished from where he stood and used Soru to appear behind the burly pirate.
"Rankyaku: Ice Burst!" At Mosen's faint murmur, the surrounding snow and ice instantly boiled. A blue-white slash wreathed in freezing air and snow shot straight toward the burly pirate.
At such close range, with an attack covering such a wide area, even though the burly pirate sensed Mosen's attack with Observation Haki, he couldn't dodge it. He had no choice but to take it head-on.
"Brat! Don't underestimate me!" The burly pirate turned around, coating his leg in Armament Haki as he faced Mosen's Rankyaku head-on.
"Crack~" A sound like shattering glass rang out. Mosen's attack was kicked apart, but the burly pirate's right leg was now covered in frost, just like his left arm had been when he struck Mosen.
The burly pirate snorted, coated his right hand in Armament Haki, and slapped away the ice on his body. After moving his frozen left arm and right leg, he asked, "Brat, are you a Logia user with the Snow-Snow Fruit?"
"Guess."
The burly pirate's expression darkened. Their brief exchange had given him a general idea of Mosen's strength. An opponent of this caliber would have been no match for him at his peak. Even now, he was confident he could take Mosen down. The only thing he was wary of was Mosen's ability to control ice and snow.
In a place like Extreme Cold Hell, the natural advantage of being able to control ice and snow was simply too great.
Mosen clearly understood this too. So when the burly pirate asked him, he gave the universal answer: "Guess."
"You're pretty good with the Six Powers, aren't you?" the burly pirate suddenly asked.
Mosen said nothing.
"Do you know that the Six Powers aren't anything rare in the New World? They're not hard to learn. Some powerful fighters can even master them just by watching once."
As soon as the burly pirate finished speaking, he vanished from where he stood.
The next second, Mosen felt a sharp pain in his back, as if he'd been shot through.
"That's the Six Powers' Finger Pistol. You should know it well, right?" the burly pirate said excitedly, staring at the bloody hole in Mosen's back.
Mosen frowned and sealed the wound with cold air. Then he gathered the surrounding snow and ice into a massive ice hammer and swung it at the burly pirate.
The burly pirate used Soru to dodge Mosen's attack. With a thought, Mosen instantly turned the ice hammer into countless ice needles and shot them toward the burly pirate.
The burly pirate hadn't expected Mosen to have such precise control over ice and snow. Faced with such a dense barrage, he was startled and hurriedly defended himself with Armament Haki.
But the burly pirate's Armament Haki wasn't strong enough to cover his whole body like Vergo's in the original story. With Mosen's ice needles covering such a wide area, he could only protect his vital spots. A great many needles pierced his body, leaving one bloody hole after another.
"Bastard! You've made me angry, brat!" the burly pirate roared, using Soru once more to rush at Mosen.
This time, Mosen was ready. He used Kami-e to dodge the burly pirate's attack.
In a sense, Kami-e and Observation Haki had something in common. As its name suggested, Kami-e let the user control his body as lightly and easily as a drawing on paper. By sensing the changes in the airflow caused by an opponent's movements, the user could evade attacks.
But the burly pirate's assault didn't stop at one strike, and Mosen hadn't mastered Observation Haki. Under the burly pirate's relentless barrage, Mosen was still hit.
Yet the instant the burly pirate's fist landed on Mosen, he sensed something was wrong.
Mosen's body was as hard as if it were coated in Armament Haki.
"You switched to Iron Body the instant I hit you?" the burly pirate exclaimed.
"Heh! Don't you think there's something wrong with your fist? Or has your left hand gone so numb from the cold that you can't feel the pain?"
The burly pirate's expression shifted. After staying in this icy place for so long, even the strongest person would have suffered frostbite. Combined with Mosen's earlier freezing attack, the burly pirate's left arm and right leg had already lost all sensation.
The burly pirate hurriedly looked down at his left arm. What he saw made his expression change dramatically: his left fist was bleeding profusely.
"What... what did you do?"
Mosen didn't answer. How could he possibly explain that?
His move was called Tekkai: Utsugi, a special extension of Iron Body that he had developed. It used Iron Body to reflect an opponent's attack. The stronger the blow, the stronger the force of the counterattack. An ordinary person's fist would be destroyed in an instant.
In response to the burly pirate's question, Mosen simply said, his voice calm, "The Six Powers really aren't that complicated. But who says a simple technique can't defeat an opponent? This ends now!"
As he spoke, cold air surged around Mosen. The burly pirate felt an intense sense of danger and instinctively tried to pull back his fist and retreat.
But the burly pirate soon realized that the blood on his fist had frozen in the cold air. He couldn't pull his fist back.
"Ice Time!"
Cold air swirled around Mosen. The next second, the burly pirate was frozen into an ice statue.
Mosen's right hand clenched slightly, and cold air condensed into an ice hammer in his grasp. He swung it straight at the burly pirate's frozen form.
"Crack~" The ice statue shattered, and the burly pirate broke into pieces along with it.
"Anyone else who dares to break the prison rules will end up just like him!" Mosen said expressionlessly.
At his words, most of the prisoners watching lowered their heads and dared not look at Mosen. But some of them wore eager expressions.
They figured Mosen must have used up a lot of strength in his fight with the burly pirate. If they attacked now, they might have a chance to kill him.
Mosen remained calm. With the Frozen Lineage Factor, Extreme Cold Hell was his home ground. He could definitely hold out until Military Wolf arrived.
But to Mosen's surprise, before the prisoners could make a move, four people stepped in front of him.
"What do you mean by this?" asked one of the prisoners who had been about to attack.
"Nothing. We just don't want the jailer to die like this," Mia said with a smile.
"Paddy, do you think so too?" another prisoner asked the Fat-as-a-ball Female Pirate.
"My head's not much good. I'll do whatever Mia says," Paddy replied without hesitation.
"Same here," said Ian, the One-armed Pirate, and Michael, the One-eyed Pirate, in unison.
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