Fighting Aokiji!

At that moment, Nami noticed something strange outside. She ran out and stared in shock at the figure.

Aokiji was dressed casually. Though Nami didn't recognize him, her own strength let her sense his formidable presence at once.

"You... who are you?!"

"Ah, don't be nervous, little girl. I'm just here on vacation. Hmm, my name's Kuzan. Would you care to join me for tea?" Aokiji scratched the back of his head and laughed.

Nami watched Aokiji tensely. Unlike in the original story, Robin and Nami had grown far stronger under Lu Zhuo's tutelage, so they could fully sense how terrifying Aokiji was.

"Sorry, I already have a boyfriend," Nami replied coldly.

"Ah!" Aokiji slapped his forehead, looking troubled. He sighed. "What a shame..."

At that moment, Lu Zhuo, who had been ignored the whole time, chuckled and said, "It's hardly appropriate for a Marine Admiral to visit a pirate crew as a guest."

"A Marine Admiral?!" Nami cried, staring at the tall, middle-aged man with shock in her eyes.

Aokiji looked at Lu Zhuo and his companions, rubbing his chin as he thought. "Um... what was it again?"

As if he'd forgotten something, Aokiji shook his head. "Never mind."

"Heh!" Lu Zhuo chuckled again. Aokiji's personality was exactly the same as in the original story.

"Well, you're right, though. At the very least, we should fight so I can report back. No, forget that. I'll just take you all in. Your pirate crew has a little too much potential. You might become a real nuisance in the future!"

Aokiji's expression suddenly changed as he spoke, making everyone tense up.

Lu Zhuo's lips curled slightly. This is exactly what I've been waiting for.

In the next instant, Lu Zhuo's hand moved. His draw was so fast that it looked as if his sword had never left its sheath.

Aokiji's expression changed abruptly. He sprang backward and turned into ice in an instant.

Crack!

The sound of shattering ice rang out. Aokiji's waist exploded, and his entire body broke apart into fragments of ice that fell toward the sea.

Lu Zhuo's expression darkened slightly as he watched.

That slash hadn't hurt Aokiji at all!

Even though Lu Zhuo couldn't yet imbue his weapon with Haki, he was a swordsman. A direct hit should still have been enough to injure a Logia user.

Just like Enel: even when transformed into lightning, he could still be cut and left with a bleeding wound. But Aokiji had turned to ice before the blade's energy could reach him, splitting his body apart to evade Lu Zhuo's slash.

That alone showed the difference between a top-tier Admiral like Aokiji and someone like Enel, who could barely match an ordinary Admiral!

Lu Zhuo leaped forward and shouted to the others behind him, "Nami, Robin, come with me! Robin, be careful. Conis, get inside the ship!"

At a time like this, no one would complain. But Robin looked extremely tense; she was even trembling slightly.

Lu Zhuo sighed inwardly. In this state, Robin couldn't even begin to show her full strength.

In the next instant, Lu Zhuo leaped off the ship.

The fragments of ice had barely touched the surface of the sea when they instantly reformed into an icy shape.

Ice Age!

In an instant, the entire sea froze over! The frozen expanse stretched as far as the eye could see, and the Holy Sword was trapped in the ice as well.

Lu Zhuo had expected this. He raised his sword high and brought it down with a fierce slash.

Evil Light Slash!

Beside him, Nami let out a shout and flung a huge mass of Sea Cloud toward Aokiji's head. She moved even faster than Lu Zhuo!

"Ah, a swordsman is supposed to have some pride, isn't he? And yet you're all teaming up against me!"

Aokiji's expression was cool as he reached out with his right hand, touching Nami's Sea Cloud in an instant.

The next moment, the mass of cloud—large enough to fill three rooms—turned into ice. It then shaped itself into a shield in midair, blocking Lu Zhuo's Evil Light Slash.

Crack, crack!

The Evil Light Slash kept going, cutting deep into the ice. The next moment, the ice shield compressed, shrinking the mass of ice large enough to fill three rooms into a shield only half a meter long.

Clang, clang, clang!

Lu Zhuo's Evil Light Slash struck the shield with the sound of metal clashing. By the time the slash vanished, the shield had shattered as well.

"Nami, get up there and use your lightning!"

Seeing this, Lu Zhuo shook his head. In his eyes, Nami's Devil Fruit was powerful, but the Ice-Ice Fruit was one of its natural counters. If Nami couldn't turn into a thundercloud and unleash lightning, she'd probably only get in the way during the fight.

Just then, two fists suddenly sprouted from Aokiji's body and smashed toward his head.

This was Robin's ability, of course. She'd managed to steady herself and finally launched an attack.

Aokiji neither dodged nor tried to block. He let the fists slam into his head, intending to freeze Robin's arms on contact. But the moment they touched him, his expression changed dramatically.

Though Lu Zhuo had only managed to learn the first level of Armament Haki himself, he had taught it to his crew without hesitation.

Bam!

Aokiji's head was smashed into ice shards. When it re-formed, he let out an angry roar and blew forcefully at Robin's two arms.

Two ice blades formed instantly and cut toward her. Robin quickly canceled her ability, and her arms vanished into petals.

At the same time, Lu Zhuo's attack reached Aokiji.

Phantom Sword Dance!

Without hesitation, Lu Zhuo unleashed his ultimate move. A mass of sword light engulfed Aokiji. A series of crashing and booming sounds rang out, followed by a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm striking down from the sky. Lu Zhuo delivered his final blow.

A deafening boom shook the heavens and the earth. The ice around them cracked like a spiderweb.

Lu Zhuo bounded backward several times, returning to the deck. He watched the center of the attack warily.

Only a pile of ice shards remained at the center. But after a few ripples, Aokiji's body appeared before them, seemingly unharmed.

"Is this... the strength of an Admiral? We didn't do a thing." Robin's eyes dimmed as her arms fell to her sides, as if she'd lost all confidence.

Seeing this, Lu Zhuo shouted, "Who says we didn't do anything? He's human, not a god! So what if he's a Logia user?"

As Lu Zhuo shouted, blood suddenly seeped from the corner of Aokiji's mouth and began to run from his nose as well.

Then his clothes burst into countless scraps, revealing numerous bloody cuts across his body.

But the cuts were less than a millimeter deep and barely counted as injuries. What mattered most was the huge X-shaped wound across his chest, which went a full centimeter deep.

If it had gone just a little deeper, it would have split his stomach open!

There was no doubt about it: in those few exchanges, Aokiji had been forced onto the back foot!

It wasn't that Lu Zhuo and the others were stronger than Aokiji just because they'd joined forces. Aokiji had simply been too careless, never even expecting them to use Armament Haki.

He had tried to freeze Robin directly with his body, only to find Haki on her arms and get his head smashed apart. Her Haki was still too weak to do much, but it had at least caused him a mild concussion.

Taking advantage of that moment of disorientation, Lu Zhuo closed in and unleashed a full Phantom Sword Dance against him.

If Lu Zhuo had possessed the second level of Armament Haki, Aokiji would already have been a dead man after letting a swordsman get that close!

Even so, with sword pressure and sword intent infused into the blades that struck him, how could Aokiji have escaped without injury?

Seeing this, Robin's eyes brightened again. She glanced at the man standing beside her, both hands gripping his sword, not the slightest trace of fear on his face. Something else glimmered in her eyes.

Was it love?