Bitter Struggle

At this moment, Aokiji's expression turned incredibly grave; he no longer held any trace of contempt for Lu Zhuo and his crew.

"I truly underestimated you, Holy Sword Pirates. Ghost Sword Lu Zhuo, you disappeared for half a year only to return with such strength, and you even have Nico Robin by your side, having learned Armament Haki."

He spoke in a flat tone, and the air seemed to grow even colder. Lu Zhuo let out a cold snort, releasing his sword intent to clash against Aokiji's icy aura.

Although Lu Zhuo's sword intent still could not match Aokiji's freezing aura, he was able to stand his ground firmly without his strength being diminished.

Aokiji's chest froze instantly, sealing his wounds, and he glared at Lu Zhuo and Nico Robin, his voice frigid: "To possess such strength here, I absolutely cannot let you continue any further!"

Ice Spear Pierce!

With a wave of Aokiji's hands, dozens of long ice spears condensed in the air and thrust fiercely toward Lu Zhuo and Nico Robin.

Lu Zhuo's pupils contracted slightly; these were all highly compressed ice spears with a density comparable to steel!

Without hesitation, Lu Zhuo stepped forward, his body appearing instantly in front of Nico Robin.

Void-Breaking Draw Sword Strike!

Army Breaker Rising Dragon Strike!

A cross-shaped slash erupted, colliding violently with the incoming ice spears.

However, the next moment, Lu Zhuo's expression changed drastically. He instantly grabbed Nico Robin behind him and flickered his body, retreating dozens of meters away!

Crack! Crack!

With a chaotic clatter, countless ice spears were shattered by Lu Zhuo's sword energy, only to transform into a multitude of tiny, razor-sharp ice shards!

Had Lu Zhuo not reacted quickly, he would have been turned into an ice hedgehog long ago!

Even so, he let out a muffled groan as three bloody gashes appeared on his back. Those ice shards were made of highly condensed ice; even embedded in Lu Zhuo's body, they did not melt from his blood but instead froze it solid!

Nico Robin had already reacted by then, immediately realizing the severity of the situation, and hurriedly pulled the ice shards from Lu Zhuo's body.

Due to the extreme cold in the surroundings, Lu Zhuo's wounds were instantly frozen shut.

The next moment, a massive bolt of lightning crashed down from the sky, slamming into the head of Aokiji, who was preparing a follow-up attack, causing him to grunt in pain.

Spitting out a puff of black smoke, Aokiji looked gloomily at the sky above, where a thundercloud had drifted to an altitude of over a thousand meters and was gathering.

Furthermore, this thundercloud was still generating more clouds, expanding continuously.

However, Nami's control was ultimately limited, and she was soon forced to stop expanding, instead continuously raining down lightning bolts.

Aokiji, under the constant bombardment, had no choice but to rely on his physical body to endure the strikes or use Observation Haki to dodge. At the same time, he felt a bit depressed; if only Kizaru were here, he really couldn't fly.

As he thought this, he saw Lu Zhuo, who was dozens of meters away, suddenly vanish and instantly flash to a position less than ten meters in front of him.

Lu Zhuo held his sword high with both hands, catching a bolt of lightning as thick as an arm from the sky.

Sky Thunder, Wave Sword!

Watching the sword glow imbued with lightning sweep toward him, Aokiji's pupils shrank, and he finally revealed a hint of shock.

Ice Capsule!

The ice and the sword glow collided, and with the added effect of the lightning, the entire horizon was shaken. The impact even rattled the distant Marine Branch.

The Marine Branch had long since discovered the battle; after all, the range of Aokiji's Ice Age was so vast that even the Marine Branch had been frozen over.

Yet, no one came to provide support.

Are you joking? Does a Marine Admiral need support? Even if they truly needed it, it would mean the opponent was someone comparable to a Marine Admiral. What could their small Marine Branch do, even if they sent two Vice Admirals?

They did not know, however, that Aokiji did indeed need support, because he was being ganged up on by one person comparable to a Vice Admiral, one barely comparable to a Vice Admiral, and one person at the level of a regular Admiral.

The battlefield had become incredibly lively.

With Nami's support, Lu Zhuo wielded his sword with even greater ease; he loved this kind of indiscriminate lightning attack to death.

But Aokiji was truly frustrated. Fortunately, his true form was ice, not water; otherwise, being countered by lightning, he certainly would not be Lu Zhuo's match.

However, because of the indiscriminate nature of the lightning attacks, Nico Robin could only watch from the sidelines, unable to intervene at all.

Sky Thunder Sword!

Lu Zhuo flicked his wrists, and the Kitetsu in his hand unleashed another eerie, swirling sword glow. After spinning a few times in the air, it condensed the lightning into several thunder swords, which then thrust toward Aokiji below.

Aokiji's face was grim as the ice on the sea surface surged continuously, transforming into various weapons—ice spheres—that rained down on Lu Zhuo mindlessly.

At the same time, he tentatively threw several ice spears toward the sky.

Lu Zhuo caught as many as came, his body covered in invisible Armament Haki, barely managing to withstand the flying ice shards.

The sword in his hand was as graceful as floating clouds and as bright as startling thunder.

As for the few ice spears shot toward the sky, they lost their momentum and fell after flying only a few hundred meters. Seeing this, Aokiji completely gave up hope.

Nami's ability might not have high attack power, and against Aokiji, even her lightning could not cause any significant damage. But when combined with Lu Zhuo, it left Aokiji completely helpless.

Someone who can fly to an altitude of a thousand meters to attack someone without flight capabilities—that is a one-sided beating, no room for negotiation!

It seemed that only by taking down this Ghost Sword Lu Zhuo first could this battle be brought to an end.

Aokiji's expression darkened, and with a sharp shout, the ice beneath his feet surged once more.

Lu Zhuo's expression shifted instantly; he let out a soft cry, stomped his foot, and used Geppo without a moment's hesitation.

The next moment, several Ice Spears shot out from beneath his feet.

With a series of crisp cracking sounds, those Ice Spears were sliced into countless fragments, yet the shards continued their momentum, flying toward Lu Zhuo unabated.

Lu Zhuo's expression turned grim; it was this damned technique again.

He stomped his foot, moving instantly through the air several times to dodge the fragments.

Seeing this, Aokiji's expression grew even darker, the surprise in his eyes gradually turning into shock.

What kind of background does this guy have, and how did he learn Geppo?!

However, there was no time to dwell on it; Aokiji waved his hand, and countless tiny glimmers suddenly surged forth, dancing toward Lu Zhuo.

Lu Zhuo stomped his foot and dodged quickly. These things were incredibly fine Ice Needles.

The piercing power of the Ice Needles was extreme; let alone Lu Zhuo's invisible and colorless Haki, even invisible and colored Haki would likely be pierced through!

Yet the next moment, Lu Zhuo's expression suddenly changed, and he roared, "Aokiji, you are truly despicable!"

Those Ice Needles were actually darting toward Robin in the distance.

How could Robin's Flower-Flower Fruit withstand these Ice Needles?

Lu Zhuo's expression was extremely grim; his body flickered as he arrived in front of Robin, his sword dancing into an airtight wall, blocking all the Ice Needles before them.

A miscalculation! This time, it was truly a miscalculation!

Although he had blocked all the Ice Needles, the stamina consumed was no small amount.

Had he known it would come to this, he should have let Robin sprout wings and fly to high altitude from the very beginning.

As it stood, he could not possibly escort Robin to the thousand-meter altitude required to be out of danger. While Robin's arms could support her, his own Geppo definitely could not hold up.

Geppo consumed too much stamina, even more than his sword techniques like the Void-Breaking Draw Sword Strike.