Hawk-Eye!

"Damn it! Aokiji, attacking a woman—are you even a man? If you've got the guts, fight me face-to-face!"

"Sure. Get the one flying up there to come down, and stop throwing lightning around!" Aokiji replied indifferently, his hands continuously forming tiny ice needles, along with enormous ice spears, ice swords, and ice blades.

Damn it! This is bad! Lu Zhuo cried out inwardly as he looked at Aokiji, who was blocking countless bolts of lightning with a semicircular wall of ice above his head, then glanced back at Nico Robin, whose face was etched with bitterness.

If Nami came down and he fought Aokiji one-on-one, he wouldn't stand a chance. He'd be seriously wounded in fewer than ten rounds.

At that moment, Nico Robin sighed and whispered in Lu Zhuo's ear, "Give up on me. If this goes on, we'll all die."

Lu Zhuo's eyes were bloodshot. No way. He couldn't let the woman he loved be killed right in front of him! When he'd first met Robin, he might really have abandoned her.

But after half a year spent together day and night, how could he simply let go of those feelings?

Damn it! Why did he have to run into Aokiji now of all times?

He wasn't Luffy, with a Marine hero for a grandfather. Aokiji had held back several times because of Nico Robin and Garp.

What's more, Sengoku had given a kill-on-sight order! Because of Garp, Sengoku had always turned a blind eye to Luffy, but Lu Zhuo was different. He wasn't some admiral's son!

Damn it!

If only he had another six months. Once he became a High-Level Swordsman, he wouldn't have to fear anyone. Damn it, was this really where his journey would end?

Lu Zhuo was unwilling to accept it. He truly couldn't accept it!

Everything had been going so well, and his strength had been growing at an astonishing pace. Why had he still ended up in such a desperate situation?

Had he failed to anticipate this? No. He could only blame his terrible luck—or the Marines' excellent intelligence. Aokiji had actually been roaming these waters, waiting for him.

Lu Zhuo didn't believe Aokiji's nonsense about being on vacation!

Hatred filled his eyes. Lu Zhuo had never held any particular grudge against the Marines. He found it unpleasant that they sheltered those loathsome Celestial Dragons and called themselves just, but that was all.

He'd never attacked the Marines in earnest. Even when he occasionally encountered them at sea, he avoided them, despite being able to wipe them out with ease.

Yet now, just because they thought he might cause trouble in the future, Admiral Aokiji was going to cut off their path right here. Lu Zhuo burned with hatred!

Why?

Why did they get to take away other people's freedom?

"Pirate" was only a name. They weren't really pirates. Great pirates like Whitebeard hadn't become pirates to plunder.

They were fighting for freedom! For their dreams!

Sweat slowly beaded on Lu Zhuo's forehead. Without a sound, an ice needle slipped through his circle of swordplay. He tried to dodge, but then thought of Robin behind him. Gritting his teeth, he let the needle pierce him.

"Lu Zhuo!"

Nami couldn't see what was happening from the sky, but how could Robin, who had also trained in Observation Haki, not know?

Her heart swelled with emotion. She was truly moved!

She remembered what her loved ones had told her when she was little.

"One day, you'll find true companions..."

The man before her was cold in battle, focused during training, and always teasing her mischievously in his spare time. He was forever trying to take advantage of her...

And yet, when he could have dodged the attack, he had taken that ice needle for her!

Robin suddenly hugged Lu Zhuo from behind, tears in her eyes.

She whispered in his ear, "Run. Hurry, get away. Forget about me!"

"No!" Her words startled Lu Zhuo, and the sword in his hand left an even wider opening. Dozens of ice needles shot toward him!

A single ice needle had nearly frozen all the blood in Lu Zhuo's body. If he took dozens of them, he'd be dead!

Just then, Robin suddenly grabbed Lu Zhuo and spun around, switching places with him in an attempt to shield him from the needles.

How could he let that happen?!

In the original story, Aokiji had always held back against Robin, but who knew whether he would this time? Lu Zhuo would never leave Robin's life in Aokiji's hands.

Gritting his teeth, Lu Zhuo jerked his arm and hurled Robin into the air. He sprang backward as his sword swept rapidly through two semicircles. But the ice needles were already less than a foot from him. No matter how fast he swung, he couldn't block them all.

Several needles still shot toward Lu Zhuo's chest. The one that had pierced his back earlier had already left him feeling terrible.

In the distance, Aokiji watched, his feelings growing complicated.

Robin... had you finally found a true companion? But I...

Aokiji sighed inwardly. His orders were to inspect the entire sea and kill the Holy Sword Pirates on sight if he found them!

The ice needles stopped less than three centimeters from Lu Zhuo's chest. Then they surged forward again, stabbing toward his body.

Lu Zhuo kept his Observation Haki active, and everything around him lay within his "sight."

Was this the end?

No!

He felt some kind of power suddenly erupt within him. Aokiji's body faltered for an instant, and shock flashed across his face once more.

Conqueror's Haki? If so, then he needed to be eliminated even sooner!

Aokiji's expression turned cold. The ice needles accelerated again, continuing toward Lu Zhuo's back.

Then Lu Zhuo's eyes suddenly lit up, and joy surged through him as he sensed a figure appear several hundred meters away!

In his perception, the figure slowly drew his sword and swung it in this direction!

What seemed slow in Lu Zhuo's perception was actually unbelievably fast. The slash raced ahead of the needles and stopped them just as they were about to touch Lu Zhuo's skin!

"Lu Zhuo! Are you all right?"

Nami could no longer hold back. She immediately floated down and ran toward Lu Zhuo.

Robin was in Lu Zhuo's arms, tears in her eyes as she gazed at him and murmured, "Why? Is it really worth it, for me?"

Lu Zhuo smiled gently. "Of course it is. In my heart, you're already my woman. I won't let anyone take you away!"

After saying this, Lu Zhuo felt the world spin around him. He'd been pierced by an ice needle. Though he'd managed to suppress it, he hadn't been able to get rid of it completely. Now that his strength was spent, its effects finally erupted inside him.

Before he passed out, Lu Zhuo weakly managed to say two words to Nami as she ran toward him: "Elect...rocute me!"

Seeing Lu Zhuo's condition, Nami nearly burst into tears. But Robin didn't even have time to wipe away her own tears. She shouted urgently to Nami, "Quick! Send a bolt of lightning right here!"

She pointed to a spot on Lu Zhuo's back. Nami didn't know exactly what was happening, but seeing Robin's expression, she did as she was told without hesitation.

Nami's hand transformed into a tiny thundercloud, releasing a shower of fine sparks that struck the spot on Lu Zhuo's back where the ice needle had pierced him. The heat from the lightning, together with Lu Zhuo's powerful constitution and strong heartbeat, barely managed to hold the ice needle's effects at bay.

Elsewhere, Aokiji looked grimly at the man before him, who wore a black top hat and had an equally stern expression.

"What are you doing here?"

"Nothing. I just don't want you destroying a promising talent before his time."

"A promising talent? Ridiculous. Do you know how terrifyingly strong that man has already become?" Aokiji snapped, staring at the man in the black top hat and formal suit.

Beyond his pupils were rings of yellow and black, with the whites of his eyes yellow around the edges. Those eyes... they were just like a hawk's!

A Shichibukai, the World's Greatest Swordsman, and a man whose strength might even surpass that of the top Admirals... Dracule Mihawk!

The man known as... Hawk-Eye!