You Must Give Me a Satisfactory Bounty

"Ha... look at our vice admiral's giant bird! It swallowed the enemy's fireball in a single bite."

"Man, he really is worthy of being one of the reserve candidates for admiral at Marine Headquarters."

"Exactly! No wonder they say that whenever Vice Admiral Aokiji puts to sea, he becomes the nightmare of countless pirates!"

At that moment, countless Marines were proud and excited. Lord Aokiji truly was invincible. The icy power he wielded turned heaven and earth pale, as though a world of extreme ice and snow had descended.

Endless snowflakes drifted through the air.

Yet in the next instant, an unprecedentedly terrifying chill radiated from Aokiji's body.

Although the Marines' blood still boiled with excitement, anyone who stood too close found their bodies growing stiffer and colder, chilled to the bone. An instinctive shudder of terror rose in their hearts!

"Vice Admiral!"

The Marines aboard the warship were scared out of their wits.

They suddenly discovered that frost was rapidly spreading across the deck, railings, and masts, as if it intended to freeze the entire warship—and even the Marines aboard it—regardless of friend or foe.

It was simply too terrifying.

"Could the rumors about the vice admiral be true?" a Marine suddenly asked in utter panic.

The moment those words were spoken, countless Marines stared at the tall figure standing before them with terrified eyes. Though he was shielding them at the front, he seemed utterly terrifying at that moment.

It was said that Vice Admiral Aokiji would sometimes lose his mind and go berserk during battle, indiscriminately attacking friend and foe alike. It was as if a terrifying demon lived inside his body, and people could not help but fear him.

This was also one of the reasons they believed Vice Admiral Aokiji had always acted alone.

"Stay away from me!"

Aokiji merely said coldly.

As for being a monster, perhaps he really was one.

But not in the way those people imagined.

He was simply accustomed to pushing beyond his limits in every battle, often at a terrible cost.

Once the freezing power he unleashed exceeded what his body could endure, Aokiji would have trouble controlling it. Even his own flesh-and-blood body could be continuously devoured by that unrestrained power.

The clearest sign was that whenever he unleashed his freezing ability, his flesh would temporarily turn to ice. If he could not keep it within his body's limits, it was indeed extremely dangerous.

Calling it a berserk state would not be an exaggeration.

"Have the warships quickly put a safe distance between one another. Aim the cannons at the enemy and be ready to fire at any time."

Unflustered in the face of danger, Rear Admiral Stolo finally had his moment to shine and immediately issued the correct order. He had heard the rumors that Vice Admiral Aokiji was a monster as well, so he commanded, "All soldiers on this warship, begin evacuation immediately."

"Now this is interesting!"

Watching the Marines aboard one warship inexplicably begin evacuating, Norse wondered whether Aokiji had some hidden technique. Was he worried that using it would affect those people?

But in the next instant, Norse frowned.

When he saw rows of cannons being drawn out aboard the other warships, all aimed at both his position and the Kuja Pirates' ship—

Norse became completely serious.

"Aokiji, perhaps your freezing ability truly is powerful. But against Norse's sun, it will ultimately melt away without a trace!"

Norse declared with arrogant confidence, "I am stronger than you. The sun cannot be devoured!"

Norse stood upon the air. His outstretched right hand suddenly clenched into a fist as he pressed downward. "Take this! Sun of Calamity: Release!"

The giant frozen bird that had swallowed the Sun of Calamity instantly split open with countless fine cracks. Tens of thousands of crimson rays transformed into blades of light, piercing through it.

The ice bird was melted away completely on the spot.

At that moment, the Sun of Calamity reappeared in the sky, dazzling and scorching, as though it were an invincible existence capable of ruling everything here.

And in an instant, it unleashed thousands upon thousands of blazing light swords, streaking through space like meteors toward the warships and countless Marines.

"Isn't that Admiral Kizaru's strongest move, Yasakani Sacred Jewel?" A Marine was instantly stunned and dumbfounded.

Those fortunate enough to have seen Admiral Kizaru fight knew what that move represented.

It was absolute power!

"This is bad! Contact Headquarters and request reinforcements!" A Marine cried out in fear.

They had never imagined that within this Calm Belt, there would be someone capable of contending with a Marine admiral—perhaps even surpassing one. He might possess the strength of an Emperor of the Sea!

Aokiji reacted immediately. His pupils narrowed as the chill around his body surged upward once more, condensing into an ice wall hundreds of zhang tall before him.

However, using this move drained Aokiji terribly. He immediately grew weak, even dropping to one knee as long streams of cold air poured from his mouth.

Norse's light swords continuously slammed into the ice wall that had suddenly risen, producing vast amounts of steam that shrouded the surrounding area.

"Fire!"

Seizing that opportunity—

Rear Admiral Stolo wanted to buy the vice admiral some time to recover his strength. Waiting for support from Marine Headquarters was impossible, so unless they received orders to return, they could only give it everything they had.

"Boom, boom, boom... Boom, boom, boom!!"

Eight warships and countless cannons fired fifty or sixty shells within seconds, blasting toward Norse in midair and the Kuja Pirates' ship.

Rear Admiral Stolo had hoped to throw the enemy ranks into chaos, perhaps even destroy their pirate ship and leave the enemy's main force unable to attend to both fronts!

"Heh heh! They're only a few dozen cannonballs. How much time can they buy for your vice admiral?"

Norse did not move from where he stood. He sneered at the self-righteous Marines and said, "Before absolute power, any attack from the weak is nothing but empty theory."

"Go!"

With a wave of Norse's hand, the Sun of Calamity floating in the air unleashed thousands upon thousands of light swords in another direction. Traveling at the speed of light, they intercepted and detonated every cannonball midair.

After all, his Fruit was the Sun Fruit, rarer and of a higher order than Kizaru's Glint-Glint Fruit. Light came from the sun!

All the female pirates aboard the Kuja Pirates' ship stared in stunned disbelief. They had thought Norse could no longer spare any attention for their safety, so they had all readied their bows, coating their arrows with Haki in preparation to blow apart the incoming shells.

But who could have expected Norse to be such a monster?

With just a casual wave of his hand, he had destroyed the incoming cannonballs in the blink of an eye, reducing them to ash.

"Sonia, do you know how I feel right now?" Gorud asked nervously.

Sonia swallowed, her heart churning as she asked, "How do you feel right now?"

"Whew... Honestly, I'm already prepared to lie down and become a subordinate of the Fifth Emperor of the Sea. This feels as real as a dream!" Gorud could hardly contain the impact Norse's strength had on her at that moment.

Meanwhile, Aokiji took the opportunity to barely recover some of his stamina. He forced himself to stand, determined to surpass his limits.

"Two Partisan!"

Two indestructible ice spears immediately formed beside him. One shot rapidly toward Norse, while the other flew toward the Sun of Calamity.

"Oh? You still don't understand? Fine, this time I'll grant your wish!"

Norse decided to make Aokiji accept his defeat wholeheartedly. He wanted him to understand that the gap between them was not something a wall of ice—or two ice spears—could bridge.

Boom!

The indestructible ice spear easily pierced and blew apart the Sun of Calamity. Yet, as though it were filled with destruction itself, the Sun of Calamity instantly scattered a sky full of sparks, which drifted down below.

Those sparks could not be brushed away and were extremely difficult to extinguish.

The warships were immediately set ablaze, as were the Marines aboard them. Even Aokiji's Ice Age was ignited.

It was simply unbelievable.

Normally, once Aokiji's Ice Age froze something, it would take two weeks to melt. Yet now, the sparks from the exploding Sun of Calamity had ignited and melted it.

"Argh...!!"

"Put out the fire! Save me!"

"Ah, it's so hot! I'm burning to death!"

The Marines aboard the warships screamed in agony, and the scene descended into utter chaos. They had no time to counterattack Norse; all of them were busy saving themselves and putting out the flames on their ships.

"Use seawater! Seawater can put it out!"

Amid the panic, some Marines discovered that only seawater could completely extinguish those terrifying flames.

As for Norse, he put on a demonstration of what it meant to catch an ice spear with his bare hand.

He casually used Sun Gravity, intercepting the rapidly approaching ice spear from a distance.

After stripping the ice spear of its sharp force, Norse caught it in his hand. His entire arm was frozen as a result, but with a hard clench of his fist, the ice spear in his hand shattered on the spot, and the ice covering his arm was shattered as well.

This showed that Norse's physical prowess was not to be underestimated either.

After witnessing all of this, Aokiji could not help but draw in a cold breath. Perhaps this guy's strength went far beyond even this.

"You truly are powerful. I hope today's offense has not completely angered you," Aokiji said, raising his head with neither servility nor arrogance.

Someone as powerful as him had no criminal record, which was enough to show that he was different from the rest.

Perhaps as long as no one took the initiative to provoke him, he would continue to follow the rules!

"Oh?"

Norse was somewhat surprised that this guy would say something like that. After all, this was a man who would not cry out even if his legs were broken.

It seemed that time really could change many people!

"Fine, I'll consider it. You can all leave now. Once you return, make sure to give me a bounty worthy of my value. Otherwise, the consequences will be severe!" Norse warned with utmost seriousness.