Ice World: Birth!?

Without the slightest delay, Babel, carrying Nozdon, Vikengam, and Eye Dragon in his arms, accelerated beneath his feet. Like a bulldozer, he charged wildly through the harbor docks, smashing Doringer, who tried to stop him, flying. With another burst of force from his foot, his enormous body leaped over a hundred meters with the three of them in his grasp, plunging toward the sea beyond the port.

There was no doubt that, as a powerful fish-man, his strength on land and in the sea were entirely different matters.

At this moment, he was preparing to enter the sea and fight!

But before he could truly crash into the water, Vikengam, trapped in his embrace, blood trickling from the corner of his mouth, released a wisp of freezing air from his fingertips at the very last moment.

The next second, Babel slammed headfirst into the frozen sea surface. His massive body rolled away rather awkwardly.

Taking advantage of the opportunity, Vikengam and Nozdon exerted themselves at the same time, breaking free from the crushing hold. All three escaped.

After rolling twice, Vikengam was the first to get to his feet, unafraid of slipping. He clapped his hands together before him and cursed, "You think this is your home turf? Trash, this is mine!"

As soon as the words fell, frost energy surged skyward from Vikengam's body. Then he growled, "Endless Winter!"

The thick ice rapidly changed. Savage ice spikes suddenly erupted, thrusting toward Babel.

Babel had only just risen when countless ice spikes rose around him. Without a word, he coated both arms in Armament Haki and swept them to either side, shattering every ice pillar that came at him.

It was not just the ice surface. Moisture in the air condensed into two- or three-meter-long ice spikes that fell like spears from above, stabbing straight at Babel.

Though Babel constantly hardened himself with Armament Haki and shattered or knocked down every ice spike, the terror of a Mythical Zoan became clear at that moment. Vikengam was clearly no match for him in raw strength, yet he could still contend with him through his ability.

No matter how many ice spikes Babel shattered, more followed without end. Perhaps Vikengam was right—the frozen sea was his home turf!

Before long, the shattered ice had piled up so high that it submerged Babel's legs. At the same time, the rapid impacts that shattered the ice spikes kicked up huge clouds of icy crystal dust, gradually obscuring Babel's figure.

With every breath he took, the crystal dust silently entered his lungs. At first, it was nothing, but once enough accumulated, Babel sensed that something was wrong!

Breathing became difficult, and every breath brought a stabbing pain to his chest.

With his vast combat experience, Babel immediately realized it. The endless ice spikes raining down on him were only a cover. The real killing move was hidden within the easily overlooked crystal dust!

Not daring to delay any longer, Babel roared. Armament Haki rapidly hardened his entire body. Then, rather than striking down the ice spikes, he simply endured them crashing against him and charged toward the distant Vikengam.

At this point, he had realized that the other Roger Pirates combatants posed little threat to him. Instead, this young man he had never seen before, who seemed to have only recently joined the Roger Pirates, gave him a far greater sense of danger.

More importantly, he had recognized that this young man was a damned, extremely rare Mythical Zoan user!

Seeing that damned fish-man charging at Vikengam, Nozdon and Eye Dragon both prepared to intervene.

But before either of them could make an effective move, the frost energy radiating from Vikengam's body began gathering beneath his feet. Then the ice where he stood rapidly rose. In an instant, a smooth, gleaming frozen slope that reflected cold light rose directly between Vikengam and Babel.

The friction was so low that after taking two steps, Babel not only failed to close the distance, but nearly fell over.

"You bastard, I'll turn you into a frozen fish today!" Vikengam cursed. The biting wind lifted his flowing silver-white hair, making him look imposing.

On the other side, Babel smashed the ground before him with one punch, breaking the smooth surface and sending countless chunks of ice flying.

His face darkened, and his eyes seemed ready to spit fire. His enormous palm struck through the air with a howling roar, blasting away the ice chunks as he bellowed, "Fish-Man Karate: Chain Gun Waves!"

Boom! Boom! Boom!

The chunks of ice, launched at tremendous speed, shot toward Vikengam above like cannonballs.

But Vikengam did not move at all. Wherever his will reached, frost energy surged again beneath his feet. In moments, a thick curved ice wall rose before him.

The incoming ice chunks struck the wall and slid away to either side. Only a handful left cracks behind, clearly causing no real problem.

As the curved ice wall rose, Vikengam took a deep breath and once more drew out the frost power within him. A glint of cold light flashed in his eyes as he stared intently at the catfish warrior. "Take this, you bastard—Ice World: Birth!!!"

The surging frost energy inside Vikengam's body seemed to be drained in one breath before erupting violently across the ice.

In an instant, countless ice flowers and ice trees appeared as though a primeval forest had descended from the sky, spreading outward for over a hundred meters with Babel at its center.

The sudden change startled Babel. Just as he was about to assess the situation, an ice vine silently climbed up his calf.

With one powerful struggle, he shattered the frost vine. Immediately afterward, several ice trees condensed from frost beside him toppled down upon him.

After leaping aside to evade them, Babel saw all manner of strange ice flowers and ice trees continuously spreading and freezing toward him. They released nearly imperceptible crystal dust into the air. In the blink of an eye, the icy forest seemed shrouded in mist, with crystal dust drifting everywhere!

Worse still, every time he shattered an ice tree or ice flower, the situation grew even more severe.

Meanwhile, Vikengam's breathing had also grown much heavier. Clearly, in order to suppress Babel in the shortest possible time, he was exerting himself tremendously. Even as a Mythical Zoan user, his stamina had been drained considerably.

Watching this scene, Nozdon, who had originally intended to help, said in a daze, "Wait, Rayleigh said he should take down Babel. Can he really do it?"

"He can't take him down." Eye Dragon frowned slightly. "But he is impressive. At least he can restrain Babel for a while. To reach this level at only eighteen... I don't know whether to call him extraordinarily talented or say that Mythical Zoans are simply too terrifying."

"Frost-type abilities naturally have an extremely significant advantage in control... Vikengam has clearly put a lot of effort into that aspect," Nozdon mused.

In fact, just as he said, Vikengam had initially developed his ability toward speed and defense. But after the battle at God Valley, once he successfully joined the Roger Pirates, he shifted the direction of his development once more.

He knew very well that within the Roger Pirates, he was currently a scholar. Compared to the other combatants, his strength was not weak. After all, he was at the level of a "God's Knights reserve." But compared with the three giants—Rayleigh, Roger, and Jaba—there was no need to say more.

With that level of strength, he would naturally fall short if he wanted to take part in their battles. But if he could fully develop his ability's control, perhaps it could produce unexpected results. If he could restrain even a little of the enemy's strength for them, it might tip the scales of victory!

That was why he had focused on developing his control during this time. Judging by Babel's current predicament, the results had been quite good.

On the other side, Babel, trapped within this so-called "Ice World: Birth," grew increasingly furious. After smashing a crashing ice tree into powder with one punch, he stopped caring whether the crystal dust would enter his lungs. His expression hardened, and he took a deep breath. His already tall and muscular body seemed to swell another size.

Then he grabbed the string of beads around his neck. While muttering something, he clenched his other hand into a fist. Powerful Haki wrapped around it. After a brief pause to gather strength, his eyes flashed with vicious light as he drove his fist violently into the ice!

"Fish-Man Karate: Secret Art—Giant Catfish Piercer!"

The thick ice layer could not withstand such terrifying power and instantly shattered. The force of the punch pressed downward and spread outward in rings, crushing the ice sheet layer by layer. It became a surging gale that swept out in a circular shockwave, carrying crystal dust and shattered ice with it.

The towering icy slope beneath Vikengam's feet was also shattered by the aftershock. He tapped through the air several times, stepping on flying chunks of ice to adjust his posture, rapidly widening the distance as he fell toward the ruined harbor.

Masses of seawater began pouring back into the shattered ice layer, forming a swirling sea eye. Before Vikengam could land in the harbor, Babel's muscular figure burst from the sea eye. Grasping a current in his hand, he glared murderously at Vikengam and roared, "Die! Ocean Current Shoulder Throw!!!"

In midair, Vikengam gathered the little frost energy he had left, intending to freeze the current. But before he could act—

Rayleigh's voice sounded from behind him. "Flowers of the Other Shore!"

A slash arrived later yet struck first, cleaving the current in two. Then Rayleigh's figure passed Vikengam from behind. Smiling at Babel in the sea eye, he said, "Getting this angry at a young man is rather undignified, Babel."