Immune to Cold? One Against Two! (Four Thousand Words!)

Aokiji spoke in an indifferent tone. "I just didn't expect to see you again this way..."

"Enough!" Owl swept Aokiji with a cold glance. "Don't speak to me in that old tone. I'm not your colleague anymore!"

"Is that so..." Aokiji gave a slight shake of his head but said nothing more.

"Buy me some time. I need to recover my Haki. If it's just you alone, I don't think you can subdue Ice Dragon. We have to capture him. Otherwise, once he heads to the New World, he'll become another threat to the World Government—perhaps no less dangerous than those Four Emperors!" Owl said coldly, then closed his eyes.

The recovery ability of a Zoan was extremely strong, especially an awakened Zoan!

As long as Owl was given a little time, he might not recover to his peak, but he would still regain the ability to fight!

Luffy in the original story had been the same. Those repeated sit-ups were enough to prove the recovery power of a Zoan...

"Ice Dragon Ian really is a monster, just as Yellow Monkey said! But saying he's as threatening as a Four Emperor... that seems a little excessive, doesn't it?" Aokiji showed no surprise whatsoever at Owl's evaluation of Ian.

Even without Owl saying so, Aokiji would never have underestimated Ian.

Ice Dragon was strong. There was no doubt about that. Being able to draw with Hawk-Eye and drive back Yellow Monkey was more than enough to prove his strength!

But a threat comparable to the Four Emperors? That was going too far, wasn't it?

The threat posed by those four emperors of the sea was not determined by individual strength alone. There were many other factors involved!

Could one person alone truly pose the same threat as a Four Emperor?

Aokiji did not believe it.

"Hmph. You'll understand once you witness his strength for yourself! I just hope you won't be killed by him before I recover a little fighting power!" Owl merely sneered, not even opening his eyes.

"Hey, I didn't want to interrupt your little reunion, but aren't you two taking me a bit too lightly?" Ian was displeased. His eyes narrowed slightly, revealing a dangerous glint as he raised his sword and slashed down. "Nameless Divine Wind Style: White Tiger!"

In an instant, a tiger's roar shot into the heavens. The phantom of a White Tiger transformed into rampant killing intent, and a razor-sharp slash nearly a thousand meters long tore straight toward Aokiji. Everything in its path was sliced apart!

"Ah la la, attacking without a word? You're not very polite either," Aokiji said as a red glint flashed through his eyes. Cold air surged from his body. Without any visible movement from him, ice spikes suddenly burst from the ground like bamboo shoots, racing along the earth!

Boom! Boom! Boom!

But before Ian's slash, the massive spreading ice spikes were utterly unable to resist. They were cut cleanly in half, while the slash continued onward toward Aokiji without losing momentum!

"Didn't you give me a show of force just now? That makes us even, doesn't it?" Aokiji's gaze turned icy. He did not choose to dodge; Owl was behind him.

He could only take the slash head-on!

"Ice Block: Partisan!" Cold air surged from Aokiji's body as ice crystals condensed behind him, forming several thick spears that shot forward to meet the slash!

Boom! Boom!

The attacks collided and shattered one another. Freezing air swept outward, icing over the surroundings!

"Shave!" Apparently to keep Owl from being caught in the aftermath, Aokiji stomped on the ground and shot forward. He spread his fingers, firing a mass of cold air from his palm toward Ian. "Ice Time Capsule!"

"A show of force? What nonsense are you talking about? This is the first time I've met you, Admiral Aokiji!" Ian merely smiled. With a tap of his foot, cold air surged around him as well, forming an ice shield before him. "Prism Ice Barrier Formation!"

With a boom, freezing air erupted, and a massive iceberg suddenly rose into existence!

"Ice Saber!" He blew out a breath of cold air, condensing it into a slender ice blade and coating it with Armament Haki before slashing down at Ian!

"Good!" Ian grinned, raising Hyorinmaru to meet the attack. Hyorinmaru, wrapped in Haki, struck forward!

With a clang, the instant the two blades collided, endless sparks burst forth. The two held their swords against each other, power erupting as they struggled for dominance.

The next moment, their right legs kicked out at each other in perfect sync. With a boom, both were sent retreating.

Ian took one step back, and the ground beneath his foot shattered from the force pouring into it!

Aokiji, meanwhile, staggered back five or six steps. The ground cracked beneath every landing point!

"Again—Ice Dragon Tailspin!" Ian kicked off the ground and lunged forward. Ice crystals and freezing air trailed from his blade as he swept it horizontally. Cold air formed a crystalline coating, freezing everything ahead!

As if he had failed to react in time, Aokiji was struck directly by Ian's attack and sealed within thick ice!

"On purpose?" Ian raised a brow. With Aokiji's Observation Haki, there was no way he could not have sensed that attack. With his speed, there was no way he could not have dodged.

The only explanation was that Aokiji had done it deliberately...

Did he think that, because he had eaten the Ice-Ice Fruit, cold air would be ineffective against him?

"Heh, who are you looking down on?" A cold glint flashed in Ian's eyes. He raised his sword and slashed down, cleaving the frozen ice before him in two!

"Ah la la, you actually made me experience cold again. Your ability exceeds my expectations. But it can only affect me. Your power is ineffective against me!" The ice split in half suddenly changed. Ice crystals flowed, and Aokiji emerged from the upper half of his body. Aside from his right eye, the rest of him was flowing ice crystal.

"Extremely Cold Wind." Aokiji exhaled freezing air toward Ian, elementalizing as he lunged at him.

The sudden freezing air sealed off Ian's footing. One of his feet was frozen by the spreading chill, and ice crystals rapidly crawled upward. Yet Ian showed no panic at all, merely watching as Aokiji charged in.

"It's over!" Aokiji looked at Ian's expression with some confusion, but he only assumed that his cold air had affected Ian's senses and prevented him from reacting.

"Ice Age!" Without hesitation, Aokiji spread his elementalized ice-crystal hand. Terrifying cold air erupted, and in the blink of an eye, Ian was completely frozen within it, becoming an ice sculpture!

Ice Age was Aokiji's strongest move apart from Awakening. It could even freeze an entire sea!

Even Four Emperors like Big Mom and Kaido, renowned as physical monsters, would not find it easy to break free from this move!

"Hm? What's this..." Yet as Aokiji looked at Ian, completely frozen in ice, his brows knitted deeply. As though he had sensed some danger, he immediately retreated from the area!

Just as Aokiji left that region, a streak of sword light suddenly descended, carving a long trench through the ground.

"Tsk, you dodged it? You're too cautious, Admiral Aokiji!" Ian, having broken free from the ice, brushed the fragments from his body. Looking at Aokiji, he revealed an amused smile. "And your ice seems to be ineffective against me too..."

Aokiji narrowed his eyes. Hearing the same words come from Ian's mouth felt somewhat strange.

Still, Ian's lack of fear toward cold had greatly exceeded his expectations...

Was someone who feared no cold his natural nemesis?

Aokiji did not suspect Ian was merely putting on a brave front. His Observation Haki was not weak, and he could naturally tell that Ian truly had not been greatly affected by his freezing air.

Like him, Ian likely possessed an extraordinary resistance to cold!

Aokiji exhaled a breath of frost and looked at Ian gravely. "Does the Olycia Tribe have such an ability?"

Aokiji did not know much about the "Twin Poles" race. He only knew that one controlled flames while the other controlled ice.

But he had also encountered King the Conflagration of the Lunarian Tribe, another of the "Twin Poles," and he did not recall King possessing the ability to be immune to flames!

King could merely use flames as an attack!

Could a Mythical Zoan have changed that trait? What Zoan did this guy actually eat...? Aokiji found the situation troublesome.

Ice Dragon Ian was far too mysterious. The first time he appeared, he had already displayed considerable strength!

If not for his special constitution and the power of his race, how could an ordinary person possess such strength at that age?

Ian looked to be only around twenty years old, and it definitely was not a Devil Fruit ability making him appear younger.

That much could not escape Aokiji's senses.

When Aokiji had been that age, he had only recently joined the Marines. He had merely been an ordinary Marine...

As far as he knew, the only person who had possessed strength capable of contending with an Admiral at that age was Big Mom—Charlotte Linlin, a Four Emperor born with a monstrous physique!

Even Kaido of the Beasts, rumored to be "the strongest in a one-on-one fight," had been incredibly powerful at that age, but he had not possessed the strength to contend with an Admiral!

"The Olycia Tribe?" Having heard the name from both of them, Ian raised a brow. "Are you talking about me?"

Ian was also puzzled. Could this body have some other background?

That was hard to say...

After all, when he had awakened in this world, he had been in the middle of a shipwreck, and he had been the only person on that island. Who knew where he had drifted from...

"You don't know? Isn't your ice derived from your race's innate abilities?" Aokiji frowned, then exhaled. "If it's a Devil Fruit ability, then what Devil Fruit did you eat?"

The World Government had already confirmed Ice Dragon Ian's identity. There could be no mistake. The three tear-shaped beauty marks at the corner of Ian's eye and his ice powers were the best proof!

He was a survivor of the "Twin Poles" race, one of the last remaining members of that race in the world alongside King the Conflagration!

However, no one had an accurate answer regarding which Devil Fruit Ice Dragon Ian had eaten.

They merely believed it was likely a Human-Human Fruit, Mythical Zoan, because Ice Dragon Ian's transformation differed from that of other Zoans!

He only grew a pair of ice wings on his back and became somewhat taller, while his main body remained in human form!

Ian shrugged and said calmly, "Who knows? My memories aren't complete..."

"Your memories aren't complete..." Aokiji actually nodded slightly upon hearing that.

Reasonable. Very reasonable!

Such a thing might be exceedingly rare if it happened to anyone else, but for a member of the "Twin Poles" race, it was perfectly understandable.

Hadn't King the Conflagration once been continuously studied by the World Government?

If Kaido had not escaped from prison and saved King, perhaps King the Conflagration would still be in the World Government's hands, undergoing experiments!

If Ice Dragon Ian had experienced something similar to King the Conflagration, then simply surviving would already be a matter of good fortune...

However, the little information Ian had revealed also gave Aokiji some guesses about him.

Perhaps Ice Dragon Ian had previously been secretly studied by some force, only for some accident to occur later, allowing him to escape...

That was why Ice Dragon Ian, the survivor of the Olycia Tribe, had appeared upon these seas once more...

"Besides, I don't know whether my abilities come from a Devil Fruit, my own body, or something else. I don't even know the name of the Devil Fruit I ate! But one thing is certain: using ice comes very naturally to me!" Ian laughed casually. None of that was a lie!

After all, his ability came from the system. Who knew how one was supposed to explain something like that?

Since it was bound to his soul, it could also be considered his own ability, right?

Aokiji frowned. "A newly emerged Devil Fruit ability?"

There had indeed been cases of new Devil Fruits appearing on the seas. Occasionally, a Devil Fruit not recorded in the Devil Fruit Encyclopedia would emerge.

It was rare, but not unheard of!

Ian smiled. "My Devil Fruit should indeed be a newly born Devil Fruit, and... it's a very special one..."

"Special?" Aokiji frowned again.

Was the special nature of that Devil Fruit the reason Ice Dragon Ian was unafraid of cold?

Had the Devil Fruit's special properties, combined with his racial traits, created such a monster?

Aokiji's heart tightened. If that was the case, then Ice Dragon Ian's threat level truly was not low!

"Enough chatter. I know you're stalling for time, but that should be enough by now, right? Thanks for telling me a little about my background. I'll investigate it myself!" Ian waved a hand, rolled his neck, and pointed his sword at Aokiji and Owl, who had risen to his feet again. He sneered. "Come on, let's continue!"

"One against two may be a little difficult, but perfect. I also want to know where my limits are!" Ian's red pupils suddenly constricted as terrifying Conqueror's Haki erupted from his body and swept forward!

Rumble!

The sky seemed to be affected by Ian's Conqueror's Haki, or perhaps by the Hyorinmaru in his hand. The already dark and oppressive clouds grew even heavier. Countless serpents of lightning crashed down from the clouds, their flashing radiance illuminating Ian and making him appear like a god who commanded thunder!

"What truly chilling Conqueror's Haki..." Even Aokiji felt his heart tighten beneath Ian's oppressive Conqueror's Haki. The intensity of it was simply terrifying.

It vaguely gave him the feeling of facing the man with the most overwhelming Haki—the Four Emperor Red-Haired Shanks!

At that moment, Aokiji finally acknowledged Owl's earlier words. If the man before him was not dealt with quickly and allowed to keep developing, he might truly become a threat on the level of a Four Emperor!