Aokiji

The chilling ice spears, carrying a bleak blue-white aura, shot toward Ye Qiong!

With Olvia on his back, Ye Qiong teleported aside, forcibly shifting his position. The two ice spears missed and struck the ground, instantly erupting with astonishing cold that visibly froze a patch of grass into white frost.

A tall, upright man leaped out from the nearby forest. His military-green coat billowed in the air, and white frost energy swirled around his entire body.

Thud!

Simply standing there, he caused the dew on the surrounding grass to freeze solid as a fierce, powerful aura pressed down.

"Vice Admiral Kuzan!"

The two CP9 members who had chased after him stopped in their tracks and cried out in alarm at the sight of the tall man.

Ye Qiong stopped as well, staring solemnly at the tall man called Vice Admiral Kuzan, bitterness tugging at the corner of his mouth.

If it had only been an ordinary vice admiral, Ye Qiong was confident that he could have escaped easily with the powers of the Space-Space Fruit.

But the man before him was absolutely an exception!

Kuzan, currently a Marine vice admiral and wielder of the Logia Ice-Ice Fruit, was an unparalleled powerhouse who would one day become one of the Marines' three greatest combat forces, bearing the codename "Aokiji"!

Even though he was still young and his strength was still growing, not yet at admiral level, he was at least at the level of a peak vice admiral—perhaps even Shichibukai level!

He was absolutely not someone Ye Qiong could contend with right now!

"Tsk, tsk. You're pretty strong, kid, but if I let you take her away, where would that leave the World Government's dignity?" Kuzan spread his hands, frost escaping his mouth as he studied Ye Qiong through his stylish sunglasses.

"Vice Admiral Kuzan, I've long admired your reputation." Ye Qiong sighed inwardly. Running into Kuzan made escape difficult.

"Oh? You've heard of me?" Kuzan pursed his thick lips, somewhat interested.

"Of course... You're quite famous where I come from." Ye Qiong sighed, thinking of a character from an anime he had once liked. Now that character was trying to take his life, it was absurdly ironic.

"Is that so? Too bad I can't let you go. If you put down the woman in your arms, I might spare your life." Kuzan considered it.

"Vice Admiral Kuzan, no!" the two CP9 members hurriedly protested. "That kid is very likely connected to what happened last night!"

"Last night... Could it be that you were the one who killed them, kid?" Kuzan thought for a moment, then looked slightly astonished.

According to Sengoku's notice, secretly killing two CP9 members without leaving a trace required at least vice admiral-level strength. Could this eleven- or twelve-year-old kid really have done it?

Ye Qiong remained silent. His still-childish face was calm and unreadable as his mind raced through every possible method of escape.

Against someone with this level of combat power, one mistake would cost him his life.

"If you don't say anything, I'll take that as an admission. Then let me test your strength." Kuzan grinned.

He lazily shrugged, as if this were merely a passing amusement, yet his casual strike carried terrifying power.

"Ice Time Capsule!"

A surge of white frost burst from his palm, slicing through the air as it rushed toward Ye Qiong!

"R Restraint!"

A space filled with outward repulsion expanded, its restraining force pressing down on the surrounding space in an attempt to stop the frost from advancing.

Yet the white frost continued flowing forward smoothly, cold and terrifying.

Ye Qiong's heart lurched, and he forcefully kicked off to dodge aside.

The frost slammed into the ground and rapidly spread outward. White cold energy splashed up, winding toward his airborne leg.

The frost caught up with Ye Qiong, and the bone-piercing cold was about to freeze his leg solid in an instant!

His figure flashed, vanishing from midair. The frost lost its target and fell, freezing an area dozens of meters wide into a layer of white ice.

Ye Qiong gasped for breath as he appeared on a tree trunk some distance away. A thin layer of frost had formed over his right leg, obstructing the flow of blood.

That was close! If he had not used teleportation to escape, his right leg would have been completely ruined by the frost.

Kuzan gave a surprised "Huh," not expecting Ye Qiong to evade his Ice Time Capsule like that.

"Teleportation? A Devil Fruit user?" His interest was suddenly piqued.

"Again!"

Terrifying frost erupted and rapidly spread through the air.

Seeing the frost charge toward him, Ye Qiong had no choice but to use teleportation again to evade it.

The frost struck a massive tree and rapidly spread in all directions. The vegetation, rocks, and earth were completely frozen into glittering frost, turning the area into a land of ice and snow.

It was clearly the height of summer, with blazing sunlight overhead, yet frost now blanketed part of the forest, and even the air was filled with bone-chilling cold!

The two CP9 members retreated, withdrawing from the area that had been transformed into an icy wasteland. Even they feared being caught in that terrifying frost.

Ye Qiong teleported to a spot a hundred meters away. His body staggered, and his face was pale as gold paper.

Teleporting while carrying someone consumed far too much stamina! Ye Qiong had no idea whether his body could hold out.

He kicked off hard and fled directly toward the Tree of Omniscience.

"Three li left!"

Ye Qiong gritted his teeth, drenched in cold sweat. He could clearly sense Robin's spatial location. With only three li remaining, he could use Silver Flash to move through space!

What would normally have been a short distance now felt endlessly long!

Before he had even covered half the distance, Ye Qiong suddenly stopped. On the forest path ahead, Kuzan stood there motionlessly, as though he had been waiting for him all along.

"Does teleportation have a distance limit?" Kuzan mused.

Ye Qiong decisively pulled three darts from his waist. As milky-white light flowed over them, a thin yet razor-sharp power of spatial severance condensed along their edges. He gripped them tightly between his fingers and swiftly threw them.

Crack!

Kuzan did not dodge. Two darts struck his body, but an unreal, crisp sound rang out as his tall body shattered into chunks of ice that fell to the ground.

The elemental transformation of a Logia.

Ye Qiong frowned and waved his left hand, manipulating space in an attempt to separate the shattered ice chunks.

The ice chunks swiftly slid together and reformed into a human shape. An icy hand wrapped in frost reached toward Ye Qiong as ice crystals bloomed across the ground, inch by inch!

Ye Qiong flashed away from where he stood, and the icy hand grasped at empty air.

When Ye Qiong teleported to the side, a tall figure emerged in front of him. Frost surged toward him, white cold energy coiling around his body as it sought to envelop him!

Ye Qiong's pupils contracted. He could see Kuzan's half-formed face before him, as well as the icy gaze beneath those sunglasses.

"Ice Time!"

Ye Qiong's entire body tensed to the limit at that moment!

He could clearly feel the bone-chilling frost covering his body almost instantly. His entire body became difficult to move, and he was about to be frozen into an ice sculpture!

If he was frozen, it would truly be over!

"R Tensei!!!"

The circular space rapidly compressed into a sphere of light, centering on Ye Qiong and protecting both him and Olvia. Then, as if exploding, a terrifying repulsive force violently expanded in every direction.

Everything around them was blasted away. Shattered ice and dirt flew everywhere as Kuzan was forced back, his icy body landing on the ground while the frost spilling from him froze into a trail of ice.

Ye Qiong stood where he was, the ground beneath him crushed into a circular pit. He exhaled hot breath and shivered uncontrollably, his face and body speckled with frost.

Ignoring his terrible condition, he quickly checked Olvia. She was still unconscious, with slight traces of frost on her brows and eyelashes as she trembled faintly, but she was otherwise unharmed.

Ye Qiong let out a breath of relief. Fortunately, Kuzan had attacked from the front. Otherwise, Olvia's constitution would never have survived it!

"Tsk, tsk, tsk. Kid, I really underestimated you. That annoying teleportation and that move just now... they're pretty impressive."

Kuzan had already returned to human form and offered faint praise.

"Cough, cough."

Ye Qiong coughed violently. During that brief moment when the frost had wrapped around him, cold energy had already invaded his body. Of course, the main problem was still the backlash from excessively using the Space-Space Fruit's power. Shinra Tensei placed far too great a burden on his body.

"Give up, kid."

Kuzan quietly watched the boy before him, knowing that Ye Qiong had reached the end of the road.

But in the next moment, a faint smile curved across Ye Qiong's lips.

"Vice Admiral Kuzan, do you know why only two darts hit you just now?

"Hm?"

"Sorry, but we'll meet again next time."

As soon as Ye Qiong's voice fell, he vanished from where he stood in a silver flash.