What on earth was happening? Why was Admiral Akainu attacking them?
The Marines stood at a loss, staring blankly at the Magma and frost spreading toward their feet.
Wait. Frost!
They snapped out of it and looked up.
Sure enough, the Colosseum, which moments ago had been nothing but broken walls and bloodstains, was now white as snow.
A layer of ice at least four inches thick covered the surrounding walls and floor. Anyone who didn't know better might have mistaken the place for an East Island buried under years of snow.
With the freezing came a cold so fierce it nearly took their breath away. Just one inhale left them wide awake.
Akainu's Magma hadn't rushed toward the crowd. It had hugged the protective wall, racing around the Colosseum in a wide ring. Beyond that boundary of Magma, the terrifying cold made the dust in the air sharply visible. And it wasn't confined to one spot. The same thing was happening everywhere.
The entire Colosseum looked like a giant block of ice. Dust and chips of stone were embedded within it, frozen in place and suspended in midair by an invisible force.
It was beautiful, but utterly lifeless.
Gulp!
"Th-that's terrifying!"
The soldiers swallowed hard and backed away again.
"Look over there! Is that the sea?"
The shout jolted everyone. They followed the others' gazes and froze where they stood.
Where the beam had passed, it had punched through the thick outer wall, then carved onward through the ground and across more than half the cliff.
A deep trench had been plowed into the earth, its sides smooth as mirrors. Stone slabs and soil alike had been sliced cleanly apart, then frozen.
But that wasn't the most shocking part.
Beyond the cliff's edge, the sea as far as they