"Aokiji!"
At the sight of Aokiji getting to his feet, the nearby Marines cried out, "Admiral Aokiji is making his move!"
Aokiji looked as he always did: lazy and half-asleep. He scratched his tousled hair and drawled, "Oh, they're really making a racket. Better go straight for their leader."
Before he finished speaking, Aokiji vanished. An instant later, he appeared at the bow of the Moby Dick, right in front of Whitebeard, with two cold, sharp icicles in his hands.
He drove them toward Whitebeard's chest, but Whitebeard's blade was faster. It struck Aokiji before the icicles could reach him.
"Gurararara... Aokiji, you brat! Did you think you could hurt me?"
"Admiral Aokiji? Whitebeard stabbed him!"
No one knew who shouted it, but shock swept across the Bay Head. People turned to see Whitebeard's blade buried in Aokiji's chest, its edge jutting from his back. They stared, eyes nearly popping out of their heads.
A moment later, Aokiji smiled calmly. The instant the blade struck, he had transformed his chest into ice through Elementalization.
Whitebeard's thrust had been fierce and decisive, and he had used Haki, but he had not dealt Aokiji any real damage.
Aokiji kept driving his icicles forward without slowing. Whitebeard hurriedly flicked him away with his blade. The moment Aokiji landed, dozens of Whitebeard's crew surrounded him in a fury.
"As long as we're here, you're not getting near Pops!"
"Hmph..."
Aokiji gave them a cold glance and paid them no further mind. He bent sharply, touched the ground with his fingers, and said, "Ice Era!"
Ice billowed with cold mist where his fingers touched the ground, spreading outward at astonishing speed. In an instant, the charging pirates became frozen statues.
Aokiji had just straightened when powerful footsteps sounded behind him. A formidable presence was closing