The Heart That No Longer Ran Away

"That Kuzan... was actually at a disadvantage."

Robin stood beside the giant tree frozen into a white sculpture, her fingertips unconsciously picking at the ice covering its bark.

She suddenly felt that the existence she had always feared did not seem so terrifying after all.

"Dear really cares about you."

A hand landed on her shoulder as Baccarat's jealous voice drifted over from beside her.

"Look how desperately he's fighting for you."

"He's just enjoying the battle, that's all."

Robin curled her lips and turned her attention back to the battlefield.

As though he had seen the future, Kuzan opened a hole through his chest. A metal longsword then passed straight through it.

Electromagnetic Force surged across the blade, electric arcs flickering like snake tongues as it pierced the icy mist and emerged from Kuzan's back, trailing a burst of white frost.

"Seeing the future? You really are a monster."

Lucas smacked his lips as he looked at the hole in Kuzan's chest.

In the original timeline, Kuzan during the Summit War indeed possessed formidable Observation Haki, but that Kuzan had been forty-nine.

The one standing before him was only twenty-nine. Even whether Katakuri at the same age could do this was questionable.

"That's what I should be saying."

"When I was your age, I couldn't even use Haki."

Kuzan extended his index finger and tapped the air repeatedly. Frost shot from his fingertip, freezing the water molecules in the air into countless tiny pellets as dense as buckshot.

"[Ice Ball: Scatter Shot]"

Blood-red electric arcs gathered in Lucas's palm like the branches of an ancient tree, condensing into the shape of a spear. He gripped the shaft tightly, his arm muscles bulging as he hurled it with all his strength.

"[Fifty Million Volts: Thunder Spear]"

The instant the thunder spear left his hand, the surrounding air was scorched by the intense heat, rippling in distorted rings.

The ice pellets were like snowflakes crashing into molten iron before the thunder spear, instantly evaporating into white vapor.

The thunder spear tore through layers of air with unstoppable force, its tip piercing precisely into "Kuzan's" chest.

The body of ice crystals melted instantly beneath the heat.

Almost at the exact moment the ice clone was destroyed, a humanoid bulge abruptly rose from the frozen ground behind Lucas.

Kuzan's outline emerged from it. White frost burst from his hands, transforming into two thick pillars of ice that closed in on Lucas's back.

"[Ice Ball]"

Lucas turned around with a polite smile.

Ultrasound at a frequency beyond human hearing erupted from his body. Before the two ice pillars could touch him, they began cracking apart from within.

Cracks spread over the pillars like spiderwebs before they exploded with a deafening boom, shattering into countless fist-sized chunks of ice.

Kuzan himself was also blasted into fragments by the ultrasound at that same instant.

"Although my Observation Haki is a little weaker than yours, my reaction speed seems to be just a tiny bit faster."

"Ah la la, what a troublesome opponent."

The shattered ice fragments turned into white frost and rose into the air, gathering once more into Kuzan's form.

He stood in midair and extended his right hand, palm open. Frost poured from between his fingers, freezing the moisture in the air before him. More than a hundred ice spears wrapped in Busoshoku Haki formed in front of him, their tips all aimed at Lucas.

"[Ice Block: Hundred Thorny Spears]"

More than a hundred ice spears shot out at once, their piercing whistles as dense as a disturbed hornet's nest.

The blood-red mist around Lucas's body turned into blood, splashing down onto the frozen ground and forming a pool of blood spanning over a hundred meters. The blood boiled like magma and surged toward the sky. The rising stream gathered above Lucas's head into a massive blood dragon.

"[Blood Dragon Violent Bite]!"

The ice spears stabbed into the blood dragon's body like a torrential downpour. The blood waves that blotted out the sky merged with outward-flowing Armament Haki and suddenly exploded in midair, destroying the ice spears from within one after another.

Lucas turned into a streak of crimson lightning and vanished from where he stood. He reappeared in midair, spreading the five fingers of his right hand.

Drawn by Electromagnetic Force, gray-black metal particles burst from the cracks in the ice like springs surging from underground, gathering in his palm once more to form a longsword.

"[Thirty Million Volts: Thunder Crescent Slash]"

Sizzle! Sizzle! Sizzle!

Blood-red bioelectric currents infused with Haki erupted across the blade. A crescent-shaped Flying Slash detached from it, ionizing the air into plasma wherever it passed. The frozen houses below were swept by its aftershock and neatly sliced in half.

An airwave exploded beneath Kuzan's feet. He alternated between Soru and Geppo, moving as nimbly as a fish in the deep sea as he barely grazed past the slash.

He dove down with the momentum, his right arm transforming into an ice fist layered with Busoshoku Haki as he smashed it toward Lucas's face.

"[Iron Sand World Method]"

The metal longsword split apart into spears, each wrapped in blood-red Haki, all stabbing toward Kuzan.

A layer of outward-flowing Haki lay between the spear tips and the ice fist. Rings of white airwaves spread outward from the point of impact, shaking dense cracks across the ice-covered ground.

The metal spears lasted less than a second. The Armament Haki wrapped around them was forcibly ground away by the more powerful Armament Haki on the ice fist. Stripped of their Haki enhancement, the spears reverted into gray-black metal particles beneath the fist wind and scattered toward the ground.

A blood-red fist punched through the rain of metal particles before it had fully fallen, colliding head-on with Kuzan's ice fist. High above, the clouds boiled as the aftermath of their power churned through them.

The Busoshoku Haki flowing across the ice fist broke through Lucas's Haki armor. The Busoshoku Haki seeped into his body and began destroying his cells from within. Blood vessels ruptured, muscles tore apart.

The immense amount of Life Energy accumulated within him surged through the Haki-damaged areas like a reservoir with its floodgates opened, reconnecting ruptured blood vessels and stitching torn muscles back together. Thick white smoke rose from his body.

While repairing his injuries, Lucas threw out his left fist. Kuzan transformed his left hand into an element at the same time, wrapping it in a great amount of Busoshoku Haki to meet the blow.

The two fists collided again. Lucas suffered significant injuries within his body once more, and Life Energy began repairing the wounds. That comfortable warmth intertwined with the agony of destruction, forming an indescribable sensation.

Flapping his bat wings to remain airborne, the muscles in both arms tensed before erupting with immense power in an instant. Lucas's fists turned into red lightning, unleashing dozens, perhaps hundreds, of fist shadows.

Kuzan used Geppo to remain suspended in midair, his arms dancing into afterimages. He likewise unleashed hundreds of ice fists wrapped in Busoshoku Haki. The air was beaten into a mush by the force of their fists, surging in every direction like boiling water and roaring without end.

This aerial battle lasted from morning to night, from day into darkness, then from darkness back into daylight. The battlefield shifted from the sky to the ground, then from the ground back into the sky, changing locations countless times.

Lucas's Armament Haki was like ordinary iron repeatedly hammered in a forge. Each time Kuzan's Haki shattered, wore away, and broke through it, impurities were hammered out and its structure was compacted, gradually moving closer to refined steel.

Before they realized it, this "forging" had continued for three full days and nights.

Baccarat stood at the edge of the battlefield, watching her man get beaten until he coughed up blood once again, her expression numb.

She had seen this scene no fewer than a hundred times during this battle. If she worried herself sick every time, she felt she would lose her mind sooner or later.

Robin beside her had also lost her initial fear. Her expression had returned to its usual calm. She took compressed biscuits from her pocket, broke them in half, handed one half to Baccarat, then slowly chewed her own before pouring herself a cup of hot tea from a thermos.

Her constitution was weaker than Baccarat's, who had been strengthened many times. Over these three days, she had returned to the Eos several times for supplies and taken a few short naps during breaks in the battle just to endure until now.

At this moment, Robin was gradually emerging from the deepest shadows in her heart. She could see a glimmer of hope for the future.

In her once narrow worldview, Kuzan had been the pinnacle of the world, a nightmare she could never escape for the rest of her life.

But now, watching the two trade blows evenly, she suddenly felt...

It seemed... not all that impressive.

Kuzan was not invincible.

The days of running away seemed like they were truly about to end.

To Be Continued