"Huh?!"
Allen looked as if he had heard the joke of the century. He instantly bristled, his hair seeming to stand on end. "Who gave you the nerve to make a demand like that?!"
"The Pluton Battleship? Is that some toy I can just hand over? Vegapunk's clone? That's a technical consultant I paid a fortune to 'hire'! You want to freeload? Not a chance!"
He swung his hand sharply. "Move!"
Rayleigh's inner drama instantly kicked into overdrive, complete with a tragic background score: "Sob... you brat! You shouted so fiercely, but you still refuse to trade those things for this old man! I knew it! In your little bastard heart, that cold lump of iron called the Pluton Battleship, and that clone wearing Vegapunk's face, matter more than these old bones that practiced swordsmanship with you, taught you Haki, and told you embarrassing stories about your father! Sob... forget it, forget it... For the sake of ensuring the Ancient Weapon falls into the 'right' hands, for the future... this old man will sacrifice himself! Roger, my brother, I'm coming to join you..."
Rayleigh's self-hypnotic emotional performance reached its climax.
Upon receiving Allen's order, the Imperial Guards answered in unison, "By your command, my lord!"
From the Imperial Guards formation, a frosty young man codenamed "Refrigerator" stepped forward.
With a nimble leap, he landed on the sea surface like a great roc.
The instant his feet touched the seawater, he shouted, "Flash-Freeze! Flash-Freeze!"
"Buzz—!"
Pale-blue, bone-chilling frost spread outward in a mad ring from beneath his feet!
The seawater froze instantly with a teeth-grinding crack. The Ice Layer thickened and spread at a visible rate. In just a few breaths, the once-turbulent sea had turned into a vast, level ice field! The cold seeped outward, making the Marines in the