One Piece: I Became a Legend by Seeing Proficiency

One lock-on had unlocked three major Sword Intents at once. This was a real boost in strength.

He had never expected the Sword Intents he had struggled to grasp all this time to unlock this way.

Especially Cold River Sword Intent.

It might not have looked particularly impressive in The Legend of Qin, but in this world, it was absolutely broken!

His gaze swept across the panel. (Only changes shown.)

Hundred-Pace Flying Sword: max (Sword Intent activated: 100/1000000);

Crossing the Eight Directions: max (Sword Intent activated: 100/1000000);

Cold River Sword Intent: 100/1000000;

Of course, all of this happened in Dongze's mind. Outside, only an instant had passed. Seeing the look on Aokiji's face—the one that said, You can't touch me—Dongze's lips curved.

He had found the perfect answer to Aokiji.

Sword Intent touched upon the rules of the world. Once activated, its power nearly rivaled an awakened Devil Fruit ability.

"Hey, kid! Don't waste your energy. I'm a Logia user. You can't hit me!"

Confident that his Observation Haki far surpassed Dongze's, Aokiji couldn't even be bothered to dodge the slashes. He simply turned to ice and closed in fast.

He had settled on his plan earlier: fight at close range and never let Dongze use that move that left him standing helpless again. For a Marine Admiral, it was far too humiliating.

"The wind blows cold across the river!"

Aokiji suddenly heard those words. Then a sword flash slashed diagonally toward him, blooming before his eyes.

"Hey, kid! I already told you—"

Before Aokiji could finish, the Cold River Sword Intent hidden within the Armament Haki erupted.

Bitterly cold air stirred the rules of the world and sealed Aokiji in ice in an instant.

"What the hell..."

Trapped in the ice, Aokiji looked utterly stunned. Not only had his elemental transformation failed, but someone had actually frozen him.

He was an Ice-Ice Fruit user whose ability had reached Awakening. With a flick of his finger, he could turn fifty kilometers of sea into a glacier. Yet a Pirate Hunter had frozen him.

What kind of nightmare was this?

"..."

"Hey, Miss Robin, are my eyes playing tricks on me?"

"No! I must have gone blind. I wanted Dongze to win so badly I started seeing things. How embarrassing!"

Then they both spoke at once. "Wait! What did you see?"

"Marine Admiral Aokiji got frozen!"

"Ice Guy got frozen!"

Hearing each other, they both froze.

"It wasn't an illusion?"

They said it in unison.

"What the hell?"

"It might actually be the end of the world!"

The sight did not last long. Aokiji's Devil Fruit ability had reached Awakening too. As two identical rules collided, a dense series of cracks raced through the solid block of ice.

Crack!

Crack!

Bang!

Aokiji shattered the ice into crystals that scattered through the air, then stepped out.

Looking at the young man before him, Aokiji wore a gravity he had never shown since joining the Marines, along with shock he could not conceal.

He gave a rueful smile. "This is ridiculous. I never thought I'd be the one getting frozen!"

"If I told Mr. Garp, he'd probably think I'd gone mad!"

"Hey, was what just happened real?"

Even now, Aokiji could hardly believe it. The experience had turned everything he knew on its head.

"Kid, did you eat an Ice-Ice Fruit too?"

"No."

"But you froze me! I'm the Ice-Ice Fruit user! Are you kidding me? I'm supposed to be the one freezing you!"

"Can you tell me what you did?"

"Didn't Garp tell you what makes me unusual?"

"Nope! Mr. Garp only said you knew Haki and had astonishing Swordsmanship!"

Dongze thought for a moment, then chose not to answer. If Garp had decided to keep it secret for him, then this was not the time to reveal it.

Aokiji was not on his side, and his attitude toward Robin was strange. This time, Dongze trusted Garp's judgment.

After this battle, Aokiji might well put a bounty on his head. If he stood out too much, he would inevitably attract the World Government's attention. That went against his plans. Even if his secret had to come out, it would be after he had the power to protect himself.

One Aokiji was already this hard to handle. Against more opponents, he would likely be overwhelmed.

"Do you think my ship can carry her now?"

Dongze changed the subject, and Aokiji did not press him. It was a personal matter, after all.

"Sorry. I still need to make sure!"

As Aokiji spoke, an ice blade appeared in his hand.

A Shattering Clash: Ice Withered

"Ice Age!"

The cold shout rang out. It was the same move, yet Dongze's expression changed.

This time, it was not just the sea's surface that froze. The surrounding air froze with it.

With the Ice-Ice Fruit awakened, Aokiji had touched the rules of the world. It was like the Shichibukai Heavenly Yaksha, Doflamingo, whose awakened String-String Fruit could affect the objects around him.

Aokiji's awakened ability was Frozen Domain. If he wished it, he could instantly freeze anything that contained moisture.

For someone whose Haki was insufficient, this ability was nearly impossible to counter. The freezing began on the inside, not the outside.

Cold air erupted. It was so fast this time that Dongze was sealed in ice before he could react.

With his Devil Fruit power fully unleashed, the cold was several times stronger, and its speed had leaped beyond what ordinary Observation Haki could track.

Wonder flashed through Dongze's eyes. He still remembered watching Aokiji overwhelm Heavenly Yaksha Doflamingo—the absurd speed of that burst of cold.

Doflamingo had been frozen before he could even extend his hand. He had waited until he was safely away before making any threats, afraid Aokiji might decide to keep him there.

The attack just now had been nearly ten times faster. By the time Aokiji finished speaking, the freezing was complete.

Then a cold gleam flashed in Dongze's eyes, and Cold River Sword Intent bloomed again.

Dongze's gaze shifted. To his surprise, that single strike had raised his Cold River Sword Intent by nearly a hundred thousand points.

He had never seen proficiency surge so abnormally. Even a blow from Garp coated in Armament Haki had increased his own Armament Haki by only five thousand points.

And Sword Intent was a technique on an entirely higher level.

Yet one clash with Aokiji had sent it soaring by nearly a hundred thousand points.

A thought burst into his mind.

He looked at Aokiji with sudden, burning interest.

He was not thinking about whether some old man was secretly holding back, how incredible Aokiji was, or why Sword Intent had made such an impossible leap.

He had only one thought.

"I'm going to exploit this bug!"

At that instant, Cold River Sword Intent rose again.

Under Aokiji's bewildered gaze, Dongze stepped out of the ice just as Aokiji had before him.

Dongze sheathed Forgotten Dust, then slapped the sword case on his back, triggered its mechanism, and drew an extravagantly costly sword.

It was a standard gold longsword. During his trip to Sky Island, he had prepared five spares.

Gold conducted electricity well, but it was too soft to make a good sword.

Gold Essence, however, would work. Using Enel's lightning-based smelting ability, Dongze had melted down a full ton of gold and refined it into Gold Essence to forge that longsword.

Taking the peculiar nature of Sword Intent into account, he had prepared five spare swords. A terrifying power like Erosion Sword Intent was more than an ordinary weapon could withstand.

Even Forgotten Dust, which he had painstakingly forged and reinforced with Armament Haki countless times, had begun to show signs of strain after carrying Erosion Sword Intent only a few times.

That was why he had made five gold longswords on Sky Island—swords that were essentially disposable.

Armament Haki swiftly coated the blade. He raised it upright to shoulder height, then ran the index and middle fingers of his left hand along it.

A cluster of ice crystals sprang from the hilt, and frost rapidly crept over the blade. The once-gleaming sword turned icy blue.

Aokiji did not interfere. He simply watched in silence. Deep in his eyes, a pure-white ice flower quietly began to bloom.

The moment its sixth petal opened, Aokiji became an ice sculpture.

At the same time, the sky began to change violently.

Nearly twenty kilometers away, Enel felt a sudden shiver. He grabbed Robin and retreated at a frantic pace.

He did not stop until they were almost fifty kilometers away.

"What's wrong, Lightning Guy?"

Enel's face darkened. His voice carried a tremor he did not seem to notice. "The free-floating electrical elements in the air were just forced out. I've never felt anything like it."

"The entire area within fifty kilometers has become a dead zone. I can't believe Ice Guy developed his Devil Fruit power this far. Hey, Miss Robin, are all Marine Admirals like him?"

Robin's heart jolted. If Enel was right, electricity could not have been the only element driven out. She suspected all the others had been stripped away too.

That meant only one thing remained within fifty kilometers: ice.

"Can a human really reach that level?"

Enel clenched his fists, longing plain on his face.

"Is this the limit of a Logia Devil Fruit?"

"A mortal body with the power of a god!"

Just then, two shouted attacks crossed the distance and reached their ears.

"The wind blows cold across the river!"

"Ice Withered!"

A terrifying surge of cold shot skyward. Snow began to fall across hundreds of kilometers, while columns of ice spread through the sea, reaching even the Sea Kings roaming far below.

They were entombed in ice before their astonished eyes could make sense of it.

At last, the terror of an awakened Ice-Ice Fruit was fully on display.

The two hiding in midair shuddered. For an instant, it felt as though they had been transported into a kingdom of ice and snow.

Ahead of them, the sky held no sign of life.

Robin swallowed and tugged at Enel's clothes. "Lightning Guy, who won?" she asked nervously.

Pale white covered everything. Fifty kilometers was far beyond what human eyes could see; only Observation Haki could reveal what had happened.

That was why Robin asked him.

Enel's brows drew together so tightly they nearly met. "I don't know!"

Without free-floating electrical elements, fifty kilometers was his limit.