"This is bad!"
Alarm bells blared in Kuzan's mind!
He knew he could not let this unfathomable young man get close again!
Holding nothing back, he pushed the power of the Ice-Ice Fruit to its limit!
"Ice Age!!!"
Crack-crack-crack-!!!!!!
A visible wave of absolute-zero cold, seemingly capable of freezing the entire world solid, spread wildly in every direction with Kuzan at its center!
The sea froze in an instant! Even the air seemed to freeze!
At that moment, the entire world seemed to become an eternal kingdom of ice!
And Ye Chuan, charging straight along its path, was inevitably engulfed in that irresistible absolute-zero cold in an instant!
The Black Blade Shusui, halfway through its swing and about to slash Kuzan, was sealed completely in thick ice along with his entire body, turning him into a lifelike ice sculpture, his face still retaining its calm indifference.
"Huff... huff..."
Only as Kuzan looked at the completely frozen Ye Chuan did he let out a long breath, fine beads of cold sweat covering his forehead.
He could feel that the all-out attack had also consumed a tremendous amount of his strength.
"That was... close... I almost got killed..."
Looking at the ice sculpture, Kuzan murmured, still shaken:
"Kids these days... really are getting more and more impressive."
"Good thing there's only one monster like this..."
"Nico Robin really has found herself a powerful backer..."
Yet just as he thought the outcome was settled and prepared to step forward to finish Ye Chuan off once and for all...
Crack...
Crack...!!!
An extremely faint yet unmistakably clear cracking sound suddenly came from the enormous block of ice imprisoning Ye Chuan!
Immediately afterward, fine cracks spread rapidly across the solid ice like a spiderweb, with Ye Chuan at their center!
The entire ice sculpture began