In an instant, Ace created an enormous fireball and hurled it at the ice shield.
"Boom!"
The moment the fireball made contact with the ice, there was a huge explosion, followed by a hissing sound as the ice melted.
Once all the noise subsided, the three people present felt their breath catch in their throats.
All of this was because Ace's fireball had consumed a lot of oxygen, and most importantly, it hadn't broken the ice barrier.
At this moment, Ace stared wide-eyed at the gap in the ice sheet that was hundreds of meters deep.
Then, with a grim expression, he asked Aokiji:
How thick is your ice pack?
"It's not very thick, only about two thousand meters!" Aokiji replied casually.
"Two thousand meters?" Ace was completely stunned upon hearing this. Was it really necessary?
Xia Chen's lips twitched upon hearing this; they were clearly afraid they would run away!
"If you keep us trapped in here like this, you'll suffer from oxygen deficiency yourself. Why bother? Why don't we go out and fight?" Ace suddenly said to Aokiji.
He simply couldn't use his abilities effectively here. Even a casual skill would consume a huge amount of oxygen—it was impossible to play!
"You're absolutely right about that, but compared to you, I'm experiencing far less trouble."
" Life Return!"
As Aokiji finished speaking, his body began to undergo slight changes, becoming slightly larger than before. Then, looking at Xia Chen and the other person, he said calmly:
"I possess the skill of Life Return, which allows me to control various parts of my body at will, enabling me to reduce my oxygen requirements to an extremely low level."
"Now, do you still think I'm the same as you?"
Hearing this, Ace's expression darkened further, and he said to Xia Chen, "The current situation is very unfavorable for us. The oxygen shortage is a serious problem..."
Before Ace could finish speaking, he saw that Xia Chen's body had also changed, swelling up slightly like Aokiji's.
(#°Д°)!
"What... what is this?"
" Life Return!" Xia Chen replied calmly.
Ace:...
How come you two both know this skill? You two are in cahoots, aren't you? So I'm the only one affected?
Ace felt extremely resentful at this moment; of the three people present, he was the only one who had become a piece of trash!
Meanwhile, Aokiji, looking at Xia Chen with utter shock, exclaimed, "I was wondering why you know the Six Powers Six Powers when I saw you do it earlier. And you've even mastered Life Return?"
"Don't you already know? I'm exceptionally talented, so it's normal for me to know a bit of the Six Powers, isn't it?"
Aokiji's eyes turned cold upon hearing this.
"In that case, we'll have to capture you and take you to Impel Down before we question you!"
"Oh, Admiral Aokiji, things are still far from settled. Don't jump to conclusions. Whether or not you can capture me isn't something you can decide."
After saying that, Xia Chen turned to look at Ace and said:
"I'll break through this ice block for you, then you run, and I'll hold him off!"
"Are you sure you can handle it? How are you going to escape later?"
"You don't need to worry about how I escape. Between two people, the stronger one always has to stay behind and take the fall, right?"
"You..." Ace was about to get angry, but he didn't know what to say. During the battles, he had indeed realized that Xia Chen was stronger than him.
Not only that, but they also have a far greater variety of strange methods than him, unlike him who knows nothing but arson.
Thinking about this, Ace felt dissatisfied with his Flame-Flame Fruit for the first time, and a strange thought popped into his mind.
"Even a dog wouldn't eat Flame-Flame Fruit '!"
After a moment's thought, Ace nodded in agreement to the plan.
Seeing this, Xia Chen summoned a Clone to stand beside him.
Seeing this, Aokiji on the opposite side narrowed his eyes and became alert. He had a feeling that Xia Chen was about to do something big.
Xia Chen smiled slightly and looked at Aokiji, saying, "Don't die from this next move!"
Two Xia Chen stood on either side, holding sticks high in both hands, their auras constantly gathering.
"Not good!"
Sensing the power of Xia Chen's move, Aokiji quickly used Shave to dodge.
As the downward momentum reached its peak, Xia Chen sensed Aokiji's location and launched his attack.
" Hakai!"
An incredibly powerful combined attack hurtled towards Aokiji, moving much faster than his Shave movement. And because of its massive area of effect, this attack was definitely impossible to withstand using Elemental Transformation.
"Boom!"
The attack struck the ice block behind, causing it to shatter under the powerful blow, sending countless ice shards flying.
It then blasted a hole through the two-thousand-meter-thick ice sheet.
"Walk!"
Xia Chen narrowed his eyes and immediately shouted.
However, just as he was about to run away, a voice rang in his ear.
Didn't I tell you that I'd be in a lot of trouble if you left?
Upon hearing this, Xia Chen's pupils contracted instantly, followed by a sharp pain in his stomach, and he was sent flying backward.
While in the air, Xia Chen took several Geppo and finally managed to dissipate the force.
Before he could even recover, an ice blade appeared in front of him and slashed down at him. Xia Chen quickly held the stick horizontally and was sent flying backward once again.
Ace was about to come over to help when he saw the situation when Xia Chen quickly shouted, "Let's go! I can figure something out myself!"
After saying that, Xia Chen's Clone dragged Ace away on Flying Nimbus.
In this critical moment, the only option was to let Ace ride the clouds.
Aokiji did not stop this, as he now saw the young man in front of him as the greatest threat.
To have such fighting power at such a young age is astonishing.
That attack even injured him; it was caused by the aftershock of the attack when he dodged after briefly blocking it with the ice wall.
Thinking back to that attack, Aokiji still felt a lingering fear. If he had been hit head-on by that attack, even he would have been seriously injured!
Therefore, in his current view, Xia Chen is the biggest threat.
Fire Fist Ace has to take a backseat!
Of course, this is assuming he didn't know Ace was Roger's son; if he did know, then it's hard to say.
With this in mind, Aokiji's attacks became even more ferocious, with various attacks continuously striking Xia Chen.
In a split second, Aokiji seized an opportunity, and two spears shot towards Xia Chen.
Xia Chen was too late to react and block the attack, so he could only cover his body with Armament Haki in an attempt to block it.
Unfortunately, Xia Chen's Armament Haki has long lost its initial strength by now.
The ice spear pierced through Xia Chen's body with Haki, causing countless drops of blood to splatter.
Xia Chen was also blasted more than ten meters away by the force of the ice spear before crashing heavily to the ground.
"Cough cough!"
The moment he landed, Xia Chen coughed up a mouthful of blood.
Looking at Aokiji slowly walking towards him, even in the current situation, Xia Chen still asked with a smile.