The biting cold was the first thing to pierce the haze of pain in Ace's mind. He pushed himself up with his good arm, his broken one a dead weight at his side. Every breath was a shard of glass in his lungs. He was on his knees, defeated, but the fire in his soul refused to be extinguished.
"Not... yet..." he growled through gritted teeth, forcing himself to his feet. Flames, weak and sputtering, flickered back to life around his body. They were a pathetic imitation of his former power, more a testament to his stubborn pride than a credible threat.
Kuzan, who had turned to observe the larger battle, glanced back, a hint of weary surprise on his face. "Ara ra... Still trying to get up? You really don't know when to quit. Just stay down. It's less painful."
"Like hell I will!" Ace roared, taking a shaky step forward.
He was about to charge, a suicidal act of pure desperation, when a calm, low voice cut through the air, sharp as a shard of ice.
"That is enough, Ace."
Both combatants looked. Standing a short distance away, his posture immaculate despite the chaos around him, was Charlotte Katakuri. His crimson scarf concealed his mouth, but his eyes, glowing with the faint light of Kenbunshoku Haki, were fixed solely on Kuzan. He had seen this future—Ace's reckless charge, the inevitable, crippling blow that would follow. And he had moved to prevent it.
"Katakuri! Stay out of this! He's mine!" Ace protested, his pride wounded.
"You are injured," Katakuri stated, not as a suggestion, but as an undeniable fact. His gaze did not leave the former Admiral. "Your fire is weak. You will only get yourself killed. Stand back."
Kuzan's lazy demeanor dropped once more. He straightened up, his attention shifting completely to the newcomer. Avalo Pizarro's defeat had not gone unnoticed, and the man responsible for it now stood before him. This was not a hot-headed youth running on pure willpower. This was a seasoned, billion-bounty commander in his prime. A monster.
"Charlotte Katakuri," Kuzan said, his voice flat. "I was wondering when you'd show up. Are you going to be a pain, too?"
"I am here to remove obstacles in my captain's path," Katakuri responded, his trident, Mogura, held loosely at his side. "And you, former Admiral, are a significant obstacle."
The air between them dropped twenty degrees.
"I'll help!" Ace insisted, trying to power up his flames.
"No," Katakuri said, his voice firm. "You will not. Your flames are a liability here. His ice will smother yours, but it will struggle against my mochi. This is a battle of matchups. Protect the captain's flank. That is your order."
Ace flinched at the commanding tone. He hated it, but he knew Katakuri was right. He was out of gas, and his fire was fundamentally at a disadvantage. Gritting his teeth in frustration, he gave a curt nod and began to retreat, his eyes still locked on Kuzan with burning hatred.
Now, only two remained.
"So," Kuzan said, exhaling a cloud of freezing mist. "Just you and me."
The fight began without warning. Kuzan stomped his foot, and a wave of jagged, sharp ice—an Ice Age in miniature—surged across the ground towards Katakuri.
Katakuri didn't move. He simply thrust his trident into the ground. "Mochi Tsuki!" An enormous wall of thick, hardened mochi erupted from the earth, meeting the ice wave head-on. The ice crashed against it, failing to freeze the dense, awakened substance, and shattered into a million pieces.
Through the cloud of ice dust, Kuzan was already moving. "Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!" He launched a massive, bird-shaped projectile of pure, solid ice.
Katakuri saw it coming. He met it with a blow of his own. His arm swelled and hardened. "Kaku Mochi!" His square, obsidian-black fist slammed into the ice pheasant. The impact was titanic. The ice bird cracked, then exploded, but a wave of absolute cold washed over Katakuri's arm. Even his Haki-infused mochi began to frost over, the surface becoming brittle.
This was different from fighting Pizarro. Kuzan's power was absolute, a fundamental force of nature.
"Your mochi isn't immune," Kuzan observed, already launching two more ice partisans from his hands. "It just takes longer to freeze."
Katakuri flowed around the attacks, his body twisting like liquid. He retaliated by sending several streams of sticky mochi at Kuzan, trying to trap him. "Nagare Mochi!"
Kuzan simply created a shield of ice, the mochi splattering against it. He then touched the shield, and the cold traveled through the mochi streams at incredible speed, trying to flash-freeze them back to their source. Katakuri was forced to detach the streams, severing the connection before the ice could reach him.
It was a stalemate of masters. Kuzan's absolute defense and widespread attacks were countered by Katakuri's future sight and versatile substance. Neither could land a decisive blow.
"This is getting tiresome," Kuzan sighed. He brought his hands together. "Let's see how your future sight handles this."
He slammed his hands on the ground. The entire area for a hundred yards in every direction was instantly covered in sharp, jagged spikes of ice. "Ice Star." Then, from the sky, it began to rain spears of ice. It was a 360-degree, omnidirectional attack with no openings, designed to overwhelm even the most advanced Observation Haki. There were simply too many threats to dodge.
Katakuri's eyes glowed fiercely. He saw it all—a thousand futures of being impaled. Dodging was impossible.
So he didn't dodge.
"Awakening: Peerless Donuts!"
Dozens of mochi donuts materialized around him, but this time, they didn't shoot out fists. They connected, merging into a single, massive, hollow sphere of hardened, Haki-infused mochi. Katakuri was encased in a perfect defensive dome.
The ice spears rained down, shattering against the mochi dome with a deafening cacophony. The ice spikes from the ground scraped against its underside. For a moment, Katakuri was safe.
But then, the dome began to turn white. The relentless, absolute cold of Kuzan's attacks was beginning to take its toll, slowly freezing the massive structure from the outside in.
Inside his fortress, Katakuri knew he couldn't stay defensive. He had to end this. He focused, his trident held ready. He saw a flicker—a moment in the near future where Kuzan would shift his weight to create another, larger spear of ice. A fractional opening.
"Found you."
The mochi dome exploded outwards. Not from the ice, but from Katakuri's own power. The blast sent shards of semi-frozen mochi flying in all directions, a smokescreen of debris.
Through the chaos, Katakuri shot forward like a missile, his trident leading the way. He had seen his path.
Kuzan, caught for a split second by the unexpected explosion, raised an arm to defend, creating a thick gauntlet of ice.
"Mochi Guri!"
Katakuri's spinning, drilling trident slammed into the ice gauntlet. The sound was a high-pitched scream of grinding power. The ice cracked. The drill pushed through, shards of Haki-infused ice flying everywhere.
It broke through the gauntlet, but Kuzan, with his years of experience, had already shifted, letting the trident graze his shoulder rather than pierce his heart. A deep, freezing wound was torn open, but it was not fatal.
The two stood inches apart, locked in a brutal impasse. The former Admiral, bleeding and grim-faced, and the Sweet Commander, his trident lodged in his opponent's defense, the future he had seen now clouded by the sheer tenacity of his foe. The battle had just reached a new, deadlier level.
The stalemate shattered. Kuzan, with a low growl of cold fury, flexed the muscles in his shoulder. The ice within his own body expanded violently, forcing Katakuri's trident out and sending him stumbling back. The wound on Kuzan's shoulder instantly sealed itself with a plug of crimson-tinged ice, stopping the bleeding.
"You're good," Kuzan admitted, his voice losing its lazy drawl, replaced by the hardened tone of a veteran warrior. "But you're not an Emperor."
He went on the offensive. The sheer intensity of his cold aura skyrocketed. He no longer bothered with simple constructs; he became a walking blizzard, rushing forward in a blur that left a trail of instant permafrost.
Katakuri, still recovering his balance, foresaw the attack—a swift, Haki-coated ice blade aimed at his neck. He raised his arm, transforming it into a thick block of mochi to defend. The ice blade struck, and while it didn't cut through, the impact sent a spiderweb of cracks through the hardened mochi. The absolute cold seeped in, making the substance brittle and slow to reform. Kuzan was pressing his advantage, a whirlwind of precise, freezing strikes that forced Katakuri onto the back foot. His future sight showed him how to block, but his body was struggling to keep up with the relentless, overwhelming power.
From the sidelines, Ace saw it. Katakuri, the invincible pillar, was being systematically broken down. "To hell with this!" Ace roared, his good arm erupting in a brilliant, defiant flame.
He didn't just provide cover fire. He shot forward, becoming a fiery comet that intercepted Kuzan's path. "Enjōmō! (Flame Net!)" he yelled, creating a searing wall of fire between Kuzan and Katakuri, forcing the former Admiral to halt his assault.
"Ace, you fool..." Katakuri rasped, but he used the precious second to let Ace's ambient heat thaw his frosted mochi, regaining his fluidity.
"We're family, aren't we?" Ace shot back, a pained grin on his face. "We fight together!"
Kuzan's expression hardened. "A noble sentiment. It will be your undoing."
The battle became a frantic, desperate 2-on-1. It was a symphony of chaos and precision. Katakuri would see an opening in the near future and call it out. "Left flank, now!"
Ace, without hesitation, would unleash a Hiken, forcing Kuzan to create an ice wall to defend his left. But it was a feint. The real attack was from Katakuri, who used the distraction to slam a Haki-infused mochi fist into Kuzan's right side.
Kuzan grunted, sliding back, the blow strong enough to bypass his Logia defense. This wasn't just a distraction; it was coordinated hunting.
"Impressive," Kuzan conceded, a trickle of blood leaking from the corner of his mouth. He wiped it away with the back of his hand. "An equation I can't solve by focusing on one variable."
He decided to change the math. "Ice Age: Thousand Winters."
He slammed both hands on the ground. This wasn't a wave or a spike; the entire battlefield erupted. Colossal, jagged glaciers shot up from the ground at random, creating a chaotic, multi-leveled maze of ice. A freezing gale whipped through the newly formed canyons, carrying with it a storm of razor-sharp ice shards. The attack was designed to separate them and overwhelm their senses.
Ace was forced to create a dome of fire around himself just to survive the blizzard, while Katakuri used his awakening to create a shell of mochi. They were split apart.
This was the moment Kuzan needed. He appeared through the gale in front of Katakuri, his body radiating a cold that seemed to devour light. "Let's try this again. Ice Time."
He thrust his open palm towards Katakuri's chest. Katakuri saw it, a future where his body was frozen solid. But this time, another vision bled through—Ace, breaking free from his fire-dome.
Katakuri didn't try to block. He twisted his body, letting the palm strike his left arm instead of his chest.
The effect was instantaneous and horrific. The cold was absolute. His entire left arm, from shoulder to fingertip, was flash-frozen solid, not with a casing of ice, but on a deep, cellular level. It turned a dull, greyish-white, completely immobilized. A wave of agony shot through him.
"You chose to sacrifice a limb? A bold move," Kuzan stated, preparing a final, decapitating blow with an ice blade.
"KUZAN!"
A roar of pure fury. Ace, his broken arm forgotten, erupted from his defensive position. He was pouring every last drop of his stamina and willpower into a single, massive attack. "DAI ENKAI: ENTEI!"
The sphere of fire he created was brighter and hotter than before, fueled by the desperate need to save his comrade. It was a true miniature sun. He hurled it not at Kuzan, but at the ground between them.
The resulting explosion of heat and light was blinding. The ice maze began to melt and collapse. Kuzan was forced to abandon his finishing blow on Katakuri and create a massive wall of ice to shield himself from the inferno.
The heatwave washed over Katakuri, and though it didn't thaw his frozen arm, it stopped the creeping frost from spreading. He gritted his teeth, tearing his now-useless limb free from his own body with a sickening crack of frozen mochi, leaving a stump that he immediately sealed with fresh, warm mochi from his torso. He was maimed, but he was still in the fight.
When the light died down, the three stood in a ruined, half-melted, half-frozen wasteland.
Ace was on one knee, panting heavily, his final gambit having nearly exhausted him.
Katakuri stood tall but horribly wounded, now missing his entire left arm.
And Kuzan faced them, his clothes singed, breathing heavily, a new layer of frustration and grudging respect on his face. He had expected to neutralize them. Instead, he was wounded, he was tired, and he was facing two commanders who simply refused to die. The fight was far from over.
The ground groaned under the sheer, ludicrous pressure of the two brawlers. Jozu, a shimmering titan of diamond, was locked in a power struggle with Jesus Burgess, whose Riki Riki no Mi had turned his muscles into grotesque, pulsating mountains of flesh.
"WIIIIHAHAHA! CRACK, YOU BASTARD! CRACK!" Burgess roared, pouring every ounce of his absurd strength into his grip, trying to crush the diamond commander.
"Hmph. All noise," Jozu grunted, his feet sinking deeper into the pulverized earth, but his form remained unyielding. The title of the world's greatest physical defense was not just for show. He was an immovable object, and Burgess was beginning to realize he was not an unstoppable force.
High above, the battle was a study in contrasts. Vista, a master of grace and precision, danced across the colossal, flailing form of Sanjuan Wolf. His two sabers, Gryphon and Foil, were a whirlwind of Haki-infused steel, leaving a thousand shallow cuts across the giant's hide.
"OW! EE! STOP IT! GET OFF!" Wolf whined, his voice a petulant boom. He swatted at Vista with hands the size of houses, but it was like trying to catch a hummingbird. Vista flowed around each clumsy attack, using Wolf's own body as a platform to launch his next series of strikes.
"A larger target merely presents more vital points," Vista commented coolly, deftly sidestepping a massive finger-poke and running up Wolf's arm. "Rosario!"
He unleashed a flurry of pinpoint thrusts, each one aimed at the giant's nerve clusters and joints. While not deep enough to be fatal, the attacks sent jolts of debilitating pain through Wolf's system, causing his limbs to spasm uncontrollably.
Down below, Burgess saw the tide turning. He and Jozu were in a stalemate, but Vista was methodically disabling their crew's biggest asset.
"WOLF! STOP FLAILING AND JUST FALL ON HIM!" Burgess screamed in frustration.
This was the opening Jozu had been waiting for. Burgess's focus had shifted for a fraction of a second.
Jozu let out a deafening roar. He didn't just push back; he channeled his strength into a single, explosive burst. "Brilliant Punk!"
He wasn't just tackling this time. He drove his diamond shoulder forward with the force of a tectonic plate, breaking the stalemate instantly. Burgess was thrown backward, his eyes wide with shock, his ridiculously oversized muscles not enough to anchor him.
Jozu didn't stop. He charged, his diamond form a shimmering, unstoppable juggernaut.
At the same moment, hearing Burgess's command, Vista saw his own opportunity. Wolf, in a dim-witted attempt to follow orders, tried to throw himself backward to crush the swordsman.
"An ungraceful exit," Vista remarked. He sheathed his swords.
As Wolf fell, Vista leaped from the giant's back, high into the air. He drew his blades again, this time crossing them in front of him. The air around them shimmered with a pale pink aura as he gathered his Haki.
Jozu slammed into Burgess, who crossed his arms in a desperate, last-second block. The impact was cataclysmic. Burgess's arms, for all their strength, couldn't handle the focused mass of pure diamond. A sickening series of cracks echoed as the bones within his arms shattered under the strain. He was sent flying like a stone skipping across a pond, crashing through several candy structures before finally coming to a stop, out cold.
Simultaneously, Vista, descending from the apex of his jump, unleashed his final attack on the falling, exposed back of Sanjuan Wolf.
"Rose Rondo: Mille Fleurs! (Thousand Flowers!)"
He became a vortex of steel and Haki. A thousand slashes rained down in the span of a few seconds, all concentrated on a single spot on Wolf's massive spine. Each cut was shallow, but a thousand shallow cuts in the same spot become a chasm. The pink, petal-shaped shockwaves merged into a single, massive blooming rose of destructive energy that exploded on Wolf's back.
Sanjuan Wolf let out a final, gargantuan roar of agony before he crashed into the ground with the force of a fallen mountain. The impact shook the entire island, creating a new crater and sending a plume of dust and debris high into the air. He lay still, his colossal form twitching, completely incapacitated.
The dust began to settle.
Jozu stood, his diamond form shimmering, over the unconscious body of Jesus Burgess. He cracked his neck, the sound like rocks grinding together.
A moment later, Vista landed gracefully beside him, not a speck of dust on his fine clothes. He calmly wiped his blades before sheathing them with a soft click.
"It seems the loud one has finally quieted down," Vista said, adjusting his mustache.
Jozu nodded, his diamond form receding, revealing his bruised but resolute human body. "And the big one took a nap."
They stood back-to-back, two of Whitebeard's most steadfast sons, victorious. They surveyed the wider battlefield, ready for the next threat. The First and Seventh Ship Captains of the Blackbeard Pirates had been defeated.