Chapter 251: Guesswork
The eight knives of the Ghost Spider, along with Stolo Berry's twin blades, collided with Eric 's sword covered in Conqueror's Haki. The clash took place just thirty centimeters away from the blade of the gun, and there was a brief pause of 0.01 seconds. In that moment, the two were immediately knocked away, unable to hold onto their swords, which flew out of their hands.
"Tsk, they didn't even die..." Eric clicked his tongue, sensing that they still had a breath left, "The physical condition of the people in this world is really impressive."
"Damn it...!" A lightning strike mark appeared on the Ghost Spider's iron-colored face, burned black by the impact.
He lay on the ground, struggling with all his might to get up but unable to move due to the paralysis caused by the Conqueror's Haki.
"Navies kill pirates, pirates kill navies. Isn't this kind of hostility natural?" Eric said as he walked toward the Ghost Spider.
"Since you've drawn your sword to kill, then you must be prepared to be killed, right?" Eric raised his spear, which was burning with purple flames. The intense heat of the flames seemed to scorch the Ghost Spider's body.
"Die, pirate!" Even with his life in Eric 's hands, the Ghost Spider still cursed without hesitation.
"Since you have such a firm conviction, I won't disgrace you. Farewell, Ghost Spider..." Eric said, tightening his arm that held the spear, the burning tip of the spear about to descend.
"Frozen Time Capsule!"
A chilling gust of air swept by, turning into a path of ice that shot straight at Eric .
"!" With his [Heart Network] perception, Eric quickly dodged the attack from Aokiji.
"Ah, I made it just in time." A lazy voice reached their ears, and a tall man with an eye patch on his forehead appeared in front of the Dawn Pirates.
"Admiral Kuzan!"
Stolo Berry, lying on the ground, shouted loudly.
"Ah, you guys lost quite badly..." Aokiji swept his gaze over the fallen Marines, most of whom weren't injured but had lost consciousness. He immediately understood, "Was it caused by Conqueror's Haki..."
He looked at Eric with a serious expression, "I didn't expect to meet you guys under these circumstances, Darren Eric , 'Ice Queen' Esdeath..."
"Well, I actually have a new nickname, 'Kuí Long.' Please add that to my name before saying it again. It sounds better that way, thanks."
Aokiji: "..."
The members of the Dawn Pirates: "..."
Aokiji scratched his curly hair at the back of his head, not knowing what to say.
With a flash of light, Kizaru appeared next to Aokiji.
"Hey, hey, you're badly injured? Was it Esdeath's doing?" Seeing the frost on Kizaru's wound, Aokiji immediately understood that this was caused by the Ice Queen's attack.
"Too scary, Esdeath's ability can even freeze time and space. I was injured in that instant."
Upon hearing Kizaru's explanation, Kuzan furrowed his brows. In a situation where he couldn't move but the opponent could attack freely, anyone would feel it was a tricky situation.
Seeing the battle being interrupted, Esdeath walked unhappily to Eric 's side, her saber pointed directly at Aokiji, "So you're the last of the three admirals, Aokiji?"
"Ah... I've been wanting to meet you, 'Ice Queen' Esdeath."
"Oh? You also want to fight me?" Even though she was greatly weakened, the sword strike that had been wrapped in Conqueror's Haki had exhausted much of her Haki, but Esdeath's blood, which burned with the desire for battle, began to boil again.
"No..." Aokiji frowned, feeling that something about the aura around Esdeath was off. It was filled with a bloodthirsty scent mixed with an indescribable terrifying killing intent, as if she were a hellish demon returned from battle.
"...No matter how much you say now, it won't change the fact that you've committed a great crime." Aokiji's large hand began to emit white mist, his expression serious, and the sound of ice forming could be heard in the air.
"This regret will be saved for Impel Down!"
Aokiji's arm turned into white ice, and the ground beneath his feet quickly froze, starting to spread outwards.
"Esdeath, we should retreat." Eric 's sudden words stunned everyone, even freezing Aokiji's ice momentarily.
"...Got it." With her stamina severely depleted and unable to finish off Kizaru, Esdeath, seeing that Eric could still fight, readily agreed to Eric 's command.
"You think I'll let you leave so easily?!"
"Frozen Time Capsule!" A cold shockwave released from Aokiji's hand, quickly sweeping across the ground and forming an ice path toward the Dawn Pirates.
"Absolute Zero!" The extreme cold that could stop atomic movement was released from Esdeath's hand, and the two cold air blasts collided in midair.
"Kaka!"
The two cold air masses exploded in the air, the cold spreading outwards, white mist forming in the center, and the ground was quickly covered with cold air, turning into a sheet of ice.
Above, a massive air door opened, revealing the people aboard the Battleship Courageous, which was floating in the air.
"This is... the ability of the Float-Float Fruit?!" Kuzan frowned in deep thought, "Did Golden Lion not die?"
Meanwhile, Eric and his crew had already boarded the Courageous. Seeing that the air door was about to close, Kizaru's hands began to shine, "Yasakani no Magatama!"
Aokiji also extended his right arm toward Eric , "Ice Age!" A twisted ice pillar flew toward the Courageous.
The air door creaked shut, and the entire air gate vanished. The ice pillar hit nothing but the trunk of a Yalchiman Red Tree, freezing it into a solid ice tree.
Countless yellow light bullets shot past the air, striking the frozen tree, shattering its trunk into pieces.
The massive Yalchiman Red Tree collapsed, crashing onto another tree island with a loud bang.
"Hm~ Looks like they got away."
Kuzan was used to Kizaru's tone, his face grim as he watched the air: "Not only do they have the flight ability of the Float-Float Fruit, but they also have the ability to open a spatial portal to escape..."
"This is going to make it harder to catch them~" Kizaru added to what Aokiji didn't say, "This will be tricky."
...
"Did the two admirals fail to capture them...?" Sengoku rubbed his forehead vigorously.
"If it weren't for Kuzan arriving in time, I'm afraid I would have... Ah, these young people are really terrifying." Kizaru, with bandages around his chest, spread his hands, "They not only have powerful combat strength but also the ability to easily escape the battlefield."
"...That small pirate crew with only three members has grown to this scale in just two years." Sengoku was helpless about this, then turned to ask, "Kizaru, how's your injury?"
"At least half a month of rest."
"Is that so... you should rest in the hospital then."
"Marshal." Kuzan, sitting nearby, spoke, "Their final escape method should have involved two abilities, the Float-Float Fruit and the Door-Door Fruit. We didn't see Golden Lion's presence, and with his personality, he wouldn't be a subordinate of such young pirates."
"Kuzan, are you saying..."
"Shiki is indeed dead, but they must have taken the Float-Float Fruit shortly after Shiki's death. We can assume they have some way of acquiring abilities..."
Sengoku thought for a moment and made a decision.
The next day, a flock of newsbirds carrying the latest news and bounties spread across the world.
(END CHAPTER)
Thank you for the support, friends. If you want to read more chapters in advance, go to my Patreon.
Read 40 Chapters In Advance: patreon.com/Johanssen10