Before the words had even fully left his mouth,
"Ice Blade."
Kuzan casually waved a hand. The moisture in the air instantly froze into a razor-sharp ice katana, which he gripped in his hand!
"Swish!"
Kuzan's figure blurred. He closed the distance in an instant and thrust the blade straight at Aiden's heart!
"Attacking right away? Was Kuzan this aggressive when he was younger?!"
Aiden was caught off guard.
Then he realized that, at this stage, Kuzan still believed in "Burning Justice." Even if he looked lazy, he was still full of conviction when it came to taking down criminals.
This thrust was as fast as lightning!
However, Aiden moved forward instead of retreating!
The moment Kuzan made his move, Aiden's terrifying Observation Haki had already predicted every path of the ice blade!
"Kami-e!"
Aiden's body slid to the side at an unbelievable angle. His whole body seemed boneless as he slipped perfectly past the sharp edge of that ice blade!
The two figures crossed each other!
"Oh?" Kuzan was stunned.
He had not expected the other man's Observation Haki and physical skill to be this powerful.
To dare use Kami-e right in front of him... this man was truly skilled. His confidence in his own Observation Haki was almost insane. If Kuzan had caught even the slightest opening, Aiden would have been badly wounded in a single blow.
But this was Kuzan, after all. His reaction speed far surpassed that of an ordinary person. The moment his first strike missed, he immediately turned to defend.
"Too late!"
Aiden's voice sounded right next to his ear.
In the instant they crossed paths, Aiden's right fist was already ready. Covered in pitch-black Armament Haki, it slammed heavily into Kuzan's chest with terrifying force!
"BOOM!!"
A heavy, muffled impact rang out!
Under the effect of Armament Haki, Kuzan's elemental body was forced back into solid form and struck directly!
"Ugh!"
Kuzan's pupils shrank abruptly!
However, he was not blasted away as Aiden had expected.
His feet remained firmly planted on the ground, taking that tremendous force head-on against his chest.
Kuzan looked down at his expensive navy-blue shirt. A faint fist mark had appeared over his chest.
He slowly exhaled a breath of cold air and looked up. For the first time, his cold eyes showed genuine seriousness.
"...That hurt."
Kuzan's expression turned completely solemn.
"You actually struck my solid body directly... no, this Haki..." Kuzan could feel the pain of "Internal Destruction" vibrating inside the spot where he had been hit.
"Where did someone like you come from?"
Aiden shook his slightly numb right fist and narrowed his eyes behind his glasses.
The seriousness in his heart was far greater than what he showed on the surface.
That last punch had used eighty percent of his strength, along with an advanced form of Armament Haki that let the force pass through and hit from the inside. He had thought it would at least do some damage... but it had only left a fist mark?!
"This is Kuzan... as expected of the youngest of the future three Admirals."
"Even though he's still only a Vice Admiral, he's already much stronger than the average one... No wonder Saul, who was also a Vice Admiral in the original story, was nearly taken down by him in an instant. He'd been on a completely different level from the very beginning!"
"Ara ara..." Aiden shook his numb fist, deliberately mimicking Kuzan's tone. "Looks like if I don't show some real skill, I won't be able to keep you here."
"..."
A faint twitch ran through Kuzan's brow at the mockery.
"Mouthy brat."
He said no more. He was fully serious now.
"Ice Block: Partisan!"
Kuzan waved one hand. Several razor-sharp ice spears formed instantly in the air. Carrying a bone-chilling gust, they shot toward Aiden from every direction!
"Cheap."
Aiden did not move from where he stood. Facing the incoming ice spears, he simply slashed a few times in front of him.
"Swish! Swish! Swish! Swish!"
Four blue vacuum slashes, compressed to the limit, shot from his fingers like crescent moons, even faster than the spears themselves.
Locked on by his Observation Haki, the path of every slash was crystal clear. Each one struck the tip of an ice spear with perfect accuracy!
"Crack!"
The ice spears shattered in midair, turning into a cloud of glittering ice crystals.
"Oh? Your swordsmanship is pretty good too," Kuzan said, a trace of surprise flashing through his cold eyes.
"Then what about this?"
Kuzan stomped hard on the ground!
"Crack!"
A visible wave of cold raced along the ground like a living poisonous snake. It shot toward Aiden's feet at lightning speed!
Kuzan's plan was obvious. As long as he froze Aiden's feet and limited his speed, the battle would be over!
"Moonwalk!"
Aiden refused to let that happen.
He kicked off the air and shot upward, lightly avoiding the freezing ground as he hovered in midair.
"Trying to take it to the sky?" Kuzan let out a cold laugh. His figure blurred as he chased after him by stepping through the air!
"Ice Blade."
In midair, Kuzan formed another ice katana and slashed at Aiden, who had no ground to push off from!
"Tsk, annoying!"
Aiden twisted his body in the air by force. Haki covered the entire blade of his weapon.
"Clang!"
The Haki-coated blade and the ice katana collided violently in the sky!
The tremendous impact made Aiden's arm go numb, and he was thrown backward.
Just as Aiden was sent flying through the air, his old momentum was gone and no new momentum had formed yet. He was about to fall. In that split second,
Aiden's Observation Haki flared!
He "saw" the future!
He "saw" that one second later, Kuzan on the ground would seize this opening and slam both hands onto the earth!
He "saw" the "Ice Age" that would swallow everything!
He "saw" the future in which he would be frozen solid along with the ground the moment he landed!
"Damn! I'm going to get frozen!"
By the time that future flashed through Aiden's mind, reality had only just begun to move!
Kuzan, just as Aiden had "seen," seized that golden opening the moment he landed. He slammed both hands onto the ground!
"Ice Age!"
"Rumble!!"
Visible layers of ice burst forward like an ancient beast awakening. They became a white tsunami that sought to devour everything, spreading wildly in all directions!
The speed of that ice was impossible to describe!
The entire earth seemed to cry out!
Kuzan's goal was obvious. The moment Aiden landed, he would freeze him completely along with the ground!
But in the air, faced with this killing blow, Aiden did not panic.
Relying on the extreme body control granted by the talent "Vortex Perception," he stabilized his falling body in midair and forcibly shifted his posture into
a two-handed downward-slash stance!
He gathered all his strength into a single point, aiming at the surging ice below and at Kuzan behind it.
"Clang!!"
A clear sword cry rang out, sharp enough to cut through the soul itself!
A terrifying black slash, so dark it seemed to swallow even the light around it, came crashing down from his hands!
"One-Sword Style: Sea Splitter!"
At that moment, Aiden poured all of his Haki, all of his strength, and all of his will into that peak slash!
Aiden remained in his downward-slash pose in midair.
Before him, the surging and unstoppable river of ice was split apart by force, carving out a hundred-meter path completely free of frost!
Everywhere the sword energy passed, the ice shattered completely!
After tearing through the "Ice Age," that black slash did not slow down at all. It went straight for Kuzan himself behind the ice!
Kuzan's expression changed drastically in that instant!
He had never expected his opponent, trapped midair in such a desperate position, to still unleash such an overwhelming slash!
He immediately gave up controlling the "Ice Age." Crossing his arms in front of his chest, he coated his entire body in his strongest Armament Haki. At the same time, he raised an ice shield several meters thick!
"BOOM!!!!!"
The black slash and the ice shield collided violently!
A terrifying shockwave exploded at once, flattening all the nearby houses!
Kuzan was blasted backward by that overwhelming force!
The ice shield he had used for defense shattered into pieces!
When he finally came to a stop, the entire area was already in ruins.
Kuzan slowly lowered his crossed arms.
A thin line of blood ran down his solid forearm. It dripped onto the newly frozen ground, looking like a vivid red flower.
He was injured.
Kuzan looked down at the shallow cut on his arm. Then he raised his eyes toward the lad with the glasses in the distance, who had used the chance to land and was now breathing heavily.
Aiden's chest rose and fell rapidly as he stared at Kuzan.
"Damn it... I used a big move, and it only left a scratch on his arm..."