Chapter 58 (1/2)

Grandline, Paradise, Long Ring Long land

Aokiji, despite his otherwise lazy appearance had a sharp mind, often forgotten by his many enemies that he had fought over the years in his service under the marines and the world government.

And said sharp mind tried to figure out why this young man seemed so dangerous to him. Yes, he possessed haki but that wasn't rare once you took a look at the upper echelon of the grandline. Sure, it was rare to find one in Paradise, but that was about it. So why was it, that this young man was able to make him cautious? Him, an admiral?

”Mamama, not so hasty young man. I didn't come here today to fight. You know, and all that.” Aokiji drawled in his usual tone, as if nothing in the world could excite him anymore.

”And anyway, to challenge and attack the world government directly isn't a very smart move. Especially not from a rooky, ya know.” Aokiji spoke, sticking his little finger inside his nose, searching for the biggest treasure in the whole grandline. One Piece! Just kidding hehehe...

”If you say so... Now shut it and lets fight!” Azul spoke, growing bored of the salmon he had just received from the admiral bringing a rare tick to the admirals forehead.

”As you wish.” Aokiji spoke, exhaling white mist from his mouth as his body began to frost over and crack from the splintering of the dropping temperatures that surrounded him, freezing the ground in his perimeter along with himself, preparing himself for the battle that was to come.

Azul though came out of his stance making Aokiji frown a little and spoke:

”Nearly forgot. Gimme a second...” and with that Azul disappeared from his position to reapear directly behind Robin before lifting her into the air with the usual yelp of surprise before disappearing once more, setting her down on top of the flying lambs deck, after which he smiled at her calmly and disappeared once more, leaving for Aokiji before setting himself down into his battlestance once more. ”Now, where were we? Oh yes. I was about to rip you to shreds!” Azul said, grinning and growing in height, fur sprouting all over his body while his apendages began to burn brightly, heating the air up around himself, making the oxigen shimmer under the heat he was producing. After he had grown to nearly 5 meters in height he began to shrink once more, becoming more compact and his flames gained in intensity.

”Second form: forming the beast!” Azul spoke in a deep growling voice before hopping into the air to avoid possible attacks that Aokiji could unleash from freezing the ground.

Not waiting for his opponent to attack first, Aokiji formed spears from thin air, sending them hurdling at his target, while he himself rushed forwards at a different angle, trying to blindside his enemy. Azul dodged the spears that wistled past his ears, never letting his opponent out of his eyes before rushing forwards with a rush of blistering heat accompanying him, throwing a quick straight kick at Aokiji's stomach, who swiftly swirled to the side, attempting to grab onto the leg, which he succeeded in though came to regret due to his hand melting on contact, before he let go and jumped back into the distance, reforming his melted hand.

'No freezing on contact it seems...' Aokiji thought while dodging claw strikes left and right, sometimes ducking below a blistering kick that nearly burned his hair off, splitting his focus between his haki, to telegraph and read his opponents intentions, which wasn't easy at all due to his opponents blurred contenance, obviously knowing how to mask his intentions well enough and thus making the fight even harder for the admiral.

After ducking after a kick for his head, Aokiji went on the offensive himself, trying to deliver a hit to Azuls head, which he avoided by bending his head back slightly backwards, but with that actions stretched his stomache and enabled Aokiji a freezing punch straight into Azuls solar plexus, which left him weezing for air for a second, all the while having to dodge kicks from the admiral that smashed the ground into pieces or froze the earth on contact. After regaining his breathing Azul opened his minds eye as wide as possible and was able to predict a punch from the admiral that was aimed at his liver which Azul blocked, bringing elbow down in a guard before his upper body and used the momentum of the admirals advancement to smash his own elbow into the admirals temple and followed up by extending his lower arm, ripping with his fire and haki enhanced claws through the admirals face, causing said man to howl in pain from the four claw marks that now adorned the tall mans face from his cheek to the nose.

Jumping backwards, Aokiji tried to slow the bloodflow on his face by cooling the temperatur around the wound down to the lowest point and succeeded to a point. The problem though was the depth of the wound. At the deepest point the wound had already been cauterized, and thus left a cut on the mans face, no matter how well the rest of the wound was mended together in the future, making the admiral growl in anger.

”You'll pay for that!” He snarled, only receiving a bloodthirsty grin in reply, before rushing his opponent once more, awakening his devilfruit powers, making snow fall from the heavens and cooling the whole island down to a freezing point until the whole island was covered in a faint sheen of frost, which steadily grow in density.

Azul meanwhile was preparing for one hell of a tough battle after feeling the temperature of the whole island drop below zero and came to understand that somehow Aokiji had caused the powers of his devilfruit to skyrocket, making him a much tougher opponent than he already was.