Pirates: I Rely Only on Myself

Kuzan hadn't expected things to escalate this far.

It felt as though he was facing a top-tier pirate crew from the New World.

"Hailstorm!"

"Black Flame Dragon Wave!"

A barrage of massive hailstones pelted down on Noah's side like a storm.

Lillian unleashed several black flame dragon waves, smashing the incoming hailstones to pieces.

"Attack!"

"Fire the cannons!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! Cannons roared as the Navy's fleet of ships fired in unison.

Galdino clasped his hands together. "Exploding Locusts!"

In seconds, parts of the frozen landscape turned into swarms of grayish-white locusts. These wax-crafted locusts, beyond their insect-like structure, contained explosive glycerin within their bodies.

The swarm of locusts collided with the Navy's barrage of cannonballs, creating a massive explosion between the two sides.

"Merciless Sun!" Lillian transformed into a blazing blue sun. Though only about ten meters in radius, the intense heat, reaching up to 4,990°C, emitted a fierce thermal radiation that rapidly melted the nearby ice into steam.

Through the thick fog of steam, the blue sun barreled toward the Navy ships.

Kuzan immediately moved, summoning ice from the surrounding glaciers. "Ice Whale!"

An enormous whale of solid ice charged toward the blue sun, meeting it head-on.

But Kuzan's face remained grim as his Observation Haki sensed Noah's swift approach. Forced to dodge, he summoned more ice whales to intercept Lillian's blazing sun.

However, even Kuzan couldn't hold back everyone at once.

Galdino's explosive locusts had infiltrated some of the Navy ships.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

"Ahhh!"

"Enemy attack!"

"Defend yourselves!"

Seeing his marines fall one after another, Kuzan's anger flared. "Ice Age! Super Blizzard!"

"Kuzan! Don't underestimate me!" Noah's entire body glowed red-hot, his fists striking out dozens of times in an instant. "Bursting Heat Fist!"

Armed with Haki, Noah's blazing fists forced Kuzan to raise his guard.

Boom!

In the distance, one of the Navy's warships was struck by the blue sun, melting a large chunk of its iron and wooden hull, which triggered an explosion in the ship's gunpowder stores.

"Damn it!" Kuzan's frustration grew.

But his opponent was Noah, whose body was now in a state of heated steel. While Kuzan's Armament Haki was stronger and he had more stamina, the gap in power between them was narrow, making it impossible to finish the fight quickly.

With Kuzan occupied, it became difficult for him to fully support the other marines.

Noah's crew was formidable—Lillian's scorching power and Galdino's underhanded tactics were hard to counter. Even with two rear admirals among the Navy forces, they struggled to keep up.

The fierce battle continued for over an hour.

Of the Navy's 12 warships, five had already been sunk, with heavy losses on the marine side.

Though Kuzan hadn't suffered severe injuries, he bore several minor wounds.

One of the rear admirals, the dual-sword user, had been utterly incinerated by Lillian's blue sun, leaving nothing but ash.

Kuzan, conjuring another wall of ice to hold back the relentless blue sun and the still-energetic Noah, turned to his lieutenant:

"Gut, order everyone to spread out and fight in smaller units. Avoid clustering together and focus on dodging attacks!"

"Yes, Vice Admiral Kuzan!" Lieutenant Gut understood the seriousness of their situation.

Kuzan clenched his fist. "Ice Burst!"

Boom! Boom! Boom! The ice beneath Noah's team suddenly erupted, sending ice shards flying in all directions.

"Super Blizzard!"

"Frozen Time Capsule!"

Kuzan appeared suddenly, emerging from below the ice behind Galdino and freezing him in an instant, preparing to shatter him with a punch.

But then he abruptly leaped back, activating his elementalization.

Boom! Galdino's body exploded, leaving a wide, cratered area around him.

"A decoy?"

"It's not polite to sneak up on people, Vice Admiral Kuzan!" Noah swung his magnetic iron sand blade.

Kuzan's ice blade clashed with Noah's vibrating iron sand sword once again.

Boom! Another warship fell to Lillian's blue sun.

At that moment, Noah's Observation Haki suddenly sensed a sharp danger. He swiftly dodged using magnetic levitation and created a shield of iron sand around himself.

A laser beam pierced through the shield, bending and deflecting under the magnetic field and mirrored steel, scattering the beam.

"Kawaii ne… Kuzan, you're looking rough!" A middle-aged man with a sly face appeared beside Kuzan.

"Don't underestimate them. This crew is no joke."

"Then let's see what makes them so dangerous. Eight Trigrams: Yata-no-Kagami!" Borsalino's hands generated countless light bullets.

Shwoop! Shwoop! Shwoop!

Boom! Boom! Boom! The light bullets rained down in a dense volley like a torrential downpour.

"Heavenly Thunder! Kirin!"

A massive, lightning-charged Kirin descended from the sky, obliterating a wave of light bullets before charging toward Borsalino.

With a startled expression but swift reaction, Borsalino countered, "So scary! Heaven's Radiance!"

An enormous beam of light surged toward the thunderous Kirin.

The clash between lightning and laser lit up the entire battlefield.

A massive explosion erupted at the point of collision, creating a mushroom cloud that rose from the icy terrain. A kilometer-wide crater formed, with shockwaves spreading like a powerful hurricane.

Kuzan quickly raised a wall of ice to shield the marines behind him.

Both sides pulled back to regroup.

A few minutes later, the steam slowly cleared.

Kuzan, Borsalino, and Rear Admiral Gut observed the enemy from a distance, their Observation Haki sensing their foes' positions.

Noah, Lillian, Galdino, and Joshua also kept their eyes on the Navy officers.

For a moment, neither side moved.

"Kowai ne! Steel Fruit, Flame-Flame Fruit, Wax-Wax Fruit, and Rumble-Rumble Fruit…" Borsalino's tone sounded playful, but he was intensely serious.

Kuzan's expression was equally grave; he hadn't realized a Logia user was hidden nearby. A stealth attack from them could have caused him serious trouble.

Noah, seeing Borsalino's arrival, abandoned his plan to kill Kuzan.

After all, Kuzan already possessed admiral-level strength. Killing a Logia admiral was exceedingly difficult.

He had hoped Joshua, who had been lying in wait, could deliver a fatal strike to Kuzan at the right moment, but Borsalino's quick arrival had foiled that plan.

"Retreat!"

At Noah's command, a dense cloud of steam enveloped his group as Ariactivated his wormhole, and they vanished from the icy battlefield.

"Huh? They're gone?" Borsalino raised an eyebrow.

Kuzan, sensing their disappearance through his Observation Haki, remained on guard.

They waited several more minutes, but when no other threats emerged, they finally relaxed a bit.

Kuzan turned to his lieutenant. "Gut, start the rescue operation immediately."

"Yes, Vice Admiral." Gut used Moonwalk to reach the other marines.

Borsalino removed his glasses, wiping away the steam as he muttered, "Who were those guys?"

"I don't know. I was investigating the massacre on the White Mountain Kingdom's island when I found clues that led me to suspect they were the culprits," Kuzan replied, feeling a headache coming on as he considered how to handle the aftermath of the battle.