“……Today, I'll let you go.”
Hearing these words, Kuzan froze, then a smile spread across his lips.
As a Navy admiral, this was the first time he had heard someone say they would let him go, the reason being that he had once let Nico Robin escape.
But soon, Kuzan's smile faded.
He recalled the time when he first arrived in the West Sea, how the other man, riding a black dragon, had sunk a warship right in front of him.
And just now in the hotel conference room, his nonchalant departure in his presence…
“You're very strong. A man with your level of strength, how come you were just a headquarters captain before?”
“Enough with the meaningless chatter.”
With a thought, Eric transformed into his “Shadow Man” form.
If he wanted to leave, he could do so at any moment.
But he had deliberately waited here for Kuzan to catch up, his aim being to test his current combat abilities.
A Navy admiral, a top-tier strongman on the sea, the perfect test subject before he left…
There was no better choice!
“Soru!”
In an instant, Eric vanished from his spot, leaving behind only a wisp of black smoke slowly rising into the air.
Kuzan's eyes narrowed, his expression solemn.
Here it comes again… his Observation Haki couldn’t detect his presence.
However, while Observation Haki couldn't “hear” him, his eyes could still see.
Kuzan saw a blur in front of him as Eric punched towards his face with full force.
Immediately, his whole body was enveloped in cold air, as if even the atmosphere was about to be frozen into ice.
A punch met by a punch!
The moment their fists collided, Kuzan's expression froze.
It felt like he had hit a patch of air, there was no impact of fists colliding.
Yet, the other man's fist had “pierced” through his barrier, ultimately landing a solid blow on his face.
Bang!
Kuzan was struck in the face, knocked back several meters, his entire body like a ball, bouncing twice on the ground before rolling a few more times.
“What the?!” Kuzan's mind went blank for a moment. “Is he a Logia?”
He didn't have time to think further, Eric's pursuit was already upon him.
A kick from above.
Boom!!
The earth cracked, spiderweb-like fissures spreading outwards as a ten-meter-wide crater instantly appeared.
At the center of the crater, beneath Eric's feet, there was only a pile of ice shards.
Kuzan’s Observation Haki couldn’t hear Eric, but Eric’s Observation Haki could still detect Kuzan’s presence.
He glanced slightly towards his right.
Not far away, a large chunk of ice was condensing into a humanoid shape.
“Strange… not like a Logia either.” Kuzan touched his bruised cheek, a hint of a smile on his lips. “Even if you are a Logia, I had Armament Haki on my fist just now. What kind of fruit did you eat?”
“I ate the Yami Yami no Mi, the Darkness Man, a special Logia!”
Walking Blackbeard’s path, leaving Blackbeard with no way to go.
The fake Yami Yami no Mi: Double damage, cannot elementally transform.
The real Yami Yami no Mi: Absolute defense, darkness swallows everything.
Regardless of whether Kuzan believed it or not, Eric launched another attack, flashing forward to close the distance.
In close combat, Kuzan was naturally not weak, in fact, as one of the admirals, his own physical techniques were superior to Eric’s.
But he couldn’t land a hit. No matter what technique he used to defend or counterattack, he could not hit the other man’s body.
And Observation Haki could not hear him, making it impossible to predict attack angles, relying solely on eyesight and experience to fight.
As a result, Kuzan soon fell behind, essentially taking a one-sided beating.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
Each blow of fists and feet contained Armament Haki.
The two tangled for over ten minutes, Kuzan was knocked back once again by a kick, a bead of cold sweat running down his temple.
“A tricky ability… the Yami Yami no Mi?”
Kuzan thought, half-believing. He had seen the Devil Fruit encyclopedia, and there was indeed a special Logia fruit named “Yami Yami no Mi”.
As for its specific abilities, the encyclopedia had no record of it.
It was only said that this fruit was hailed as “the most vicious ability in Devil Fruit history”!
“My cold can’t freeze him, Armament Haki can’t grasp his true body, Observation Haki can’t hear his voice… all my attacks are almost useless.”
How could such an opponent be defeated?
Kuzan pondered, his brow furrowed.
The only good news was that he could use Armament Haki to defend!
“Still got time to spare to think about counterstrategies? Seems I'm too gentle.”
Eric's voice came, Kuzan's gaze fixed on the other man.
Suddenly.
The black shadow disappeared from its spot.
This time, it was a true disappearance, not Soru, that high-speed movement technique!
“What?”
Kuzan was taken aback, then his expression turned grim.
On the yellow earth, a black shadow spread rapidly, instantly forming a dark area hundreds of meters in diameter.
The next moment.
Pfft!
A pitch-black hand pierced through his chest from behind.
Kuzan’s pupils contracted, his lowered gaze fell on the pitch-black hand, feeling disbelief.
Teleportation?
Underestimating him!
“Admiral Kuzan!!”
Just then, Tashigi and the other Navy officers arrived. They were just a few hundred meters away, and they saw the scene, their hearts pounding.
A completely black figure stood behind Kuzan, with a right arm piercing through his chest.
No matter how you looked at it, this was a fatal wound!!
“……I said I’d let you go this once. From now on, Robin’s debt is paid.”
Eric’s tone was indifferent, his pitch-black body seemed to melt like ice and snow, vanishing into the darkness beneath his feet in the blink of an eye.
Then, the vast dark shadow covering the earth contracted, turning into a small shadow, heading towards the sea.
It clung to the rolling waves, disappearing with the tide.
At the same time.
Plop.
Kuzan knelt on one knee, one hand touching the spot where he had been pierced, there was no wound whatsoever.
“Admiral Kuzan!”
Vice Admiral Tashigi ran over first, his face filled with worry.
How could an admiral be defeated? This was the highest combat strength of the headquarters!
“I’m fine!”
Kuzan took a deep breath, suddenly laughing. “I see, so that’s how it is. That’s the case, this ability isn’t invincible after all!”
When he was pierced through the chest just now, he finally understood Eric’s ability.
But then he frowned.
“No… even knowing it, it’s still troublesome!”
His face darkened once again. What good was knowing it?
More troublesome than Logia elementalization!
“K-Kuzan… Admiral Kuzan?” Tashigi was stunned, his eyes falling to the spot where the fatal wound should be. Where was the fatal wound?
Then, remembering Eric, he looked up sharply towards the sea, only to see that the man was gone.
“Report to headquarters.”
Kuzan slowly stood up, his voice deep. “Navy traitor, rank Navy Headquarters captain, Proudmoore Eric, shielding wanted criminal Nico Robin, and repeatedly plundering Sky Island transport ships in the West Sea…”
He paused, narrowing his eyes slightly as he gazed at the sea, the strange ability flashing through his mind:
“Combat strength… admiral level!”
The West Sea Branch captains, hearing these words, were horrified.
A Navy man with admiral-level combat strength… truly betrayed?