'Cover Story: Chopper and the Quack Doctor Vol. 6: "May I Ask Where Our Guest Comes From?"'
'Walking through the towns of his homeland, Hiriluk is stunned to find that the cruel king and soldiers he remembered are nowhere to be seen. The few soldiers he does spot wear helmets decorated with reindeer antlers, and they chat happily with the townspeople.
As Hiriluk wanders through the streets like a stranger visiting for the first time, he keeps hearing people mention a "Reindeer Doctor." He accidentally bumps into a child running down the street. After helping the child up, the boy smiles and asks, "Mister, did you come here from the sea?"'
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The scene before him left Mont-d'Or completely dumbfounded. He knew about Devil Fruit Awakenings because of his older brother, Katakuri. As for whether their mother had awakened her own Devil Fruit... no one in the family knew.
First, no one had ever pushed Big Mom to the point where she'd need to use Awakening. Second, she was the type who solved everything by charging straight in. Most enemies were already beaten flat with her fists long before she needed to rely on her Devil Fruit.
But in Mont-d'Or's understanding, Awakening simply meant transforming the surrounding terrain and controlling it at will. So what was this? Where had Aokiji gone? How had he ended up inside the ice itself and become a giant made of frozen air hundreds of meters tall?
'Is this... a Logia Awakening?'
A Logia... a freaking Logia...
As Mont-d'Or hovered nervously on his floating books, Katakuri, breathing heavily, suddenly saw something with his Observation Haki. His expression changed, and he instantly leaped backward.
The spot where he'd just been standing erupted as two masses of frozen terrain surged up from either side.
'BOOM!'
They slammed together with tremendous force.
"What's wrong?" Aokiji's calm voice echoed from within the ice. "Weren't you looking for me just a moment ago?"
Inside the frozen plain, the gigantic dark-blue figure of frozen air strolled leisurely with his hands in his pockets. With a casual wave, columns of ice burst up one after another from the frozen ground, chasing Katakuri from every direction. Only Katakuri's incredible Observation Haki allowed him to predict their paths ahead of time.
Even so, the endless attacks eventually caught him. A living ice pillar wrapped itself around his leg. Katakuri thrust forward with his Armament Haki-coated trident, shattering the pillar, but the brief delay was enough. Towering waves of frozen terrain surged toward him.
"Brother Katakuri, watch out!" Charlotte Castard shouted.
Katakuri turned his head. Within the fifteen-meter-high wave of ice, he saw a dark-blue humanoid silhouette several meters tall bearing down on him. With a roar, Katakuri drove his Haki-coated trident into the figure.
'Bang!'
The frozen wave split apart and exploded into pieces.
"Your reactions are getting slower. Getting cold?" Aokiji's voice suddenly came from behind him.
Katakuri's eyes widened. Without hesitation, he spun around and threw a punch.
'Bang!'
Aokiji casually caught the black Haki-coated fist with one hand.
"What?!" Watching from above, Mont-d'Or couldn't believe his eyes. "Wasn't he inside that wave just now?"
He had been watching carefully from the sky, yet he hadn't seen when Aokiji had emerged from the frozen ground behind Katakuri. Even worse, this time Aokiji hadn't shattered after taking the punch. He had caught it head-on.
"That was Brother Katakuri's Haki-coated punch!"
Aokiji replied calmly, "You've used up quite a lot of Haki already."
"I've only just started."
'Bang!'
He kicked forward. Katakuri shot backward like a cannonball, leaving a trail of blood through the air.
Grinding his teeth, Katakuri skimmed across the ice. As he slid, he swung his trident and struck the frozen ground behind him. Using the rebound, he launched himself back into the air.
Looking toward Aokiji, he found nothing there.
A flash of red appeared in Katakuri's eyes. Without turning around, he thrust his trident behind him. An ice figure rose from the frozen ground and became Aokiji. Both of his hands, coated in Armament Haki, caught the trident barehanded.
'Bang!'
Another blow sent Katakuri flying. As he flew backward, a gigantic ice spike erupted beneath him. Katakuri foresaw himself being impaled. His body stretched unnaturally, bending like rubber in midair to avoid the deadly spike.
But inside Aokiji's awakened territory, that kind of attack never stopped. Katakuri used every technique at his disposal, but he still couldn't gain the upper hand.
Watching from the sidelines, Mont-d'Or grabbed his hair in frustration. "Why?! Brother Katakuri hit the real Aokiji hidden inside the ice several times! So why isn't it doing anything?! It was working before! This is bad... Brother Katakuri..."
Katakuri understood that better than anyone. Finally, he found a tiny opening amid Aokiji's relentless assault. Turning around, he smashed apart the ice spikes converging from every direction with a single swing of his trident. Using the recoil, he quickly escaped.
At last, he landed outside the frozen territory, back on the smaller half of the island where their battle had first begun. His own battlefield.
"...Awakening."
Katakuri stomped the ground. The power of the Mochi Mochi Fruit spread through the island beneath his feet. The surrounding earth immediately writhed to life as dozens of enormous mochi fists burst upward. Each one was coated in Armament Haki. Together, they charged toward the frozen half of the island.
'RUMBLE!!'
On the frozen side, a gigantic frozen giant dozens of meters tall rose from the ice. Its appearance matched Aokiji's. The Frozen Giant extended dozens of massive icy arms of its own.
'Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang!'
Each arm intercepted one of Katakuri's gigantic mochi fists.
'RUMBLE...'
It was like watching two colossal giants, one made of mochi, one made of ice, locked in brutal hand-to-hand combat. The entire island shook violently. One half howled with freezing winds, while the other remained at normal temperature. Hot and cold air collided violently, and the atmosphere itself seemed to cry out in mourning.
'Whooo...'
'Whooo...'
Snow suddenly began to fall. A single snowflake landed on Mont-d'Or's face, and he shivered. Only then did he seem to snap back to reality. His face pale with fear, he muttered, "What... what kind of battle is this...? This is completely insane!!!"
Charlotte Castard had to grip her sword with all her strength just to stop herself from dropping it. Staring at the unbelievable clash between the Mochi Giant and the Frozen Giant, she muttered something under her breath.
'Crack...'
'Crack...'
'Crack...'
Fine cracks began spreading across the Frozen Giant's dozens of arms.
'When it comes to combining Devil Fruit abilities with Haki,' Liam thought to himself, 'Katakuri is still superior. Though Aokiji may simply be conserving his Haki...'
Just then, a dark-blue figure emerged from the Frozen Giant's chest. As it floated out, ice rapidly formed around it, becoming Aokiji's physical body once more. He threw a punch straight at Katakuri.
Katakuri met it head-on with a fist coated in Armament Haki.
'BOOM!'
The two black fists collided. Black-and-red Haki lightning exploded between them.
Reflected in Aokiji's round sunglasses was Katakuri's exhausted face, breathing heavily.
Aokiji spoke calmly. "See? Your Haki has gotten weaker."
'(End of Chapter)'
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