Kuzan was indeed lost.
Although he was Garp's eldest disciple, he had never managed to learn that carefree boldness.
This man, who had spent half his life as a Marine, had once wavered over the very word justice.
In his youth, he had followed Garp out to pursue the Roger Pirates and encountered the greatest enemy of his life.
Ozz Dotor.
That troublesome and dangerous man had once given him the feeling that Garp must have felt when facing Roger. A sense of fate.
Back then, Garp had even laughed while eating rice crackers and said,
"Kuzan, I'll leave the job of catching that brat with the black gun to you!"
In truth, the title Black Gun had originally been something Garp casually blurted out. Somehow, it eventually became the most iconic title of Ozz's entire life.
But later, Kuzan discovered that as a Marine, he could not pose any real threat to Ozz at all.
For some reason, that man had become a Celestial Dragon.
After the new era began, Kuzan simply left the Marines.
It was not only because of the limitations the Marines placed on the justice he wanted to carry out.
It was also because of Ozz.
But gradually, he became lost.
Because he could not chase Ozz around the sea the way old man Garp had once chased the Roger Pirates.
Compared to twenty or thirty years ago, the gap in strength had only continued to widen.
Sometimes, he even thought...
Perhaps he would never have the chance in this life.
The chance to arrest that bastard who threw the sea into chaos simply because he found it amusing.
He was lost.
How was justice supposed to be carried out under circumstances like this?
Dying at Ozz's hands could count as a way to uphold his justice, right?
Kuzan believed he was not afraid of death.
He even believed he was a true man who could face death without hesitation.
But when that Armament Haki-coated hand grabbed his face, and he heard what Ozz said, he had to admit that his heart wavered.
If he really died here, that bastard Ozz would definitely create even more absurd disasters across the sea!
Thinking that, Kuzan, who had been smashed into the ground by King, Dropped to the Seabed, gradually began to elementalize and freeze.
Before that attack, the whole of Punk Hazard trembled. The ground shattered apart, and glaciers stretching thousands of miles across the sea were smashed into fragments.
Even Doflamingo and Pink Dragon Kuina, who had been clashing fiercely in the sky, had their pupils shrink as they quickly fled the center of the blast.
It was a scene like the end of the world.
Heaven and earth shook. Tsunamis and monstrous waves rose across the sea.
Even the Marine soldiers who had already carried Smoker far away still staggered, unable to keep their footing.
Crack, crack, crack!
At the bottom of the crater, shards of ice slowly gathered together, forming a tall, thin figure with curly hair and blood running down his head.
He clutched his head and looked up toward the sky.
"Hey... I'm not that easy to kill."
Although blood kept dripping down, Kuzan had a smile on his face.
Ozz could not help curling the corner of his mouth.
"You've got your fighting spirit back, Kuzan."
Appearing in front of Kuzan, Ozz shook the ice flakes from his body. His powerful, perfect physique was filled with explosive strength.
He lightly clenched his fist, and black-red lightning instantly coiled around his muscular body.
The second round began.
As if by tacit agreement, neither of them used their Devil Fruit abilities.
Kuzan's hand-to-hand combat was by no means weak.
After all, he was the eldest disciple of Garp, a Haki and martial arts master who faintly surpassed the level of kings.
His Haki had been trained through Garp's Fist Bone method, and because of Ozz's invisible pressure pushing him forward, he had improved rapidly.
In truth, he could be considered a Haki expert.
But when facing Ozz, whose learning ability was maxed out and whose monstrous strength and Haki were both near their limits, Kuzan still found himself struggling.
Every punch from Ozz felt like sparring with Garp in the past.
No, even worse.
"Damn it... fists forged by smashing countless warships with bare hands can only barely contend with the monstrous strength you were born with?"
Kuzan felt as if his fists were about to split apart.
Ozz's fists rained toward his face, and he swung his own fists toward Ozz's face in return.
But every time, he was the one forced back.
His fists felt so powerless.
This fistfight between men lasted nearly a full day.
Kuzan was like an unkillable cockroach.
Although Ozz did not use his true full strength, the fact that Kuzan endured for so long was enough to show his willpower and physical foundation.
After a long while,
the battlefield finally fell silent.
Tsss.
"Haaa."
Ozz exhaled a mouthful of smoke, bare-chested as he sat casually on an ice block.
The view pulled back.
The heavily injured Kuzan lay spread-eagled on the ground, breathing out more than he breathed in.
Ice covered his cheeks, so he did not look too badly hurt.
But in truth, his face was already swollen and bruised.
The thousand-mile glacier around them had long since been beaten into powder, leaving only the two figures at the edge of the island.
"You really went all out, huh?"
Ozz held a cigarette between his lips and gently touched the bruise on the side of his face, then the trace of blood at the corner of his mouth.
His eyes darkened slightly.
"Being able to go this far should be enough, right?"
He could not remember the last time he had been injured.
"..."
On the other side, Kuzan heard this and swallowed back the words in his throat. A dark shadow seemed to fall across his face.
This counted as enough?
He could not even feel the existence of his left leg anymore.
This bastard was still as infuriating as ever.
Kuzan was so angry that he actually laughed, only for the movement to pull at the wounds on his face, sending another wave of pain through him.
Ozz laughed as well.
"But seriously, Kuzan, you really shouldn't have lost to Sakazuki."
Ozz crossed one leg over the other.
Perhaps only in this brief aftermath could the two of them speak calmly.
"I know his strength. If you weren't as lost as you were before, your Haki could've risen another level. The Fleet Admiral position might not have been so certain."
"..."
"Want me to talk to the Five Elders for you? Let you return to the Marines, become an admiral again, and fight for Fleet Admiral? You definitely threw that fight, didn't you?"
"...Forget it. If I said something like that, those five old men would definitely become suspicious."
Hearing this, faint dark lines appeared on Kuzan's face again.
"You bastard... Ozz."
The conversation was not exactly pleasant or smooth.
Mainly because Kuzan had been beaten so badly he could barely speak.
After that, Ozz finally left.
He left Kuzan one leg, then departed Punk Hazard.
Only after he left did the Marine soldiers dare to come forward and rescue the former Marine Admiral who had helped them.
Smoker and Kuzan lay side by side, both looking up at the sky.
"Hey, Kuzan,"
Smoker, wrapped in bandages, glanced toward him.
"Why did you come here?"
Kuzan fell silent for a moment, staring at the sky.
"Maybe I thought... when it comes to facing confusion, that bastard Ozz would definitely be good at it..."
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