CHINK!
The moment the Death Scythe pierced his heart, the semi-finished reagent Dr. Leon had provided—the one he'd swallowed during the Seraphim explosion—activated.
A cluster of brilliant ice crystals erupted from Aokiji's chest, shoving the necrotic blade back out as they began to spread, climbing up the scythe and onto Blackbeard's hands.
"What is this?!" Blackbeard roared, his face twisting in panic.
'Is this, this bastard's true power?! Damn it!'
He could feel the horror of the absolute-zero ice.
It was a cold unlike anything his Devil Fruit could produce.
It was pure.
Even the unholy power of the Necromancer's Staff couldn't erode or destroy it.
If this continued, he would be frozen solid.
He tried to pull away, but a golden-white frost had already solidified around his legs, freezing him in place.
His consciousness, his very thoughts, felt like they were slowing down, becoming sluggish... being frozen.
Aokiji, on the other hand, was in no better shape.
His face was deathly pale, covered in a fine layer of sweat, but he was alive.
He exhaled a cloud of bloody mist, and a grim smile touched his lips.
"I... finally solved you."
He was shocked at the power he had just unleashed.
He had never imagined he was capable of it.
"As expected of Dr. Leon," he panted, looking at the ice crystals spinning in his own hand.
"His invention... it can return a Devil Fruit to its purest, most powerful state."
He knew he had only survived this long thanks to Leon's genius: the experimental fruit-enhancer and the "Senzu Beans" that provided near-infinite healing.
But the new power had come at a cost.
An overwhelming wave of weakness and exhaustion washed over him.
His body was broken, the over-exertion too much.
He quickly fumbled for the last Senzu Bean at his waist, threw it into his mouth, and swallowed it whole.
A majestic, pure energy surged through his body, his wounds healing, his stamina returning.
In a moment, he was back at his peak.
He stood up and walked step-by-step toward the now-frozen statue of Blackbeard.
His eyes were cold.
This man had ruined the Seraphim factory, had cost the Marines dearly.
He, Admiral Aokiji, would end this pirate's life right here.
But just as he raised his hand to deliver the shattering blow, a black shadow emerged from the darkness of the factory.
CLANG!
A sword struck the ice, sending sparks flying.
Faint cracks appeared on the frozen surface.
"Huh?!"
The newcomer looked at his blade in surprise, then turned his gaze to the Admiral.
"It's you, Kuzan. I didn't expect Blackbeard to fall into your hands."
The man's tone was cold and calculating.
Aokiji's eyes narrowed. "Oh. It's you."
"That's right," the man grinned, but there was no humor in it, only a faint, sharp killing intent.
"Blackbeard must die today," Aokiji said, his voice flat as the ice around him.
Wisps of cold air began to flow from his raised palm.
"Don't tell me you want to die here, too."
The man slowly reached up and pulled back the black hood, revealing a scarred face and a shock of iconic red hair.
The moment he saw him, Aokiji's relaxed posture vanished.
"Red-Haired Shanks. If you want a fight, the Marines will gladly put you down!"
Shanks looked at the menacing Aokiji, his eyes full of a rare tangle of hesitation.
He knew Aokiji had some kind of treasure, a bean that could instantly restore all his strength and heal any wound.
He wasn't afraid of Aokiji himself—he was confident he was stronger than either the Admiral or Blackbeard—but he had no idea how many of those beans the Admiral had.
He glanced back at the helpless, frozen form of Blackbeard, completely undecided on his next move.
In the end, Shanks did not take the bait.
He looked at the fully restored, battle-ready Aokiji, then at the frozen, helpless form of Blackbeard.
He weighed his options, and the cold calculation of an Emperor won out.
Fighting an Admiral who possessed an unknown supply of miraculous healing beans, all to save a man he despised, was a fool's errand.
He turned and, without a word, vanished into the shadows.
Aokiji let him go, a faint smile on his lips.
He knew that if Shanks had truly committed to a fight, even with his restored strength, it would have been a long and bloody ordeal.
He had other priorities.
He turned his attention to the smoking ruins of the Seraphim factory.
The fires from the self-destruct sequence were still burning, casting grim shadows over the collapsed gantries.
The place that had once been the symbol of the Marines' overwhelming power was now just a tomb.
"Even if this technology is obsolete," Aokiji murmured to himself, "its secrets cannot be allowed to fall into pirate hands."
He began to walk through the wreckage, the ice on his boots crackling over the hot slag.
In the center of the largest crater, he saw it—the upper torso of a Seraphim, its body frozen in a final, defiant pose.
But that wasn't what caught his eye.
In the machine's still-clenched, metallic hand was a spar.
It was a turquoise gemstone, pulsing with a soft, bright, blue-green light that pierced the smoke.
Even from a distance, Aokiji could feel an overwhelming wave of life emanating from it.
"This is... pure life force," he whispered.
A powerful, primal desire surged within him.
He, who had just been on the brink of death, understood the value of this single item more than anyone.
But he also knew his duty.
"This... must be given to Dr. Leon," he said, his voice firm. "Only he can understand what this is."
Suppressing his own desire, Aokiji cautiously reached out, not with his hand, but with a delicate tendril of ice-cold mist.
He tried to wrap the gem in a cloud of frost to contain its power.
The moment his power touched it, his ice went berserk.
The surging vitality from the gem acted like a potent, overwhelming poison, hyper-charging his Devil Fruit and making his own power lose control.
A cold sweat broke out on his forehead.
This was more dangerous than his fight with Blackbeard.
This raw life was a miracle for the dying, but a fatal overdose for the living.
If he touched it directly, the explosive vitality would likely tear his body apart.
He carefully moved one of his last Senzu Beans to his teeth, ready to crush it at the first sign of trouble.
He took a single, careful step forward, his ice-mist grasping for the gem.
Suddenly, the spar shook.
It broke free from his control, slipped from the Seraph's dead hand, and fell, landing with a soft tink on the barren, scorched earth of the battlefield.
In the next instant, an explosion of vibrant green erupted from the ground.
Countless plants, thick vines, and strange, glowing flowers grew at an impossible, unnatural speed, spreading across the entire ruined factory in seconds.
The dark, ashen battlefield was transformed into a chaotic, pulsating jungle.
"What?! This is troublesome!"
Aokiji's expression changed to one of wild alarm.
The gem's sudden escape had completely disrupted his plan.
He was now stranded on a small island of debris, not daring to let his feet touch the super-charged, life-infused ground, terrified of what would happen if he did.
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Please Read My new One Piece fic : You call this a Pirate ?