The gray heaven gently blanketed all of Marineford.
Within this nearly frozen domain, Renzo calmly strolled toward Blackbeard's frozen figure, looking strangely out of place and… leisurely.
Like an old man taking a walk in his backyard, completely ignoring the epic battle scene around him that had turned into a paused image.
Doflamingo was stuck in place, the hem of his pink feather coat frozen mid-flutter at an angle that violated every physical law.
'Move!!'
'Why can't I move?!'
He screamed inwardly.
The threads on his fingertips, painstakingly honed, razor-sharp, drooped like dead snakes, unable to twitch even a millimeter.
What terrified him even more was that when Renzo passed by, he didn't even look at him. He just casually waved his hand, as if brushing away a speck of dust.
'He saw me!'
'He definitely saw me!'
'Why didn't he deal with me?'
'Does he think I'm not worth the effort?'
'Or… is he planning to take his time with me later?!'
Doflamingo's thoughts struggled to crawl through the sticky air, a never-before-felt fear, born of the unknown, gripping his heart.
A power that doesn't even give you the chance to resist…
It was more despair-inducing than any violence he'd ever witnessed.
Sengoku, frozen mid-strike in his golden Buddha form, felt shock well up inside him.
He could still feel his strength, but the "will" needed to move it was being eroded by an endless wave of lethargy.
'Is this his true ability?'
'A rule-level… Sloth?'
Aokiji's Ice Age had been paused mid-flow, the cold air frozen in place.
Kizaru's light flickered like a faulty bulb, dim and bright at random. He tried to turn himself into photons, but found even his light particles were "too lazy"
"This~~~is~~~really~~~so~~~"
His elongated speech played like a warped slow-motion recording in the stagnant air.
Akainu, who had just climbed out of the rubble, had his magma-covered arm solidified halfway through transforming. His wide-eyed fury froze on his face, making him look unintentionally comedic.
He tried to roar, but the sound was stuck in his throat, refusing to form a proper syllable.
And at the center of the storm, or rather, the calm, Blackbeard watched Renzo step closer and closer. His earlier greed and excitement had evaporated, replaced by sheer terror.
'Move!'
'MOVE, DAMMIT!'
'His Darkness Fruit…'
'His dream of domination…'
He tried desperately to activate his ability, but the darkness around him squirmed more slowly than a worm in a bird's beak.
Renzo's half-lidded, eternally sleepy-looking eyes were, to Teach, more terrifying than any demon.
Renzo finally stopped in front of him, tilting his head as if assessing how to dispose of a troublesome piece of garbage.
"So it's you… the one who was making the most noise…"
Renzo muttered lazily and reached out a hand as if to touch Teach's frozen, terrified face, or maybe just slap a pair of seastone cuffs on him.
Teach's soul nearly evacuated his body. His barely movable eyeballs locked onto that approaching hand, trembling.
And then-
"Pop~"
A tiny sound, like a soap bubble bursting.
The gray "Heaven of Sloth" covering all of Marineford vanished without warning, as if someone poked a hole in reality.
Time snapped back to normal instantly!
Frozen voices, halted movements, stalled energies, everything regained full speed in a single ten-thousandth of a second.
"SO SCARY!!!"
The second half of Kizaru's long-held sentence finally blasted out, and he whooshed into the air in a beam of light, looking around in confusion.
Sengoku's massive Buddha palm, packed with terrifying force, suddenly surged forward with its original momentum, nearly slapping the newly-unfrozen, terrified Blackbeard straight into the ground!
He managed to stop most of the power at the last second, but the leftover blast still sent Blackbeard flying like a ragdoll, rolling helplessly across the ground.
"WAH!!"
Burgess, regaining movement, tried to charge forward, but his mind and body weren't in sync yet, so his left foot tripped his right, sending him face-first into the dirt.
"Huh?" Aokiji blinked, staring at the flowing cold air, rubbing the back of his head.
Akainu finally roared: "UNFORGIVABLE!!!"
But after yelling, even he was briefly thrown off by the sudden return of chaos and the pirates seizing the chance to retreat.
And our protagonist, Rear Admiral Renzo, was facing a small crisis of his own.
The sudden collapse of "Heaven of Sloth" was like someone kicking away an invisible stool from under him.
Maintaining such a massive rule-type domain cost him a lot mentally and physically.
A wave of deep fatigue, like his mental "muscles" and physical muscles were giving out, hit him all at once.
His vision dimmed, the world spun, and his knees buckled-
"Eh?!"
His hands were still in his coat pockets when his whole body lurched forward, about to face-plant in the most undignified way possible.
If he fell, all that "mysterious powerhouse" image he built would evaporate instantly.
"Rear Admiral!"
Potts reacted first, despite only just returned from slow-motion, and loyal instincts kicked in.
With a wobbly dash, he caught Renzo's arm at the last second.
Sanji also moved on reflex, but seeing Potts already had him, he pulled his hand back and scolded,
"Oi! You lazy bum! Stand properly! Falling on your face NOW would be the lamest thing ever!"
Renzo steadied himself, shook off the dizziness, mostly motivated by "falling would be annoying", and stood upright.
He patted Potts on the shoulder as if nothing had happened, signaling him to let go.
"Mm… skill on cooldown."
He gave himself an excuse.
Nobody understood what "cooldown" meant.
He glanced at Teach, who was still being helped up and looking traumatized, then at the retreating Whitebeard remnants and the chaotic Marine ranks.
"Tch. Still too much of a hassle."
He concluded.
He failed to finish Teach in one go, so he couldn't be bothered to try again.
Teach looked terrified enough not to cause trouble anytime soon anyway.
Renzo turned and walked toward Sanji and the injured area.
"Let's go. Need to check if the kitchen's still there. Been fighting forever. I'm hungry."
Sanji looked at the battlefield, then at the "just out for a stroll" lazy superior, and nearly laughed out of sheer frustration.
"You unbelievable idiot…"
Potts exhaled in relief and hurried after him.
Teach, supported by his crewmates, stared at Renzo's back with a mix of fear and uncertainty, still shaken.
Doflamingo stretched his finally freed fingers and glared in Renzo's direction, his expression dark enough to drip ink.
'Three minutes… only three minutes?'
'No. That has to be a lie.'
'He must be able to do it again.'
'That monster…'
.....
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 30 chapters ahead.
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