Chapter 15 – Breakthrough
Though Kuzan had opened the fight with overwhelming force—a move that caught Eiger completely off guard—Eiger didn't waste time complaining.
Bathed in the glow of the dying sun, he centered himself. Every breath, every heartbeat, every fiber of his body was devoted to the battle.
It had been years—decades, even—since he last stood before an opponent whose strength so vastly eclipsed his own.
Strong.
Unbelievably strong.
The sheer difference in power didn't crush him—it ignited him.
His blood burned. His pulse thundered. For the first time in so long, he felt truly alive.
Right here, in this moment, Eiger fought without holding anything back.
No system to rely on.
No fruit powers to lean on.
Only the power he had earned—day after day, night after night—for almost twenty years.
Maybe he wasn't some mythical "training god" capable of growing two hundredfold in a month, but he had devoted half his life to refining himself—every motion, every strike, every ounce of endurance polished through merciless effort.
And now, facing the might of a Marine Admiral, he poured all of it into this one clash.
His muscles trembled under the amber light, his bare upper body shimmering as though coated in gold armor.
Each twist of his torso rippled like molten steel, his axe cleaving through the air with the weight of his conviction.
Gradually, the fear vanished.
He forgot about defeat, forgot about titles, forgot even about survival—
and simply enjoyed the fight.
Kuzan noticed the change.
A flicker of surprise crossed his normally lazy face.
From reluctant… to determined… to this.
He's actually enjoying himself.
He finally understood why Colonel Enchi had spoken with such regret about Eiger's resignation from the Marines.
Yes, the kid was still green.
Yes, his old boast about "cleaving Sakazuki in one swing" had been laughable.
But there was no denying it—Eiger was a true prodigy.
A rare one.
He had learned "Tekkai," "Shigan," and "Rankyaku" entirely within a West Blue branch unit.
And beyond that, he had awakened both Armament and Observation Haki on his own,
forging an axe style that was uniquely his—
brutal, simple, and devastatingly effective.
In a backwater branch like the 315th, that was nothing short of astounding.
If he had joined Marine Headquarters…
if he had trained for a few more years…
he could have become a candidate for Admiral himself.
And now, after eating the Light-Light Fruit, he had broken through the final wall:
his strength, his speed, his endurance—everything had surpassed its old limits.
It wasn't even a top-tier fruit.
A Zoan could grant permanent boosts to physique, speed, and recovery,
while the Light-Light Fruit only granted such blessings under the sun's rays.
A Zoan user could also shapeshift—man, beast, hybrid—gaining claws, fangs, fur, scales, enhanced limbs.
That's why Zoans reigned supreme in close combat and martial arts.
By comparison, the Light-Light Fruit was pure, simple, even restrictive.
But in Eiger's hands… it fit perfectly.
Watching him move, Kuzan couldn't help but exhale a quiet note of admiration.
The kid was adapting to the fruit's power faster than expected, fusing its light with his Haki and muscle memory seamlessly.
Impressive, Kuzan thought. But… a beating's still a beating.
"Ice Block: Pheasant Beak!"
With a wave of his arm, Kuzan launched a massive ice phoenix. Its wings spread wide, freezing everything in its path—the earth, the air, even the light itself.
The entire mountainside was already under his "Ice Age."
The cold was suffocating, absolute—a deathtrap of frost and steel that closed in on Eiger from every direction.
Even Eiger felt it—the kind of chill that stabbed through bone, threatening to freeze the very blood in his veins.
Had he not eaten the Light-Light Fruit, had he not been bathed in that faint, warming sunset glow,
he'd have already been a frozen statue.
After all, this was the same man who'd once encased Whitebeard, the strongest in the world, in solid ice.
Eiger knew his limits. He couldn't tank that kind of power.
If he was still standing, it was thanks to that dwindling sunlight—and the fact that Kuzan was clearly holding back.
But Eiger didn't care.
He was too immersed in the fight to think of anything else.
Every attack that came his way, he met head-on.
His axe flashed, splitting through icy torrents and shattering shards into mist.
The weapon shimmered with sunlight, carving a burning path through the storm.
When the ice phoenix came screaming toward him, his strike cleaved it cleanly in two—
a hiss of vapor, a spray of glittering frost—before the shattered wings crashed behind him, scattering into a field of frozen spears.
Breathing heavily, Eiger glanced up at the sun sinking into the horizon.
The light was fading.
Almost time.
Without hesitation, he raised his axe, fixing his gaze on Kuzan.
"Final move," he said calmly.
"Wanna see if you can take it?"
Kuzan didn't reply.
Eiger spread his stance, planting his feet like anchors.
He took a deep breath, closed his eyes—
and twisted.
His torso coiled backward, his waist turning in a way that seemed impossible for the human body.
The air shimmered around him, gold pouring over his skin.
The setting sun bathed him, and for an instant, it looked as though he was absorbing its very light.
Even his axe gleamed—its steel now a radiant gold.
Kuzan's expression shifted from amusement to genuine curiosity.
He knew this move. He'd read about it in reports, maybe even witnessed it twice before.
But this time felt… different.
The blend of Armament Haki and the light's brilliance gave it a sharpness that made the air hum.
So this is its true form, Kuzan mused. The perfected version of that "Micro Dust Slash."
Could it really—he smirked—cut Sakazuki in one swing?
Eiger didn't let him wonder long.
The power gathered, overflowing, pushing past every boundary he'd ever known.
For one fleeting heartbeat, he reached the very peak of what he was capable of.
And as the last ray of sunlight disappeared behind the horizon—
Eiger's eyes snapped open.
"Sunset — Micro Dust Slash!"
As Eiger's cold, steady voice fell, the tension in his twisted frame snapped.
His body unwound like a spring, his muscles surging in perfect unison as his right arm—pulled far behind—swung forward with all the power he could muster.
A full-bodied swing.
Everything he had.
When the axe's edge leveled with Kuzan, the air itself screamed.
A radiant slash erupted from the blade—not the faint, silver arcs of before, but a blinding crescent of golden light.
Brilliant. Sacred.
Scorching. Terrifying.
It tore through the air like a fragment of the sun itself.
Wherever the golden arc passed, the frost melted into vapor; the freezing winds that blanketed the mountain dissolved into warmth.
It was as if that single stroke had called back the dying sunlight—
a fleeting dawn breaking through Kuzan's frozen night.
The entire ice field split open, and mist exploded outward like a storm of glass.
"Boom!"
The thunder of impact echoed across the mountainside.
Eiger, gasping and drenched in sweat, allowed himself a tired grin.
His hands trembled, his lungs burned, but his eyes gleamed with satisfaction.
If he had unleashed that back then… he could've split an entire ship in two.
He'd used everything—every ounce of strength, every fragment of will.
But this time, he had truly broken through.
He'd stepped across the line separating ordinary fighters from the realm of the Great Swordsmen.
However—
Before he could even savor it, a familiar, lazy drawl drifted through the fading mist.
"Not bad at all."
The voice was calm, casual… but the temperature dropped instantly.
The steam froze midair, turning into glittering shards that fell to the ground.
From the new frost stepped Kuzan—completely unscathed, the chill of his presence returning tenfold.
Eiger's smile froze. Then he sighed, rubbing the back of his neck with a helpless grin.
"Figures… still not enough, huh?"
He shook his head, letting out a wry chuckle. "Well then…"
He dropped his axe with a dull thud, sat down right there on the icy ground, and said in a weary tone,
"You win."
That was that.
No point in pushing it further. He'd already done his best.
All he wanted now was to get this over with, hear a few smug words from Kuzan, and then go home for dinner with Nico.
But, as it turned out—things didn't quite go as he expected.
"Indeed, I won." Kuzan nodded in mock solemnity, his voice still soft and unhurried.
Then, with a faint smirk, he added,
"So… what kind of punishment do you think fits?"
Eiger blinked. "...Huh?"
The air suddenly turned sharp. Kuzan's tone dropped, the lazy warmth replaced by an icy edge.
"Not only did you steal from a Marine Admiral," he said, his voice like cracking glaciers,
"you also attacked one."
The cold spread outward again, creeping across the ground.
"Retired or not, Lieutenant Eiger… it's time you experienced the wrath of a Marine Admiral."
Eiger: "???"
He barely had time to blink before Kuzan muttered another phrase:
"Ice Gauntlet."
A massive, glacial fist—thick with jagged chunks of solid ice—formed around Kuzan's arm and launched forward.
Eiger didn't even try to dodge.
He just stared at the incoming blow, deadpan.
…Seriously?
And then—
WHAM!
The world flashed white.