"So fast."
Kuzan looked up, red light flashing in his eyes. At this moment, Kuina was no longer a silhouette to him, but had transformed into a beam of light.
A lightning strike that exuded extreme danger.
Zing—!
"Thunder Breathing: First Form, Thunderclap and Flash!"
In this state, everything around her seemed to slow down. Thus, the surrounding air and Kuzan's turning head appeared in slow motion to her, a sensation that brought her immense joy.
This was the first time she had truly unleashed her full power since obtaining the Rumble-Rumble Fruit and devising this offensive technique with Kong Tai.
Her eyes gleamed with excitement as she drew her sword towards Kuzan.
The clang of the blade, like the incessant chirping of cicadas in June, was inescapable, leaving no choice but to passively accept.
Following the blade's resonance came a cold, sharp glint of steel. The sword light, preceding the sound, instantly sliced through Kuzan's body.
The blade moved so fast that Kuzan couldn't even muster a defense.
However, he didn't need to. The moment he sensed danger, his body naturally elementalized, evading Kuina's slash.
He wouldn't be as careless as Kizaru when facing someone who clearly posed a threat.
Therefore, his Observation Haki had been active from the start.
"Maa!"
"So fast!"
Looking down at his chest, which had been cleanly severed, Kuzan's eyes were filled with astonishment.
Truly the strongest Logia.
Although the previous Kuina could also attack with lightning and was fast, she clearly hadn't exerted the same pressure on him as she was now.
This kind of pressure was something he only felt from opponents of equal standing.
"Hmph!"
Before he could ponder further, countless cold, sharp sword lights appeared around him.
The blade lights crisscrossed like a spiderweb, shredding the air before instantly slashing through his entire body.
"Didn't hit?"
Kuina's feet planted firmly on the ice, a hint of seriousness flickering in her eyes as her Observation Haki continuously scanned her surroundings.
"As expected of an Admiral."
She was confident that few in this world could evade her strikes at her current speed.
Looking at the ice shards, shattered by her blade, beneath Kuzan's previous position, she knew he had evaded her attack.
"Hmm! Behind you."
Turning, her pupils, with a cold blue and red light, traced a path through the air.
Her sword, Wadō Ichimonji, moved from below to above, intercepting the attack from behind.
Just then, two massive ice-blue lances materialized out of thin air in the sky behind her, while on the ground, a human-shaped ice block rapidly emerged from the frozen surface.
As the upper body took shape, the ice figure's cold gaze fixed on Kuina.
"Ice Style: Two Thorn Spears!"
Clang—!
At close range, the giant lances shot directly towards Kuina but were blocked by the blade of Wadō Ichimonji in her hand.
The ice figure exhaled a breath of frigid air, red light glinting in its eyes as it stared at Kuina. Its formed right hand swiped forward.
"Ice Age: Time Capsule!"
A stream of ice-blue cold air, shaped like a shockwave, rapidly advanced towards Kuina.
"Too slow."
The Admiral's attacks were indeed powerful, but to Kuina, who was in her Thunder Breathing state, both the lances and the Time Capsule were somewhat sluggish.
Ding—!
As she turned, her left hand reached for a small bag on her waist, about the size of a wallet. She pulled out an ordinary coin.
Since eating the Devil Fruit, this bag had been with her, filled with ordinary coins and a few bullets from her "Net of Hell" attack.
Flipping the coin, she stared at the oncoming chilling aura that seemed poised to freeze space. With a powerful swing of her right hand, she shattered the ice lance above her.
Catching the coin with her left hand and clutching it tightly, she flicked it without hesitation towards the freezing blast.
Bang—!
A cannonball of electricity, entwined with crimson flames and cerulean lightning, collided head-on with the cold shockwave, erupting in a deafening roar. Simultaneously, an immense blast wave, carrying shattered ice fragments, surged outwards from the epicenter of the clash.
The instant the coin melted and the cold dissipated.
Zing—!
The blade sang.
A phantom of a cerulean dragon, crackling with lightning, surged forward with the sword light, slicing through the area of engagement.
"One Sword Style: Iaido: Azure Dragon!"
Behind the ice figure Kuzan had formed, Kuina's lightning-entwined silhouette materialized. With her appearance came a low hum that echoed across the battlefield.
At this moment, it was as if time had frozen.
A black line, laced with countless azure lightning bolts, extended from Kuina's previous position all the way to Kuzan's back, the tip of Kuina's blade.
The black line seemed to tear through space, its hum distorting the very fabric of reality around it. It then rapidly expanded, like ripples on a tranquil lake from a dropped stone, easily cutting through the houses in its path.
It extended for dozens of meters beyond their combat zone.
Looking down at his chest, now laced with faint streaks of blood, Kuzan's eyes revealed an unprecedented seriousness.
He had seen Gin-san use this Azure Dragon technique before, but Gin-san's speed had been nowhere comparable to Kuina's now.
The attack that clashed with his Time Capsule was already astonishing; he hadn't expected the true attack to follow.
This blade was as fast as traversing time and space itself. Had it not been for the superior development of his Devil Fruit, his acute premonition of danger through Observation Haki, and his initial lack of complacency, this single strike would have gravely wounded him.
"Truly formidable!"
This was the catchphrase of an old friend he had found himself uttering repeatedly today, after encountering both Gin-san and Blue-haired Kuina.
However, unlike his old friend, who used it with a teasing tone, Kuzan's was laden with genuine surprise.
Ding—!
Kuina straightened her stance and sheathed her sword.
Just then, the surrounding space suddenly began to flow.
The upper body of the ice figure slid backward, crashing onto the icy ground with a thud.
Along with the ice figure, the already dilapidated houses around them collapsed into ruins with a thunderous rumble.
Turning, she gazed at the ice figure severed before her, and at the trace of blood on its cut, glinting sharply in the fading sunlight. A flicker of satisfaction appeared in Kuina's eyes.
Being able to genuinely wound an Admiral proved that her current strength had fully ascended to the Admiral tier.
Although she had only inflicted a minor injury on Kuzan, not affecting his combat power, one must not forget that Kuzan was a Logia user, notoriously difficult to injure, and one of the strongest pillars of the Marine, the most powerful military organization in this world.
To have landed a surprise blow and inflicted a wound on him, she was quite content.
After all, she was only seventeen years old. Her body, stimulated by lightning, could still improve, and her Devil Fruit abilities could also grow, whereas Kuzan had already reached his peak.
In truth, while her speed far surpassed Kuzan's at this moment, her physical prowess, Haki, and Devil Fruit development were all inferior to his. Therefore, if they were to engage in a deathmatch, with no retreat allowed, she would ultimately be the one to fall.
Because A Hua's robots were becoming somewhat insufficient for her needs now.
But all of this was secondary. She was young, she had Kong Tai, Kong Tai's boundless imagination, and even more so, Kong Tai's omnipotent domain.
This made her believe that her future, if not surpassing Kuzan, would at least be on par with his tier.
And this future would not be too distant.