Location: Glacien Cradle – North Grand Line
Snow fell, but it didn't melt.
The Oro Jackson sliced through a fog-laced sea. A distant landmass loomed ahead—white cliffs made of frozen salt and ice thicker than steel. Ancient, spiral towers of glacial stone jutted out like fangs. It wasn't just cold… it was deathly still.
Rayleigh exhaled steam.
"No wind. No waves. Just silence."
"This place… doesn't belong here."
Roger looked grim.
"Because this isn't an island."
"It's a grave."
🧊 The Call of the Buried Blade
Toni's Mythblade pulsed. It had only ever done that in one place before—the Leviathan's awakening.
He closed his eyes and felt it: whispers beneath the frost, a rhythm deeper than time itself.
Kael stood beside him.
"You feel it?"
Toni nodded.
"It's not just a blade. It's a scar."
📜 System Alert – Domain of the Frozen Pact
System Notification:
Location Identified: Glacien Cradle – Ancient Weapon Burial Ground
Conditions:
– Haki Efficiency Reduced by 70%
– Elemental-type Abilities Severely Restricted
– All Observation-based skills dulled
Mythblade Warning: Resonance with Unknown Artifact Detected
Trial of the Icebound Sovereign – Optional
Potential Reward: ???
Toni's breath caught.
Rayleigh laid a hand on his shoulder.
"You don't have to go alone."
Toni gave a small smile.
"But I do. This one's… calling me."
⚔️ Descent into the Glacial Ruins
Toni stepped onto the ice. The moment his foot touched the frozen ground, mist swallowed him whole.
He was alone.
Inside the ruin, stairs carved from transparent crystal wound downward in impossible geometry. Along the walls, murals of forgotten wars—armies clashing with beasts of shadow, swords of flame cleaving through moons, and at the center… the blade.
It was embedded in a glacier surrounded by skeletal remains of beings too large to be human.
"That sword," Toni whispered, "it's not made of metal."
"It's made of frozen time."
👤 The Assassin Arrives – Cipher Pol Zero
Suddenly—footsteps.
Not echoing. Not loud.
But clean. Purposeful.
From the mist stepped a man in a black-and-white coat, face hidden behind a porcelain mask bearing the symbol of an hourglass.
"Toni, son of the sea," he said without malice.
"You weren't supposed to arrive yet."
Toni's grip tightened.
"You're from the World Government."
The agent nodded.
"Cipher Pol Zero."
"Codename: Chrono."
"That blade belongs to the world. Not to you."
⚔️ Battle in the Ice Tomb – Toni vs. Chrono
Chrono's movements were surgical.
He wielded two thin, clock-hand-shaped daggers. Each strike came a second before Toni moved to defend. His powers didn't manipulate time—but predicted behavior at an unnatural level. A twisted fusion of training and proto-Observation Haki.
"You're slow," Chrono whispered.
"That's the difference between memory and reality."
Toni was pushed back, blades scraping ice, eyes narrowed. Then—
He remembered the Throne Trial.
The fake Toni's cold emptiness. The power that meant nothing without self.
And he screamed:
"Form XII – Heaven's Breath Counter!"
He stood still.
And when Chrono struck, Toni's blades moved a heartbeat after—but bent the outcome backward.
One cut across the chest.
One on the hand.
And a final strike that sent Chrono flying into the glacier wall.
The assassin coughed blood.
"You've seen… the other future."
⚔️ Claiming the Blade of Ice
Toni turned back to the frozen relic.
The glacier cracked.
The blade emerged slowly—no hilt, no guard. Just a single shard of ice glowing with pale blue fire.
The moment his hand touched it—
System Alert – New Weapon Claimed
❄️ Name: Frostbrand – The Time-Locked Blade
Origin: Lost Age Pre-Void
Status: Myth-tier (Linked to Toni's Soul)
Effect: Can halt time in a small radius once per day
Additional: Slashes ignore regenerative abilities tied to biological memory
Mythblade Synchronization: 82%
New Hybrid Form Unlocked: Form XIV – Severed Winter
🛡️ Post-Battle Reflection
Chrono vanished into the mist—retreating.
As Toni emerged from the ruins, blade on his back, Roger and the crew waited at the shoreline.
Roger smiled.
"You look like you've fought ghosts."
Toni nodded.
"I did."
And in the skies above, the clouds parted for a moment.
A symbol flashed: an hourglass surrounded by thirteen stars.
Rayleigh narrowed his eyes.
"That's no cipher mark."
"That's the symbol of the First World."
Kael whispered.
"The war… has already begun."
📜 System Panel – Chapter 18 Summary
System Panel – Updated
Name: Toni
Age: 14
Title(s): Mythblade Wielder, Challenger of the Ice Sovereign
⚔️ Current Weaponry:
– Mythblade (Memory Core: 82%)
– Frostbrand – The Time-Locked Blade
✅ Current Forms Unlocked: I–XIV
✅ Pact: Kael the Beast Slayer
🌀 Special Unlocks:
– Form XIV: Severed Winter
– Ice Domain Resistance
– Time-Anomaly Resistance (Partial)
🧩 Clue Gained: The First World once ruled the sea through time-based weapons