Crack!!!
However, just as Kuzan was feeling confused, the statue that had turned into ice crystals suddenly exploded open, and Drake, who had already entered Dark Angel state, rushed out from within the ice crystals.
As Drake reappeared, infinite shadow power surged from within his body, instantly covering several hundred meters around him, just like Kuzan's freezing power before, enveloping everything in the vicinity within shadows.
"Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit!"
Seeing Drake enter Dark Angel state, and thinking back to the previous shadow power, how could Kuzan not see that this was the power of a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit!
"Twin Thorn Spears!!"
Seeing Drake wanting to get close again, Kuzan waved both hands, and two thick ice crystal spears shot out from the ground on either side of Drake.
"Night Blink!"
The two spears appeared very suddenly, but just as they were about to stab Drake's body, Drake suddenly vanished from his spot.
The next moment, six dark figures appeared around Kuzan, simultaneously charging towards him, and all six dark figures looked like Drake, as if Drake had put on a layer of shadow coat.
"Ice Balls!"
Kuzan waved both hands, and twelve ice balls shot out rapidly, smashing towards the six shadows.
However, the six shadows moved in perfect unison, all dodging Kuzan's attacks.
"Ice Age!"
Kuzan's expression turned cold. Suddenly, countless freezing powers rapidly expanded outwards from him as the center. Since single-target attacks couldn't hit, he would launch a full-range area attack.
The moment the ice-white freezing power flashed, the six shadows had no chance to dodge, because no matter how they dodged, they couldn't escape!
Under Kuzan's ultimate freezing power, the six shadows instantly turned into six lifelike ice sculptures.
However, just as Kuzan finished releasing his ultimate move, the real Drake rushed out from behind Kuzan, the power of the Futsu no Mitama in his hand already accumulated to the extreme!
"Pheasant Beak"
Kuzan seemed to have already sensed Drake's previous intention, and a large portion of his freezing power remained on his right hand. Just as expected, Kuzan punched backwards.
Suddenly, the freezing power transformed into a giant ice bird, flying towards Drake with incredibly powerful impact.
However, facing this ice bird, Drake did not dodge at all. He held the sword in his right hand and condensed a shadow shield on his left hand, using the shield to block the ice bird.
Crack!!!
The ice bird hit the shadow shield and instantly turned into ice shards, but those ice shards erupted with terrifying freezing power, freezing the shadow shield, and even half of Drake's body.
"Horizontal Sword Technique: Six Directions Slash!"
However, even so, Drake's right hand still held the Futsu no Mitama, unleashing his most peak sword strike!
With a single sword strike, combined with shadow power, it transformed into six dark sword shadows, slashing towards Kuzan simultaneously from six directions with lightning speed.
The sword shadows were extremely fast and attacked simultaneously. If it were Borsalino, he might have been able to dodge, but Kuzan himself knew that he couldn't completely dodge them!
"Ice Crystal Shield!!"
Kuzan erected a full-coverage ice crystal shield within a five-meter radius.
Crack!!!
However, this kind of ice crystal shield was instantly shattered in front of Drake's sword shadows.
But because of this, it blocked the sword shadows for that one instant. It was precisely by utilizing this momentary gap that Kuzan's Kenbunshoku Haki clearly saw the trajectory of the sword shadows.
He used his own speed to dodge two sword shadows, and for the ones he couldn't dodge, he predicted the landing positions and elementalized himself in advance, dodging the attacks of two more sword shadows.
Rip!!
However, Kuzan had nowhere left to dodge the last two sword shadows. He could only use his own freezing power and Busoshoku Haki to defend, but the sword shadows still forcefully broke through his defense, leaving two more deep sword marks on his body.
Crack!!
At the same time, Drake, whose body was half frozen, broke through the freezing power on him with the combined surge of shadow power and Busoshoku Haki within his body.
Without any hesitation, Drake charged towards Kuzan with his sword again.
Seeing this, Kuzan immediately wanted to distance himself from Drake, but Drake possessed the power of shadow leaps. Kuzan couldn't shake Drake off at all and could only face him head-on.
Dark Angel possesses the power to control shadows, making him extremely agile and eerie within the shadow area he creates.
Coupled with Drake's own incredibly overbearing Horizontal Sword Technique power, Kuzan felt extremely difficult to deal with at this moment.
He originally thought that with his own strength, he could capture Drake, but he never expected Drake's strength to be so powerful. Even though he was 8 years older than Drake, the age advantage could not widen the gap in strength between the two.
Kuzan wanted to leave the shadow area created by Drake. After all, within this shadow area, it was a restriction for him, but an amplification for Drake.
However, when he started to move, he discovered that the shadow area created by Drake was mobile. Wherever he went, the shadow area would follow. Unless he defeated Drake, he couldn't leave this shadow area at all.
As Drake and Kuzan engaged in an intense battle, large amounts of frozen signs appeared throughout the entire town, and even by the port Sea, and the nearby temperature was rapidly dropping.
Furthermore, layers of shadows covered the snow-white frozen ground.
Under the scorching sun, the ground was like an Ice Age, with an added layer of terrifying shadows, which made the onlookers feel incredibly horrified.
"Run quickly, another powerful slash is flying over!"
"Damn it, does that Marine want to freeze the entire town?"
Originally, the onlookers were happily watching the great battle between Drake and Kuzan. After all, they had never seen a battle of this monster level before.
However, after a hundred-meter-long black slash flew over later, instantly killing over a dozen onlookers, and the suddenly spreading freezing power froze the first dozen unfortunate people into ice sculptures, all the onlookers fled from here as if for their lives.
Only Enel and other subordinates of Drake, as well as Lafitte, who was waiting to join, were still here watching the battle.
"This kind of power, it's too terrifying!"
Looking at the great battle between Drake and Kuzan, Lafitte said in shock.
Although he was very confident in his own strength, after seeing the great battle between Drake and Kuzan, he realized how narrow his horizons were and how weak his own strength was.
To put it bluntly, with his current power, he couldn't even get within ten meters of the battle between Drake and Kuzan, let alone actually face the two of them.
Only now did he understand what Drake meant by what he said to him just now. Bringing him here to watch a great battle was to make him realize his own insignificance. If he wanted to become stronger, he could only leave this island; otherwise, he would forever be a frog in a well!
"For the boss to personally invite you shows that you have potential that he values. This is also an opportunity for you. If you can't seize it, you will regret it for your entire life."
Seeing Lafitte's shocked expression, Enel couldn't help but say from the side.
"My cold energy cannot invade his body!"
As he continuously fought with Drake, Kuzan also realized that Drake had a way to isolate the invasion of cold energy.
Cold energy invasion is one of the effects of his freezing power. Ordinary people, unless they cover their entire body with Busoshoku Haki, find it difficult to resist the invasion of cold energy.
The cold energy would accumulate as the battle continued, causing the opponent's body to become stiff and other conditions. This was the first time he had seen someone who could block his cold energy invasion!
Kuzan had no idea that Drake had a deep understanding of isolating freezing power since he was a child. After all, he was tortured by this kind of power back then and only managed to develop a technique using shadow power for close-body protection to isolate cold energy.
The strength of Drake and Kuzan was not far apart, and a major battle lasted for an hour!
Looking solely at the injuries, Kuzan was cut by Drake four times, while Drake was frozen by Kuzan several times, resulting in frostbite within his body.
"As expected of the title 'Monster Vice Admiral', your strength has gained my recognition!"
"It's a pity you don't have many good subordinates!"
After an hour-long battle, Drake also confirmed that it would be difficult to defeat Kuzan with his strength alone, so he decided not to fight one-on-one anymore; he planned to gang up!
"Hmm?"
Kuzan didn't understand what Drake meant, but the next moment, he knew!
"Sky-Supporting Hammer!"
Enel rushed into the battlefield. With a raised hand, the barrier evolved into a giant hammer with a ten-meter-wide head. Black Busoshoku Haki was also attached to the hammerhead as he smashed it down towards both Drake and Kuzan.
Drake took this opportunity to retreat using the force from Kuzan's attack, leaving Kuzan alone to bear Enel's giant hammer.
Enel ate the Paramecia-type Barrier-Barrier Fruit. Since being brought back from Sky Island by Nox, he had lived, grown, and trained with Drake. It could be said that his strength was only slightly inferior to Drake's.
As a Barrier Fruit with top-tier defense, he had developed various attack and defense methods from it.
Kuzan didn't expect Drake to be so dishonorable. They agreed on a one-on-one fight, but now he wanted to gang up!
"Sky-Piercing Ice Pillars!"
Four thick ice pillars shot up from the ground, propping up the descending giant hammer.
Crack!!!
However, in front of the power of this giant hammer, the four ice pillars were instantly shattered.
Taking advantage of the moment the ice pillars delayed the giant hammer, Kuzan decisively retreated from the spot where the giant hammer was about to land.
"Lion's Claw Gun: Barrage!"
However, just as Kuzan escaped Enel's giant hammer attack, Baya Vincent, the Lion Mink, covered his fingers with Busoshoku Haki and shot at Kuzan like a machine gun.
"Ice Crystal Substitute!"
When Baya Vincent struck Kuzan, Kuzan instantly turned into an ice figure and was shattered by Baya Vincent, while Kuzan's real body had already rushed towards the Sea.
He couldn't even defeat Drake alone; adding the people under Drake, he was even less able to fight.
Therefore, Kuzan decisively chose a strategic retreat. He would have to call upon other colleagues to capture Drake together later.