Chapter 124

Boni opened her mouth wide, staring at the guy slowly approaching on a bicycle, her eyes nearly popping out.

"Huh?!!!!!!"

"Why is a Navy Admiral appearing here?!"

"Aren't you pirates? He shouldn't have come here specifically to capture you, right?!"

Hearing her words, Robin tightly bit her lips, gripping the railing with both hands.

The only possible reason Kuma would come here.

Is because of her—the "Demon of Ohara" with a bounty of 79 million Berries!

When Kuma halted on the frozen sea not far from the shore, he wore sunglasses and a casual vest, and raised a hand to greet Luo En on the beach:

"Hey, long time no see."

"Congratulations on becoming an Admiral."

Luo En smiled at him.

During the year he was gone, to curb the rising number of pirates in the New World and the Grand Line, the Navy Headquarters promoted the powerful Akainu, Huang Yuan, and Kuma one after another to Admirals.

"Being an Admiral isn't so great—it just means more things to do. Just as Captain Karp said, the higher your rank, the less freedom you have."

Kuma scratched his head.

"I still envy how easily you can live like this."

"Is that your lazy justice theory?"

Luo En smiled at him.

"I suppose so."

Kuma spoke, then turned to glance at Robin on the deck.

"It really is you… Nico Robin."

Seeing Kuma's familiar face and gaze, Robin trembled slightly, involuntarily biting her lips and gripping the railing tightly.

"!"

Boni also stared in shock at Robin beside her.

She's Nico Robin?!

"Kuma, even as an Admiral, don't scare my crew."

Luo En, barefoot and wearing black swim shorts, stepped one by one from the sand onto the frozen sea.

Hearing him, Kuma shifted his gaze, squinting at Luo En on shore: "I've read the investigation report on everything you've done in the past year. Overall, nothing problematic. But… why did you bring Nico Robin onto your ship? Don't tell me you don't know her identity."

Luo En looked at him calmly: "I have no ties to the Navy anymore. Even if you're an Admiral of the Navy Headquarters, you shouldn't interfere with my decisions, right?"

"Harboring a criminal with a 79-million-Berry bounty is enough to get you arrested—even if you're not a pirate."

Kuma said coldly.

"Others might not know, but you should know."

Hearing this, Luo En gave him a cold smile: "To set a 79-million-Berry bounty on a child who was only eight years old and had done nothing, solely because of her identity—that's the Navy's justice?"

Kuma, wearing sunglasses, frowned sharply, instantly releasing the aura of a Navy Admiral.

On the deck, Boni and Robin felt their shoulders suddenly weighed down; the air around them grew thick and icy.

"Nico Robin is a travel companion I accept. I do not agree with the Navy's treatment of her."

Luo En extended his hand and slowly drew from empty air the Lei Qie, wreathed in golden lightning.

"If the Navy's justice considers my protection of her a crime, then label me as evil."

As he fully drew Lei Qie from the void,

a similarly astonishing sword aura erupted from him, forming a spiraling storm that surged skyward and clashed violently with Kuma's aura.

The entire sea instantly erupted in violent winds; the previously clear sky darkened, blanketed by storm clouds.

Boni stared at the two figures on the distant frozen sea, radiating terrifying auras, her body drenched in cold sweat, unable to swallow hard.

That's a Navy Headquarters Admiral—he dares draw a sword against him… what is he thinking?!

No matter how strong he is, he can't possibly be a match for a Navy Admiral!

"You've grown much stronger since you left Marineford."

Kuma, wearing sunglasses, looked at Luo En, who held the blade with one hand a hundred meters away: "Among the Seven Warlords of the Sea, only the top few might surpass you. But… you're still not my match now."

"If you insist on protecting Nico Robin, then I must regard you as evil and eliminate you as soon as possible."

Hearing this, Robin's pupils shrank.

A flash of golden lightning surged across the sea, accompanied by a thunderous roar tearing through the air, instantly crossing the hundred-meter distance!

A furious, golden lightning slash—this was Luo En's answer to the Navy Admiral!

Boni's vision was blinded by the golden lightning, forcing her to shut her eyes for an instant; when she opened them again,

Luo En, holding the blade with one hand, had already appeared behind Kuma.

A straight, razor-sharp crack split the frozen sea between them, "!!"

Boni stared in shock at Kuma, whose body was split diagonally by a massive gash, nearly cleaved in two, yet no blood flowed, his expression still calm.

Luo En glanced at the white frost forming on Lei Qie, his eyes narrowing slightly.

Behind him, Kuma's body slowly turned to ice, his voice as lazy and calm as ever.

"Though you defeated Crocodile, another Logia user, I am not like him. You… cannot defeat me now."

As he finished speaking,

sharp ice spikes erupted from the ice surface, lancing toward Luo En.

Luo En stomped down hard with his hardened Armament Haki foot; the ice spikes shattered instantly, and the frozen sea beneath him exploded into a massive hollow.

The ice around him surged upward, transforming into colossal ice beasts that lunged and bit toward Luo En from all sides, wrapped in chilling cold.

The Lei Qie in Luo En's hand was instantly dyed purple-black by his Armament Haki.

Breath of the Sun, modified—Breath of Flame!

Full Concentration!

The Lei Qie, its blade rendered purple-black by Armament Haki and wrapped in surging crimson flames, swept out in slashing arcs toward every direction!

"Breath of Flame, Fourth Form."

"Blazing Flame Whirlwind!"

The colossal flame slash transformed into a vortex-shaped inferno tornado, soaring skyward.

Waves of blistering heat slapped outward in every direction; Bonney and Luo Bin on the deck couldn't help raising their hands in front of them to shield against that searing wave of scorching air.

"To think even the residual force is this staggering—what terrifying strength…"

Bonney's heart trembled with fear.

She had assumed that the slash she'd seen before—the one that severed a pirate ship in a single strike—was the peak of Luo En's strength, but now it seemed that was far from the case.

The unfathomable Luo En, whose true power remained unknown, versus a Marine Admiral standing at the pinnacle of the Marines, representing their highest combat strength.

What kind of battle will this turn out to be?!

113. A Shocking Battle—Luo En at Full Power

Beneath the inferno tornado Luo En had unleashed, the giant ice beasts that had come lunging in were instantly slashed apart and vaporized.

Accompanied by the shockwave of scorching heat rippling outward in every direction.

On the frozen sea, within a hundred-meter radius, an entire layer of ice was instantly vaporized into white steam.

Revealed not far away, half his body still in an ice-elementalized state, cold air radiating from his whole body, Aokiji gazed at Luo En: "Oh? A high-temperature slash wrapped in flames, is it… let me see just how much strength you're still hiding."

He raised his hand, and terrifying cold air seeped from his palm.

"Ice Ball."

As he swung his palm out, five enormous ice pillars shot rapidly from his palm toward Luo En.

Luo En, gripping the Lei Qie, flashed and vanished from where he stood.

Those five enormous ice pillars slammed violently into the ice surface; their tremendous force made the frozen sea shudder, and massive cracks spread outward in every direction.

Luo En, who had used Soru to appear not far from Aokiji's side, swung his blade down in a slash.

A purple-black slash laced with Haki swept ferociously across Aokiji's ice-elementalized body—yet still failed to inflict any damage on him.

Logically speaking, even with elementalization, as long as the attacker's strike carries Haki, the target should be hit and injured.

Aokiji, logically, could be no exception.

Luo En's Haki-laced slash should not have been unable to wound him.

But the fact was that his attacks had no effect on Aokiji.