Bab 37: The Ice Gauntlets and Battleship Sandbags
A terrifying column of lightning roared out from Sanders' fist, blasting toward Aokiji.
Aokiji crossed his arms in front of his chest, wrapped in Armament Haki.
Boom!
Without any support under him, Aokiji was sent flying, his tall, lanky figure crashing into the ice.
"Aokiji has been sent flying!"
"Could even an Admiral be no match for Sanders?"
Seeing Aokiji thrown back, the Marines on the warship showed expressions of fear.
"Quiet! Admirals aren't so easily defeated," a Marine Rear Admiral scolded.
As a Rear Admiral, he knew better than anyone the strength of an Admiral. If a force representing the Marines' highest power could be defeated so easily, the world would have long fallen into the hands of pirates.
The Rear Admiral looked at the battlefield, where lightning clashed with freezing air, and his expression became complex.
As a Rear Admiral, he knew Sanders personally. He even used to consider Sanders, who had trained alongside him in the same Marine camp, as a rival to chase after.
Years had passed, and while Sanders had broken out of Impel Down and was now fighting on par with an Admiral, he himself was still just a Rear Admiral, with little improvement in strength.
"Damn monster!"
"With such high talent, why did he betray the Marines?" the Rear Admiral gritted his teeth.
Just as the Rear Admiral had predicted, Aokiji quickly rose from the ice after rolling over twice. His face remained expressionless, and there was no sign of injury on his body.
The lightning punch that could have instantly killed a Marine Vice Admiral had merely singed Aokiji slightly.
Unfortunately for Sanders, Aokiji's hair was already curly, so no one could tell the difference after it had been singed by electricity.
"You're really something, Sanders!"
"If you were still a Marine, Admiral Zephyr would be very proud," Aokiji said calmly, twisting his neck slightly.
Sanders fell silent for a moment.
In the entire Marine force, the only person who still held a place in his heart was Admiral Zephyr, the teacher who had only spent two years with him. That old man had truly tried to teach him everything he knew.
If not for Zephyr's careful guidance, Sanders wouldn't have improved so quickly. The ability to deduce everything given to him by his power couldn't compare to the solid foundation built through Zephyr's training.
Without Zephyr's teachings, Sanders would have been nothing more than a brute with strength but no idea how to use it.
It was because Zephyr taught him the most basic aspects of combat that he could wield his newfound power almost perfectly.
"I'll twist off the head of the one who cut off Admiral Zephyr's arm," Sanders said softly.
He would repay the debt of his teacher's guidance!
Aokiji was slightly taken aback. "You know about that?"
Sanders: "I know more than you think."
Had he not been imprisoned in Impel Down, he would have stopped that tragedy from happening.
But it wasn't too late now.
Who says an arm can't grow back?
Aokiji remained silent, his hands starting to elementalize.
"Ice Gauntlets!"
Armament Haki wrapped around the ice. Aokiji swung his fists. He was, after all, also skilled with his fists.
Sanders' eyes narrowed as he dodged, reappearing in front of Aokiji. His lightning-wrapped fist crashed heavily into Aokiji's face.
"Thunder Punch!"
"Ice Punch!"
Aokiji didn't dodge. His own fist, encased in ice and Armament Haki, smashed into Sanders' face.
Boom!
The ice fist, wrapped in Armament Haki, struck Sanders' face, making him feel like his head was about to explode. His consciousness faded for a brief moment, and Sanders was sent flying.
Aokiji swayed slightly and took a small step back.
"My fists have spent countless nights using battleships as punching bags!"
Aokiji muttered softly as he looked at Sanders, who had crashed onto the ice.
Shaking off the dizziness, Sanders climbed back up from the ice.
This was the first time he had truly suffered since breaking out of Impel Down.
"Battleship sandbags, huh?"
Near the G-1 Branch of the Marines, in a scrap yard of abandoned ships, two battleships had been used as punching bags. One belonged to the Marine Hero Garp, and the other to the Admiral Aokiji standing before him.
The two had trained their fists night and day, turning the battleships covered in thick iron plating into their personal punching bags.
Aokiji and Garp had honed their fists to such an extent that they could rival any weapon.
When they started exchanging blows, it had merely been a test of strength. Now, Aokiji was showing his true iron fists.
"Impressive, Aokiji. Looks like you've inherited Garp's real legacy," Sanders grinned, undeterred by Aokiji's power.
On the contrary, he was more excited than ever!
"Five Hundred Million Volts: Thunder God Descent!"
Lightning gathered all around his body. Sanders transformed into the Thunder God, his entire form becoming a being of pure lightning.
The dense electricity around him became so concentrated that it liquefied, creating craters on the ice surface as it dripped down and exploded.
"Aokiji!"
"Let's have a real fight!" Sanders roared as he charged at Aokiji. His voice resounded like the sound of thunder from the heavens, majestic and filled with divine authority.
Aokiji, his body encased in ice, swung his fists to meet the attack.
Lightning and ice clashed.
Armament Haki against Armament Haki.
Armament Haki infused with advanced emission techniques clashed against its equal.
Fist against fist!
The two once again engaged in a brutal hand-to-hand brawl, as they had done at the beginning of their fight.
The terrifying battle felt like the end of the world!
Sanders fought like a beast born from lightning, savagely unrelenting, seemingly immune to pain and fatigue.
Aokiji, like an immovable block of ice that could freeze anything, constantly unleashed freezing air, attempting to subdue the beast.
The two clashed repeatedly on the ice. When one section of ice shattered, they would simply move to another.
The seawater that surged from the shattered ice would quickly refreeze due to the cold released by Aokiji during the fight.
The frozen ice would then be shattered again by the lightning.
This cycle continued endlessly.
The Marines watching from a distance could hardly keep up with their movements.
"This is the terrifying power of an Admiral?"
"It's too scary!"
"Even so, Sanders is still fighting evenly with Aokiji. Just how strong is he?!"
The Marines looked on in disbelief at the distant battlefield.
Who would have thought that the man who had joined the Marines five years ago, only to later betray them, had grown to this extent?
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T/N:
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