"It is really hard to fight someone like you, Straw Hat. Sengoku-san should've sent Akainu."
Kizaru blocked Luffy's kick and spoke with a lazy expression on his face. The light gathered at his leg and sent Luffy flying.
Without the power of Gear Fourth, Luffy's defenses weren't that high. He could only rely on his own endurance.
Bang! Bang!
He collided against the ground two times before stopping.
"Cough!" Luffy coughed out blood and slowly stood up. His body was covered in bruises while Kizaru had some blood marks as well but comparatively fewer.
"Sure enough, you are extremely strong, Porsa Lulu." Luffy wiped away the blood from his mouth and commented.
Kizaru's expression darkened. Suddenly, his body began to glow bright as he condensed into the air and shot several of the light beams toward Luffy.
"You really got a rough mouth, Straw Hat! I would have to shut it down."
[Light Clone]
Suddenly, all of those light beams transformed into his clones and rushed toward Luffy with lightsabers in their hands.
All of them were quite fast but Luffy was using his Future Sight to dodge them. Even so, some of them managed to land some hits on Luffy.
When Luffy felt the power of those lightsabers, he realized that these clones weren't real bodies but they could still inflict damage on him.
It was quite scary but Luffy quickly stretched his arms. When he realized that all of them were near him, he started spinning his arms like a pinwheel.
[Gomu-Gomu No]
[Planetary Disk]
Bang! Bang! Bang! Bang
His attack was precise and powerful. Putting everyone in the same line, he managed to take them all down with a single strike.
Kizaru saw all of his clones going down in a single strike and decided to use his own attack. He condensed a lightsaber and slashed Luffy.
His speed was so fast that Luffy wasn't able to dodge it despite knowing it was coming.
He could only rely on Armament Haki to block the attack.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
As they clashed against each other, Luffy realized his Haki running out quite quickly. Despite the fact that he was using Base Form, he needed to put a lot of Haki into his skin to block those lightsabers.
Light was already a destructive element. When it was condensed into a sword, Luffy had a big disadvantage since he was weak against sharp attacks.
So, Luffy was initially pushing more Haki to block the attack but eventually, he decided to withdraw his Haki output. He didn't even harden his Haki.
Instead, he just focused on his basic Armament Haki, Future Sight, and immense physical strength to fight against Kizaru.
But, Kizaru was no ordinary fighter. As a trained navy, his stamina and endurance were quite high. Not to mention, his usage of Light Clones was quite troublesome for Luffy.
The battle continued to get intense but Luffy still didn't go all out despite getting attacked several times severely.
......…..
Somewhere else in the battlefield,
Kuzan and Liam were going hand in hand against each other. Each blow created a devastating effect. The icy land beneath them was forged out of Kuzan's ice.
But after each strike, the ice was getting broken.
"Huff! Huff! You truly deserved to be trained by Garp. If this continues, I feel like my Haki will be depleted." Liam retreated a few meters while panting constantly.
Aokji was also panting but not as much as Liam. His stamina was extremely durable.
Aokiji didn't reply but instead thought.
'His dynamic vision is extremely wide. I am superior to him in strength, stamina, endurance, speed, and Haki. But, he is an extremely formidable fighter, who has learned several fighting styles.'
'Without the Observation Haki, I wouldn't even sense where the next strike would come from. It seems like I need to use my devil fruit to end this battle quickly.'
Aokiji thought and suddenly his body began to cover in ice.
"Using devil fruit, huh? Well, then let's try my new style."
Liam smirked and clenched his fist. His Haki began to spiral around his fists. The Advance Haki was strangely moving around his fist all the time.
When Liam stepped forward, Kuzan released a barrage of ice. It was a massive blizzard that covered almost ten meters in height and moved towards him like a wave.
[Ice Blizzard]
Seeing this attack, Liam intensified his Haki and moved forward as well. As soon as he reached the blizzard, his hand moved. At this moment, as if time had slowed down, everything became slow for him.
The only fast thing was the spiraling Haki. Once his hand moved at a fast speed, it created a spark. The spiraling Haki burned into massive flames.
[Fire Demon Mode]
[Blazing Fire God]
The flames swept forward from his fist like a massive wall hitting the blizzard. Upon the collision, the ice instantly melted.
The temperature of that flame was massive but it was also due to that, Liam was able to hold on against Aokiji.
"Is this your new technique? You didn't launch a barrage of fire punches like before." Aokiji said while condensing three ice spears.
"Yes, because the previous one would immediately disappear after using it once. But this doesn't."
As he said, the slowly burning flame on his fist erupted, conjuring a massive flaming body around him. It was a pure portrayal of a Fire God.
Fire Demon Mode was a powerful mode that he made with the help of Luffy and Sanji's attacks. Because both of them were able to conjure flames despite not having the ability, he thought of doing the same.
Sanji was able to do it because of his genetics. He was a genetically enhanced person while Luffy used friction. But in some cases like underwater, it shouldn't work but it did work.
So, it could be the extension of his own powers. But, for now, it was hard to say. So, he tried.
Tried spinning, moving at high speed, and even literally lighting himself on fire. But, none of them actually worked for him.
So, what he did was. Instead of doing all of this himself, let his Haki do the work.
His Advance Haki was much stronger. So, when spiraling around his fist at an extraordinary speed, he can conjure flames with a simple push of his fist.
Of course, this simple push still needs to be extremely fast. Once done, he can literally light his Haki on his fire. And once done, he can use his Haki to control that flame.
This is why it can only be done with Advance Armament Haki. Because only in this stage, Haki can flow out. Only then he can let his flames burn out of his body.
So, as long as his Haki exists, the flame will exist as well. And more importantly, this flame doesn't consume his Haki. The only consumption is constant movement of Haki and expansion of Haki.
"But, it won't be enough!" Aokiji coldly said as he released three spears toward Liam at extraordinary speed.
But, Liam simply raised his hand. The flaming body followed his action and raised its hand, catching those ice spears.
The Ice Spears tried to break it but the heat of the flames caused it to melt.
"Aokiji, you should understand this, right? We didn't choose this battle to lose. We chose this battle to win. Here, there will be only one winner and that will be Straw Hat Pirates."
"Your Captains, Commodores, and Rear Admirals are all packed up. Now, only Vice Admirals and Admirals."
Snap!
Liam clapped his hands and said.
"And, the next ones going down are none other than the Vice Admirals."