Noah and his group paid little attention to the impact of the deserted isnd incident.

  Noah had confidence in his strength—unless the Five Elders all mobilized to hunt him down, he felt he had little to fear. Even if the odds turned against him, he could escape using Ari’s wormhole ability or temporarily activate the Float-Float Fruit to leave from high altitude.

  So, Noah chose to keep traveling with Galdino, Kuro, and the others, continuing their search within the White Mountain Kingdom for the elusive Sound-Sound Fruit rumored to be hidden there.

  Days passed, and after more than a week, Noah’s group had scoured eight isnds within the kingdom. Finally, on the eighth isnd, they discovered the Sound-Sound Fruit lodged in a crack in a cliffside.

  Having secured another Devil Fruit, Noah had no reason to linger in the White Mountain Kingdom. He set the course southward toward the Lost Sea.

  However, just as the Wangcai exited the kingdom’s waters, they found themselves facing a naval fleet.

  Noah, sipping tea and reading the paper, paid little attention to the approaching Navy ships. After all, they were flying the fg of a merchant vessel.

  Unfortunately, just because you don’t seek trouble doesn’t mean it won’t find you.

  “Stop your ship immediately and prepare for inspection!” bred a loudspeaker from a nearby Navy gunship.

  Kuro gnced at Noah, who nodded in agreement.

  The Wangcai came to a halt, and the gunship anchored beside them.

  Moments ter, a Navy commander in a Justice cape leaped onto the deck of the Wangcai.

  Kuro put on a polite smile. “Commander, we’re w-abiding citizens. Here are our commercial transport credentials and our travel permit…”

  The commander took the documents, giving Kuro a quick look. Not seeing his face on any wanted posters, he nodded. “Just a routine inspection. May we enter the ship’s interior?”

  Kuro nodded. “No problem. I’ll lead the way.”

  At that moment, a soldier whispered something to the commander, who gnced over at Noah and Galdino, seated not far away and still sipping tea.

  Kuro quickly noticed and expined with a smile, “Mr. Galdino here is our hired escort for the journey.”

  “The bounty hunter Galdino, the Candle Man?” The commander seemed satisfied, as hiring bounty hunters to protect a merchant vessel was quite common.

  But then, a sudden change occurred.

  In an instant, the sea around the Wangcai froze solid.

  Frost gathered across the deck.

  “You visited that deserted isnd, didn’t you?”

  Noah brushed ice shards from his coat and looked up at the tall, imposing Navy officer before him.

  “Vice Admiral, what makes you think that?”

  “You have the scent of Paradise Mushrooms on you.”

  “Ah, so the Navy has someone with scent detection abilities?” Noah asked, smiling.

  The look in Kuzan’s eyes grew even sharper behind his gsses. “Perhaps you’d accompany me back to Marineford to assist in our investigation into the White Mountain Kingdom incident. If this is all a misunderstanding, we’ll compensate your trading company for any losses.”

  “You’re quite confident, Vice Admiral Kuzan!”

  In the next moment, a surge of intense Conqueror’s Haki exploded forth.

  Boom! The hundred or so sailors on the Navy gunship instantly colpsed, unconscious.

  “Are you resisting arrest?” The temperature around Kuzan plummeted.

  “I’d like to see if you, the future admiral, truly live up to the name!”

  Noah’s Fist of Bzing Heat!

  Boom! Noah’s fist, hotter than ordinary magma, punched straight through Kuzan’s ice gauntlet.

  But Kuzan didn’t back down; instead, he advanced, slicing toward Noah’s neck with an ice bde.

  Magnetic Wings! High-Frequency Vibrating Bde!

  Cng! Cng! Cng! Despite Kuzan’s constant reinforcement of the ice bde, Noah’s vibrating iron bde tore through it with each strike.

  Magnetic Iron Tornado! Cards in Noah’s sleeve released tens of tons of iron sand, while his body shifted to a mimetic rubidium-magnet mode at full power. His blood flowed faster, transforming him into a human generator.

  The iron sand whirled around, forming a terrifying iron-sand tornado.

  Kuzan quickly created several ice walls, not to protect himself but to shield the ordinary sailors around him.

  The Navy officers who had accompanied Kuzan from headquarters, led by his deputy, quickly evacuated the commander and other marines from the Wangcai, getting them out of the danger zone.

  At the same time, Kuro, Galdino, and Arimoved away from the battle area between Noah and Kuzan, staying alert in case of a surprise attack from other Navy forces. They were also ready to provide backup to Noah if needed.

  The iron-sand tornado and the blizzard collided fiercely mid-air.

  Kuzan’s face grew more serious. “Ice Spike Barrage!”

  Five massive ice spikes shot up from the frozen ground, piercing toward Noah within the tornado.

  Noah’s body glowed with a bright red heat. “Meteor Furnace!”

  Soaring high, he magnetically heated a massive amount of alloy steel dust until it melted, then compacted the molten metal into basketball-sized balls.

  Hundreds of molten iron balls fell from above.

  This all happened in an instant.

  As Kuzan watched, a thought fshed through his mind of a certain colleague he found rather irksome. He raised his hand.

  “Pheasant Beak!”

  An icy bird shot up, meeting the rain of iron balls.

  Boom! Boom! Boom!

  Noah’s Observation Haki sensed a sudden threat, and he activated magnetic levitation to dodge a volley of seastone bullets fired from nearby.

  ‘Other officers from Navy headquarters?’ he thought.

  The seastone bullets evaporated in fmes.

  Lillian appeared nearby on the frozen sea, fmes bzing around her—a clear sign that Arihad quietly gathered the family’s strongest fighters to prevent Noah from being overwhelmed.

  Kuzan noticed the intense fmes surrounding Lillian. “A Fme-Fme Fruit user?”

  From the Navy ranks, a dual-sword-wielding rear admiral covered his long bdes with Armament Haki and charged at Lillian with a powerful sshing wave.

  “Don’t think being a Logia type means you’re untouchable!” The dual-bde rear admiral leapt forward, using Moonwalk as he attacked.

  But Lillian remained calm, blue fmes streaming from her hands. “I’m not just some cook who lights fires! Dragon’s Roar!”

  A dragon of deep blue fmes instantly vaporized the incoming ssh, surging toward the rear admiral.

  Realizing the danger, Kuzan’s face tightened. “Ice Age! Twin Thorns!”

  The freezing aura lowered the dragon’s temperature slightly, but the dragon’s intense heat—reaching up to 4,990°C—was not something that could be suppressed in an instant. The follow-up ice spears only slowed the fmes slightly.

  This brief pause was enough for the rear admiral to react, quickly evading the dragon’s path with a rapid series of Shave steps.

  The dragon left a massive crater hundreds of meters wide where he had stood.

  Meanwhile, Kuzan wiped a trickle of blood from the corner of his mouth.

  He’d taken a hit from Noah’s molten iron balls while protecting others. Although he’d used elementalization, the extreme heat still countered his ice abilities, causing him some harm.

  Now, both sides watched each other warily.

  On Kuzan’s side were himself, two rear admirals, about a dozen headquarters captains, and several Navy ships.

  On Noah’s side stood Lillian, Ari, Galdino, and Kuro, along with Joshua and Monet, hidden high above, ready to strike.

  ----------------------------------------------------------------

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