Chapter 37: Battle at Marineford!
Zoro was falling from very high up...
The last thing he could see before he began to break through the clouds, was the sun illuminating the entire sky above the clouds with a golden light. But, as he fell, that beautiful image immediately faded away at the memory of just a few minutes ago.
With a sword in each hand and another in his mouth, he fell as the wind propelled him, but it seemed slow to him as he remembered...
"Listen, Zoro. I know you want to strike back at Admiral Kizaru. You told me about your battle while I was teaching you some Haki," Harry said seriously. "However, you know how difficult it will be to beat him with your power level."
"However, beating him is not impossible with us here...", Rias told him with a mischievous smile.
"Exactly! You'll only have one chance to hit him!... The damage you do to him... well, that's entirely up to you, Zoro," Harry said.
"The moment we're flying over Marineford, we'll unleash our Supreme King's Haki to hit the weaker ones and stun the stronger ones. This will leave you a small window where I'll blast you with the power of my winds."
"With so many people, the admirals and the like will be watching everyone with their Observation Haki. But, this also means that they'll be overtaxing said ability with so many people."
"The ability that a Logia user has to turn their body from its respective element, is not invincible as we told you," Rias mentioned.
"And, despite being able to change those forms with Haki, said users also have to transform their body parts at will. If someone is distracted, even without Haki, it is possible to hit them!"
"You don't need fancy or extremely intimidating moves! Just one well-aimed strike will do!... Well, it's not like you can use much more with the speed we'll be sending you at."
"Just one strike..." Zoro thought as he clenched the katana in his right hand. He could see the people below him. Marineford was approaching at a speed that seemed impossible and a purple aura surrounded his right hand and then his sword in a spiral. Little by little, his katana began to turn black.
"Willpower!" Zoro shouted in his mind, using all his will and soul in a single strike that could harm his enemy. No flashy or overly complicated techniques...
When Zoro arrived above Kizaru, he saw how the Admiral's eyes moved in surprise to his, raising his head. However, it was too late for him. Zoro's sword was already moving, unleashing a purple slash that split the ground behind Kizaru and cut off his left arm, scattering blood on the ice floor.
A single, devastating and precise slash...
"ZOROOOO!!!", Luffy's shout brought everyone out of their shock and they saw how an admiral had been wounded and lost one of his arms.
"Admiral Kizaru was wounded!", it is unknown who shouted, but that single shout triggered surprise and a bit of despair in the lower-ranking Marines.
"This isn't funny anymore... Oi...", Aokiji muttered with dark lines on his face.
Akainu's face was completely darkened by his cap, but his arms were burning and, in a few seconds, they were gushing out extremely hot magma before jumping towards Zoro.
But, just as he was in front of Zoro and Luffy, a small scarlet sphere flew towards his head; Having to back away, Akainu growled angrily as he looked up at the sky, noticing two silhouettes descending from the sky and a huge shadow looming over Marineford.
Everyone's eyes widened in disbelief as the day seemed to darken as if it were dusk. This wasn't the sun setting, but something obscuring the sun; slowly, from the clouds, a huge claw appeared in everyone's sight. It was a paw with golden scales and four sharp, ruthless claws. And, before long, a second paw appeared before a huge bird's head pierced through the clouds.
Within a few minutes, everyone could see the huge bird. Its eyes were a bright, terrifying, deathly green. Its wingspan was several dozen kilometers. Its wings were a golden yellow color and almost looked like golden clouds obscuring the sun.
This huge bird was a Roc. And of course, it was the form of Harry's awakened Devil Fruit. He had used two thousand points to slightly enhance his body with a special pill and purchase the awakening of his fruit for ten thousand points. Sadly, despite being able to transform, the power of the wind he could wield became too much for his little control. Therefore, he could only stay in his transformation without using his wind powers too much. If he used them, he would end up harming Zoro, Rias, Naruto, and any possible allies.
"Portgas D. Ace...", Harry's voice now sounded much more powerful and could almost not be distinguished from his voice in human form. It's not that his voice sounded inhuman, but more adult, ancient, and powerful. And, the moment he spoke, he scared many.
"If you don't let him go... Well, you can imagine what will happen to this place and all of you."
"Ufufufu~... I think you should obey...", Rias laughed as she stood next to Zoro, with Naruto on the other side.
"Yeah... it's not good to make Harry angry nii-chan," Naruto commented, with a huge excited smile.
"Who are you guys?! And that bird looks really cool!" Luffy asked, but his eyes soon showed stars and he didn't know whether to look at Rias and Naruto, or at Harry.
"We're allies... we ran into Zoro and decided to help out a bit," Naruto said.
"Oh... I see... So you're friends, Shishishishi~!"
"Luffy, it's not the time!" Zoro said angrily, his arm shaking from the force he had used along with Haki. Even if his body was healed, the speed at which he fell, the force he exerted, and using his spiritual power forcibly, caused him discomfort. Harry didn't do anything like 'awaken' Zoro's spiritual power, he simply stimulated it so that it would be easier for the swordsman to use, but this would only last for a few hours at most.
"You guys just go after the one called Ace," Naruto withdrew his tantou and looked at Aokiji. "We'll take care of these guys."
Luffy nodded and powered up with his devil fruit powers as he passed an exasperated Zoro, he didn't know how many times Luffy had done the same, and it was annoying. However, it wasn't time for this nonsense, they had to get to Ace.
"You're Aokiji, right?... I'm Uzumaki Naruto," the blond introduced himself before looking more seriously.
"Well... I guess it's time to fight seriously," Naruto narrowed his eyes a little and his tantou was surrounded by a light layer of chakra before using shunshin. Aokiji jumped back in anticipation of Naruto's move, but when the blond brandished his tantou, the admiral still received a small cut on his cheek.
"He knows Haki anyway...", Aokiji frowned as his arms transformed into ice and moved forward, colliding with Naruto's weapon. Ice shot forward trying to freeze the weapon, but wind slashes repelled it and cut it into small pieces.
"Ice Block: Partisan!"
Ice spears manifested around Kuzan; two above him and two more on each of his sides. Naruto ran forward before raising two fingers from his left hand and creating four shadow clones before charging forward with all his might. Each clone formed their hand seals and released Ninjutsu techniques.
"Katon: Karyuu Endan!", two of the clones shouted, releasing powerful flames from their mouths.
"Fuuton: Daitoppa!", the other two released powerful gusts of wind that could lift trees from their roots and destroy them without problems.
"Two elements?", Aokiji muttered a little surprised before stepping on the ground, raising a large wall of ice that began to melt rapidly. In fact, the fire was escaping from the sides and he was trapped with only the rear part free.
Clanck!
Aokiji clicked his tongue as he had to turn back and block Naruto's tanto with his Haki-coated leg. He had already noticed that the wind surrounding the tanto was powerful enough to cut through his ice. And, if for some reason he blocked without Haki, then he would easily lose a limb.
"You're really strong... How did you spend all this time hiding?... There's no way you can hide from everyone."
Naruto just smiled before answering, "A Shinobi should know when and how to hide."
"For example: right now you don't sense my clone."
"What are you tr–" Aokiji stopped when he felt someone grab his left leg, the one that wasn't raised blocking his enemy's weapon. And, before he could react properly, he was pulled to the ground, burying that leg a few inches, throwing him off balance enough to receive a kick that sent him flying and crashing into what was left of his ice barrier.
"Cough!..." Aokiji coughed and spat out some blood, but stood up without much trouble.
"How?... I was watching my surroundings with Observation Haki at all times."
Naruto just smiled without saying anything.
Upon awakening his potential as an Asura transmigrant, he not only received Mokuton and the memories of Asura himself and Hashirama, but also a sage body. He still couldn't enter Sage Mode, and not because he didn't want to or couldn't, simply because he hadn't trained enough for it. However, his sage body was maintaining a small connection with nature's energy; tiny–tiny slivers of nature's energy entered his body, making him stronger and camouflaging him with the surrounding nature. Therefore, he was practically invisible to sensory techniques, unless they sensed his emotions. And, fortunately, Aokiji wasn't concentrating on Naruto's emotions.
Clicking his tongue, Aokiji moved forward before disappearing using Soru. However, when he appeared in front of Naruto, a clone also appeared holding a Rasengan, causing Kuzan to contort his body to dodge and jump up. Naruto's other three clones, who were carefully hiding, leapt at him in a hand-to-hand fight; a kick was blocked by Aokiji's arm, a punch by his hand, and another kick was blocked by the admiral's left leg.
Biuuuuu~!
Swooosh~
A loud sound echoed across the battlefield, almost like bells and pressurized winds. Naruto blurred at high speeds before extending his arm with a Rasengan with small wind blades.
Aokiji remained fearless, even knowing and seeing how dangerous that technique looked, no matter how small. An icy mist was expelled from his body, freezing the clones and destroying them without much effort.
"Ice Time..."
Having broken out of the clones holding him back, Kuzan moved to dodge Naruto before sending a kick towards the blond's head from behind. However, Naruto moved to the side before twisting his upper body as the blades of his Rasengan faded away and changed into gusts of wind like contrails and a halo of wind-type chakra surrounded the blue sphere.
In just an instant, Naruto had changed the form of his Fuuton: Rasengan and extended his hand. There was no need for him to touch Kuzan; the wind exploded in an unstoppable forward momentum, devastating the ground and its surroundings.
"Shit!" For the first time, Kuzan cursed and raised his arms to block with all his might. Icy mist was expelled from his body as he used Haki on his arms, abdomen, and legs. He knew that those places were important to protect right now, and if his opponent didn't know Haki, then he would have changed the rest of his body without Haki, to ice. But now, with Naruto being his opponent, he knew that if he did that, those parts of his body that had turned into ice, sun, would shatter with the force of the wind hitting him.
BOOOOM!!!
At this point, most of the battles had stopped and only the marines closest to Luffy and Zoro were fighting against them. But, most of them were focused on Naruto's battle against Kuzan. This also caused Naruto's attack to launch them much further away as a part of the wall behind them exploded and shattered into pieces due to the pressure of the wind.
"I really can't have a second...", Aokiji muttered before extending his arm.
"Ice Saber...", the frozen ice was jagged and could hardly be considered a sword or saber. But Naruto knew that the power in that iron saber was enough to make it clash with real steel swords.
Tantou and saber clashed... Ice and wind spread all over the place. The fierce battle continued without any apparent end and began to move in other directions, causing marines and pirates to retreat to other sides.
"Ice Stars!" Kuzan exclaimed as he sent a blizzard and hailstones towards Naruto.
Naruto jumped into the air before spitting out a large wall of water. He knew it wouldn't touch his opponent, but that was never his intention when using Ninjutsu. The water froze due to the blizzard and hailstones and formed a water shield that blocked Aokiji's attack.
Naruto, however, knew that he would have to use a powerful attack... something devastating in order to win. He had already realized that at this rate, the battle would come down to attrition, and he didn't want that.
"I guess it's time to get my hands dirty," Naruto muttered and jumped back, moving away as he put his tanto back into the sheath strapped to the back of his left shoulder. In the next moment, he clapped his hands together before interlacing their fingers.
Aokiji was alarmed as he felt a large amount of life and force coming from the ground. It was so much that he immediately jumped up, but it wasn't enough.
"Mokuton Hijutsu: Jukai Kōtan!" As Naruto's scream was heard and ended, the frozen ground trembled before shattering as massive trunks and trees sprang up from all sides. The speed at which they sprang up was simply absurd and the power they contained shattered the nearby Marines. The trees scattered, hitting the wall of the Marinford base, making huge holes that continued to rise and destroy the massive castle above the fortress.
Kuzan opened his eyes in alarm and horror at the power of each tree. Even with his Admiral-level speed and defense, he was unable to break out of the technique. He was hit and sent flying for meters, but before he hit the wall behind him, he was held back by the trunks and crushed, spitting out a large amount of blood.
"Fuuton: Rasengan!" Naruto showed no mercy and appeared in front of the Admiral, striking out with his Fuuton: Rasengan, crushing Aokiji's abdomen while leaving a swirling mark on his skin as his organs were damaged and the wind cut through his skin.
"AAARRRGGGHHH!!", Kuzan... the Admiral codenamed Aokiji, screamed in pain. The battlefield was deathly silent as they watched him slowly fall to the ground unable to get up. His blood was beginning to flood the ground due to the cuts on the front of his body. His organs were damaged to the point where he could barely move and his consciousness was about to fade.
"Well... it was an excellent battle", Naruto muttered before sighing a little and sitting on one of the trees, looking towards Rias, who had now moved on one of the trees. She had not yet begun her battle against Akainu, who had been watching her without moving. Kizaru had retreated to the top when he lost his arm, but with Naruto's attack, he had no choice but to dodge without having been able to heal his wound too much.
"Your companions... apparently, they are powerful", Shirohige commented on his ship.
No one had noticed with the commotion of an Admiral losing an arm and the start of Naruto's battle against Kuzan. But, Harry had changed into his human form and stood watching from Shirohige's ship.
"They are..."
"I thought I would have to give my life to save one of my children... you have my gratitude for helping."
"It's nothing...", Harry shook his head. "Things just happened by coincidence. We ran into Zoro, and this war was perfect for gaining reputation by defeating the Admirals. It's a win-win situation."
Shirohige nodded, but frowned as he looked at Ace.
"Marco!!" he shouted loudly, drawing the attention of one of his commanders. "Go help Ace's brother!!"
Marco looked over to where Luffy was. He smiled excitedly as he saw that the huge trees had destroyed the place where Ace was and were falling while Sengoku transformed into a huge golden Buddha to stop them.
"On the way!"
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