Chapter 33

The temperature dropped. Not gradually, like the sun setting, but instantly, like a door slamming shut.

On the deck of the Clockwork Rose, the breath of the crew materialized into thick white clouds. The Heat Dials Carmen had set up flickered and died. The ocean around the ship stopped moving—the waves froze mid-curl, turning into jagged sculptures of salt and ice.

"It’s cold…" Perona whimpered, her teeth chattering so hard she couldn't speak. Even as a ghost, the chill gnawed at her spiritual form.

"Carmen!" Kurumi barked, her own breath misting. "Raise the ambient temperature! We’re freezing!"

"I… I can't!" Carmen struggled, her skin glowing a faint, dying orange. "My flames… they’re being suffocated! The air itself is dying!"

Kurumi walked to the railing. Her boots crunched on frost that had appeared out of nowhere.

Walking across the frozen ocean, hands in his pockets, pushing a bicycle that shouldn't work on ice, was a tall man in a long trench coat. He had an afro, round sunglasses, and a missing leg replaced by pure ice.

Kuzan. formerly Admiral Aokiji.

"Arara…" The man stopped ten meters from the ship. He exhaled a cloud of frost. "I thought I sensed a familiar Haki. But you’re supposed to be dead, little Marine Commander."

The Gap in Power

"It’s him," Laki whispered from the crow's nest, her sniper rifle shaking. "The man who fought Akainu for ten days. The man who changed the weather of this island."

"Don't engage," Kurumi ordered softly. "He is not an enemy we can defeat."

But instinct—and terror—got the better of them.

Laki, sensing the overwhelming threat to her captain, pulled the trigger.

Mosa Mosa: 100x Speed Bullet.

The shot broke the sound barrier. It was aimed perfectly at Kuzan’s head.

Kuzan didn't dodge. He didn't even look up.

Crack.

The bullet stopped one inch from his forehead. It didn't just stop; it froze. The kinetic energy was sucked out of it instantly, and it fell to the ice with a dull clink.

"Sniper, huh?" Kuzan murmured. "Dangerous toy."

He raised a hand.

Ice Age.

He didn't scream it. He didn't wind up. He just… let it happen.

A wave of ice erupted from the ocean floor. It swallowed the Clockwork Rose in a second. The hull groaned as the wood was encased in diamond-hard frost.

"Ship's stuck!" Perona screamed.

"Get off the ship!" Kurumi ordered. "Move!"

They leaped onto the ice shelf just as the mast shattered from the thermal stress.

The Heat vs. The Cold

Carmen landed on the ice, furious. "You froze my kitchen!"

She activated her Atsu Atsu no Mi to its limit. Her hair turned into flames. Her skin glowed white-hot.

"10,000 Degree Press!"

She charged at Kuzan, turning into a human comet. The heat was intense enough to melt steel.

Kuzan looked at her lazily. "Heat fruit? Useful for cooking. But against me…"

He caught her flaming fist with his bare hand.

Hiss.

The steam explosion was blinding. But when it cleared, Carmen’s arm was encased in ice. The cold had traveled through the heat, bypassing the thermal energy and freezing the moisture in her cells.

"How?!" Carmen gasped, falling to her knees, clutching her frozen arm. "I'm… burning…"

"Magma burns," Kuzan said simply. "Fire burns. But ice… ice stops everything. Atoms. Energy. Ambition. That is entropy."

He kicked her gently. Carmen slid across the ice, unconscious from thermal shock.

The Time Witch vs. The Ice Man

"Stay away from my crew!"

Kurumi appeared behind Kuzan.

Zafkiel: Aleph (Accelerate).

She moved at supersonic speed. She placed both black flintlocks against his back. They were loaded with Haki-infused Sea Prism Stone bullets—Doflamingo’s special gift.

Bang! Bang!

The bullets tore through his coat. Kuzan’s body shattered into ice shards.

"Logia defense," Kurumi cursed, jumping back.

The shards swirled and reformed into Kuzan instantly. But there was a small trickle of blood on his side.

"You actually hit me," Kuzan touched the wound. "Haki bullets. You really aren't the cute little Commander anymore, are you, Kurumi?"

He sighed. The air around him turned into white mist.

"Partisan."

He threw massive ice spears. Kurumi dodged with Aleph, weaving through death by millimeters.

"Why are you so strong?!" Kurumi shouted, gasping for air. "You lost to Akainu! You lost your leg!"

"I lost," Kuzan admitted, his voice dropping to a terrifying chill. "Because Akainu is magma. Magma creates land. Ice preserves it. In a battle of attrition, rock eventually replaces ice. His ambition to burn the world was hotter than my desire to freeze it."

He appeared in front of her.

"But make no mistake, girl. Just because the volcano won… doesn't mean the winter isn't deadly."

He grabbed her arm.

Ice Time.

Kurumi’s vision went white.

The cold wasn't like stepping into a freezer. It was the cessation of life. She felt her blood stop moving. She felt her heart struggle to beat. She felt her thoughts slowing down.

She was turning into a statue.

My calories… draining… solely to keep my heart beating…

She was frozen solid. A beautiful ice sculpture of a girl in a gothic dress.

The Near Death Experience

Laki and Perona watched in horror. Their captain was dead. Carmen was down. The ship was frozen.

"Kurumi!" Perona cried, tears freezing on her cheeks.

Kuzan dusted off his hands. "A pity. You had potential. But the New World doesn't need ghosts from the old era."

He turned to walk away.

Tick.

A sound came from the ice statue.

Tock.

Kuzan stopped. He looked back.

Inside the ice, Kurumi’s golden clock eye was spinning frantically. Not forward. Backward.

Zafkiel: Fourth Bullet – Dalet (Rewind).

She was burning ten years of her lifespan stored in her caloric reserves. She wasn't melting the ice. She was rewinding her body's state to before he touched her.

CRACK.

The ice shattered from the inside out.

Kurumi burst free, gasping, her skin blue, shivering violently. She fell to her hands and knees, vomiting water.

"You…" Kuzan’s eyes widened behind his sunglasses. "You reversed time?"

"I… am not… finished…" Kurumi wheezed, pointing a shaking gun at him. "I still… have… seconds left."

The Truce

Kuzan stared at her. He looked at the determination in her eyes. He looked at her crew, broken but trying to stand up to protect her.

The killing intent faded from the air.

"Arara," Kuzan scratched his head. "You're stubborn. Like him."

He sat down on a block of ice.

"I didn't come here to kill you. I came to see who was disturbing the silence of this island."

He looked at Kurumi.

"You survived Ice Time. That’s rare. Doflamingo couldn't even do that without breaking out of the ice immediately."

"Why…" Kurumi shivered, Carmen limping over to wrap a heated blanket around her. "Why did you attack us?"

"To see if you were worth the trouble," Kuzan said enigmaticly. "The Underworld is shifting. Blackbeard is moving. Doflamingo is plotting. And now, a dead Marine is running a crew of freaks."

He stood up and walked toward his bike.

"Smoker is coming," Kuzan warned. "And the Straw Hats. This island is about to become a crucible. If you stay, you'll be caught in the crossfire."

"We're staying," Kurumi said, her voice returning. "We have business with the gas man."

Kuzan paused. He tossed something to her.

It was a small, eternal pose.

"If you survive Doflamingo… go there. You might find something interesting about the 'Void Century'."

He got on his bike and began pedaling across the ocean.

"Don't die, Time Girl. The world is getting colder."

Aftermath

As Kuzan disappeared into the mist, the Clockwork Rose finally thawed enough to move.

Kurumi collapsed against the mast. "That… was a monster."

"He froze my fire," Carmen whispered, looking at her hand. "He made my heat feel like nothing."

"That is an Admiral," Kurumi said, closing her eyes. "Logia Awakening allows them to alter the environment permanently. He didn't just freeze you, Carmen. He froze the concept of heat in that area."

She looked at her crew. They were battered, terrified, and humbled.

"We aren't strong enough," Kurumi admitted. "Not yet. But we survived. And survival is the first step to conquering."

"Laki," she ordered weakly. "Repair the mast. Perona, scout the coast."

"Why?" Perona sniffled.

"Because," Kurumi pointed to the horizon where a sunny-headed ship was cresting the waves.

"The Straw Hats are here. And we need to look cool when we save them."