"It's too early to give up!" Laurent Minnie stood up, though her right foot was still twitching involuntarily, barely grazing the ground.
She looked ragged, but those words successfully reignited the fighting spirit of the remaining recruits!
"That's right, it's too early to give up!" Tony pushed away Simon, who was trying to support him, his eyes burning with intensity. "I have an ultimate technique that requires one minute to charge! With this very move, I once slew a pirate captain who attacked our village—a great pirate with a bounty of 54 million berries."
He explained the power of his skill to reassure the troops. After a pause, Tony continued, "Minnie, Simon, and everyone in the Recruit Camp! Please! Even if we lose, we have to leave Loya with a souvenir!"
There was no need to spell it out. Simon and Minnie locked eyes, nodded firmly, and rallied the recruits who were still standing. "Everyone! Pin Loya down!"
"Yeah!"
"Grab your weapons and charge!"
With all the ice wolves wiped out, only a small number of recruits remained combat-ready. Yet, facing the terrifying "Demon King" Loya, no one retreated; they charged forward in a swarming mass, screaming at the top of their lungs.
"Huh? These guys..." Loya glanced over slightly. "Even if their strength is lacking, this fighting spirit is not bad at all!"
Though he inwardly acknowledged their spirit, Loya would not hold back. If they needed to be put down, he would put them down. He placed his hands on the ground, and a surging, boundless cold rushed out in all directions.
"Well... I wasn't planning on using this move, but I think it's better to let you experience despair a little earlier."
"Ice-Make: Ice Field!"
CRACK!
As the cold energy surged, countless recruits were instantly frozen in place. Those lucky enough to jump and dodge it found that once they landed, they couldn't even stand on the slick, frozen surface. In an instant, the recruits who had been charging with such montum were choked off, falling into a chaotic heap.
However, the top ten did not fall. Even if this batch of recruits was weak, they were still Headquarters recruits. Their future lay in becoming officers; they were the backbone of the Navy. Weak as they were, they could dodge this simple freezing technique—unless they were truly too close to react.
Laurent Minnie, for instance, realized with despair that she couldn't lift her feet. This was not the sa Ice Field technique Loya had used a month ago; both the speed of the freezing and the hardness of the ice were far beyond what they had been back then.
"Look out, Minnie!"
Suddenly, Simon shouted, picking up a scimitar from the ground and hurling it.
WHOOSH!
The blade cut through the air with a piercing, shrieking whine, aid directly at Loya, who was about to finish Minnie off with a punch. The speed of the projectile was like lightning, forcing Loya to wear a solemn expression. Devil Fruits really are unreasonable. A guy who isn't even in the top 100 for physical ability in this camp can throw sothing at this speed.
If the iron sand Simon had scattered earlier was like standard bullets, this scimitar was like Kizaru's laser—the speed was simply absurd! When speed reaches a certain level, a standard-issue scimitar made of ordinary iron is no less lethal than a Supre Grade sword. Moreover, Simon had clearly calculated the throw to lock down Loya's path of advance; any slight deviation would have created an opening for Loya to strike.
In a split second, it reached Loya.
"Truly... a brilliant sniping technique," Loya sighed. With no other choice, he had to abandon his attack. He spun around, firing countless ice spears to knock the sneaking recruits to the ground.
While Loya was busy dealing with the fodder, Simon arrived at Minnie's side, his raised fist pitch-black.
"Busoshoku Haki!"
Minnie blurted it out in surprise, then quickly covered her mouth. Her beautiful eyes were filled with curiosity, looking at Simon as if they could speak. Simon shook his head. "It's not. That... now is not the ti to talk about this! They won't be able to hold him for a minute on their own. Let's go!"
THUD!
A shattering sound behind him startled Loya. He turned to see a leather shoe piercing through the smoke, heading straight for him. A shoe? Is Simon out of things to throw... No, wait, it's Minnie!
Loya prepared to make a sarcastic remark, but then he saw Minnie burst through the smoke. How did she get out?
Loya was puzzled, but he didn't slow down, opening his hands to catch Minnie's sneak attack. Little did he know, this was exactly the situation Minnie had hoped for!
With one foot caught, Minnie rolled in mid-air, using the strength of her waist and abdon to whip her other leg in a powerful kick.
Charge, accelerate, pour in everything!
The dark brown sea-beast leather shoe emitted a scorching aura. Wisps of fla coiled around it, leaving a glaring line of red light in the air.
"Mountain Forest... Explosion!"
BOOM!
A sound like a cannon blast erupted, and the billowing smoke swirled up, enveloping Loya.
"Did it work?"
The recruits looked toward the center of the field with anticipation. At this mont, Minnie was like a goddess of war in their hearts, radiating brilliance. But the next instant, everyone saw the change on Minnie's face.
"AHhh~!!!"
The scream rang out again. Minnie collapsed to the ground, rolling while clutching her constantly cramping right foot.
From within the smoke, Loya's calm voice echoed: "If you kick my handso face again, I'm going to press your Yongquan point."
"What!"
Even as she lay on the ground, the bone-chilling pain from her twisted foot tendons brought tears to her eyes, yet Minnie didn't look away. That strike had been the strongest explosion of power she had unleashed in years; it should have been enough to leave a mark on Loya. But when she heard his calm tone, Minnie's eyes widened, looking at the smoke ahead in disbelief.
Suddenly, a massive pair of ice wings stretched out from the smoke. With a single flap, the gale dissipated the dust, revealing Loya—completely unhard. Or rather, Loya was uninjured, but the ice armor on the right side of his face had shattered, with bits of ice crystals falling off. For the first ti since the fight began, Loya's ice armor had been broken.
Sengoku looked at Laurent Minnie on the ground and smiled with satisfaction. "Not bad, truly not bad. Zephyr, this batch isn't as hopeless as you said!"
He knew exactly how hard Loya's ice armor was—information leaked during casual chats with Kuzan had made him gasp. It was a defense harder than steel, sothing even he would need to use three layers of strength to break. Now that Loya's strength had improved again, one could only guess how much stronger that armor had beco. Sengoku felt a tinge of pity for the recruits.
The fact that Minnie had shattered Loya's defensive armor with a single kick was worthy of recognition.
Although Sengoku was satisfied, Zephyr remained worried. "But do you know how old Minnie is this year? She's 18! She will be in her pri until she's 40. Don't you see how much she can grow in the next few years?"
"h, at worst we'll just find her a Devil Fruit to eat. Although the top three of this batch are indeed much weaker than previous ones, except for Simon, none of them are Devil Fruit users. They have plenty of room to grow!" Garp said dismissively, munching on a rice cracker, failing to notice Zephyr's face growing increasingly unsightly.
Sure enough, a second later, Zephyr erupted, grabbing Garp by the collar and spraying spit everywhere: "What do you know! Devil Fruits are the work of demons! One's own strength is the only true strength! If you only get stronger by eating a Devil Fruit, that's all you'll ever be!"
Sengoku and Garp were both at a loss for how to continue this topic. Garp shrugged and pulled a donut from his pocket: "Don't be angry! Here, have a donut!"
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