Chapter 67: Aokiji II

Kai jumped back and an ice lance passed right by where he just was. Kai finally looked up from his hand and at Aokiji.

"At least wait until I'm looking." He said in a dull emotionless voice.

Aokiji didn't respond as he just charged at Kai with soru. Kai's eyes widened slightly as he quickly jumped back. Then ground he was just standing on had the air freeze solid. Kai quickly set up a wind barrier in front of him as Aokiji charged again with ice coated fists that seemed to freeze everything in their vicinity without even needing to touch them.

Aokiji's fist met with the wind barrier and a massive amount of steam clouded his vision. Aokiji easily broke the barrier that Kai had purposely made weak in order to create this steam. Aokiji looked around for Kai and tried to just use kenbunshoku to sense anything only to find nothing. He couldn't sense Kai anywhere within a few hundred meters.

Suddenly Aokiji very faintly felt Kai's attack coming with kenbunshoku. He still couldn't sense his body, only that he had an intention to attack him, as he slightly read his emotions. If Aokiji's haki wasn't as good as it was then he would have had no indication of Kai's attack at all.

The moment Aokiji felt something he spun around and tried to attack with ice only for his body to be met with a fist to the ribs as he was mid spin. Even though he sensed Kai's attack, he sensed it much too late as Kai was already attacking him and was also faster than Aokiji. Aokiji didn't even have time to coat himself in haki and he felt a few of his ribs break.

Aokiji held his side with one arm and looked up where Kai should have been. Only to see nothing as Kai was invisible. Aokiji was stunned as even using kenbunshoku he couldn't feel Kai's physical form. Aokiji suddenly felt another attack coming and slammed his hands to the ground creating an ice wall in front of him.

Not even half a second later a large crack appeared on the ice wall as Aokiji could barely make out a figure that attacked him. Aokiji could only see and sense Kai's left hand which punched his ice wall and nothing else. Until a split second later he couldn't even see or sense Kai's hand either.

"I see. Extremely troublesome. He can turn invisible and the only way to sense him is his emotions, which he is exceptionally good at hiding. What a terrifying combination." Aokiji said as he understood Kai's current method of attack. He also realized that just because he couldn't see Kai doesn't mean that he isn't there.

He instantly sent an omnidirectional attack with his ice powers. He attempted to freeze everything in a 100 meter radius. Kai had seen this attack coming and flew backwards reaching the edge of Aokiji's attack range while still invisible. Kai then waited for a bit. He looked back at his right hand which was very fragile right now. If he threw another punch with it and his haki didn't protect him properly then he might lose his hand.

He looked in the direction Aokiji was and thought about what to do next, Luffy was nearly done with his fight. He knew this due to his kenbunshoku. Ideally Aokiji would just stand down as he broke a few ribs and had given him a large slash on his chest. But Kai wasn't hopeful. Kai was also hesitant about going back in.

As much as he had hurt Aokiji, the latter could easily fight with those wounds, Kai on the other hand needed to be very careful of his right hand and didn't want to risk attacking with it.

Kai may have been the one who landed the most hits but Aokiji's attacks were much stronger than his overall, Kai specialized in killing. His wind was meant to slice and chop up his enemies, as was his sword, now that he was in a battle with Aokiji where he needed to use blunt attacks. It made it much more challenging.

Also, Aokiji now knew about his invisibility and had already countered it. Kai was out of non lethal or permanently damaging attacks that he was confident to hit Aokiji with. If this kept on going, Kai was certain he would lose unless he went for the kill like Aokiji was doing.

Kai clicked his tongue again before flying back in. Still invisible. He used his kenbunshoku and devil fruit sensing powers to get a lay of the land. In the split second he was thinking while outside Aokiji's range the latter had turned the area around them into one which favoured him. He had set up ice pillars and spikes all over the place which would greatly limit Kai's movement while allowing Aokiji's attacks to become more versatile.

Kai weaved through the spikes of ice towards his target, who currently had his eyes closed trying to sense Kai. Kai used future vision to see what would happen if he attacked and it didn't end well as Aokiji would land a blow on him after using ice to defend himself. Kai decided to appear once again. He was floating above Aokiji and 10 feet away from him. The moment Kai appeared, Aokiji's eyes locked on his body.

Kai awaited the oncoming ice spikes he foresaw attacking him and dodged most of them while punching out at one or two with his fists. Eventually he landed on one of the spikes that missed him and jumped towards Aokiji, startling him slightly. Aokiij quickly raised more and more ice spikes from the ground but Kai dodged them all mid air as he zigzagged through them. Aokiji while still conjuring spikes to attack at Kai made half a dozen ice lances that floated around his head.

Kai reached close to Aokiji only to be met with 6 ice lances attacking him from above while countless ice spikes from below him shot up towards his chest. Kai paused for a moment in between the two attacks that sandwiched him before turning invisible again and shooting towards Aokiji while dodging the spikes.

Aokiji had his eyes widened in surprise before he regained his composure and tried to sense for Kai's emotions only to immediately feel his attack coming. Aokiji tried to raise an ice barrier to his right side. Kai had expected this as he foresaw it so he changed the future by instantly moving sideways without losing any speed and attacking Aokiji from the opposite side. His foot stomped on Aokiji's already broken ribs while covered in haki and a wind barrier. However the moment his attack landed a massive ice wall surrounded Kai from behind him. Trapping him within it like a barrier.

Kai had his eyes widen in shock. When he changes the future he can't see it for a split second again so he failed to foresee this move at all. Aokiji coughed up blood violently for a second before he wiped his mouth.

"I'm lucky that last attack didn't finish me." Aokiji said as he sent ice spikes to every direction within the barrier Kai managed to dodge them all without even being hit by spliting his body up and spreading it throughout the air around him and stayed invisible.

Aokiji was hyper focused on his kenbunshoku, ready for Kai's next attack. But Kai was currently thinking of any way out of this other than an attack. He didn't even need to read the future to know he would be fucked if he attacked within Aokiji's barrier, as the moment his position was given away and he was forced to stay sill for even the slightest moment Aokiji would attack him with a full on barrage of ice spikes and send and AOE attack at Kai in the enclosed space.

Kai continued to dodge while thinking this and sensed Aokiji preparing another AOE attack. Kai quickly covered his left fist in a 'blade storm' attack and charged at the ice barrier keeping him entrapped. He punched towards the ice wall with a full powered punch.

However, the moment he created a blade storm Aokiji sensed the strange wind with his kenbunshoku. He immediately sent multiple ice lances at Kai who just made contact with the ice wall.

The moment Kai's fist made contact with the wall three things happened. The ice wall exploded into microscopic pieces from Kai's attack. The ice lances sent at Kai reached him forcing Kai to dodge. And finally the massive AOE 'ice age' attack Aokiji had prepared for was released causing a freezing force to spread out with him as the epicenter.

Kai easily dodged the ice lances once again and immediately shot out the hole he made in the ice wall. He rushed away from Aokiji as fast as he could but the moment he was flying out the hole in the ice wall he was caught by the ice age attack. Kai covered his body in haki and used tekkai as well as covering himself with a wind barrier. Just when he was hit Kai felt a freeze all over his body which set deep into his body as if he was freezing from the inside out. Kai ignored the agonizing pain originating from his whole body as he continued to fly away from Aokiji. He landed on the ground a few hundred meters away and his body had a light blue tint to it as he shivered. He was almost frozen solid.

Kai shook out all of his limbs as if he was trying to warm up for a sports game. He did small jumps to get the blood flowing in his body and hopefully somewhat counteract the freezing. Aokiij was still inside his ice wall. He leaned against one of the ice spikes that failed to damage Kai and coughed up blood. He spit it out again and wiped his mouth. He looked down at his body which was in severe pain, he had received a punch and a kick from Kai in the same spot and was unable to protect his body with haki either time.

However, Aokiji also realized that he must have gotten Kai with that last attack. He slowly started to stand up before he coughed blood once more and jumped on an ice slide which carried him in the direction Kai was.

Kai sensed all of this happening with his kenbunshoku. His emotionless face never faltered. Kai thought carefully about what to do. Luffy had just won his fight from what Kai sensed and the crew was currently sailing towards the gates of justice with them slowly closing.

Kai needed to hold Aokiji off for a while longer, maybe a minute or two. He looked in one direction before going invisible, giving himself more time to think. Aokiji arrived near Kai and looked around. He couldn't see or sense Kai but he did sense the Merry trying to leave.

"If you won't come out, then I'll have to do my job." Aokiji stated flatly as he turned to face the Merry.

Suddenly he felt Kai's attack coming. He made an icewall but Kai never hit it. Kai just moved to the side while still invisible and a fist appeared out of thin air as it stretched out at Aokiji who turned his chest sideways to dodge it. Aokiji tried to grab the fist that missed him only for it to disappear back into thin air and him to miss.

Aokiji suddenly sensed a leg form out of mid air underneath him. He jumped over the sweeping kick expecting a follow up attack as the leg he jumped over disappeared. However, no attack came and Aokiji landed on the ground once more only to try to turn around a moment before he fully regained his balance as he sensed something else. A black wind blade reached him and cut into his shoulder.

Kai was constantly circling around Aokiji ready to fire another haki coated wind blade at any moment. Aokiji had already frozen his new wound shut. Kai just watched as Aokiji closed his eyes ready for Kai's next attack. Kai sent in a windblade from three different directions, only coating one of them in haki, in hopes of making Aokiji curious about why he did this. He wanted Aokiji to lose focus, even if only momentarily.

This worked as Aokiji's thoughts wandered from trying to sense Kai for only a split second. Kai utilized this moment perfectly as he charged at Aokiji once more. He moved faster than the haki coated windblade he just sent from the other side so his kick and the wind blade reached Aokiji at the exact same time.

At this moment Aokiji made a perfect counter to Kai's attack as he ignored the wind blade and focused on Kai. Aokiji allowed the haki coated wind slash to hit his back. Leaving a large laceration across his back from shoulder to shoulder.

However, the moment Kai's foot connected with Aokiji's chest it was caught with two hands. Kai felt his left foot starting to freeze nearly instantly as he had already started his counter attack by spinning. Kai's right foot connected with Aokiji's right side where his ribs broke causing Aokiji to stumble backwards and release Kai.

Kai decided to neglect the pain in his leg as he charged at Aokiji with his right hand coated in haki as well as a black wind blade like brass knuckles. Aokiji was still recovering as he held his ribs with one hand and went to meet Kai's punch with his other hand. Aokiji sent out a blast of condensed ice and cold air which Kai met with his charging fist.

The moment the two forces met a large explosion of air blew out around them sending rocks and shards of ice tumbling off of the bridge and into the water below. Aokiji had slightly overpowered Kai's punch but Kai's punch penetrated through his and left him with a bloody hand and arm.

Aokiji had thought that Kai was blown back by his punch as he didn't see or sense Kai in front of him. His muscle memory of all his previous fights told him that it was alright to relax his guard as his opponent was nowhere in sight. However the moment his guard was slightly down he realized his mistake.

Before he could do anything, a foot appeared out of thin air and hit Aokiji's ankles with a sweeping kick. Breaking his ankle and sending him falling over sideways to the ground. The moment he was about to hit the ground another leg appeared out of thin air and slammed down into Aokiji's stomach, causing blood to shoot out of his mouth as he slammed into the ground. Aokiji was breathing heavily and was in a daze. He realized he was still fighting and forced himself up. He looked around but couldn't see or sense his opponent anywhere for a moment before he heard a loud slam.

He turned his head to the large grey metal doors in the distance that slammed shut. Aokiji saw this and sat down with a sigh.

"Let's call it a tie." He said as he leaned against an ice wall he just created.

Aokiji had suffered some serious injuries throughout the fight. Two hits to the head, a broken ankle and a few large slashes on his chest, back and shoulder as well as a few other smaller cuts here and there, also his right arm was severely messed up from the big attack that met head on with Kai. However, the worst injury was his broken ribs and internal injuries.

He had bad internal bleeding and his insides currently felt like mush, which was what was causing him to stay seated at the moment. His organs were slightly injured before but Kai's final kick amplified it and made them much worse. If he had to continue fighting and exert himself then it wouldn't be a good situation.

Aokiji sighed and shook his head. "Kid just fought an admiral 1 on 1 to a tie and is still a commander. What a load of horse shit. I wonder if Garp knows how strong he really is. Not that it matters, I bet he would just laugh at me for being unable to beat a commander. I can hear it right now 'Bwahahaha! What kind of admiral can't even fight a little baby commander.' *sigh*"