Chapter 66: Aokiji

Kai was ready to go all out. He had already activated his kenbunshoku haki and was waiting for Aokiji to make the first move. His only goal was to stall for time so he had no reason to attack if Aokiji just waited for him.

After about a minute of waiting Aokiji asked. "Aren't you going to stop me?"

Kai looked at him. "You're not doing anything though."

Aokiji scratched the back of his neck. "Is that so?" He sighed and crouched again. "Then I guess I have to start doing something."

Aokiji soru'd at Kai who was ready for it and stood his ground as Aokiji reached out one arm towards Kai. Aokiji's stretched out arm missed Kai as he was aiming for Kai's arm that he thought would immediately reach for the sword at his waist.

Due to Kai not even attempting to pull out his sword, Aokiji was now just standing in front of Kai with one arm stretched out. Kai reached his left hand towards Aokiji's outstretched arm in an attempt to grab his wrist. Only for Aokiji's arm to release a chilling temperature around it to counteract whatever Kai was about to do.

Just when Kai was about to grab Aokiji's arm. Kai stopped slightly short, and just retracted his arm as he jumped backwards away from Aokiji. Kai stood back up and got in a fighting position. Aokiji looked at Kai with curious eyes.

"Why can't I feel your intention to attack with kenbunshoku?" He asked.

"Wahahaha! Who knows?" Kai said without answering his question. In truth Kai just had zero intention to attack Aokiji. He just wanted to confuse him, which he had just done. Kai only wanted a prolonged fight, he didn't need to completely beat Aokiji to win this fight he just needed a tie.

Aokiji didn't consider this and his mind was currently racing as he tried to guess what Kai was doing. He eventually just put it aside as he created an ice saber and charged at Kai once again. Kai just unsheathed his sword Kashu. He met Aokiji's sword head on and held it in place.

The two stayed locked in the same position for a while until Aokiji suddenly roundhouse kicked Kai's head. Kai just took it as his head exploded into air and reformed.

Aokiji clicked his tongue. "So it IS a logia, that's quite annoying."

Kai smiled under his mask. "That's funny coming from you, Frozone."

Kai said as he just took one more step back. Aokiji sighed, then he started to radiate a cool air as the things around him started to freeze without even touching him. The ground around him turned to ice and the air started to turn frosty. Kai also sighed, no more toying around, they were getting semi-serious.

Kai started to look at Aokiji intently and his eyes widened slightly.

"Shit."

Kai suddenly charged at Aokiji forcing him to take a half step back and meet Kai's sword. Kai coated his blade in wind to make it sharper. The two swords met and Aokiji's slightly cracked which caused him to jump backwards and drop his saber as he conjured a new one.

Kai quickly charged once again and sent a barrage of slashes with his wind covered sword. Aokiji continued to be pushed back until he started to coat his ice sword in haki. Kai noticed this and started throwing a constant barrage of wind blades at Aokiji making him lose his balance and stumble backwards.

Just then two people burst out of a building and landed right where Aokiji was just standing before Kai started to push him back. According to Kai's future vision the two new people would have both been frozen solid had Kai done nothing. Luffy and Lucci landed on the bridge and looked over to Kai and Aokiji.

Aokiji was more focused on something else. "Why can I sense your attacks now? But not before."

Kai danced around the question again. "How come you don't carry a real sword?"

Aokiji thought for a second. "I don't need one."

Kai nodded sagely. "I see."

Aokiji then looked over at Luffy and Lucci completely forgetting about the question he asked Kai.

"Hello there. Do you guys mind moving, I don't want to accidentally freeze you too." Luffy looked conflicted about just leaving Aokiji and Kai alone but eventually nodded and tried to punch Lucci back into the building with a gigantic arm.

Lucci dodged and looked over at Kai and Aokiji before just using geppo to go back inside the building. Luffy just followed after him.

Kai turned back to face Aokiji. "Why did you let them go? One of them is your target and the other one is just a nameless assassin who would have been happy if this island got destroyed."

Aokiji looked at Kai seriously and said. "That's a one on one duel, I don't want to interfere."

Kai smiled and laughed. "Wahahaha! True! You're a good guy."

Aokiji just started to get ready to attack again. Kai smiled turning up the intensity again as he let his emotions wash away form his face and formed a stoic emotionless face he had when he fought seriously.

Kai saw what Aokiji was going to do and charged in. He used advanced soru and his devil fruit power to appear in front of Aokiji instantly. Kai coated his sword in wind and haki this time as he slashed at Aokiji who jumped backwards the moment he saw Kai appear in front of him.

Aokiji escaped from any fatal wounds but he was still left with a large gash on his chest that was bleeding badly. He coated his wound in ice to stop the bleeding as he sent the attack he was starting to charge up at Kai. Suddenly around a dozen Ice lances shot forwards but Kai had already jumped back once again. Each lance landed in the spot Kai had just moved from as he dodged all of the lances.

Kai used the lances protruding out of the ground and hide behind them so that they were in between both him and Aokiji. Kai suddenly turned invisible and rushed at Aokiji. Aokiji searched around for Kai only for his efforts to be pointless as Kai was nowhere to be seen. With no indication on where Kai could be Aokiji decided to send an attack out in all directions.

"Ice Age!" Aokiji called out as he turned everything around him into ice. Kai was a few feet away from Aokiji with his sword ready to pierce his stomach when Aokiji sent out the attack. Kai immediately sensed the danger the attack posed him and flew away from the attack and under the bridge.

Kai let out a breath of relief as he was under the bridge. That would have really hurt if he didn't have anything to hide behind. Kai came out from under the bridge with his sword in hand and floated just above the ice about 20 meters from Aokiji. Aokiji turned and met Kai's eyes. He muttered. "Once again, It's much harder to sense your intentions and predict your movements. Almost like you don't feel any emotions at all."

Kai ignored Aokiji completely this time as he was fully focused on the battle. Kai moved towards Aokiji and slashed out his sword which was tinted black with haki. Aokiji swung his own haki coated blade at Kai. As soon as Kai was within range of a sword strike he geppo'd sideways and slashed at Aokiji's right side.

Aokiji quickly reacted and coated his right side with haki and a layer of ice. Kai's blade easily cut through the ice and made contact with Aokiji's haki coated torso. A clang resounded through the air as sparks bounce away from the point of contact.

Kai went to pull his sword back only to notice a new, fresh layer of ice that had formed atop his sword, locking it in place. Kai saw the future again and decided to abandon his blade as Aokiji's own saber passed through the air right where Kai just was. Kai's sword that was stuck to Aokiji's torso was grabbed by Aokiji. He held it out in one hand and froze it solid before squeezing his fist shut and breaking it into thousands of tiny little pieces.

Kai looked at this and felt a tinge of sadness and regret in his heart but didn't let it show on his face. "That was a gift, bastard."

Kai said as he charged back in at Aokiji with a slight rage in his heart. The moment Kai was within range of Aokiji's blade Kai split his body into two down the middle where he knew Aokiji would strike in the future.

Aokiji's haki coated blade passed right through Kai and Kai reformed on the other side of it with fists covered in haki and wind. Kai's fist launched forwards only to be met with Aokiji's other hand. Kai pushed Aokiji back slightly but his fist was still caught. Kai spun around in mid air like he was break dancing and sent two kicks at Aokiji's head, one after the other. The first kick was dodged by Aokiji ducking slightly, which left him off balance.

Kai's second foot connected with Aokiji's temple. His kick coated in haki and a wind barrier, which made it a pure blunt force attack. Aokiji released Kai's hand as he fell backward. Aokiji landed on the ground on his back and slowly got up. His nose was bleeding but he was otherwise fine as he protected himself with haki at the last moment.

The moment Aokiji had stood back up he sensed something in front of him. Kai was already attacking again as he led with a punch once more. Aokiji didn't have time to conjure another sword so he chose to block with both wrists. Kai's punch never met with Aokiji's wrists though as Kai flipped out of nowhere mid air and sent an axe kick down on Aokiji's head. Aokiji realized too late as he tried to raise his arms to block only to slightly negate the damage to him as Kai's kick connected.

Aokiji was still standing and he looked up at Kai. "You can move omnidirectionally?"

Kai had no response. He only looked down at his right fist which was still numb from the ice Aokiji sent at him when he caught his punch. Kai clicked his tongue before he suddenly moved sideways without looking up.