The Roger Pirates

(3rd Person POV)

It was decided that Kuzan should create that dome he said he could create. It was their best bet to save all of the lives of the Marines. Going back now, would not work as the storm had caught up with them and was doing damage to the ships. Sengoku decided to trust the strongest rookie right now. He had heard about his prowess in the Academy and he knew that Kuzan was successfully hunting pirates on the Grand Line for 3 years ever since graduating. He was the student of Garp and his strength was top-notch. 

"Get to work! Bring the ships closer together! Make sure to hold them steady until Rear-Admiral Kuzan has finished his work.", Sengoku was barking orders at the Marines and into the Den Den Mushi, to make sure nothing went wrong. It was very risky what they were planning but if it worked out ... then they wouldn't lose one person. 

As soon as the ships were somewhat close together, Kuzan went to work. He had been keeping the surrounding sea frozen and had created a disc around the ships. This allowed them to have a somewhat 'calm' sea in the centre. But the powerful winds and rain made it hard nonetheless. 

As soon as the ships were close together, Garp gave Kuzan the go and he went to work. He started to freeze the sea inside the disc he had created. Slowly but surely, he was freezing every ship in place and made sure to hold them there. Then the surrounding sea was also frozen entirely. This process took 15 minutes to complete and that was lightspeed considering what had to be done and how careful Kuzan had to be. 

Lastly, Kuzan created a cover over all the ships until he had finished the dome. Kuzan concentrated on keeping the dome steady and made the ice walls as thick as possible. In order to keep them afloat, he expanded the platform, the dome was placed on and then stopped expanding. He now only had to keep it like this until the storm was over and they could safely sail again. 

The Marines watched all of this happen in awe. It was a marvel to witness something of this magnitude. If this was later told to the World Government, they wouldn't have a choice but to elevate Kuzan's position to Vice-Admiral. The power necessary to do this was far above Rear-Admiral and everyone knew that. Kuzan was putting up appearances for the rest of the Marines and acted as if it was starting to get to him. He came to understand that keeping his trump cards a secret was the best course of action. 

Hours passed until the storm was finally over. Kuzan controlled the ice to slowly melt and free all of the ships. When everything was finished, he acted as if he had overexerted himself and then 'passed out'. He didn't want to appear more suspicious than he already was. So he simply went to sleep. A skill he learned to do despite his limitless stamina. 

.

Things took their natural course and as expected, Kuzan was elevated from Rear-Admiral to Vice-Admiral. His contribution in saving the lives of many Marines during the Edd War was spread far and wide and the entire world knew of his strength. Now that Kuzan was a Vice-Admiral, he had gained some freedom to hunt pirates as he wanted. But there were still rules. Nevertheless, Kuzan's fame continued to rise and his future Admiral position was all but guaranteed. 

After one year of becoming a Vice-Admiral, Kuzan was called by Garp. 

"Kuzan, come to G5 there is a fight going on soon.", Garp says to him, not explaining more about it. Kuzan of course went there and when he arrived there, he saw that Garp was just leaving. So he asked Garp what this was about. 

"Roger was seen in Sabaody two days ago. He is bound to appear in the New World soon and when he does, we'll catch him.", Garp said. Kuzan rolled his eyes and couldn't believe that Garp would call him to help with catching Roger. There had to be more behind that, but he didn't care really. The only reason he could think of was that the higher-ups wanted to see how strong he was right now. 

After a week of waiting, they finally got the news of Roger's current location. Immediately Garp was in high spirits and they sailed to the place where he was last seen. And just as expected, they found the Roger Pirates close to Dressrossa. 

.

"Rahahaha Garp are you here to lose again?!", Roger asked from his ship. 

"Bwahahaha no Roger. I'll definitely catch you today."

"You can try, of course, Rahahaha. Everyone ... attack!"

"For Justice!", the Marines screamed and then a fight broke out. Kuzan quickly used his devil fruit to freeze the sea and stop the Oro Jackson from fleeing again. That ship was fast, extremely so and he wanted to stop them from leaving. 

'Ice Age'

The sea froze on a grand scale and offered a platform for the Marines and Pirates to fight on. Garp and Roger went at it right away. Both of them used all of the advanced forms of Haki and their clash caused shockwaves to permeate the surroundings.

Bogard, Garps second in command was usually the second strongest of the Marines when Garp clashed with Roger, but this time he wasn't. So fighting the Vice-Captain of the Roger Pirates, Rayleigh, fell to Kzzan this time. And Rayleigh knew that he had to fight the young Marine. There was just too much damage Kuzan could cause to the crew and the ship with his devil fruit. So the two stood opposite each other on the ice and observed one another. 

"So you're the rising star of the Marines. The one who almost allowed the Marines to enter the Edd War, the Cold Hunter, Kuzan.", Rayleigh said. 

"And you're Dark King, Rayleigh. Nice to meet you.", Kuzan said. He was not scared, he was not worried. He knew that he wouldn't die, but he also knew that winning this fight would be hard. Nonetheless, that's what made it so interesting for him. He smiled and then formed a sword with his Hie Hie no Mi. 

The two looked at each other and then ... both attacked at the same time. 

*BOOM*

Their blades were coated with strong Busoshoku Haki. Rayleigh was surprised by the strength of Kuzan's body and Haki. Such a young man of only 22 years of age, and he could already keep up with the big leagues. 

*Ching*

*Cling*

*BOOM*

They exchanged move after move and both of them tried to cut the other one. It became clear that Rayleigh's experience was higher and it wasn't as challenging for him as it was for Kuzan. But it didn't matter. Kuzan used all his Haki in this fight to the max and could see what Rayleigh wanted to do. Their Future sight was actually on almost the same level. Kuzan was getting stronger lately. 

*BOOOM*

The battle of attrition would not be won by Rayleigh. But fighters in their league knew that it would take days and maybe even a week for a battle of attrition to take place. Now they were both using their full strength. 

*BOOOM*

Rayleigh was the first to decide to up the intensity. He began to use the advanced version of Busoshoku now as well. Up to this point, both fighters had been using the advanced version of Kenbunshoku, Future Sight. Rayleigh swung his sword and applied internal destruction as well as Ryu into the blade. 

Kuzan felt this and did the same. Their Blades clashed and both of them took damage for the first time in this fight. 

*BOOOOM*

Rayleigh only took minor amounts of damage as he coated his chest with Haki as well and applied Ryu to it, to stop the damage. Kuzan didn't do that but when he saw what Rayleigh did, he appreciated it and memorised that for the future. He would do that as well from now on. The damage was healed almost instantly and they continued their fight. 

.

As their fight progressed, something very concerning was getting apparent to Rayleigh ... Kuzan was learning and growing mid-fight. He saw the kid use everything he was using in their fight and he had to admit that the young Marine was strong. So he wasn't playing around at the moment. But he also wasn't going all out. 

Deciding to end this fight sooner than he wanted, Rayleigh unleashed the full power of his Haoshoku Haki on Kuzan. There was a moment when Kuzan was pressured but his own Haoshoku was unleashed to fight this pressure immediately. 

*VVRRRROOOOOOMM*

*VRRROOOOOMMMM*

Lighting was seen in the middle where their wills clashed with one another. Both the Marines and the Pirates stopped what they were doing for a moment and watched as the Vice-Captain of the Roger Pirates, the Dark King Rayleigh was clashing with Kuzan in a battle for Haoshoku Haki. 

Rayleigh was surprised about this development. This young man had such powerful Haoshoku Haki ... the fact that he had it at all was strange but such a powerful one ... that was inexplicable. He wasn't the only one who was impressed and surprised at the same time. Roger, who had been fighting against Garp this entire time, was also intrigued. 

"Rahahaha you have found a strong one this time, Garp.", he says to his rival who has a proud smirk on his face. 

"Bwahahaha, you're not the only one who has a talented disciple. Kuzan will change the Marines in the future."

"Rahahaha, no doubt about it."

.

Rayleigh had regained his composure and took this fight even more seriously. He decided to stop holding back now and pulled his sword back. He stopped pressuring Kuzan and imbued his Haki into his sword. He then took a powerful step forward and flashed towards Kuzan. Then he swung his sword in a powerful swing. 

Kuzan's eyes widened two seconds before Rayleigh arrived in front of him. He saw what would happen and also pulled back his Haki. He pulled back his sword as well and imbued all of his Haki that he could. All of his Busoshoku Haki. He had trained his devil fruit to create a sword capable of handling all of his Haki, so there was no problem there. The only thing that he didn't train in, was the clash with someone who used all of the advanced Haki types. 

He tried to imbue his Haoshoku Haki into his blade but there was no time. He used his Haoshoku Haki in tandem to pressure Rayleigh and their swords then met in the middle. 

*BBBBOOOOOOOOMMM*

"URGH!", Kuzan was clenching his teeth right now. Every muscle in his body was tensed right now and he used all of his strength to push Rayleigh's sword back. This was it ... this was the fight he had been needing. A fight to the 'death' where he was pressured with everything the pirate had and could learn how to use those techniques as well. And there was no better way to learn than to feel them yourself. 

Kuzan pushed and pushed but he was not making a millimetre forward. On the contrary, Rayleigh was the one pushing. But he didn't allow that to happen, he refused that to happen. He tried to push more but then ... the inevitable happened. His ice sword shattered under the pressure of Rayleigh's 'Infusion'. 

*SCHHLLICK*

Rayleigh's sword cut a deep wound into Kuzan and made him shoot backwards through the ice, he had created and into the sea below. 

*BOOOOOOOM*

Rayleigh stopped for a moment and tried to feel for Kuzan's presence. He had flown far away and considering the wound he had given him, he thought that Kuzan wouldn't enter the fight anymore. Normally... Rayleigh would be correct. But Kuzan was not like everyone else. His healing factor was far too powerful. He was immortal, so this wound wouldn't matter to him in the slightest. The only way to get Kuzan out of a fight was to knock him out. 

And well ... Kuzan wasn't knocked out fully.

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Please tell me how you liked the fight.