"Ooh? A sword with the power of ice?"
"That's cool, but I am an ice man myself!"
Kuzan was actually pleased rather than frightened when he saw the icy gleam of the Frostbane Sword. With a sudden motion, he crossed his arms and unleashed his attack.
Countless ice spears shot toward Hammer.
Hammer grinned, swinging the Frostbane in his hand.
He might not have formal sword training, but he did have a rather wild and brutal sword style from his past life.
Its name: Blind Hack-and-Slash!
Relying on the sheer durability of Frostbane, Hammer slashed through the barrage of spears with brute force, smashing them all into shards and dispersing them into nothing.
"Ice balls! Ice Bow!"
Kuzan formed an icy bow in front of his chest, launching a volley of freezing arrows.
This series of flashy attacks left both Hammer and Zephyr silent.
"Kuzan... don't you think your attacks are kind of..."
Hammer couldn't hold it in anymore as he slashed down more ice.
"Kind of what? Awesome, right?"
"Hahahahaha! I knew it! My attacks are powerful and elegant!"
"They're kind of... pointless."
Zephyr finally couldn't stand it and yelled from the sidelines, stunning Kuzan into silence.
"Pointless?! No way!"
"Yes, pointless! You idiot! Hammer, teach him a lesson!"
Hammer nodded. He was thinking the same thing.
'What a waste of a perfectly good Devil Fruit... this was just embarrassing.'
"Kuzan, remember this, attacks aren't some dance performance. No one cares how pretty they look; they care how much damage they do!"
"Razor Dash! Chain Slash!"
With an explosive burst under his feet, Hammer charged forward at high speed, shattering all the ice in his path.
Then he slashed multiple times across Kuzan's body.
A second later, Kuzan shattered into pieces of ice.
"Attack is all about speed, precision, and power. The goal is to take your opponent down, not to look pretty doing it."
As he lectured, Hammer slashed again, breaking the reassembling Kuzan back into chunks of ice.
Zephyr looked on, clearly satisfied.
"Hmph! Don't underestimate me!"
"Even if I'm turned into an element, I can still strike back!"
Countless shards of ice turned into icy drills, shooting at Hammer.
"Now that move's not bad… but still not enough!"
Matching him with his own ice powers, Hammer swung Frostbane, conjuring four ice walls around himself and shielding from the drills. The projectiles shattered completely upon impact.
"You're strong, Hammer!"
"Let's go again! Ice Soul Bow!"
Back in human form, Kuzan tried again, launching another attack, while Hammer just stared at him, deadpan.
"This is getting boring."
"Let me tell you something. I, Hammer, am a blacksmith. I'm all about hammers, not swords!"
Kuzan looked confused… until he saw what Hammer meant.
"Chest-Shattering Hammer!"
A thunderous clang rang out as Hammer smashed his own chest with his fist.
A shockwave erupted and swept out visibly to the eye, vaporizing every bit of ice in its path.
But Hammer wasn't stopping.
He sheathed Frostbane and coated both fists with glistening black Armament Haki.
"Kuzan, did you know? I just beat a Logia user not long ago."
"Logias aren't invincible. Don't forget that."
Using soru to close the distance instantly, Hammer appeared right above Kuzan and threw down a heavy punch infused with Haki.
"Not good! Ice Shield!"
Kuzan responded quickly and formed a shield of ice.
His punch shattered the ice shield.
A scream, followed by the sound of something heavy hitting the ground.
Kuzan lay on the floor, eyes rolled back, unconscious and defeated.
"Sigh... still too green."
Hammer looked down at the fallen Kuzan, sighing. He grabbed him and, with a dash, brought him over to Zephyr.
"The fruit's great. The kid's got talent."
"Just... a few screws loose up here."
Zephyr nodded in agreement.
"It's fine. He's young. There's time to fix that."
"I'll go talk to Garp and get some background on the kid."
"You take him back to your place. I'll drop by later."
Hammer rolled his eyes.
"Fine. But bring your own food. I'm not going shopping."
"You brat. Can't you cook one meal for your teacher?"
"It is hard! At that time, we could just eat at the mess hall. I've got forging to do!"
"Hmph! Forget forging! Eating comes first. Just us two, well, three now, counting Kuzan. I'll send some ingredients to your place!"
"Fine, fine, but just the three of us! No more!"
Zephyr vanished in a flash, while Hammer carried the unconscious Kuzan home.
A three-meter-tall guy hauling another three-meter-tall guy? Quite the sight.
"YOU LYING OLD BASTARD! THIS IS 'THREE PEOPLE'?!"
Hammer's roar shook the courtyard as he glared at the uninvited guests:
"Hahahaha! Hammer, your cooking's too good! I was craving it so badly, I brought ingredients!"
"Fresh Sea King meat! The best of the best!"
Garp beamed, pointing at the massive pile of Sea King meat nearby.
"Well, it's rare for you to be out of the arsenal. Just thought I'd join for a meal."
"I even brought a twenty-year-old wine! I've been hiding it for years!"
Tsuru smiled, placing a fine wine bottle on the table.
"Everyone brought something, huh? Luckily, I brought this top-quality smoked ham! Straight from Mariejois! Special reserve!"
Old man Kong proudly placed a huge ham on the table.
"...What are you looking at?"
All eyes turned to Zephyr, waiting to see what he had brought.
Blushing, Zephyr pulled several bottles from under his coat. "Sherry! Take it or leave it!"
Tsuru: "Zephyr, really now..."
"I didn't know everyone was bringing stuff! Anyway, I did send someone to deliver food to Hammer, too."
He pointed at the fresh vegetables and meat on the side.
"Hammer, you're too cool! Is your cooking really that amazing?!"
"Vice Admiral Garp, Fleet Admiral Kong, Vice Admiral Tsuru, and Zephyr-sensei all love it that much?"
"I wanna try too! Hammer, please!"
'What the hell kind of karmic punishment is this?!'
Unhinged High-Ranking Marine +1 Future addition
If you enjoy the story, my p@treon is 15 chapters ahead.
[email protected]/DaoistJinzu