After nearly killing Cudius with a single blow, a flicker of surprise crossed Shiki's eyes. Then, with clear frustration, he sneered, "I thought you were something special. Turns out you're just a silver-pted weakling."

  Shiki had initially assumed that the person who mao nd a blow on him had to be someone formidable, especially after seeing Cudius standing there so fidently. The air ahe calm demeanor it all fooled him into thinking Cudius was a legitimate threat. Even Sengoku, usually sharp, seemed to misjudge the situation, likely because of the way Cudius presented himself.

  But now? Shiki was irritated. He, the feared Golden Lion, had allowed himself to get scratched by some nobody. A mistake like this could damage his reputation. In a world of pirates, where status and image were everything, this was no minor matter. If wot out, how could he maintain his standing as a top dog?

  Furious at being caught off guard, Shiki readied his sword to finish Cudius off. But before he could strike, Sengoku unched atack, f Shiki to deal with the Marine Admiral instead.

  Still feeling the aftereffects of Sengoku's st blow his internal ans had taken a good hit Shiki realized this wasn't the time to push his luck. Sengoku wasn't a small fry. If they tio go head-to-head like this, especially without the clear advantage of air superiority, Shiki could be in serious trouble.

  Sengoku, oher hand, was just as furious. If Shiki had killed Cudius, the sequences would have been catastrophic. Going baariejois without him? Sengoku might as well put up the pirate fg and prepare for a swift execution. But seeing Cudius still alive, albeit shaken, gave Sengoku some relief. At least they had avoided the worst-case sario.

  Meanwhile, Stussy was helping Cudius back to his feet, pulling him out of the shattered deck. "Yhness, that was reckless! Shiki might not have noticed you earlier, but now you've practically thrown yourself into his crosshairs! Are you alright?"

  Cudius, still wobbly but regaining his bance, gave her a lopsided grin. "I'm fine. A bit winded, but nothing serious. Just ran out of steam, that's all…"

  Even as he spoke, Cudius could feel his strength returning rapidly, his body rec at araordinary pace. His legs, which had been trembling from the impact of Shiki's attack, were now feeling much steadier. "Zero Hour Mizu," he thought to himself.

  When he had first ied this strange power, Cudius assumed it could only be used at specific times, as its name suggested. But after much experimentation, he had realized that the power had transformed along with his physical capabilities. Instead of being a fixed store of energy, the Zero Hour Mizu allowed him to rapidly replenish his stamina and strength, drawing from the reserves he had built over the years. This meant that as long as he didn't overextend himself, he could recover from exhaustion in no time.

  Smiling to Stussy, Cudius tinued, "I thought I might be able to kill or severely wound Shiki with that st hit, but I uimated him. He's not just any pirate; he's one of the most feared men on the seas. It was foolish of me to think I could bring him down so easily."

  Stussy sighed, relieved that Cudius was rec but still ed about his safety. "Even so, Yhness mao injure him, and that created a window for Sengoku and the others to press their attack. It wasn't for nothing."

  Cudius houghtfully. "True. And I've learned a bit more about his weaknesses. He's powerful, but he's not invincible. He relies on his air superiority. If I just disrupt that…" Cudius trailed off, a pn f in his mind.

  Stussy, notig the shift in his tone, looked at him curiously. "You have another idea, don't you? What are you pnning now?"

  Cudius grihat same glint of mischief returning to his eyes. "Remember, I'm not just any noble. I ate a Devil Fruit, and not just any Devil Fruit. I have powers that could shift the tides in our favor."

  Stussy raised an eyebrow, still unsure. "But I've rarely seen you use your abilities, and none of what I've seen so far seems like it could stop someone like Shiki."

  Cudius let out a fident ugh. "That's because I haven't had to go all out yet. You fot, Logia users are some of the most dangerous in the world. There's a reason we're sidered the stro of the three Devil Fruit types. Watch this."

  With that, Cudius took a deep breath and raised his hand toward the sky, as though he were reag out to grasp something invisible. Immediately, Stussy felt a shift in the air around them. The wind, which had beeively calm, began to stir, and a powerful force radiated from Cudius's body.

  The sky above the battlefield darkened, clouds swirling and densing as the wind picked up speed. Cudius, wielding the power of the Nitrogen-Nitrogen Fruit, was drawing orogen imosphere, maniputing it to create a cye high above. The air pressure began to drop, and soon a powerful vortex formed in the sky, pulling the clouds into its growing spiral.

  Shiki, still dodging attacks from Sengoku and Polusalino, suddenly felt the shift. His instincts screamed at him, and he gnced down toward the source of the disturbance. What he saw made his blood boil. That same young man, the one he had dismissed as a nobody, was now juring a storm.

  "No way… this brat trol the weather?!" Shiki snarled, his fury rising.

  The Golden Lion's greatest fear was a storm. His Devil Fruit gave him incredible trol over floating objects, but in a fierce storm, his precision and stability would be severely promised. It was his one signifit weakness, and now it was being exploited.

  Sengoku noticed the sudden ge in Shiki's demeanor and grinned. "Looks like the tables have turned, Shiki! Yreatest advantage is now ygest weakness!"

  Shiki, already feeling the powerful winds tugging at his trol, realized that the longer he stayed, the worse it would get. Evading another one of Sengoku's shockwaves, he snarled, "Don't get cocky, Sengoku. You might've pushed me back today, but this isn't over! Sooner or ter, I'll crush you all, Marines and your precious Celestial Dragons included!"

  Without wasting another sed, Shiki turned and shot upward, fleeing the battlefield with as much speed as he could muster. He knew when to cut his losses. He might have taken a few hits, but his pride was still intact. There would be another day for revenge.

  Cudius watched from the deck as Shiki made his retreat, a look of surprise crossing his face. "Well, I didn't expect him to retreat that quickly. Guess he's smarter than I gave him credit for."

  Sengoku returo the ship shortly after, shaking his head. "It's a shame we couldn't capture him. We had a real ce today."

  Cudius, still catg his breath, shrugged. "Holy, we're lucky to be alive. If you think about it, we're not equipped to take him dht now. At least not without losing half the fleet."

  Sengoku let out a tired sigh but nodded. "You're right. It's better this way. We'll fight him another day."

  With Shiki gone, Kuzan and Sakazuki worked together to thaw the ice surrounding the ships, allowing the fleet to return to its inal course. They had narrowly escaped disaster.

  Ba the , Sengoku turo Cudius with an appreciative smile. " After thinking it through, Sengoku realized that without Cudius on board, the situation would have been very different. If not for Cudius' presehe Marines would have likely avoided a direter with Shiki altogether. At the very least, they would have had an easier time retreating rather thaing tangled in this dangerous battle.

  No Shiki, no near-death experieno battle at all, just a straightforward, albeit frustrating, search for John on illo Isnd. After releasing a Buster Call and ing up empty, Marine would've stuck around to scour the ptil they found something or finally gave up.

  In that sario, Shiki might not have even bothered with them. He wouldn't have had any reason to pick a fight, and the Marine fleet could have avoided this entire deadly frontation.

  Sengoku shook his head at the thought, sighing internally. This was one of those moments where everything seemed to spiral out of trol for no good reason. But, dwelling on what could've been wasn't going to ge anything. Best to focus on what actually happened.

  With that, Sengoku shifted gears and gave a tired smile. "Regardless, it's fortunate we had your help today. I didn't expect you to have the ability to manipute the weather like that. Your power is..."

  "Nitrogen," Cudius interrupted with a casual smile. "To put it simply, I trol the nitrogen in the air. Si's an invisible gas and makes up most of the atmosphere, I use it to influehe climate, at least to a certaient."

  Sengoku could tell Cudius didn't want to go into too much detail about his power, and respected that boundary. He nodded, deg not to press further. "Well, your trol over it is remarkable. Without you here, it's hard to say how much worse today could have gone. Shiki is always difficult to deal with, but you really tipped the scales."

  While Sengoku expressed his gratitude, Cudius couldn't help but feel a bit flicted. If not for his involvement, Shiki likely wouldn't have attacked in the first pce. Cudius' mere presen the ship had drawn attention to the fleet, and that attention had nearly gotten them all killed.

  After all, if Sengoku and the others had been on illo Isnd as inally pnned, sc the ground for any sign of John, Shiki probably wouldn't have cared enough to intervehere wouldn't have been any reason for him to pick a fight with the Marines, especially one as serious as this.

  But there was no point in bringing that up now. What mattered was that they survived and they even mao push Shiki babsp;