"Stop attacking, I didn't come here to fight," Aokiji raised his hand in a gesture of peace, though a slight concern flickered across his face. "Robin, I know you don't want to hurt anyone anymore, but you must understand the situation is more complicated than you think. The World Government has placed an even higher bounty on your head since… well, since you joined them."
Robin took a step back, tension visible in her expression.
"Maybe you don't want to fight… but I can't wait to try!"
Noah jumped from the ship's deck, and with a gentle push, the Ragnarok drifted over a hundred meters away from where the two were standing.
Beneath Aokiji's feet, the seawater began to freeze rapidly. At the same time, wooden roots sprouted from Noah's feet, quickly forming a platform beneath him. Within seconds, a vast island began to form around them.
Aokiji watched as massive roots surged from the ocean, intertwining to create large trees and structures, shaping an entirely new landscape. Half of the terrain was covered in ice, with mountains and jagged peaks, while the other half was a lush forest, full of towering trees and living roots that moved with a will of their own.
Aokiji and Noah exchanged a brief look before charging at each other.
"So this is what you've got…" Aokiji remarked, raising one hand in a swift motion, releasing a wave of ice that rapidly grew into a snowstorm, covering Noah's trees in frost.
Crystals of ice fell with force, but Noah didn't flinch. With a simple hand motion, the roots rose to defend against the attack, absorbing the impact of the frozen projectiles.
The trees began to shift, taking on a more aggressive form as if they were alive. A massive trunk lifted and launched itself toward Aokiji, who reacted quickly and dodged the strike.
"Interesting," Aokiji muttered as he kicked through the air at great speed, evading the blow with surprising agility. "But what good is all this wood if you can't even hit me?"
Noah wasted no time. With another gesture, the forest roots rose and wove into a net that surrounded Aokiji. Instantly, the ice beneath began to crack and deform under the pressure of the tightening roots.
Aokiji reacted swiftly, releasing a wave of freezing air that solidified the roots, halting them temporarily.
"Your ice is impressive," Noah said, "but it's not enough to stop me."
Aokiji ignored him and raised his hand, forming gigantic icicles that looked like icy mountains.
With a wave of his hand, Noah summoned a series of colossal trees from the ground that stretched toward the ice mountains, crushing them with surprising force.
Seeing this, Aokiji raised both arms and unleashed a massive ice storm that blanketed the battlefield. The freezing winds ravaged the roots, but Noah countered by summoning more trees to shield the land.
The battle raged on in a fierce exchange of ice and wood, with neither side giving ground.
Finally, with a shout, Aokiji released all his energy, unleashing a blizzard so immense it seemed to engulf the entire battlefield.
But Noah, with a calm smile, used one of his roots to erect a giant wooden wall that withstood the storm. The impact was colossal, yet Noah remained unshaken.
"I've tested how strong an elemental-type kekkei genkai is compared to a Logia Devil Fruit… While it may lack the versatility granted by the fruit, using chakra as an energy source makes my Mokuton stronger than the powers of a Logia user who relies only on physical energy."
Aokiji, preparing to engage in close combat using Rokushiki and Armament Haki, suddenly tensed. His Observation Haki alerted him to an imminent threat.
The Noah standing in the distance vanished into thin air, and to his right, a giant skeletal hand materialized.
Before he could react, the skeletal hand grabbed him and slammed him into the ground multiple times.
Before he knew it, he was completely unconscious.
"Let's test my new experiment."
The skeletal hand extended one of its claws, which became ghostly before plunging into Aokiji's stomach and pulling something from inside.
The unconscious Marine awoke from the searing pain, only to be knocked out again by another strike from the skeletal fist.
Noah took out a fruit, and the cold energy mass floating above the claw instinctively drifted toward it, turning it into a Devil Fruit.
What Noah had extracted from Aokiji's body was the essence of his Devil Fruit.
"Looks like I really can extract a fruit from a person without killing them."
Noah then turned his gaze to the unconscious Aokiji and placed his fingers on his head, beginning to extract all of his memories.
Once he was done, he left Aokiji lying there and returned to his ship. He didn't care that Aokiji was still alive—having the Marines pursue him was to his advantage.
That way, rare Devil Fruits would come right to his doorstep.
"Noah, you…"
"Don't worry, I only knocked him out."
Robin relaxed a little at those words and gave the unconscious Aokiji a complicated look before turning her gaze away.
"Anyway, first, you two take this."
Noah extended multiple threads from his forehead, which condensed into two seeds. He sent one to Zoro and one to Robin.
The two hesitated for a moment, unsure of what to do, but the seeds simply flew to their foreheads and melted into their glabella.
A torrent of information began pouring into their minds a second later. It contained knowledge of both Observation and Armament Haki that Noah had obtained from Enel and Aokiji, along with the Rokushiki techniques.
He also transmitted to Zoro many taijutsu techniques centered around sword combat.
Both of them closed their eyes and began to absorb the information as Noah steered the ship toward the next island.