On the other side of Mogu Town—
Just climbing out of a pit, Burgess frowned tightly when he saw Yonji flying in from the distance and shouted,"Hey! Winch Green! You got a death wish or something? You're not even trying to escape, and you came back? Aren't you afraid of getting killed by that terrifying Marine?!"
"All the ships at the port have been destroyed by that damned Marine. You want me to fly back to the North Blue? Unless we take that guy down, we're all dead! Besides, I was just caught off guard earlier. I didn't even activate my battle suit's transformation mode. I'll show him what Germa tech is really capable of!"
Without even glancing down, Yonji flew past Burgess's head and dashed straight toward the fiercest part of the battle.
On the ground, Burgess's expression shifted repeatedly. In the end, he clenched his fists and gritted his teeth, charging after Yonji toward where Rorschach was.
Just as Yonji said—Without a ship, there was nowhere to go.Swimming away? Not even an option.The sea here wasn't like the calm waters elsewhere in Paradise.
This chaotic sea zone was full of massive Sea Kings and even more terrifying weather phenomena.A sudden up-current or giant whirlpool could kill him before he even realized what happened.
So the only option—was to kill the Marine and hijack their warship.
Burgess sprinted all the way and finally saw the intense battlefield up ahead.
But...
"Can we really even participate in a fight like that?"
Standing at the edge of the battlefield, Burgess and Yonji stared at the clashing forces, their eyes wide with shock.
The buildings in Mogu Town crumbled like paper under the bombardment of lightning and fire.
"Fire Gun!"
Ace formed pistols with his hands and fired wave after wave of blazing fireballs at Rorschach.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh whoosh!The searing balls of fire streaked through the air like rain, heading straight for the charging Rorschach.
Unfazed, Rorschach's body was fully covered in deep-blue Haki. With one swipe of his palm, he whipped up a gust of wind that easily blew away the incoming fireballs.
He stomped the ground and transformed into a blur of lightning, crossing over a hundred meters in an instant. His gleaming black military boots, cloaked in deep-blue Armament Haki, shot toward Ace's face with a vicious kick.
"Armament Haki, huh? I can use it too!"
Ace crossed his arms to block, his forearms darkening with Haki.
Boom!Rorschach's boot slammed into Ace's arms. Ace let out a muffled grunt, feeling as though a giant hammer had smashed his bones. They groaned under the strain, on the verge of snapping.
"Such monstrous strength! Are you even human, you freak?!"
"Flame Ring! Fire Pillar!"
High-temperature orange flames surged from Ace's Haki-covered arms, erupting into a thick column of fire aimed at Rorschach.
Faced with flames reaching thousands of degrees, Rorschach didn't dare be careless. His deep-blue Haki crackled with lightning and formed into a roaring thunder dragon that shot forth, colliding head-on with the fire pillar.
BOOM!The moment lightning met fire, a massive explosion shook the battlefield.
The shockwave blasted both fighters away.
While flying through the air, Ace crossed his fingers to form an "X."
"Cross Fire!"
In the next instant—A compressed fire blast like a high-pressure jet shot out, targeting the airborne Rorschach.
"Not bad use of your powers. Looks like you haven't had the Flame-Flame Fruit for very long."
The air within several hundred meters rushed in around Rorschach, forming invisible hands that caught him and halted his retreat.
His right fist struck out like lightning, crackling with electricity.
BOOM!Wild lightning surged along the incoming fire beam, tearing it apart like it was nothing and blasting toward Ace.
Simultaneously, Rorschach curled his fingers. A swirling vortex of air formed in his palm, becoming a tens-of-meters-long transparent whip of wind.
Sizzle...
Streams of searing white lightning entered the air whip, turning it into a colossal lightning whip.
CRACK!With a snap that split the sky, the massive lightning whip lashed down from above toward Ace.
"Fifty Million Volt Thunder Whip!"
CRACK CRACK CRACK!Ace's body was smashed head-on by the whip and exploded into countless flames, flying toward Rorschach.
Still airborne, Ace spread his fingers wide, and green fireflies of light floated from his fingertips like glowing insects.
"Firefly! Fire Dharma!"
Rorschach didn't even look. With a flick of his lightning whip, he shattered the incoming firefly flames and once again blasted Ace midair.
Scattered firelights rained down, linking together into a sea of flames that raged across the ground.
Suddenly, a flame pillar thicker than a house shot up from the firestorm, transforming into a roaring fire dragon that charged at Rorschach.
Behind the dragon, Ace grinned."Learned this from watching you. I named it 'Flame Dragon: Roar of the Fire Dragon!' What do you think?"
"Meh. All show, no substance."
Rorschach infused a massive amount of lightning into his whip, turning it into a thunder dragon that roared and clashed with the flame dragon.
BOOM!The explosion was deafening. Buildings within several hundred meters disintegrated.
Waves of energy rippled across the ground.
A mighty whirlwind swept through Mogu Town, stirring up a massive sandstorm.
ROAR!ROAR!
The orange flame dragon and shining thunder dragon twined around each other, spiraling skyward.
On the ground, two figures vanished in a flash, fists colliding midair.
BANGBANGBANGBANGBANG!Their fists and feet clashed at lightning speed, like a hurricane of blows.
Ace had solid combat skills and clearly vast experience.
But Rorschach's strength far exceeded his.
As lightning and fire collided again and again, Ace was steadily forced back.
Though he gritted his teeth, he couldn't stop Rorschach's assault.
"Fistbone! Meteor Shower!"
Rorschach landed a punch that sent Ace reeling.
In the next instant, it was as if countless arms sprouted from him, all unleashing punches toward the stunned Ace.
"Ora!"
BOOM!A tidal wave of force crashed down. Thanks to the deep-blue Haki's ability to hit Logia users, Rorschach's blows connected with Ace's real body. Though Ace managed to block one with his right fist, his expression showed no relief.
Because the next instant—A storm of fist shadows blocked out all vision.
"ORAORAORAORAORAORA!"
Rorschach's body sounded like a bowstring pulled taut and snapping—like thousands of bows loosing arrows simultaneously, launching fist after explosive fist.
BOOM BOOM BOOM!BOOM BOOM BOOM!Ace's arm muscles tore, his bones cracked and popped, blood dripped from the corner of his mouth, and he staggered backward until he crashed through the wall of a house.
At last, his arms were blown aside by the overwhelming force.
And Ace could already envision what would happen the next second—
His body was about to be struck by countless crushing punches, each one leaving horrifying, caved-in imprints!
He desperately wanted to turn into his elemental form.
But at some point, the ground beneath the two of them—along with his own legs and body—had become covered in a deep blue sheen.
It was precisely this deep blue sheen that, as his stamina was continuously drained, successfully captured his real body and added an invisible shackle to his flesh.
The shackle wasn't strong.
Ace believed that as long as he fully unleashed the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, he could easily break free.
But at this very moment, there was no time for him to erupt.
Because the Navy boy in front of him attacked like a storm, with no intention of stopping.
Just then, a wall of a nearby building exploded, and a stretched-out chain coiled toward Rorschach's neck.
"Twisting Decapitation!"
At the same time, behind Rorschach, Burgess bent his arm and drove his elbow hard toward the back of Rorschach's neck.
"Unsinkable Warship—Sound Cable Style!"
Boom!"Waaah!"
An unstoppable fist struck Ace squarely in the chest, caving in his muscles and leaving a clear imprint of the punch.
Not only that, but terrifying electricity tore through the muscles and skin, scorching it black and charred. Ace coughed up blood and let out a cry of unbearable pain.
RUMBLE RUMBLE RUMBLE!
His body was blasted away like a cannonball by a single punch, shattering all the buildings in his path. Rorschach's punch launched him several hundred meters, all the way to the harbor of Mogu Town.
Behind Rorschach, just as victorious expressions appeared on the faces of Burgess and Yuji, who had attacked him from both sides—Rorschach's figure vanished.
In the next instant, a whip kick wrapped in dazzling lightning, like a mountain-cleaving guillotine, slashed toward Burgess's thick neck right in front of his terrified eyes.
With the terrifying force propelled by lightning, nothing could stop it—it tore through flesh, ripped muscles, and crushed the spine straight through.
"No..."
Fear filled Burgess's eyes.
Then, his unwilling head flew high into the air, and a massive, headless body spewed a fountain of blood skyward.
Clack!
Rorschach's right hand flashed out and grabbed the chain Yuji had thrown.
Zzzzzzt!Raging electricity rapidly coursed along the chain toward Yuji, whose eyes bulged with dread.
He tried to break the chain.
But it was tougher than ordinary steel.
Forged by his father, Judge, using special metal.
What was once a source of pride—a sturdy chain—had now become a bridge for death to reach him.
CRACKLE!Blinding electricity covered his entire body, sending Yuji into uncontrollable convulsions. His eyes rolled back, foam spewed from his mouth.
After more than ten seconds, black smoke poured from his seven orifices. He collapsed like a log, unmoving—it was unclear whether he was dead or alive.
Whoosh!Rorschach flashed and darted toward the harbor.
At the Harbor—
BOOM!
With a loud crash, Ace's body, flung back, slammed into a concrete pillar at the harbor and exploded into a torrent of flames that sprayed in all directions.
The searing heat swept across the area, forcing the surrounding Navy soldiers to scatter.
The flames quickly reformed into a pale-faced Ace.
He caught a glimpse of Deuce, pinned down by Hibari.
He had other crewmates, but they weren't in Mogu Town—they had gone to other islands to gather supplies.
"I can't mess around with that monster anymore. I must escape—otherwise, I'll never get away!"
Clutching his chest, Ace gritted his teeth. His lower body turned into roaring flames as he shot into the sky, dashing toward Deuce. In midair, he threw a punch at Hibari below.
"Fire Fist!"
The flames surged down like a waterfall, twisting the air with their intense heat, causing both Hibari and Deuce to change expressions.
Hibari let go of Deuce and tried to evade using Shave (Soru), but wasn't fast enough to dodge the fiery torrent from above.
Just then, a transparent hemispherical shield flickered briefly.
Hibari's side-dodging figure vanished in an instant, causing Ace, falling from the sky, to grunt in surprise.
He grabbed the still-dazed Deuce, his lower body again becoming a pillar of fire. He didn't even bother stealing a ship—he just carried Deuce and rocketed toward the distant sea.
Even while carrying someone, the flames propelling Ace from below gave him a powerful thrust, allowing him to speed up and escape farther.
Below, the sea had somehow formed a vast, boundless whirlpool.
In the pitch-black center of the vortex, it seemed some terrifying energy was being stirred.
Behind him, an enormous pressure surged after him—
It was Rorschach!
A sharp sense of crisis made Ace's heart pound wildly, filled with dread.
"Be a good boy and come back to Navy HQ with me, Ace!"
Behind him, Rorschach tore off his shirt, his body beginning to grow as he was about to transform into a Kirin-beast hybrid to crush Ace in one blow.
Suddenly!
The sea below, for thousands of meters around, erupted. Water surged upward.
The entire ocean visible to the eye seemed to be lifted by some colossal creature beneath the surface, arching upward in a massive swell.
Then, with a thunderous roar, the enormous wave exploded into the sky, forming a pillar of water thousands of meters wide that shot toward the heavens.
The sudden change made Rorschach halt and retreat hundreds of meters to narrowly avoid the impact of the water column.
But Ace wasn't so lucky.
Still holding Deuce, he was directly engulfed by the surging column of water.
His ability vanished, his body returned to human form, drained of strength.
Then, he was swept up by the roaring seawater, shooting thousands—even tens of thousands—of meters into the sky.
"Knock-Up Stream?!"
Rorschach's mouth twitched.
He didn't dare charge into the seawater to save them.
And he couldn't catch up either.
The speed of the Knock-Up Stream was terrifying. The spectacular sight resembled a waterfall reversing course, piercing the heavens.
Distant shattered islands quaked violently, as if a massive earthquake had struck.
Elsewhere, Kuli Kai, who was digging a grave to bury his fallen friends, staggered on his weakened legs, then was blown away by the storm stirred up by the Knock-Up Stream and hurled into the chaotic sea behind him.
There was no fear on Kuli Kai's face, nor did he struggle. He let the storm carry him.
He did not fear death—only regretted that he hadn't found the Golden City, to prove that his ancestor Norland hadn't lied 400 years ago.
As he was about to fall into the sea, a sudden rush of air stirred near his ears.
Then he felt his body tighten, as if something invisible had grabbed him and was lifting him into the sky.
Kuli Kai froze. Turning his head, he saw a silver-haired boy watching him gently from afar.
(End of Chapter)
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