Chapter 47 – You Are Developing in the Wrong Direction!
"Pah! Pah! Pah!"
A terrifying force erupted from Lu Yu's body, instantly blowing away the surrounding flames and dust.
He clapped his hands together and stepped forward with a smirk.
"Ace, this kind of attack… it's just the basic move of the Flame-Flame Fruit, right?"
He glanced at the scorched battlefield. "That flashy crap from earlier? That's not your style. Not at all."
"There's gotta be more. Something deeper. Show me what you really got!"
As Lu Yu finished speaking, the air around him rippled with power. The pattern in his eyes spun wildly—Rinnegan in full activation.
Then—boom!—a massive skeletal arm appeared behind him, gripping a long sword. It came crashing down in a single slash.
"Fire Fist!"
Ace shouted, launching a fiery punch with everything he had. But he was already running on fumes.
Those two "Flame Emperor" moves earlier had drained most of his stamina. And now, with Lu Yu unleashing this freakish power, Ace didn't dare hold back anymore.
The fire clashed with the skeletal sword—and was sliced clean in half like it was nothing.
Ace's eyes widened. He couldn't believe it. The flames didn't even slow it down.
Faced with such terrifying force, Ace did the only thing he could—retreat.
"Tsukuyomi!"
Lu Yu raised a hand. In the blink of an eye, a tall humanoid figure materialized in front of Ace.
"Bang!"
Before Ace could even react, Tsukuyomi's fist smashed into him—launching him across the battlefield.
"It's over."
The direction Ace flew in just happened to be right where Lu Yu was standing.
Lu Yu raised Ame-no-Habakiri, his hand cloaked in swirling black Armament Haki.
"Oh my god, you're really gonna kill me!?"
"Bro, chill!"
"I give up! I was wrong, okay?!"
Right as Lu Yu was about to strike, Ace cried out in surrender.
No joke, man—what was he supposed to do? Wait until Lu Yu actually clobbered him before tapping out?
Hell no.
Getting beaten to a pulp just to save face? Not worth it.
Ace knew when to fold. Better to swallow some pride than a mouthful of dirt.
"Bang!"
Tsukuyomi appeared right where Ace landed, catching him mid-fall and gently placing him down on the ground.
Then it calmly walked back behind Lu Yu.
"That thing… is also your ability?"
Ace stared at the tall, armored spirit standing behind Lu Yu. It looked human, sure, but his Observation Haki told a different story.
That wasn't a person.
And that same eerie aura? It matched the one coming off the ship—Susanoo.
No wonder Ace had that weird gut feeling during their fight.
"My guardian spirit weapon," Lu Yu said casually. "His name's Tsukuyomi."
"Anyway, I think the fight just now cleared up a few things, yeah?"
"Whether it's strength or age—I'm clearly the big brother here."
He grinned. "You better go tell Luffy that, or I might have to knock some sense into him too."
"Haha… That kid Luffy, huh?"
Ace chuckled, shaking his head.
"But for real—why didn't you show this kind of power earlier? If I'd known how strong you were back then, we could've gone to sea together! Hell, we might've even had a shot at taking down Dad!"
Lu Yu waved him off.
"Nah. You still need to be Whitebeard's son."
"But hey—even if you're not on my crew, even if you sail a different path…"
"You can still shout to the sea: Lu Yu, captain of the Dragon Hunter Pirates, is my brother!"
Ace rolled his eyes, smirking. "Man, you really love hyping yourself up, don't you?"
The two of them laughed and walked side by side back to the Extremely Evil Warship.
But as soon as they stepped aboard, Lu Yu's tone turned serious.
"Ace," he said flatly, "you've been developing in the wrong direction."
That caught Roelki's attention. He was carrying supplies nearby and immediately froze.
Lu Yu rarely spoke about Devil Fruit abilities—especially his own. Most people on the crew figured he didn't even have a Devil Fruit, since he wasn't affected by seawater.
Roelki had assumed Lu Yu's power came from something else entirely.
So hearing him talk about development direction now? Yeah, that was worth stopping for.
"Wrong direction?" Ace raised an eyebrow. "I mean… I feel like I've been doing pretty well. My strength's gone up a lot."
"But lately… yeah, I've hit a wall. Feels like my Flame Emperor techniques just drain me too fast."
"Way too much stamina burn. I can't keep them up in a drawn-out fight."
He scratched his head, frustrated. "I'm stuck, man."
If anyone else had said that, Ace would've brushed it off.
But Lu Yu? He clearly knew what he was talking about.
During their fight, he'd picked apart Ace's ability usage almost instantly—and kept pointing out its flaws.
There was no denying it now.
"Your fruit is Logia-type—Flame-Flame Fruit," Lu Yu said. "Its core is simple: control and enhancement of flames."
"But you focused way too much on control."
"You barely scratched the surface on enhancement."
He leaned back, voice calm and precise.
"The true strength of fire can be summed up in two things: temperature and burning."
"High temperature brings destructive force."
"And burning—true burning—means leaving damage that lingers."
Ace tilted his head. "Temperature and burning?"
"But my Flame Emperor already has insane heat."
"And my Fire Fist? It sticks to enemies and explodes. Isn't that burning?"
He looked puzzled. This wasn't news to him.
He had thought of these things before when developing his moves.
So why did it sound different coming from Lu Yu?
"You're not wrong," Lu Yu nodded. "You've developed both."
"But you've been chasing style over substance."
"All your moves—they're flashy, huge, overwhelming. You could call it 'violent aesthetics.'"
"But Ace—have you ever stopped to think about efficiency?"
"In real battles, it's not about how cool your moves look. It's about survival."
"It's about putting down your enemy—fast, clean, absolute."
"Only after that can you worry about flair."
His tone was low, but firm.
And Ace knew he was right.
His journey had been… smooth. Too smooth.
After defeating a few strong opponents, Whitebeard himself had offered to take him in.
From there, Ace became the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.
With that title alone, most people wouldn't even dare fight him—even if they could win.
That status gave Ace a sense of invincibility. False confidence.
He didn't need to push himself. He didn't have to evolve.
But now?
Ace clenched his fists.
It had been years since he became Second Division Commander.
And his strength?
It hadn't changed much at all.
No breakthroughs.
No growth.
He'd been floating. Stagnating.
And Lu Yu just slapped him in the face with the truth.
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