"You despicable human! How dare you use Carol as a shield!" Karkus roared, glaring at Ace. "Put her down and fight me fair and square!"
Ace raised a brow, unimpressed. "Even if you're strong, that's pretty insulting." He lifted Carol lightly in his hand. "I'm not using her as a shield to fight you—I'm holding her because I don't want to fight at all."
"I told you, I have no hostile intentions," Ace added, letting out a sigh.
"Brother Karkus, don't worry about me!" Carol shouted from Ace's grip. "This man came to steal our homeland! You must defeat him!"
Ace blinked, clearly frustrated. "Oi, elf girl, I already told you—I'm not here to steal anything. I just really like this island and want to make it part of my territory."
"See?! He admitted it!" Carol snapped angrily. "He is trying to steal our home!"
"Alright, alright, maybe that sounded bad. Let me rephrase that." Ace waved his hand casually. "Here's the deal. My crew and I came to the New World looking for a place to settle. This island looked perfect—so we figured we'd stay here."
"I just want to live here peacefully as your neighbor. Not conquer you." Ace gestured around. "Come on, the island is huge. You guys are, what, 16 centimeters tall? You can't possibly use the whole island. Sharing a little space won't hurt, right?"
"I refuse!" Carol flew to Karkus's side and huffed. "Brother, the elders told us humans are cunning and dangerous. We can't trust him! He'll pretend to be friendly and betray us later!"
Ace sighed. "Then how about this—think of it as me renting the unused parts of the island. I'll even pay you."
He reached into his pocket and pulled out a white, spiraled shell. "This is a Wind Dial. It can store natural wind and release it on command."
"Watch this." He aimed the Wind Dial at Carol and pressed its center. A sudden gust of wind whooshed out, sending Carol tumbling backward in the air.
"Amazing!" she cried, fluttering back with excitement. Her eyes sparkled as she stared at the shell. "You're really giving me this?!"
"Of course." Ace grinned. "Wind Dials are just one kind of shell from Skypiea. I've got plenty more on my ship. As long as you let us stay, I'll bring more—Flame Dials, Impact Dials, even Heat Dials."
Ace briefly described a few other types of dials from Sky Island. Carol's expression quickly changed from suspicion to fascination.
Clutching the Wind Dial tightly, she turned to her brother with a serious face. "Brother Karkus, I think this human can be trusted. Let's agree to his request!"
"What?" Ace and Karkus both exclaimed, stunned by Carol's sudden 180-degree shift.
Karkus ignored her and turned back to Ace, frowning. "You really intend to stay here?"
Ace nodded. "This island doesn't belong to anyone. The environment is perfect for me. I genuinely like it here."
"You said you had companions, right?" Karkus asked. "You're a Devil Fruit user, so you can withstand the heat of the Sun Tree. But what about your crew? How will they survive in such extreme temperatures?"
From their earlier battle, Karkus had come to respect Ace—especially since Ace never used his left hand while holding Carol.
"You don't need to worry. My ability allows me to absorb and redirect fire. I can clear out areas for my crew to live in without any danger." Ace raised his hand and summoned a small controlled flame.
Karkus studied the flame, silent for a moment. Then he turned and flapped his wings. "Come with me."
"Huh? Where are we going?" Ace followed curiously.
"You want to stay? I'll take you to see the Elders. If they approve, you and your crew may live here."
Karkus led Ace to the base of the largest Sun Tree. A circular arch opened into a hollow at its root.
Landing in front of the entrance, Karkus folded his wings and gestured for Ace to follow.
Inside, a long underground tunnel stretched ahead, lit at intervals by glowing yellow flames. Karkus walked ahead silently. Ace followed behind, while Carol perched on Ace's shoulder, still playing gleefully with the Wind Dial. Every gust she released blew the tunnel flames side to side, making her giggle.
They walked for nearly ten minutes before the tunnel opened into a massive subterranean cavern.
Carol flew off Ace's shoulder and returned to her serious demeanor, tucking the Wind Dial away.
The temperature in the cavern was scorching. Even the flame-adapted elves like Karkus and Carol were sweating.
At the center of the cavern stood a stubby, thick Sun Tree. Unlike others, it had no branches. It tapered like a desk lamp, topped by a giant glowing orb that bathed the area in golden light.
Beneath this peculiar tree sat five elder sun elves, eyes closed, basking in the light.
Ace narrowed his eyes.
Time to negotiate with the real powers of the Sun Elf tribe.
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