Fire Fist Ace's eyes burned with cold killing intent.
Blazing flames erupted around his body.
"Teach… you're beyond saving."
"Fire Fist!"
Ace struck without hesitation.
A torrent of fire burst forth from his clenched fist, surging forward like a tidal wave.
Blackbeard's eyes widened.
Lafitte, Burgess, and the others didn't even have time to react.
The flames swept over them.
"AAAH—!"
Blackbeard screamed and rolled across the ground.
His body was abnormal—capable of bearing two Devil Fruits—but that same body also amplified pain far beyond that of ordinary men.
As everyone knew, the Flame-Flame Fruit rarely killed outright.
Before long, Blackbeard and his crew staggered back to their feet.
Aside from scorched clothes and soot-covered faces, they were largely unharmed.
Panting heavily, Blackbeard glared at Ace.
"Ace… you really haven't changed. Still so impatient."
"Whitebeard never told you, did he? With that personality of yours, you were never fit to achieve anything great."
"He even wanted to push you toward the Pirate King's throne—
hah. The old man must've gone senile."
Before he could finish—
"DON'T SAY HIS NAME!"
Ace roared.
Another Fire Fist exploded outward.
Lafitte and Burgess hurriedly leapt aside.
The flames might not kill, but they hurt.
This time, Blackbeard didn't dodge.
Instead, he stretched out a pitch-black palm.
"Ace… today, I'll teach you a lesson."
"Dark Vortex!"
The darkness swallowed the raging flames whole.
Then Blackbeard thrust his other hand toward Ace.
Ace's expression changed instantly.
His body was dragged forward against his will.
BAM!
Blackbeard's fist slammed into Ace's abdomen.
The impact sent Ace flying straight through a wooden house dozens of meters away.
"Do you see it now, Ace?!"
Blackbeard spread both hands, black smoke curling around his body as he laughed maniacally.
"This is the power of the Dark-Dark Fruit!"
"It nullifies all Devil Fruit abilities!"
"In front of me, your flames mean nothing!"
The Dark-Dark Fruit—
known as the most sinister Devil Fruit in history.
It could strip other Devil Fruit users of their abilities and directly strike the body of Logia users.
In that regard, it resembled Armament Haki—but in a far more brutal form.
Ace wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression grim.
This ability was far beyond what he had anticipated.
"Men—get him!"
Blackbeard showed no sense of honor.
Even if he could defeat Ace alone, it would take time—and why bother, when he could gang up?
Results mattered. Methods did not.
That was Blackbeard's creed.
Surrounded by the full force of the Blackbeard Pirates, Ace fought fiercely—
but with his Flame-Flame Fruit suppressed by darkness, defeat came swiftly.
Seastone shackles snapped shut around his wrists.
Burgess looked down at the unconscious Ace.
"Captain, why not just kill him?"
"If we keep him alive, Whitebeard will definitely come after us."
Despite their grand ambitions, the Blackbeard Pirates were still in their infancy.
The title of World's Strongest Man was not something to take lightly.
Blackbeard grinned.
"No. Whitebeard won't come for us."
"He'll go after the Marines."
"I'm handing Ace over to the World Government."
"In exchange… I'll become a Shichibukai."
Lafitte hesitated.
"But the Seven Warlords are already full. Doflamingo's spot was taken by that man claiming to be Whitebeard's son."
At the mention of that, Blackbeard's smile twisted.
When Doflamingo died, he'd been ecstatic—
finally, an opening.
But before he could act, the position was stolen.
That frustration was precisely why he'd come to this island near Alabasta.
Blackbeard threw his head back and laughed.
"No opening?"
"Then we create one!"
"I've already confirmed it—Crocodile nearly destroyed Alabasta."
"We'll take him down."
"Then we deliver Ace to the Marines."
"Tell me—how could they not make me a Warlord then?!"
Burgess and the others burst into laughter.
"Brilliant, Captain!"
"I've heard Crocodile even took a monster cell. I've been itching to test him!"
Holy Land Mariejois
After meeting Sengoku, the Five Elders went directly to see Imu.
Imu sat upon the Empty Throne.
A being so secretive that only the Five Elders knew of their existence.
Even the Commander-in-Chief, Fleet Admiral Sengoku, and the allied nations were unaware.
Before Imu, the Five Elders knelt.
They reported all recent major events—
Shanks meeting Whitebeard.
The clash between Cybertronians and Pacifista on Punk Hazard.
And Virgos's destruction of Zephyr's Neo Marines.
Three monumental incidents.
Imu cared about only one.
The Cybertronians.
More precisely—
the man who created them.
"That man," Imu asked softly, voice distant and hollow,
"has he been captured?"
The Five Elders lowered their heads further.
"Our apologies, Imu-sama. He remains beyond our reach."
"He stays under Kaido's protection in Wano."
In truth, Roxing had traveled extensively—
Skypiea.
The East Blue.
Loguetown.
Thriller Bark.
But the World Government had failed to trace him.
They didn't even know his true appearance.
The pressure in the room thickened.
Cold sweat poured down the Elders' backs.
Why did Imu value Roxing so highly?
More than Shanks.
More than Whitebeard.
More than Zephyr.
Because Roxing's inventions posed a threat unlike anything before.
Greater than Rocks.
Greater than Gol D. Roger.
On Imu's desk lay Roxing's bounty poster.
Imu drove a blade straight into the center of the image.
"Kill him."
"At any cost."
"And accelerate the search for the Ancient Weapons."
Pacifista had been utterly outclassed.
In military technology, the World Government was falling behind the Beasts Pirates.
That could not be tolerated.
If Vegapunk alone was insufficient—
then only the Ancient Weapons remained.
"Yes, Imu-sama."
The Five Elders withdrew.
That very day, CP0 and CP9 received absolute orders:
Locate the Ancient Weapon—Pluton.
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