"Hehe…"
Ace grinned foolishly as he slowly pushed himself up from the ground. His legs wobbled beneath him, nearly giving out as he staggered, almost collapsing again.
His body was at its limit, teetering on the edge of collapse, yet his eyes still burned with unyielding resolve.
This brutal, no-holds-barred battle had allowed Ace to thoroughly gauge every aspect of Marco's strength.
He now had a complete understanding of Marco's power.
And the Fourth Gear transformation granted by his Gum-Gum Fruit, this was the strongest form Ace could currently control.
If even after exhausting all his techniques and fighting with every ounce of strength, he still couldn't defeat Marco…
Then, he was ready to accept defeat.
After all,
There would be many more chances in the future.
But not today.
Ace lifted his head and looked forward.
From the smoking ruins of the battlefield, Marco slowly emerged, staggering, one unsteady step at a time.
On his forehead, where Ace's punch had landed earlier, a vivid mark still burned with flickering blue flames.
Ace could tell: Marco wasn't in much better shape than he was.
In that moment, he banished all thoughts of giving up.
He clenched his fists and set his resolve:
"Today… I will defeat Marco!"
His eyes gleamed with unwavering confidence. Ace raised his arm into the air. His skin instantly tightened, pressure surging across his body like a tidal wave. A strange sensation, like his blood vessels were expanding, rushed through every pore in his body.
"Second Gear!!"
Steam exploded from his crimson skin once again.
Ace didn't know how much of his lifeblood this would cost him, but he knew one thing,
He could still fight.
─────────🏴☠️────────
"Pops! Those two can't go on much longer!"
A voice shouted from the deck of the Moby Dick.
Several division commanders were growing anxious. This wasn't just a test of strength anymore, this battle had long surpassed the limits of sparring.
If they kept pushing themselves like this…
They would start burning through their life force.
They were all family. A friendly duel shouldn't go this far.
Many commanders were already on edge, eyes locked on Whitebeard, ready to leap in at the first word to stop the fight.
Whitebeard stood silently, gripping his massive naginata. His knuckles whitened, his inner turmoil obvious despite his stoic expression.
And then,
He released his grip.
His deep voice rang out, full of commanding presence:
"No one moves!"
"This is a battle between the two of them."
His words struck like thunder, instantly quelling the commanders' instincts to intervene.
They didn't argue. They never defied Whitebeard's will.
But that didn't stop them from watching the fight with hearts full of worry.
─────────🏴☠️────────
"Marco!!"
Ace suddenly shouted, grabbing Marco's full attention.
Marco's eyes narrowed when he saw the steam pouring from Ace's body once more. In response, his blue flames roared higher, intensifying.
Driven by sheer willpower, Marco forced his wounds to close at astonishing speed.
Seeing this, Ace's lips curled into a determined grin.
He crouched low, his rubbery body compressing like a coiled spring.
With Marco also near his limit, Ace felt a new surge of strength building inside him.
Boom!
In the next instant, Ace launched forward with explosive force. The ground beneath him cracked and shattered, sending dust flying.
He became a blur, a blazing projectile slicing through the air like a meteor, trailing a long tail of steam behind him.
The howling wind screamed in his ears, slicing his thin, overheated skin and leaving deep red gashes in its wake.
But Ace didn't care.
His entire focus was locked on Marco.
Marco's flames began to dim, the injuries fully healed, but his stamina had finally reached rock bottom. He could no longer summon the Phoenix's regenerative fire at full strength.
That was the drawback of Mythical Zoan-type Devil Fruits.
While they granted immense power from the start, their awakening came with far steeper conditions.
Had Marco achieved full awakening, he wouldn't be this battered today.
But even without the fruit's help, Marco didn't believe he was weaker than Ace.
After all,
He was the First Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates.
That wasn't a title just anyone could carry.
As Ace came barreling toward him like an unstoppable force, Marco's forehead veins bulged. He wrapped his entire arm in Armament Haki, a pitch-black armor of will.
Though it was still dark and formidable, the shine had noticeably dulled.
Boom!
With a roar, Marco threw a punch with all the strength he had left.
His fist collided with Ace's charging arm, unleashing a shockwave that sent dust and debris flying, stopping Ace's momentum in its tracks.
But then,
Ace smiled.
A cryptic, sly grin.
Their eyes locked in a fierce gaze. Marco felt something off, then the ground beneath him cracked violently. His feet sank into the shattered earth.
Ace clenched his jaw.
The arm clashing with Marco's began to mutate, swelling as if it had been pumped full of compressed energy.
"Aaaargh!!"
Ace roared in agony, every muscle in his body spasming, veins bulging. He looked like he was enduring excruciating pain.
Then, whoosh, his other arm swung up, gripping the swollen one.
His fingers dug in deep, nails piercing flesh as he shouted with everything he had:
"Gum-Gum… Rebound Cannon!!!"
BOOM!
A devastating force erupted from Ace's bloated arm, equal in power to Marco's own full-strength punch just moments earlier.
Ace had absorbed that blow using his rubber body, stored it in his arm…
And now returned it with interest.
Ignoring the searing pain as his muscles tore, Ace channeled that stored power through his elastic recoil, blasting it back at Marco with terrifying speed and force.
At the same time, his arm was shredded to pieces, blood spraying everywhere.
Without immediate medical attention, that arm might never recover.
It was a brutal, sacrificial move.
An attack that hurt himself even more than it hurt the enemy.
But Ace had no other choice, he couldn't beat Marco with sheer strength anymore.
"Gah!"
Marco, now without his fruit's healing powers, couldn't block a mirrored punch of this scale.
The moment it hit him, he vomited a mouthful of blood and was flung backward like a rag doll.
He smashed through three massive boulders the size of small mountains, finally coming to a stop at the fourth.
The last boulder cracked open like an egg, swallowing Marco into the rubble and burying him in shattered stone.
His head was bloodied. His body was mangled. His eyes rolled back, he had lost consciousness.
"Hah…"
Ace, seeing no movement from Marco, finally let his guard down.
He collapsed to the ground.
His ruined arm soaked the earth beneath him in blood.
"Ace!!"
"Marco!!"
The commanders no longer waited for Whitebeard's command.
They leapt from the Moby Dick and sprinted toward the two fallen warriors.
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