Banaro Island.
The wind swept dust across the quiet streets as a group of men walked slowly forward.
Leading them was a rough-looking man, his thick body hair exposed beneath his unbuttoned shirt. A vicious scar stretched from his shoulder down across his abdomen, lending him a particularly intimidating air.
Flanking him were a rifle-toting sniper, a strange man with a cane, a towering wrestler, and a sickly-looking figure slouching atop a donkey.
It was none other than the Blackbeard Pirates, led by Marshall D. Teach.
After their encounter with Kojin in the waters near Mock Town, they had drifted from island to island before finally dropping anchor at Banaro Island. By now, most of their injuries had healed.
It was time to move on and hunt down their next target.
The group walked in silence, exchanging hardly a word, entirely oblivious to the freckled young man perched on a nearby rooftop. Wearing an orange cowboy hat, he stared down at them with cold, unwavering eyes.
Then, he broke the silence.
"Hey, Teach!"
The sudden call shattered the quiet, and the Blackbeard Pirates instantly snapped their gazes upward.
Teach reacted first, his face breaking into a wide, surprised grin. "Ace!"
"What a pleasant surprise! Have you come to join us? With your power added to ours, we could turn the whole world upside down!"
Ace stared back, completely expressionless. He truly couldn't fathom how Teach's mind worked. The man had murdered a crewmate and fled, yet when confronted by the division commander sent to bring him in, his first instinct was to recruit him.
This was also the very man Kojin had explicitly warned him about, the man Kojin said he was no match for.
Yet, after spending years together aboard Whitebeard's ship, Ace believed he understood Teach better than anyone, including the full extent of his strength.
"We're planning to capture Straw Hat Luffy next," Teach boomed, laughing heartily. "Then we'll hand him over to the World Government. In exchange, we'll gain unimaginable status and prestige!"
"Luffy?" Ace's eyes turned icy. "Are you out of your mind, Teach? That's my little brother."
Flames began to flicker along his shoulders and arms, his voice dropping to a dangerous chill. "It seems I definitely can't let you leave here alive."
The moment Luffy was dragged into this, Ace had already sentenced the entire Blackbeard crew to death.
Without a word of warning, Van Augur raised his rifle and pulled the trigger.
'Bang!'
Flames flared across Ace's torso as the bullet passed harmlessly through him, the coldness in his eyes deepening. At the same time, Jesus Burgess leaped high into the air, hurling his massive frame toward Ace.
In an instant, a massive pillar of fire erupted from Ace, engulfing Burgess entirely.
"Just like that man... he's a Logia user," Van Augur said grimly. Having personally witnessed the terrifying nature of Logia abilities, he couldn't suppress a natural sense of dread.
"Hold your fire!" Teach suddenly barked, as if snapping out of a trance. He turned to Ace, his expression almost anxious. "Ace, we can work together! We've fought side by side so many times before. If the two of us join forces, we can shake the world to its very core!"
Ace looked down at him with cold disdain. No matter what Teach said, he could never trust a man capable of murdering his own comrade.
"Teach."
"After what you did, do you really think you can just act like nothing happened?"
"I came here for one reason: to bring you back myself. Dragging you to kneel before Pops and repent is the final mercy I can offer you."
Teach's smile stiffened for a fraction of a second before he forced another laugh. "Is that so? That's a real shame. We could have ruled the world together. We might have even surpassed Whitebeard."
Ace had zero interest in further talk. Raising his hands with fingers shaped like pistols, he unleashed a barrage toward the group below.
"Fire Gun!"
Flaming projectiles shot out instantly, forcing the Blackbeard Pirates to scatter.
The battle had officially begun.
Marshall Teach stopped hiding his power. Black smoke began rising from his body, and a sinister smirk spread across his face.
"Ace!"
"If that's how it's going to be, then I'll just change my plans and capture you instead!"
"It wasn't my original goal, but it serves the exact same purpose!"
Ace sneered. "Try it if you can!"
The next second, he launched himself forward, leaping high into the air. Flames roared around his arm, coalescing into a massive, burning fist as he swung downward with crushing force.
Teach's expression darkened. Spreading his fingers, a swirling black vortex erupted in his palm as he violently pulled against the air.
"Dark Water!"
'Buzz!'
The air trembled strangely. Ace's body jolted, and before he could react, an overwhelming gravitational force yanked him forward. His expression shifted instantly; he tried to fight the pull, but found it impossible to resist.
There was no escaping it.
In a flash, Teach's hand clamped down tightly onto his shoulder.
"Zehahahaha!"
"Ace, do you know why I spent decades hiding aboard Whitebeard's ship?"
"It was all to get my hands on the most fearsome Devil Fruit in history!"
"This power... is the natural enemy of all Devil Fruit users!"
Still laughing maniacally, Teach drew back his free fist and drove it mercilessly into Ace's chest.
'Boom!'
The sheer force exploded through Ace's torso, sending him flying backward. A sickening crack echoed as several ribs shattered.
In their very first exchange, he was already severely injured, and the terrifying reality of Teach's power left him deeply shaken. The moment Teach touched him, his Devil Fruit abilities had been completely neutralized.
Ace wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, his expression turning deathly serious. Then, his eyes locked onto the long, jagged scar stretching across Teach's body.
"Most fearsome power in history, huh?" Ace let out a cold laugh. "Then tell me, if your ability is really that invincible, who beat you badly enough to leave a mark like that?"
The moment those words left Ace's mouth, the smirk vanished from Teach's face. For an instant, raw fear and rage flashed across his features before he quickly forced his composure back, bursting into laughter once more.
"Zehahahaha!"
"Ace, the world you see is fundamentally different from the one I see!"
"To stand before that monster, walk away with a wound like this, and still live to tell the tale, that's the highest honor imaginable!"
He pointed proudly to the scar spanning his torso. "This scar is a strong man's medal!"
There wasn't a trace of shame in his voice. On the contrary, he wore the mark like a badge of pride.
"Oh?" Ace sneered. "Then mind telling me that man's name?"
"Kojin!" Teach roared. "The man who once fought Whitebeard at his absolute peak to a standstill!"
"And if you ask me... the Kojin of today has likely already surpassed Whitebeard. He is, without a shadow of a doubt, the strongest man in the world!"
"To stand before the world's strongest and escape with only a single scar... that alone is absolute proof of my strength!"
Ace's eyes narrowed. In that moment, his assessment of Teach's actual strength climbed to an entirely new level.
"Is that so?" Ace's voice dropped low as he leaned forward, every muscle in his body coiling tight. "Then you really have been hiding your true power all these years."
Teach blinked, caught off guard. "You know him?"
"Him?" A strange, unreadable tone crept into Ace's voice. "Of course I know him."
The next instant, Ace shot forward, re-engaging in a violent clash.
The duel between the two roared back to life, tearing through Banaro Island and leveling everything in its path.
---
By the time the dust settled, Ace lay collapsed on the ground, barely conscious.
Marshall Teach towered over him, his wild laughter echoing across the ruined landscape.
"Zehahahaha!"
"Ace, you vastly underestimated my power!"
"From this day on, you'll be the stepping stone that launches me onto the world stage!"
"And you'll be the ultimate gift I present to the World Government to climb even higher!"
Ace glared up at him with furious eyes, but his body refused to move.
In the fading light of his consciousness, Kojin's warning resurfaced in his mind. 'He really was no match for Marshall Teach.'
Had Kojin foreseen all of this from the very beginning?
The only regret Ace carried was that he hadn't listened. He had no idea what would happen next, nor that his capture would set off a shockwave powerful enough to tear the world apart. All he felt was a heavy, suffocating dread as darkness consumed his vision.
The last sound to reach his ears was Teach's arrogant laughter, harsh, triumphant, and impossible to drown out.
From this moment on, the gears of fate began to grind forward. And somewhere far across the sea, the storm that would soon engulf the world had already begun to gather.
---
Marineford.
"You need a batch of Vice Admiral promotion slots?" Sengoku asked, looking up at Kojin with clear curiosity.
"That's right," Kojin nodded smoothly.
"You realize Vice Admirals are the core foundation of Headquarters," Sengoku said, a faint smile on his face. "Every single promotion is a matter of critical importance."
"Of course," Kojin replied cleanly. "Their strength is more than sufficient for the rank."
"That's quite a bit of confidence." Sengoku chuckled.
"With good reason," Kojin said, offering a slight smile. "Every one of them has mastered both Armament and Observation Haki. On top of that, several have already awakened their Devil Fruits."
"If we're bracing for the war ahead, we shouldn't keep holding capable officers back with rigid rank requirements. Those with the power should be placed where they can do the most good."
What Kojin failed to realize was just how utterly absurd those words sounded to the Fleet Admiral.
Sengoku's eyes widened in sheer disbelief. "Awakened? Did you just say Devil Fruit Awakening? 'And' they've mastered both forms of Haki?"
Under Sengoku's stunned, frozen glare, Kojin gave a calm, casual nod.
"Correct. Buggy and Rosinante have both achieved Awakening. Kuina's swordsmanship has officially reached the level of a Great Swordsman. As for Crocodile..."
"If he goes all out, he won't be trailing behind an Admiral."
Silence fell over the office, a long, heavy silence.
It took quite some time for Sengoku to finally draw a deep, ragged breath.
"Give me a minute to process that," he admitted openly, massaging his temples. "I'm actually getting dizzy."
The sheer magnitude of the revelation had left the Fleet Admiral completely speechless.
(End of Chapter)
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