On the frontline maritime battlefield of Ice Island, Fire Fist Ace unleashed violent, unbridled flames from both hands, setting the entire area ablaze.
The sun beat down fiercely as light seemed to lose all resistance and filtration—igniting atmospheric currents and scorching the coastal sands until everything in sight warped into an illusory mirage.
Following his direct punch against Ace, Charlotte Oven felt a lingering stiffness creeping through his muscles.
"High-Heat Slash!"
Oven lunged forward, channeling the powers of his Heat-Heat Fruit (Netsu Netsu no Mi) to superheat the broadsword in his grip before driving a heat-shrouded cleave straight toward his foe.
Ace unleashed another Fire Fist. The moment his blazing punch landed, concentric shockwaves of searing red-and-white flame rippled outward. Amplified by immense core heat, the blast stretched into an unending wave of destruction.
The fiery ripples tore through Oven's thermal blade, swallowing the surrounding perimeter into a surging sea of crimson and black.
Under the crushing impact of Ace's punch, the superheated blade in Oven's hands detonated violently. Wave after wave of fiery shockwaves erupted across a sixty-meter radius centered on Ace, bombarding Oven with relentless, suffocating pressure.
Right at that moment, Ace spun his body around, dissolving into pure flame to evade a bizarre, incoming halberd strike!
Evidently, Oven's triplet brother, Charlotte Daifuku, had entered the fray!
Charlotte Daifuku was the 3rd son of BIG MOM and the Minister of Beans in Totto Land, governing Poripori Island's Mame Town. He was a user of the Paramecia-type Puff-Puff Fruit (Hoya Hoya no Mi), born as one of the triplets alongside Katakuri and Oven.
Compared to his two brothers, Daifuku was cold, ruthless, and decisively brutal. Possessing a tall, muscular frame, short blonde hair, and gold hoop earrings, he wore a blue winter coat with shoulder ornaments resembling mochi puffs.
Around his waist was a belt adorned with a magic lamp emblem; by rubbing his stomach and belt buckle, he could summon a sentient Genie.
The Puff-Puff Fruit was an extraordinary ability that turned its user's torso into a lamp vessel. Rubbing his body manifested a battle-ready Genie composed entirely of smoke, allowing it to dissolve and evade physical strikes while wielding a massive polearm halberd.
However, the Genie operated within a limited range, and while obedient to commands, lacked deep tactical nuance.
Having reviewed intelligence on the Charlotte family, Ace faced the Genie's downward halberd cleave by condensing a massive vortex of fire into a single palm, setting his entire form ablaze in an instant.
Flame Emperor!(Dai Enkai: Entei)
Roaring thermal currents pulled fiercely against one another as a colossal sphere of fire manifested in the sky, rapidly swelling into a terrifying miniature sun!
Waves of white-hot and azure flames churned like a roaring sea, rising higher and higher as they engulfed the battlefield. The raging fire clashed directly against Ice Island's sub-zero blizzard, vaporizing the snow until the heavens cleared and the earth lay bare.
Oven and Daifuku froze in shock, looking up at the masked figure. Behind Ace stood a massive, blinding sphere of pure solar radiance.
At this very moment, he truly resembled the descent of the Flame Emperor.
Ace kicked off the ground, transforming his entire body into a projectile. Shrouded in brilliant light, his figure blurred into a towering giant of roaring flame. Friction-heating the air at extreme velocity, he crashed directly into Oven in the blink of an eye!
Following the massive collision, Ace flipped backward through midair. A crimson dragon of fire roared from his wake, brushing past his shins before launching into the upper atmosphere and bursting like celebratory fireworks.
A relentless, rhythmic barrage of heavy blows followed. Every flexed muscle radiated the raw aesthetic of human martial power, appearing capable of shattering anything in its path!
Oven and Daifuku grew increasingly unnerved as the fight progressed. Behind Ace, the fiery giant of the Flame Emperor opened its maw, expelling a colossal torrent of incandescent fire.
Just as the inferno was about to swallow both brothers whole, Katakuri could watch no longer. Flashing forward with his trident, he severed Ace's offensive in a single, decisive strike.
Charlotte Katakuri...
Ace had naturally heard of this man. Katakuri's status within the Big Mom Pirates was equivalent to Marco's standing aboard Whitebeard's ship. Facing a future titan boasting a bounty well over a billion Berries, Ace's gaze turned sharp as a blade.
Under the ambient influence of the Divine Tree Fruit, the Fire Release Sage Body within Ace had begun to awaken. Fused with the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit (Mera Mera no Mi), the flames surrounding his body burst into a brilliant, golden-red hue.
"This Flame Emperor technique may not possess the absolute defense of Susanoo, but its wide-area destructive output is astonishing," Shiraishi observed from the bridge of the aerial fortress Chomei, overlooking the chaos below.
"The surface of Ice Island is already boiling under that extreme heat."
While high-tier commanders like Katakuri were only now stepping forward, many of BIG MOM's other children were locked in combat against Shiraishi's subordinate fleet.
Equipped with Sky Island's Laser Dials and jet propulsion devices, the Sunagakure Pirates possessed overwhelming tactical firepower. Several Devil Fruit users in their ranks had received massive combat augmentations, placing immense pressure across the Charlotte family's defense.
On the frontline, the clash between Ace and the Charlotte brothers raged on.
Oven and Daifuku combined their Paramecia abilities to collide violently against the golden flames. Fiery detonations clashed against physical shockwaves, generating a howling hurricane that tore the frozen roofs off nearby structures.
Oven crossed his hardened fists to block Ace's flaming shoulder-tackle. Both combatants' clothes were charred and riddled with burn marks, coated in ash and soot.
Two fire-and-heat abilities tore into each other in a bloody battle of attrition.
Forced backward several meters, Oven left two deep trenches in the frozen ground as Ace pressed the assault once more.
In the span of inches, the two traded elbows, knee strikes, clinches, and grapples, punctuating each exchange with explosive bursts of flame in a ferocious, close-quarters brawl.
THUD... THUD...
A colossal, towering silhouette stepped forward. BIG MOM's piercing, crazed laughter resounded across the entire island.
"Mamama! Aoki Shiraishi... To think only the three of you would dare come to fight us! Where are your priestess and swordswoman?!"
"Why don't you guess?" Shiraishi replied coldly from the fortress.
The opponent BIG MOM dreaded most was Kikyo. Seeing no sign of the shrine maiden on the field, her suspicious nature made her wary of a hidden trap, even though intelligence suggested the priestess was still nursing her wounds.
Before further words could be exchanged, Uchiha Madara descended from the flying fortress with his gunbai fan in hand. The moment his boots touched the frozen earth, a seismic shockwave rippled across the entire island.
Conqueror's Haki reigned supreme!
The sudden burst of supreme Conqueror's pressure elicited shocked gasps from the Charlotte family. As Katakuri and his siblings stepped back, a fine rapier flashed like lightning through the snow as Patrick Redfield—the Lone Red—lunged forward like a phantom of blood.
"A legendary pirate of the old era... reduced to a mere hired thug?" Madara scoffed.
"Uchiha Madara... this time, I will take your head!"
Faced with Redfield's declaration, Observation Haki condensed within Madara's pupils, instantly igniting into a pair of three-tomoe Sharingan! Under that crimson, predatory gaze, his staff-blade ignited with an ominous, crackling dark aura.
Even BIG MOM felt a chill run down her spine upon meeting Madara's eyes, an intense wave of unease gripping her heart.
"A so-called legendary pirate..." Madara sneered, looking down upon the Lone Red with icy arrogance. "Before these eyes, you are absolutely nothing."