"Ace, the sky!" Carina looked up, a rare flash of tension crossing her purple eyes.
Even without her warning, the Observation Haki of Ace, Sabo, and the others flared simultaneously, sending a sharp, stinging alarm through their senses.
Vroom—!
The clear sky was torn open by a cross-shaped glare so blinding it stretched the limits of sight. Without giving anyone a fraction of a second to react, a beam of light crashed onto the street before them at a speed exceeding the capture limit of the human retina.
There was no explosion, only the terrifying release of raw kinetic energy.
The moment the beam struck the stone, a circular shockwave swept outward like a physical storm. The buildings lining the boulevard were shredded like paper, and the surrounding debris was sent flying into the sky.
As the glare dissipated, a tall, thin man wearing a yellow striped suit and a Marine Justice cloak stepped casually from the fading photons, his hands buried deep in his pockets.
"Three Celestial Dragons, and not even a complete corpse left to bury." Kizaru pushed up his amber sunglasses, his gaze scanning the bloodstains on the shattered pavement. His usual lazy smirk had vanished, replaced by an uncharacteristic gravity. "Portgas D. Ace... Young people today really don't understand how the world works."
Before his voice even finished registering in their ears, Kizaru's figure blurred amidst a flicker of yellow particles.
"Watch out!" Sabo's pupils constricted violently.
"Speed is weight."
Kizaru's slow, drawling voice rang out directly above the heads of Shark and Urouge without warning. His right leg was raised high, a blinding accumulation of photons condensing frantically at his toes.
"Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"
Just as a strike capable of cleaving a mangrove island was about to descend, the air warped.
Boom!
A broad back burning with crimson-gold divine fire appeared beneath Kizaru's foot, intercepting the trajectory perfectly. Ace was wrapped in a layer of pitch-black Armament Haki so dense it gleamed like oil, the muscles of his right arm bulging as he drove a fist toward the light-speed kick without an inch of hesitation.
Bang!
Fire and golden light collided violently in mid-air. The compression of their respective Haki produced crackling arcs of black and red lightning that snapped across the street. The ground beneath Ace's boots collapsed several meters into a crater, but his frame remained rooted to the spot, unyielding.
"Oh? To actually catch my light-speed kick... what terrifying monstrous strength~" Kizaru raised an eyebrow, his leg still locked against Ace's forearm.
"Buggy, take the others and head back to the ship. Start the engines and wait for us," Ace ordered coldly, his eyes fixed forward. "You won't be able to keep up with what's coming next."
"Understood! Everyone, move!" Buggy knew exactly what an Admiral-level engagement entailed. He turned and led the retreat without a second thought. Though Urouge, Shark, and the remaining crew felt their pride sting, they recognized that staying would only turn them into anchors, and they immediately followed the withdrawal.
"My, my, that won't do. Wanting to run after taking the lives of World Nobles... you're going to give this old man quite a headache." A pinprick of blinding light ignited at Kizaru's fingertip as he aimed it toward the retreating figures.
"Don't ignore my presence, you glowing monkey!"
Rumble!
A column of blue-white lightning as thick as a tree trunk fell from the heavens, striking Kizaru's position. Enel, covered in crackling electric current, used the lightning-fast movement of his fruit to close the distance instantly. Reinforced by Armament Haki, his golden staff tore through the air toward Kizaru's temple with the force of an immediate thunderclap.
Simultaneously, from Kizaru's right, a powerful explosive force erupted.
"Flame Burst: Dragon Claw!"
Sabo utilized the recoil of compressed flames beneath his boots to break the sound barrier. His fingers, curved into a claw and hardened with high-level Ryuo, lunged directly for Kizaru's chest.
Facing a pincer attack that could have executed a seasoned Vice Admiral in a heartbeat, Kizaru's expression didn't shift.
"Ama no Murakumo."
Kizaru pulled his hands across his chest, photons instantly condensing into a longsword of solid light emitting extreme heat. With a reaction speed that completely contradicted his slow speech, he swung the blade with one hand, precisely catching Enel's golden staff.
Clang! Lightning and light sparked violently.
Immediately after, facing Sabo's incoming claw, Kizaru didn't even turn his head. He simply raised his left palm casually toward the side.
Bang!
Sabo's hand stopped exactly half a meter away from Kizaru's palm, hitting an invisible, impenetrable wall of dense air, unable to advance another fraction of an inch.
"High-level Armament: External Emission," Sabo gritted his teeth, his muscles straining against the repelling force as he realized the gap in their Haki.
"Your coordination is excellent," Kizaru's lips moved slightly, his body suddenly dissolving into countless photons that slipped directly through their three-man encirclement. "But you seem to have a slight misunderstanding about the speed of light."
When his form converged again, he was already standing a hundred meters up in the sky.
"Yata no Kagami!"
Kizaru crossed his wrists, reflecting a beam of light geometric angles across the surrounding structures before locking it onto the three figures below. Following the light path, Kizaru traveled at an unthinkable velocity. His silhouette split into ten distinct photon clones in mid-air, each one raising a glowing finger while wielding a sword of light.
"So fast!" Though Enel's Observation Haki registered the trajectory, the physical reactions of his muscles couldn't keep pace.
Whoosh whoosh whoosh—!
A storm of laser beams and light-speed kicks rained down upon the grove.
Rumble!
The entirety of Mangrove Area No. 1 was transformed into a churning sea of fire. The roots of the giant trees ruptured, and the structures were razed to the ground under the explosive barrage.
From the dust of the ruin, Enel and Sabo emerged. Both bore patches of scorched clothing and superficial scrapes. Even with their elemental bodies, they had taken a direct hit from Kizaru's Haki-infused speed.
"He's... like a ghost without a physical form," Sabo said, wiping a line of crimson from the corner of his mouth, his chest heaving. His Ryuo couldn't connect cleanly; the Admiral could always use photon reflection to reset his position before countering.
"Yehahahaha! Now this is an opponent!" Enel wiped the soot from his face, the fanatical light in his pupils growing brighter as the electricity within his frame began to churn with erratic violence.
In front of them, Ace walked slowly from the curtain of fire. His dark red trench coat was singed and torn by the lasers, but his aura had grown heavier, darker, and far more violent.
"Trying to catch light with bare hands is a bit of a chore." Ace cracked his neck, a blunt pop echoing from his joints. His black eyes locked onto Kizaru, who had merged back into a single form in mid-air.
In that brief exchange, Ace had felt the true foundation of the Navy's highest tier of power. Kizaru didn't just have speed; his physical mastery, swordsmanship, and external Haki emission were flawless.
"Relying solely on the Vermilion Bird's flames and Ryuo isn't going to cut it."
The corners of Ace's mouth slowly split into a cold arc, and a deep chill began to settle in his eyes.
"Oh? After taking so many of my kicks, you still have cards left to play? The young truly are terrifying~" Kizaru raised a glowing index finger, prepping another laser.
Ace ignored the taunt, lowering his stance slightly. His left hand ignited with the blinding, red-gold fire of the Vermilion Bird, while in the palm of his right hand... a wisp of pure, lusterless black smoke began to seep, causing the ambient light to warp and die.
"Let's see if your light can outrun a bottomless abyss."
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/Authorzero