"What is going on?"
"After a brief yet fierce clash, only two contestants remain!"
At the commentator's booth, Gatz's voice was boiling with passion.
"Mr. Augur, who do you think will win?"
Ozz stood at the commentary booth. Behind his sunglasses, his eyes watched the two figures in the arena. Beside him sat the Den Den Mushi used to amplify the commentary.
"Although that burly man with the paper bag on his head is quite fierce..."
"That sleepy young man might just give the audience a surprise."
The moment his words fell, the two newly added giant screens in the colosseum displayed the faces of the two contestants.
"Weehahaha!"
Seeing this, Burgess stopped pretending. He immediately tore the paper bag off his head.
The audience froze in shock.
The man before them was none other than the infamous member of the Blackbeard Pirates.
Jesus Burgess!
"Weehahaha! A strategic Devil Fruit like the Float-Float Fruit naturally belongs to the Blackbeard Pirates!"
Burgess saw himself on the giant screen and noticed that the audience was staring at him. He immediately became smug, showing off his muscles without the slightest regard for the young man in the red captain's coat.
The sleeping figure also slowly woke up.
When he heard that arrogant voice, a sharp glint surfaced in his eyes.
"So... he's one of Teach's people..."
The hat used as part of his disguise was slowly blown away by the wind, revealing his black, center-parted hair.
The camera slowly turned toward him.
Suddenly, some older, more experienced spectators noticed something was wrong. They gradually fell silent. Then, as if they could not believe what they were seeing, cold sweat began to form on their brows.
"That young man... looks a little familiar..."
"That face, and that mustache..."
A bold and world-famous image from an execution platform seemed to overlap with the face before them.
At that exact moment, the voice from the commentary booth rang out.
"Who could he be? This young man who looks so much like the legendary..."
"Pirate King Roger?!"
Ozz enjoyed his turn as commentator. The Den Den Mushi's image also shifted onto that now gloomy face.
The fake mustache slowly burned into ash under the flames.
A face with faint freckles, slightly more mature than two years ago, appeared before everyone.
The audience was speechless. Their eyes bulged from their sockets, and their mouths stretched wide open.
"Th-th-th-that is!"
"Fire Fist Ace!"
Commentator Gatz was beyond excited. He grabbed the Den Den Mushi and roared.
"He has appeared!"
"The spark that ignited the Summit War two years ago! The man said to carry the most evil bloodline, the son of Pirate King Roger, and the strongest rookie of the new era!"
"Fire Fist Ace!"
"The former Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, and now a commander of the Blackbeard Pirates. What sparks will fly between them?!"
In the arena, Ace's eyes were ice-cold as he stared straight at Burgess.
Burgess was not afraid either. Instead, he flexed his biceps.
"Weehahaha!"
"To think I'd meet you here, Fire Fist Ace. Too bad the remnants of the Whitebeard Pirates have already been crushed by us."
"You showed up too late!"
Ace's face darkened.
He slowly stepped forward.
Burgess had already gathered his strength. Haki surfaced over his arms.
"I'm not the same man I was two years ago. The power of the Logia Flame-Flame Fruit won't make you invincible anymore!"
Ace acted as if he had not heard a word. He only slowly spat out two words.
"Shut up."
"Shockwave Elbow!"
The audience watched as the two figures, one large and one small, slowly approached each other. Burgess raised that powerful arm that looked as though it could sweep away everything, as if he would tear the young man before him apart in the next instant.
Some of the more timid spectators had already covered their eyes.
But at that moment...
"Crack, crack, crack!"
Clusters of black-red lightning wrapped around Ace's fist, flames swirling within them.
"I told you to shut up!"
With only one punch, a blinding light erupted in the arena. A deafening roar instantly spread across the entire venue.
Though the arena itself remained completely undamaged, the audience still broke into a cold sweat.
On the battlefield, Ace's fist smoked.
The arena was perfectly intact.
But Burgess had vanished from where he stood.
In the pool at the edge of the ring, countless Fighting Fish floated belly-up with white eyes. Burgess, already unconscious, also floated on the water with his mouth wide open.
"The winner is..."
"Fire Fist Ace!"
Only after he was the last person standing did Ace seem to finally react. He smiled and raised both hands, accepting the cheers from the audience.
...
But the scene soon shifted.
Only helplessness remained on his face.
"Luffy, that's enough already."
Luffy had already found them. He instantly threw himself onto the two of them, laughing with boundless excitement.
"Ace! Sabo!"
"Why are you two here?!"
"We're here for serious business, of course. Ace isn't a pirate anymore."
The reason Sabo and Ace had joined the competition was because Dragon had later called Sabo.
The Float-Float Fruit was a Devil Fruit with enormous strategic value for any faction. If possible, Dragon hoped Sabo could secure it.
"N-not a pirate anymore?"
Luffy's smile faded. He seemed unable to believe it, because Ace had wanted to become a pirate for as long as he could remember.
"Yeah. Uncle Ozz saved my life, so I don't really have any room or reason to argue."
Ace had already come to terms with it. Now, he only wanted to repay those who were happy that he existed, those relatives and friends who had treated him kindly.
"The only reason I can openly make a move is because I'm helping my own brothers. What a pain."
His current position had already been restricted by Ozz. He could only be the good brother of the other two, or his mother's good son.
Aside from that, Ozz did not allow him to do anything connected to a pirate's position, including forming a pirate crew or taking revenge.
"So strictly speaking, I'm helping Sabo take the Float-Float Fruit. I also came to see you, my little brother."
"I see..."
Luffy nodded. Then, after thinking for a moment, he suddenly struck his fist against his palm.
"All right! I've decided!"
"What?"
Ace and Sabo looked at Luffy in confusion.
"No matter which one of us three brothers gets the Float-Float Fruit in the end, we'll give it to Sabo!"
"You..."
"Because..."
The three of them smiled knowingly and bumped their fists together.
"We're brothers!"
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