A heavy sweeping kick, wreathed in crimson-gold Vermilion Divine Fire, struck at Zephyr's ribs like a mountain-splitting axe.
Facing this fierce strike wrapped in Ryuo, Zephyr didn't even flinch. His only remaining left arm sank down like a pitch-black load-bearing pillar, blocking firmly at his waist.
BANG!
The moment leg and arm collided, a violent shockwave tore up the rocky ground beneath their feet, layer by layer.
"Too light, brat!"
Zephyr took the hit head-on, a fierce, sharp glint erupting in his weathered eyes. The muscles in his left arm bulged like coiling dragons, and his obsidian Busoshoku Haki compressed instantly, transforming into a stiflingly thick destructive force.
"BLACK ARM: EXPLODING ROCK!"
Zephyr's left fist, like a heavy siege cannon, slammed violently into Ace's chest at point-blank range.
Ace's eyes narrowed. He quickly retracted his right arm, crossing it in front of his heart as high-level flowing Haki and Divine Fire instantly constructed a defensive barrier across his forearms.
BOOM!!
A dull, thunderous sound, like an ancient temple bell being struck, echoed across the plateau.
Ace felt an agonizing spike of pain; it felt as if his bone marrow was being ground to dust. The density of Zephyr's tempered Haki was unfathomable. Even with the deflection of Ryuo and the cushioning of the fire, that terrifying penetrating power forced its way through, striking straight into his chest cavity.
Ace's burly frame slid backward involuntarily, his feet plowing two deep trenches dozens of meters long into the hard ground until he crashed through a remaining fortress wall.
"Cough."
Ace felt a tightness in his lungs and spat a mouthful of blood-tinged saliva. However, just a breath later, clusters of crimson-gold Nirvana Fire ignited automatically over his chest and arms. The ruptured capillaries and torn muscle fibers were instantly knitted back together, healed as good as new by the Divine Fire's essence.
"Hm?"
In the distance, Zephyr caught the flicker of the flames, and his brows furrowed deeply.
"Not only exotic flames with extreme temperatures, but such outrageous high-speed regeneration... I see. An extremely rare Mythical Zoan?"
As a former Admiral, Zephyr's insight was surgical; he saw through the nature of Ace's ability at a glance.
"Relying on the recovery of a Mythical beast to recklessly go head-to-head with me..." Zephyr took heavy, deliberate steps, closing the distance. With every step, his iron-blooded killing intent grew more suffocating. "Newcomers like you, who lean too hard on your Devil Fruit and think you're invincible—I have buried countless versions of you with my own hands!"
"Relying on my fruit?"
Ace stood straight among the ruins and casually wiped the blood from his chin. He looked at the approaching legend, his eyes showing not a trace of fear, but a fanatical fighting spirit.
"Old man, don't lump me in with those weaklings."
Ace sank into a low stance, his internal vitality roaring like a high-performance engine. He retracted all the fire covering his body, compressing it to the absolute limit and pouring it into the flowing Haki in his right fist.
The flames no longer erupted outward; they were forcibly restrained on the surface of his knuckles by his Haki, forming a terrifying vortex that emitted a blinding white light, like a high-pressure furnace.
"DIVINE FIRE: FLAME CONE!"
The ground beneath Ace exploded. He turned into a black-and-red blur, shooting toward Zephyr. This punch abandoned all area-of-effect damage, seeking only ultimate single-point penetration and internal destruction.
Watching the punch arrive, a flash of surprise crossed Zephyr's face. Forcibly compressing the explosive properties of flames into Haki? What a combat genius!
But surprise did not mean retreat. Zephyr's left arm pulled back, his muscles popping like firecrackers. The Black Arm, tempered through decades of life-and-death struggle, erupted with a pure dominance meant to crush all technique.
"But your Haki is still too green! BLACK ARM: MOUNTAIN PULLER!"
RUMBLE!!!
The two fists collided in mid-air in the most primitive, brutal manner imaginable. This time, there was no sweeping shockwave. All the power, high temperature, and destructive Haki were tightly suppressed at the point of contact.
SCREECH—!
The ground beneath them began to spiderweb, then quickly collapsed. The surrounding air distorted violently under the extreme pressure, emitting a piercing, mournful howl.
Ace gritted his teeth, the muscles in his arm bulging to the point of tearing. He could feel his compressed Ryuo and Divine Fire being pushed back bit by bit by Zephyr's solid, armored fist. This one-armed veteran was an immovable, active volcano of Haki.
"Your flow is exquisite, but the foundation of Haki cannot be built overnight!" Zephyr roared, his arm suddenly erupting with an overwhelming, secondary burst of monstrous strength.
BANG!
The vortex on Ace's fist exploded, and his body was once again blasted away by the irresistible force. This time, Zephyr gave him no time to land.
"GEPPO!"
Zephyr stepped agilely through the air, his speed actually exceeding Ace's flight path. Like a hunting eagle, he appeared instantly above the youth.
"It's over, you East Blue madman!"
Zephyr was upside down, his left leg snapping out like a pitch-black steel whip.
BOOM!
Ace was smashed into the ground like a meteor. A massive crater over thirty meters in diameter opened in the plateau, gravel and dust billowing into the sky and obscuring the center of the battlefield.
Zephyr landed steadily on the edge of the crater, his breathing slightly labored. He was old, and the unreserved assault was a drain on his stamina. He watched the settling dust coldly. He hadn't held back; even a Zoan user should have had their internal organs turned to pulp by that strike.
Rustle... Rustle...
From the silence at the bottom of the crater, the sound of rolling gravel emerged. Zephyr's pupils shrank.
The dust dissipated. In the center of the deep pit, the black-haired youth was slowly straightening his back. A streak of fresh blood hung from Ace's mouth, and a scorched footprint was stamped onto his chest muscles. That fatal injury was already being woven back together by clusters of crimson-gold fire.
"Whew..."
Ace exhaled a hot breath smelling of copper and smoke. He rotated his neck, producing a series of crisp bone-popping sounds. He looked up at Zephyr, and in those deep black eyes, there was no defeat—only the extreme excitement of a predator who had found the ultimate prey.
"Nice... that's the stuff! Worthy of the 'Black Arm' who trained Haki to the peak. This sense of 'heaviness' has truly taught me a lesson."
Ace walked up from the crater, step by step. With every stride, the sound of his blood circulating became more violent, and the ambient temperature climbed.
"Old man, your Haki is indeed very hard."
Ace stopped, facing Zephyr from a distance. A terrifying aura—more ancient, majestic, and full of destructive power than anything he had shown before—began to awaken.
"However... the warm-up is over."
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