Water Seven: Outer Breakwater.
The deathly silence of the rain-slicked stone was broken only by the rhythmic roar of the tide. Genn, the CP0 captain, stood like a monolith in his white trench coat, the ferocious bull skull mask making him look like an ancient deity of execution.
His gaze locked onto Ace. "With your second bounty, you've jumped to 770 million Berries. In the first half of the Grand Line, you are certainly an anomaly, Portgas D. Ace."
Genn's voice was the sound of grinding granite. "You looted the Heavenly Tribute and maimed a Marine legend. Did you truly think hiding for a few months would grant you sanctuary from the World Government?"
He unhurriedly undid the top buttons of his coat, the air twisting around him as his Haki began to leak out, heavy and suffocating. "Tonight is your greatest folly. The dignity of the Celestial Dragons is absolute; the Five Elders have issued a special-grade purge order. We shall use your heads to silence the restless bugs of this sea. The game ends here."
Ace raised an eyebrow, a smirk of genuine amusement tugging at his lips. He could smell the deep-seated servility beneath the white suit—the smell of a dog that loved its leash.
"Creators?" Ace rolled his broad shoulders, his joints popping like firecrackers. "Since the order came from the top, I expected someone... impressive."
His voice carried a natural, overbearing defiance. "You've been sniffing around for months and only found us because we let you. If these are the 'elite hounds' of the Nobles, your efficiency is pathetic."
"Death wish," hissed Bastian, the agent in the crying-laughing mask.
Talk was over. On Genn's left, the owl-masked Vogel didn't signal or shout. He simply nudged the tsuba of his blade with his thumb.
Clang.
With a sound so faint it was almost a whisper, a pitch-black, vacuum-thin crescent slash skimmed across the concrete. It was a lethal hybrid of the Silent Sword Style and Rankyaku, flashing toward the crew's legs like a viper in the mist.
Sabo didn't flinch. His dark blue coat fluttered as he stepped forward. Eschewing his flames, he met the slash with his bare right hand. His fingers, coated in high-density Armament Haki, flexed into a "Dragon's Claw."
Screech!
Sparks flew as Haki ground against the vacuum blade. Sabo grunted, his boots sliding back an inch, before he violently crushed the slash into a harmless spray of wind.
"Decent swordsman," Sabo said, his cerulean eyes locking onto Vogel. "Since you drew first, let's find a quiet spot."
Vogel flickered away using a silent Soru, and Sabo followed him into the jagged stone piles, opening the first sub-battlefield.
The Clash of Elements.
"This 'God' also hates being lectured," Enel rumbled, his golden staff resting on his shoulders. He looked at Bastian with a mocking sneer. "But nameless small fry acting as judges? How droll."
The drums on Enel's back erupted. "60 Million Volts: Thunder Dragon!"
A roaring beast of lightning, hot enough to vaporize steel, lunged at Bastian's face. It was a strike that would have turned a Rear Admiral to ash, but Bastian simply swept his hands through the air. A faint ripple, like a distortion in space, appeared.
BOOM!
The lightning bolt hit the ripple and was forcibly deflected, veering off to strike the ocean and kicking up a fifty-meter pillar of water.
"A Devil Fruit? Trajectory manipulation?" Enel's Observation Haki analyzed the shift.
"God? Ridiculous," Bastian mocked. "An ant like you is no god. No matter how powerful the attack, it's useless if it misses."
Before he could finish, a black-clad golden staff tore through the air toward his head.
"Then I'll use a way that can't miss!" Enel burst forward with speed exceeding the optic nerve, swinging his Haki-coated staff in a brutal arc.
The Center Stage.
At the center of the breakwater, the rain intensified. Before the drops could hit the ground, they were shattered into mist by the colliding pressure of two monstrous Haki auras.
Ace and Genn moved simultaneously.
Genn used no flashy techniques. As a CP0 physical specialist, he had absolute faith in his density. He crossed ten meters in a heartbeat, his right fist dripping with ink-black Haki.
"Iron Body: Heavy Smash!"
The punch was a meteorite of pure muscle and Haki, clearing a vacuum path through the rain. Ace's eyes blazed. After six months of isolation, he finally had a worthy yardstick.
He didn't dodge. Ace's right arm bulged, his internal power roaring like a high-performance engine. He met the black iron fist head-on.
KABOOM!
It was a tectonic impact. A visible shockwave surged outward, shattering the reinforced concrete beneath them into radial cracks. Massive stone slabs were tossed into the sky, and the crashing waves were momentarily forced back by the sheer atmospheric pressure.
They were perfectly matched.
"Not bad," Genn growled from behind his mask, his eyes flashing with cruelty and excitement. "No wonder Zephyr fell. There's no fluff in that 770 million bounty."
He could feel it through his knuckles—Ace's arm wasn't just strong; it was heavy, like a mountain pressing back.
"If you're judging my depth with just this," Ace said, his voice cold as the rain, "you won't live to see the sunrise."
Ace twisted his wrist to unload the pressure, and in the same heartbeat, his left fist tore through the rain curtain. With a low air-burst, it lunged straight for Genn's jaw. The primitive, brutal collision of two peak physical monsters had begun.
30+ chapters are available now and daily updates! @patreon.com/Authorzero