"Alright, cease the kneeling. Now that your boots are on this deck, no one requires you to grovel."
Ace waved his hand casually, signaling Kuma to return to his full height. He turned his shoulders, his dark eyes scanning the perimeter of the deck where his primary vanguard lay scattered across the iron plating, their features heavily bruised and swollen from their recent engagement.
Sabo's right forearm was heavily wrapped in linen; Enel's jaw was so swollen that the standard, arrogant line of his jaw could barely be maintained; Shark's torso showed a distinct, sunken chest cavity; and Urouge's chin was noticeably set at a crooked angle. The most severe condition belonged to Leona; had it not been for her unyielding physical resolve, her consciousness would have slipped long before the island mass touched the coast.
"The old man truly left a thorough account across your ribs."
Ace crossed his arms over his chest, a slow, mocking smile curving his lips. "So? How did Garp's fists of love treat your metrics? Is it slightly more dense than that unrefined Haki you've been flexing in the yard?"
"Ace, you arrogant bastard, muzzle your mouth!"
Buggy was completely red-faced with fury, pointing a shaking finger at his own nose as his voice cracked. "That old relic nearly reduced my segments to mincemeat! He's a demon! A completely unreasonable monster!"
"Cough... he remains an insurmountable ridge for our current baseline," Sabo managed a dry, tight smile, though a sudden flare of fanaticism lit his azure eyes. "But the trauma cleared the fog. I've completely mapped the internal-destruction mechanics of highly compressed Armament Haki."
"Yahahaha! The sovereign has parsed the equation as well!" Enel wheezed through his swollen cheek, his eyes burning with an intense, volatile light. "Grant me another brief window, and my current will carry far greater density!"
Staring at these wounded outlaws, whose bones were fractured but whose eyes burned with a terrifying, insatiable ambition, Kuma stood by the bulkhead in absolute silence, a deep shock settling behind his lenses. He had monitored countless elite divisions within the Revolutionary Army, but no vanguard unit had ever sustained a crushing defeat from a tier-one mountain without fracturing their resolve. Instead of breaking, they were reacting like a pack of starving wolves, staring intently at the summit and desperately absorbing the lessons of the trauma to scale it.
"Good. Since the gauntlet has yielded stable results, it's time to settle the post-battle balances." Ace's expression turned business-like as he opened his right hand, a pure, vibrant column of red-gold Vermilion Bird fire erupting from his palm. "Remain stationary. Chopper, take Indigo into the galley and prepare a massive caloric supply."
With a casual flick of his fingers, Ace's crimson fire fractured into dozens of fluid streams, cascading across the deck to settle precisely over the injuries of each officer. The flames radiated a profound, limitless vital warmth. The divine fire sank into the tissue, and the fractured bone structures, torn muscle fibers, and internal organ bruising caused by their high-altitude exertions began to knit together at a visible velocity. Within minutes, the physical trauma was completely wiped from their systems, leaving the skin smooth and unblemished.
"Incredible utility... I can feel the bone density restoring completely," Shark muttered, tracing his hand over his fully aligned chest cavity, his triangular eyes losing their standard coldness.
"The fire seals the tissue and resets the muscle fibers, but the systemic fatigue and nerve soreness will linger in your marrow," Ace noted, tracking their movements before turning his eyes back to the giant. "Kuma. Clear the balance. Let them see the weight of your asset."
Kuma paused, then gave a single, slow nod. He strode over to Sabo's position, pulling his right glove clear to expose the smooth, pink paw pad stamped into his skin.
"The transition triggers an unnatural sensation. Maintain your focus."
Kuma's voice was remarkably soft as he brought his bare palm down against Sabo's chest.
Slap.
Before the eyes of the gathered crew, a massive, semi-transparent, dark red bubble shaped like a bear's paw was violently expelled from Sabo's back under the impact.
"What... what is that mass?!" Sabo stared at the drifting orb, his breath catching. In that exact microsecond, the leaden heaviness, burning soreness, and cellular exhaustion that had accumulated throughout his multi-day struggle vanished completely. His energy levels spiked as if he had undergone three days of continuous, uninterrupted rest.
"This is the physical manifestation of the physical trauma and metabolic fatigue discarded by your system," Kuma explained smoothly. He adjusted his spectacles, repeating the mechanical motion across the line of officers, methodically drawing the fatigue profiles from Enel, Leona, and the rest of the vanguard.
Several massive, crimson-tinted spheres coalesced over the deck plating, binding together into a single, colossal orb of pure systemic exhaustion.
"Yahahaha! This asset is completely ridiculous!" Enel bellowed, his restored current skittering wildly along his shoulders as his vitality returned to its peak.
"Kuma, launch that mass into the deep water! Ensure it doesn't drift near the hull, or it will stop a man's heart instantly!" Chopper shrieked, his hooves shaking as he looked at the sheer volume of fatigue accumulated from their hellish training gauntlet.
Kuma nodded, tracking the perimeter down toward the ocean surface below the Eclipse. At that exact moment, an immense sea serpent broke the surface, its jaw opening to investigate the massive iron hull hovering over its territory.
"Go," Kuma whispered, a casual wave of his hand launching the massive red orb directly into the predator's bulk.
Hum.
The colossal Sea King didn't even manage a primitive shriek. Its eyes rolled back instantly into its skull, white foam erupting from its maw as its multi-ton frame went completely limp, dropping into the waves like a sack of loose clay as its consciousness was snuffed out.
Absorbing the collective fatigue of the entire Eclipse officer block after days of unyielding punishment from Garp's knuckles was a load that a baseline sea monster couldn't survive for a single second.
Hiss...
A sharp intake of breath ran across the deck, the vanguard looking at Kuma with a sudden, profound reverence. This giant newcomer possessed a support utility that bordered on the absurd.
"The Captain clears the structural damage with his fire, and Kuma purges the metabolic fatigue with his paws," Carina murmured, swallowing hard against the realization. "Our recovery loop is completely shameless."
"This is merely the baseline layout," Ace remarked, stepping toward the heavy iron conference table in the center of the deck as he unrolled a sleek, temperature-controlled cooling case.
Snap.
The lock cleared, revealing twenty pristine glass vials nestled within high-density shock foam, each tube radiating a deep, dark blue luminescence. The gaze of every outlaw in the yard was instantly locked onto the futuristic serum.
"This is the asset I flagged over the communication channel—the compound Chopper and Indigo isolated within the ancient library of the Torino Kingdom," Ace said, lifting a single vial to let the sunlight catch the pale blue fluid. "A perfect human potential enhancement serum, registered under the codename: Limit Breaker."
Ace's voice held no volume, yet it resonated like iron through their ears. "It doesn't grant a direct spike to your muscle mass, nor does it hand you a secondary superpower. But its primary effect is absolute. It systematically breaks the genetic locks within your biology, raising your natural talent threshold by an entire level."
The main deck fell into a deathly, motionless silence. Sabo, Enel, and Leona stared at the blue glass with wide, unblinking eyes.
Dismantling the ceiling of talent itself? Was there truly an asset that ignored basic biological logic drifting within these blue seas?
"Restrain your focus for a moment." Ace's cold voice dropped like ice over their rising excitement. "The evolutionary process requires the systematic breakdown and reconstruction of every muscle fiber and bone structure inside your frame. The physical agony is extreme."
"If your consciousness cracks under the pain during the transition, or if your digestive tract fails to process the massive caloric volume required to fuel the cellular regeneration, the evolution halts permanently. You are granted a single window to reach the new ceiling." Ace pushed the cooling case into the absolute center of the steel table, his gaze cutting across the line of outlaws like a cold razor.
"So, if you intend to outgrow your current boundaries and trample the Marine Admirals and the Four Emperors into the dirt, you better prepare to clamp your teeth together and consume every scrap of game the galley can produce!"
"Now. The first deployment." Ace's lips thinned into a dangerous, chilling smile. "Sabo, Enel, Urouge."
"The three of you will anchor with me to set the baseline for the ship. Leona—maintain the meat supply."
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