Marineford, Elite Training Ground
Under the scorching sun, the most famous training ground of Marine Headquarters was unusually lively today. The fences were already crowded with cadets and officers from Headquarters who had come to watch. Even the surrounding buildings and sentry posts were filled with uniformed Marine officers.
"Hey, hey, I hear that Ace is only 12? What a monster kid with explosive talent."
"A Logia-type Flare-Flare Fruit user, Vice Admiral Garp's grandson, Rear Admiral Roy's little brother. A monster family."
"You think a normal person could blow up a 20 million Berry fish-man pirate crew at the age of twelve?"
The surrounding noise was endless, the atmosphere as hot as before a volcanic eruption. In the center of the field, Ace's flames danced on his fingertips, a confident curve on his lips. "Instructor Zephyr, really? You're going to let me go all out? I've learned a lot of new moves, you know."
Zephyr stood with his arms crossed, his gaze behind his sunglasses as sharp as a blade. "You little brat, being too confident will get you into trouble." He beckoned with his finger. "Come on."
"Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar!"
Ace extended his arms forward, the flames in his palms swirling upward like a spiral, expanding in the air into a ten-meter-high pillar of high-temperature fire. The air itself buzzed and trembled from the heat. The flames soared, and the heat waves rolled.
"WOAH—!!!" The spectating cadets couldn't help but exclaim.
Zephyr snorted coldly, his right fist swinging out like a mountain, his black Armament Haki like solidified magma. "BOOM!!!" The fist crashed into the center of the fire pillar. In an instant, it was as if two extreme forces had collided head-on. The flame exploded, and the heat wave swept out in all directions.
"This little temperature of yours isn't even enough to light the Navy's stove," Zephyr reprimanded, his figure flashing as he charged into the dust. "A Logia is not for you to play with fireworks."
Ace's gaze sharpened. He took a step, his hands quickly crossing as he compressed the flames. "Explosive Sun!" A thumb-sized fireball spun rapidly in his palm, its temperature soaring to several thousand degrees. Even the surrounding floor was scorched in advance by the heat. The fireball shot out like a laser and landed in an instant.
"BOOM!!!" The entire training ground floor erupted in a hemispherical flame shockwave, the orange-red flames shooting up ten meters high. The onlookers were hit by a gust of wind, and even many of the Headquarters' Vice Admirals frowned. "This firepower doesn't seem like something a 12-year-old kid can do, does it?"
"He actually mastered the compression and explosion of flames so well?!"
The fire wave receded, and Zephyr stepped out. His black, Armament-coated arms were completely unscorched. A slight smile appeared behind his sunglasses. "Your temperature control is more precise, and your compression force has improved a lot. Great progress~" He suddenly swung his palm. The air seemed to freeze, and the Haki-coated palm wind sent the rubble on the ground flying, his presence as sharp as a blade.
Ace instantly deployed a flame defense but was still sent flying by a shockwave. The moment he landed, he rolled up, his palms rubbing together, the flames becoming two rapidly spinning wheel blades that flew across the ground. "Flame Fang Blade!" Two high-speed rotating, high-temperature flame wheel blades churned forward, scorching the ground wherever they passed.
Zephyr didn't dodge. The high-speed rotating, high-temperature fire wheels spun violently as they cut across his crossed arms, sparks flying. "Using the jet propulsion of the flame explosion to increase cutting power? Interesting." With a low shout, he suddenly spread his arms and shattered the two flame wheel blades.
At this time, Ace was panting like a bull. The flames on his body were no longer fluttering wildly but were spinning and condensing around him, like the dead calm before a storm. "Normal moves can't break his defense..." Ace panted, a scene of Roy's teaching from some time ago flashing in his mind—
"The essence of flame is the release of energy," Roy had said, pointing to the flame on Ace's hand. "Try it. Compress the 'energy' to its limit and then explode it in an instant..."
Ace's gaze sharpened, and he slammed his hands together. "Compress... and compress again!" The originally churning flames suddenly collapsed inward. Like a black hole absorbing all energy, the ground around him was scorched red by the high temperature, and the air let out a sharp hiss.
Zephyr's figure was already approaching like a cannonball, his arms wrapped in black Armament, his iron fist aiming straight for his face. "Come on, kid! Don't let me down!!"
And in that moment—
Ace roared, "Flame Emperor: Explosive Flame Lotus!!!"
BOOM!!!
A crimson-gold fire lotus bloomed on Zephyr's chest. The high temperature instantly distorted the air, and the sparks bloomed in a ring, accompanied by a violent sonic boom and a scorching white, high-temperature shockwave. It was an explosive wave of ultra-high-pressure flame instantly expanding in a very short time, its shape like a Buddha's lotus, its power like a cataclysmic fire.
The entire training ground trembled. The ground cracked in a spiderweb pattern outward from the point of explosion, and a mushroom cloud of fire rose into the air, like a flower of destruction. The high temperature scorched the air, and the spectating cadets could barely open their eyes.
"Hiss—!!"
"What level of explosive power is that?!"
"Is that an attack that a 12-year-old can unleash?!"
The instructors in the front row quickly deployed their Armament Haki to block, shielding the cadets behind them from the impact of this flame storm.
The dust filled the air, the flames not yet dispersed. Ace was half-kneeling at the edge of the flame-fused battlefield, half his body covered in faint flames, his face pale. He forced himself not to fall, his eyes still holding a hint of unwillingness and expectation. "Hah... hah... did it work..."
From within the smoke, a figure slowly walked out—the upper half of Zephyr's Marine uniform had long since been turned to ash. His solid upper body was wrapped in Armament Haki, but a faint red mark could still be seen on his chest, as if scorched by a fierce flame. The shattered sunglasses slid from his face, revealing those sharp, blade-like eyes.
He stopped in front of Ace, looked at him for a few seconds, and suddenly burst out laughing. "Well done, kid!"
The crowd of onlookers was taken aback for a moment, then erupted in cheers.
"Waaahhhh!!!"
"Head Instructor Zephyr was actually broken through by a 12-year-old kid!!"
"What was that move?! Flames can be used like that?!"
The entire field erupted in a wave of sensational cheers. Ace finally grinned, his eyes rolling back. "Great..." The next second, he collapsed to the ground with a "thud," his muscles twitching. "Oww, oww, oww... exhausted..."
Zephyr walked over to him and picked up the scorched-octopus-like Ace. "Creativity, pass. Release completion, 70 points. Control, 50 points. Physical fitness... negative points."
"From today on, your weight training is doubled."
Ace quickly shouted, "W-Wait, Instructor, I-I made progress today!!!"
Zephyr grinned. "That's why you need to double your training. Otherwise, you'll think you're 'all that' again."
The spectating cadets' mouths twitched, and they broke into a sweat as they watched Ace being dragged away.
Just then, Roy's figure quietly appeared at the side of the field, just in time to see Zephyr carrying the exhausted Ace towards the physical training ground. The sunlight shone through the glass dome onto the scorched black ground of the training ground. The air was still filled with the high-temperature after-effects of the "Buddha's Fiery Lotus," and the cracks on the ground spread out like放射状 flames to the edge of the stands.
Roy's gaze fell on the center of the scorch marks. "Buddha's Fiery Lotus..." he murmured softly, a gratified smile unconsciously appearing on his lips. "I never thought that the compression explosion technique I mentioned casually back then, this kid actually managed to pull it off."
Just as he was about to teleport after them, his peripheral vision suddenly caught a flash of dark red—in a corner of the shadows, a tall figure was turning to leave, the "Justice" coat on his back fluttering slightly in the wind.
Roy's gaze sharpened, and the next second—
"Swish!"
Sakazuki, who had just returned to Headquarters to handle some business, paused. The space in front of him distorted slightly, and Roy's figure appeared out of thin air.
"Uncle Sakazuki," Roy greeted him with a hint of teasing, his tone light yet respectful. "A figure of your level would also come to watch a 'kid's assessment'?"
Sakazuki paused, his sharp gaze sweeping over, as if magma were about to erupt from his eyes. But after seeing it was Roy, his tense face relaxed slightly. "Roy..." He then said lightly, his voice low and powerful, "The kid you taught is not bad."
Roy was slightly taken aback, then he narrowed his eyes and stared at him. Akainu Sakazuki is actually praising someone? And it's Ace? Various thoughts flashed through his mind. "Is it because Ace took down the Arlong Pirates? Did that finally make him waver a little about the 'bloodline of the Pirate King'?"
Sakazuki seemed to have seen through his thoughts and snorted coldly. "Don't worry. As long as he doesn't become a pirate and continues to carry out the Navy's justice and annihilate pirates..." That stern, sculpted face relaxed slightly, his tone unusually calm. "I won't have any problem with him."
After speaking, he strode forward, the heat of the magma under his feet leaving molten marks on the stone slabs, each step as if pressing down on flames.
Roy stood on the spot, watching his back, and muttered to himself, "He really is the 'absolute justice' against pirates."
In the distance, just as Akainu was about to disappear around the corner, a golden light suddenly flashed. "Swoosh" A lazy voice with a trailing sound came from the light. "Yo Sakazuki~"
"This is a rare moment when you're not scowling~" Kizaru Borsalino, with his hands in his pockets, appeared from the light particles, a lazy smile on his lips. "Want to go for a drink later? I hear the new bar that just opened, even the Fleet Admiral has snuck off to."
Sakazuki didn't even turn his head, leaving only a cold, low hum. "Whatever."
"Kowai ne So cold" A golden light and a touch of magma walked side-by-side into the distance, like fire and a mirror converging, gradually disappearing at the end of the street.
Roy withdrew his gaze and turned to look at the still-slowly-cooling training ground. The scorched black cracks still crisscrossed the center of the field, like the mark of growth Ace had carved on this battlefield.
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