The rooftop tiles were warm under Ace's boots. Below the town square was a lake of perfect black. At its center stood Marshall D. Teach.
He chuckled"How long you will stand there sooner or later my darkness will consume this roof as well"
Ace's expression was a cold mask of fury. 'He's right about this thing,' he thought, his eyes scanning the battlefield. 'I can't stay here forever.' He had to end this and end it quickly.
"Let's see how well your darkness handles the light of fire" Ace retorted, his voice low and dangerous.
He raised a single hand palm open towards Blackbeard. "Heat Haze"
A superheated steam of fire which almost invisible to the naked eye save for the distortion it created in the air, shot down from the roof. It wasn't a concussive blast like "Fire Fist," but a focused beam of pure melting heat. It moved with the speed of sound which directly aimed for Teach's head.
Blackbeard's reaction was surprisingly swift for a man of his bulk. He didn't try to absorb it with his hand. Instead, he plunged both hands into the dark water at his feet. "Black Hole!"
The surface of the black lake swirled, and a section directly in front of him began to dip, forming a whirlpool of shadow. Ace's "Heat Haze" beam struck not Blackbeard, but the event horizon of this miniature black hole, and was instantly devoured. everything was stretched into nothingness and pulled into the vortex.
"Zehahaha....Take this ace" Teach shouted Then with little effort he roared "LIBERATION!"
With a sound like a thousand cannons firing at once. Everything it had consumed - the shattered stones of the town square, the wooden crates, the twisted metal was violently ejected. It wasn't a random spray, it was a focused, controlled razor-sharp blast , all of it aimed directly at Ace.
Ace's eyes widened. He hadn't expected something like this.
"Flame Mirror"
He thrust his hands forward, and a vertical wall of solid fire erupted in front of him. Most of the debris was incinerated on contact, turned to ash before it could pass through. But the sheer kinetic force was shocking. The roof beneath him groaned, threatening to collapse under the sustained assault.
Ace analyzed, his mind working at lightning speed. 'He's turning the very environment into his weapon.'
The barrage ceased. The Flame Mirror dissipated into embers. Ace was breathing heavily, his stance unwavering. He looked down to see Blackbeard laughing, holding his aching ribs where the burns still throbbed.
"Zehahaha.... See? See, Ace? This is destiny. The Yami Yami no Mi chose me. It is the most powerful Devil Fruit in the worl, and it was always meant to be mine"
Ace landed on another rooftop his mind racing. His Direct attacks were being absorbed. The environment was hostile towards him. Close combat was suicide. He needed something that Teach couldn't just suck into a single point. He needed to overwhelm him from all sides.
A new idea sparked in his mind. A dangerous, multi-stage attack.
"Fireflies" he whispered.
He held his hands out, and from his palms,first dozens, then hundreds of small glowing orbs of green-hued fire floated off into the air. They drifted down towards the town square like divine snowflakes, lazily circling around the Blackbeard. They were beautiful and almost peaceful.
'What's this? A light show? no this is something different' Teach thought, Looking at the rays of light shining all around.
the fireflies began to gather, Their sluggish pace quickens until they swarm and attack Blackbeard, surrounding him in a glittering green cage of light.
"Fiery Doll" Ace said which clapping his hands together.
The effect was instantaneous and catastrophic. Every single firefly detonated simultaneously.
The resulting explosion wasn't a single blast, but a hundred interconnected ones, creating a concussive, searing sphere of emerald flame that completely surrounded Blackbeard. The shockwave ripped across the sending out ripples, and the sound was a rolling CRACK-BOOM.
"GAAAAAAAHHHH!"
A scream of pure agony tore through the heart of the inferno. It was higher-pitched and more desperate than before. This time, the attack had hit him everywhere at once. There was no single point of impact to defend, it was a blanket of searing pain.
The green flames died down, revealing Blackbeard on one knee. His coat was torn and on fire, his skin has blisters and peeling in several places. He was panting, smoke curling from his body, his body trembling uncontrollably.
But as he looked up, his face was not one of defeat. The pain had burned away his arrogance, replacing it with something far more terrifying: pure, malevolent rage.
He pushed himself up, his immense frame radiating killing intent. "Let me show you the true terror of the Yami Yami no Mi!"
"BLACK VORTEX"