"Are you planning to tickle me with that piece of firewood? Toss it and grab your gauntlets or a real weapon," Ace said, his gaze sitting on the dusty wooden sword for a second as he frowned in annoyance.
"I don't want to beat some guy who can't even pick a proper weapon, just to have Luffy's big mouth blabbing about it everywhere later!"
"No need."
Zaraki flicked his wrist, the dry wood grain scratching against his palm.
His instincts from the Kenpachi Zaraki template told him this kid was annoying, but a raw itch for the coming fight still stirred inside him.
He looked up, as a restless energy boiling deep in his eyes.
"This piece of wood is enough for you, because if I end up killing you by accident, Garp will make things a pain in the ass when he gets back."
"You bastard... stop looking down on me!"
Ace's face turned red with anger at the insult, but just as he was about to blow up, a sudden chill shot up his spine.
In that split second, Ace was stunned to see the lazy Zaraki across from him change.
Even though Zaraki kept his chill posture, Ace felt like the guy's body had stretched out, turning into a grinning beast!
The feeling of being targeted by an apex predator made Ace hold his breath, his palms getting slick with cold sweat as he gripped his water pipe.
"Hey! Stop staring at each other like that!" Luffy yelled, cupping his hands around his mouth.
"Hurry up and fight! The meat's getting cold, and I wanna see that whoosh-whoosh-whoosh sword stuff!"
Luffy's shout broke the weird tension in the air, letting the heavy pressure ease up a bit.
Ace shook his head hard to shake off the creepy feeling.
'What a joke! I'm gonna be the Pirate King! How the hell could I be scared by a guy who hasn't even stepped foot on the sea?'
"Good, very good," Ace said, taking a deep breath and bending his knees a bit to dig a shallow hole in the dirt with his feet.
"Since you're so eager to die, I'll give you what you want. Zaraki, in ten moves, I'll have you begging to switch weapons!"
"Ten moves?" Zaraki chuckled like he just heard a joke, his head hanging low as his shoulders shook with a muffled, crazy laugh coming from his throat.
With that laugh, a golden aura burst out of Zaraki's body, and this time, it was a full-on release of power!
The villagers felt like a huge rock had been dropped on their chests, and a few old folks fell to the ground when their legs gave out.
This was spiritual pressure.
Even though Zaraki only hit five percent on his template, to these normal East Blue people, it felt like a natural disaster!
Even Luffy, who was just yelling a second ago, now stood frozen like a duck getting choked, his mouth open with no sound coming out as he hugged the wooden post next to him.
Standing right in the middle of that pressure, Ace felt the full brunt of it.
He swore he saw a scarred demon standing right behind Zaraki, raising a jagged giant sword and roaring at the sky!
"Come at me, Ace," Zaraki snapped his head up, his eyes burning with a crazy fire as a wild grin stretched across his face to show off his white teeth.
"Forget ten moves. The current me... I'm having a hard time holding back my strength."
'What the hell is this heavy pressure?!' Ace's breath hitched.
Every hair on his body stood straight up, like he was being hunted by some monster.
His brain screamed at him to back off, but his stubborn pride as part of the Pirate King's bloodline rooted his legs to the dirt like nails.
'No... I can't back down! If I run away here, how can I ever set sail? How can I ever face this bastard again?!'
His face burned with shame, but that feeling quickly turned into pure fuel. Ace roared, trying to drown out the tiny bit of fear in his chest by yelling his lungs out.
The ground under his feet cracked into a small crater as he launched himself at Zaraki like a damn cannonball, charging with the wild energy of a desperate gamble.
Closer!
Ten meters, five meters, two meters!
Ace raised the pipe high, the wind whistling as he swung it down with everything he had right at Zaraki's shoulder.
He didn't hold anything back, using all the force he could pull together in that split second.
But in his vision, Zaraki just smiled.
The grin looked savage, giving off a vibe of pure thrill!
'Too slow,' Zaraki thought, even having the time to judge the attack.
Boosted by his heavy spiritual pressure, Ace's movements looked like they were playing in slow motion.
Every muscle twitch, every breath, was crystal clear.
He didn't bother to dodge or block.
Instead, he just gripped his wooden sword with both hands and swung it straight down without any fancy moves.
Boom!
The wooden sword didn't even hit the iron pipe directly, but the second they met, a golden wave of spiritual pressure exploded from the blade.
It was just pure, raw energy let loose.
Right then, Ace felt like he just crashed into a falling mountain.
The iron pipe in his hand shook hard, almost flying out of his grip, and the skin between his fingers split wide open.
A massive force pushed through his arm, rushing right through his whole body.
Pfft—
Ace didn't even have time to scream before he got sent flying back like a dead leaf caught in a storm, blasting away at twice the speed he charged in.
Bang! Bang! Bang!
His body smashed right through three layers of wooden crates stacked outside the tavern, before slamming hard into the trunk of a faraway coconut tree.
The hit shook a few ripe coconuts loose, sending them dropping to the ground and kicking up a big cloud of dust.
The whole place went dead quiet.
The only thing you could hear was the faint sound of the sea breeze blowing sand around.
Zaraki stayed in his swinging pose, the wooden sword groaning under the crazy force as its surface cracked with tiny lines.
He slowly stood up straight, his chest moving up and down.
The fight ending didn't calm the blood rushing through his veins; instead, it felt like it was boiling even hotter.
'This... this is real power.'
It was a heavy weight coming from deep inside the soul, way past any strength you could get from just working out.
He glanced at Ace, who was passed out in the rubble far away, then looked down at the broken piece of wood in his hand.
The wild light in his eyes faded away, going back to being clear, though a slight smirk pulled at the corner of his mouth.
Right then, the familiar robot voice echoed in his head again.
[Host has achieved a crushing victory in their first battle, significantly increasing mental resonance.]
[Template fusion progress: 5%.]
[Reward generated: Kenpachi Zaraki's exclusive skill (Stage 1) available for claiming.]
'What kind of rewards are coming next?'
A light blue screen, visible only to Zaraki, hovered in the air, blocking the dust and smoke blowing from where Ace crashed.
He looked down at the ruined sword in his hand.
The smooth blade was now covered in spiderweb cracks, with a few spots broken open to show the pale, stringy wood underneath.
"The quality was still too shit," he muttered with a click of his tongue, throwing the useless stick away like trash.
With a soft thud, the sword hit the dirt and snapped in two, rolling down the slope right to Luffy's feet.
That little movement acted like a switch, finally snapping the stunned crowd out of their daze.
"Whoa—!"
Luffy even forgot about the meat in his hand, his round eyes going wide as his jaw almost hit the floor.
He looked at Ace, passed out in the distance, and then at Zaraki, who just tossed his weapon away.
Like a loaded spring, Luffy jumped off the wooden barrel.
"Zaraki! What the hell was that?! That whoosh—then boom—thing!" The little guy waved his greasy arms around with crazy hype, making wild motions to show the attack, not giving a single crap if his other brother was dead or alive.
Zaraki ignored the loudmouth, his eyes moving past Luffy to lock onto the coconut tree far away.
The stubborn Ace lay spread out in a star shape in a pile of broken wood, his chest moving up and down hard.
Even though he looked beat to hell, with a little blood dripping from the corner of his mouth, his stubborn life force was still going strong.
'He won't die.'
Of course he wouldn't.
This was Fire Fist Ace, the future legend of the Grand Line, so if he couldn't take a basic hit, the standards of the One Piece world would be a joke.
After making sure his reckless brother wasn't going to croak, Zaraki finally looked away and pulled a handkerchief from his inside pocket.
Makino pushed him to take it earlier, saying it was for wiping sweat, but right now it was perfect for cleaning the leftover booze and wood dust off his hands.
A light sea breeze blew through the tavern door, bringing the salty smell of the ocean and clearing out the heavy heat in the air.
Zaraki put his focus back on the floating screen in front of him.
Just 5% progress let him crush the current Ace using only raw body strength and that spiritual pressure.
'So what the hell was this exclusive skill going to be?'
His eyes locked onto the flashing golden question mark.
In the Bleach world, Kenpachi Zaraki's skill tree was famous for being empty, since that battle-crazy freak never gave a shit about learning Kido or fancy footwork.
His logic for fighting was simple: cut better, make the cuts deeper, and boost the range and raw power!
Zaraki's heart skipped a beat.
'If it's that move that doesn't need a Zanpakuto release...'
He rubbed his fingers together without thinking, like he was holding an invisible sword.
A raw itch to let his power loose beat in his veins, a leftover feeling from the short fight and his body begging for this new strength.
Zaraki let out a slow breath, blocking out Luffy's non-stop "So cool!" right next to him.
With a small shift in focus, like pushing open the door to a new world, he tapped the golden icon hard.
'Since I got dumped in this world full of monsters, let's see just how busted this first cheat can make me.'
[Confirm reward claim?]
"Confirm," he muttered in his head.
In a flash, the floating golden icon broke into countless shiny pieces, flowing together like rivers into the sea as they rushed right into Zaraki's eyes.