Boom!
The entire island of Alteila shuddered at irregular intervals; the shockwaves of the battle were simply too intense.
Boom!
"Ah... save... save me..." In the residential area, a house collapsed, pinning a young woman beneath the debris.
"Lili!"
A man came running toward her, a small girl of three or four years old trailing by his side. They were clearly a family.
"Ahahaha... Charge! Kill everyone who clings to the Whitebeard Pirates!"
In the distance, a troop of men rushed forward with predatory excitement. They were led by a fierce-looking brute brandishing a massive scimitar. By now, Alteila was a scene of total chaos; many of Blackbeard's men had already slipped through the gaps in the frontline to raid the interior.
Blackbeard had come prepared with a force of ten thousand—his primary elite corps. In contrast, the Whitebeard forces stationed here were members of the main fleet, numbering only a few thousand. The numerical disparity was stark.
"Mama..." The little girl cried as she reached the woman's side, grabbing her hand as if she could pull her free.
"Lili, I'll get you out!"
The man strained with all his might to push the section of wall off the woman, but no matter how much he exerted himself, the stone didn't budge an inch. It wasn't just a single wall; half the house had collapsed on top of it. A common man stood no chance of moving it. The rest of the villagers had already fled to the back mountains for safety, leaving them alone with no one to help.
"Hey! Look, someone's trapped under that house!"
"Where? Let me see! Ha, you're right! Hahahaha!"
"Get over there, don't let them escape!"
Hearing the voices behind him, the man's pupils shrank and his face paled with terror.
"A-Zhong, take Qing'er and run! Stop worrying about me!" the woman cried out in horror, watching the Blackbeard pirates close in. "Go! I'm begging you, take Qing'er and go!"
"Mama, if we go, we go together!" the little girl said, her eyes red as she stood defiantly in front of her mother.
"Go!? Hahaha, nobody's going anywhere!" The leading brute pulled a pistol from his waist and aimed it directly at the little girl's head.
"Qing'er!" The man immediately shielded the girl behind his back, looking at the surrounding pirates with a grim, desperate expression.
"Oh ho?" The brute grinned wickedly at the man protecting his wife and child. He pulled the trigger without hesitation.
Bang!
The bullet struck the man's body with a sickening thud. Blood sprayed.
"Agh...!"
"Daddy! Daddy!" The little girl screamed as tears streamed down her face.
"Hahaha!"
The Blackbeard pirates erupted in ruthless laughter. The woman's face turned deathly white. She trembled, whispering, "A-Zhong... you... don't scare me like this!"
A moment later, she snapped back to reality and shrieked at the girl: "Qing'er! Run! Get out of here!"
"No!" The little girl was stubborn. She glared at the pirates with eyes that held no fear. "You bad people! When Big Brother Ace comes back, he's going to teach you a lesson!"
"Ace?"
"She's probably talking about the former Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Fire Fist Ace."
"Oh, him? Isn't that Fire Fist guy already dead?" one of the pirates realized with a smirk.
"Right! Hahahaha! You hear that, brat? The Fire Fist you're waiting for is dead!"
"Hahahaha!"
Listening to the wave of mockery and insults, the little girl's face turned bright red with anger. "Liar! Big Brother Ace wouldn't die!"
"Hahahaha!"
Seeing the girl's reaction, the pirates laughed even harder.
"You guys..." The girl was so angry she couldn't speak.
"Qing'er... you... go..."
The man on the ground groaned, struggling to lift his head as he reached for the girl's hand.
"Daddy..."
"Huh? Still alive?" The brute scoffed and raised his pistol once more.
"No!" The little girl threw herself in front of the man.
"NO!!" The man and woman screamed simultaneously.
Bang...
A shot rang out, and a wisp of blue smoke rose from the muzzle. The bullet tore through the air with a sharp whistle. For a split second, time seemed to freeze. The parents' pupils shrank to pinpricks, their faces masks of pure horror.
Flash!
It was as if something had flickered—or perhaps it hadn't.
When everyone regained their senses, a figure was suddenly standing in front of the little girl. He was holding a bullet between two fingers.
Gasp!
The sight sent a chill down the spines of the Blackbeard pirates. They gasped in unison, retreating a step.
"Who... who are you!?" the brute stammered, finally finding the courage to speak.
Ace ignored him. He turned and knelt down, offering the little girl a gentle smile. "It's Qing'er, isn't it? You've grown so tall."
"A... Ace... You're Ace!" Qing'er's eyes went wide, her voice trembling with an unspeakable excitement.
"It's me." Ace reached out to pat her head. With a casual flick of his other hand, the heavy debris pinning the woman was sent flying into the distance.
"Ace? He said that guy is Ace? Fire Fist Ace?" One of the pirates gasped, his face full of disbelief.
"Impossible! Fire Fist Ace is supposed to be dead!" the brute roared, raising his scimitar. "Kill him! Everyone together!"
"Ace, they—" Before the little girl could express her joy at her mother being saved, she looked at the charging men with worry. But before she could finish, Ace placed a finger against her lips.
"Shh..."
Ace stood up slowly. A wreath of fire coiled around his right hand. He casually tossed a small ball of flame toward the group.
What can a tiny flame like that do?
Just as the pirates were about to jeer, the small ember exploded into a massive sea of fire, swallowing them whole and then instantly imploding. Before a single scream could escape their lips, every one of them had been reduced to ash.
Not just Qing'er, but the man and woman stood there dumbfounded. They had no idea what had just happened; a group of living men had simply vanished into thin air.
"Ace, you have to leave!" the man urged as he struggled to his feet. "Teach is stronger than Marco now. Even if you've come..."
Ace waved a hand to dismiss his concerns. "Big Brother A-Zhong, just wait. Go to the back mountains and find a doctor for those wounds." With that, he began walking toward the front of the island.
The three of them watched his back in silence. Finally, just before Ace vanished from sight, Qing'er shouted, "Big Brother Ace! Will we all be okay!?"
Ace's steady voice drifted back to them: "Go get your father treated, have a good meal, and by the time you come back out, everything will be fine."
Ace's figure blurred into a series of afterimages. In a matter of moments, he reached the center of the battlefield. Every Blackbeard pirate he encountered along the way was incinerated into ash.
Swish!
A red-clad figure suddenly descended upon the mast of a Blackbeard ship. Ace's gaze swept across the battlefield with absolute authority, locking onto Blackbeard in an instant.
"It's been a long time... Teach."