The appearance of Ace caused the morale of the Whitebeard Pirates to rise again.
"It's the second commander!"
"We can win! Hang on a little more!"
The pirates roared and started giving their best to kill more of the enemy pirates.
"Flame shots!"
Multiple balls of flames were shot by Ace with the help of his devil fruit, Mera Mera no Mi.
"Ahh! Fire!"
"It's burning! I am on fire!"
The pirates from Devil's Pirates panicked and some were severely injured because of Ace.
There were a few who instantly died to his flames.
* * *
In the control room of the Devil's Contract, Rocky bit off the cigar in his mouth with anger.
"This guy again. Last time he survived because of Whitebeard but now I have a chance to kill him."
Turning around, Rocky left the room with a killing aura all over him which scared the workers inside the room.
Stepping out in the open, Rocky jumped in the air and headed towards Ace as he used a better version of Geppo.
But half way through, a blue figure sped up and kicked him backwards.
"Don't you dare do something on my watch!"
Marco in his hybrid form glared at Rocky. His two wings on his back continued to flap slowly.
"It's irritating."
Grunted Rocky. He pulled out his revolver and shot two bullets aimed at Marco.
These bullets were made of special sea stones which had high effects on devil fruit users.
Flap!
Dodging the bullets as he flew up, Marco then launched himself towards Rocky.
His hands like claws in blue color. It glowed more when Marco thought of only harming someone.
"I always wished to kill you!"
Marco increased his speed. Rocky couldn't run away so he also charged forward for a head on clash.
Bam!
Rocky managed to grab both of Marco's hands as they entangled together in the sky.
* * *
"Sonโฆ"
Muttered Whitebeard, his eyes glanced at the red and orange flames on the sea.
Then he immediately turned back to face Akuma who had already started sprinting towards him.
"Haaa!"
Whitebeard swung his naginata and blocked Akuma's metal bat.
This time, only Akuma was using armament haki while Whitebeard didn't because of weakening body.
But his naginata wasn't any normal weapon, it is one of the 12 Supreme Grade Swords.
Its durability was without a doubt top quality in the entire whole. Meanwhile Akuma's metal bat wasn't any unique other than it being made of a special metal.
Boom!
The burst of flashes continued as Akuma and Whitebeard exchanged blows.
By now, Akuma noticed that Whitebeard was trying to buy time for his children to win the battle on the sea.
๐๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ด๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ญ๐ด๐ฐ ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ ๐ด๐ฐ๐ฐ๐ฏ. ๐๐ญ๐ญ ๐ช๐ต ๐ฎ๐ข๐ต๐ต๐ฆ๐ณ๐ด ๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ช๐ด ๐ง๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฌ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฑ ๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ต๐ฆ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ค๐ค๐ถ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ฐ๐ณ ๐ฌ๐ช๐ญ๐ญ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎโฆ Akuma backed away and looked at Whitebeard with an expressionless face.
"Haโฆ Haโฆ"
On the other side, Whitebeard was breathing heavily while holding his naginata as support.
Grm.
The black clouds in the night sky blocked all the moonlight and stars from view.
"It's about time I get seriousโฆ"
Said Akuma in a low voice only audible to him and not Whitebeard. He took in a deep breath and closed his eyes.
Whitebeard, who stood at some distance from Akuma sensed the change quickly.
๐๐ด ๐ช๐ต ๐ง๐ช๐ฏ๐ข๐ญ๐ญ๐บ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ๐ฆ?... Thought Whitebeard. He gripped the long handle of his naginata tightly and stared at Akuma.
His eyes blinked only once yet, Akuma vanished from his spot alerting Whitebeard.
Even with advanced observation haki at the cost of more pain, Whitebeard was unable to find Akuma.
"What the hell? Where is he?"
Turning left and right, there was no trace of Akuma on the island. He was all alone standing there.
Still, he had a feeling that Akuma was somewhere here waiting for a moment where his guard would be down.
"Ahh! Help!"
"Damn it!"
The shouts and screams of pirates were heard clearly as Whitebeard stood silently.
Sweat dripped down his cheek to chin and then fell on the ground.
A sudden sensation of horror entered Whitebeard's heart. He swung his naginata and a loud explosion sounded.
His naginata made contact with Akuma's metal bat. It happened in a second and then Akuma was gone again in invisibility.
"Come out! Only a coward would use such tactics to become invisible and attack the enemy behind his back!"
Said Whitebeard. He looked around but didn't sense anything other than the cold wind.
"Guess your right. This seems useless to you."
Akuma's voice echoed on the island. His figure slowly showed itself before Whitebeard.
Thud.
Akuma dropped the metal bat and crossed his arms over his chest.
"Say, Whitebeard. Let us use no weapon. You will only become weaker by time and all the fun would go away by each passing second."
Akuma suggested. His face had a smile facing the mighty Whitebeard.
๐๐ฐ ๐ธ๐ฆ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐ด. ๐๐ต ๐ฉ๐ข๐ณ๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ต๐ณ๐ถ๐ด๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ท๐ช๐ญ ๐ฃ๐ถ๐ต ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ฏ ๐ช ๐ฆ๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ฅ๐ฐ ๐ข๐ด ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ข๐ต ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ช๐ฅ ๐ข๐ช๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฏ๐จโฆ Whitebeard pondered, his eyes then had a flash of light.
Bam!
Whitebeard pinned his naginata in the ground and walked forward towards Akuma as he cracked his knuckles.
"Hehe hehe! Good! Very good!"
With deep red eyes, Akuma grinned and he also started walking towards Whitebeard slowly.
Both of them then ran up against each other.
Boom!
Their hands interlocked. Akuma's eyes and Whitebeard's eyes stared at each other.
"Haaa!"
Whitebeard roared and pushed Akuma with his muscle strength while Akuma struggled a little.
"Ahhhh!"
In his turn, Akuma gathered all his strength and matched Whitebeard's power on equal level or even more.
"Ahhhh!"
Akuma forced his hands and tightened the grip on Whitebeard's hands.
"Ahheee!"
Whitebeard gritted his teeth and endured the pain coming from his hands. He raised his right knee and struck Akuma's abdomen.
Akuma could feel the hit and the power behind the knee from Whitebeard.
He swung his hands and tried to disbalance Whitebeard but failed to do so. Instead, he just got more hits on his abdomen.
๐๐ง ๐ด๐ฐ!... Akuma pulled his head back and bashed his forehead on Whitebeard's face.
Bam!
Blood flowed out of Whitebeard's nose. His head spun but his body wasn't showing any change.
"Haaaa!"
This time it was Whitebeard who bashed his forehead at Akuma's face. But Akuma didn't have any blood flowing out of his nose.
"Ahh!"
Taking a right step, Akuma kicked Whitebeard on his left calf then on his thigh.
Whitebeard tried to escape Akuma's grip but couldn't so he went berserk.
Pulling Akuma near, Whitebeard headbutt on his chest and threw him on the ground.
"I won't lose! Not to you!"
Shouted Whitebeard, he sat on top of Akuma and clenched his fists tightly.
Bam Bam!
Punch after punch landed on Akuma's upper body, his head, shoulder, hands, chest, stomach, neck, etc.
"You will!"
Barely managing to push Whitebeard, Akuma grabbed his metal bat near them on the ground.
Whitebeard narrowed his eyes at Akuma. His naginata was quite a distance from him.
"Ahhh!"
Akuma leaped at Whitebeard as he swung his metal bat coated in advance armament haki.
Crack!
"Ahge!"
Whitebeard had raised his hands to block the metal bat. The bone cracking sound came out with Whitebeard's groan.
Gritting his teeth, Whitebeard held on to the bat and pulled it from Akuma.
"Haaa!"
The white halo on his fist was so dense almost making his hand unable to be seen.
Boom!
The fist hit on Akuma's face as the shock waves travelled throughout his entire body.
"Ahhaa!"
Akuma was sent tens of meters away. His nose and some portion of the skull bones cracked and even broke.
Thud!
"Cough!"
Whitebeard half collapsed on the ground. As he coughed, a huge amount of blood splashed around.
His right hand couldn't be used anymore, white bones pierced out through the muscle and ligaments.
His hand was completely broken and blood flowed out of the cracks and wounds.
"Ahge!"
The pain had become unbearable for him. His legs now didn't move and his hands made weird sounds.
It definitely wasn't good. His condition now was as good as dead but surprisingly he isn't.
"It's not over yet!"
The cold and deep voice of Akuma's brought Whitebeard immense fear and fright.
His eyes wide open as he stared Akuma slowly raise his upper body.
"H-How?!"
Whitebeard could guarantee that the punch he hit Akuma with could have killed anyone in the world.
Be it the "Pirate King" Roger or the "Strongest Creature" Kaido, a direct hit such was enough to end their story.
Even so, Akuma was still alive.
"Ahhโฆ"
Akuma stood up with great difficulty, his blood vessels popped out visible to naked eyes.
His whole body was trembling uncontrollably.
"That wasโฆ painful."