Ace observed Kaido and Charlotte Linlin charging towards him with their most powerful attacks, a confident smirk forming at the corners of his mouth.
"Do you know why I waited for you to be ready before I attacked?" Ace's voice was calm, almost mocking.
Kaido, in his fire dragon form, felt a chill run down his spine. Why indeed? Why would Ace, known for his strategic brilliance, wait for them to gather their strength?
Kaido recalled the Entei incident, where Ace had demonstrated unparalleled strategy and battlefield control. During that event, the former Marshal of Naval Headquarters, Buddha Sengoku, renowned for his wisdom and strategic mind, was outwitted by Ace. The vice captain of the Red Hair Pirates, Benn Beckman, also found himself maneuvered by Ace's schemes. The Naval Headquarters, and even the World Government, were manipulated like pawns, forced into submission by Ace's cunning tatics.
In the Entei incident, the Entei Pirates were not as powerful as they were now. Back then, Ace was the sole top-tier combatant among them. Nami, although strong, had only barely reached admiral-level combat power, relying heavily on the Thunder Fruit, with her Haki being nearly useless in top-tier battles. The addition of the "Dark Ranger" Fujitora and the "Dark King" Silver Rayleigh bolstered their strength, but the Naval Headquarters had committed all its forces, including three Admirals and Marshal Sengoku himself. The World Government even deployed the Five Elders.
Despite this overwhelming advantage, Ace's tactical genius turned the tide. The Naval Headquarters was defeated head-on, and the World Government had to call off the unprecedented Buster Call. Ace had shattered the concept of absolute justice, forcing even the most powerful forces to give up.
Kaido couldn't help but feel a mix of admiration and dread. Ace's wisdom and strategic acumen were unparalleled. In any battle, Ace never allowed his enemies to use their full strength comfortably, always dictating the rhythm and flow of the fight. It was unimaginable that Ace would now allow him and Linlin to unleash their strongest attacks unless he had an even greater plan.
Could it be that he had fallen into this man's trap again?!
Kaido's mind raced with negative thoughts, but in the heat of battle, retreat was not an option. With no way to turn back, he gritted his teeth and roared, pushing himself to his absolute limits. Under the immense pressure, Kaido's Conqueror's Haki intensified, growing slightly stronger.
Ace watched this transformation with amusement, his red eyes blazing like a miniature sun. Seeing Kaido's Conqueror's Haki strengthen under such dire circumstances brought a hint of satisfaction to Ace's expression.
Conqueror's Haki, the power of kings, could not be strengthened through mere exercise like Armament Haki and Observation Haki. To make Conqueror's Haki stronger, one had to improve their own capacity and spirit through the crucible of battle or the conquest of nature. The best way to enhance Conqueror's Haki was by challenging another Conqueror's Haki wielder who was stronger.
When two Conqueror's Haki users clashed, their Haki instinctively erupted in a fierce confrontation. The growth of Conqueror's Haki was akin to a brutal competition where only one could stand supreme. The victor would rise stronger, while the defeated would become history's forgotten dust.
For Ace, who had the ability to absorb Haki thanks to the famed sword "Enma," other Conqueror's Haki users were prime nourishment. His strategy of allowing Kaido and Charlotte Linlin to unleash their strongest moves was deliberate, designed to push them to their limits and enhance their Conqueror's Haki to the utmost before he absorbed it.
Ace harbored no fear of these two growing stronger. His red eyes glowed with an eerie scarlet light, signifying his mastery of Ultimate Observation Haki. He had already seen the future and knew that everything was under his control.
"Now, let's end this."
Ace's eyes burned like real stars, blazing with an intensity that matched his resolve.
"I admire your fighting ability, Kaido! But..." Ace's gaze hardened, his eyes becoming like torches that casted a terrifying light.
"Your way of doing things is unforgivable. Wanokuni has known only tragedy under your rule. The people can't even eat; they are forced to drink polluted water to stave off hunger, only to die miserably. Your fighting power might be formidable, but I have no intention of using it. Your existence hinders the progress of this world and obstructs the 'world where everyone can eat and everyone can have a banquet' that I want to create. So, Die."
Ace's Haki-infused voice boomed across the battlefield. Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's actions were irredeemable in Ace's eyes. They stood as barriers to his vision of a just world, a world where no one went hungry and every soul could celebrate life.
Ace's declaration was a powerful condemnation of Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's tyranny. Their oppressive regimes stood in stark contrast to Ace's vision of a world where freedom and joy reigned supreme. This vision was not only his own but was shared by the loyal cadres who had gathered under his banner.
Kaido's face twisted in rage and frustration, while Charlotte Linlin's expression turned even more grotesque with fury. The Flame Emperor dared to dismiss her, focusing solely on Kaido. To her, this was the ultimate insult.
"Don't joke! Little brat! Die!" Charlotte Linlin screeched, her voice filled with venom.
At that moment, both Yonko launched their most devastating attacks. Kaido, in his fire dragon form, and Charlotte Linlin, with her immense strength and terrifying powers, closed in on Ace.
Ace stood his ground, his resolve unwavering. As the two Yonko converged on him, the air crackled with the sheer force of their combined might. Yet, Ace's calm demeanor didn't falter. His burning eyes reflected his inner fire, a testament to his unyielding spirit and unparalleled power.
"Die under my highest peak, Kaido, Charlotte Linlin," Ace declared, his voice carrying the weight of an inescapable fate.
A smirk curled at the corners of his mouth as his eyes, glowing like molten stars, began to burn with an intense, otherworldly light.
"Great Flame Ring!!!" Ace roared, his voice echoing like a divine pronouncement.
In an instant, Ace's entire body ignited, the flames consuming him and transforming his form. Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's pupils shrank in terror as they witnessed the metamorphosis. Ace's figure swelled, the raging flames surging outward from him as the center.
The intense heat and energy emanating from Ace melted Charlotte Linlin's strongest slash effortlessly. Kaido, in mid-attack, found himself immobilized by the overwhelming power.
Time and space seemed to halt, suspended in the wake of Ace's burgeoning might.
"Boom!!!"
A star—no, a real star—blazed into existence. The sheer force of Ace's transformation set the very fabric of reality aflame.
Drawing upon the power of the Mera-mera Fruit's Residual Fire Style, fused with the creative capabilities of Nika, Ace transcended the limits of imagination, turning fantasy into reality. This unparalleled fusion of Conqueror's Haki and Armament Haki gave birth to Ace's ultimate Attack: The Incarnation of a Star.
His body, now a living embodiment of a star, radiated an incalculable amount of energy. The sky above Wanokuni bore witness to two suns, the second a testament to Ace's unfathomable power.
Ace's incandescent form hovered above the battlefield, casting a blinding light that overshadowed everything. The ground below melted, the air itself seeming to ignite in response to his presence.
Kaido and Charlotte Linlin stood paralyzed, their strongest attacks nullified by the sheer force of Ace's transformation. The air was thick with the smell of ozone and burning earth, the landscape around them warping under the intense heat.
Ace, the Sun God, had become an unstoppable force. His enemies, once titans in their own right, now seemed insignificant in the face of his blazing power.
And so, under the sunlight of the twin suns, the legend of the Flame Emperor reached its zenith, forever altering the course of history in the world of one piece.
"!!!"
Kaido and Charlotte Linlin stared in abject horror at the scene unfolding before them. The Flame Emperor had transformed into the Sun itself, an avatar of unimaginable power. The energy radiating from Ace was so intense that everything around him, including his formidable adversaries, began to burn.
"Hu! Hu! Hu!"
Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's bodies were engulfed in terrifying flames. With each rotation of the sun that Ace had become, the flames on the two emperors grew more intense, more ravenous. Their flesh, bones, and even their internal organs began to incinerate in the relentless blaze.
This burning was unlike any natural fire—it was a manifestation of Ace's ultimate power, transcending the natural world. Kaido's Fish-Fish Fruit-Phantom Beast-Blue Dragon Form, which could control natural elements, was utterly ineffective against this inferno.
"AHHH!!!"
Charlotte Linlin screamed in agony. Her steel balloon, a defense that had never been breached, was now succumbing to the flames. She, who was known as a natural monster, was enduring a pain she had never experienced before.
Charlotte Linlin's screams echoed through the battlefield. Her steel balloon, impervious to countless attacks over the years, was being consumed by the fire. The pain was so excruciating that even she, with her monstrous resilience, could not endure it.
Kaido faced his imminent demise with a surprising calm. Although his face contorted with the excruciating pain of his burning flesh, bones, and internal organs, he did not scream. Instead, he maintained the dignity of one of the strongest people on the seas, embracing his fate as he gazed up at the sun.
"Unbelievable, Flame Emperor. Your methods are truly unheard of," Kaido said, managing a grotesque smile despite the severe pain.
"I believe what you said. Although you possess the power of 'Nika,' you are not Joy Boy!" Kaido laughed, a sound that reverberated with a mixture of respect and resignation. He looked at Ace with a calmness that belied his dire situation, his eyes betraying a strange serenity.
As Kaido gazed up at the blazing star that was Ace, memories from his past surged through his mind. He recalled the Vodka Kingdom, where the crushing burden of the Heavenly Tax had led his people to sell him to the World Government. The irony of his situation stung.
He remembered the days when he was arrested by the Marines, On purpose, merely to ensure he would have access to food. His struggle for survival, marked by hunger and desperation, seemed almost surreal now as he looked up at the embodiment of Ace's power.
In the midst of this fiery maelstrom, Kaido envisioned a world that starkly contrasted his own painful childhood—a world where everyone could partake in a feast, where hunger was a distant memory, and joy was a universal experience. It was a vision where no one would have to endure the same suffering he had once faced and now imposed on the People of Wano.
The irony was not lost on him: the very man who stood before him, wielding the power to reshape the world, was the same man who had promised this very vision of freedom and abundance. As the flames of the sun consumed him, Kaido's mind was filled with the hopeful image of a future where everyone could eat, where every table was full, and where every person had the chance to celebrate.
It was a dream he would never see realized, but in his final moments, he found a strange solace in the thought that his death might contribute to the creation of such a world. The pain and suffering he had endured seemed almost worth it for the promise of a world where no one else would have to face the same hardships.
In his last moments, his mind was free from the frustration and struggle that had defined his life. The arrogance instilled in him by the will of his devil fruit had dissipated, and for the first time, he saw it—there was light. With Ace, there came freedom...true freedom for this world. A world where everyone could eat. As for him, he was dying. He wouldn't see the light at the end of the tunnel but merely caught a glimpse of it. In fact, his death brought the world closer to this vision.
"Your even better than Joy Boy! More incredible! It's worth dying by your hands...FLAME EMPEROR!" Kaido laughed continuously, his body still burning, as he looked up at the sun.
"Aren't you curious why I waited for you to attack with all your strength, expending so much effort?" Ace's voice resonated from within the blazing star.
"This is the answer."
With Ace's words, a magical wave surged into Kaido and Charlotte Linlin's bodies. Black-purple lightning representing Conqueror's Haki, pitch-black airflows symbolizing Armament Haki, and red, slightly illusory ripples of Observation Haki were stripped from their bodies and burned by the flames. These elements then flowed into the star that Ace had become, where they were devoured.
"You... you absorbed our Haki?!" Kaido's voice was filled with horror as he realized that all the Haki in his body had completely vanished, swallowed by the star incarnated by Ace.
Conqueror's Haki, Armament Haki, Observation Haki—everything was gone. The Haki of the Four Emperors, who stood at the top of the sea, had been consumed by the Flame Emperor. Such a thing should be impossible! This was not the power of any Devil Fruit, not even the power of "Nika." Haki and Devil Fruits, though they could be used together, were fundamentally incompatible. Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki could penetrate Devil Fruit powers and harm their users, proving their distinctness.
No Devil Fruit could absorb Haki. Even the Dark-Dark Fruit, known as the most evil power in history, could not. This power was not from Haki either. Kaido, who had cultivated his Conqueror's Haki to the ultimate level, stood at the top of the sea in terms of Haki control. Even if Ace's Haki was stronger, such an ability should not exist. It was neither Devil Fruit nor Haki—it was Ace's own power.
This realization struck Kaido hard. This was a power more terrifying than any bloodline, capable of devouring and absorbing others' Haki. It was unheard of, beyond anything in this world, beyond even Joy Boy or the twenty kings of the World Government from eight hundred years ago. This was a power that did not belong to this world.
In that moment, Kaido's eyes widened with a mixture of enlightenment and resignation. "So that's it. Such a glorious death... GOODBYE, Pirate World!"
Kaido laughed once again, a sound both defiant and accepting. Alongside Charlotte Linlin, he was engulfed by the burning sun that Ace had become.
The Four Emperors—the Governor of the Beasts Pirates, Kaido of the Beasts, and the Captain of the BIG-MOM Pirates, Charlotte Linlin—perished in the inferno. Their reigns of terror ended, and the land of Wano was finally liberated.
The Flame Emperor's victory was not just over two formidable foes, but over the very darkness that had plagued the world for so long.
With their fall, the world took a significant step closer to the dream of true freedom. The vision Ace held for a world where everyone could eat and celebrate without oppression inched closer to reality. The blazing light of the Flame Emperor heralded a new dawn, one that promised hope and liberation for all.