"It's Dad(Pops)!!!"
Marco, who was struggling to regain his strength, was suddenly taken aback when he saw the Moby Dick approaching Leah Island's port. His face lit up with surprise.
But almost immediately, a flash of guilt crossed his eyes.
For the captain of the First Division of the Whitebeard Pirates to be in a situation where Whitebeard himself had to come to his rescue against a rookie—that was already a huge embarrassment.
As Dad had pointed out, ever since the Whitebeard Pirates became one of the Four Emperors, few dared to challenge them on the seas, and Marco had indeed grown complacent.
But whatever Marco was thinking at that moment, it didn't matter.
As the Moby Dick surged forward with unstoppable momentum, Ace felt his entire body begin to tremble.
Even though the massive ship had yet to dock, a suffocating pressure enveloped him.
Ace was no longer the naive boy who had just set out into the world.
After witnessing Garp's true strength in Alabasta, he had a clear understanding of what it meant to be among the world's strongest.
To earn the title of "The Strongest Man in the World" in a sea dominated by someone like Garp, Whitebeard's strength must be unimaginable.
But...
It wasn't in Ace's nature to flee in fear.
No matter how powerful the opponent or how inevitable defeat seemed, like countless other pirates in the New World...
he had already accepted that stepping into these waters meant putting his life on the line!
Ace no longer focused on Marco. His gaze shifted to the shoreline, where a figure was gradually appearing on the bow of the ship, glowing with a fierce energy.
"Come on! Let me see the true power of the world's top fighters!"
Ace thought silently.
Behind him, the flame on Charizard's tail burned brighter, also filled with fighting spirit.
Boom! ! !
Before the man even arrived, his presence overwhelmed the battlefield!
An overwhelming force of Conqueror's Haki washed over Ace and Charizard, pressing down with immense weight.
For a moment, Ace's expression froze, but then he steeled himself, his eyes burning with determination as he stared at the top of the Moby Dick.
Ace, now familiar with Haki, knew that this oppressive feeling came from the opponent's conqueror haki.
He was also aware that he too had the potential to wield such a force.
But...
Because the audience for Conqueror's Haki was so limited, not even Sir Leo had any relevant experiences for sale, so Ace had yet to fully grasp its essence.
"Gurararararara!!! Boy, are you challenging the Whitebeard Pirates!?"
A towering figure suddenly appeared on the bow of the Moby Dick—the "Strongest Man in the World," Whitebeard himself!
As he stood up, the captains of the Whitebeard Pirates lined up behind him in a fan-shaped formation, all eyes fixed on Ace.
The Whitebeard Pirates had 16 divisions in total, though the Second Division captain's position was vacant. Of the 15 captains, each wielded power akin to an emperor's deputy or not far away from it.
But most of them, like Marco, were off collecting protection fees from other islands. Only eight remained on the ship.
To avoid affecting the residents of Leah Island, Ace and Marco's battle had taken place over a kilometer from the port—far, but not too far.
However...
With Whitebeard's booming laughter, he leapt from the Moby Dick, landing directly in front of Ace.
Boom! ! !
The ground rumbled beneath his feet.
His naginata, the Gathering-Clouds Cutter, sliced through the air, gleaming coldly as he pointed it straight at Ace.
"Kid, if you dare provoke the Whitebeard Pirates, you must know the consequences, right?"
Whitebeard smiled, but his towering presence made him seem like a mountain standing in Ace's path.
"Ah..."
Ace replied seriously.
Dark Haki quietly coated his fists.
"Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world... I didn't expect to meet you so soon, but I've been looking forward to this day."
"Gurararararara... You're quite an arrogant brat!"
Whitebeard laughed heartily. The way he looked at Ace wasn't hostile; instead, it was full of admiration.
To possess such strength at such a young age—the kid's future was limitless.
And...
Whitebeard's gaze shifted, noticing Charizard's fighting spirit.
Although he had heard much about Pokémon, this was his first time seeing one in action.
Seeing the rising fighting spirit, Whitebeard suddenly drove his naginata into the ground and took a step forward.
"Boy, you..."
Ace's heart tightened as he adjusted his stance, ready to fight.
However...
Whitebeard's overwhelming aura suddenly dissipated. A crescent-shaped smile spread across his face as he extended his hand and said,
"Be my son!"
Ace: "???"
"What the hell!?"
Ace frowned, confused by Whitebeard's actions.
But the idea of becoming someone's "son" didn't sit well with him.
It felt condescending.
Ace immediately responded, irritated, "If you're not going to fight, don't blame me for not holding back!!!"
Bang!
Without hesitation, Ace leapt forward, delivering the first punch to start the battle.
It was just an ordinary punch, but it carried immense power as it aimed for Whitebeard's abdomen.
"Gurararararara, young people these days are really impatient!"
Whitebeard continued to laugh, but his naginata flashed with fierce, sharp light, meeting Ace's punch head-on with full force.
Boom! ! !
The black-coated fist and the blade collided mid-air, creating a thunderous explosion.
Ace's expression changed instantly.
The force he felt in his fist was like trying to hold back an ocean's waves, layer upon layer of pressure bearing down on him.
"This strength... it's no less than the old man's!"
Feeling this overwhelming power again, a wry smile appeared on Ace's face.
Who would believe that such strength came from a man over seventy years old!?
With just one strike, Ace realized that his power wasn't on the same level as his opponent's.
But fortunately, this time, the opponent didn't have the aid of a Pokémon!
"Charizard, use Roar!"
Against such an opponent, Pokémon's support moves were far more effective than direct attacks.
Charizard, who had been preparing, swiftly moved beside Whitebeard, opened its large mouth, and roared right into his ear.
"Roar!"
A tangible sound wave attacked Whitebeard's brain, layer by layer.
For a moment, under the influence of the Roar move, Whitebeard's eyes lost focus.
"Now!"
Ace, experienced from battling Garp, knew that Charizard's Roar wouldn't distract Whitebeard for long.
He quickly blocked Whitebeard's naginata with a heavy punch, knocking it aside. Then, with veins bulging, he stepped onto the massive blade and delivered a powerful punch to Whitebeard's face!
Boom! ! !
The impact was like two massive iron ingots clashing together, sending shockwaves that turned into a violent wind, sweeping the area.
Whitebeard's face caved in from the blow, and blood instantly trickled from the corner of his mouth.
"Dad!!!"
The Whitebeard Pirates' captains, who had rushed over, were shocked to see their father struck. They immediately ran toward the battlefield in disbelief.
"Stop!"
At that moment, Marco, who had escaped the battle's epicenter, descended from the sky, landing in front of the captains.
"Marco!"
The captains halted, looking at Marco with puzzled expressions.
The green flames around Marco slowly faded. He retracted his wings, his face a mix of emotions—surprise, doubt, concern, and guilt all reflected in his expression.
He shook his head slightly, blocking their path, and slowly said:
"Can't you see? Dad is smiling."
...
…
Yes.
Whitebeard was laughing—a deep, booming laugh that echoed across the battlefield.
"Gurararararara! Gurararararara!!!"
Ace's powerful punch had left a visible mark on Whitebeard's face, snapping him out of the trance caused by Charizard's shout. Despite the pain, Whitebeard's grin widened.
"...How fascinating! That wasn't a Devil Fruit ability just now, was it?"
"Could that be the power of the legendary Pokémon!?"
Whitebeard's laughter was full of genuine amusement, as if the punch had merely tickled him. His eyes sparkled with renewed excitement.
"To think I'd encounter something this interesting at my age."
"Roger, you left us too soon!!!"
Whitebeard spread his arms wide, his heart pounding with a vigor he hadn't felt in years—rekindled by Ace's punch.
Suddenly, the sky seemed to crack, revealing a network of fissures. The clouds parted as Whitebeard's Haki, infused with his overwhelming willpower, surged forth like a tidal wave.
The very air thickened under the weight of his presence.
Whitebeard was exhilarated!
He felt as if he had rediscovered the thrill of adventure, the joy of confronting the unknown.
Despite his age, Whitebeard was still, at heart, a pirate—a true adventurer who lived for freedom and discovery, just like Luffy.
For him, witnessing the power of Pokémon firsthand was more thrilling than anything else. It meant that there were still places in the world worth exploring.
...
On the other side of the battlefield, Ace's frown deepened at the mention of the name he loathed—Roger. But Whitebeard's overpowering Haki left him no room to dwell on it.
The waves of energy crashing into him were mixed with mental shocks that sent his thoughts into disarray.
"Is this the might of Whitebeard?"
Ace could hardly believe it. The idea that someone could suppress him so thoroughly with just their presence was astonishing.
Under the relentless impact of Whitebeard's Haki, Ace's feet were driven into the ground, forming deep pits, and his face twisted in pain.
He could retreat now and escape the brunt of the attack.
But...
He refused to back down!
Not until his body reached its absolute limit. That was Ace's stubbornness.
And...
Ace sensed that beneath the onslaught of Whitebeard's Haki, a power within him was on the verge of awakening. It felt as though, if he could just push a little further, that power would erupt fully!
Only a king can stand before another king!
With that realization, Ace's fierce expression softened, a smile slowly forming on his lips.
He had a feeling it wouldn't be long before his own Conqueror Haki awakened!
As if in silent agreement, Whitebeard made no further moves. He continued to release his overwhelming Haki, exerting pressure on both Ace and Charizard, all while watching Ace with a growing sense of admiration, as if witnessing a young man on the brink of a remarkable achievement.
To Whitebeard and his contemporaries like Roger, anyone brave enough to venture into the New World was someone who carried their will forward.
Time passed, and the earth trembled beneath them.
The Whitebeard Pirates' captains, standing nearby, could barely hold their ground.
Though Whitebeard's Haki wasn't directed at them, even the slightest hint of its power was enough to make them struggle to breathe.
...
However...
Just as Ace was finding his footing under the crushing weight of Whitebeard's Haki, a roar filled with fiery intensity erupted from behind him.
"ROOOAAARRR!!!!"
Boom!!!
A sudden surge of fiery pain engulfed Ace, his body instantly wrapped in flames.
"No! Charizard!?"
Feeling the familiar heat, Ace's expression shifted from determination to shock. His unyielding resolve crumbled in an instant.
For Ace, nothing was more important than his friends.
He quickly turned around and was horrified to see Charizard ablaze, its eyes glowing red with agony.
Rotom, his ever-present companion, darted out of his pocket, frantically sounding an alarm:
"Warning! Warning! Excessive fire energy detected in Charizard! Energy runaway imminent! If Charizard cannot expel this energy and cool down, it may suffer severe internal damage!"
The warning was all too familiar, but Ace still couldn't believe it.
He knew Charizard was different, that its inner flame was both its greatest strength and most dangerous trait. The more pressure Charizard was under, the more intense the flame energy became.
But...
Hadn't Charizard already mastered that power!?
Since the near-disastrous event at Loguetown, Charizard had been training relentlessly, harder than anyone else.
The once frail Charizard, which could only unleash fiery attacks at the cost of its own health, had grown much stronger. It could now stand up to even Garp's devastating blows.
Even during the battle with Garp, Charizard had not experienced anything like this.
What Ace didn't realize was that as Charizard grew stronger, so did the violent flame energy within it.
Charizard's intense training had kept that power in check, but it had also allowed the energy to build up over time.
Now, faced with the overwhelming pressure of Whitebeard's Conqueror Haki, Charizard's flammable nature had finally reached a breaking point.
The violent flame energy erupted like a tsunami, engulfing both Charizard and Ace in a blazing inferno.
"Huh?"
Whitebeard immediately sensed something was wrong and quickly retracted his conqueror Haki.
But...
Charizard, now consumed by its own flames, could no longer calm down.
"Charizard!!!"
Ace shouted in desperation, his Haki enveloping his body as he pushed through the scorching heat toward his friend.
"Charizard! Stay calm! Use your Haki to protect your internal organs! Don't let the power consume you!!!"
Ace yelled at the top of his lungs, his voice full of urgency, but Charizard was too far gone to hear him.
The fire energy rampaged uncontrollably within Charizard's body, making it impossible for the Pokémon to focus on anything but its pain. All it could do was roar in agony.
"Damn it! What should I do, Rotom!?"
Ace, desperate for a solution, quickly turned to Rotom, who was also scorched by the intense flames.
Rotom, though in pain, managed to respond:
"Charizard is suffering because there's too much energy in its body, and it can't handle the excess."
"Just like the fire that's burning us now, this is all from the fire energy that's overflowing after breaking through Charizard's body."
"If we can find a way to channel that energy, Charizard should return to normal!"
After a brief pause, Rotom added urgently:
"Master Leo is aware of our situation and is on his way here. But it'll take him about 10 minutes to get to us."
"Ten minutes?!"
Ace's initial relief at hearing that Leo was coming to help quickly turned to worry.
He wasn't sure Charizard could last that long in its current state.
And even if Leo could help, Ace couldn't stand the thought of Charizard suffering for another ten minutes.
Recalling Rotom's earlier suggestion, Ace's eyes suddenly brightened.
He quickly looked toward Charizard's tail.
The flame of life, which never harmed Charizard, usually burned there.
But now, Ace could feel the intense heat radiating from the flame on Charizard's tail.
The once orange-red flames were now blood-red, as if shrouded in a mist of blood.
Clearly, Charizard's tail had become an outlet for the violent energy within its body.
In other words...
It was also the source of that violent power!
Thoughts raced through Ace's mind, and he made a split-second decision.
He moved through the flames toward Charizard's back, grabbing the wildly flailing tail and lifting its tip in front of him.
"Charizard! Snap out of it!"
Ace roared, then took a deep breath and bit down on the tip of Charizard's tail.
Even with the protection of his Armament Haki, Ace could feel the flames scorching his head.
But in this critical moment, he couldn't afford to hesitate!
"Snrk!!!"
Ace pinched his nose and inhaled the flames at Charizard's tail with all his might.
Instantly, the raging flame energy, as if finding an escape route, poured into Ace's mouth, down his throat, and into his body.
At that moment, Ace felt that even the strongest liquor he'd ever drunk paled in comparison to the fiery torrent now surging through him...
Only by experiencing the violent flames firsthand could Ace comprehend the agony Charizard was enduring.
An overwhelming amount of fire energy flooded Ace's body.
In that instant, he was grateful he had trained in Armament Haki and learned how to protect his internal organs.
Otherwise...
He might have been reduced to ashes the moment the flames entered his body.
Ultimately, Ace's physical strength—several levels above Charizard's—allowed him to endure the fiery baptism.
The pain in Charizard's body eased noticeably, and the blood-red glow in its eyes began to fade. As Charizard lifted its gaze, it saw Ace, still clenching its tail in his teeth.
Charizard's expression changed instantly!
Its tail jerked, trying to pull free from Ace's mouth.
Even Charizard, a fire Pokémon, struggled against the onslaught of the flames. How could Ace, a mere human, possibly withstand it?!
But Ace held on tightly to Charizard's tail, allowing the flames to continue surging into him.
"Rooaar... (I can handle it!)"
Charizard let out a pained cry, pleading with Ace to stop harming himself.
But Ace just smiled at him, though the flames had distorted his face beyond recognition, as if to say:
"Leave it all to me!"
In that moment, their eyes met—human and dragon, locked in a gaze that transcended words.
Amidst the roaring flames, an unfamiliar power, different from the fire, began to stir within both Ace and Charizard.
It was a power that had always existed but was fully revealed only after Ace absorbed the energy from Charizard.
At this moment!
Ace and Charizard both felt it...
A strange sensation as if they could understand each other's thoughts without uttering a word!
This power seemed to emerge from nowhere, yet it felt like it had always been there, rooted deep within their hearts.
A newfound clarity washed over Ace, and he suddenly released Charizard's tail.
But then, something incredible happened!
The flame energy from Charizard's body didn't stop flowing into Ace.
Instead, it created a magical cycle, with the energy continuously circulating between the two.
If Leo were here now, he would have been stunned.
This was the very power he had been seeking! The magical bond that allowed trainers and Pokémon to share their minds and hearts!!!
However...
This wasn't all good news!
Under the influence of this bond, more than half of the fire energy in Charizard's body was instantly transferred to Ace!
How could Ace, a human native to the pirate world, withstand the fire energy that even Charizard couldn't bear?
Fire energy isn't as gentle or controllable as water, especially when it's this volatile!
"Ah!!!"
Ace screamed in agony as his body filled with an overwhelming surge of fire power.
At that moment, Charizard, now conscious and aware of the situation, looked at Ace, whose body was engulfed in flames, with deep concern.
"Roar!!!!"
Charizard panicked, frantically trying to reabsorb the flame energy from Ace, but it had no idea how to alleviate Ace's pain.
...
...
Meanwhile, something else was happening.
The entire Whitebeard Pirates, from Whitebeard himself to the division commanders, were watching with wide eyes.
They wanted to help Ace and Charizard but were too uncertain of the situation to intervene.
As Ace appeared on the verge of being consumed by the flames, Marco finally couldn't hold back any longer.
"Dad, let me go help them!"
Although they had been enemies, both Ace and Marco respected each other deeply. They had no ill will, almost like friends brought together through battle.
"Go."
Whitebeard nodded.
He wasn't entirely sure what was happening, but with Marco's Devil Fruit ability, there shouldn't be any problem in helping now.
In truth, Whitebeard had a theory in mind from the very beginning.
He couldn't just stand by and watch Ace perish without seeing if his theory was correct.
With Whitebeard's approval, Marco nodded and instantly transformed into a phoenix wreathed in green flames. He shot up into the sky, flying toward Ace.
But at that very moment!
A voice, ancient and eternal as if it came from the void, suddenly echoed in the minds of everyone in the Whitebeard Pirates:
"Stop!"
(End of this chapter)