"That guy..." Ace's open challenge made Daniel Davis frown. He wasn't particularly worried about Ace himself—it was Whitebeard, the man behind Ace, that posed the real concern.
Whitebeard was notorious for being protective of his "sons." In most of Whitebeard's battles after forming his crew, he fought on behalf of his crew members. Even his legendary clash with Gol D. Roger had been triggered by his defense of his crew, specifically against Roger's "merciless sword." After fighting for three days and nights, the two captains had gained mutual respect and became friends.
Because of Whitebeard's fierce protectiveness, even someone like Kaido usually avoided provoking his crew. While Kaido sought death through reckless behavior, such as jumping from the sky island 10,000 meters above the ground, he rarely went out of his way to directly challenge Whitebeard, or storm the World Government's Holy Land of Mary Geoise.
Kaido's suicidal actions were similar to the CP9 member Rob Lucci's subordinate, Blueno, who often attempted suicide with a short knife but would always activate his Tekkai (Iron Body) technique just before impact. If Kaido truly wanted to die, he could have just faced off against Whitebeard without holding back.
Boom!
Just as Daniel was about to step in and drive Ace away, Esdeath had already engaged him. Excited by the challenge, and frustrated from her unfulfilling fights with Lafitte and Van Augur, she leapt at the opportunity to battle someone of Ace's caliber.
The clash between ice and fire immediately destroyed Rainbase's famous fountain plaza. In Alabasta, a nation starved for water, having such a grand fountain plaza was a rare luxury. It had been painstakingly dug out by Crocodile using his Sand-Sand Fruit to access underground water sources, showcasing how even a Logia fruit could be useful for construction when applied creatively.
"Fire Fist!"
"Ice Wall!"
From midair, Ace conjured a massive fireball with his right hand, hurling it toward Esdeath. The intense heat and vast flames consumed the space, forcing Esdeath to summon three thick walls of ice to shield herself. The first two walls melted immediately, but the third managed to halt the fireball's advance, leaving only Esdeath unscathed while the surrounding streets and buildings were engulfed in flames.
"Hmm, Ace isn't as weak as I thought. His control over the Flame-Flame Fruit is quite impressive. No wonder he became the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates," Daniel thought, observing the battle from a distance. The sheer heat from Ace's fire made Daniel reconsider his previous underestimation of him.
Daniel had always felt that Ace was a bit overrated, especially after how easily he was captured and killed during the Paramount War. But watching Ace now, Daniel realized that Ace's true strength wasn't lacking at all. He had merely faced foes who were far too powerful. As for Ace's rumored inability to use Armament Haki, that didn't necessarily reflect poorly on him.
The potential of Devil Fruits, especially Logia types, was vast. Focusing solely on the development of one's fruit was not necessarily a weakness. Even the Marine Admirals, who rarely demonstrated the use of Haki, were undoubtedly formidable. Could anyone truly call them weak?
Unlike Paramecia or Zoan fruits, which greatly benefited from the combination of Haki and fruit powers, Logia fruits had an inherent conflict with Armament Haki due to their ability to become intangible.
Admiral Zephyr had criticized Kizaru for relying too much on his fruit's powers and neglecting his physical combat skills. Yet Kizaru remained one of the most powerful figures in the world, even defeating his own former teacher.
While Armament Haki could strike at a Logia user's true body, it wasn't always effective. Take Smoker's fight against Vergo, for example—Vergo could grab Smoker's body using Armament Haki. But could he do the same to an Admiral?
In terms of increasing power quickly, fruit mastery generally offered faster results than Haki training.
"Armament Haki, huh? I wasn't expecting to see that in the first half of the Grand Line." Daniel noted as Esdeath launched two dark-colored ice spears at Ace, who remained airborne. The spears pierced his body, but he was unharmed.
"Observation Haki and elemental transformation, just like a true Logia user," Daniel thought. A Logia user's ability to transform their body to avoid attacks was far more advanced than the techniques in Akame ga Kill or even the Life Return technique from the Marines' Rokushiki. So long as a Logia user could anticipate an attack, they could become intangible at will, as Aokiji had done when Whitebeard impaled him.
These seasoned Logia users were in a league of their own, far superior to the likes of the Swamp-Swamp Fruit's user.
If Ace could rise to the rank of second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates and had traveled through Wano Country, it was absurd to think he wasn't familiar with Armament Haki.
Ace's ultimate downfall was sacrificing himself to protect Luffy. He could have easily avoided Akainu's attack with his Logia abilities, but doing so would have left Luffy exposed to the lethal blow.
"Esdeath isn't proficient enough in Geppo yet. In this battle, Ace has the advantage with his ability to fly," Daniel noted. If Esdeath were more skilled at using Geppo, she could have closed the distance and fought Ace in close combat using Armament Haki. But at the moment, she could only stay airborne for brief periods.
"I can't let him keep attacking like this. If this keeps up, Ace will burn all of Rainbase to the ground," Daniel thought. The destructive power of the Flame-Flame Fruit was immense. A single Fire Fist could destroy five Navy warships, and Ace had been reckless from the start, showing no concern for the damage he was causing. It was unrealistic to expect a pirate like Ace to care about the surroundings.
"Reality is so different from the anime," Daniel mused. Before meeting Ace, he had admired him for his noble sacrifice during the Paramount War. But after witnessing Ace in person, his opinion had shifted.
"That's enough," Daniel finally said as he jumped into the fray, swinging his Jitte to disperse Ace's latest fireball.
"You're not ready to face him yet. Leave this to me," he told Esdeath, signaling her to fall back.
Esdeath didn't argue. She had realized during the fight that her ice powers couldn't fully contend with the sheer heat of Ace's flames.
"So, you've finally shown yourself. Hand over Teach's body," Ace demanded as he landed in front of Daniel, standing just five meters away.
"Such arrogance. Do you really think I'm afraid to capture you and start a Paramount War?" Daniel thought, annoyed by Ace's tone.
As a self-righteous pirate who despised the Seven Warlords for aligning with the World Government, Ace had a natural disdain for Daniel. Coupled with the Whitebeard Pirates' reputation, his haughtiness wasn't surprising.
In fact, Ace's attitude was tame compared to some of Whitebeard's more brazen crew members. Pirates under Whitebeard's flag often acted as if they owned the seas, which was why Roger had once fought Whitebeard.
"I thought Teach was Whitebeard's traitor. I'm just helping you clean up the mess," Daniel said.
"Cleaning up Whitebeard's mess is our job, not yours," Ace retorted firmly.
"Looks like reasoning with you is pointless," Daniel sighed inwardly. He had tried to remain polite, not wanting to fight Ace. In truth, he didn't care much about Teach's body—especially since the corpse he had was fake. If Ace had asked respectfully, Daniel might have let him take the body.
But Ace's attitude was far too aggressive.
Bam!
In the blink of an eye, Daniel appeared before Ace and struck him in the stomach with his Jitte. The sudden blow caused Ace to double over in pain, a groan escaping his lips as his body was forced to the ground. Before he could recover, Daniel slammed him into the dirt with another strike to his back.
"You're just a second division commander under Whitebeard, yet you act as if this is your territory. You think everyone should cower before you just because of your crew's name?" Daniel sneered, holding Ace down by hooking his Jitte—which was made from Seastone—around Ace's neck, forcing him to lift his head.
"And look at that, your bounty is 550 million berries," Daniel said. For most pirates, that was a massive sum, comparable to the bounty of Chinjao, the leader of the Happo Navy. But as the second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, Ace's bounty was low. Commanders of the top three divisions were on par with the Sweet Commanders or the Calamities, whose bounties never dropped below 800 million.
The Calamities, in particular, all had bounties exceeding a billion berries.
Whitebeard was notorious for spoiling his "sons," unlike Big Mom, who would strip her children of their titles the moment they lost a fight. If Ace had lost under Whitebeard's watch, the old man would have personally stepped in.
"For Whitebeard's sake, I'll let you go this time. But if you cause trouble again, don't expect any mercy. And as for the damage you caused, those buildings
were worth two billion berries. I'll be billing Whitebeard directly. If you still want Teach's body, you can go fight the Marines for it," Daniel said coldly.
Of course, he had no intention of handing Ace over to the Navy. He wasn't like Teach, with his own secluded base to retreat to. If he handed Ace over, Whitebeard would likely retaliate swiftly.
And Sengoku was probably expecting something like that.
Sengoku, being a strategic genius, wasn't ignorant of Ace's identity. Unlike Garp, Sengoku was a master tactician and was fully aware of Ace's true lineage as the son of Gol D. Roger.
"The Florian Triangle, huh? What an eerie place," Daniel muttered as he traveled to his next destination, having dealt with Ace and delivered Teach's body to the Navy.
The Florian Triangle was notorious for its ghost ship sightings. Every year, more than a hundred ships vanished within its mists, their crews never to be seen again.
Flying over the triangle, Daniel soon heard a familiar but strange laugh: "Yohohoho!" It belonged to none other than Brook, the skeletal musician of the Straw Hat Pirates.
Brook was aboard a dilapidated ship, performing one of his odd routines.
"The Revive-Revive Fruit. Too bad he got lost... If Zoro had eaten this fruit, he might never have made it back to his body," Daniel chuckled at the thought.
The Revive-Revive Fruit was a miraculous Devil Fruit, capable of bringing its user back to life even if their body had decayed into a skeleton. It was truly remarkable.
It was also one of the few fruits that only revealed its true power after death. Brook eventually developed the ability to create an icy aura, known as the "chill of the underworld."
"I'll leave Brook to wait for Luffy's arrival," Daniel decided. Though he could easily recruit Brook into his crew, he wasn't interested in disrupting the Straw Hats' story just yet.
Daniel's main objective here was to find Absalom, who possessed the Clear-Clear Fruit. It was an exceptionally powerful Paramecia-type fruit, and one that Sanji had always coveted. Unfortunately, Absalom only used it for perverted purposes, much to Nami and Robin's displeasure.
Daniel was intent on securing this fruit for himself. Unlike Sanji, whose reasons for wanting the fruit were questionable, Daniel saw its true potential as the ultimate stealth ability. As a Paramecia-type, if properly developed and awakened, its power could reach new heights.
In fact, there were Zoan-type fruits that could also grant a form of invisibility, though it was more akin to camouflage than true invisibility.
"You won't lay a finger on Nami," Daniel growled as he found Absalom, catching the pervert in the midst of one of his lustful pursuits. Without hesitation, Daniel dragged Absalom into the Mirror Dimension and killed him before he even had time to react.
"Next up, Momonosuke," Daniel thought as he set his sights on his second target: the legendary samurai, Ryuma. Ryuma's body had been stolen from Wano Country by Gecko Moria and was now being used by Moria with Brook's shadow.
Though Ryuma's corpse couldn't fully utilize its former strength due to the shadow's incompatibility, this worked to Daniel's advantage. He intended to use Ryuma as a sparring partner for Akame and the others.
There was no better training than facing off against a legendary swordsman.
_________________________________________
From May 26 to June 3, I'm offering a 33% discount on all Patreon tiers.
Just use this code when you sign up: 83AA7
If you'd like to support the project and get early access to chapters, now's the perfect time to join or upgrade.
This limited-time offer lasts only for these 9 days!
Thank you for your support ❤️
[w w w . p @ t r e o n . c o m / M u t t e r]