Bright Night (IV)

5 minutes ago 

Ace POV:

As Ace punched Teach right in the face, he couldn't help but give thanks to his new friend. Zephyr was right about every piece of information he had given about Blackbeard. His informant was really good, to say the least. If he didn't have this information, Ace would've never readied a haki-infused fist beforehand.

And it was really satisfying to hit his former subordinate. Ace had been waiting for quite some time for this. The person in front of him disgusted him to his core. He had stayed on their ship for decades. He had sailed with them. He had parties with them. He was their friend; no, he was their brother. How could someone kill their friend? How could someone kill their own brother?

In Ace's mind, it was not something that was possible. It was disgusting and evil. And it was his responsibility now. But Ace wasn't overconfident like before. Zephyr's warning still rang inside his mind. Blackbeard can pull any devil fruit users towards himself. That was dangerous; Ace needed to be careful of that.

Blackbeard was already standing with the bruise on his jaw. He was still laughing disgustingly like before.

Teach stood, the bruise on his jaw still fresh. "You really are incredible, Ace," he sneered. "I thought you'd be too shocked to fight me, given how much you lean on your Devil Fruit. But even with a heads-up, your counterattack was impressive." He grinned. "I want that power! Join me, Ace!"

"Do you honestly think that I'd ever join your crew?

"I had to try. The era of Whitebeard is long gone. A new era is coming. I have already planned how I'm going to rise to power. Soon, the whole world will know my name!"

Ace didn't want to hear a single word coming out of that madman's mouth. He pointed his finger right at Blackbeard.

Fire Gun 

Concentrated fire bullets came out of his fingers at extreme speed, aimed at Blackbeard's head. This time Blackbeard wasn't unprepared though. He dodged the first bullet by slightly tilting his head towards the right. But even before the other bullets could touch him, a layer of darkness came to protect him. The darkness consumed the bullets as if they were nothing. There was no aftershock, no clash between attacks. It seemed to just eat the whole attack. It was extremely eerie.

The pub that they were standing in was already destroyed. Ace's fist attack had destroyed the roof, and Blackbeard's darkness had consumed everything. Their clash hasn't even started properly, and it was already a total shitshow.

Pirates and citizens alike escaped like crazy. They have never seen a pirate over 500 million bounty fight before. And they didn't wish to see it today. Word traveled fast throughout the whole town as people desperately tried to get away, not wanting to get in the crossfire. Some even boarded their ship and tried to get out of this hellish town. This night was hell for them, as the night sky turned bright. Darkness and fire clashed again and again, destroying everything that they would come in contact with.

And in the very epicenter, two figures fought. This fight was important to both of them. One fought for his duty while the other fought for power. 

Heat Haze

Bright, hot fire erupted from Ace's palm as his body got sucked towards Blackbeard. He abandoned all defense and endured the full force of the attack. His right hand grabbed onto Ace as his left hand, blackened with armament haki punched Ace right in the gut. 

Ace flew back with enormous force from the attack, destroying another couple of buildings. He was bleeding from his mouth right now. Teach wasn't doing any better though. His breadth was labored. His jaw still hurt from the first punch that Ace had thrown at him. His body had clear burn marks from the attacks that he couldn't defend against. 

He was honestly surprised by the tenacity Ace had shown. But it wasn't all bad, though. The more he fought against Ace, the more he was getting used to his devil fruit power. He was growing stronger from this fight. 

It didn't take much time for Ace to get up. Small, barely visible dots of fire traveled from his hands and reached Blackbeard in an instant.

Firefly Light

Blackbeard quickly started to coat himself in darkness as he saw those small dots that held enormous power within them. But he wasn't fast enough as a single firefly landed on the left side of his face.

Fiery doll 

With the activation of Ace, every little firefly burst instantly. The firefly on his face burst in flames with a temperature that was not suitable for humans to endure. The small bomb hitting him point blank was not like the other attacks he had endured as Blackbeard went flying back. He quickly used his devil fruit power as his darkness consumed the fire, a deep burn mark scarred across his face.

He knew instantly that this was a scar that would not go away. It was a permanent scar. Blackbeard stood up angrily.

"Ace, what have you done? Who targets someone's face!"

Ace smirked, "I was getting sick of that smug smile of yours."

Till now, Blackbeard was following a simple strategy. When Ace would attack from range, he would use his darkness to consume his flame and counterattack by using 'Black Vortex' to suck Ace towards him. When Ace was touching him, he was practically defenseless. 

But it seems like that was not enough, as Ace had enough battle instinct to bolster his defenses at that time. 

This fight was practically going nowhere. 

Blackbeard needed to be stronger if he wanted to defeat Ace. Then he would become stronger. Nobody will disrupt his plans.

Blackbeard planted his hand on the ground.

Black Hole

With a single command from his mouth, darkness spread through the ground, consuming everything in a two-mile radius. This attack would be enough to defeat Ace; he was sure of it. Ace wasn't idle either, as his legs created a semicircle around him.

Flame Commandment

As two powerhouses got ready to attack, an enormous explosion shook the island. Ace was confused with the explosion, but he guessed that it came from where Zephyr was fighting against the other members.

For Blackbeard, however, the sight brought a deep, visceral horror. He knew what this was. His mind raced back to a conversation with Doc Q from two months ago:

"What? You have a bomb planted in your heart? Are you crazy?" 

"Honestly, I think I might be a little crazy. But you don't have to worry about that. This bomb will only get activated when I stab myself with a certain knife. I'll only use it when all hope is lost and all of us are dead. You could say that it's just a suicide attack to try and kill whoever killed my friends."

"That'll never happen. I'll always be there to protect you guys. You know that I'm really strong, right?" 

"I know, captain. I know. Just as I said, it's just a last-case scenario."

They were all dead! How! It hasn't even been five minutes since the fight started! And he wasn't there. He wasn't there to protect them. He was still too weak, still so powerless. 

As emotions of great regret and sorrow went through Blackbeard's head, his darkness intensified. It was like a fuel to it. The darkness was now consuming everything arbitrarily.

Blackbeard steeled his resolve. His crew had sacrificed their lives to protect him from the man that attacked him. Their loyalty shook him to the core. 

There was no way he was losing tonight. He would avenge their deaths with his own two hands.

This was more than just words; this was a promise.