Chapter 47

"Man, you look like shit," Soma said after seeing Vash and Augur look as if they went through a tough battle, which they did. "I know you're old, but at least try to look good!"

"Haha~! Shut the hell up, kid!" Vash spat.

"You won, at least?" Soma asked.

"Take a look there." Vash jutted out his thumb in the direction of the broken fleet. Soma slightly squinted his eyes to see the wrecked ships.

"You didn't kill them?" Soma scoffed. "Of course you didn't."

"I'd like to see them try again," Vash said as he finished putting Augur's broken arm in an improvised sling that used cloth from Vash's coat. "Someone get me a stretcher, please."

"I'm on it," Mihar said, going inside the ship.

"I'll come too! I wanna help!" Eri followed her teacher.

"I'll set these down in the kitchen," Soma said as he showed the boxes of pizza he was carrying. "Want me to help in cleaning up, Ace?"

"No need, I'll do it myself. You guys just set the table, we'll party after Doppol returns!"

Ace's legs turned into fire. He flew to the broken navy fleet. In true Vash fashion, a majority of marines were still alive. Ace didn't fault him though. He had plans for them…

When Ace landed, the marines immediately stood at attention. Most of them were infantry soldiers. The Vice Admiral with the Cloud Logia powers forced himself to get up. He was bare chested, his body covered in bandages. Marines sure did work fast.

"Vice Admiral! You're still hurt!" A marine medic tried to convince the Vice Admiral to stay down.

"No way! The captain we set out to capture is right there!"

The last Vice Admiral valiantly stood up and faced Ace. From what Ace could feel, the Vice Admiral was exhausted. The giant Vice Admiral was even more so, to the point that he was still unconscious.

"Hiding behind your capable lackeys? What a pitiful pirate you are!" The Vice Admiral tried riling up Ace with his words, but to no avail. Ace ignored his insult.

"You're the one with the Logia power?" Ace asked, making doubly sure that the Vice Admiral in front of him was the one with the power that interested him.

Much to Ace's frustration, the Vice Admiral similarly ignored his question. He watched the injured marine take a fighting stance, clearly ready to try and take down Ace.

"Give up, Gol D. Ace!"

Ace chuckled at the Vice Admiral. He didn't know whether to laugh or respect the man's belief in himself.

"I think Vash put a bullet in your skull or something," Ace said. "You're not thinking straight."

"Cloud Punch!" The Vice Admiral attacked. The other marines were just waiting for his orders to engage, but he gave no such order.

"How… plain."

Ace wasn't too impressed with the attack. What the Vice Admiral did was just like Smoker's White Blow where his arm turned into the element of his Logia for a long range punch.

Still, Ace supposed it was the most logical move. Ace was known to have a Fire Logia power, after all. If the Vice Admiral wanted to take Ace down, using Haki was the most logical way. There was something Ace discovered after trying numerous times.

Logia users can't imbue Haki on their power.

It should be impossible. Ace knew that it shouldn't be the case. But, no matter how many times Ace tried, he just can't imbue Haki in his flames. Now, he had a theory that only Awakened Logias can imbue Haki in their element. If that was the case, it would make more sense how Akainu was able to kill Portgas D. Ace with his Devil Fruit.

'So that means, Akainu has an Awakened Logia fruit…'

Awakened Logias being able to be imbued with Haki was the main reason why Ace was fighting so often with his Devil Fruit powers alone. If Awakening is what it took for Logia powers to be imbued with Haki, Ace was rushing to improve his Devil Fruit ability to make it much more effective and deadlier.

So, Ace did just that. In the following battle with a Cloud Logia, he resolved to only use his Fire Logia powers.

It should be an easy battle despite that handicap. The Vice Admiral was injured, after all. In fact, he was as pale as white. Vash's bullets made him lose a lot of blood.

Ace turned into fire and sidestepped the Haki imbued fist of the Vice Admiral. Then, he threw an attack of his own.

"Fire Lord's Fist!"

A gigantic fist made of fire barrelled towards the Vice Admiral. Then, it exploded. The heat and force from Ace's attack sent the Vice Admiral flying, but he didn't look injured. The Vice Admiral turned himself into clouds before the attack landed, but Ace's attack looked as if it dissipated the clouds and made the Vice Admiral turn his body back to normal.

It made sense for Ace since clouds are just condensed water vapor. His Devil Fruit held an advantage over the Vice Admiral's, but it wasn't enough to do damage. Ace felt like his theory was supported and that Admirals have Awakened their Logia Devil Fruit. More than unlocking an extra ability, they were granted the ability to imbue their element with Haki.

Ace watched the Vice Admiral get up with little trouble. Despite losing badly in the first exchange, the Vice Admiral didn't look discouraged. Ace watched him gather clouds in his hands.

"Rain Clouds!"

The Vice Admiral threw the clouds he gathered to the sky. The clouds soon turned dark, showing signs of rain. Ace grinned.

"You think rain will put out my flames?"

"Won't know till I try."

The clouds started pouring down thick raindrops down on the broken ship where the battle was happening. The Vice Admiral turned into clouds and flew up to join the rain clouds. Soon, lightning and thunder were observed.

"Fire Pillar!"

Ace called to his flames and gathered them around him. His flames erupted upwards, strong enough to blow away a portion of the clouds. The bright sun peered from the sudden opening Ace's flames made. Ace turned into fire and flew up, their battle taking place in the air. It was a battle of the elements. Dark clouds, rain, and lightning against wild searing flames.

The marines watched the battle. Their mouths were wide open. Logias were rare, so a battle between them was usually a sight not many can see. And now, such a sight lay before them as if gods were battling right above them.

"This… are they still human?"

"We believe in you, Vice Admiral!"

"Defeat Fire Lord Ace!"

Ace and his opponent didn't care for the cheering happening below them. They were focused on their battle. The Vice Admiral did his best to counter Ace's hot flames, but it was clear he was at a disadvantage.

The more Ace blew away the clouds, the more the Vice Admiral had to make them. And the more he has to make them, the faster he'll get tired. Devil Fruits almost always uses the user's stamina as fuel, after all. The Vice Admiral just came from a battle, but Ace was fresh and energetic.

Soon, Ace dissipated the last cloud and sent the Vice Admiral crashing to the shipwreck. Despite having its top part broken by Hepha's smashing attack, the warship proved its quality and strength. It still floated on the rough waves of the sea.

The Vice Admiral coughed up blood after he was sent crashing. He tried getting up, but he was too injured. His men looked as if they lost all hope. Ace landed in front of them.

"I assume you guys have seastone?" Ace asked the marines.

The marines didn't answer his question. Seemingly reminded of something, they rushed to dig around the wrecked ship. Soon, they found what they were looking for.

To Ace's surprise, the marines charged at him. He looked closer and realized that a few of them were holding what looked like seastone cuffs. He grinned.

"Fire Lord's Breath!"

Ace used a variation of his technique. Instead of a constant stream of fire, it was a big fireball. The fireball exploded at the marines, sending many of them flying with the hot force the fireball's explosion generated.

None of the marines were on fire, but a lot of them suffered nasty burns. Ace walked to a marine soldier holding handcuffs made of seastone. To keep appearances, he used his cutlass to take the seastone cuff. If he held it with his bare hands and was unaffected, the survivors would report such a detail…

Ace had plans for his special constitution.

With the seastone cuff on the end of his cutlass, Ace went back to the Vice Admiral. He pointed his cutlass at him, showing him the seastone cuffs.

"Put it on, or your men dies," Ace said.

"I put it on, you'll kill them anyway." The Vice Admiral spat.

"No, I won't," Ace said as he grinned. "I give you my word."

"The word of a damn pirate." The Vice Admiral scoffed. "What good is the word of a criminal?"

"Normally, not much!" Ace laughed. "But, it's the only option you have."

The Vice Admiral took the seastone cuffs on the point of Ace's cutlass. The simple act of touching it seemed to have drained all his energy, but the Vice Admiral stayed strong.

"No. I have another," the Vice Admiral said.

Ace didn't let his guard down. His Observation Haki flared, showing him a few seconds into the future. While the Vice Admiral was down, he would cuff Ace's ankle with all his remaining strength. It won't do much since Ace will still be able to fight, albeit without his Devil Fruit. But, he'd rather not show his abnormal ability.

Ace easily dodged the Vice Admiral's attempt. Then, he kicked him in the face. The Vice Admiral had a few of his teeth fly out. He went unconscious, and Ace took the seastone cuffs with his cutlass again.

"You! Come here," Ace called to a marine. "Cuff your Vice Admiral."

The marine that Ace called out looked hesitant to obey him. He was supported by his colleagues. None of them stepped forward to do what Ace wanted. Ace could only sigh in exasperation.

"Fine!"

Ace stood over the Vice Admiral's unconscious form. He raised his leg and turned it into fire, threatening to burn a hole through the Vice Admiral in a similar way Kizaru did with Zoro.

"Cuff him, or he dies."

One of the marines finally listened. He slowly walked to where Ace and the Vice Admiral were.

"That's it, come on! I won't bite!" Ace was having fun watching the marines' faces twist in fear and frustration.

The marine arrived where they were. He took the seastone cuff in Ace's hands and shakily started cuffing the unconscious man Ace was standing over.

"I'm sorry, Vice Admiral!" The marine whispered before closing the seastone cuffs around the Vice Admiral's wrists.

Then, Ace dissipated the flames on his leg before putting it down. He grinned at the brave marine that cuffed the Vice Admiral.

"Thank you! You saved me a lot of trouble." Ace picked up the Vice Admiral and slung him over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. "As a man of my word, I'll keep my promise to your Vice Admiral here."

At Ace's words, the marines started relaxing judging by the looks on their faces. Still, there was some hesitation present. They were expecting a catch. Pirates are rarely honorable, after all.

"You all can go. We won't pursue you. But!" Ace let out a sliver of a fraction of his Conqueror's Haki to intimidate the marines. "If you attack us, I guarantee you that only one of you will live."

Ace didn't elaborate any further. With legs that turned into jets of flames, Ace flew away and returned to the Ashen Dragon with the unconscious and cuffed Vice Admiral with him.