C26 : Prompting a War Between Pirates and Marines

• {Year: 20.5} •

After awhile, the blackness slowly disappeared. What was revealed was a horrifying scene. Countless people laid on the ground, mutilated in awful ways. Some died suffering, some had their limbs twisted, some died quickly, some lied on the ground blankly staring at the sky as if suffered through great despair.

Ace had his left leg twisted. Thatch laid on the ground, his right arm twisted and a small dent on his left side. Thatch blankly stared at the sky in despair. 'This... Why didn't I just...'

Ace forced himself to stand and looked around with despair. His teeth clattered as if he was in arctic climate. Quickly, he realized and looked for Blackbeard.

"W-wha... No..."

He muttered with despair when he saw him... standing.

"Z-zehahaha...!" Marshall D. Teach stood, panting. His energy was greatly depleted after using a wide AOE move. "I win...!"

His broken teeth were shown through his wide yet weak grin. His legs began to tremble and crashed on the ground heavily. "Shit..."

"My, my. What a beautiful scene!" A sudden voice interrupted with a tapping sound as the person walked.

*Tap* xN

Closing, they saw who he was. It was a pale-skinned and tall man who wore an off-white collared long-sleeve shirt patterned with yellow crosses and navy jumper pants. With an red wooden cane and classic black top hat, he twirled around.

Blackbeard widened his eyes and grinned. "Laffitte...!"

"Admiral! I finished my suggestion to World Government during the meeting." Laffitte outstretched his arms, smiling slightly at him. He smiled widely when he watched Ace fall into great despair as he fell on the ground.

"...We lost..." Ace looked at Thatch who was blankly staring at the sky. Memories of their time together suddenly flashed by his eyes. "No...!"

"No!" Ace suddenly forced himself to stand quickly. Rage filled his eyes as he stared at Blackbeard. "I will bring you down along with us!"

*BOOM*

As if listening to his strong will, a deafening sound rang out the Banaro Island. Engulfed in blazingly hot flames, Ace took a step. "Great Flame Commandant...!"

*RUMBLE*

The blazing hot flames enlarged and flew above Ace as he pointed his right index finger at the sky.

Laffitte stiffened with Blackbeard. They stared wide eyed.

'How can he still...?!' Blackbeard twitched.

'Such strong will!' Laffitte had a perverted expression, licking his lips as he stared at the tall and muscular man. 'I will enjoy my time breaking him down...!'

Ace did not pay attention to their reactions as he stared down the ground, blackness covering his face. No emotions were discerned from him except rage inside his eyes. His rage helped speeding up. The blazing hot flames began to combine into one large fire ball.

"Hell..."

*RUMBLE*

His voice calmly came. It was so eerily calm that even Laffitte, who loved violence and cruelty, shivered at.

Ace slowly brought his head up to show his calm face at Blackbeard and Laffitte. Thatch at the side stared at the large fireball, horror filling his blank eyes when he realized what Ace was doing.

"...Flame..." Ace eerily continued, taking another step closer. His left leg ached but he did not care as he calmly stared at the fat bastard.

• {A sudden flashback!} •

"Eh?!" Thatch shouted after Ace explained to him. "Isn't that just suicidal?!"

"Yeah..." Ace sighed, he was still weak. "This move will cause me a lot of stamina as well as cause me to fall unconscious for few days."

"That's basically surrendering yourself to your opponents if they survived it!" Thatch shook his head. "You shouldn't use it until you're strong enough."

"Mmn..." Ace turned and look at the beautiful night sky. Stars twinkled around. A calming and fresh wind struck them as their ship sailed. "But... there's also this another move I accidentally made..."

"I call it Hell Flame Dragon of Great Flame Commandant series." He declared, smiling. "I thought of this when I saw the battle between Solitary Pirate and Strongest Beast in the World."

"More particularly, the Strongest Beast's hell flames." Ace widened his eyes, glint flashing by them. He grinned. "I made hell flames based off them!"

Turning to look at Thatch, the tall and muscular man stretched his arms wide open. "I'm one step closer to my idol, Ryu and my dream!"

"You..." Thatch was at lost of words, he didn't know what to feel now. First, Ace made a suicidal move. Second, he revealed he also made another suicidal move. Third, Ace said he made hell flames. Fourth, he declared that he was one step closer to Ryu and his dream.

He was conflicted but happy for him. Sighing, Thatch smiled back. "Well, I guess you are! But what is the backlash of this Hell Flame Dragon?"

Ace stiffened and dejectedly sighed. "As you may have guessed, it's another suicidal move."

"Duh! Any moves of Great Flame Commandants are suicidal until you're strong enough to be able handle the backlash!" Thatch blankly replied much to Ace's annoyance.

"Yeah, yeah! Shut up and let me continue!" The tall and muscular man placed his elbows on the rims of ship. His black hair fluttered when wind swayed. "This move... it's a move that will kill me if I use it the way I'm currently are."

"Eh?" The cook widened his eyes. Kill him?

"Making hell flames... they require um, 'life force' of mine." Ace elaborated. "If I were to just use a normal move with hell flames, it wouldn't really affect me aside from increased depleted stamina. However, if I were to use it with a move of Great Flame Commandant series..."

He looked at the sky and finished. "My body will wrinkle away as if I aged."

"...!" Thatch dropped his jaw at the thought of it. Anger filled his eyes, he roared. "You are not to use this move ever!"

Ace winced, having expected that. "No! I will use it if I have to, as a last resort!"

"You...!" Thatch gritted his teeth and clenched his fists. He punched Ace's face and huffed. "Tch! I hope that won't ever come!"

Bleeding blood from mouth, Ace slid onto the ground. "Yeah... I hope so too."

• {Back to present!} •

Thatch forced himself to stand up and a tear came out of his eyes. "Ace...! D-don't...!"

Ace stiffened and turned his head to look at Thatch. His rage-filled eyes scared even Thatch, but it softened when Ace looked at him. He smiled forcedly. "Sorry..."

"N-no!" Thatch shouted in despair. He did not want another young man to die early! He did not want to cause another person's future crumble away!

Ace turned and steely stared at Blackbeard who by now looked horrified. The giant blazing hot flames suddenly turned red.

*BOOM*

The blazing hot fireball began to become hellish with eerie screams coming out of it. Red flames filled it and slight blackness glowed.

*RUMBLE!!!*

Laffitte shot forward towards Ace, striking him with his cane. 'It's too late...!'

Ace shouted with all his might, anger filled his face. "DRAGON!!!"

*BOOOOOM*

*ROOOAAAARRR*

The giant hellish fireball began to shape into a giant and long eastern dragon. It was made out of red flames, but it looked so real. The eastern dragon's eyes were filled of extreme rage that came from Ace, its user. A booming roar came from it when it looked at the trembling Blackbeard.

*ROOOAAAAAAAARRRRR*

"G-GO!!!" Ace forced out.

On command, the hellish eastern dragon shot towards Blackbeard, with its jaws wide open. Laffitte decided to back off far away. 'I won't be able to survive this!'

Blackbeard trembled and had cold sweat despite the heat emitted by the hellish dragon coming towards it. He forced out black flames from his body and screamed in hopes of stopping it. "B-BLACK WORLD!!!"

*BOOOOOM*

...

In a spot on Maiden Island...

"F*ck!" Ryu bolted his head towards the direction of their battle. He was currently alone in his room, so no one was shocked at his sudden outburst. "Already?"

...

Back to Banaro Island...

*Hoooonng...*

Laffitte stood at a distance, scared shitless at their clash. He nearly lost his whole right side from it, had he not ran away earlier.

The aftermath was horrific as expected. Ace fell forward onto the ground and his body slowly withered, however he was still alive. He was just unconscious. Blackbeard... he lost a huge portion of his torso. He still survived even after all that. Blackbeard was currently panting and bled profusely. His torso injury was still bleeding.

"L-Laffitte, quick...!" Blackbeard ordered him to help him. Laffitte looked at between him and Ace. He sighed in the end and walked to Blackbeard.

"Yes."

"Damn...!" Blackbeard regretfully swore. His body was now different again. 'I won't be able to have two, unless I sacrifice it...'

Laffitte was not known to his plans so he was silently focusing on his injury.

Thatch looked at Blackbeard and then at Ace who looked thin to bones. 'No... Ace...!'

Suddenly, Blackbeard yelled. "Laffitte! Quickly capture the surviving Whitebeard Pirates! And more importantly, send Thatch and Ace as souvenirs for the position!"

"...You...!" Thatch gritted his teeth. He and his crew was being used! He was smart, so he knew what was happening. 'This bastard is going to use us to start a war!'

...

Somewhere in New World...

On a huge whale-like ship, a very large and muscular old man suddenly stood. His sudden action scared the nurses who was tending to him.

He was confused. 'What's going on...?'

'Why do I feel like something very bad is going to happen?' The old man had a tear coming off one of his eye. He wiped it out and stared at the tear on his finger. '...'

His face darkened and anger boiled inside him when he thought of a possibility. He roared loudly, scaring everyone on the ship. "NO!!!!"

His Tremor Tremor Fruit was afflicted with his shout, causing everything around him to crack.

...

In his room...

"...Alas, war is still going to happen..." Ryu shook his head. He could've stopped it from manifesting but he did not. The green-eyed man silently stood and frowned. "It's time for me to meet Whitebeard..."

...

In a island full of white rocks...

"...?!" A blond-haired man with a scar on his face suddenly teared up. "W-what's going on?"

He wiped his tears with his arm, but they kept coming. Everyone around him were confused and worried. "Sabo, what's wrong?"

"I-I don't know..." Sabo just stared at the clear blue sky. "I feel like something important just suddenly left me..."

"???" They were confused.

...

In Sabaody Archipelago, on a grove...

"A-Ace...!" A straw-hat man held his straw hat which had a paper that was slowly burning away. He did not understand why it was doing that. His crew was also confused to it but kept on their attention on whatever they were doing.

They did not understand that a vivre card burning away meant their life was slowly diminishing away...

The straw-hat man frowned and thought. 'Is something happening, Ace...?'

...

In Sabaody Archipelago, a bar...

"..." A elderly man who looked healthy and muscular sat on a stool and trembled. He dropped his cup of whiskey, causing it to shatter. The tall and slim woman behind the bar trembled too, both of them looked at each other.

"Someone just..."

"Yes..."

"But, who...?" The tall and slim woman wondered. Something bad happened to someone important to both of them.

The elderly man stood up and felt like he wanted to kill billions of people suddenly. 'Why am I feeling bloodthirsty...? This only happens when a family of mine died...'

He suddenly widened his eyes. 'It can't be...!'

...

In Navy HQ...

A happily eating and large elderly man ate crackers on the table, causing loud crunches in the room. He suddenly stiffened his actions.

He felt a paper burning away inside his pocket. 'This is...?'

The elderly man grimly crushed the cracker he was about to eat, surprising the other man in the room. The other man had a large black afro with seagull hat.

"Garp? What's wrong?" He saw a grim face on the elderly man.

"No, it's nothing." Garp clenched his fists. 'What happened, Ace?'

...

"Let... go...!" Thatch resisted in vain as Laffitte held him by arm. The tall and pale-skinned man was annoyed and tied him up with a rope. With Thatch as he is, he couldn't move a finger now.

"Shush, now." Laffitte slapped his cane on Thatch's face, causing him to spurt blood.

Turning around, Laffitte excitedly walked to the unconscious man who was withering slowly. "Unconscious but alive."

"Amazing man, I have to say." He commented as Blackbeard at the side spurted out blood again.

Blackbeard could only venomously stare at the unconscious Ace as he sat crosslegged on ground. "Make sure you put seastone cuffs on him!"

"Yes, yes." Laffitte nonchalantly responded. He didn't expect Ace to wake up suddenly, since the unconscious man did not even wake up after his slight tease of torture. Sighing, he put on the cuffs. "It's too bad, I won't be able to enjoy your tortured face."

"Ahh...." Laffitte imagined it, holding his hands together, he moved his hips in a perverted manner. "A strong will, only to descend into despair in face of hopelessness...!"

"...Laffitte!" Blackbeard was weirded out by his actions. Snapped out of it, Laffitte focused.

"Well, Thatch and Fire Fist Ace captured!" Laffitte declared to no one in particular and twirled around. Tipping his top hat, he exited with them. "Admiral, if you'll excuse us."

"..." Blackbeard just waved him off.

...

Maiden Island...

"I'm leaving." The green-eyed man suddenly announced to Hancock. Much to her confusion, she asked.

"What happened?"

"Mmn. You'll know soon." Ryu cryptically told her. "After all, it'll shake the world..."

Hancock just nodded sadly. They had recently met and Ryu suddenly needed to leave. Ryu looked at her and sighed.

To acknowledge her love for him, Ryu approached Hancock and hugged her.

"Don't worry, I'll still come see you often."

Hancock at first immediately blushed and wanted to leave but she steeled herself and slowly hugged back. It was stiff, but she became comfortable.

"Mm." She nodded in Ryu's shoulder.

The green-eyed man backed off but not before he brushed his lip on Hancock's tender lips. "You taste good."

After that, he dashed off to the sky. Hancock just stood still and was fully red in the face the moment she registered that. "I-I did it! We k-kissed!"

She clasped her cheeks and crouched. 'Uuuuu!'

...

Ryu...

'System, tell me where are the Whitebeard Pirates.' Ryu demanded.

*Ding*

[Currently, they are in New World. However, they're approaching the Red Line. It looks like they suspected something happened and are coming here.]

'I see.' Ryu nodded. He had already expected that, after all, they should have vivre card of their crew mates.

...

Somewhere in New World...

"...They're moving?" A red-haired man asked for a confirmation.

"Yes, the Whitebeard Pirates are moving. It seems they're going to the Paradise." A man confirmed and elaborated.

"I see..." The red-haired man stood and sighed. "Looks like a storm is coming..."

A hawk-eyed man stood beside him and nodded. "Yes."

"Hawk Eyes, have you decided?" The red-haired asked, grimly.

"..." The hawk-eyed man turned away and walked to his boat. "It will be the same as always. It will be up to him..."

Cryptically, he responded. However, the red-haired man understood and smiled. "I guess so. It will be up to that brat..."