Chapter 55. Ace, the upright.

Up in the sky, Ace pulled back his arm and punched Shiki, and as his fist neared his opponent, his whole arm turned into a giant arm of flames and punched away Shiki hundreds of meters in the sky.

Shiki crossed his arms and protected himself against the heat with his hair.

Shiki just felt himself being blasted away and he used his devil fruit abilities to stabilise himself in the air.

He noticed that sorts of his robes had been burnt off and head beard was gone.

"Ya punk, even more annoying than your pops." Shiki got angry.

And kicked the air with his leg.

Both of his legs and been replaced by two swords, so when he kicked, a big slash of Hali flew towards Ace and he narrowly dodged.

Just as he dodged it, another two had appeared in front of him in a cross, making it impossible for Ace to dodge.

He instantly used his Haki to protect his body, but to his surprise the slashes got though his skin, although it was barely visible, it was enough to draw blood.

"Oh.. not bad." Ace commented as he saw a very, very thin line of blood.

But it was Shiki that was more surprised. How old is this kid? 18-19? Yet his Haki was strong enough to stop him from becoming minced meat?

*Not bad indeed kid." Shiki commented, not aware that Ace didn't use all his willpower, just enough Haki to stop the slashes of Haki from Shiki.

Ace didn't want to waste stamina that's why he didn't use all his haki to stop the attack, but he had underestimated Shiki's Haki and got a scratch,

"Well then, let me see why you are a legend!" Suddenly the temperature rose drastically as the clouds dispersed.

The Demon Ace Pirates saw the clouds dispersed and noticed the two dots in the sky. What was scarier wast the fact that above where the clouds where, a big island ship was floating, looking a like a big ship, but made of land.

Yet to their surprise, gigantic flames took over the sky. It looked like clouds of fire was burning in the sky.

Shikis was protecting his whole body with Haki, while using his observation to feel the position of Ace.

The clouds of flames suddenly turned into gigantic bullets and shot towards Shiki.

Shiki cut them all up using his two blades that worked as prosthetic legs.

The bullets became bigger and turned into giant fists of fire.

Shiki saucesfully cut them up as well but the fists were to strong and hot, which pushed him back.

The flames from his right turned into a gigantic palm that slapped him dozens of meters.

The golden Lion of course protected himself, but to his surprise, the flame palm was so hot that his golden mane was burnt off.

What was left of his head a was a bald scalp with the ends of a rod sticking out. No hair No mane, No goaty, no mustache, no eyebrows...

Shiki started touching his head in panic.

"WAAAAA YA BASTARD I WILL KILL YOU A THOUSAND TIMES OVER!!" Shiki roared in anger. After all, the reason he had been called golden lion, is because of his mane like hair. And although old age had made his forehead larger than average, the hair at the back of his head was still full of life, to the point of being called a mane.

Because of their last collision, shiki was very surprised by how strong Ace was as he got pushed back.

He realised that he wasn't fighting some kid, but an equal, someone at the peak of this world.

At this point he had wanted to retreat but when his hair had gotten burnt away, his rage took over.

To Shiki, the remaining straws of hair he had, was dearer to him than gold.

He flew towards Ace and tried cutting him up, but Ace protected himself with Haki, but this time he didn't underestimate the old goat.

Shiki saw that his blades couldn't cut Ace as Ace's adamant Haki was stronger than before.

Whenever Shiki attacked he could see the smallest hint of grin on Ace's lips, as if he was enjoying a beautiful walk in the park.

"AAAAAAAAH YAAA BASTAAAARD I'M GOING TO KIILLLL YOUUUUUUUU" Shiki started shouted as his attacks got more intense. Logic had escaped him as he only saw red so he continued attacking.

On the Black Pearl, Ronaldino was holding a sniper and looking through it's lens to see better. And the sniper? It was baby 5 that had used her devil fruit ability to turn into a weapon for her hubby, it was as if she had found her purpose.

They saw how horrible the fight in the sky seemed and got curious.

"What kind of beast is that old man?" Nami asked as she saw this.

"CHAHAHAH, don't you know? He's Golden Lion Shiki, the old rival of Roger and Whitebeard!" He laughed.

Nami lost the color on her face.

Apoo was nowhere to be seen.

Below his his face.

Yennow and Spikewards were hugging each other.

"Ne, Nami, our captain is meeting a legend... What happens if he loses?" Gaga asked while pondering.

"it'll be fine, Captain is really strong, have faith in him!" Apoo confidently said, as he closed the lid on the barrel that he hid himself in.

"Our captain might be silly when he's with us and with those weaker than him, but some one Like Golden Lion? No, captain will treat him with respect of course, I know that captain is a good guy on the inside." Yennow said, fully trusting that their captain will atleast behave with those worthy of respect.

"Actually, I also think that this time, even though Golden Lion is his opponent, he is an opponent worthy of respect. Captain will also understand that point." Urouge agreed.

Suddenly they heard a big echo throughout the sky. "AAAAAAAAH YAAA BASTAAAARD I'M GOING TO KIILLLL YOUUUUUUUU" the voice was filled with wrath.

"Ehem, I mean, it doesn't matter who stand before captain, he is such an upright person that he treats everyone equally." Urouge corrected his words with a bit of blush.

Nami looked up with dead eyes. 'I'm glad that strength has nothing to do with how easily Ace gets under ones skin.' Nami sighed a she realised that even someone like Shiki lost his cool.

"Captain's greatest strength is to..." Law had to stop and think about how to word it correctly. 'anger people? Raise blood pressure? Make them boil from the inside?' Law thought about it.

"His greatest strength is to awaken people's potential!" He said as if he had figured it out! After all, last time, Law had awakened his Haki thanks to Ace... 'Yes, that has to be it, he did it intentionally to make me stronger.' he consoled himself.

Above in the sky, Shiki started spinning around using the force of the his legs, to create countless arcs of Haki slashes.m

These slashes were much, much bigger than before and diced the clouds of flames.

The Demon Ace Pirates could barely look up because of the clouds of flame, but suddenly the clouds got cut up into hundreds of pieces and dispersed.

The slashes continued flying, some down towards the sea splitting it and creating rifts on the sea.

Ace flew towards Shiki, and the old goat countered.

Ace's lower half was made of burning flames as he flew, and his speed was super fast.

It was even a bit faster than Shiki, but shiki had way more dexterity in the sky and could dodge and move easily while Ace flew in rather straight lines.

Shiki's rage started turning into fear as he felt that Ace might have become even stronger than his Roger! But he couldn't be completely sure as he himself had weakened since coming out of impel down and losing his legs, he had also aged considerably. But at this point he was sure that Ace was in that bracket of strength.

Ace and Shiki continued blasting towards each other while punching and kicking, dodgin and countering each other in the sky.

But soon, Shiki's eyes started darting around whenever he had the chance, as if looking for something.

"Don't try to use tricks Shiki, I'll beat you up no matter what!" Ace laughed out, not understanding that he wasn't looking for a chance to use tricks on Ace, he was looking for a chance to escape.

"Grrrr" The Golden lion's anger was clear.

Yet, unbeknownst to Shiki, he had also started grinning. The truth was, ever since Roger had died, Kaido and Linlin had settled down while Whitebeard half-retired, shiki had mellowed down.

In his younger days, he was fiery and temperamental, but after his rival died he slowly became more laid back.

But during this fight, where he had his back against the wall, or the sky, he felt like there was no playing around. Fight with all you have to survive! And that mentality brought out his inner battle-addict.

"ORA ORA! DON'T LET ME DOWN NOW GOL D. ACE JIHAHHAH" Shiki laughed out as he made a clear cut in Ace's shoulder.

"DONT WORRY GOLDEN BALD EAGLE! ILL FIGHT YOU TO YOUR LAST MOMENT WAHAHHAHA!"

Ace's nickname for him reminded him that his his golden mane was burnt away.

"YA BASTARD I DETEST YOU EVEN MORE THAN I DETEST YOU FATHER!!!" Shiki's eyes got blood shot.

At this point, Shiki wasn't fine by any means.

Half his chest was scorched, it was black and red from the blood.

Half his face was also bleeding from a punch he received.m from Ace.