Chapter 25

The moment Ace's eyes landed on the execution platform at the center of Loguetown, he sped up. He was still on fire, leaving a trail of flames behind him. Marines were pursuing him by following the trail he left behind.

Ace ran around the plaza where the execution platform was. The trail of flames he left behind as he ran roared and created what looked like a wall of fire surrounding the plaza. Then, he jumped.

As he was in the air, Ace reverted to his normal form. The fire covering him dissipated. He landed with a thud on top of the platform.

Everyone below had their gaze locked on Ace. It was the first time for any pirate to make so much noise and chaos at Loguetown. This island was the usual last stop of East Blue pirates before heading to the Grand Line.

Pirates brave enough to go to the Grand Line were rare. A pirate like Ace who had the guts to create such chaos on the last stop before the Grand Line was even rarer. Everyone stared at Ace, wondering what he would do next.

At that moment, Ace was just gazing at the sight on top of the high execution platform. For a moment, he imagined seeing the last sight his father saw before uttering the words that started a whole era.

"Hey! Who are you?" one of the civilians in the area got curious and asked Ace.

Ace looked down to see many civilians looking at him. For some reason, they didn't look scared at all despite being surrounded by a wall of fire. The marines chasing him weren't here yet, so Ace decided to humor them.

"You guys are surrounded by fire, and the first thing you ask me is my name?" Ace laughed. "Alright! Listen up, all of you!"

Ace threw a hand to the side. The wall of fire surrounding the plaza surged, rising high into the air and gathered towards Ace's arm. Since they were flames born from his power, Ace had complete control over them.

After calling the flames to him, Ace absorbed the wall of fire surrounding the plaza. If some of the citizens didn't have their eyes on him, they now definitely did. It was a spectacle none of them had ever seen before. A man who commands fire.

"Almost twenty years ago, a man was executed right here!" Ace started narrating a story well known by everyone. "With his dying words, he started a whole new era!"

At that moment, the marines reached the plaza. Seeing the sight of Loguetown's citizens so enamored with the man they were chasing, the marines stopped to see what was going on. They listened to the next words of Ace.

"The Great Age of Pirates! It was my father who started it! Now, I'll be the one to lead it!"

Ace unsheathed the cutlass strapped to his waist and raised it up high like a challenge to the heavens. The people watching below started digesting the words he uttered just now.

"Did he say his father?"

"His father started the Great Age of Pirates?"

"But… the one who started it…"

"Could it be?"

"No way!"

"This can't be true!"

"Gold Roger's son?"

The people started murmuring and panicking. The marines were the worst among them. If what Ace said was true, they were witnessing something that would inevitably affect the whole world!

"Remember my name! I am Gol D. Ace! The man who will be the Emperor of the Seas!"

Some of the people below the execution platform took their cameras to snap pictures of the one that declared himself as the son of Gold Roger. Most people just ran.

"He's that demon's son!"

"The blood of Roger still lives!"

"Everybody run!"

It seems the normal reaction was to be afraid. Most people ran. Others were just rooted to the spot, stunned in fear. A few brave ones kept taking pictures. It was the same case for the marines.

Some marines stepped back in fright. Most of them still stepped forward, albeit with shaking legs. There were only a few marine officers among them. Most officers went off to chase the pirates that escaped prison.

"The son of the King of the Pirates! We must arrest him!"

"For the peace of the world, he must be brought to justice!"

A few brave officers roared and rallied the marines. They gathered their wits and courage and stepped up to be the first ones to face Ace. Seeing their officers be so brave, the marines gulped down their fear and followed their example.

Ace grinned at seeing the marines slowly inch forward to try and detain him. With his cutlass still raised, Ace attacked. He sent a flying slash to the marines in the front row.

The flying slash attack was an especially dangerous one. Besides the sheer force behind it, it was enhanced by Ace's Devil Fruit. It was a fire slash.

The fire slash hit the marines in the first row before exploding. The fire slash exploded forwards. All the force and heat of the fire's explosion hit the marines behind the first row.

Ace was lenient and didn't choose to deal with all of them in a single blow. He needed to put on a show that he mostly relies on his Devil Fruit powers…

With a simple jump from the execution platform, Ace landed in front of the remaining marines. He only took out around ten percent of them with his last attack. He sheathed his cutlass and walked forward.

"He's just one man!"

"We can take him!"

"Yeah!"

"Charge!"

Ace watched the marines bravely charge him. He smiled and let them charge at him. When they got close enough, Ace inhaled. The air he breathed in was used to fuel his next attack.

"Fire Lord's Breath!"

Instead of a normal exhale, Ace spewed out a large fireball from his mouth. He let out all the air he inhaled in one go, creating a big ball of fire that traveled forward. The marines panicked and tried avoiding the fireball by running to the side.

The big fireball decimated a column of marines. When it got to the center of the crowd of marines, the fireball exploded. Ace didn't want to let it continue going forward and destroy a house. The marines were his enemy, not the people.

The fireball's explosion sent out a strong and scorching wind outwards. The marines closest to the explosion were thrown forward. Their skins blistered and burned from the heat of the air that the explosion created.

The marines further from the explosion were only rocked on their feet, making them lose their balance. They quickly picked themselves back up and charged at Ace. They were expecting to die.

Ace grinned and snapped his fingers. A wall of fire surrounded him and the remaining marines who could still fight. Officer or not, Ace dealt with them easily. His hands were on fire and he used it to fight.

The marines attacked Ace with all they got. But it was ineffective. None of them knew how to use Haki. They weren't even aware of the existence of such a technique. How could they threaten Ace?

Gunshot after gunshot. Swing after swing. Punch after punch. Ace just stood there and received all of it. He didn't even punch the marines. With his hands on fire, he grabbed their faces.

"AHHH!"

"IT BURNS!"

The marines screamed in pain from the feeling of having a flaming hand grip your face. Ace pushed them down after doing so, leaving them to roll around in the ground as they clutched their faces. He didn't fight them. He just left a permanent mark on them. It was enough to make them surrender.

In the end, even after seeing their comrades fall one after another, no marine gave up and surrendered to Ace. Despite being his enemies, Ace was rather impressed. May it be because they were desperate or brave, not giving up in the face of adversity is commendable.

Ace barely killed anyone. In his mind, this was more effective if he wanted to leave a mark. He did it permanently, after all. Right in their faces.

All this was just so that he can have a high first bounty. Ace really wanted to show it off to his brothers in the future. As the oldest one, he had a pride that needed defending. But of course, if either Sabo or Luffy got a higher first bounty than him, he would still accept it.

With all the marines taken care of, Ace dissipated the wall of fire surrounding them. He called the flames back to him. Fire created from his Devil Fruit was special. Ace figured out that the fire he created used his stamina and energy as fuel. If he calls it back, he would get back a large portion of the fire he created.

'If my Devil Fruit awakens, would I be able to absorb any fire and heal myself with it? Man, I can't wait to find out.'

…

"Hey guys! How was it? I hope none of you got hurt!"

Ace called out to his crew the moment he saw them. After dealing with the marines at Loguetown's central plaza, he went straight to the port to see how his crew and subordinates were doing.

"Ahh, Ace! It was fun! No trouble at all!" Terzo called out to Ace as he waved his hands.

The Royal Aces stood around waiting for Ace. The ground around them was littered with the unconscious bodies of marines. Terzo and Doppol were each sitting on a marine while Hepha was inspecting the weapons of the marines.

"Where's Vash and Soma?" Ace asked after noticing that Vash and Soma were nowhere to be found.

"Ahh, they're back at the ship. Vash is treating Soma," Hepha said from the side as she focused on inspecting the weapons she picked up from the ground.

"Huh? I thought there wasn't trouble at all?" Ace was worried for the wellbeing of his cook.

"It's just a sword wound. Soma got too confident and got hurt by one of the officers. I'm sitting on him right now," Doppol said as he patted the unconscious marine he was sitting on.

"Ehh? That's good." Ace took out the flintlock revolver on his waist and shot the head of the marine officer that Doppol was sitting on.

None of the Royal Aces were surprised or disturbed at what Ace did. Doppol didn't even flinch despite Ace shooting centimeters away from his ass.

"How is he? Will it scar?" Ace asked about Soma's injury.

"Nah, Vash said the cut was just long. It wasn't deep," Terzo said.

"You two are so similar sometimes," Hepha said after noticing how overprotective Ace and Vash seemed of their crew.

"Well, what can I say? Vash was the first one that joined the crew. He's great!" Ace grinned. "Ahh! What about the pirates I recruited? I don't see them."

"They're on their ships, scouting for any marines arriving. Don't worry, my Doubles are with them. If they try to run, they're no match for the Doubles I made," Doppol said.

"I see, that's good!" Ace appreciated Doppol's foresight. "Now, we'll just have to wait for Newt and Kuro."

"If I may ask, Ace," Doppol said. "Why'd you destroy the marine base?"

"What do you mean?"

"Well, Kuro is supposed to be the Base Commander. Can't really be a Base Commander without a base to command."

"..."

"..."

"Damn, I didn't think about that. HAHAHAHA! My bad, my bad!" Ace scratched the back of his head as he blushed in embarrassment.

"What an idiot," Hepha said with a sigh as Terzo and Doppol laughed at their captain's lapse of judgment.

"Well, I can just build one." Doppol stood up after laughing heartily. "Want me to build one right on top of the base you destroyed?"

"If you'll be so kind, hehe!" Ace rubbed his hand together. "Thanks, Doppol!"

"No problem, Captain!"