Chapter 33: Ace

Kai and Ace waited for them to go and Kai pulled out a cigarette. "Do you mind?" He asked Ace who sent him a flame to light his cigarette. "Thanks! Anyway, don't go bullying Smokey just yet. If you fought him he wouldn't stand a chance. I wanna let him be a frog in a well a little longer and enjoy himself before he inevitably realizes how weak he really is."

Ace just kept looking Kai up and down wondering who he was. "How do you know my brother? Are you really a commander? You're way too strong for a paradise commander, and even a new world commander would be nothing next to you. Just what are you up to?"

Kai just took a long drag of his cigarette. Then he dropped it and let it hit the sand before stomping it out. Kai had a devilish smile on his face which was unseen by anyone else due to his mask. He got ready to face his best friend. He had made sure that there was no one else around as they stood in the middle of the desert. "Now, are we gonna do this Portgas D. Ace, or should I say Gold Ace."

(A/n: I know it was Gol D. Roger and Gol D. Ace, but that's supposed to be a secret. Only certain people know that as the government kept it hidden.)

Ace's eyes opened wide before turning cold. 'He has to die.' Was what he thought as he saw a marine in front of him who knew more than he should. A wave of Haoshoku haki spread out with Ace as the epicenter. "Enjomo: Blaze net!" A massive net formed a semi circle around them made out of fire it created a dome surrounding them. In order to prevent anyone from coming in or leaving. Ace wasn't letting the marine leave alive.

Kai had decided not to use his future sight in his battle with Ace as he wanted to fight him on somewhat equal grounds. But he was starting to think that might have been a bad idea as the heat started making him sweat. Fire was the natural counter to his devil fruit as it drew all oxygen towards it to keep it burning.

This caused two things to weaken Kai. One was the fact that he would lose his control over the air in general as the 21% of it that was oxygen started to gravitate towards the flames making it hard to move. The other was his weakness to the fire itself. This caused two things. One was that Kai was more flammable than the average person, and the other was that when fire touched him his body would become solid. Like what happened to Crocodile with water and blood in his fight with Luffy.

All this information ran through Kai's head in an instant. He analyzed the situation and had gotten ready to continue with the fight. In these situations his genetic enhancements on his brain helped him a ton. Plus it made his reaction speed nearly instant, which paired perfectly with his kenbunshoku haki as he could react to anything that happened to him.

Ace wasted no time after he set up his barrier as less than one second later he was already charging at Kai. He punched out with his fist covered in a blue flame. "Hiken: Fire fist!" His fist went right through where Kai's right shoulder should have been only to miss by an inch as Kai tilted his body to the side slightly. Kai now had his sword in his right hand and the middle of Ace's body turned into a flame like it was just split in half.

"Too slow." Kai shook his head as he looked Ace dead in the eyes from a foot away as both of them stood in place for a moment before Ace jumped back and touched his body where Kai's blade had just passed through. "Your dad would be disappointed. You thought just because your fire changed colours you would be invincible? You're too naive, blowtorch."

Ace's face contorted in anger. Which was exactly what Kai was going for. He wanted Ace to go for the kill. He needed to gauge his strength. He also didn't want Ace to recognize his fighting style.

Ace stayed back this time and pointed his fingers into guns. "Higen: Fire gun!" Little balls of compressed blue fire started shooting at Kai. Kai dodged most of them, letting them fly past his body as he flipped to the side and did a barrel roll in between three bullets that passed him above, below and to the right side of him where he just came from.

A few of the flame bullets that passed him shot through his coat leaving little holes scattered across it. As he landed from his flip he slashed his sword covered in busoshoku haki at the last two flame bullets that came at him snuffing them out as they were split in two.

The moment he finished his second slash he bent over and ducked under a fist that came at him. As he bent down he slashed through Ace's thighs causing them to burst into flame again. "Hiken: fire fist!" Kai rolled on the ground using his ducking motion's momentum and was crouching on one knee before he jumped up and back flipped.

"Shinka: Shiranui: God fire: Unknown fire!" Ace's lance that he made flew underneath Kai who was at the top of his back flip. Kai landed in mid-air and charged at Ace using an advanced geppo that was combined with his fruit's ability to make it stronger, faster and easier to use. (Geppo is just compressing air so if he compressed air with his fruit along with the technique it would be better.)

Ace noticed that Kai was avoiding his flames more than other people usually did. So he went with a AOE (area of effect) attack. "Hotarubi: Firefly light!" Ace held out his two hands and sent small greenish-yellow fireballs all around him that started floating. As a few of them touched the sand they were standing on the ground burst into flames quickly before fizzling out.

Kai stopped his attack half-way. As he stopped mid air and flashed backwards. He could use his fruit ability to turn himself into air and move in any direction that the air around him is. That attack just now could have done serious damage if he let it hit him. Kai clicked his tongue and slashed out his sword in a * pattern as he covered it with haki and sent air slashes from his blade towards the group of fireballs. Causing most of them to scatter.

Ace had already expected this and he used another move. "Hidaruma: Ablaze!" All the little balls that were still floating in the air converged on Kai. Kai was now trapped. He had the flame dome that they were in 10 feet behind him and in front of him were countless balls of fire enclosing in on him. He took a deep breath and jumped forward using the air around him to speed him up. He covered his sword in haki once again and charged at Ace through the flame balls.

Kai slashed his sword into most of the balls in front of him but he couldn't destroy them all. He continued through the rest while covering his whole body in haki making it turn black. He landed on the other side of the wall of flame balls with his marine coat completely burned off other than the top of it that was near his neck. The moment his foot landed on the ground he charged at Ace combining soru with his fruits abilities to make it multiple times faster. Ace tried to use haki on his body but he was too late as Kai had already landed behind him. His neck burst into flames before it reformed covered in haki which was too late to protect him from Kai's slash.

"WHY?!" Ace yelled out at Kai who said nothing as he jumped back to 20 feet away from Ace. His only response was a massive current of wind that started to form a sand storm within Ace's barrier. The sand was constantly at war with the flames. The sandstorm trying to suppress the flames and the fire trying to burn on. As Ace was trying to prevent his fire from going out his body burst into flames four times. Both his arms and legs were just cut at the shoulders and hips, but Ace had no idea how. He didn't see a thing.

Kai was still standing 20 feet away from Ace but he had sent four wind blades with his fruit and not his sword this time. He noticed Ace getting lost in the moment and used this time to make himself known again by using wind blades that were nearly invisible to the naked eye, just like the one he used to kill Mr.5.

"Enkai: Flame commandment!" Ace started gathering a large amount of blue flames. He jumped up and turned his feet into flames to fly. When he reached above Kai he finally stopped collecting more flames and released them. However the second he looked down to aim at Kai, Ace noticed he wasn't there. "Over here." Ace heard, and as he looked up to where the voice camp from a black fist hit him in the face causing him to shoot into the ground like a cannonball.

"Hibashira: Fire pillar!" A pillar of flame erupted from where Ace landed and showcased the move that he was trying to hit Kai with. Kai just looked at Ace confused for a bit. Did he forget observation haki was a thing? Or did he just think that Kai would let himself get hit by a move that took him a long time to charge and then even longer to use as he had to be directly above or below his opponent to hit them. Kai could only hit Ace earlier because he was faster than him and he was either counter attacking or surprised him with the speed of his enhanced soru. Ace could still sense the attacks coming but he couldn't react in time to stop Kai.

Kai just decided to refocus on the fight. He landed on the ground softly and started wheezing. All this fire around him was taking its toll. He was starting to feel weakened due to a lack of oxygen. His only saving grace was the fact that Ace had the same problem. Just because he was made of fire doesn't mean he doesn't need oxygen when he uses his flames.

Ace stood up and was wheezing as well. He noticed the lack of oxygen and got ready for a final attack. He charged in at Kai and started punching with haki coated fists like crazy without any semblance of rhythm to his punches. Kai was contorting his body in many different ways and slowly backing up as he dodged the punches. Eventually Ace sent a sweeping kick at Kai's feet coated in haki causing Kai to back flip. When Kai landed he took note that he was within 5 feet of the edge of the fire net dome surrounding them.

He had already figured out Ace strategy but decided to play along. Force him into a corner with punches and kicks until his back is against the fire wall. Then one last all out attack that he couldn't dodge. Not a terrible idea, it was pretty easy to catch on, but that still didn't really help as you were in the same position either way.

Kai now had his back against the wall, which meant it was time for Ace's big attack. Kai waited for Ace to start his big move. Ace started gathering fire into what looked like a massive sun above his own head. "Dai Enkai: Entei: Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!" The mass of blue flames above Ace's head looked like a massive blue star. Kai held his sword tightly with both hands. He surrounded it with a chaotic wind on all sides. With wind blades swirling around it. He called this move "Blade Storm". (Imagine Rasengan but its wind blades. Also it's not a ball but it coats his sword.)

Kai was crouched down and ready for his final charge. Ace released his massive fireball at Kai and Kai used his advanced soru to charge at the ball and his ability to continue flying through the air at mach speeds. When he collided with the fireball his haki coated sword swung to meet with it. At this moment he made a barrier out of the air which was heavily weakened by the flames. His slash split the fireball in two and both halves landed behind him.

They exploded as Kai landed on the ground behind it with his sword at Ace's throat. Air still swirling around both his sword and him. The explosion behind him blew out in all directions and the fire rushed towards where Ace and Kai were standing right now. Kai sheathed his sword before holding out both hands to stabilize his wind barrier in between him and the fire. He covered his whole body in haki to protect himself from the flames that did get through the barrier.

After a few seconds the flames subsided. Revealing two figures panting. One of them was standing with his hands on his knees and the other was sitting in the sand. The one sitting down had his clothes badly burned and you could see small burn marks all over his body. Not fatal, but definitely enough to hinder someone during a fight.

"*wheeze* Wahahaha! *wheeze* Not bad Daddy's boy! *wheeze*" Kai said from the ground as he laid his back down on the sand and took off his mask, which now had a burn mark on the lower right side, making that part of the mask black. Ace looked down at the man he was just trying to kill in front of him. He dropped to his knees and landed right beside Kai.

"*wheeze* Why didn't you *wheeze* tell me *wheeze* it was you? *wheeze*" Ace asked Kai who decided to catch his breath before answering. Ace wasn't injured at all, unlike Kai. He was wheezing because of the lack of oxygen as well as a lack of stamina. That last move he did was his strongest move. It was his finisher and he uses up a lot of stamina when he does it. It was especially bad this time as he put everything he had into it as he had REALLY wanted to kill Kai.

When Kai finally caught his breath he sat up. He flinched on his way up due to his burns. "Sorry about that." Ace said as he sat down next to Kai. "Wahaha! I didn't tell you because you wouldn't have tried to kill me if I did. I wanted to fight you, a real fight, not sparring without injuring one another." Kai explained to Ace.

Ace looked at him mildly annoyed. "You didn't hurt me." He said as if he was complaining about a lack of injuries. "Whatever you masochist. I didn't wanna kill you. 6 by the way."

Ace shook his head at Kai. "I'm not really a masochist, you know. I just wanted to fight for real. Also what do you mean by 6?" Kai smiled like a little kid. He was absolutely beaming. "I didn't actually think you were a masochist, dumbass. Anyway, I meant the 6 times I could have killed you during that fight. Wahahaha!" A tick mark appeared on Ace's forehead. "You're the same bastard as always, huh." He said to Kai who just kept a huge smile on his face. "Yup."

A smile formed on Ace's face. "So what are you doing here?" Ace asked Kai. Kai looked at him before he realized. "Right, you wouldn't know. I've been following Luffy since he started. My little brother joined his crew so I've been watching over them. My boss who you met earlier wants to fuckin' kill me right now cause I never actually try to catch them. Wahaha! Fuckin' Smokey. I love that guy."

Ace chuckled a bit. "You mean that marine in the bar made of smoke? He was pretty funny. He thought I died just because I fell asleep while eating." Kai shook his head. "You aren't supposed to fall asleep while eating, Ace. How many times did Dadan tell you this?" Ace froze and said. "Don't tell Dadan! Please Kai!"

Kai's smile turned into that of a demon. He had Ace in the palm of his hand now. "Hehehe. Maybe I won't. Maybe I will. Who knows?" Ace paled when he heard this. "Haha. Kai! Did I ever tell you how much I love you! You're so handsome and cool! You're also so strong I bet you could already beat Shanks by now! For sure!"

"Wahahaha! I know I am. Anyway, don't worry, I won't sell out my best friend." Kai responded as he put an arm around Ace's neck. Ace smiled as well and he put his arm around Kai's. "You know I think that Luff really has a shot at being the pirate king. If you give him a few years he might do it." Kai told Ace. "No way! Not before pops! He can only become the pirate king after my old man, Whitebeard!"

"Wahaha! That old man doesn't even want to be pirate king! Keep dreaming!" Kai laughed at Ace. "I don't care! I'll make my pops the pirate king even if I have to drag him to Raftel myself!" Ace exclaimed. Kai looked at Ace with a genuine smile. "You sound like an actual real daddy's boy now. I'm really happy for you Ace. I'm glad you found a real dad." Ace smiled back at Kai. "Thanks."

"So about that fight, the first time I slashed through you…" Kai went on to tell Ace every mistake he made in the fight and what he could have done better. He went over all 6 times he could have killed Ace and told him why that happened and how to protect himself in the future.

After the duo talked about the fight, Kai brought up the topic he wanted to talk about the whole time. "So, Teach. What are you gonna do about it?" He asked Ace who got serious at the question. "Kill him. I can't leave him alive after what he did." Kai nodded. "I understand. But, I'm still not comfortable with having you fight him. The yami-yami no mi is strong Ace. However strong he was before, he is a whole different person now."

Ace nodded. "I understand. But I won't just let him go. I have to fight him. If you try to stop me I won't lose our rematch. You did just tell me everything I did wrong after all. I won't make the same mistakes twice." He had a smirk on his face at the end. Kai sighed. "I'm not gonna stop you, Ace. It's your life. Just be careful. His fruit can use gravity powers as well as darkness. It can also stop a user from using his devil fruit if you touch him. Imagine his whole body and possibly anywhere his power can touch is seastone when you fight him."

Ace sucked in a cold breath. "What the fuck? That's such bullshit. How do you even know that?" Kai just waved his hand. "I read a lot. Anyway, how good is his haki?" Ace thought for a moment. "About the same as me for kenbunshoku. But I'm definitely better at busoshoku." Kai nodded. In that case he could for sure kill Blackbeard, but depending on certain things he might need to use his devil fruit, which he didn't want to do in front of others. He also didn't know if Blackbeard was hiding his true strength.

"Alright then. I'll let you fight him. But if anything happens to you, I'll kill him myself." Kai said to Ace who just smiled. "Who said I would lose to him? Besides, you barely beat me back there. What makes you think that if I couldn't beat Blackbeard that you could?" Kai's face showed a cheeky smile. "Who said I went all out Daddy's boy?"

Ace was shocked by this. "What do you mean?" Kai's smile just grew. "I didn't use my future sight." Ace jaw dropped. "You have future sight?! Not even pops has that!" Kai's shit eating grin never faltered. "Maybe I'd kick that old man's ass then." Ace smacked Kai in the head only for it to explode into air and reform. "Take that back Airhead!" Kai looked Ace dead in the eyes and said. "Make me."

They started punching and kicking randomly and started a dust brawl. After a minute or so they got out laughing. "Wahahaha!/Shishishishi!" They had a hand on each other's shoulders and walked in the direction of the Merry. Before they got too close Kai put his mask back on and said. "You should go talk to Luff. I have other things to do. Meet me at the rainbase tonight." Ace nodded and ran off towards the crew and Kai just walked behind him so he would arrive in the same place, just a little later.