Chapter 24

The whole of Loguetown's marine base was engulfed by a fiery explosion. The size of it could be seen from a distance. The marines that were busy chasing the escaped pirates looked behind them as soon as they felt the ground tremble and heard the loud explosive boom.

"That's-!"

"Our base!"

"Who destroyed it?"

"I thought all the pirates escaped?"

The marines looked behind them to see their marine base engulfed by a great fire. The fire was tall. It rose high up and sent a cloud of smoke reaching for the sky.

Wisps of flames gathered upwards. The jolly roger of the Royal Aces that Ace made with his flames earlier ate up the wisps from the great fire, making it much bigger.

The jolly roger of the Royal Aces floated there above the burning marine base like a declaration. A proud mark that says they are the ones responsible for the destruction. Ace got the idea from a certain bald-headed snake wizard.

The attention of the marines as well as the bystanders who were looking at the disaster that befell the marine base was caught by that giant jolly roger. Most of the marines recognized it.

"That's-!"

"That jolly roger!"

"It's them!"

"The pirates that destroyed the 20th Branch's fleet!"

News of the fleet that the Royal Aces sunk back at Baratie quickly spread through the many different branches of marine bases stationed in East Blue. The details passed on by the marines present in that battle were spread.

The jolly roger of a skull with a flaming hat over a red spade became something that all marines in East Blue should keep an eye on. Identifying unknown and dangerous pirates is a high priority.

Now, with the stunts Ace and his friends pulled, they would definitely become known.

Wisps of flames gathered in front of the burning and destroyed base. Some marines gave up chasing the pirates that escaped to go back to their destroyed base, hoping to recover what can be recovered and help those who could be helped.

The marines stood in front of the gathering flames with their guns pointed at it. Seconds later, the wisps of flames that gathered solidified into Ace.

Ace was slightly disoriented from the stunt he pulled. After spinning so fast while falling to the ground, Ace currently still felt as if the world was spinning. But, he wasn't really bothered. He had a wide grin on his face.

"Who are you?"

"You're surrounded!"

"Give up!"

The marines walked forward with their guns aimed at Ace's face. They watched him put a hand on his hat to fix it before laughing. They looked unnerved at seeing the man in front of them be so happy despite his situation.

"Man, that was a kinda stupid move! I should fix the spinning part, at least. Or maybe I should just get used to it?" Ace mused aloud.

One of the marines got impatient. He shot his rifle while aiming at Ace's head. The shot hit. Ace's head exploded. But it wasn't blood that came out. His head turned into flames for a moment before gathering back like nothing happened.

"That's not very nice," Ace said before gesturing a finger pistol at the marine that shot at him. "Bang!"

Ace shot a casual Fire Gun similar to the canon. The flame bullet pierced the marine's head, ending his life. If Ace used Fire Lord's Gun instead, the flame bullet would pierce through and hit the other marines behind the first one.

The other marines were frightened at seeing Ace be seemingly immortal. They paled further after seeing one of them get killed so casually.

"Fire Lord's Charge!"

Ace turned into what looked like a living fire. His whole figure body became fire. Then, he charged straight through the marines at a great speed as if he was using Flicker. The path Ace left behind exploded in a fiery blaze, burning those who were lucky enough to avoid being charged at.

Turning into fire made Ace's body so much lighter. His leg muscles put the same effort they would do when he's running, but his current speed was much faster. As he ran, Ace left a trail of blazing flames.

Ace was currently running straight to the platform where his father was executed all those years ago. They were currently in the finale of their plan. If all went according to what the Royal Aces talked about, Ace's friends should currently be fighting the marines in the port.

…

"We're free!"

"Finally!"

"I thought I'd stay there forever!"

"Let's get out of here!"

The pirates that Ace let go of have reached the port. In their lead was Vash, Terzo, Doppol, and Soma. Each of them managed to have their own respective battles against higher ranking marines who were direct subordinates of the Base Commander.

The Base Commander himself was taken down by Vash. In their battle, Vash discovered that the Base Commander felt 'weaker' than Isuka somehow. He concluded that Isuka was someone that wasn't originally posted in the Loguetown Marine Base.

The pirates were about to go and find their ships when they were stopped by Hepha's Conqueror's Haki. Unlike last time where she could only use it in a big burst, Ace gave her some knowledge on how to better control it. Now, she could control it better. Not as great as Ace, but it's getting there.

"Where do you all think you're going?" Hepha asked the newly recruited pirates.

Hepha watched the pirates step back in fear of her. She only released enough Conqueror's Haki to make them shut up and listen to her. From what it looked like so far, it was working. The pirates gulped and stared at her.

"Th-The marines outnumber us!"

"Y-Yeah! Fighting them is suicide!"

The pirates tried to argue further, but Hepha just glared at them. They were instantly cowered. They swallowed all their complaints. Then, they heard a gunshot. It was from Vash.

"Listen up, cowards!" Vash shouted after firing a shot in the air.

"You're in our Spade Fleet now!" Terzo added as he stood firmly in front of the pirates.

"Your Commodore didn't order you to retreat, so why should you?" Hepha took out her hammer and jumped.

Hepha landed at the back of the pirates, landing between them and the incoming marines. She grinned and made her hammer bigger. The rest of the Royal Aces followed her lead. The five of them stood side by side.

"As a preliminary welcome party, stand back and watch us handle these small fries!" Doppol said to the pirates as he circled his arms around his shoulder joint, enjoying the clicking noises it made.

The marines got closer. The one in their lead was all of the high ranking marines in the base. The marine officers ranged in the ranks of Ensign to Commander. The Base Commander was a Captain. The ones that Vash, Terzo, Doppol, and Soma fought were included in them. But, there were many others they didn't fight. Escape with the pirates was the highest priority earlier.

"They're the pirates that destroyed the 20th Branch's Fleet!"

"Kill them!"

"Don't leave any of them alive!"

The marines charged forward like a mindless bull. They looked angered, from what the Royal Aces could see. But, they weren't really bothered.

"Came back for some more beating?" Soma shouted at the one he fought - no, more like beat up - earlier.

"How could you even move with those gunshot wounds?" Vash just sighed and didn't take out his revolver to deal with the heavily injured Base Commander.

"Want me to cut you up again to make an X mark on your body?" Terzo pointed his sword at the marine with a nasty wound that slashed across his body.

"Doppol! I'll leave the smaller fries to you!" Hepha said as she eyed the high ranking marines that were in their top condition.

"I'll handle them!" Doppol said before multiplying right in front of everyone's eyes.

Doppol made around two dozen Doubles. The marines charging at them numbered at the hundreds, but the Doubles didn't care. They were the first ones to initiate the attack.

The Doubles jumped high in the air and landed in the crowd of marine infantries. They were like lions released in a den of sheep. The marines barely offered any resistance to the Doubles.

One of the weaker Doubles got careless and almost let someone slash him in the back. The Double immediately retaliated. Every Double would rather not get injured in any way. The other Royal Aces knew why, so they treated every Double like Doppol himself.

…

The way Doppol's powers work is something the Royal Aces got to know over the time they spent with each other. The basic part of it is that Doppol creates Doubles by giving them a part of his strength. When a Double disintegrates, its memories, nutrition, and improvement would go back to Doppol.

If a Double ate a lot of food, got full, and disintegrated himself, Doppol would receive the memories of what the food tasted like, the feeling of actually being full, and the nutrients of the food his Double ate. If a Double was made with a sole purpose to train and get stronger, the result of the Double's training would return to Doppol when he disintegrates.

It won't be farfetched to say that Doppol was the physically strongest one in the Royal Aces because of the way he intelligently utilized his Devil Fruit power. But, his power also had some drawbacks.

The Doubles reflect their latest state to Doppol when they disintegrate. If a Double disintegrates itself when it's injured, the injury would come back to Doppol. If a Double dies, Doppol would be assaulted by an intense headache that would normally make anyone who would experience it go unconscious as well as what the Double felt when it died.

Doppol knew this because he trained himself to brave through the effect of when a Double dies. In his youth, he would fight to the death with his Doubles. Of course, the Doubles wouldn't kill the original, but they would still fight with their life on the line. Through that ridiculous training, Doppol was strong enough to not go unconscious after a Double dies.

Still, when the Royal Aces knew what a Double dying meant, they resolved themselves to not make sure it happens. Doppol told them not to worry about it, though.

…

After seeing a Double almost get injured, the Royal Aces charged at the marines. The Doubles only had a tiny fraction of Doppol's strength, so they could still get hurt in this kind of battle.

Doppol himself was dealing with the normal marine infantry. The pirates and the marines watched in grim fascination at the power of the Royal Aces.

Vash already quickly dealt with the heavily injured Base Commander and was fighting other marine officers. He used his own version of hand to hand combat. Vash had two revolvers in his hands. He dodged attacks constantly. With every gunshot, an officer would go down.

Terzo was the same as Vash. He deftly dodged and weaved through sword swings and gunshots before attacking. With every slash of his sword, two officers would go down.

The two of them were training their Observation Haki as they fought. Ace told them that battles were the best training for Haki.

Hepha knew this as well, which is why she's currently trying to figure out how to infuse her Conqueror's Haki with her Clear Sky Hammer. But so far, she was only met with failure.

Doppol was just having fun. The marine infantry was so weak that he could see their next move without even using Observation Haki. So, he just bullied them.

Soma was rather impressive. This was the first time the other saw him fight. He was a martial artist similar to Doppol. But instead of hands and feet, Soma was using elbows and knees to strike his opponents.

The Royal Aces easily dealt with the marines. They didn't kill much, just as they planned earlier with Ace. The purpose of their actions was to spread their names and the crew they belonged to.