A blinding mushroom cloud slowly rose from the island's center. Scalding shockwaves, mixed with dust and shattered rock, expanded outward in a frenzied ring.
The entire island shuddered under that power. Vast stretches of jungle were ripped up by the roots and instantly reduced to charcoal.
Farther away, Deuce and the others were tossed like dolls by the impact. They tumbled across the ground several times before they managed to stop, each of them filthy, battered, and half deaf, ears ringing with a high pitched whine.
It was a long while before the gale finally died down and the smoke began to clear.
A gigantic crater more than a hundred meters across lay before them, like the island had been struck by a falling meteor. The rock at the bottom had been completely vitrified, glassed over by the heat and gleaming with an eerie luster as thin white steam kept rising.
Hānefuza lay in the crater's depths, his massive body charred black. He had already reverted to human form, consciousness utterly gone.
At the crater's edge, Ace swayed. The world in front of him warped and spun. He could no longer hold himself up. His knees buckled, and he toppled straight backward.
"Ace!"
"Captain!"
Deuce and the others forgot their own injuries and scrambled over, catching Ace's limp body.
"Quick! Check the captain!"
"He's fine. He just passed out from exhaustion!"
The words hit like salvation. Every heart that had been hanging in their throats finally dropped back into place. A rush of wild relief surged through them.
They stared down at the defeated monster in the pit, then looked at their captain, and joy and pride burst across their faces.
"We… we beat a top officer of the Beasts Pirates!"
"Yes! Captain Ace is insane!"
Cheering, they bound the unconscious Hānefuza tight, wrapping him so thoroughly he looked like a bundled parcel.
After defeating an enemy like that, the Spade Unit's name would thunder across the New World again. Marine justice had been upheld once more.
But the celebration didn't last.
Just as they began to deal with the aftermath, dark specks appeared on the far horizon, one after another.
"What's that?" a sailor asked, pointing in confusion.
The specks grew closer, and their silhouettes sharpened.
Ships.
Pirate ships, and not just one.
On every sail flew the skull that made their hearts stop.
The Beasts Pirates.
More than a dozen ships closed in from all directions, surrounding the island completely.
The Spade Unit's faces turned deathly pale.
How… how could there be this many?
On the Beasts Pirates' decks stood crowds of bizarre Gifters. They took in the island's wreckage, the landscape churned like it had been plowed, and the sight of Hānefuza tied up like a hostage. They froze for a beat, then erupted into noisy chatter.
"Hey, no way. Boss Hanafuda got dropped?"
"That's the 'Marine rising star' Ace, right? He's got some bite!"
"Doesn't matter. This is where they end."
A massive man with the head of a lion leapt from the lead ship, landing heavily on the ground.
He swept his gaze across the exhausted Spade Unit, his mouth curling into a cruel, cat playing with mice grin.
"Take Ace and Boss Hanafuda back. Kaido-sama will decide what to do with them. As for the rest… resist, and you die."
Despair slammed down on the Spade Unit like a weight.
They'd just survived a brutal fight. Everyone was wounded. Their stamina was gone.
And their captain, their strongest weapon, was unconscious.
Against hundreds of enemies, they had no chance.
"Damn it…" Deuce bared his teeth, dragging Ace behind him. Something fierce and final flared in his eyes. "If you want our captain, step over my corpse first!"
"That's right! We'll take you with us!"
One by one, the men drew their weapons and formed a last wall of bodies around Ace, protecting him at the center.
"You're courting death." The lion headed Gifter snorted and flicked his hand. "Go."
The Beasts Pirates surged in like a tide from every direction.
A battle with no suspense began.
The Spade Unit roared, swinging blades with the last scraps of strength they had, but their resistance was pitiful in the face of sheer numbers.
One figure after another fell. Blood soaked into the ground.
Even as they collapsed, they kept their bodies locked in a ring, shielding the unconscious Ace in the middle.
"Tch. Idiots." The lion headed Gifter stepped up to Ace and nudged him with a boot. "Bring him too."
And just like that, the Spade Unit, newly famous and hailed as the Marines' future, was captured to a man.
…
In a dark, damp cell, Ace slowly woke.
He shook his heavy head. Cold stone walls and rusted iron bars filled his vision.
He tried to move.
A bone deep, freezing weakness rushed through his limbs and hollowed him out in an instant.
"Where… am I…?"
"Captain! You're awake!"
Deuce's weak voice came from beside him.
Ace snapped his head around.
In the dim cell, his comrades were chained to the wall with thick shackles, every one of them wounded, their faces unable to hide the bitterness and frustration.
"Deuce! Everyone! What happened? We won, didn't we?" Ace demanded.
Deuce gave a bitter smile and told him everything that had happened after Ace collapsed, from start to finish.
When he finished, Ace fell silent.
His fist clenched so hard his nails dug into his palm.
It's because of me.
If I hadn't burned myself out. If I were just a little stronger…
A crushing wave of regret and self blame rose inside him.
He looked at his friends in that miserable state, and it felt like an invisible hand squeezed his heart until he couldn't breathe.
"I'm sorry… everyone… this is my fault…"
Ace's body trembled. His voice was full of pain.
"Captain, don't talk like an idiot." A bandaged man forced his head up and grinned, showing blood stained teeth. "We're Marines. Trading our lives with pirates is what we signed up for. We took down a top officer. That's already a profit."
"Yeah! Even if I die, I'm taking a chunk out of them first!"
"Heh, Captain," another voice came from the corner. A man with a broken arm actually laughed. "Quit making that funeral face. Forget our goal? We're gonna be the strongest Marines and catch every great pirate on the sea. Isn't this just meeting the final boss early? Call it reconnaissance."
The men talked over each other, trying to lift him up.
Not a single one blamed him.
Ace listened, and his eyes turned red.
He lowered his head, refusing to let them see him like this.
Just then, the cell door opened.
A huge figure walked in.
The lion headed Gifter.
He looked over the prisoners and bared his teeth in a grin.
"Oy, Ace. Kaido-sama wants to see you."