Boom~
Flames surged, and a wave of heat washed over them. The bright light illuminated the freckled face.
Ace looked at the flames burning on his hand, a look of disbelief on his face.
"Fire? This is... the Flame-Flame Fruit!"
"I have my fruit's ability again?"
"What's going on? I tried it before, and the Flame-Flame Fruit's ability was definitely gone. Now... how did it come back to me?"
Just now, a strangely familiar feeling had welled up in Ace's heart. Although he no longer held out hope, he had still subconsciously tried to release his fruit's ability.
He hadn't expected the Devil Fruit's ability to actually return to him!
How was this possible? Wasn't he already dead?
"Pops!"
Ace's mouth was slightly agape. He looked at his Pops at the side, only to see that Whitebeard also wore a look of surprise, a flash of realization in his eyes.
He raised his arm and clenched his fist tightly.
Crack!
Crack! Crackle!
A crisp sound suddenly rang out nearby.
Whitebeard's huge fist slammed into the empty air. With his fist as the center, the atmosphere cracked, creating fissures like shattered glass.
Seeing this, Whitebeard slowly lowered his arm, looking at his fist in a daze.
The feeling from just now, as if he could destroy anything, was incredibly familiar to him.
This was the powerful ability that had accompanied him for most of his life, a name that resounded throughout the world, a synonym for destruction.
The Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
Although his strength had diminished greatly due to his death, and he no longer had the world-destroying power he possessed in life, it was indeed the ability of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit!
"My Tremor-Tremor Fruit... is back too?"
"Can a person... still obtain their former powers after death?"
The souls around Whitebeard, upon seeing this scene, whether pirates or marines, all had their mouths wide open, unable to close them, their eyes bulging as if they were about to pop out of their sockets.
Everyone stared at Whitebeard and Ace, dumbfounded.
"The Devil Fruit abilities... have returned to Pops and Ace..."
"How is that possible? Could it be that ability users... can still hold their abilities after death?"
"It's common knowledge that a Devil Fruit is reborn randomly after its user dies."
"And Pops' Tremor-Tremor Fruit was stolen by Blackbeard! I saw it with my own eyes."
Compared to the pirates' surprise and relief, the marines, in addition to their shock, had their faces turn much uglier.
"Whitebeard and Fire Fist are already dead, yet they still possess such powerful strength."
"The fear of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, can we not escape it even after death?"
"Damn you, Whitebeard! Are you going to continue to rule in the afterlife as well!"
As Whitebeard threw a punch, the atmosphere shattered, and a tremor ran through the ground.
Boom!
Boom, boom!
The earthquake came without warning and left just as quickly. The living marines on the island were all shaken, thrown to the ground by the tremor.
Only the high-ranking officers were barely able to stand firm in the earthquake.
"What's going on? An earthquake?"
"Could it be Whitebeard... no, did Blackbeard launch a surprise attack?"
"Is the war already over?"
"Hmph, just the right time to arrest him."
As the on-site supreme commander, Sengoku, seeing the tremor quickly pass, had a white light reflect off his black, round-framed glasses, and a profound sense of having seen through everything emerged.
"There's no need to panic. Blackbeard and his crew have already gone far. This is just an aftershock from Whitebeard's earthquake earlier. It's nothing serious."
Sengoku's roar echoed across the square, instantly calming all the marine soldiers.
The old Fleet Admiral held an unparalleled prestige in the military, and what was even more well-known was his world-class wisdom, which had earned him the title of "the Wise General."
To many marine soldiers, his words were the law, and they believed him without a doubt.
Seeing the military situation stabilize, Sengoku's expression softened slightly, and he once again directed the rescue work.
And the souls not far from Sengoku, seeing him so spirited, had the pirates' faces show indignation as they cursed in low voices, while the marines' faces showed admiration and longing.
Whitebeard ignored his sons' discussions and instead looked at Kenma before him, his eyes filled with unconcealed shock.
"You did this, didn't you?"
"I tried it right after I died, and I couldn't use my ability at all. But after I made a contract with you, my fruit's ability immediately returned..."
"This must be because of the contract with you."
For him and Ace, who had personally experienced it, this was almost obvious.
Hearing Whitebeard's words, the pirates around him looked at Kenma in disbelief.
'Pops is never wrong.'
'Then... it really was the doing of this King Enma before us!'
Under the gazes of Whitebeard and the others, Kenma nodded slightly.
"It was indeed my doing."
"After all, it's more fitting for you to keep your original abilities."
It was also more in line with Kenma's own impression.
A Whitebeard without the Tremor-Tremor Fruit, an Ace without the Flame-Flame Fruit, it just felt like something was missing.
Receiving a definite answer from Kenma, the souls on the field couldn't help but gasp, and a series of exclamations rang out.
"Hiss, to be able to do even this, it's terrifying."
"Never mind Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit, to be able to take back the Tremor-Tremor Fruit that was stolen by Blackbeard..."
"Such an exaggerated ability, it's simply a miracle!"
"As expected of King Enma, so powerful."
Looking at the still-expressionless Kenma, Whitebeard was filled with emotion.
It seemed he had really been saved by an incredible person.
No, he was an incredible person to begin with.
"Gurararara, what an unimaginable power. How did you do it?" Whitebeard asked with curiosity.
"This is one of the abilities of my Zanpakuto. It can connect me with anything that is not myself."
Kenma explained the ability of his Zanpakuto to Whitebeard in a low voice.
And helping Whitebeard and Ace regain their Devil Fruit abilities was a new idea of Kenma's.
He hadn't expected it to succeed so easily on the first try.
Kenma had studied his connection ability in depth. It seemed powerful, but it also had a limitation.
It could only connect himself with another object, but it could not connect two objects.
That is, Kenma could connect with A, and he could connect with B, but he could not connect A and B.
Logically, it should have been impossible to connect Ace and Whitebeard with their abilities.
But Kenma had found a way around it.
Using Ace as an example, he did not directly connect Ace with the Flame-Flame Fruit; that would have been impossible no matter what.
What Kenma did was first connect himself with Ace. In this way, he became Ace.
Then he used his connection ability to connect the Flame-Flame Fruit with himself, who had become Ace. After the connection was completed, he had the Flame-Flame Fruit, and Ace also had the ability of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
However, unlike when Ace was alive, the Flame-Flame Fruit had essentially become Kenma's ability. The ownership of the fruit completely belonged to Kenma.
Kenma had only given Ace the right to use the Flame-Flame Fruit.
To put it bluntly, Ace's existence was just a vessel for Kenma to place the Flame-Flame Fruit.
As long as Kenma wanted, he could take it back at any time.
The same principle applied to Whitebeard.
However, compared to Ace, the process of getting Whitebeard the Tremor-Tremor Fruit was much more troublesome.
Ace had just died, and the Flame-Flame Fruit was still in his body.
Kenma used the mysterious connection between Ace's soul and body to have his thread connect to Ace's body, connect to the Flame-Flame Fruit, and then pull it over.
But Whitebeard's Tremor-Tremor Fruit had already been stolen by Blackbeard. Fortunately, Blackbeard hadn't gone far.
Kenma used his threads to extend his perception and easily found Blackbeard's location. He immediately connected himself with Blackbeard.
Kenma then used his Zanpakuto Kiritsugu's severing ability, sending it along the connecting thread to Blackbeard's body, and with one move, cut the connection between Blackbeard and the Tremor-Tremor Fruit. Only then did he connect with this most destructive Devil Fruit.
This series of precise operations did not consume much of Kenma's spiritual pressure, but it was very mentally taxing.
Such intense concentration easily led to mental fatigue.
[Reviews - Power St0nes - Comments are highly appreciated to keep me going.....(+50 chapters) patre0n.c0m/talecrafter]