Ace broke the silence first.
"Yamato," he said quietly, eyes still locked on the golden fleet.
"I have a way."
Yamato turned to him, sensing the shift in his aura. "A way?"
Ace nodded,
"I have an attack… Stellar Heart Explosion."
Yamato's eyes widened. "Is that the same technique you used against Kaido?"
Ace shook his head immediately.
"No. That one was a failure. That was Stellar Heart Implosion."
Yamato blinked. "Implosion…?"
Ace rested his fist against his chest.
"That attack was designed to detonate inside a target's body—or inside an object. Like combining my flames with Internal Destruction Haki. It collapses inward."
He lifted his hand slowly, flames flickering between his fingers.
"But this… Stellar Heart Explosion…"
He exhaled. "It ignites outward. Like my Fire Fist—but on a far greater scale. Enough to wipe out a fleet."
Yamato nodded, expression serious. "What do you need me to do?"
Ace looked toward the horizon.
"You know how massive the commotion will be. So while I prepare the technique… I need you to fight them."
Yamato didn't hesitate. "Understood."
"And one more thing," Ace added. "The Den Den Mushi."
Yamato frowned. "What about it?"
"Your Conqueror's Haki should stun everyone on the fleet. Everyone," Ace emphasized. "Including the Den Den Mushi. They're living creatures—they can be knocked out."
Yamato's eyes sharpened.
"After that," Ace continued, "engage the two CP0 agents and the rest of the weaklings. Hold them off. When I'm done preparing… I'll give you the signal. That's when you escape."
Yamato nodded firmly.
"I'll buy you the time you need."
She took a step forward, mace in hand.
"Prepare the attack. I'm going first."
Ace simply nodded.
And with that—Yamato bent her knees and launched herself skyward, leaping from the Beast Pirates' ship like a missile. Wind exploded behind her, waves splitting from the force as she soared straight toward the Celestial Dragons' fleet.
Her mace was already wrapped in thick, writhing layers of Armament and Conqueror's Haki, black lightning streaking across its surface.
She let out a breath—
Her aura erupted—
And her voice boomed across the sea:
"Thunder bagua!"
A shockwave burst from her.
Every Celestial Dragon's servant, guard, maid, staff—
Bodies dropped like puppets with cut strings.
Even the Den Den Mushi collapsed with stunned eyes.
The luxurious fleet fell into chaos instantly.
People screamed.
Some fainted mid-sentence.
Some froze in pure terror.
Nobody expected an enemy to charge, especially not someone from an unknown pirate ship.
But one thing was clear:
This intruder wasn't weak.
Two silhouettes moved instantly—
The CP0 specialists.
One blurred forward with Shigan—Finger Pistol, aiming at Yamato's neck.
The other hardened his entire body with Tekkai—Iron Body, planting himself between Yamato and the trembling Celestial Dragons, ready to counter her strike.
Yamato only narrowed her eyes.
And swung her Haki-coated mace downward.
---
Ace watched Yamato clash with the CP0 agents—blades of compressed air, Haki lightning, and shockwaves erupting with every movement.
He exhaled once.
Time to begin.
Flames burst from his back—two enormous blazing fire wings spreading outward like a phoenix taking flight. With a powerful thrust he shot into the sky, ascending at a speed that left spirals of steam in his wake.
Halfway up, Ace added another burst—
Combustion Kick.
A violent explosion detonated beneath his foot, boosting him even higher, faster, until the Celestial Dragons' fleet had shrunk to a tiny dot below.
At the top of his ascent, Ace stopped—hovering.
The world was quiet here.
Then he extended one hand forward.
And the sea of sky ignited.
An island-sized fireball began forming around his palm—seething, expanding, folding onto itself like a second sun being born. When it reached the absolute limit of its radius…
Ace clenched his hand.
And began compressing it.
Fire screamed. Air rippled. Clouds vaporized.
Below, the CP0 agents felt it instantly—a deadly pressure from above, like the heavens themselves preparing to crush them.
One CP0 agent leapt upward with Geppo, desperate to stop the incoming attack—
But Yamato, shifting partly into her Oni-human hybrid form, intercepted him mid-air with a brutal downward smash of her mace.
"Stay down."
The battlefield roared again as Yamato kept both CP0 members locked in combat, holding them in place.
One minute passed.
The "ceiling" of death descended lower.
Heavier.
Hotter.
And then at last—
A voice thundered from above.
"Yamato—go back!"
She didn't hesitate.
Yamato unleashed a wide-area shockwave of Conqueror's Haki and Namuji Glacier Fang, blasting both CP0 agents away long enough for her to leap back toward the Beast Pirates' ship, smashing onto the deck.
She slid into position, eyes fixed upward.
And Ace came down.
Descending like a fire deity, his entire body wrapped in swirling Armament Haki, pulsing Conqueror's lightning, and a single arm pulled back—ready.
Every CP agent instantly understood.
This was death.
They fired every technique they had—Shigan, Rankyaku, gunfire, Haki bullets.
But Ace ignored all of them, expression unmoving, flames only growing brighter.
And when he judged the point was perfect—
Ace drove his fist downward.
Stellar Heart—EXPLOSION!
A world-shattering detonation erupted.
Not a beam.
Not a column.
A hemisphere of pure annihilation expanded outward from Ace, instantly engulfing the entire Celestial Dragons' fleet.
Pressure slammed down like the judgment of a god.
Flames devoured flesh, steel, and even the reinforced golden plating.
CP0 didn't even have time to scream—only a final moment of terror before the fire crushed them into ash.
For 15… 16… 20 seconds, the blazing hemisphere remained—a colossal dome of fire consuming everything beneath it.
Then slowly… it collapsed inward.
Silence.
Where the Golden Fleet once boasted dozens of ships, the sea now held only white smoke, drifting embers, and swirling water vapor. Nothing survived. Not a body. Not a plank.
Ace crashed onto the Beast Pirates' deck moments later, his wings fading, his skin steaming.
He collapsed backward, breathing heavily—
barely conscious,
completely drained.
But alive.
---
Yamato rushed to Ace's side the moment he hit the deck—not out of fear, but with wide, sparkling eyes.
"Ace…" she breathed.
Then she grinned.
"That was so cool! That technique was insane! If you used that on Kaido, he would definitely get second-degree burns."
Ace, still sprawled on the floor and barely able to breathe, let out a tired laugh.
"Second-degree, huh…? That's the best compliment I've gotten all week."
Yamato nodded proudly as if she had just delivered the highest praise known to mankind.
Ace pushed himself up on one elbow, exhaling heavily.
"Alright… let's get out of here. The steam from that blast will spread fast. And the moment anyone investigates…"
He shook his head. "We'll be in trouble."
Yamato helped him stand.
Ace glanced at his ship.
Even without the Beast Pirates' flag, its shape… its construction… anyone familiar with New world could still identify it.
"We need a new ship," Ace said. "Something neutral. Something that doesn't scream 'Beast Pirates' the moment someone sees it."
Yamato nodded. "Yeah. Something plain. Boring. Like a normal human ship."
Ace smirked. "Exactly."
And with that, the two of them—Ace exhausted but smiling, Yamato energetic as ever—guided the vessel away from the smoking ruin behind them.
A fleet of Celestial Dragons… gone.
CP0 agents… erased.
The sea itself still trembling from the lingering heat of the Stellar Heart Explosion.
As they sailed off, Yamato folded her arms and gave a satisfied nod.
"Ace," she said, "we really did a good deed today."
Ace chuckled softly.
"Yeah… I guess we did."
And the ship disappeared into the horizon, leaving behind nothing but steam, silence—
and the memory of a divine fire that had turned an entire fleet into vapor.
---