Sabaody Archipelago, ruins of Mangrove Area 1.
Ink-black smoke swirled dynamically along the contours of Ace's right hand, twisting with such high-density compression that the ambient light was visibly warped and dragged into the heart of the vortex.
"Oh? What a rare ability," Kizaru murmured from mid-air, the casual indifference behind his amber sunglasses finally giving way to a profound, calcified solemnity. "Not only can it absorb my photons, but even the local gravitational currents are shifting."
On this sea, those who could touch his physical form were a select few. This predatory darkness, which seemed capable of devouring light itself, triggered an immediate, instinctual alarm within his veteran nerves.
"But as long as I don't let you close the distance, that abyss is merely an empty threat. Yasakani no Magatama!"
Kizaru brought his palms together before his chest. A torrent of brilliant, star-like light projectiles poured down like a localized monsoon, each single bead carrying enough thermal and kinetic density to obliterate a coastal cliffside, thoroughly saturating the positions of the three intruders.
"El Thor!"
Eneru snarled, thrusting the cold metal of his Golden Thunder Staff directly toward the heavens. A massive column of blue-white electricity, over ten meters in diameter, detonated into the upper air, systematically intercepting and defusing the falling light bullets in a rapid-fire sequence of blinding concussions.
"I've got your flank, Eneru!"
The red sparks anchoring Sabo's combat boots shifted instantly to a fierce, ultra-compressed blue.
"Flame Burst: Sky Walk!"
A muffled sonic boom shook the square. Utilizing the explosive recoil of his flames, Sabo cut through the rolling smoke like an artillery shell, closing the distance to the Admiral's airborne position in a single breath. He gripped the heavy lead pipe that had accompanied his journey for years, coiling the iron in a dense layer of Armament Haki and tracking it with scalding heat.
"Dragon's Bite: City Breaker!"
The heavy steel, whistling under the immense physical force and extreme temperature, swung in a vicious arc toward Kizaru's hip.
"What a dangerous style..."
The Ama no Murakumo no Tsurugi materialized in Kizaru's grip just in time to parry. With a heavy clang, the light sword absorbed the blunt trauma, but the lingering explosive backflow from Sabo's staff still scorched the pristine white hem of his Marine Justice cloak.
Kizaru's brow twitched. He flexed his left knee, preparing to drive a light-speed counter-kick into the boy's ribs, when his perception registered a sudden distortion above him. Ace had utilized the air-stepping mechanics of Moonwalk to claim the high ground.
"Dark Water!"
Ace snapped his right hand open, an absolute, irresistible gravitational pull locking onto Kizaru's physical mass.
"How dangerous, how dangerous!"
Kizaru refused to allow a single frame of physical contact. The millisecond before his weight could be dragged into the center of the vortex, his entire frame fractured into millions of golden photons.
"Yata no Kagami!"
The Admiral's voice echoed from every point in the ruins simultaneously. Tracks of light bounced and refracted wildly among the splintered mangrove roots and shattered masonry, moving at a velocity that completely bypassed the limits of human sight. Moving within this unreadable loop, Kizaru's light-speed heels launched a continuous, blind-spot execution against Sabo and Eneru.
"Ugh!"
Sabo let out a rough grunt as a light-speed heel took him squarely in the midsection, driving him through three stone walls before his boots could grind to a halt. Eneru attempted to dissolve into pure electrical current to slide out of the trajectory, but a laser beam pierced cleanly through his shoulder, drawing a line of fresh, smoking crimson.
"Too fast! Even if the mind registers the trace, the muscle tissue can't keep pace!" Eneru hissed through his teeth, his pride taking a severe blow against the absolute velocity of light.
In the center of the clearing, Ace closed his eyes.
He ignored the superficial burns and bleeding scores left on his skin by the passing lasers. Since the eye was useless and standard observation was too sluggish, he stopped trying to chase the reflection of the light.
Utilizing the Voice of All Things, he contracted his Observation Haki, pulling it inward until it was a hyper-focused sphere. He ceased scanning the field; instead, he sank deep into the raw, underlying rhythm of the battlefield. He waited for that single, imperceptible break in the pattern.
Under the absolute, high-pressure strain of impending death, a mental barrier within Ace's consciousness cracked with a faint pop. Within the sudden clarity of his mind, a scene from two seconds in the future manifested without warning:
Kizaru's light path would reflect into Sabo's blind spot. The moment the photons coalesced, a heel aimed directly at the heart would punch through Sabo's chest.
"I see you."
Ace's eyes snapped open, a dominant, cold light flooding his dark pupils.
Advanced Observation Haki: Future Sight.
Without a fraction of a second's hesitation, while Kizaru's light track was still refracting through the masonry, Ace was already in motion. He didn't run toward the recovering Sabo; instead, like an ink-black shadow, he stepped onto an empty patch of earth exactly three meters behind Sabo's left side.
A second later, Kizaru's light beam struck that exact coordinate. Just as the photons began to knit into his physical form—his trademark smirk line appearing on his face as his right leg flexed to execute the kill—he found a massive hand wreathed in pitch-black smoke already waiting at his arrival point.
"What?!"
Kizaru's pupils contracted to needlepoints.
Snap!
Ace's fingers clamped onto Kizaru's shoulder, and the absolute negation of the Dark-Dark Fruit activated. The moment the skin connected, the infinite photon energy within the Admiral was severed like a cut power line. He was forcibly dragged from the state of light back into a body of mortal flesh and blood.
He couldn't elementalize. He couldn't fire a laser. He couldn't even emit a flash.
"Got you, monkey."
Ace's face was inches away, his smile cold, sharp, and unyielding.
To lose his fruit power in an instant sent a shock through even a Marine Admiral. But Kizaru was an apex creature of the sea. Relying on sheer muscle memory and decades of combat instinct, his left hand instantly wrapped in dense Armament Haki, forming a rigid hand-blade that drove straight for Ace's throat.
Since his fruit was dead, he would use pure, unadulterated Haki to break the grip. Facing a strike capable of shearing through a mountain, Ace didn't move.
"Second Form..."
The red-gold fire mantle coating Ace's skin suddenly flowed backward into his chest. Along with the Ryuo on his arms, the entire energy profile of his Zoan fruit was compressed deep into his muscles. Intricate, crimson-gold totem lines erupted across his skin, glowing with an ancient, blistering heat.
"Suzaku Ryuo: Flame Prison Shura!"
Kizaru's hand-blade struck Ace's left shoulder, the impact producing the sharp sound of cracking bone. At that exact microsecond, Ace's compressed, physical punch tore through the Admiral's abdominal Haki defense like a steel spike, entering his midsection and detonating inside his internal organs.
"Gwah!"
Kizaru's eyes bulged, a spray of dark blood and organ tissue erupting from his mouth. Using the concussive recoil of Ace's strike, Kizaru forced himself against the suction of the Dark Water, sliding backward dozens of meters through the dirt as he gasped for air.
"Don't give him space!" Sabo roared, his blue flames exploding once more. "Flame Burst: Sky Walk!"
Breaking the sound barrier, his staff whistled as it came down like a fire dragon toward Kizaru's flank.
"El Thor!" From above, Enel summoned another heavy thunderbolt, cutting off the Admiral's line of retreat.
Having regained his light capabilities the moment the physical contact was broken, Kizaru gritted his teeth, quickly drawing his hands together to form his sword of light to parry the combined assault.
Clang! Boom!
The three figures blurred into motion once more, but the tide had definitively turned. Kizaru was forcing himself to stand through the agony of an internal explosion; his movements had developed a subtle, fraction-of-second lag. Every swing that pulled on his abdomen caused his breath to stutter.
In contrast, Ace stood in the center of the clearing, exhaling a cloud of white steam. The deep, bone-exposing wound on his left shoulder from Kizaru's hand-blade was already crawling with red-gold granulation tissue. Under the endless vitality of the Vermilion Bird, the flesh knit itself back together, smooth and unblemished within seconds.
An immortal regeneration combined with the negation of the absolute darkness—it was a systemic nightmare for any fruit user.
"An Admiral's Haki is impressive," Ace noted, his eyes flashing red as Future Sight activated again. "But can you keep your balance?"
Under the alternating weight of Sabo's staff and Eneru's lightning, Kizaru's defenses finally showed a 0.1-second opening due to the sheer pain in his core.
"Now!"
Ace cut into the center of the fray like an ancient predator. He saw the light path Kizaru was trying to establish with his mirror technique to pull away. Moving through the blind spot, his totem-clad frame appeared directly beside the Admiral as if ignoring distance entirely.
"It's over."
Ace's leg came around like an iron whip, carrying the full, crushing mass of his dual-fruit weight, and slammed into Kizaru's waist.
Boom!
Kizaru didn't even have time to raise a guard. He was hit with the force of a falling meteor. His body skipped across the earth like a broken kite, tearing through stone walls and mangrove roots across three separate sectors before crashing into a massive rock face ten miles away. He was buried under a landslide of stone, and the silence returned.
Ace withdrew his leg, the crimson totems slowly fading from his skin as his second form receded. After a strike of that caliber, even an Admiral's frame wouldn't be rising anytime soon.
"Captain, let's finish him," Eneru said, wiping blood from his chin, his eyes flashing with lethal intent.
"There's no need for that." Ace shook his head, looking toward the bay where the massive black hull of the Eclipse was already hovering, its boarding ramp lowering. "If a Marine Admiral were that simple to kill, the world would have changed long ago. Push him into an absolute corner, and he'll fight with everything he has left. Our purpose here is already fulfilled."
Ace flicked his fingers, sending two small sparks of red-gold fire into Sabo and Eneru. The flames sank into their skin, the vitality of the Vermilion Bird instantly sealing the bruising in Sabo's core and knitting the laser wound in Eneru's shoulder.
"Thanks, Ace," Sabo said, rotating his arm as his strength flooded back.
"Let's move, boys." Ace pulled his damaged trench coat straight and walked toward the ship.
Miles away, the dust slowly cleared from the rock face.
Kizaru was on his knees amidst the rubble, his left hand clutching his torn abdomen as he breathed in ragged gasps. His yellow suit was shredded, and blood dripped steadily from his lip onto the stones. He had survived, but the internal damage from Ace's punch had left his core severely injured.
He watched the black ship rise into the air without making a move to follow. Not only because the pain in his midsection had crippled his velocity, but because he knew the truth: against a creature with Future Sight, the Dark-Dark Fruit, and an immortal Zoan, forcing a conclusion today might have left his own corpse in the dirt.
"This sea... is going to burn," Kizaru muttered, reaching into his pocket for a Transponder Snail.
On the deck of the Eclipse, Ace stood at the bow, looking down at the scarred archipelago below.
"Captain, are we setting course for the New World?" Jeno asked from the helm, his mechanical eye whirling with excitement.
"No rush," Ace said, a slow, triumphant smile curling his lips as the black mist flickered at his fingertips. "The New World isn't going anywhere. But now that we have the darkness... let's turn the ship around and pay a visit to Paradise first."
His eyes gleamed with a predatory intent. "It's time to harvest the high-quality fruits this sea has been keeping for us."
With a thunderous, industrial roar from its power core, the black warship tore into the sky, vanishing into the clouds under the terrified gazes of the island below.
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