"Blackbeard, right? If you want to find him, you'll have to step over my body first."
Cain's voice was steady, his expression unusually grave.
"How do you— Are you saying you know where he is? Or are you saying you're going to stop me?"
Ace's pupils shrank sharply.
He was clearly shocked that Cain even knew Teach existed.
"Sorry. I don't know where he is. But I have to stop you."
"Of course, I know I probably can't talk you out of this, that guy is extremely dangerous. If you face him now, you'll only be walking straight to your death. That's why I have to stop you here."
Cain let out a slow breath.
His tone was calm, yet it carried a determination that allowed no argument.
"You don't understand!"
Ace's voice suddenly rose.
Still, he patiently explained, "He was once my subordinate, and he committed the unforgivable crime of murdering a crewmate! As the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, my position, my duty, won't allow me to stand by and do nothing! I have to capture him and bring him back for Pops Whitebeard to deal with!"
He showed no intention of attacking.
He only assumed Cain did not understand the situation, so he patiently laid out that heavy responsibility word by word.
"I know all of that. But duty is one thing. Throwing your life away is another. If you want to leave, then defeat me first!"
"So it comes down to fighting after all, Cain?"
Ace sighed softly.
Scorching flames crawled up along his arm, baking the air until it rippled and warped.
"Even against you, I won't hold back."
"No point talking anymore. Today, let me see the true strength of Fire Fist Ace, Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates!"
At this moment, they were no longer facing each other as brothers.
They were facing each other as pirates.
Cain had already taken his stance.
He had not brought his usual weapon with him.
His fists slowly clenched, and pitch-black Armament Haki quietly wrapped around his arms.
He had decided to fight Ace barehanded.
Cain understood these brothers far too well. Once they made up their minds, not even a herd of bulls could drag them back.
Only by going all out might he be able to yank Ace back from the road that was destined to lead to tragedy.
With that thought, Cain did not hesitate.
He struck first.
His gaze sharpened, and a vast, overwhelming burst of Conqueror's Haki erupted from his body at full force.
Like a tsunami, it swept out in every direction, bearing straight down on Ace.
Almost at the exact same time, Ace's eyes hardened as well. Refusing to back down, he released his own Conqueror's Haki with fierce determination.
But its power was far below Cain's.
The two torrents of Haki, powerful enough to knock ordinary pirates unconscious in an instant, crashed together with a thunderous roar.
In the blink of an eye, sand and stones flew wildly.
Violent winds howled. Black-and-red lightning, dark as ink, exploded again and again in midair, bursting with sharp crackles.
"Is that all you've got, Ace?" Cain's tone was calm.
His body did not move an inch amid the aftershocks of the Haki clash.
It seemed that during the years Ace had spent with the Whitebeard Pirates, under Whitebeard's protection, the reckless sharpness in his Conqueror's Haki had been worn down quite a bit.
But Cain had never forgotten that Ace's talent for Haki was nothing short of monstrous.
After training with Whitebeard for only a single day, he had already mastered Armament Haki.
That kind of comprehension was far beyond what Cain and Luffy could compare to.
In the original story, Ace's fall might have been due to the limitations of appearing too early in the timeline, or perhaps because his injuries had been too severe at the time.
After all, even his Vivre Card had been throwing off sparks.
In that condition, gathering Armament Haki to protect his vital points would have been nothing more than a desperate luxury.
Those thoughts flashed through Cain's mind in the span of a lightning strike.
Facing the scattering winds of Haki head-on, Cain clenched both fists.
His body suddenly shot up from the ground, carrying a piercing roar as he smashed down toward Ace.
"GALAXY IMPACT!"
Ace's eyes turned fierce.
Instead of retreating, he charged forward. His right arm was instantly wrapped in roaring flames, transforming into a blazing giant fist powerful enough to scorch the seas and burn the sky as it met Cain's attack.
"FIRE FIST!"
The pitch-black Armament Haki and the crimson flames collided with a thunderous boom.
A terrifying shockwave of energy spread madly in all directions with the two of them at its center.
The ground instantly collapsed into a huge crater several meters wide.
Broken stones flew everywhere, mixed with scattering sparks, while rolling smoke and dust surged upward.
"They're really fighting!" Nami cried out.
Luffy also noticed the commotion.
Seeing that almost none of the food on his plate remained, he stuffed the final massive bite of meat into his mouth, his cheeks swelling into round balloons.
Then he turned his head to look and immediately tried to rush over to stop them.
But his body was locked firmly in place in an instant.
Luffy whipped his head around and saw pitch-black chains emerging from the ground at some unknown moment.
They wrapped around his wrists, arms, legs, waist, stomach, and even his neck. Every part of him that could be bound had been tied up tightly.
"Uta, what are you doing?!"
"Sorry!"
Uta smiled and snapped her fingers. Several chains shot out in response, binding the others one after another.
"I can't let you stop him."
Now, all the Straw Hats could do was watch the battle between Ace and Cain.
…
"It's useless."
Amid the churning flames, Cain transformed into his human-dragon form.
Carrying a fierce wind-breaking force, he tore through the sea of fire and slammed his iron fist hard into Ace's face.
Ace flew backward like a kite with its string cut.
But Cain followed him like a shadow, instantly flashing behind Ace as he was sent flying parallel to the ground.
Ace's Observation Haki screamed a warning.
He hurriedly twisted around and had just wrapped Armament Haki around his chest when Cain's sweeping dragon tail struck him brutally.
Ace was blasted into the sky like a cannonball.
"If you value duty that much…"
Cain's voice, wrapped in roaring wind, resounded through the clouds.
The moment Ace, who had been sent flying, tried to steady himself, he looked up and saw Cain already leaping in front of him.
Cain's fists were clenched tightly and raised high over his head.
"THEN DO YOUR DUTY AS FAMILY PROPERLY, YOU BASTARD!"
As the furious roar fell, Cain's twin fists came down with tremendous force, smashing Ace toward the ground.
But that strike was not the end.
Cain hovered in midair, Armament Haki surging wildly over his arms as he prepared to gather power and attack again.
At that moment, countless glowing emerald-green specks quietly appeared around him.
In the next second, the specks burst open, transforming into a sea of flames that swallowed him completely.
But Cain did not make the slightest move to defend.
He forcefully charged through the flames, his gaze locked tightly onto Ace, who was plummeting rapidly below.
His voice boomed like thunder.
"It's useless, Ace!"
"FIST BONE COLLISION!"
Though this punch was not as tyrannical as Garp's, it still smashed a giant crater several hundred meters wide into the ground.
Amid the spreading smoke and dust, Ace lay sprawled on the ground, gasping heavily with his mouth open and his eyes shut.
Cain had long since known that this was a dream world.
None of the injuries here would carry over into reality, and there was naturally no such thing as truly fainting here either.
He was certain Ace was still conscious, so he spoke in a deep voice.
"Right now, your Haki is inferior to mine. Your physical strength, defense, and speed are all inferior to mine. And that's not even mentioning Devil Fruit abilities. Your flames can't hurt me at all!"
Ace struggled to push himself up from the rubble.
After personally experiencing Cain's overwhelming strength, the look in his eyes changed completely.
There was no trace of holding back left.
"Flame Ring!"
With a sharp shout, a thousand-meter-high wall of tornadoing fire rose from the ground.
Carrying a blazing heatwave that seemed capable of burning the world, it wrapped tightly around Cain.
The flames spun and burned with terrifying madness.
Yet Cain shouted loudly from within the surging waves of fire.
"Ace, I already told you! This is all pointless!"
Before his voice even faded, a deafening dragon roar shook heaven and earth.
Cain transformed fully into his dragon form and broke through the restraints of the tornadoing fire wall.
On the other side, Ace had also finished gathering his power.
The flames around him had condensed to the absolute limit.
"GREAT FLAME COMMANDMENT: FLAME EMPEROR!"
It was a fireball as dazzling as the sun itself, held aloft in one of Ace's hands.
Then he hurled it fiercely toward Cain.
Cain's dragon body carried the force of thunder as he charged straight toward Ace!
…
Off to the side, the Straw Hat crew had already been stunned speechless, completely forgetting how to react.
On one side was Ace's dazzling and domineering Devil Fruit power.
On the other was Cain's terrifying combat strength in dragon form.
This earth-shaking duel left them unable to figure out what kind of expression they were supposed to make.
At that moment, Vivi, who had been silently watching the fight the entire time, suddenly said, "If we're all here… then who's steering the ship?"
"EEEEHHHHHHHHH?!"
Everyone froze.
Meanwhile, Uta, who looked calm and composed inside the dream world, was in complete panic back in reality!
She was frantically throwing herself toward the Merry's ship's wheel.
If she did not hurry up and stop the ship, it was going to sail straight into the harbor!