Deep in the dim, damp cavern, two sounds of teeth crunching through fruit pulp rang out almost simultaneously.
"Absolutely disgusting. It's like chewing on the rotten entrails of a Sea King that's been decaying for months."
Ace furrowed his brow slightly, fighting the stench in his mouth—a foulness potent enough to make anyone throw up on the spot. His Adam's apple bobbed as he swallowed the chunk of reddish-gold fruit by force, his expression unchanged.
No matter how revolting the fruit tasted, even it couldn't make a king with absolute self-control show much of a reaction.
On the other side, Sabo swallowed the orange-red fruit pulp as well. He clapped a hand over his mouth and coughed violently twice. He was just about to complain about the unbearable taste when his body suddenly went rigid.
"Ace, my body..."
Sabo looked down in disbelief.
His right hand, which gripped the Alloy Staff, had somehow lost its flesh-and-blood form. In the blink of an eye, his skin, muscles, and even bones had all transformed into bright, blazing orange-red flames!
Boom!
Without any deliberate prompting, a wild blaze surged from Sabo's body without warning, instantly engulfing him. Its heat drove away the chill and damp that had accumulated in the cavern for who knew how many years, illuminating the surrounding dark rock.
"So this is the power of a Logia..."
Sabo looked at his body, now made of flames, and tentatively swung a fist forward. A pillar of fire roared out, melting a stalactite pillar more than ten meters away. There was no pain from being burned, only a strange, exhilarating sense of transparency—as if he himself had become an element of nature.
Just as Sabo marveled at the Mera Mera no Mi's destructive power, the air behind him suddenly grew oppressively thick.
"Thump... thump..."
A deep, muffled heartbeat, like an ancient war drum, sounded from within Ace's body.
Ace lowered his head and clenched both fists.
If the Awakening of a Logia meant unleashing the elements outward, then the Awakening of a Mythical Zoan was a violent reconstruction from the inside out, down to the level of cells and genes.
Ace could feel that the muscle fibers he had honed to the limits of human endurance through years of hellish training were being forcibly torn apart by a vast, ancient, and sacred vitality. Then they were reassembled into something denser and more terrifying.
Hum.
A light of interwoven crimson and gold suddenly gleamed deep within Ace's eyes.
Then a flame unlike Sabo's wild orange-red blaze rose from Ace's shoulder.
It was a pure crimson gold.
There was no black smoke, no explosive crackle. The crimson-gold flame radiated an unassailable majesty and an absolute vitality that seemed to renew itself without end.
"Ace, what kind of power is this?" Sabo turned to stare at the crimson-gold Divine Fire, his eyes full of shock. "It's fire, just like mine, so why does yours feel like it contains such terrifying vitality?"
Ace didn't answer.
He slowly raised his head. Mysterious, ancient crimson-gold markings like the feathers of a divine bird appeared across his once stern face. His pupils turned into emotionless, dark-gold slits, radiating the indifference of a mythical creature.
"Zoan, Tori Tori no Mi, Mythical Zoan..."
Ace's low voice echoed through the cavern, as if it carried a strange resonance.
As he spoke, the clothes across his broad back were instantly incinerated. Two enormous wings, formed entirely from solid crimson-gold flames, burst open!
A hybrid form!
The crimson-gold wings behind him spanned an astonishing six meters. Their edges were sharp as blades, and every slow beat left golden trails lingering in the air.
Not only that, a layer of fine, crimson-gold featherlike scales covered his arms and lower legs, like an impregnable suit of legendary armor.
"Vermilion Bird Form."
The instant Ace completed his transformation into a hybrid form, the temperature in the cavern surged to a terrifying threshold.
The hard black rock beneath his feet turned visibly red, then melted into flowing magma. The water from the waterfall evaporated into a vast cloud of white mist before it could even hit the ground.
Even Sabo, a fellow user of fire powers, had to coat his entire body in Armament Haki just to withstand the horrifying heat in the cavern, hot enough to vaporize steel.
"What an absurd temperature!" Sabo gazed up at Ace, who was bathed in Divine Fire, his heart churning like a storm-tossed sea.
Ace no longer looked anything like a pirate. He was more like an ancient god who had just awakened and descended upon the mortal world.
Ace stood quietly in the slowly melting magma, feeling the vast vitality within him, as if it would never run dry.
He slowly drew the heavy greatsword stuck nearby.
Without the slightest hesitation, Ace reversed his grip on the hilt and drew the sharp blade across the palm of his left hand.
A wound deep enough to expose the bone appeared at once. Blood welled up, but hadn't even had time to drip.
Sizzle.
A tuft of crimson-gold Nirvana Fire ignited on its own over the wound.
In less than the blink of an eye, the deep gash had completely healed beneath the Divine Fire, without leaving so much as a scar.
Even the tiny internal injuries left by five years of relentless training were completely erased by the cleansing surge of vitality.
Rapid regeneration. An endless wellspring of life.
As long as that crimson-gold Divine Fire remained alight, his already monstrous body would become an Abyss that could never be destroyed.
"What a powerful Devil Fruit."
Ace casually slid the greatsword back into his belt. The crimson-gold wings behind him slowly folded away and merged into his body. The feathered armor and divine markings covering his skin faded along with them.
Aside from his burned shirt, he was once again an ordinary young man.
"Let's go."
Ace turned around, his deep black eyes fixed on the dense primeval forest outside the cavern.
Feeling the endless mythical power coursing through him, a genuine delight and fervor rose in his eyes.
Since the sea had bestowed such a generous gift upon him, he would return the favor with absolute destructive power.
"This deserted island is big enough."
Ace's steps were steady and firm, hissing as they crossed the magma that had yet to cool.
"Let's head outside and properly test the limits of our destructive power."
Before you continue