Loguetown, Central Square.
Sunlight spilled across the massive steel Execution Platform, casting mottled shadows.
Ace stood at the edge of the square, gazing up at the cold platform that had once ended the Pirate King's life and ushered in the Great Pirate Era.
He watched it for a while but didn't climb the steps.
To him, it was ultimately just a gravestone belonging to the old era.
Just then.
"Clomp, clomp, clomp, clomp!"
The dense, orderly rhythm of military boots surged in from every direction around the square.
"Eclipse Pirates! You're surrounded!"
"Everyone, put your hands up!"
Accompanied by furious shouts, hundreds of fully armed Marine soldiers holding fire pistols sealed off the entire Central Square.
Several Marine captains drew their swords, watching the four people surrounded in the center as if facing a formidable enemy.
Carina glanced at the countless gun barrels around them and reached for the custom weapon at her waist.
Buggy, meanwhile, tugged his supply-laden handcart quickly to the side, lest stray bullets pierce the meat and liquor he'd worked so hard to buy.
"Portgas D. Ace, with a bounty of fifty million, and Sabo, with a bounty of thirty million!"
A Marine captain, drenched in sweat, raised his commander's saber.
"All troops, prepare to fire!"
"That's quite a crowd, Captain."
Sabo adjusted the brim of his top hat and lightly tapped the Alloy Staff against the ground.
"Want me to clear them out?"
"No."
Ace spoke calmly.
"We're in a hurry."
He slowly turned to face the hundreds of Marines standing ready, then took a step forward.
He made no other move.
An invisible pressure spread from Ace.
There was no fire, no explosion, not even a whisper of wind.
Yet the Marine soldiers in the square seemed to have their consciousness snatched away all at once.
"What is this..."
"It's... hard to breathe..."
Someone had barely managed to utter half a terrified whisper before his eyes rolled back and he collapsed stiffly to the ground.
Then a second, a third, a fourth.
The hundreds of Marines who had been so aggressive moments before didn't even get the chance to pull their triggers before they toppled in droves onto the square's hard stone pavement.
In just two seconds.
Across the vast Central Square, not a single Marine remained standing. Only the four members of the Eclipse Pirates were still on their feet.
"So this is Conqueror's Haki..."
Carina looked at the unconscious Marines strewn across the ground and slowly eased her fingers away from her weapon.
Ace had told her about the Three Types of Haki before, and she knew Conqueror's Haki could intimidate the weak.
But only now, seeing it with her own eyes, did she truly understand just how unreasonable this power was.
Ace's expression didn't change.
He strode forward, stepping over the fallen Marine soldiers as he headed toward the port.
As he passed a Marine captain who had barely retained a sliver of consciousness and was kneeling on the ground, trembling all over, Ace stopped.
He turned his head slightly and glanced at the despairing Marine.
"Go back and tell Marine Headquarters."
Ace's voice wasn't loud, but it carried clearly to the man.
"Starting today, the Eclipse Pirates officially set sail."
"Tell this sea to get ready."
"I'll turn it upside down."
After delivering his declaration, Ace didn't look at the Marine again. He strode toward the port.
"Come on."
He called casually to the others.
"The wind's good today. We should see Reverse Mountain before dark."
Sabo, Carina, and Buggy, who was hauling the supply cart, immediately followed.
The four crossed Central Square and hurried toward the Eclipse.
However, just as they were about to cross Loguetown's main street and reach the edge of the port—
"Whoosh—"
The air ahead of them suddenly stirred.
A vast bank of dense white smoke surged from the end of the alley like a wave, instantly blocking the Eclipse Pirates' path.
"You think you can declare your departure from my town?"
"Don't make me laugh, you pirate scum."
A hoarse voice came from within the smoke.
Then a silver-haired man wearing an open Marine jacket, two cigars clenched between his teeth, and a lower body transformed into billowing white smoke swept down from the air, wielding a massive Jitte.
A Marine Headquarters Colonel.
"White Hunter" Smoker.
"As long as I'm here, no pirate will ever pass through this gateway to the Grand Line!"
"White Vine!"
At Smoker's low shout, the smoke that formed his lower body instantly split into more than a dozen thick tentacles that coiled toward Ace and the others like giant serpents.
"A Logia, huh."
Buggy watched Smoker swoop down from the sky as he pulled the cart, then pursed his lips.
"Sure is scary in the East Blue."
"Too bad he ran into a monster who knows Armament Haki. He's a sitting duck."
He'd been on Roger's ship, of course, so he knew how troublesome Logias could be in ordinary waters.
He also knew how badly pure reliance on elemental transformation could fare against a true Haki master.
Ace watched Smoker descend from above, convinced he had blocked their path, but didn't slow his pace.
His face showed no particular emotion.
As smoke swirled through the air, the muscles in Ace's right arm tensed.
Black Armament Haki instantly covered his entire right fist.
The next moment, a cluster of red-gold Vermilion Bird Divine Fire ignited around his knuckles.
"What?!"
Smoker's pupils shrank sharply in midair.
He'd seen this black power during his time in the recruit camp.
It was—
Smoker didn't get another moment to react.
Maintaining his forward momentum, Ace drove his fist up toward Smoker in midair.
"Divine Fire: Collapse Fist."
"Rumble!!!"
Armament Haki seized Smoker's tangible form, while Vermilion Bird Divine Fire burned through the smoke.
Ace's fist pierced the billowing white smoke and slammed squarely into Smoker's chest.
"Crack!"
The sharp sound of breaking bones rang out.
The two cigars in Smoker's mouth were instantly pulverized by the violent shockwave.
His body, a Logia form he'd taken pride in, was forcibly returned to solid form by that punch.
"Boom!!!"
Smoker flew backward like a cannonball, spitting blood. He smashed through three or four stone buildings lining the street before finally embedding himself in the ruins hundreds of meters away, completely unconscious.
One strike.
Instant defeat.
"That was awfully quick."
Carina looked at the street that had been cleared in an instant and couldn't help murmuring.
"Quit staring. Get on board."
Ace shook the lingering smoke from his fist and stepped steadily over the rubble.
To him, what he'd just done was no different from casually clearing a stone from the road.
The four members of the Eclipse Pirates quickly crossed Loguetown's port and boarded the Eclipse.
"Clatter!"
The heavy sea anchor was hauled up.
The massive pitch-black sails filled once more in the sea breeze.
Under the gazes of countless onlookers at Loguetown's port, their eyes mingling awe and fear, the black fast ship that had just crushed the Marine blockade sailed out of the harbor without a hitch.
Ace stood at the bow, gazing at the outline of the massive Red Line on the horizon.
"Reverse Mountain, here we come."
The Eclipse cleaved through the waves and sailed toward the Grand Line.
The journey through the East Blue was over.
The name Eclipse had only just begun to spread across the sea.
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