Clash

"Hey, big guy."

That woman, Leona, stared down at Ace, her tone irritable and filled with an intense, territorial possessiveness. "This Tyrannosaurus is a top-tier ingredient I've been tracking for an entire day. Don't think that just because you're tall, you can go around snatching other people's prey. If you dare touch it, I'll carve you up right along with it!"

Ace stood his ground, not in the least bit angered by this explosive threat.

His gaze didn't even linger on the massive Tyrannosaurus; instead, it was focused with extreme intensity on the creature's open wounds and the two blades in Leona's hands.

In that split second of the strike, Ace's Observation Haki had captured everything clearly.

The woman hadn't used any unconventional sword energy; she had relied entirely on an ultimate understanding of biological bone structure and muscle texture. The moment she used the heavy blade to shatter the armor of scales, she used the light blade to precisely sever the Tyrannosaurus's central nervous system.

This art of slaughter, akin to a master butcher carving an ox, preserved the freshness of the prey's blood and its volatile heat to the greatest possible extent.

"An extremely perfect method of processing ingredients."

Ace kept his hands in his pockets, a flash of genuine admiration crossing his deep black eyes. He took a long stride, walking toward the carcass of the Tyrannosaurus with complete composure. "However, on this sea, the ownership of prey is usually determined by the size of one's fist. As it happens, I'm hungry too."

"Another rude pirate who doesn't know how to respect ingredients and only knows how to plunder?!"

Hearing Ace's matter-of-fact provocation, Leona's temper was instantly ignited.

Recently, this island had been flooded with a large group of trash who used poison gas and heavy firepower to slaughter everything in sight just to curry favor with the nobles of the World Government. This black-haired man with the terrifying aura before her instinctively triggered her intense hostility.

"Since you're looking for death, I'll grant it to you!"

Leona let out an angry shout, her legs kicking off the carcass of the Tyrannosaurus with explosive force. Her tall, one-meter-ninety frame lunged like an enraged lioness, carrying a sharp, cutting wind as she pounced down at Ace from mid-air!

"Swish!"

The Black Steel Bone-Cleaving Blade in her right hand descended with the force of a collapsing mountain, hacking brutally toward Ace's shoulder!

Facing this violent strike capable of splitting rock in two, Ace didn't retreat; he didn't even coat himself in Armament Haki. He raised his right hand with casual ease, his broad, thick palm meeting the massive black steel blade and catching it barehanded!

"You're courting death!" A flash of coldness crossed Leona's eyes. Daring to catch her bone-cleaving blade with raw flesh—even those pirates with bounties in the tens of millions would be split in two!

"Clang—!!"

A dull, booming sound like a great temple bell exploded through the jungle.

The coldness on Leona's face instantly froze.

A terrifying counter-shock force traveled up the hilt and into her arms, numbing the webbing between her thumb and forefinger. She stared with wide, vertical pupils in disbelief.

Ace's right hand had firmly caught the black steel blade. The razor-sharp edge had only sliced through the outer layer of skin on his palm before getting stuck fast in the dense, compressed-steel-cable-like muscle fibers beneath, unable to advance even a fraction of an inch!

"How is this possible?"

A stormy sea surged in Leona's heart. "He withstood my black steel blade with nothing but pure physical density?!"

Was this man's body structure even more terrifying than an ancient behemoth?

"Not bad strength."

A calm smile curled the corners of Ace's mouth. For the past half-month, he had been using Vermilion Bird Divine Fire for self-destructive muscle-reconstruction training; this body had long since reached a shocking level of physical defense.

"Bastard! Don't get too cocky!"

Leona decisively abandoned the test of strength. Her body twisted with incredible flexibility in mid-air, and the Silver Bone-Trimming Blade held in her left hand struck out like a viper, tracing a sinister arc as it aimed with lethal precision at the undefended nerve plexus under Ace's ribs!

The heavy blade to break armor, the short blade to trim bone. This was her true killing blow!

However, in front of Ace, who possessed top-tier Observation Haki, this level of sneak attack was like slow motion.

Ace released the Black Steel Bone-Cleaving Blade, his left hand reaching down with casual ease.

His movement seemed slow, yet it precisely clamped onto the wrist of the hand Leona used to hold the trimming blade in mid-air.

"Caught you," Ace said calmly.

"Oh no!"

Leona's heart jolted. She tried to pull back and retreat, but the power coming from Ace's palm was like an immovable iron clamp.

Without giving Leona any chance to resist, Ace held her wrist, exerted force from his waist, and channeled a violent surge of power. He swung Leona over his head with brutal, decisive force and slammed her heavily into the ground!

"Bang!!!"

With a loud crash, dirt mixed with fallen leaves erupted into the air.

Leona was slammed firmly into the ground. The massive impact made her vision go black, and her bones felt as if they had been shaken apart; her two beloved blades were knocked from her hands and fell to the side.

Ace didn't deliver a lethal blow; he controlled his strength with extreme precision, just enough to temporarily incapacitate the fiery cook without damaging her internal organs.

"Cough, cough."

Leona lay in the crater, gasping for air, a trickle of blood spilling from the corner of her mouth. She gritted her teeth, her wild, vertical pupils glaring with intense unwillingness at Ace, who was looking down at her from above.

"A loss is a loss. Do whatever you want, kill me or carve me up; this prey is yours." Leona was straightforward by nature; having lost according to the laws of the jungle, she wouldn't beg like the weak.

However, the execution she expected did not come.

Ace walked to the edge of the crater, his hulking frame blocking the sunlight filtering into the jungle.

He looked at the red-haired woman on the ground, who still radiated an untamed wildness even in defeat, and recalled the near-perfect anatomical knife work from moments ago. A flash of intense, overbearing, and non-negotiable heat crossed his deep black eyes.

"I have no interest in killing you."

Ace looked down at her, his tone calm yet radiating the imperial aura of one who could hold everything in the palm of his hand.

"Your blade work is exquisite, and your understanding of ingredients is incredibly profound. For a chef like you to remain on this island dealing with mindless beasts is a grave waste of talent."

"Become my personal chef."

Ace threw out these words with absolute bluntness; there was no negotiation, only a declaration.

Leona froze. She even forgot to wipe the blood from the corner of her mouth, staring in disbelief at the man who had just slammed her into the ground, only to now earnestly attempt to recruit her.

"Huh? Is your brain broken, you big oaf?"

Leona snapped back to reality, retorting with extreme irritability: "Why on earth would I cook for a bastard like you who came out of nowhere?! Besides, do you even know what real cooking is? I pursue the culinary art of preparing the most ferocious beasts in the world!"

"Since you pursue the cooking of the most ferocious beasts, you have even less reason to refuse."

Ace didn't get angry; instead, he smiled with complete composure.

"With your own strength, the most you can do on this island is carve up a few dozen-meter-long Tyrannosaurus."

Ace extended his broad, thick palm, pointing toward the dead giant beast, his voice filled with the arrogance of one who would conquer the world: "But if you board my ship and join the Eclipse Pirates, whether it's the thousands-of-meters-long super-sized Sea Kings in the Calm Belt of the Grand Line, or the powerful beasts rarely seen even in the New World."

"As long as the prey exists on this ocean, I will trample them underfoot and deliver them to your cutting board."

Upon hearing these words.

Leona's feline-like vertical pupils constricted to the extreme.

She looked into Ace's unfathomable black eyes, and her heart began to pound uncontrollably.

What kind of man was this, exactly?

To actually treat the most terrifying creatures on this ocean as nothing more than ingredients prepared for her cutting board?!