Steel Country, Central Highlands.
A massive fortress built from thick Black Steel and gigantic stone blocks crouched atop a cliff like a steel beast. Heavy cannons densely covered its towering walls, while thousands of fully armed elite soldiers patrolled the battlements. This was an absolute no-go zone, built with funding from the Warlord Alliance to store the Heavenly Tribute destined for the Celestial Dragons.
Six figures strode along the only road leading to the fortress.
"That's the fortress where they're storing the Starfall Black Steel."
Jeno hefted the heavy Hydraulic Power Hammer. A rush of scorching steam hissed from the gaps in his exoskeleton. "The walls are made from high-density alloy mixed with rock. Ordinary cannonballs wouldn't even leave a white mark."
"Is that so? Then this great Buggy wants to see just how tough it is!"
Buggy walked at the front, already clutching a red glass-ball bomb in his hand. He knew that stealing the Heavenly Tribute would bring them huge trouble, but the lure of absolute treasure and Ace's overbearing authority had thoroughly awakened the pirate nature in his bones.
"Consider this a little greeting!"
Buggy roared and hurled the bomb in his hand at the fortress's enormous solid-steel gate with all his might.
"Special Buggy Ball!"
The fingernail-sized bomb exploded the instant it struck the gate.
"BOOM—!!!"
A huge fireball surged into the sky, and an ear-splitting explosion echoed across the entire Highlands. The savage shock wave blasted the tens-of-tons steel gate into a twisted mass. Large sections of the surrounding wall crumbled away, and dozens of guards behind the gate were flung into the air before they even understood what had happened.
"Enemy attack! Pirates are storming the fortress! Open fire!"
The guards on the walls recovered from the blast and frantically sounded the alarm. Row after row of heavy cannons swung around to aim.
Before they could light the fuses, a deep-blue figure had already leaped high into the air, closing in on the wall through the smoke.
Sabo adjusted his top hat as his right arm turned into churning orange-red flames.
"Fire Fist!"
A thick pillar of raging fire shot out like an enraged dragon, sweeping devastatingly across the fortress ramparts.
The scorching flames instantly engulfed the rows of heavy cannons, setting off a chain of explosions among the ammunition crates around them. The battlements became a sea of fire, filled with intertwined screams and blasts. The outer defenses collapsed in an instant.
Looking at the absurd destruction before him, Jeno couldn't help whistling. "You lot really skip the warm-up when you fight, don't you?"
"The gate still isn't completely broken."
Ace stepped forward and looked at the steel gate, twisted but still firmly stuck in its hinges, as well as the thick alloy wall behind it.
He didn't draw his sword. Instead, he slowly clenched his right fist.
He recalled how the old man Garp had beaten him in the forest, using a terrifying technique of applying force without any flourishes, yet powerful enough to punch straight through an entire mountain.
"Armament Haki projection."
Ace murmured the words, and a deep black Haki instantly wrapped around his right fist. Then, instead of lingering on the surface of his skin, it gathered in front of his fist at Ace's command, forming a dense current of air that seemed almost tangible.
Ace sank into a low stance and threw a punch at the twisted steel gate and the thick inner wall.
"Fist Bone Impact!"
His fist never touched the steel.
Several meters from the gate, the extremely compressed, flowing Haki shot forward like an invisible cannonball and slammed into the steel!
"CRACK—BOOM!"
The deafening sound of metal shattering rang out.
The gate, which could withstand heavy cannon fire, and the several-meter-thick alloy wall behind it crumbled like brittle biscuits under the force of the punch!
Countless shards of steel and stone sprayed in a fan shape into the fortress, blasting a passage more than a dozen meters wide straight through its supposedly impregnable front.
"A monster! He punched straight through the wall..."
The garrison inside the fortress stared at the black-haired young man slowly lowering his fist. They could barely keep their rifles steady.
"Come on. Let's go get our stuff."
Ace shook his wrist and strode into the fortress over the rubble and steel debris. Sabo, Jeno, and the others followed close behind.
In the fortress's central plaza, large numbers of elite soldiers were being driven back step by step.
On the raised platform in the plaza stood a middle-aged man in a splendid uniform with a handlebar mustache. He watched the intruders, drenched in sweat. He was a neutral commander chosen jointly by several warlords and assigned to guard this batch of Heavenly Tribute.
"Do you know what you're doing?!"
The commander's hand trembled violently around his saber as he shouted at the top of his lungs, "This is the Heavenly Tribute for the Celestial Dragons! If you so much as touch a single coin, the warlord armies and Marine Headquarters will tear you to pieces!"
Ace didn't even look at him. He headed straight for the vault door behind the platform.
Wielding two Bone-Cleaving Blades, Leona efficiently cut down dozens of guards who rushed at them, clearing a path without resistance.
When the commander saw that the pirates didn't take his warning seriously at all, he fell into utter despair. He scrambled toward the communications station in the corner of the platform and frantically dialed several Den Den Mushi.
"Send reinforcements! The Heavenly Tribute fortress is under attack by pirates! Notify all the commanders immediately! Request help from the Marine fleet stationed in nearby waters! Hurry!!!"
The communications station filled with the furious shouts of the various warlords and the shrill alarms from the Marines.
A few minutes later.
"Found it!"
Carina's excited shriek came from inside the vault.
Jeno smashed open the heavy alloy door with his Hydraulic Power Hammer. Mountains of gold coins and jewels gleamed alluringly in the dim space.
Carina took out a specially made large sack without hesitation and began stuffing it with cash and jewelry. In a finely crafted combination lockbox at the very back of the vault, she found the Devil Fruit covered in spiral patterns and quickly tucked it into an inner pocket.
"Starfall Black Steel! Hahaha! My precious material really was here!"
Among a pile of weapons and supplies, Jeno found a huge piece of black metal that gave off a faint starlight. He stroked the Black Steel as if it were a priceless treasure, hoisted it onto his shoulder with his exoskeleton's mechanical arm, and laughed wildly.
"Captain, we've got everything."
Sabo glanced at the ransacked vault, then turned to Ace in the hall. "The commander already called for help from the warlords and the Marines across the island. If we don't leave now, we might end up surrounded by tens of thousands of people."
"Who said we were leaving?"
Ace sat on a crate of gold coins Carina hadn't gotten around to taking yet, idly turning a gold cup in his hand.
"Captain?!" Buggy was hugging two bags of treasure and preparing to run. Hearing those words, his jaw nearly hit the ground. "We got the loot! Why stay here and wait to die? There are several warlords' armies coming, and maybe even officers from Marine Headquarters!"
Carina and Leona also looked at Ace, confused.
"For the past half month, you've all been sweating it out on deck every day."
Sitting on the crate of gold, Ace looked over his crew and gave them a confident, combative smile. "But training on deck alone won't bring out your true potential."
Ace pointed toward the door.
In the distance, alarms rang frantically across the entire island. The sounds of troops assembling and armored vehicles rumbling could be heard faintly.
"You don't need to go looking for opponents. Isn't this the perfect test?"
Ace stood up and looked at Buggy, Leona, and Carina, his voice carrying a firm edge as he laid down the challenge.
"We'll wait here for them. Use the bodies and weapons you've been honing to feel the pressure of life and death. As long as you don't get killed on the spot, pushing your bodies to their limits will help you understand Haki."
Hearing this insane decision, Jeno burst into a hearty laugh with the Starfall Black Steel on his shoulder.
"Using the warlord armies from the whole island as sparring partners? You really are an unreasonable lunatic! But my Hydraulic Power Hammer is itching for a fight, too!"
Buggy looked tearfully at the money bag in his hand, then at the black mass of troops drawing closer outside. He gritted his teeth and silently put on the Seastone Knuckle.
Ace drew the greatsword at his waist and casually swung it, carving a deep furrow into the ground.
"Time to get to work, everyone aboard the Eclipse."
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