Black Arm and Divine Fire

The highland battlefield was filled with smoke and dust. At that moment, the atmosphere froze to an icy standstill.

Zephyr stood before them, his massive frame like an iron tower. His empty right sleeve snapped in the wind. The battle-scarred veteran fixed Ace with a cold stare. It was as if an invisible hand had pressed down on the battlefield; even the smoke seemed to sink lower.

"I've seen too many rookies on these seas who treat plunder and destruction like a game."

Zephyr slowly clenched his remaining left hand. His knuckles cracked like thunder. "But before me, your little game of piracy ends here."

Ace leaped down from the broken wall and landed steadily on the hard rocky ground, his feet striking with a heavy thud.

He looked at the former Marine Admiral, who had lost his right arm. There was no pointless mockery in his eyes, nor the slightest hesitation.

"Let's settle that with our fists."

The instant the words left his mouth, both figures vanished from where they stood!

"Bang!"

The ground beneath them exploded, leaving two enormous craters.

In midair, Zephyr's left arm was instantly coated in Armament Haki, black as iron. That was the "Black Arm" that had made him famous across the seas. Even after losing an arm, his Haki—honed through countless battles—still carried enough weight to shatter mountains.

Ace held nothing back either. The muscles in his right arm tensed as advanced flowing Haki compressed over his fist. Then the crimson-gold Vermilion Bird Divine Fire coiled around it.

"Divine Fire: Collapse Fist!"

"RUMBLE!!!"

One black fist and one crimson fist collided without a hint of flourish at the center of the battlefield.

A deafening blast of compressed air rang through the sky. A visible white shock wave, mingled with raging flames, swept outward from the two fighters. The wrecked tanks and scattered rocks nearby were hurled a hundred meters away by the shock wave.

What a heavy punch.

Ace felt a tingling numbness run through his right arm and marveled inwardly. This was Armament Haki at the pinnacle of the old era. Its hardness seemed to sink right into his bones. Even with the defense of advanced Haki and the cushioning effect of his Divine Fire, the force still weighed heavily on him.

But Zephyr frowned as well.

A layer of flowing Haki swirled around the young man's fist. It could strike his body from a distance. Combined with flames hot enough to singe even his Black Arm, and astonishing physical strength, Ace had withstood his Smash Strike head-on!

"No wonder you dared to set your sights on the Heavenly Tribute. You've got the nerve to back it up!"

Zephyr gave a cold snort and drove his left arm forward, forcing Ace's fist back. The two immediately launched into a dangerous close-quarters brawl.

With the commanders already engaged, the air at the edge of the battlefield tightened as well.

"Teacher Zephyr!"

Seeing this, Vice Admiral Momonga immediately drew the Famous Sword at his waist and darted forward to assist.

"Your opponent is me, Vice Admiral."

A deep-blue figure cut into the battlefield and blocked Momonga's path.

Sabo adjusted the top hat on his head and lightly tapped his Alloy Staff against the ground. Orange-red flames surged from beneath his feet, forming a wall of fire that sealed off the battlefield.

"A Logia Devil Fruit—the Mera Mera no Mi."

Vice Admiral Momonga stopped and fixed Sabo with a sharp stare. His katana flashed through a flourish. "Don't think having a Logia means you can run rampant across these seas, pirate!"

"Why don't you find out?"

Sabo pressed his right index and middle fingers together like a claw, and black Armament Haki instantly covered them. He took the initiative, meeting Momonga's fierce slash with a Dragon Claw. The staff and katana clashed in midair, showering sparks.

Sabo wasn't yet strong enough to suppress a Headquarters Vice Admiral, but his martial arts, Armament Haki, and Mera Mera no Mi were more than enough to make Momonga take him seriously.

Seeing the Vice Admiral blocked, the two Marine Commodores who had landed with Zephyr immediately drew their weapons and fixed their eyes on Jeno and Leona behind them.

"Take those two down first!"

The two Commodores roared and used Soru from the Six Powers, charging in opposite directions like twin afterimages.

"Just what I needed! I've just fixed my hammer, and it's looking for a few high-grade whetstones!"

Jeno let out a booming laugh as the Marine Commodore charged. Scalding, high-pressure steam burst from the Mechanical Exoskeleton on his back. His massive frame surged forward instead of retreating, and he swung the heavy Hydraulic Power Hammer down at his opponent's saber.

On the other side, Leona gripped a black and a silver Bone-Cleaving Blade. Blood dripped from their edges.

The clash through thousands of soldiers moments ago hadn't frightened her. If anything, it had unleashed the ferocity she felt when hunting giant beasts. As she watched the Marine Commodore approach, her wild, slit-pupiled eyes gleamed.

"If the captain says this is the stepping stone to kicking down the front door, then today I'm using that officer's hide to practice my blade work!"

Leona grinned and drove off with both legs. Her black and silver Bone-Cleaving Blades whistled through the air. Like a frenzied lioness, she charged at the Marine Commodore and locked him in a fight to the death. Blades clashed, sparks flew.

The commanders and their officers had each found an opponent. Meanwhile, the Marine elite vanguard pouring in from the harbor continued to surge up the highland, trying to surround the battlefield.

"Hey, hey, hey! Isn't this a bit much?!"

Buggy yelped as the Marine soldiers poured forward. His legs stayed on the ground while his upper body flew into the air to dodge the bullets.

"Quit complaining, chief steward! If you don't want to end up in Impel Down, get moving!"

Carina crouched behind a wrecked tank and deftly reloaded her flintlock. Calmly surveying the battle, she quickly picked out several Marine officers preparing to ambush Leona from the flank.

"Bang! Bang!"

Two sharp shots rang out. Carina's precise aim stopped the two officers in their tracks.

"What are you looking at, you Marine idiots?! Your opponent is me, the great Buggy!"

With Carina providing covering fire from the rear, Buggy's courage swelled. Making full use of the Chop-Chop Fruit's advantage in group battles, he darted through the Marine ranks with Seastone Knuckles on both hands.

"Chop-Chop: Spinning Flying Fist!"

Buggy's fist flew from a tricky blind spot and knocked out a Marine soldier who had been aiming at Jeno. It abruptly changed direction midair, dodged an incoming saber, and used the small blades that shot out to sow chaos among the soldiers.

The entire area before the Highland Fortress had descended into a brutal melee.

Deafening clangs of metal, roars of flame, and the rumble of the steam-powered exoskeletons all mingled together.

At the center of the battlefield, Ace and Zephyr's clash had reached its peak.

"Boom!"

Ace took the full force of one of Zephyr's heavy Black Arm punches. His blood roared in his veins, but the fighting spirit in his eyes burned even brighter. Using his opponent's force, he swung his right leg like a battle-axe wreathed in Divine Fire, sweeping it hard toward Zephyr's side.

Against a legend of the old era who had tempered his Armament Haki to the utmost, holding anything back would be fatal. Ace took a deep breath and drove his Haki to its limit without reservation.

He would use this veteran, famous across the seas as "Black Arm," as the ultimate whetstone to fully hone the internal destructive power of his Haki!

"Again."

Ace shook out his numb arm and thrust his iron fist forward once more, wreathed in Ryuo and Divine Fire.