The heavy Black Steel Bone-Cleaving Blade and a fist coated in Armament Haki collided with a violent crash, sending a dazzling burst of sparks flying.
On the other side of the highland battlefield, Leona was already in dire straits.
She gasped for breath. Her wild, dark red hair was soaked with sweat and blood, clinging tightly to her cheeks. Several deep gashes, nearly to the bone, had opened across her dark brown leather apron. The intense pain kept stabbing at her nerves, but the fighting spirit in her slit pupils only grew fiercer.
Standing opposite her was a lean, formidable Commodore from Marine Headquarters.
"Woman, you're stubborn as a beast."
The Marine Commodore flicked the blood from his knuckles, his gaze cold. "You've had no systematic training in hand-to-hand combat, and you don't even know Haki. Yet with nothing but beastlike instincts and brute strength, you've managed to take so many of my attacks. For a pirate, you've got some talent."
"Save your breath!"
Leona gritted her teeth, gripping a black blade in one hand and a silver one in the other. "On my chopping block, meat gets cut to pieces. There's no bone I can't break!"
She drove off with both legs and charged straight at him like a lioness provoked to fury. The Black Steel Blade whistled through the air as she brought it crashing down.
"Too slow."
The Commodore snorted and stamped his feet rapidly against the ground.
"Soru!"
His figure vanished in an instant, leaving only a blurry afterimage. Leona's powerful slash slammed into empty ground, sending fragments of stone flying.
"Over here!"
The Commodore's icy voice came from outside Leona's field of vision. He appeared like a ghost on her left, his index finger tensed like a spike as he aimed for her ribs.
"Shigan!"
A fierce burst of force rushed toward her. At this distance and speed, her body couldn't react in time to dodge.
I'm going to die!
Under the crushing pressure of life and death, Leona's mind went utterly blank.
She couldn't hear the chaotic gunfire across the battlefield, or even the wind. To her, it was as if the whole world had suddenly slowed down.
Just as that deadly finger was about to pierce her organs, an instinct honed over years of tracking prey by its breathing in the Primeval Forest burst through an invisible barrier under the strain of her desperate situation.
She didn't see it with her eyes, but the path of the Commodore's contracting arm muscles suddenly appeared in her mind!
"Now!"
Guided entirely by that sudden intuition, Leona forced her waist to twist half an inch at an impossible angle.
"Shhk!"
The Shigan that had been aimed at her heart grazed the edge of her ribs, drawing a long trail of blood.
She was still wounded, but she had avoided a fatal blow!
And in the instant she dodged, the Silver Bone-Trimming Blade in her left hand, held in a reverse grip, swept upward. Its edge struck like a venomous snake, opening a long, deep gash in the Commodore's arm!
"What?!"
The Commodore staggered back in pain, clutching his bleeding arm, shock in his eyes. For that brief moment, the female pirate's movements had gone beyond the limits of physical reflex. She had clearly anticipated the path of his attack!
"The beginnings of Observation Haki?!" The Commodore's expression darkened.
"Hah... hah..."
Leona dropped to one knee and used the Black Steel Blade to prop herself up. She gasped for breath. That moment of perception had saved her life, but the uncanny state had taken a heavy toll on her mind. Her strength was nearly spent, and both hands trembled uncontrollably around her blades.
"To reach the threshold of Haki in the middle of a real fight... I can't let you live."
The Commodore stopped holding back. He crossed his arms, then whipped his right leg through the air, sending a fierce vacuum Slash Wave flying.
"Rankyaku: Ran!"
A dense net of crescent-shaped vacuum slashes swept toward Leona from every direction.
Leona gritted her teeth and forced herself to stand. She knew she couldn't stop this attack. That strange perception hadn't returned, and the blood loss was already blurring her vision.
Even so, the proud lioness would never close her eyes and wait to die. She raised both blades, ready to meet the rain of Slash Waves head-on.
Just as disaster seemed inevitable—
"Boom!"
A tall, broad-shouldered shadow dropped out of nowhere and landed squarely in front of Leona, like a mountain standing between her and the attack.
A gale whipped up his dark red coat.
Faced with a barrage of slashes powerful enough to cut through steel, he didn't even raise a hand.
"Vmm—"
A deep black coating of Armament Haki instantly covered his back and shoulders.
"Clang, clang, clang, clang!"
The dense slashes struck that invisible armor, unleashing a series of dull metallic booms. Then, like waves crashing against a reef, they shattered and vanished.
The Commodore's pupils contracted. Cold sweat streamed down his face.
As the dust settled, the black-haired man who looked like a demon god turned around.
Ace's expression was calm, and his breathing hadn't even changed. His deep black eyes swept over the Marine Commodore. That single glance made the man feel as if he'd plunged into a frozen abyss, crushing any courage he had left to even move a finger.
"Well done."
Ace turned his head slightly and glanced at Leona, covered in blood but still gripping her blades tightly. There was no reproach in his voice, only recognition of his crewmate pushing past her limits. "You caught your opponent's presence in that instant. You've reached the threshold of Observation Haki."
"Captain..."
The moment Leona saw that broad back, the tension that had held her together finally drained away. She collapsed to the ground, gasping for breath, but a weak, fervent smile tugged at her lips.
Ace turned his gaze back to the terrified Marine Commodore nearby.
"Even that old man Zephyr has fallen. Are you lot still going to fight?" Ace asked calmly.
"Teacher Zephyr was defeated?!"
The news struck the Commodore like a bolt of lightning. He turned sharply toward the other end of the high ground. When he caught sight of the crater blasted into ruins, his fighting spirit collapsed completely.
Still, he gritted his teeth and raised his trembling fists. "I'm an officer of Marine Headquarters. I will never bow my head to pirates!"
"You've got spirit, but it won't make any difference."
Ace strode toward the Commodore.
He didn't use Divine Fire, or even Ryuo. Against an opponent on a completely different level, any unnecessary moves would only waste time.
The Commodore roared and swung a heavy fist coated in Iron Body.
Ace merely tilted his head, dodging the wide-open attack with ease. Then he clenched his right fist. Black Armament Haki instantly covered his knuckles. He drove his strength from his waist and slammed a simple, unadorned punch into the Commodore's abdomen.
"Thud!"
With a dull, bone-crushing sound, the Commodore's eyes bulged and a mouthful of blood sprayed out. The Six Powers defense he'd been so proud of was as flimsy as paper before Ace's monstrous strength. His whole body lifted off the ground and flew backward dozens of meters, smashing through a thick stone wall before collapsing unconscious.
One punch. A clean, instant defeat.
The whole thing happened so fast no one even had time to blink.
Ace slowly lowered his fist and dusted off the back of his hand. Without even looking at the Commodore lying in the rubble, he turned and walked over to Leona.
A warm cluster of crimson-gold Divine Fire lit in his palm and settled naturally over Leona's wounds.
"Rest a while. We're about to wrap this up."
Ace looked at the Marines and warlord remnants already in full retreat. His steady voice carried across the smoke-filled battlefield.
"This battle is over."
Before you continue