Mist Forbidden Zone, Gift of the Nameless Desolate Island

One day later.

Just as the merchants of the East Blue had rumored, the moment the Eclipse fully entered the waters to the southwest, the sky darkened in an instant.

The sunlight was completely stripped away by thick, viscous, grayish-white fog. The breeze on the sea surface vanished, replaced by violent, twisted undercurrents deep below, as if countless ancient Sea Kings were rolling and slaughtering one another.

"Bang! Bang!"

Terrifying undercurrents, powerful enough to tear an ordinary merchant ship to shreds in an instant, slammed heavily against the hull of the Eclipse, emitting teeth-grinding, muffled thuds.

Yet, the Eclipse remained as steady as Mount Tai.

The Iron Pine keel, wrapped in anti-corrosive steel plating, displayed the absolute foundation that eighty million Beli should command. The sharp, teardrop-shaped hull acted like a black scalpel, cutting through each deadly whirlpool with precision and power under Sabo's steady hand at the helm.

"What a terrifying current; no wonder this place is called a dead zone."

Sabo glanced at the churning black seawater outside the window, his tone devoid of much fluctuation. "If we were in that ordinary sailboat we originally planned to build four years ago, it would have disintegrated by now."

Ace stood at the very front of the deck.

Even as the ship rose and fell slightly in the undercurrents, his body seemed to have taken root, nailed firmly to the deck without a single tremor.

"We're almost there."

Ace narrowed his black eyes slightly, his gaze piercing through the dense, tangible white fog before him.

As his words fell, a fissure suddenly appeared in the fog ahead. Immediately following, the silhouette of a vast, desolate island exuding an aura of endless, deathly silence emerged into their line of sight.

Along the island's coastline, a chaotic accumulation of broken ship planks lay scattered. Bleached bones were half-buried in the coarse gravel—some from marine creatures, others from humans. The interior of the island consisted of endless black, jagged rocks and primitive jungles so dense they were suffocating.

There was no trace of human life here, only a primal, deathly stillness that the world had forgotten.

"Drop anchor."

Ace's voice rang out across the deck, calm and brief.

The Eclipse's heavy steel anchor crashed into the sea, driving firmly into the rock layers of the seabed.

Ace did not use the gangway; he pressed one hand against the gunwale and leaped directly from the deck, over ten meters high.

"Thud."

A dull, heavy sound echoed. Ace landed steadily on the mudflats; his astonishing weight and gravitational acceleration left two half-meter-deep craters in the hard, wet sand where his feet struck.

Sabo followed closely behind, landing lightly at his side, his hand gripping his custom-made alloy staff.

"Such heavy yin energy. This island isn't even marked on the charts." Sabo looked around, his gaze sweeping over the weathered bones.

"Let's go."

Ace ignored the bones on the ground. He tilted his head slightly; the "call" that had been lingering in his mind since entering these waters had now become extremely clear.

He strode forward with his long, powerful legs, heading straight toward the primitive jungle that seemed to swallow the light.

The interior of the jungle was humid and sweltering, with massive ferns and tangled vines sealing off almost every path. But this could not stop their progress in the slightest. Sabo didn't even need Ace to intervene; he swung his alloy staff casually, slicing through the thick, obstructing vines as if they were tofu.

"Roar!!"

Just as they had penetrated about two kilometers into the jungle, a deafening roar suddenly exploded overhead.

A thick, fishy stench rushed toward them. The dense canopy above was violently torn open, and an ancient beast—over ten meters long, covered in hard black scales, resembling a saber-toothed tiger but with three tails—opened its blood-red maw and lunged at Ace, who was walking in front, with the force of a collapsing mountain!

This was the apex predator of this nameless, desolate island; its sharp fangs were capable of easily crushing steel.

"Watch out, Ace!" Sabo's eyes narrowed, and he prepared to swing his staff.

But Ace didn't even lift his head.

He maintained his steady pace, only raising his right hand casually with his fingers spread at the very moment the beast was about to touch him.

"Bang!!"

A dull sonic boom exploded in the air.

Without using Armament Haki, and not even using his full strength, Ace's broad, thick palm acted like an insurmountable wall of sighs, pressing precisely onto the massive head of the lunging beast.

The astonishing kinetic energy was completely absorbed and neutralized in an instant. The ten-meter-long ancient beast was actually forced to a dead stop in mid-air by Ace's single hand!

In the beast's cold, vertical pupils, an anthropomorphic look of extreme terror surged. It struggled desperately, but the palm pressed against its head seemed to contain the weight of a mountain, leaving it unable to move a single inch.

"Be quiet."

Ace's tone was flat as he pressed his wrist downward with force.

"Boom!!"

The earth shook violently. The multi-ton, armored beast was brutally slammed into the mud by Ace's single hand. Its hard skull emitted a teeth-grinding cracking sound, and the beast lost its life completely before it could even let out a whimper, its scarlet blood spreading through the soil.

One-hit kill.

Ace withdrew his hand, his breathing rhythm not changing in the slightest, as if he had merely swatted away an annoying mosquito.

"Looks like the food on this island isn't too bad."

Ace stepped over the carcass of the beast and continued walking forward.

Sabo looked at the dead ancient overlord on the ground and shook his head helplessly. At seventeen, Ace's physique had been polished to a monstrous level that even Sabo found unfathomable.

The two continued forward.

The deeper they ventured into the island, the sparser the vegetation became, replaced by sheer, precipitous black rock faces.

Eventually, guided by Observation Haki, the two stopped at the very depths of a massive natural cavern hidden behind a waterfall.

The interior of the cavern was incredibly damp, the air thick with the faint, earthy scent of moss.

At the very end of the path stood a steep cliff of black rock, covered in a web of intersecting fissures.

"Ace, look there." Sabo's gaze was drawn to a stone crevice at the base of the cliff.

Tucked away in that concealed, low-lying gap lay a fruit of peculiar shape. Its entire body was a vibrant orange-red, covered in eerie, spiral flame-like patterns; merely looking at it seemed to radiate a scorching heat.

"To think a Devil Fruit would just be growing in the rock crevice of a deserted island?" Even the usually composed Sabo couldn't hide the shock in his eyes.

On the high seas, Devil Fruits were treasures that could be sought but never found. Even the most notorious pirates of the East Blue might go their entire lives without ever seeing what a Devil Fruit looked like.

Ace stepped forward and stopped before the cliff face. He looked down at the orange-red flame fruit, a flicker of incredulous surprise—and even a rare hint of suspicion—passing through his dark eyes.

It was not because of this flame fruit.

It was because his Observation Haki, that sense belonging to the Voice of All Things, was currently tugging frantically at his nerves, pointing toward a position much higher up the cliff.

Ace slowly raised his head.

About six meters above the ground, there was another extremely deep and narrow fissure. Due to the dim light and the eye-catching color of the orange-red fruit below, an ordinary person reaching this spot would have their attention instantly stolen, completely overlooking the mystery hidden above.

Ace reached out his broad, sturdy hand and, without hesitation, leaped up to thrust it into the dark crevice high above.

When he withdrew his hand, his palm held an incredibly noble Crimson Gold Fruit.

The fruit was shaped like a beating heart, its surface spiral patterns interwoven to faintly outline an ancient totem resembling a divine bird spreading its wings.

One high, one low. Twin demons.

Ace looked at the Crimson Gold Fruit in his hand, feeling the frantic resonance it shared with the blood in his own veins—a connection born of primal instinct.

The initial surprise and suspicion gradually faded from his eyes, replaced by a resolve as unshakable and profound as ten-thousand-year-old ice.

If Heaven grants it, one must take it.

Since this vast ocean had delivered such a divine object before him, as a king aspiring to reach the summit, he had no reason to refuse the ocean's gift.

Ace lowered his head, reached down to scoop up the orange-red Mera Mera no Mi from the lower crevice, and tossed it to Sabo behind him with decisive force.

Sabo caught it instinctively, stunned for a moment: "Ace, this is?"

"Logia, the Mera Mera no Mi."

Ace's voice echoed through the cavern. "Eat it. From this day on, you are the flame of the eclipse."

Having said that, Ace's gaze returned to the Crimson Gold Fruit in his palm.

In that instant, he felt as if he heard the cry of a divine bird piercing through the ages. Without another word, Ace opened his mouth and, without a moment's hesitation, took a bite of the crimson-gold flesh.