One day later.
Just as the merchants of the East Blue had said, the moment the Eclipse sailed fully into the southwestern waters, the sky darkened in an instant.
The sunlight was completely blotted out by thick, viscous gray-white fog. The breeze over the sea vanished, replaced by incredibly violent, twisted currents far below, as if countless ancient Sea Kings were thrashing and fighting.
"Bang! Bang!"
Terrifying currents, each powerful enough to tear an ordinary merchant ship to pieces in an instant, slammed into the Eclipse's hull, producing a dull, teeth-grating thud.
But the Eclipse remained as steady as a mountain.
Its Iron Pine keel, wrapped in corrosion-resistant steel plates, showed the kind of solid craftsmanship that came with a price tag of eighty million Beli. Its sleek, teardrop-shaped hull was like a black scalpel, cutting precisely and powerfully through one deadly whirlpool after another under Sabo's steady hand at the helm.
"These currents are terrifying. No wonder this place is called a forbidden zone."
Sabo glanced at the churning black water outside the window, but his voice held little emotion. "If we'd built the ordinary sailing ship we originally planned on four years ago, it would probably have fallen apart by now."
Ace stood at the very front of the deck.
Even as the ship rocked slightly in the currents, he stood rooted in place, his body firmly planted on the deck without the slightest movement.
"We're almost there."
Ace narrowed his dark eyes slightly, his gaze piercing the dense fog before them.
As his words fell, a gap suddenly appeared in the fog ahead. Then the outline of a vast, desolate island, steeped in an endless aura of deathly stillness, emerged before them.
The island's shoreline was strewn with piles of broken ship planks. White bones lay half-buried in the coarse sand, some belonging to sea creatures, others to humans. Farther inland stretched endless black boulders and a primeval jungle so dense it seemed suffocating.
There was no sign of human life here, only a wild desolation and deathly silence, as if the world had forgotten the place.
"Drop anchor."
Ace's voice rang out across the deck, calm and brief.
The Eclipse's heavy steel anchor crashed into the sea and sank firmly into the rocky seabed.
Ace didn't take the gangplank. He placed one hand on the railing, then leaped straight down from the deck, more than ten meters above the ground.
"Thud."
A muffled boom. Ace landed firmly on the shore. His astonishing weight and the force of his fall drove both feet half a meter into the hard, wet sand.
Sabo followed close behind, landing lightly beside him with the custom-made Alloy Staff gripped in his hand.
"There's a heavy, ominous air about this place. This island doesn't even have a name on the charts." Sabo looked around, his gaze passing over the weathered bones.
"Let's go."
Ace paid no attention to the bones on the ground. He lifted his head slightly. The "call" that had lingered in his mind ever since he entered these waters had grown unmistakably clear.
He strode forward on his long, powerful legs, heading straight for the primeval jungle that seemed to swallow all light.
The jungle was damp and sweltering. Huge ferns and tangled vines nearly blocked every path. But they did nothing to impede the two men. Sabo didn't even need Ace's help. With a casual swing of his Alloy Staff, he cut through the thick vines blocking their way as easily as slicing tofu.
"Roar!!"
After they had ventured about two kilometers into the jungle, a deafening roar suddenly exploded overhead.
A powerful, fetid wind rushed toward them. The dense canopy was smashed open, and an ancient beast more than ten meters long lunged down at Ace, who was walking in front, like a mountain crashing down. Its body was covered in hard black scales; it resembled a saber-toothed tiger, but had three tails.
It was the apex predator of this unknown island. Its sharp fangs could easily crush steel.
"Watch out, Ace!" Sabo's eyes narrowed as he prepared to swing his staff.
But Ace didn't even look up.
He kept walking at the same steady pace. Only when the beast was about to touch him did he raise his right hand with casual ease, spreading his fingers.
"Bang!!"
An incredibly muffled sonic boom burst through the air.
He didn't use Armament Haki, or even his full strength. Ace's broad, solid palm was like an insurmountable wall, pressing squarely against the beast's massive head as it lunged.
The tremendous kinetic force was completely absorbed and neutralized in an instant. The ancient beast, ten meters long, was brought to a dead stop in midair by Ace's single hand!
Utter terror, almost human in its expression, flooded the beast's cold, slit-pupiled eyes. It struggled desperately, but the hand pressing down on its head seemed to carry the weight of a mountain, leaving it unable to move at all.
"Quiet."
Ace spoke calmly and pressed down hard with his wrist.
"Rumble!!"
The ground shook violently. Ace brutally drove the several-ton scaled beast into the earth beneath his feet with one hand. Its hard skull cracked with a grating crunch. It didn't even have time to scream before it died, crimson blood spreading through the dirt.
A one-shot kill.
Ace pulled his hand back without even changing his breathing, as if he'd merely slapped an annoying mosquito.
"Looks like the food on this island isn't bad."
Ace stepped over the beast's corpse and continued forward.
Sabo looked at the dead apex predator on the ground and shook his head helplessly. Seventeen-year-old Ace had already forged his physique into a monstrous state so profound that even Sabo couldn't fathom its limits.
They continued onward.
The deeper they went into the island, the sparser the vegetation became, replaced by steep black cliffs.
At last, guided by Observation Haki, the two stopped at the deepest part of a vast natural cavern hidden behind a waterfall.
The cavern was extremely damp, and a faint mossy smell hung in the air.
At the far end stood a steep black rock wall, riddled with cracks.
"Ace, look over there." Sabo's attention was drawn to a crevice at the base of the cliff.
A strangely shaped fruit lay in that concealed, low crevice. It was bright orange-red all over, its skin covered in bizarre patterns like spiraling flames. Just looking at it seemed to give off waves of scorching heat.
"A Devil Fruit just growing in a crack in the rocks on a deserted island?" Even Sabo, usually so composed, couldn't hide the shock in his eyes.
In the sea, Devil Fruits were rare treasures that one could only hope to encounter by chance. Even the famous pirates of the East Blue might go their whole lives without ever seeing one.
Ace stepped forward and stopped before the cliff. He glanced down at the orange-red, flame-like fruit, and an astonished disbelief flickered through his dark eyes, mixed with a rare hint of doubt.
But it wasn't because of the flame fruit.
His Observation Haki—the sense that let him hear the Voice of All Things—was now tugging frantically at his nerves, pointing to a spot higher up the cliff.
Ace slowly raised his head.
About six meters above the ground was another crevice, extremely deep and narrow. The dim light, combined with the vivid color of the orange-red fruit below, would have instantly drawn an ordinary person's attention. Anyone who came here would surely overlook the secret above.
Ace reached out with his broad, solid hand, then leaped up and thrust it without hesitation into the high, dark crevice.
When he drew his hand back, an incredibly precious Crimson Gold Fruit rested in his palm.
The fruit was shaped like a beating heart, its spiraling patterns interwoven across the skin, faintly outlining an ancient emblem like a divine bird spreading its wings.
One above, one below. Twin Devil Fruits.
Ace looked at the Crimson Gold Fruit in his hand, feeling the frenzied resonance between it and the blood in his body, a connection rooted in the instinct of life itself.
The initial surprise and doubt gradually faded from his eyes, replaced by a resolve and depth as unshakable as ice that had endured for ten thousand years.
What Heaven gives, one must take.
Since the sea had placed such a divine treasure before him, as a king determined to stand at the top, he had no reason to reject the sea's gift.
Ace lowered his head, scooped up the orange-red flame fruit from the crevice below, and tossed it decisively to Sabo behind him.
Sabo caught it by reflex and froze for a moment. "Ace, what's this?"
"A Logia, the Mera Mera no Mi."
Ace's voice echoed through the cavern. "Eat it. From today on, you'll be the Eclipse's flame."
With that, Ace's gaze returned to the fruit in his palm, the Crimson Gold Fruit.
In that instant, he seemed to hear the cry of a divine bird echoing across the ages. Ace didn't waste another word. He opened his mouth and bit into the crimson-gold flesh without hesitation.
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