The violent shockwave from the explosion shattered every glass window in the palace, while the enormous sand giant collapsed amid the flames. Golden sparks mixed with grains of sand and fell like a meteor shower.
Luffy was thrilled by the sight, hopping around in the rain of fire and catching the glass beads.
"Ace, Ace, this is fun!"
"No, wait, tatatatatata—" But the next second, Luffy yelped as the scorching glass beads burned him.
Crocodile reassembled himself from the sand, half his body charred black.
Watching Luffy make a fool of himself in the rain of fire, then looking at the cold-faced Ace, he realized that these two brats were indeed a little troublesome.
But he seemed to have calmed down by then. Since Mu Chen had told him to go easy on them, he no longer wanted to keep fighting.
More importantly, one was Dragon's son and the other was Whitebeard's man. Offending one of them was manageable, but offending both at once simply was not worth it.
Though he was somewhat annoyed, there was nothing else he could do.
"I admit you've got some skill. We'll end this here today."
As soon as the words left his mouth, Crocodile vanished into the distance.
"Huh?"
"We're not fighting anymore?"
Luffy's rubber ball abruptly deflated and returned to normal. He scratched his head in confusion.
Ace pressed a hand onto his younger brother's shoulder, his gaze still sharp. "I haven't had enough fun yet. But this should count as our win, right?"
Ace led the still-muttering Luffy out of the palace.
Sunlight after the rain spilled through the clouds, casting two long shadows across the ground.
Luffy chewed on the jerky Ace had brought, speaking indistinctly. "That sand guy was really strong, but he wasn't as fun as Ace. Next