Flame Emperor

Ace's eyes narrowed involuntarily.

Flames erupted from his entire body, and finally, he transformed into a fire phoenix, soaring into the sky.

"Um?"

Upon seeing this, Moke couldn't help but show a surprised expression. He then turned to look at Marco, because this move was somewhat similar to how Marco used his ability.

It seems that it was his ability that inspired Ace.

"Phoenix Seal!"

The next second, Ace in the air turned his legs into flames, which then formed bird claws. Finally, with a flap of his wings, he charged towards Moke on the ground. Just before reaching the ground, the flaming bird claws were coated with Armament Haki.

"Interesting..."

Moke was starting to get interested. If Ace continued to act the same way as before, he would really lose interest.

He clenched his right fist, and Armament Haki Coating around it.

Then he threw a punch, heading straight for Ace in mid-air.

"Rumble..."

A fist and a claw collided fiercely in mid-air, their powerful energies clashing repeatedly.

It generated Shockwave that swept outwards in all directions.

With each Shockwave, the flames followed, igniting everything in their path.

"Good!"

Moke couldn't help but give a thumbs-up.

Ace's attack was incredibly powerful, his Armament Haki was excellent, and it even included a fire attack... If it were someone else, the power of this attack would be even greater.

After all, when facing Moke, the flames had basically lost their power.

However, Moke immediately unleashed his full power, a terrifying force, imbued with Armament Haki, shot upwards towards Ace in the air.

"Collapse..."

Ace, who was in mid-air, was struck as if by a heavy blow and was sent flying.

When he regained his footing in mid-air, everyone noticed blood at the corner of his mouth. Clearly, he had been injured by Moke's attack.

"Great Flame Commandment - Flame Emperor!"

At this moment, Ace fully understood the gap between himself and Moke.

Without using his strongest trump card, it would be impossible to inflict any damage on the opponent. Therefore, Ace created several huge spirals of flame.

Then, he held up the sky with one hand.

The flames gathered above his hand into a fireball with a diameter of a hundred meters.

It truly shines like the sun in the sky.

Moke's eyes narrowed involuntarily. At this moment, the fireball was not only a hundred meters long, but more terrifyingly, the flames were no longer orange-yellow, but a higher level of white... Faced with such an attack, such flames...

Even Moke felt threatened.

In the original work, Ace was first defeated by Blackbeard, and then killed by Akainu. This gives people the illusion that he was very weak.

Actually, Ace was not weak at all.

With his burning ability alone, even if he didn't encounter Blackbeard, he wouldn't be afraid to face Admiral in his prime.

This is no exaggeration. Luffy has seen Ace's "back view" all along his Luffy... even in Kaido's Wano Country... and Ace's reputation in the New World is in no way inferior to that of any Yonko's vice-captain.

The biggest reason he has such a reputation is this very move.

That would be an attack capable of destroying an entire island.

"Gurala la la..."

Whitebeard burst into laughter.

Marco, Jozu, and Vista exchanged a helpless glance. Marco rubbed his head. "This guy's gotten carried away again."

As soon as he finished speaking, he transformed into Phoenix.

We arrived at the bow of the ship.

To prevent the pirate ship and others from being affected, he rushed to the front. Moreover, apart from the Pops, he was the only one in the entire pirate crew who could withstand Ace's attack.

Only he could protect the others, and the pirate ship.

"Go..."

Ace was also watching everything, and when he saw Marco's actions, the corners of his mouth involuntarily turned up slightly. With that, he no longer had any reservations.

Then Flame Emperor went straight down to the ground.

"Call..."

At this moment, Moke remained calm. Three years ago, he would have had to unleash all his power to defend against such an attack.

But now...

As the Flame Emperor drew ever closer...

He raised his hand, palm facing the sky, and activated his spatial abilities.

Brush!

A spatial Space Gate with a diameter of over a thousand meters appeared out of thin air, and at the same time, a similar Space Gate appeared on the sea a thousand meters away.

The Flame Emperor, with a diameter of 100 meters, crashed directly into the Space Gate.

Everyone's eyes widened in surprise, especially Ace's.

He watched in horror as one of his strongest attacks, the Flame Emperor, vanished into thin air. The next second, a blinding light shone from afar.

Everyone turned to look.

The Flame Emperor, who had just disappeared, reappeared on the sea surface a thousand meters away.

"How is that possible?"

Ace couldn't help but exclaim in surprise. Not only Marco, Jozu, Vista, and the other captains, but they all gaped open, as if they had witnessed the most incredible thing in the world.

Even Whitebeard's eyes were somewhat vacant at this moment.

He murmured, "Shift the attack?"

With his knowledge, he naturally understood how powerful this move was. For example, with the move "Flame Emperor" just now, Moke could have easily teleported directly onto their heads.

If such a capability were to appear in a war, it would be an absolute one-sided crushing victory!

At this moment, Whitebeard's gaze towards Moke changed. If before he thought Moke might actually have a chance to overthrow the World Government and bring down the Celestial Dragons...

So now he doesn't think, or perhaps...

Instead, he was absolutely certain that Moke possessed such strength. No one knew Ace's power better than him. The meticulous training over the past three years... had not only elevated Ace's Devil Fruit Ability to a higher level.

His Armament Haki and Observation Haki have also reached an extremely high level.

Although there is still a significant gap between him and those at the level of the Four Emperors, it is enough to make up for his shortcomings and give him the strength to fight against Emperor Level.

That's right.

In his eyes, even though Ace wasn't yet Emperor Level, he already possessed the strength to fight an Emperor Level.

If only my Armament Haki and Observation Haki were a little stronger.

If only his physical strength were a little stronger and his stamina a little longer.

Then he can officially enter the Emperor Level!

However, to everyone's surprise, Ace, a powerhouse who could be considered a near- Emperor Level, was so utterly vulnerable in front of Moke.

That's right, they were utterly vulnerable.

Although Moke hadn't inflicted much damage on Ace yet, his Moke strength hadn't been fully revealed.

For example, the power of the Zoan Mythical Zoan Five-Clawed Golden Dragon Fruit.

For example, the Paramecia - Absorb-Absorb Fruit has not been fully demonstrated.

For example, Kendo...

For example, physical skills...

Most importantly, it's Haki...

He knew that Moke possessed the same special Armament Haki as Oden had, and also Conqueror's Haki comparable to Red-Hair '... all of which he hadn't yet revealed.

In other words, Moke was just playing around...