The snowfield was blasted with countless craters. Ice walls shattered one after another, and even the distant castle collapsed under the shockwaves!
"Damn it!" Teach wiped the blood from his mouth and grinned savagely. "I'm in a sorry state..."
Scorching flames wreathed Ace's body. "Surrender, Teach. You've lost."
Cavendish looked relaxed. "Hand over the Devil Fruit, and maybe our captain will spare your life."
"Don't think you've got me beaten. This fight isn't over!" Teach snapped his head up, his eyes blazing.
He stamped the ground apart. Black Haki surged out like a wave, briefly forcing all three of them back.
But just as he prepared to counterattack,
another strike of lightning and fire crashed down and swallowed him whole.
Teach was on the back foot, but he kept fighting.
The four fighters carried their battle across the landscape like a moving natural disaster. Even the towering snowcapped mountains were sheared in half.
Luffy and the others fled in disarray. Only when they reached the foot of the mountain did they get a chance to catch their breath.
They looked up. Lightning flashed across the sky, thunder roared, and flames surged heavenward.
"Th-this is how strong the fighters on the Grand Line are?" Usopp's legs trembled. "I think I've caught a disease that'll kill me if we go any farther. How about we head back to the East Blue?"
Zoro's hand trembled slightly around his sword, but fighting spirit burned in his eyes. "One day, I'll reach that level too—"
Luffy grinned. "Ace is as strong as ever. But one day, I'm going to surpass him!"
Just then, Teach, hurled away by a blast of air, lunged toward Luffy.
Clearly, their earlier conversation had told him about the relationship between Luffy and Ace.
But a wall of fire cut off