Even a cornered beast would fight. Someone like Ace, who was both insecure and intensely proud, could never surrender without a fight, so even if it took everything he had, he would strike one final blow.
Ace stood facing Blackbeard, flames circling around him in ring after ring like a fiery vortex. He stood at its center like a king of fire, receiving the homage of endless flames.
The next moment, the fiery vortex surged upward, shooting into the clouds. A dazzling pillar of flame surrounded Ace, even thinning the darkness around him a little.
Then the pillar of flame broke apart, revealing Ace within.
Ace now held his left hand upright, an absurdly enormous fireball balanced on his index finger. The flames over its surface churned and rose, as though a sun had fallen into the mortal world!
Great Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!
Blackbeard was a little surprised by Ace's extravagant move, but he had complete confidence in his Dark-Dark Fruit.
"Zehahahaha! The sun or the darkness-there can only be one winner!"
"That's right. There can only be one winner!"
With that, both charged at each other at the same time. On one side was a raging, blazing sun; on the other was deep darkness that devoured everything. They collided head-on.
In that instant, heaven and earth seemed to split into two sharply defined halves, one of light and heat, the other of darkness. The flames tried to burn the darkness away, while the darkness sought to swallow the sun whole.
The sun and the darkness remained locked in a stalemate.
Ten minutes later, a squad of guards hurried over.
The flames and darkness earlier had caused such a tremendous disturbance that there was no way they could have gone unnoticed. But the power erupting here had kept