Ace thought for a moment and said somewhat uncertainly, after all, he had only recently obtained the Flame-Flame Fruit and hadn't developed many of its techniques. In the East Blue, where no one Haki, no one can withstand the scorching flames.
Of course, there are some abilities that can counter fire, but there are very few East Blue Fruit users in the East Blue, let alone those who can counter fire, so Ace's understanding of the Flame-Flame Fruit was not that deep.
Moreover, having grown up secluded in the mountains without attending school and with limited experience, one can only develop certain techniques instinctively, making it difficult to develop abilities using knowledge and experiences beyond one's own understanding.
"It's not wrong to say it burns, but what you see is only the surface. You haven't seen through the surface to the essence. The Flame-Flame Fruit is Logia ability, and what it manifests as is flame. And what is the first impression of flame?"
It is burning, but burning is just a process and a phenomenon, and it is the least for us to explore in depth. If we want to make fire a weapon in our hands, then we must see the result of the fire burning, which is destruction, burning everything that touches the fire to ashes!
Therefore, we need to look beyond the surface of flames and delve deeper into the results. You know, there are many substances that flames cannot easily destroy, such as stones and metals.
But are they really impossible to burn? Of course not. It all depends on the temperature of the flame. When the flame reaches a certain temperature, even stones and metals can instantly vaporize and disappear!
Therefore, the essence of flame is temperature. To develop the Flame-Flame Fruit to be powerful, one must focus on controlling the temperature of the flame.
No matter how flashy or cool you develop your Devil Fruit ability, you can't lose the essential temperature of fire. Otherwise, the technique is just for show and useless. Covering it with Armament Haki can easily block it, but when the temperature of the fire is high enough, even Armament Haki will have a hard time blocking it!
As Vic explained the nature of the Flame-Flame Fruit to Ace, his fingertips were wrapped in leaping Inazuma. He pointed at a large rock not far from them, and a beam of dark blue laser light instantly pierced through the rock, which was more than two meters thick.
The essence of lasers is that photons carry and release enormous energy, and this energy manifests as temperature—extremely high temperatures, temperatures that can instantly vaporize stone and metal!
He wanted to show Ace the destructive power that comes with a certain temperature. His lasers could only be blocked by the Armament Haki of a very few people, and even then, only for a short period of time.
Lasers are ultimately just a small branch of the Rumble-Rumble Fruit's power. Even though their attack power is extremely strong, their effective range is not very large. But the Flame-Flame Fruit is different. Its range and temperature are its strengths. Under certain conditions, it can easily destroy a town. Temperature is a crucial factor in how quickly the destruction occurs!
The Rumble-Rumble Fruit can easily destroy cities and islands, but the destructive power of lightning is fundamentally different from that of fire.
"What! How did they do that?! There's even lava?"
Although Ace possessed the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, he wouldn't be thinking about using it for temperature-related purposes in the short term. Even the most ordinary boiled water can scald human skin tissue, so burning a human with flames would be too easy; a single flame would be unbearable for the human body.
Therefore, Ace wouldn't encounter any shortcomings in terms of temperature when using fire as an attack method, because at least in the first half of the Grand Line, his fire was invincible, unless he encountered someone who could fight him using their abilities.
Even so, it wouldn't expose the flame's weakness in terms of temperature; he would simply consider it a normal phenomenon of mutual restraint between abilities.
If one lacks comprehension, even when facing a Haki Awakening from the New World, they still won't realize the relative strengths and weaknesses between temperature's destructive power and Haki's defensive capabilities. They'll simply parrot others, believing that Haki's ability to counter Devil Fruit powers is absolute, especially against Logia abilities.
However, Ace was quite good at understanding things. Take the Great Flame Commandment he later developed— Flame Emperor —for example; it was an imitation and reflection of the sun.
He had never seen the sun in person, so this technique still had many shortcomings. However, he definitely considered the temperature, otherwise he wouldn't have made that Straw Hat for Little Oars Jr.. It's just unknown whether he incorporated those thoughts into the development of the Flame-Flame Fruit.
However, now that Ace knows the direction of the Devil Fruit's development in advance, he can avoid many detours in the future. Moreover, Vic even demonstrated the power of temperature to him, which will definitely leave a very deep impression on Ace.
"See that? That's the power of temperature. The lava is just a byproduct. The rocks that truly confronted the temperature head-on have disappeared. Can your flames do that?"
"I... I can't do it!"
Ace swallowed hard and said, "My flames are only good enough to burn wood and roast meat. It would be good enough if they could even heat some metal red-hot. If you gave me a rock, with my current skill level, I'd probably burn it to death and still be helpless against it."
Just like in one episode of Journey to the West, where a candle is used to burn a copper lock, and only by melting the copper lock can rain fall. In Journey to the West, the Jade Emperor originally intended to make things difficult for that county, but in essence, the candle flame can never get the copper lock to work.
If Ace's flames could consistently burn his opponents, would he have bothered to further develop flames capable of instantly carbonizing or vaporizing living beings? Most likely not.
Just like the regions of India and Vietnam in the Vic World, where the climate is suitable and three or even four harvests a year are possible, and the harvest from simply throwing some rice seeds into the fields can feed a family, would they still bother with intensive farming?
In modern times, this might still happen, but it wouldn't have been the case in ancient times. Trade between countries was very restricted then, and everyone had enough to eat. Even if you grew too much grain, you couldn't sell it or make money. Who would bother with intensive farming that was so thankless?
The principle is similar: without demand, there's no in-depth exploration. Now that Vic has told Ace about the ultimate form of fire, even if Ace doesn't have the need, he'll still be curious to see what the ultimate form of fire looks like. By then, it might even be the God Realm.
"See that? If you continue to develop the Flame-Flame Fruit, it will become sharper than any sword made of metal!"
Fire has no fixed form and is all-pervasive; how to develop it is up to you, but you must think divergently around a key point.
Of course, developing Devil Fruit abilities requires the development of Haki, which cannot be neglected. I defeated you in one move using Armament Haki. If I didn't have Armament Haki, it would be difficult to determine a winner between us, and we would just be staring at each other helplessly.
Therefore, Haki is also a very important ability, and it can play a big role in crucial moments. Why was your father able to become the King of the Grand Line even though he didn't have Devil Fruit ability?
Of course, it's his unparalleled Haki! The old man became Hero of the Marines precisely because of Haki, so don't underestimate Haki! He focused all his energy on developing his Devil Fruit abilities!
Although Vic gave Ace some pointers on how to develop his Devil Fruit abilities, he wouldn't let him specialize in only one area. In the original story, Ace was punched through the chest by Akainu because his Haki was inferior to Akainu's. A single punch shattered Akainu's Haki defense, exposing Akainu's back to him!
Ace was definitely one-sided in his training of Haki and the development of his Devil Fruit. If he hadn't been one-sided, with his talent, even if his Haki wasn't as good as Akainu's, he wouldn't have been killed by being pierced through the chest. At most, he would have been sent flying by Akainu's punch.
Therefore, Vic went so far as to bring up Roger, whom Ace disliked, in order to get Ace's attention!
The move that Vic used to defeat Ace was an external application of Armament Haki, so even if Ace transformed into his elemental form, it wouldn't have mattered. This will be one of the most profound memories of Ace's life, and it could also be said to be the first crushing defeat he has ever suffered in his entire life!
" Mr. Vic! I understand! Thank you for your guidance!"
Ace was deeply shocked by Vic's arguments and fell into deep thought, his eyes unfocused.