The sea abruptly fell deathly silent.
They watched the slender figure walking slowly across the sea toward them.
Everyone's nerves gradually stretched taut to the limit, their eyes widening unconsciously as they desperately tried to make out the identity of the person before them.
Over a thousand pirates were already trembling all over in terror.
Those at the sea restaurant did not even dare breathe loudly.
"Boss Zeff, that guy's way too young. And what he's holding is actually a wooden sword."
Patty cried out, his face filled with shock.
A series of sharp gasps immediately rang out.
A pirate ship dozens of meters long had been cleaved in two.
Such an incomparably fierce attack had actually come from a wooden sword.
Who would have believed it without seeing it with their own eyes?
"This guy's unfamiliar. I've never heard of him in the East Blue. Could he have come from the Grand Line?"
Sanji raised an eyebrow as he spoke.
Zeff fell silent, a cigarette between his lips.
Beside him, Ace, who had remained silent all this time, suddenly spoke.
"He's from the East Blue, a Marine supernova. Even I find him troublesome. I never expected to run into this guy somewhere like this."
A Marine supernova?
Everyone present froze.
Mihal hurriedly asked, "Captain Ace, you said he's a Marine supernova, but who is he? Don't tell me even you're no match for him?"
"If that's the case, we'd better run. If we fall into his hands, we probably won't even get the chance to go to the Grand Line."
"Mihal, shut up!"
Ace slapped Mihal straight across the back of his head and barked at him with a glare.
"Nobody will take you for a mute if you keep your mouth shut."
"I've never seen this guy since I met Ace."
"If he was stronger than Ace, that was before Ace got the Flame-Flame Fruit. Now, that's another story."
As Ace's first crewmate, Deuce knew very well where Ace had obtained his Devil Fruit.
As for just how powerful Ace was after gaining the Flame-Flame Fruit's abilities...
He knew that just as well.
"Don't worry. I've been looking for him too, to settle the score. This time, I'm absolutely certain I can beat him!"
Ace lifted the brim of his hat, a smile appearing on his freckled face.
Just moments ago, he had been wondering when he could use the Flame-Flame Fruit to settle the score.
He had never imagined that speaking of the devil would bring the devil himself!
"Mihal, did you hear that? That's our captain, the strongest rookie pirate in the Four Blues, Ace, captain of the Spade Pirates!"
Deuce laughed heartily.
Zeff and the others also took on the expressions of spectators watching a show.
They, too, wanted to see what sparks would fly when the strongest rookie pirate clashed with the strongest rookie Marine.
Under Bai Yu's feet, the distance of several thousand meters seemed to shrink to inches.
With every step, he appeared dozens of meters away.
This was the product of combining Shunpo and Soru.
Bai Yu called it Shun Soru!
It was something Bai Yu had developed out of idle boredom during this time.
In terms of speed, it was more powerful and faster than ordinary Soru.
Looking at that distinctive pirate ship moored at the sea restaurant, Bai Yu could not help revealing a bloodthirsty smile.
It seemed his next character template was within reach.
Hopefully, Ace is qualified for a second farming run now!
Two or three minutes later, under everyone's watchful eyes, Bai Yu's figure came clearly into view.
Krieg, who had been kneeling on the ground, was the first to rush as close to Bai Yu as possible, kowtowing and shouting.
"Honorable Marine, please stop hunting me down! There's a pirate super rookie here who claims to have a fifty-million-Beli bounty. If you want to play, play with him!"
"If you still want to hunt me down, then die!"
Bang!
Krieg leaped forward, swinging the great battle spear in his hands down hard at Bai Yu head-on.
At such close range, Krieg believed that as long as he landed a hit and inflicted damage...
He would then be able to find an opportunity to escape.
However, the thought had only just surfaced in his mind.
Bai Yu casually caught it with his left hand, his five fingers abruptly tightening.
Bang!
The great battle spear cast in gold shattered on the spot as though it were made of paper.
Bai Yu turned the wooden sword in his hand and drove it straight into Krieg's chest.
Bang!
Krieg's entire chest caved in instantly, and after he spat out a mouthful of blood...
He flew backward like a cannonball before everyone's eyes, crashing straight into the deck of a ship dozens of meters away.
The tremendous impact tore through the thick deck, cracking and splintering it.
Krieg, who was considerably bigger than an ordinary man, was embedded headfirst in the deck.
Dead silence filled the scene.
Quite a few people stared with their eyes fixed wide.
Krieg, who had a seventeen-million bounty and styled himself the overlord of the East Blue, had been dealt with in two moves.
At that moment, they finally understood why Krieg, with his fifty pirate ships and five thousand men, had been hunted all over the sea.
Against a powerhouse like this, even doubling those numbers probably would not make much difference.
But right now, what concerned them most was still the clash between the two rookies.
"Bai Yu, I never expected you to show up here."
Ace spoke first, his face brimming with fighting spirit.
"You know what? Ever since I got this Flame-Flame Fruit, I've been thinking about you every day. I thought I'd have to reach the Grand Line before I could meet you, but I never expected you to deliver yourself right to my door."
"Kid, Ace is the captain of our Spade Pirates. The Flame-Flame Fruit is a Logia, the rarest kind of Devil Fruit. Its power is beyond anything you can imagine. I suggest you leave now, or once the fighting starts, you won't even have a chance to run."
Deuce hurriedly worked to prejudice everyone against him.
Smiling, Ace patted Deuce's shoulder. Flames flared around his body, and he used Elemental Transformation to turn into a mass of fire and land aboard a pirate ship.
The pirates who had still been there instantly scattered at the sight, scrambling to escape.
Ordinarily, such a brazen act of using their pirate ship as a battlefield would definitely have prompted them to attack en masse.
But now, even their lives were in jeopardy.
They did not dare act rashly.
"Is that your crewmate? He seems pretty good."
Bai Yu gave a bloodthirsty smile as he spoke.
"But I really want to know whether you're worth a slash now!"
"Heh, Bai Yu, you haven't changed. You saw that just now, didn't you?"
Ace lifted the brim of his hat and spoke with a playful smile.
"That was Elemental Transformation, something only a Logia Devil Fruit can do."
"So what?" Holding his wooden sword, Bai Yu's smile grew even wider.
Ace's expression froze. The competitive spirit deep in his eyes ignited instantly, and as flames rapidly blazed across his body...
He erupted forward like a cannonball.
"Nothing. I mean, you aren't even qualified to land an attack on me now!"