Marineford, Marineford.
"Marshal, urgent intelligence!"
A Marine officer entered Sengoku's office with a grave expression, holding a stack of freshly delivered reports.
"Fire Fist Ace has appeared in Dressrosa. He clashed with Donquixote Doflamingo and afterward engaged in battle with an unidentified individual."
Sengoku, who had been processing documents, looked up immediately. He accepted the report and frowned deeply.
This was not just a written briefing. Attached were several battlefield photographs and a video Den Den Mushi recording.
"Summon Chief of Staff Tsuru," Sengoku ordered.
He quickly scanned the written report before activating the video Den Den Mushi. The footage showed Ace in combat with Lucien. The recording was brief, barely thirty to forty seconds long, yet it was more than enough to make Sengoku's expression turn heavy.
Before long, Tsuru entered the office.
"Fire Fist Ace clashed with Doflamingo?" she asked the moment she arrived, clearly already informed.
"Review this first," Sengoku replied, handing her the intelligence.
Tsuru read through the documents, then watched the video in silence. When the footage ended, her expression was just as serious.
"Who is this man?" Tsuru asked, staring at the frozen frame.
The image clearly showed Lucien, his entire body transformed into red and black crystal, white flames burning along his exterior. He looked like a living crystal entity.
More importantly, this crystal man was evenly matched with Fire Fist Ace.
At present, Ace carried a bounty of 1,689,000,000 Berries and possessed combat strength comparable to an Admiral. Anyone capable of fighting him head on was unquestionably a top tier existence.
"Unknown," Sengoku replied, shaking his head. "I have already ordered a full investigation."
"What triggered this incident?"
"Our current intelligence is too limited. We will need more time."
At the same moment, deep within the New World, aboard Whitebeard's flagship.
Time rewound ten minutes.
"Pops, one of the Seven Warlords of the Sea, Bartholomew Kuma, has arrived."
Whitebeard lowered his sake jug and let out a booming laugh. "Gurararara, is he here for my head?"
"No. He says Fire Fist Ace sent him."
"Ace?" Whitebeard paused, then waved his hand. "Let him come."
"Yes."
Under the watchful gazes of Marco and the other commanders, Kuma's heavy footsteps echoed across the deck. He stopped before Whitebeard, holding his Bible calmly, showing neither fear nor hesitation before the strongest man in the world.
"Whitebeard."
"Bring him some sake," Whitebeard ordered.
Kuma accepted the cup and sat down, his expression unchanged. "I came at Fire Fist Ace's request, to treat you."
"Gurararara, you know Ace?" Whitebeard asked, surprised.
"Not well," Kuma replied flatly. "But someone who knows him very well asked me."
Whitebeard's eyes narrowed slightly.
"Fire Fist Ace has two younger brothers," Kuma continued. "One of them asked me to come."
He said no more, but the meaning was clear.
Jozu scratched his head. Ace had spoken of his two brothers many times. One was Monkey D. Luffy, the infamous Supernova. The other, he only knew by name, Sabo.
"Gurararara," Whitebeard laughed again, then shook his head. "Ace's brothers truly are extraordinary."
His laughter faded as realization struck. He looked at Kuma with mild surprise. "I did not expect you to be affiliated with that side."
"Since you understand," Kuma said, standing up, "then let us begin."
"I am not ill," Whitebeard replied calmly.
"But your body carries many hidden injuries," Kuma said without hesitation.
He removed his glove and pressed his bear paw shaped right hand against Whitebeard's chest.
Marco and the others tensed instantly, some reaching for their weapons, until Whitebeard raised his hand to stop them.
Still, if Kuma made even the slightest hostile move, every commander would strike without mercy.
Behind Whitebeard, a massive bear paw silhouette appeared, blood red and expanding rapidly. Its presence was ominous.
Kuma's expression shifted slightly.
The hidden injuries within Whitebeard's body were far more severe than expected.
The red mass condensed into a flesh like sphere over a hundred meters wide, floating in the air and radiating terrifying pressure.
"Gurararara…"
Whitebeard exhaled slowly, his body feeling unusually light.
It felt as though he had become ten years younger.
"Incredible," Marco muttered.
"These are all of Pops' hidden injuries?" the commanders asked, stunned.
"How do you feel?" Marco asked.
"As if I have shed a decade," Whitebeard replied.
Everyone could sense the difference. Where once stood an aging giant weighed down by time, now stood a man bursting with renewed vitality.
Kuma compressed the massive blood red sphere again and again until it shrank to the size of a fist. He then hurled it into the sea.
There was no explosion.
Only when the sphere sank to the ocean floor and ruptured did the destruction occur. Every living creature within tens of thousands of meters, including Sea Kings, was annihilated.
"My task is complete," Kuma said.
He looked at Whitebeard once more, then vanished without a trace.
"My sons," Whitebeard said, clenching his fist and feeling unprecedented smoothness throughout his body, "let us feast. Bring out the sake!"
A thunderous cheer erupted across the deck.
"Pops," a pirate shouted as the celebration peaked, "new intelligence. Ace clashed with Donquixote Doflamingo in Dressrosa and is now fighting a mysterious individual."
Dressrosa.
The battlefield had expanded across millions of meters. The two combatants were like walking calamities, reshaping everything in their path.
At the very center, two figures, one tall and one smaller, collided like madmen, blood spraying with every impact.
A violent mushroom cloud erupted as they struck, sending both flying backward.
Lucien struggled to maintain control as he rolled through shattered terrain, carving a deep gully while blood poured from his mouth.
Ace emerged from another pile of ruins, panting heavily, his condition no better.
If Lucien's Armament Haki had been even slightly weaker, the damage would have been far worse.
Lucien dragged himself from the rubble, necrotic cells peeling away as his injuries rapidly healed.
A violent gust swept across the battlefield.
Both figures vanished.
A collision like falling meteors followed. A deafening sonic boom triggered a towering tsunami, while upright canyon walls twisted under invisible pressure and collapsed into a vast abyss.
Above that abyss, the two clashed again.
At close range, Lucien drove his elbow toward Ace's throat, killing intent unmistakable.
Ace responded instantly. His right hand, wreathed in flames, blocked the strike, while his left formed a blazing spear and thrust it toward Lucien's head.
Their auras crashed violently.
Lucien's amethyst eyes flashed. He raised his right hand to shield his head, grabbing the flaming spear while continuing his assault without pause.
A colossal storm erupted, grinding everything into ruin. The abyss widened further.
A sharp crack echoed as Lucien's right hand momentarily slackened, then snapped back into shape.
The stone walls of the abyss were deeply crushed. Ace spat blood, his chest collapsing inward before rapidly restoring itself.
Their gazes locked.
Like colliding meteorites, they struck again.
The sky buckled and the earth caved in. Lucien ignored Ace's counterattacks entirely, his black and red crystal hand seizing Ace's head and slamming it into the ground.
Blood splattered instantly.
Ace lay embedded within a meteor crater, his eyes rolling back as the impact shook the land.
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