So-called destiny was nothing more than what people liked to dress up as timing and circumstance.
If that was all it amounted to, then as long as Xiao's strength could one day surpass nature itself—
as long as human will could trample heaven and earth underfoot—
then fate would lose all meaning.
Yet at this moment, Xiao was in no hurry to tear destiny apart.
On the contrary, its existence intrigued him.
He intended to continue testing it—
until he seized fate by the throat and dragged it out of the water, forcing it to reveal its true face.
The more destiny favored Luffy and his crew, the more violently it intervened…
the closer it would come to exposing its own nature.
When that moment arrived, the omnipresent cyber aura would make fate understand one thing clearly—
Who the true master was.
According to destiny's established trajectory, the Straw Hat Pirates were fated to defeat Crocodile, overthrow a Shichibukai, and prevent the war between Alabasta's royal army and the rebels.
But Xiao had never believed the explanation given in the original story.
That the rebels laid down their arms simply because they learned the truth about Crocodile?
Ridiculous.
The real reason was far simpler—and far more brutal.
They knew they couldn't win.
Even the leaders of the rebellion had been crushed effortlessly by Crocodile alone, yet Luffy had defeated that same monster head-on.
Half the royal capital had nearly been destroyed in the aftermath.
No one with a functioning brain would dare continue a war under such circumstances.
Add to that Cobra's public admission of fault, Vivi's reconciliation with Koza—her childhood friend and future brother-in-law—and the Straw Hats' explicit declaration that they would not pursue retribution…
Peace had been forced into existence.
But now?
Everything was different.
With the advent of the Black Sun, the Alabasta rebellion was no longer the old resistance led by Koza.
It had been completely seized by the Earthly Executors—fanatics whose sole purpose was to purge tyranny and sin from the world.
Only by relying on them could the resistance swell to such terrifying numbers.
Koza, who had not accepted the Black Sun's power, was now nothing more than the leader of a single detachment.
At this moment, Xiao was genuinely curious—
How would Luffy turn the tide this time?
How would he stop a war driven not by misunderstanding, but by belief?
Just then—
"Hey… Teach. I've been looking for you for a long time."
A familiar voice, casual yet faintly reproachful, rang out behind him.
Xiao turned in surprise.
On a nearby rooftop squatted a man wearing a cowboy hat, shirtless beneath the blazing sun. His bronzed skin gleamed with heat, radiating a wild, untamed charisma.
Xiao's lips curved into a bright smile.
"Well, well… isn't this Ace," he drawled deliberately, eyes flickering with amusement.
"Captain Ace."
Ace's expression didn't change.
His voice was calm—cold, even.
"Cut it out. Calling me 'captain' is something you do when you actually respect someone. Don't play dumb with me."
Xiao chuckled, clearly having expected that response.
"Etiquette is etiquette," he said lightly. "Isn't that your favorite thing, Captain Ace? Hahaha—"
His laughter echoed across the port.
And with it, the temperature spiked several degrees in an instant.
Ace's eyes darkened.
"Someone like you talking about etiquette?" he said, fury bleeding through his voice.
"You murdered a crewmate. You broke the iron law of the Whitebeard Pirates."
Flames erupted around him, blazing gold and white.
"For filth like you—"
"I'll personally erase you."
"…Burn you to ashes."
"Fire Fist!"
The sky screamed.
A colossal fist of flame—dozens of meters wide—descended like a meteor, carrying the force of annihilation.
Where it passed, the world burned.
The air twisted.
The ground blackened.
The sea itself recoiled.
"Dark Water."
Xiao spoke softly.
From his body surged an ocean of darkness, spiraling into a bottomless vortex before him—
a black abyss swallowing all light.
The fire fist slammed into it head-on.
"Pay for Thatch's life, Teach!"
Ace's roar split the heavens.
Red and black lightning crackled along the collision point.
BOOM—!!
A shockwave exploded outward, ripping the sea into towering walls of water and hurling hurricane-force winds across the port.
For a heartbeat, Xiao's dark vortex held.
Then it shattered.
Ace's flames tore through the darkness like a divine punishment, crashing into Xiao with unstoppable momentum.
Fire consumed everything.
Temperatures soared beyond tens of thousands of degrees.
The ocean boiled violently, steam screaming skyward.
Stone melted into rivers of lava.
Sand fused into glass.
The port of Alabasta became a living hell.
People fled in blind terror, knowing that one misstep meant being reduced to ash.
At the center of the inferno, the Blackbeard Pirates were engulfed in a vast shroud of darkness released from Xiao's body.
Endless black mist poured forth, attempting to smother the raging flames.
Yet Ace's fire did not falter.
It danced, fierce and arrogant, driving the darkness back inch by inch—
like a king refusing to bow.
Unruly.
Unyielding.
Unextinguishable.
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