Ace crawled out from under the snapped mainmast.
He dusted off his hat and flashed a broad grin, but his eyes had turned razor-sharp.
"That really gave me a scare."
"To blow away my flames with nothing but wind pressure..."
"What are you, some kind of monster?"
Crackle, crackle, crackle.
Flames crawled along his arms, warping the air itself.
As a Logia user of the Mera Mera no Mi (Flame-Flame Fruit), Ace had absolute confidence.
Physical attacks were useless against him.
No matter how monstrous that green brute's strength was, it meant nothing if it couldn't hit his real body.
"Still, the farce ends here."
"Keep rampaging and my ship will sink!"
Ace crouched slightly, his body drawn like a taut bow.
"Shiranui!!"
Swish-swish-swish—!
Two spears of flame formed instantly in his hands and were hurled like javelins.
The fiery lances spun at blinding speed, shrieking toward Hulk's eyes.
If the thick hide was impossible to crack, then aim for the weak spots!
Roar!!
Hulk didn't even consider dodging the incoming fire spears.
He merely lowered his head in rage and slammed it straight into them!
Clang!!
The flaming spears struck green skin with a metallic ring.
Sparks flew everywhere!
Ace's fire lances shattered outright, leaving only a faint black smear across Hulk's forehead.
Not even the skin was broken!
"Huh?!"
Ace's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.
What kind of defense was this?
Those were energy spears forged from fire!
Flames hot enough to melt steel!
And you blocked it with your forehead?
Before Ace could recover, Hulk moved.
Boom!
The deck wailed again.
The massive green shape defied physics, crossing dozens of meters in an instant.
A hand the size of a fan clawed for Ace.
"Too slow!"
Ace's body instantly dissolved into a swirl of flame.
Whoosh!
Hulk's hand closed on empty air, crushing only fire.
But that didn't slow him.
If he couldn't grab, then he'd smash!
Boom! Boom! Boom!
Like a rabid beast, Hulk pummeled the deck and air alike.
Every punch left a giant hole.
Timbers flew.
The whole pirate vessel lurched, groaning like a tortured hinge.
"Hey! Quit it!"
Ace re-formed mid-air, shouting in fury.
"That's the keel! Don't hit the keel, you bastard!"
"Can you swim? If the ship sinks, we're all finished!"
The answer was a heavy cannon Hulk casually ripped loose.
Whoosh—!
The black barrel shot like a javelin at the airborne Ace.
Ace twisted aside just in time.
The cannon skimmed his scalp and plunged into the sea, sending up a geyser.
Stalemate.
Complete stalemate.
Ace's flames couldn't pierce Hulk's hide; that insane regeneration was practically cheating.
And though Hulk's strength could shatter the heavens, without Haki, he couldn't catch the elemental Ace.
The two were like foremen of a demolition crew.
One in charge of arson, the other of violent demolition.
Barely a few minutes later, the once-mighty flagship of the Spade Pirates was reduced to a skeleton.
Seawater gushed in through every breach.
The hull listed at a speed visible to the naked eye.
"H-Help..."
In a corner, the forgotten First Mate, Deuce, clung to a broken rail, trembling as the deck tilted.
His face, already violet from poison, had now gone ghost-white from terror.
A veritable kaleidoscope of sickly hues.
"Captain..."
"I didn't die from the poison..."
"I'm going to die in a shipwreck..."
Tears of despair rolled down Deuce's cheeks as he watched Ace still brawling mid-air with the green monster.
What kind of lousy luck was this?
They'd come looking for a Doctor to save a life, only for the physician to turn into a monster determined to wreck the ship!
Just as the vessel was about to break apart and Ace prepared to unleash his ultimate move, "Dai Enkai: Entei", a voice—utterly out of place—cut through the roar of battle and reached every ear.
"Truly crude treatment."
"Frightening the patient to death is, admittedly, one way to cure suffering."
Who?!
Both Ace and Hulk froze.
They turned as one toward the source.
Atop the still-standing mizzenmast stood a figure who hadn't been there an instant before.
A man in strange robes, a huge blue scarf wrapped around his neck, hiding half his face, with only cold eyes showing.
In his hand, he toyed with a vial of violet liquid.
Most striking was the massive medicine chest on his back, bearing a single ancient Kanji: Healer (医).
The sea wind snapped his robes like a banner.
He stood quietly, as if detached from the chaos, carrying an eerie stillness.
"Who are you?"
Ace demanded warily.
So focused on the fight, he hadn't sensed the man's approach.
"Me?"
The stranger lowered his gaze slightly, his voice hoarse and cold.
"Just a wandering physician passing by."
"You may call me... the Divine Physician."
Before the words had faded, the man flicked his wrist.
The violet vial sailed out, tracing a graceful arc to land between Hulk and Ace on the deck.
Crack!
The bottle shattered.
No explosion, only a dense, suffocating purple mist bursting forth!
Hiss—
Where the violet smoke touched, the deck hissed, blackened, and smoked.
"What is this?!"
Ace's face changed; danger screamed in his mind as he leapt back.
But the mist spread like wildfire.
In an instant, it swallowed Hulk's towering frame.
Roar?
Hulk sniffed the purple vapor, puzzled.
A heartbeat later, his berserk expression froze.
The giant swayed, as if drunk.
The terrifying strength that could flip tanks drained away.
Steel-hard muscles slackened.
Hulk shook his head, his eyelids drooping.
It felt like being force-fed a ton of tranquilizer.
"Time to calm down, big fellow."
The Divine Physician leapt from the mast.
He landed feather-light amid the ruined deck.
Without a glance at Ace, he walked straight toward the hapless Deuce.
Deuce, poisoned past saving, now lay unconscious.
Only the faint rise of his chest said he still lived.
The Divine Physician knelt.
In those cold eyes flickered a trace of unreadable data.
"Hey! Stay away from my crew!"
Ace shouted, panic flaring as the strange man neared Deuce.
Flames sparked at his fingertips.
"Relax, fire-boy."
Without turning, the physician tapped a finger to Deuce's forehead.
A soft green glow flowed from the fingertip into Deuce's body.
"I'm saving him."