Chapter 5: Soaring into the Sky
Under Ace's control, the pillar of fire gradually shrank to its limit—just half a meter in diameter and three meters tall. The color of the flame's core shifted from dark red to a deeper crimson, glowing with intensity.
Elemental Ace stood within the column of fire. After sensing the surrounding heat, he muttered,
"600 degrees... a bit more... That seems to be the limit."
He dispersed the flames around him with a look of disappointment.
"Again!"
"Fire Ring—Fire Pillar!"
A massive blaze erupted, then began to compress before extinguishing.
"Once more!"
"Fire Ring—Fire Pillar!"
Boom!
Again and again, he ignited and compressed the fire, tirelessly experimenting. Despite the variation in form and scale, the temperature stubbornly remained at 600 degrees.
"Huff... Huff... Is this really my limit?" Ace panted heavily before collapsing to the ground, frustration etched across his face.
A 600-degree flame—this was as far as the Mera Mera no Mi (Flame-Flame Fruit) would take him? It wasn't enough. Not nearly enough.
"Damn it! Why only 600 degrees? Theoretically, flames shouldn't have an upper limit! Could it be that this is the cap for the Mera Mera no Mi's flame temperature? It has to at least match magma temperatures!"
Ace clenched his teeth in anger. In the following days, he experimented with everything he could think of. But no matter the form—wave, burst, ring, or pillar—his elemental flames remained at a stubborn 600 degrees.
"No wonder Akainu said magma suppresses fire. If the Mera Mera no Mi really caps out here, it's totally countered by his Magu Magu no Mi. I'd be toast in a direct fight."
His mind wandered back to the original series. "No wonder the original Ace came up with so many strange moves. He must have realized the same limit and had no choice but to explore other paths of development."
"Still, that guy with the Atsu Atsu no Mi (Heat-Heat Fruit) could reach 10,000 degrees! Why does mine max out at 600? It's so frustrating."
"But then again, this isn't the Temperature Fruit. If the Mera Mera no Mi had no upper limit, it could easily become the most powerful Devil Fruit of all time. Think about it—scientists in my previous life reached temperatures in the hundreds of millions of degrees in lab experiments. That's hotter than the surface of the sun. If I could generate even a fraction of that, I could vaporize the planet."
Realizing that pushing the flame's temperature any higher wasn't feasible—for now—Ace decided on a different approach.
"If I can't increase the flame temperature, I can still manipulate its form. There's always another way to enhance power. And when I finally meet Akainu… I'll give him a surprise he won't forget."
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With that thought in mind, Ace shifted gears. He held up his hand, conjuring a fireball about half a meter in diameter, then focused intently.
Compression.
The fireball shrank—once, twice—ten times over until it was barely the size of a fist.
"Fire Bomb!"
He hurled it forward.
Boom!
The fireball detonated ten meters away, carving out a crater several meters wide.
"Not bad… Compressing it ten times took seven seconds. A bit long in battle. Let's reduce that."
Ace began intensive training, repeatedly conjuring and compressing fireballs.
After three days of effort, he managed to reduce the compression time drastically—tenfold compression in just one second, and fivefold in only a third of a second.
"Nice. If I can seamlessly compress and throw it in one motion, this move will be deadly. And there's still room to grow. With further refinement, fire bombs can become a trump card."
Smiling at the charred craters littering the ground, Ace felt his motivation reignite.
"Next—let's try something else."
Flames burst from his right hand, and with a motion, they reshaped into a blazing longsword.
"Huh… didn't think flame-shaping would be this easy," he grinned. "Now to give it a proper name."
"Fire Sword?"
"Flame Emperor's Blade?"
"Evil Flame King's Sword of Destruction?"
He pondered for a moment, then laughed.
"Let's go with something cooler—something theatrical."
Ace held his right hand palm-up and slowly swept his left palm across it as if drawing a sword from the air. A flaming blade slowly formed from the gesture.
"Everything returns to dust—Blade Style: Flowing Fire!"
Admiring the sword in his hand, he gave a satisfied nod.
"Yep. It sounds way more badass when you shout it!"
Then, for his final test...
He dispelled the sword and looked skyward. Flames ignited at his legs.
"Sky Flame!"
BOOM!
A roaring blast erupted beneath him as the flames on his legs transformed into jets. In an instant, Ace's figure rocketed into the sky, trailing fire behind him like a comet.
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