Chapter 86 – Punk Hazard
"No, no." Ace waved his hand quickly and said, "I definitely don't mean to look down on you. On the contrary, I very much welcome you to be my partner."
"Now that's what I'm talking about!" Jewelry Bonney grinned, clearly in a good mood. "Since you agree to my joining, from now on, I'm your crewmate, Captain Ace!"
"Not a subordinate, but a partner," Ace corrected gently.
"Same difference." Bonney wrapped her arm around his shoulders playfully. "To celebrate me becoming a pirate, let's have a big feast, Captain Ace!"
"You're paying," she added cheekily.
So, when Ace left the Sorbet Kingdom, he did so not only with useful information about Bartholomew Kuma, but also with a bold, beautiful glutton of a girl and several new crewmates in tow. He hadn't expected to gain a member of the Worst Generation—Jewelry Bonney herself—as his new companion.
"I swear I'm not recruiting any more Supernovas!" Ace thought to himself as he watched Bonney eat and drink with his crew on Sun Island.
Bonney also became the first human female pirate in the Spade Pirates, and when Ace brought her back, the animals of Sun Island celebrated. Even the recently injured Seba and Barry greeted her enthusiastically.
Naturally, a banquet followed—to welcome Bonney and to celebrate their rising bounties.
The next day, Ace set sail alone once more—this time to Punk Hazard.
Originally, Ace had planned to confront Doflamingo directly in Dressrosa. However, he remembered his promise to Trafalgar Law: to wait until Law entered the New World so they could destroy the Donquixote Family together. For now, he decided to deliver a heavy warning shot by sabotaging Doflamingo's operations at Punk Hazard.
At this point in the timeline, Punk Hazard had become Caesar Clown's secret research base. Two years earlier, Caesar had released a massive amount of toxic gas, turning the once-thriving World Government laboratory into a dead zone. Though arrested, Caesar escaped prison a year later and returned to Punk Hazard with backing from Big Mom, under the pretense of developing gigantification technology.
Caesar neutralized the poison gas with his own chemical agents and reopened his lab, now working with Doflamingo to produce SAD—the key substance needed to manufacture SMILEs, the artificial Zoan-type Devil Fruits. These fruits were being mass-produced for Kaido of the Beasts Pirates.
With the protection of both Doflamingo and Kaido, Caesar resumed inhumane experiments using the surviving test subjects still trapped on the island.
When Ace arrived at Punk Hazard, the island's climate remained harsh and unnatural. The aftermath of Aokiji and Akainu's duel still lingered, though the toxic gas had dissipated.
Ace landed without concealment. He charged directly toward the research facility, where the SAD factory was located.
At the gate, he was stopped by a bizarre creature—half-man, half-goat—wielding a massive hammer.
"Who goes there!" the creature bellowed. His name was Baa'n, one of Caesar's experimental guards—a failed hybrid with the lower half of a sheep. Once a pirate sentenced to Punk Hazard, Baa'n was mutilated and modified by Caesar.
Ace didn't respond. He simply kept walking.
"Hey! I'm talking to you!" Baa'n shouted, raising his hammer and charging. He swung at Ace with tremendous force.
But the hammer passed clean through Ace's body, which had turned into flame.
"A Logia-type...?!" Baa'n's voice trembled as the realization hit him. He stumbled backward in fear and dropped his hammer.
Ace ignored him and pushed through the facility's main gate.
Just then—
Bang! Bang!
Two gunshots rang out from the shadows. Ace tilted to the side and caught the bullets mid-air.
But the moment his fingers closed around the rounds, he felt a sharp drain of energy. These weren't ordinary bullets—they were laced with KYP gas, a rare experimental agent Caesar had developed. The bullets sapped stamina and Devil Fruit power upon contact.
Alarmed, Ace immediately threw the bullets away. His face darkened. Someone in the facility had prepared for an assault like this.
"So... they were expecting me?" Ace muttered, narrowing his eyes. Flames licked across his arms as he readied himself.
Inside the lab, Monet, the snow-snow user and Caesar's loyal assistant, watched silently through the surveillance crystal, whispering to herself, "That's 'Fire Fist' Ace... What is he doing here?"
To be continued...
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