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Chapter 145: Fire and Darkness
On the Going Merry, the few who remained on board were also enjoying the leisure of being docked.
Sanji was humming a tune in the kitchen preparing afternoon tea snacks. The aroma of baking cookies drifted out the window, permeating the deck.
Chopper was lying in the shade of the main mast, hugging a thick medical book as he dozed off.
Nami had commandeered the deck chair, wearing sunglasses and holding the latest weather observation notes. She looked like she was working seriously, but in reality, she was already half-asleep in the warm sunshine.
Usopp leaned against the gunwale, gripping the binoculars he never let leave his side, boredly scanning the waters surrounding Jaya.
This was both to kill time and to fulfill his duty as "Sniper and Lookout."
Suddenly, Usopp froze. A very strange... thing had appeared in the lens of his binoculars.
"There's a weird ship approaching us."
"How weird?" Sanji happened to walk out of the kitchen, carrying a plate of pastries which he placed on the table in front of Nami's lounge chair.
"Uh..." Usopp adjusted the focus of the binoculars, trying to see more clearly. "It's very crude... no complete hull, no deck or cabin. It looks like..."
He blinked, unable to believe his eyes.
"It looks like just a few massive logs nailed together casually to form a... giant raft?"
"Nani? Such a ship exists? Usopp, give me the binoculars!"
"I don't think that's necessary anymore."
Usopp's voice suddenly tensed. He leaned his entire body over the gunwale, binoculars pressed tight against his eyes. "It's heading in our direction... its destination seems to be this island too... Wait!"
His pitch shot up abruptly.
"Wrong! Suddenly a ball of fire rushed towards it! It was forced to turn around!!"
BOOM—!!!
Almost at the exact moment Usopp finished speaking, a dull explosion echoed from the distant sea surface!
Even across hundreds of meters, the sound vibrated the air slightly.
Through the binoculars, Usopp saw it most clearly. That incredibly crude log raft was now spinning pathetically on the sea.
And chasing it with relentless ferocity was a mass of blazing orange-red fire, bright enough to sting the eyes!
"Ace, you bastard! You're a user of the Flame-Flame Fruit! Do you have a death wish fighting on the open sea?!!"
Usopp, Sanji, and the others heard a roar of exasperated rage.
At the same time, unsure if it was an illusion, they saw a cloud of eerie black smoke suddenly rise into the air, swallowing a large swath of the flames attacking the raft.
"Hahaha! Teach, are you actually afraid of death after all this time? No matter what, I won't let you set foot on the island ahead!"
Another familiar voice reached their ears, bringing a wave of delight to Usopp and the others.
It was Ace's voice!
They quickly realized that the pirates on the raft were the Blackbeard Pirates that Ace had been hunting.
Not long after the voice fell, the sounds of intense combat erupted.
Nearly half the sky was shrouded in flames, while the sea surface below, spanning nearly a hundred meters, turned into a dense, swirling darkness. The two forces invaded and devoured each other, producing shockwaves that were nothing short of terrifying. Every collision kicked up massive waves tens of meters high.
Surging waves rolled from the distance, hitting the harbor.
"Waaaah—!"
The Going Merry violently tilted to one side!
Buckets, ropes, and other unsecured items on the deck slid sideways, crashing against the gunwales with a chaotic clatter.
Nami, who had been sunbathing on the lounge chair, was thrown directly into the air. Before she could figure out what was happening with her bewildered face, she was caught and saved by Sanji.
"A-Are you alright, Nami-san?" Sanji asked with concern, though he himself was swaying unsteadily.
Nami grabbed his arm, still in shock, her face pale. "W-What happened?! A tsunami?!"
On the other side.
Chopper clung to Usopp's pant leg, while Usopp hooked one arm around the mast, his other hand still holding the binoculars as he reported the battle situation to everyone:
"It's Ace fighting that guy! He seems to be using that 'Fire Fist' move that punched through the underground strata in Alabasta! But it was blocked by some terrifying-looking black smoke... What a scary ability..."
At that moment, the Merry rocked violently again. The binoculars slipped from Usopp's hand and fell into the sea with a splash.
Without the aid of the binoculars, even Usopp, with his superhuman vision, couldn't see the details of the battle hundreds of meters away clearly.
He could only vaguely see that the mass of black smoke and fire were gradually moving away.
They seemed to be looking for a new battlefield.
The impact of the waves finally subsided, and the Merry slowly stabilized in the harbor swell.
On the deck, everyone looked at each other in dismay.
After a long silence.
"Should we... go notify Luffy and the others?" Nami asked, gripping the gunwale, her voice still trembling slightly.
.....
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