As soon as he said the words, everyone around him tensed.
Cipher Pol agents shifted their footing. Soldiers tightened their grips. Even the Celestial Dragons watching from above leaned forward, eyes fixed on him.
Across the seas, those staring at the screens held their breath.
This was it.
Seconds passed.
Nothing happened.
No explosion. No wave of heat. No roar of flames.
Another second.
Then another.
Only the wind changed—just slightly colder, brushing across the white marble streets.
Confusion crept in.
People waited, expecting the attack to descend at any moment.
But nothing came.
Ace looked around at the ring surrounding him.
Then he spoke casually.
"Well," he said, "I was just joking."
Before anyone could react—
Shave
Ace vanished.
A distortion in the air.
And he reappeared directly in front of one of the agents, so close they were nearly face to face.
Ace raised a finger.
Finger gun
His finger darkened, coated in dense Armament Haki.
There was no buildup.
No warning.
Ace simply stepped forward and pushed that single finger into the agent's neck.
The Cipher Pol agent didn't even have time to react.
There was a dull sound.
Then a hole opened clean through the Cipher Pol No.4 agent's throat.
He collapsed instantly.
Dead.
For half a second, the area went silent.
Then everything erupted.
The moment the body hit the marble, everyone understood—
This was no standoff.
This was a fight.
Agents moved at once. Orders were shouted. Formation broke as Cipher Pol operatives lunged in from multiple angles.
Shave
Tempest kick
Finger gun
Flying finger gun
Life return
Figures blurred across the streets, fingers snapping into assassination forms, bullets firing from guns, blades flashing as they closed in on Ace from all sides.
" 18 "
Seeing them rush at him—from swords to Haki-coated limbs—
Ace felt it.
Excitement.
Moonwalk
He kicked off the ground , rising cleanly into the air.
In the same motion, he twisted his body and snapped his leg outward.
The kick extended.
Compressed air infused with Haki tore forward.
Tempest kick : Cyclone
Multiple flashes burst from the strike, colliding head-on with the incoming attacks.
Swords were knocked aside. Bodies were forced back. The formation shattered in an instant.
Just as Ace finished his attack—
A voice came from behind him.
A short, sharp call.
"One sword style — Green wolf"
Ace turned instantly.
He struck back without hesitation—
Six Styles Secret Skill: Six King Gun
Locking both hands together, he drove a shockwave straight forward.
The force exploded outward.
Ace's blow met the wolf-shaped attack head-on.
The collision ripped both apart, shockwaves tearing through the air and cracking the marble beneath.
Ace dropped back to the ground smoothly.
The instant his boots touched down, he stepped in again.
He pulled his arm back—
Then drove a punch straight toward the Cipher Pol elite in front of him, Armament Haki coating his fist.
The other man reacted at once.
His sword coated with Armament Haki.
A minutes passed like that.
" 15 "
Bodies began to pile up around Ace, scattered across the cracked marble streets.
But the number of agents didn't decrease.
It increased.
More figures poured in from the surrounding rooftops and alleys, closing the gaps left by the fallen.
Then—
A voice came from above.
"Speed is weight. Have you ever been kicked at lightspeed?"
The moment Ace heard that voice—
That annoying tone—
He knew exactly who it was.
He didn't have time to turn.
He hardened his fist with Armament Haki and swung it toward the source of the sound.
Light collided with him.
A solid kick—brilliant and overwhelming—slammed into Ace and sent him flying hundreds of meters away, tearing through buildings and leaving a trail of dust and shattered stone in its wake.
A few seconds passed.
Ace pushed himself up from the rubble and glanced down at his body.
No serious damage.
Just dust. Torn clothes.
He looked back toward where the attack had come from.
"…Kizaru," Ace said calmly. "Didn't expect you to be here."
Light gathered in front of him, and Kizaru's relaxed voice followed.
"Oh my, oh my… who were you expecting instead?"
He tilted his head slightly.
Ace didn't answer.
"If Armament Haki had been involved earlier, things might've been easier for me."
Kizaru shrugged.
"Well, since you are here… shall we end the warm-up?"
An invisible pressure exploded outward.
Unrestrained Conqueror's Haki flooded the area.
One by one, Cipher Pol agents collapsed unconscious.
Celestial Dragons dropped where they stood.
Even CP0 members were forced to their knees, teeth clenched, bodies shaking under the weight of it.
Kizaru's expression sharpened.
This pressure—
He'd only felt it before from one man.
"…Shanks," he muttered.
Ace didn't care.
He kicked off the ground—
And vanished.
In the next instant, he appeared in front of Kizaru, fist coated in both Armament and Conqueror's Haki, and threw a straight punch.
Kizaru dispersed into light and reformed elsewhere.
The punch missed him—
But not the building behind.
A beam of energy tore from Ace's fist, erasing the villa completely.
It didn't stop.
It continued forward, cutting through another structure, then another—heading straight toward a cluster of Celestial Dragon residences.
Kizaru's voice echoed again.
"I can't let you kill Celestial Dragons."
Light flashed.
Kizaru reappeared midair and struck the beam itself.
The impact detonated—
A massive explosion erupted, and dust swallowed the streets of Marijoa whole.
" 10 "
When the explosion finally settled—
Kizaru stood there.
Unharmed.
His clothes were slightly dirty, dust clinging to the fabric, but he didn't seem to care.
Light gathered in front of his hands and shaped itself into a sword.
Amano Murakumo.
Kizaru moved at light speed and appeared in front of Ace swinging his blade as if to sever is head in a single move.
Ace once again blocked this with his own fist.
Punch
Block
Kick
Throw
For a moment, it almost looked like he'd decided to become a professional fighter.
Just then Kizaru's voice rang out, calm as ever.
"Portgas D. Ace. Logia-type Devil Fruit user. Fire-Fire Fruit."
He tilted his head slightly.
"Why aren't you using your Devil Fruit? Since you arrived here… you haven't used it even once."
Ace answered without hesitation.
"I just don't think you're worth using it on."
He stepped in and punched Kizaru away again.
Light scattered.
Kizaru reappeared—
This time splitting into multiple figures.
Clones.
Each one carried Amano Murakumo, light pooling in their hands.
Only one was real.
The rest were projections.
Ace watched them closely.
By sight alone, he couldn't tell which was which.
So he chose the simplest option.
Ace reached down and picked up a sword from a fallen Cipher Pol agent.
He took a deep breath.
Seeing that, Kizaru narrowed his eyes slightly.
Swordsmanship?
There had been no report of that.
But Kizaru didn't dwell on it.
The world didn't run on logic.
If it did, Ace wouldn't be standing in Marijoa right now.
As Kizaru closed in, a few dozen meters away—
Ace coated the blade in Armament Haki.
Conqueror's Haki followed.
Then he swung the sword horizontally.
"GETSUGA TENSHOU."
The moment Ace spoke—
A massive crescent-shaped slash erupted from the blade, packed with overwhelming Haki, tearing through the air toward Kizaru.
Several of the light clones reacted in time and scattered.
Others weren't fast enough.
They were split cleanly apart, light dispersing as the slash erased them.
But the attack didn't stop there.
The crescent continued forward, racing across Marijoa—headed straight toward the area where the Celestial Dragons were retreating.
Under orders, the conscious CP agents moved desperately, pulling the Celestial Dragons present in the territory of the fight.
Ace watched it travel.
For a moment, he thought—
Kizaru would have no choice but to stop it again.
Then—
Another voice rang out.
" You damn punk of Whitebeard Pirates !
You do not understand exactly what it means...
... To go against the Celestial Dragons, don't you?! "
Ace turned toward the source of the voice.
A man had appeared directly in front of the flying slash.
Green hair. Unkempt. A lazy, almost bored expression, as if he'd just arrived late to something inconvenient.
He spoke casually.
Then he raised both arms.
They expanded instantly, flesh twisting into wood.
His arms became massive wooden limbs.
His body followed.
Lower half. Torso. Everything swelled and transformed.
In seconds, a gigantic tree-shaped figure stood there, roots and branches spreading outward.
The tree-man roared and swung both arms forward.
His fists collided with the crescent slash.
For a brief moment, the two forces pushed against each other.
Then—
The slash shattered.
The tree-man was forced back, chunks of wood and broken branches scattering across the ground as his massive form slid sideways.
Ace watched silently.
Just from the face—
From that devil fruit power—
He knew who it was.
"Aramaki," Ace said.
One of the future Admirals in original One piece anime.
A Logia user.
The Wood-Wood Fruit.
A cheap imitation of Hashirama Senju.
For a brief moment, Ace found himself wondering—
How strong Aramaki really was.
And between Aramaki and Fujitora… who stood higher?
The thought didn't last.
Light flashed.
Kizaru appeared right beside him, leg already raised, positioned to kick Ace straight out of the sky.
There was no time to think.
Ace twisted his body and clenched his fist.
Conqueror's Haki surged.
Armament followed.
He punched.
The collision sent both of them flying apart once more, the shockwave ripping through the air between them.
By the time Ace steadied himself—
Aramaki had fully entered the battlefield.
The space around them tightened.
Two Admirals.
Against one man.
Ace noticed.
And didn't care.
He already understood the situation.
This was Marijoa.
Neither of them could go all out.
Their strongest attacks would tear the Holy Land apart—and that was something they were not allowed to do.
If Marijoa fell, punishment would follow.
Severe punishment.
With their power restrained—
With destruction limited—
Ace knew he could easily hold them off.
" 7 "
---