Ace moved without thinking.
One moment he was frozen, watching his father die. The next, he was flying across the deck, his fire blazing with an intensity he'd never achieved before, his body a living weapon aimed directly at Teach's heart.
The darkness met him halfway.
They crashed together like opposing forces of nature flame and shadow, light and void, the will to protect and the will to destroy. Ace felt his fire being consumed, felt the darkness leaching the heat from his body, felt his strength draining away with every passing second. But he didn't stop. Couldn't stop. Would never stop.
Not while Teach still drew breath.
Not while his father's body lay cooling on the deck.
Not while the man who had murdered Thatch, murdered Whitebeard, threatened everyone Ace loved still existed in the world.
"You're strong," Teach said, almost admiringly. "Stronger than I expected. But strength isn't enough, Ace. It's never enough." His darkness surged, wrapping around Ace like a shroud. "You need to understand that. Need to accept it. Need to let go of everything that holds you back and embrace the only truth that matters "
"THERE IS NO TRUTH THAT MATTERS MORE THAN FAMILY!"
The words tore from Ace's throat like fire given voice.
And something happened.
Later, Ace would struggle to describe it. Would try to explain to Marco, to Jozu, to anyone who would listen, what had occurred in that moment when his fire met Teach's darkness and refused to be consumed. But words failed him. Because what happened wasn't something that could be captured in language.
His fire changed.
It didn't grow hotter, didn't grow brighter, didn't become more powerful in any measurable way. Instead, it became something else entirely. Something that the darkness couldn't touch. Something that burned not with heat but with will, not with flame but with the absolute certainty that love was stronger than hate, that family was stronger than solitude, that the bonds between people were the most powerful force in the universe.
Teach's eyes widened.
"What what is this? My darkness should it should consume everything! It should "
"It should nothing." Ace's voice was calm now, steady in a way it had never been. "You were wrong, Teach. About everything. Love doesn't make you weak. It makes you strong. Family doesn't make you vulnerable. It makes you invincible. Because when you have people who believe in you, who trust you, who would die for you " His fire blazed brighter, pushing back the darkness inch by inch. "There's nothing you can't overcome."
The darkness shattered.
Not collapsed, not receded, but shattered, like glass struck by a hammer. Teach screamed a sound of genuine pain, genuine fear as his power failed him for the first time since he'd acquired it. And in that moment of vulnerability, Ace struck.
His fist, wreathed in that impossible fire, drove into Teach's chest.
The impact sent shockwaves across the battlefield. Teach flew backward, crashing through three ships before finally coming to rest against the hull of his own vessel. For a long moment, he didn't move. Then, slowly, painfully, he pushed himself to his feet.
His eyes met Ace's across the water.
And in them, for the first time, Ace saw something he'd never expected to see from Marshall D. Teach.
Fear.
"This isn't over," Teach gasped, blood streaming from his mouth. "This will never be over. I'll come back. I'll find a way. And when I do "
"You'll find me waiting." Ace's voice carried across the water, across the battlefield, across the sea itself. "You'll find all of us waiting. Because that's what family does, Teach. We stand together. We fight together. And we never, ever stop."
Teach's crew gathered around him, pulling him away, retreating into the darkness that still clung to their ship. Ace let them go. He had more important things to do.
He had a father to bury.