"Master!!"
BOOM!!!
A wild surge of violent energy erupted from both fighters, blasting outward in every direction and sending sand and stone flying sky-high.
The tides surged and crashed. Countless fish and shrimp perished under the pressure of Conqueror's Haki and were flung ashore by the waves.
With a powerful roar, Ace launched his fist, wrapped in a dense layer of Armament Haki, toward Naguri. It tore through the air like a dragon bursting from the sea, gleaming cold and dark with a vicious wind trailing behind it. The force was unstoppable, overwhelming.
Yet despite the ferocity of the attack, Naguri didn't move an inch.
Just as Ace's black fist was about to strike his face, Naguri's body flickered slightly to the side.
The punch missed by a hair's breadth, his nose just brushing past the incoming shadow of the blow. The rushing wind stirred his ghost-white eyebrows, making them flutter near his ears.
With his extraordinary mastery of Observation Haki, Naguri easily sidestepped the strike with perfect timing and minimal movement.
But Ace had trained under Naguri for years. He knew full well just how sharp his master's Observation Haki was.
Ace smirked faintly, this wasn't over yet.
"Rubber... Boomerang!!"
The black fist that had seemingly missed its mark suddenly bent twice at sharp ninety-degree angles mid-air.
Ace's arm twisted into a curved hook, turning into a boomerang. The pitch-black iron fist shot around and blasted toward Naguri's back like a spring-loaded cannon.
WHAM!
With no time to evade, Naguri blocked the surprise attack with his smoking pipe. The impact echoed like a thunderclap, sending a wave of force crashing out in all directions. Even the tide was pushed back by the blast.
Smack!
Ace quickly retracted his rubberized arm and subtly shook his hand.
A swollen red bump had formed on one of his knuckles.
"You've still got a long way to go, Ace..."
Naguri's calm voice cut through the tension. He hadn't been caught off guard. With his smoking pipe pointed at Ace, he spoke softly, but his words struck with the weight of absolute truth.
Ace couldn't argue.
Yet, in that moment, Naguri's lips curled into a proud smile.
That boomerang punch? He'd never even heard of such a move before.
He thought back to the early days, when Ace had just eaten his Devil Fruit and would constantly hurt himself by accident. Back then, the boy didn't even know how to use Haki.
But now...
Ace had grown up.
"Master…"
Ace stared at the man who had taught him everything, who had helped him become strong, but who now stood in the way of his dream.
A storm of emotions swirled within him, too complex to express.
All he could do was speak in a quiet voice:
"…Thank you."
"Come, Ace!" Naguri called out.
"Show me, show me how much you've really learned from me over all these years!"
His voice was calm, but his presence suddenly changed. His long white eyebrows shaded his small eyes, making it impossible to read his expression.
His thin frame suddenly radiated an overwhelming aura, the kind only possessed by a warrior who had stood above all others. A terrifying pressure surged from him and swept across the entire coastline of the Goa Kingdom.
The sea itself responded to his presence. The tide, which had begun to rise, inexplicably reversed, retreating away from the shore.
Luffy stared in shock at the old man at the heart of the storm.
Even he would have to go all-out to face this level of power.
His brows furrowed as he watched Naguri battle Ace. A troubling thought crept into his mind.
At first, he had assumed this was just a final test, a master's last trial before his disciple set sail.
But with a presence this intense… could Ace really win?
And then it hit him.
Was Naguri actually trying to stop Ace from going to sea?
The idea felt absurd, but Luffy couldn't shake it.
Naguri had once lost to Roger. But that didn't make him weak.
In his prime, Naguri's crew was a force that shook the entire Grand Line. Back then, there were no Yonko, no Warlords, only pirates with their own ambitions, and a relentless Marine pursuing them.
Every pirate crew that made a name for itself in the New World had done so through bloodshed, battle after battle.
And Naguri, this legendary pirate, had long soaked his hands in blood.
Countless enemies had fallen before him, their deaths honing his killing intent into something demonic and terrifying.
Now, with that deadly aura swirling around Naguri, Luffy found himself uncertain.
This was a battle between master and disciple. It wasn't his place to interfere.
But if Ace lost here, who knew when he'd be allowed to set sail again?
Naguri wasn't someone you could overcome with just a few months of progress…
Under the suffocating weight of that aura, Ace's body trembled uncontrollably.
Yet his eyes never wavered. Gritting his teeth, his face twisted in pain, but determination burned in every line. He fought against the pressure with everything he had.
He wasn't frozen in place, but moving was still like walking a tightrope over a sea of knives.
Naguri allowed himself a faint, proud smile, but his hand didn't hesitate.
He raised his pipe and swung it toward Ace. A flash of green energy tore through the air like lightning.
The crackling crescent slash expanded rapidly into a glowing, icy green arc, it was cold, merciless, and fast.
A brutal wave of slicing force hurtled straight at Ace.
Rubber bodies could shrug off blunt force, but slashes?
They cut deep.
Faced with that razor-edged crescent of death, Ace could only act on instinct. He coated his arm in pitch-black Armament Haki and crossed it in front of himself, choosing to meet the attack head-on.
BOOM!!!
Blinding light shot skyward. The slash surged like a weapon forged by the gods themselves, threatening to cleave the world in two. The ground cracked and split under its might, sand and stone hurled dozens of meters into the air before crashing into the ocean.
"Huff… huff… huff…"
As the dust finally settled, Ace was still standing in the same defensive posture.
But beneath his feet, two long trenches had been carved into the earth, he'd been pushed back a full ten meters.
Blood poured down his muscular forearms, dripping onto the beach. The sand quickly soaked it up, forming dark, crusted scabs, stark against the pale shore.
Ace looked up suddenly.
His eyes showed confusion… doubt… and a hidden flicker of anger.
At that moment, he and Luffy shared the same thought.
This wasn't just a test.
Something deeper was at play.
His wounds throbbed, and the pain fed his fury. His heart began to pulse with a strange black energy, dark and dense like Armament Haki, but deeper, more primal.
A force unlike any other exploded from within Ace's body.
It thundered toward Naguri with the weight of a god's wrath.
The strongest potential in the world.
The bloodline of the most feared man.
Unleashed.
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