"Then I'll kill you first! Lion Menace: Govern Place Earth Coiling!" With a wave of his right hand, Shiki made the ground instantly shatter, the rocks transforming into several roaring lions that lunged to tear Ace apart.
"Fire Fist!" Ace's right fist slammed forward violently, blazing flames surging like raging waves, instantly shattering the stone lions. The fiery shockwave continued its momentum, rushing towards Shiki.
Shiki's legs shook, his body instantly ascending into the air, avoiding the flames.
He crossed his legs, kicking in an alternating pattern: "Lion: Thousand Slice Valley!"
Dozens of golden slash waves descended from the sky, sealing all of Ace's escape routes.
However, Ace just stood there motionless, and the slash waves passed right through him.
"Dammit, a Logia!" Shiki's expression was extremely ugly. Seeing the flames earlier, he had still held a sliver of hope that his opponent was a Paramecia-type with fire-related abilities, but the result was the worst-case scenario… a Logia.
"If it were before... a mere Logia, I could slay it with a single sword strike!" Shiki's heart surged with rage. He never imagined he would be stumped by a Logia Devil Fruit.
Ace also breathed a sigh of relief. He had thought these strong individuals could all attack him in the instant of his reaction, just like Setsuna could.
'Captain is indeed stronger.' Feeling more relaxed internally, Ace summoned flames to condense into a massive pillar of fire, shooting straight into the sky.
"Blaze Net!"
A net of fire enveloped Shiki, blocking his evasive space.
"You damn brat, don't look down on me!" Shiki roared angrily, swinging his sword fiercely.
"Slash Wave: Severing Sea!"
The golden slash tore through the fire net, but Ace had already used the momentum to close in.
"Mirror Fire Flame!"
A blazing white wall of fire smashed towards Shiki's face. Shiki hastily swung his sword to block it but was sent flying by the explosion's shockwave, crashing heavily into the palace.
"Such astonishing growth speed!" A flicker of surprise flashed in Setsuna's eyes.
At the beginning, Ace could barely use the basic abilities of the Mera Mera no Mi fluidly. Yet in his battle with Shiki, he developed several attack techniques in just a few minutes.
'If we disregard Luffy, he's truly the protagonist template.' Setsuna shook his head slightly, having completely lost interest in the outcome of this fight.
"Have I already become this weak?" Shiki flew out from the palace ruins, unable to accept his own weakness.
"Shiki, your era is over." Ace declared from his superior position.
"Don't be ridiculous! Besides Roger..." Shiki roared, then suddenly froze, frowning as he scrutinized Ace. "Why do you look so much like Roger when he was young, brat? If you ignore the freckles..."
Shiki took a deep breath and asked: "Brat, who is your father?"
Ace's face darkened: "I have no father."
Shiki suddenly became agitated: "Is it Roger? It must be Roger!"
Ace, like an injured young beast, roared angrily: "Don't mention that man's name in front of me!"
Unexpectedly, Shiki appeared even angrier than him: "That bastard actually shamelessly took Shakky for himself and even made Shakky bear him a son! Even I withdrew from the competition with Rayleigh!"
Ace was suddenly stunned: "Shakky? Who is Shakky?"
But Shiki was no longer listening to him. His rage erupted like a volcano: "That bastard deceived me for so many years!"
In his frenzied rage, Shiki violently wrenched the steering wheel embedded in his head. As blood spurted out, an immensely powerful Conqueror's Haki swept out in all directions like a tsunami.
"I @#$%!" Setsuna was so shocked he couldn't help but curse, 'So this is what the heroes of the Great Age of Repression are like?'
He had humiliated Shiki like that, and Shiki had only been able to rage impotently.
Yet upon learning that Roger had 'taken' Shakky, Shiki became so enraged he directly ripped out the steering wheel from his head, regaining his former power.
Just as Setsuna was bursting with unspent desire to mock or comment, another Conqueror's Haki shot into the sky.
Although this Conqueror's Haki was far inferior in intensity compared to Shiki's, it stood firm like a reef in the sea, remaining unyielding no matter how the waves crashed against it.
Before Shiki could recover from his shock, yet another Conqueror's Haki shot straight into the clouds.
This Haki was also immature, but its intensity far surpassed Ace's Conqueror's Haki, even comparable to Shiki's advanced Conqueror's Haki.
'How is this possible? Another Conqueror's Haki?' Shiki was internally shocked. Although people with the potential or qualities of a ruler were as numerous as the fish in the river in the New World, having two appear consecutively was still too rare, especially when the initial strength of these two Conqueror's Haki far exceeded that of ordinary rulers.
"It's not strange that the freckled brat has such potential, being Roger's son. But what about this other brat? Could he be the son of the old man, Rocks?" Shiki exclaimed in shock.
"You're being a bit insulting there." Setsuna frowned. Rocks could indeed be considered a hero, but the son of Rocks? Forget it.
'As expected of Captain.' Ace sighed internally, then withdrew or converged his Conqueror's Haki, correcting Shiki word by word: "I don't know any Shakky. My mother is Portgas D. Rouge!"
Upon hearing this, Shiki laughed, laughing so hard tears streamed down his face: "That bastard Roger actually found some random woman to vent with before he died. How pathetic."
"You bastard! Don't you dare insult my mother!" Ace flew into a rage, throwing a Fire Fist.
However, Shiki effortlessly caught the punch.
"How is this possible? I'm fire!" Ace couldn't understand. Shiki wasn't catching him during the interval or gap of his elementalization like Setsuna did… he was grabbing his solid body.
"You awakened Conqueror's Haki, but don't even know about Armament Haki?" Shiki mocked. "Now I believe Roger truly made no arrangements for you."
With his right hand, Shiki pulled Ace closer. His left fist punched repeatedly into Ace's abdomen.
Setsuna didn't intervene immediately, intentionally letting Ace strengthen his 'sit-up' ability.
Compared to Luffy, Ace's biggest weakness was his inability to withstand fatal damage.
After Ace had been pummeled over a dozen times, Setsuna appeared beside him in a flash, catching a punch from Shiki infused with Armament Haki.
"Shiki, what are you trying to do to my cute subordinate?"
"Subordinate? Roger's son actually acknowledges you as his captain!" Shiki was furious. "Even if he's that guy's son, he shouldn't be subservient to anyone!"
"Roger's son? Ace is far better than that trashy scumbag." Setsuna's voice was low. "Remember his name well. He is Portgas D. Ace!"
Though severely injured, Ace didn't harbor any resentment towards Setsuna for his earlier cold, detached observation. Instead, his eyes blurred with emotion because of Setsuna's words.
"Captain!" In Ace's heart, his recognition or acceptance of Setsuna reached its peak. This was the first time he felt this kind of respect… recognition of him as an individual, not of his identity as Roger's son.