【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Lucci looked at Ace's lowered head, feeling a little worried. He had realized what was happening. Every time Ace was like this, he ignored everyone, trapped himself, immersed in his own thoughts, and no one could pull him out. But he also knew that he probably wanted to be alone for a while, so he turned and walked to the deck on the other side, feeling the night sea breeze and looking at the starry sky. He couldn't help but relax and let his mind go. He didn't want to think about anything now.

Ace lowered his head and thought back to when he and Luffy were kids, when they were 10 years old and dreamed of what they would become, he had always wanted to prove to the world, to himself, to a man who was long dead but still hung over him like a dark cloud, that he was strong, that he could surpass him, that he didn't need anything from him, he would defeat someone who once rivaled him to prove it, but he didn't believe that the gap between them could be that big and he didn't understand why he was such a pirate.

"Ugh!!"

Ace's right hand ignited with flames, and he attacked Whitebeard's abdomen with all his strength.

"Gulala, what happened today? Did you add a few more firewood?" Whitebeard used his Haki to ward off Ace's fire fist attack and said with a smile, "There was no sneak attack either, it looks good."

Ace stepped back, bent one knee, and watched Whitebeard take an attacking stance, gritting his teeth and yelling, "This guy, that guy is just talking nonsense, it has nothing to do with me wanting to defeat you!!"

In just one round, he was knocked to the ground. Ace lowered his eyes and said, "It's out of reach... This gap... There is no way..."

Whitebeard walked to the barrel, picked it up with one hand and drank it while saying, "Thank you for this wine. Now you can at least fight with me for a few moves!"

Ace looked up at him in surprise.

Whitebeard looked down at Ace and said seriously, "I'm always here for you, you bastard...!"

Ace sat silently in the smashed ruins, lowered his head and was silent for a moment before whispering, "I'm so annoyed..."

……

"Go get your revenge, newbie!"

"We have to defeat him completely, Daddy!!"

"Come on! Ace!"

Outside the battlefield where Ace and Whitebeard were fighting, the crew members of the Whitebeard Pirates cheered loudly.

"These guys are such a headache, this is no joke..." Whitebeard said helplessly as he listened to the voices from both sides outside the battlefield.

Ace looked at Whitebeard with sharp eyes, stepped forward with his left foot, took the lead in attacking, and opened his right hand "Firefly·Fire Daruma" and countless green small flames flew towards Whitebeard.

Whitebeard looked at the countless small flames slowly floating towards him and said disdainfully, "Do you want to test my courage?" He used his observation Haki to dodge the flames floating towards him.

"Hmm?" Whitebeard looked at the small flame that just floated past and suddenly flew towards him and exploded continuously. "There is a time difference in the fierce fire... and this move was specially used before using the observation Haki." Whitebeard kept punching to block all the bombs approaching him. "The rookie is always trying to be clever like this."

"Mistgun!" Ace continuously shot out super-high temperature flames from his fingertips towards Whitebeard, and quickly moved to his side in between Whitebeard's punches.

Ace recalled what Lucci had told him about a kind of gas that could be produced by condensing flames together, and that he could try using the flame gas to accelerate.

Ace used the momentum of the flames to accelerate his "Fire Feet" and rushed quickly to the position above and behind Whitebeard. At the same time, he used all his strength to quickly turn his hands into flames and condense a large amount of high-temperature flames to attack Whitebeard.

"Oh no, Dad's back has been grabbed!!" the crew members of the Whitebeard Pirates shouted in shock.

Whitebeard turned his head with a fierce look in his eyes. His left hand was wrapped with Conqueror's Haki, and he clenched his fist and used the power of his Devil Fruit to throw the flames at Ace.

Ace looked at Whitebeard's strength in shock. The moment his punch came over, there was a huge impact. He was hit by Whitebeard's attack and his body kept retreating backwards. He half-knelt, supporting the ground with his left hand. He barely controlled his retreating body before falling into the sea.

Blood continued to flow out of Ace's mouth, but a smug smile appeared on the corner of his mouth. "Look, my fire, finally... you can use it...!!!"

"Hot kid." Whitebeard said with a smile.

"Hehe... Next time I will conquer you together with your abilities..." Finally unable to hold on any longer, Ace fell backwards with this last thought. He let his eyes close completely, his vision kept getting darker, and the sea water slowly submerged his head.

"Hey! He fell into the sea, who can save him?" the pirates on the ship shouted.

The shadow controlled by Lucci jumped into the sea.

“Has it reached the 100th time already?”

"Probably."

……

"what!"

Ace suddenly woke up from his dream.

"How do you feel?" Lucci heard the noise and turned around, handing a glass of water to Ace.

"It's okay. Was it Whitebeard who saved me?" Ace looked at the bandaged wounds on his body.

"Well, sort of." Lucci smiled.

"Huh?" Ace looked at Lucci in confusion, then thought of something and screamed, "Ah! Doesn't this mean there's only one more battle left? Damn it!"

"That was the best battle we've had so far...it successfully allowed him to use all his abilities..." Lucci consoled with a smile.

"Yeah, you saw it, isn't it amazing? The strategy we thought of before was a perfect success!" Ace shouted happily, and then exclaimed, "And that ability... No matter how many times I fight him, I still feel that his strength is unfathomable!"

Ace looked at the smile on Lucci's face and asked in confusion, "What...what are you doing?"

"Nothing, you are happy, Ace." Lucci said with a smile.

"Uh!" Ace looked at Lucci in confusion.

"When you challenge a man you approve of, you will still be very excited even if you fail." Lucci teased.

"What...what! That guy is an enemy! I...don't talk nonsense!!" Ace retorted excitedly after hearing Lucci's words.

Lucci couldn't help but laugh when he saw Ace's angry back. He still didn't admit it.

"Gululu..."

"I'm so hungry. Lucci keeps saying things that have nothing to do with me... Who would agree with him..." Ace walked in the corridor, rubbing his hungry stomach and muttering angrily.

"You've gone too far, Dad."

Ace listened to the voice that suddenly came from the door, he knew whose voice it was, 'Captain Marco of Team One'. Ace stood at the door and listened quietly to the conversation coming from inside, he realized that their conversation would be related to him.

"Dad, your current physical condition is not suitable for continuous duels with Ace now." Marco said worriedly.

"So you want me to apply for a truce? Don't be silly, son." Whitebeard paused, then continued, "There is no fight without injuries."

"Although the medicine can alleviate your physical condition, your physical condition is still getting worse." Marco looked at Whitebeard and said worriedly.

Ace listened in shock, is Whitebeard's health not okay?