Chapter 68

[Nanohana, Alabasta]

A small boat was seen to have arrived at the port of Nanohana. A man with an orange smiley hat, Ace, tied the rope around the wooden pole on the port and docked his boat.

"Ha finally, I'm here!!" Ace held his hands up high with a grin as he jumped on the shore of Sandy island. He stretched his body and stood proudly in his height of 185cm. "Even pirates need some time off from the sea."

Looking left and right, Ace sighted a boat with a shape representing number 3 attached to it, but heeded no mind. Placing his hands on the back of his head, Ace casually walked to the town.

'Alabasta, huh.' Ace grinned as he was welcomed with a sight of a town, with a vast desert laid out at some distance away. 'Well, here I am, back to the early part of the Paradise.'

From Sphinx all the way to Alabasta. It took him quite some time to travel back from the New World all the way to the Paradise. The most annoying part was when he had to cross the Red Line to enter the Paradise, since he had to go underwater.

He searched through many islands and collected information regarding Marshall D. Teach, known as Blackbeard. The rumors indicated that he was indeed somewhere within the Paradise, but Ace still didn't manage to find him.

'And speaking of the Paradise,' Ace momentarily stopped his walk as he thought, 'where is Luffy? I thought he was gonna start sailing like I did, at the age of seventeen. Don't tell me that he is still in the East Blue?'

Ace took out an average-looking paper, Vivre Card, from his pocket and sighed, 'Come on Luffy, what's taking you so long?'

*Growl* Suddenly, Ace's stomach growled, waking him up from his thought. Placing the Vivre Card back into his pocket, Ace held his stomach and ran towards the nearby restaurant. Slamming the door open, he immediately made his way inside, before quickly taking a seat.

"Yo owner, give me everything you... got...?" Ace said with a grin, only for it to falter as he realized that there was no one inside. Confused, Ace exited the restaurant.

"What's going on?" Now that Ace noticed, the street was dead silent. There was no one—as if everyone ran away from a calamity. Ace's eyes narrowed, ignoring his hunger, "Can it really be Blackbeard?"

"*Huff* *Huff* W-where is it? Ah, I found it, phew, thought it was lost forever-" All of a sudden, Ace sighted one civilian hurriedly running while holding a bag in his hands. Said civilian noticed Ace at the same time, and his eyes widened, "What are you doing here?!! Quickly evacuate to Galzalum!!"

"Uh," Ace looked around his surrounding in confusion, "what exactly is going on here?"

The civilian's eyes widened hearing this, "You moron!! Sir Crocodile warned that the Grimheart pirates are on their way to plunder us!!! How can you be so relaxed?!!"

Ace nodded his head with his eyes closed and his arms crossed, "Mhm, I see I see... huh?" His eyes abruptly opened wide, "H-hold on, say that again?"

"Grimheart-" Before the civilian could finish his words, he was interrupted by Ace, who raised his hand up with a complicated expression on his face.

"No need to repeat... I understand now." Ace said while holding his forehead, ignoring the civilian who stared at Ace weirdly. He still remembered the pirate crew that helped him cross the Reverse Mountain.

*Tap* *Tap* Suddenly, Ace and the civilian heard series of footsteps resounding in the middle of the hollow town.

"What's going on? Where's everybody?" From some distance away, Dan spoke in curiosity as his journal was on his hand, jotting down the details.

"Ahhhhhhh, i-it's them!!!!!" The civilian's eyes popped out and jaw dropped. Throwing the bag away from his hands, he ran away frantically, completely forgetting Ace.

Ace stood on his spot as he squinted his eyes, "What the... I can't believe this."

Rowan and his crew too stopped on their track, with Carina, Carmen, and Dan staring at Ace with widened eyes.

"Told you it's Ace." Rowan remarked as he too looked at Ace with disbelief written on his face. "So... long time no see Ace."

"""ACE?!!""" Carina, Carmen, and Dan screamed on top of their lungs, caught surprised by a sudden appearance of a familiar figure.

"Hahaha, holy cow!!!" Ace's visage broke into a wide grin as laughed jovially, "I knew that you guys were alive!!! To think this, out of all the places, is where I would see you guys again!!!"

"What is this? What's going on?" Cavendish stared at Ace and his crewmates back and forth in confusion, before turning his head back to Ace as if he remembered something, "Hold on, I think I saw that face before-"

"Portagus D. Ace, the 'Iron Fist.'" Alfred spoke out with a flash of a monocle, "550 million Beli, Wanted Dead or Alive. Known as the 2nd division commander of the infamous Whitebeard pirates."

"Yeah, I was shocked when I saw your bounty poster." Dan chuckled, "I still remember when you used to be a 'Rascal' with a bounty of 5 million."

Carmen snorted as she looked at Dan, "And you are still known as 'Black Mask' with a bounty of 10 million."

"What? Woof woof? Sorry, I think I just heard a dog bark." Dan muttered as he scratched on his ear, before dodging a small ball of fire thrown by Carmen, who was fuming comically, "Whoa whoa, calm down there, Akainu! Geez, someone gotta put a leash on her!"

"Whitebeard pirates? As in one of the Yonkos?" Ignoring a dispute between Carmen and Dan, Rowan's eyebrow quirked as he heard Alfred's explanation, "Ace, didn't you say that you wanted to become the Pirate King? What happened to that?"

"Haha, well..." Ace awkwardly smiled as he clumsily rubbed the back of his head.

_______________

"*Munch* Truth to be told, *Munch* Pirate King was never my goal." Ace stated as he and the Grimheart pirates sat in an empty restaurant, enjoying the foods prepared by Carmen. "That's more of a goal for my little brother, Luffy, rather than me."

"Hmm I see. Then what's your goal?" Rowan asked, with his bowl already empty. However, unknown to everyone, his mind was in complete shock, 'Luffy... don't tell me...'

The moment Rowan heard the name 'Luffy,' he instantly remembered one of the two things he knew about One Piece: the fact that the main character's name was Monkey D. Luffy.

However, 'Ah whatever. Doesn't matter.' Rowan quickly calmed himself down. What does knowing that the protagonist is affiliated with Ace change anyway?

"Well, my real goal in the past was to surpass a certain person," Ace momentarily stopped munching as his seemed conflicted, "he was a strong pirate, though dead now."

Digging through the meal again, Ace continued, "But I don't care about that anymore. *Munch* Now, I just have one goal only: to make Whitebeard the Pirate King!"

Carina tilted her head hearing that, "Isn't he already known as the 'Man Closest to One Piece?' It would just be you placing a cherry on top of an already completed cake."

Cavendish shook his head sadly, "This is what the New World does to people. Ah, how pitiful, his dream went from becoming the Pirate King himself to making the pseudo-Pirate King the Pirate King..."

"Hey Rowan," Ace said with a strained smile and tick mark on his face, "Cavendish was he? I think I'm gonna get along really well with him. Will it be okay if I beat- have a friendly spar with him?"

Rowan shrugged and turned to Cavendish, "Hey Cavendish, what do you say? A man of 550 million Beli, wanna give it a shot?"

Cavendish stood up with his head lifted up haughtily, "Naturally. I will show you that bounties are naught but mere numbers."

Rowan, his crew, and Ace all stepped outside, having finished their meals.

"… Hello?" Blindfolded Robin called out, as she was left in the restaurant.

"Neigh~!!" Farul was the only one who remained by her side, and cried out to her.

Meanwhile, on the outside, with everyone else spectating, Ace and Cavendish stood on the street, glaring at one another.

Rowan was very interested in the upcoming battle; he wanted to see how much stronger Ace has gotten to receive a bounty of 550 million on his head, and also see how Cavendish measures up against him.

"Let the battle commence!" Standing in the middle, Dan raised his hand up, signaling for the start of the spar.

*Swoosh* Cavendish instantly vanished from his spot as soon as the spar began, leaving a speck of dust on his original position.

"Ho?" Ace raised his eyebrow with a grin as he tilted his head sideways, dodging Cavendish's sword, "That looks awfully similar to the marine's technique. But unfortunately, you, a pirate from the Paradise, can't afford to beat me, due to this one difference called Haki-"

"You mean this?" Cavendish interrupted while raising his sword, which turned into black. Ace's eyes widened seeing this.

"You know how to use Haki?!!" Ace exclaimed his surprise before quickly back-flipping to dodge rapid slashes from Cavendish. "Haha, I see, so that's what you guys have been doing for three years, huh?"

Cavendish casually flipped the sword up in the air, before its hilt landed on top of his right foot, which was slightly raised from the ground, "How about we get serious?"

Ace grinned as he crouched down, "Let me show you why I am called the 'Iron Fist.'" The colour on his fist changed into a greyish metallic colour, before it was imbued by Armament Haki, making his hand pitch black.

"Ace, you ate a devil fruit?!" Rowan said in surprise, to which Ace simply grinned as he focused on the fight.

"One Sword Style," Cavendish's eyes sharpened as his right leg, along with the sword, was pulled to his back and he lowered his posture, "Sabre de Rose."

At the next moment, Cavendish's sword was launched from his foot with a blinding speed. Ace grinned as he faced Cavendish's attack.

"Tekken (Iron Fist)!" Ace blasted his fist forward, meeting his pitch-black fist with Cavendish's similarly black-coloured sword in the midair.

*BOOOOM* Upon the collision, the nearby air exploded in shock, and to everyone's surprise, Cavendish's sword was launched back, with Ace completely unharmed.

"When will I get a devil fruit for myself?" Dan muttered to himself while staring at Ace with envy.

"I ate Harden Harden fruit. This allows me to turn any part of my body into steel." Ace answered as the Armament Haki was retracted from his arm, revealing a metallic quality once again. "Also amplifies my strength by a lot, and pretty flexible when compared to Jozu, who can't move if he transforms too much."

"Jozu?" Rowan mumbled.

"'Diamond' Jozu, 3rd division commander of Whitebeard pirates, 1.124 billion Beli, Wanted Dead or Alive." Alfred immediately answered robotically.

Rowan sweatdropped but nodded nonetheless, "Thanks, Alfredwagon."

"1.124 billion?" Carina muttered wistfully, "Just how much is that?"

Carmen placed her hand on her chin thoughtfully, "1.124 billion... definitely achievable."

Seemingly forgotten, Cavendish stomped his feet in anger with his sword back into his hand, "Hey, where are you guys looking at?! Our fight just began you know?!"

Ace slammed his metallic fists together, generating a screeching sound, much to everyone's discomfort. Grinning, Ace placed one of his fist on the ground, "Let's continue."

"Hmph," With a snort, Cavendish pointed the tip of the sword towards Ace. "One Sword Style: Flux Tranquille."

Cavendish disappeared from his spot once more, before the blindingly fast attacks slammed onto Ace all at once.

Ace clenched his right metallic fist tight as it was imbued with Armament Haki again. However, something was different this time; an invisible and inconceivable wave of energy burst off of his fist, giving off a soul-piercing chill to everyone.

"What is that?" Rowan's eyes narrowed witnessing something he didn't experience before. When the weird energy from Ace rushed over him, he had a tingling sensation within him, as if wanting to get out.

"Unbelievable. A Conqueror's Haki…" Alfred whispered in fascination, surprising Rowan.

"Fullmetal..." Ace grinned widely as he slammed his right fist forward in an uppercut motion, "Mass Impact."

*BOOOOOOOOM* The wind, generated by the pressure of the attack, wildly blew around the town, causing some of the buildings to crack in sheer force. A cloud of dust formed at the site of the collision, blocking the view. Rowan's crew watched the scene with astonishment in their faces, wondering what Ace did just now.

When the dust was cleared, Rowan was seen holding Ace's fist with his hand, which was imbued in a rich black colour of Armament Haki. Cavendish was sitting on the ground with his sword lying on his side, frowning.

"What?!! how?! I used Conqueror's Haki there-" Ace looked at Rowan with shock, staring at his fist that was caught by Rowan, before realizing that Rowan was looking at him with narrowed eyes. Ace nervously spoke out as he sweated profusely, "Ha, haha, I went a bit too far there, didn't I?"

"Tch," Cavendish stood back up and dusted his clothes, "a full-blown battle, huh? Sure, why not?" He said as Hakuba began to creep onto the left side of his face, before Rowan raised his hand up to stop him.

"Haa," Rowan released Ace's hand and sighed, "really, Ace?"

"I," Ace gulped as he looked down, "I just wanted to show off..."