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There was tension upon the seas.
It was almost as if the world held its breath.
Many did not know why they felt a tremor of fear of the horizon.
Three days before Monkey D, Luffy and his Straw Hats raided Enies Lobby, an event took place upon an island within the Grand Line.
This incident would knock down the first domino that led to the end of an era.
Like always, ever since he appeared two years ago, Izuku Midoriya was at its centre.
Xxx
Portgas D. Ace had finally found his quarry.
For someone as infamous as Blackheart, the man was near impossible to track. Ace had jumped through hoops of such ridiculousness that it would make a sane man blink in shock.
Yet now here he was, perched on top of a building, and waited.
Ace found Banero to be a rather quaint trading town, mostly in the growing of bananas like the island’s namesake. It was a place one simply passed through and barely took in the sights. Its most important feature was its port, which was large enough to support several battleships and large trading vessels at once.
It was also where the Red Corsairs docked their ships for retrofit.
Ace felt a spark of relief as he saw the Silent Inko , Blackheart’s flagship, docked.
He had feared that Blackheart had slipped away once more, just like he did at Drum Island, but luck was on Ace’s side.
If the Silent Inko was here then so was Blackheart.
Ace had travelled inland, towards Banero’s only settlement, and waited.
As he waited for his prey to appear his mind drifted back to that day, his teeth clenching.
xxx
The sky roared and lightning lashed across the sky.
Blackheart was on his knees, twin knives pierced his chest and blood and oil spilled from the wounds. His breath was a harsh wheeze through his exposed teeth.
His lone eye blazed with victory and despair.
All Ace could see was the blood dripping from the Tyrant’s Claw and the body on the floor.
Blackheart heaved to his feet, the joints of his armour sparking and screeching in protest.
“Our dispute is settled.”
Xxx
A commotion brought him from his memories and Ace looked down to see a pirate get thrown from the saloon he was watching.
The hapless man rolled in the dirt before coming to a halt, smouldering slightly.
Then Blackheart emerged from the saloon.
Ace felt a hot spike of rage as he looked upon the murderer striding towards the downed pirate. Despite his anger he did notice that Blackheart had changed a lot since the last time he layed eyes on the Warlord.
He actually looked like a human instead of a corpse. Blackheart had a surprisingly kind face, freckles dotting under both of his emerald eyes. A fluffy mess of green hair ruffled with each step the Warlord took. Yet his face was still marred by fading surgical scars.
He was still clad in his signature red armour and wielded that cruel looking axe but Ace noticed that he had upgraded his more famous weapon.
The Tyrant’s claw’s bladed fingers were more curved into hook-like talons and Ace noted the odd green sheen as flames licked out from the palm.
Seastone laced steel.
Blackheart stopped several paces from his victim and seemed honestly amused.
“It seems I have been away from the sea for too long if such braggarts dare to try and claim an island under my protection.” Blackheart said, his voice no longer a snarl but still had a slight mechanical purr to it.
“Braggarts is just putting it mildly, Izuku.” The Corpsemaster emerged from the saloon, a frown marring her pretty features, her lips pulled into a put as she stuffed a Devil Fruit into her satchel. “All the captain had was the Spider Spider Fruit: Tarantula Model, dangerous of course but to challenge us without Haki is borderline insulting.”
“I’m sure someone on the crew will take it, Melissa.” Blackheart responded with a soft smile, turning away from the downed pirate. “Either way be better go and tell the townsfolk that the Pirates are dealt with.”
“Then to Enies Lobby?” Melissa asked.
Izuku lost his smile and sighed before nodding.
“Aye. Straw Hat has caused quite a ruckus and, to be honest, I don’t blame him. Unfortunately he is the only pirate actually worth anything near us and if we are to go forward with the plan then we simply have to take him in.”
“We can wait.” Melissa said, her eyes softening. “I know you are rather fond of him.”
“The window is closing fast, Mel. We won’t get another shot at this if we wait.” Blackheart said, his voice hardening with resolve. “I did tell him at Mock Town that the next time we meet we’ll be rivals.”
“Yeah that ain’t happening.” Ace spoke up, his voice flat.
Blackheart and the Corpsemaster looked up at him in surprise.
“Fire Fist?” Blackheart questioned in genuine surprise. “What the heck are you doing here in Paradise?”
“I could say the same for you, Blackheart.” Ace responded, eyes narrowing. “You look a lot better than the last time I saw you.”
Blackheart barked out a laugh.
“I have a brilliant doctor for a wife and I was getting sick of scaring children.” Blackheart replied with a wave of his claw. “Anyways I thought Whitebeard and I agreed to stay out of each other's business. Has something changed?”
Ace rolled his shoulders, flames licking across his skin.
“Do you think you can kill two of my nakama and walk away?”
Blackheart’s eyes narrowed and Ace noticed how quickly the change was from relaxed to battle ready. The Claw flexed.
“Big Mom had one of my wives hostage, Ace. If I did not kill a commander of another Emperor’s crew then she would have taken Ulti’s soul. I also remember that it was Thatch that accepted my challenge, so don’t go and think I killed him for no reason.”
Ace knew the story and a part of him understood Blackheart’s actions.
Yet.
“What about Teach?” Ace asked.
“He tried to murder me for my Devil Fruit.” The Corpsemaster answered. “He also made some disgusting suggestions about what he would do to my body so I killed him.”
“Is that right?” Ace growled out.
“Yes. His bleating for mercy was rather pathetic.”
That did it.
“Fire Fist” Ace roared and punched the air, an inferno roaring from his arm. The saloon simply ceased to exist as it disintegrated from the searing heat.
Ace waited for a moment for the flames to clear and saw that Blackheart had shielded the Corpsemaster from the blast. He looked unbothered by the heat and didn’t seem to have taken any damage.
“Melissa. Go and wait with the townsfolk near the woods.” Blackheart commanded. “This won’t take long.”
“Of course, Izuku.” The Corpsemaster said, an odd black fog engulfing her and she sank into the ground. Ace caught sight of a black blur race across the ground and was about to launch another attack.
Then Blackheart was above him, axe raised and crackling with lightning.
Ace leapt away and Blackheart struck the building. The resulting explosion caught Ace off guard, the shockwave destroying half the town. Buildings flew apart as if struck by a hurricane.
He couldn’t do that before. Ace thought in surprise. His mind swiftly remembered Marco’s words of warning.
“That guy is not natural. If he can beat Thatch as a walking zombie, I dread to think what he can do if he was ever fully healed.”
“You should pay attention to the fight, Fire Fist!” Blackheart roared as he suddenly appeared before Ace in the air. The Tyrant’s Claw lashing out.
Ace kicked out and struck Blackheart’s wrist, knocking the claw back and getting himself some distance.
Both landed and were moving.
Ace knew that claw was a death sentence if it reached him.
Distance was key.
He raised his hands in a mock parody of pistols.
“Flame Pistol!”
A barrage of concentrated fire rattled out and Blackheart waded into it. The small fireballs splashed against his armour with little effect, something that Ace knew would require heavier fire power.
What caught Ace off guard was what happened to the fire bullets that would have struck the gaps of Blackheart’s armour or his face.
There was an odd distortion in the air as something shielded Blackheart from harm.
It also made Ace’s Observation going wild.
The sheer wrongness of that distortion made Ace recoil in horror. He shook off the fear and began to backpedal as Bleackheart got closer.
Ace stopped the barrage and back flipped over an axe swipe, twisting in the air and forming a cross with his fingers.
“Cross Fire!”
The small burning cross that appeared on Blackheart’s chest plate exploded with enough force to launch Blackheart back, sending the Warlord rolling across the ground with flames licking across his torso.
Ace landed on his feet and took a breath, observing the Warlord closely as he too got back on his feet.
Blackheart didn’t even seem bothered and brushed the flames of his chest with casual distaste.
Ace clicked his tongue.
He would have to get close then.
He blurred forward in a snarl of flames, javelins of fire forming in his hands.
Blackheart did not move to meet him, merely bracing his feet and spreading his arms as if to greet him.
Then something wrapped around Ace’s waist and yanked him forward.
Ace gasped with sudden nausea as whatever it was made his insides shiver in disgust. He couldn’t see what held him but he noticed Blackheart was swinging his axe, the head and haft black with Haki.
“St. Elmo’s Fire!” Ace roared and hurled the fire javelins.
Blackheart roared in pain as both pierced his chest and burst from his back, the force of the attack knocked him off balance and Ace was struck with the axe’s shaft instead of the bladed head.
The blow would have decapitated him if it had connected properly but instead slammed Ace into the ground and sent him bouncing across the dirt.
Ace coughed up blood as he rubbed his neck. The strange presence was gone but Ace was more focused on Blackheart.
The Warlord had fallen to a knee, his chest plate smouldering where the javelins had pierced. Green eyes regarded Ace with hate filled respect.
“You should be dead. I hit your heart.” Ace coughed out and got to his feet, his legs shaky.
He had been hit harder than he expected.
“As I told Thatch, I’m a heartless wretch.” Blackheart snarled, also getting up.
“I guess you are.” Ace admitted. “Let’s end this.”
Ace swept his arms out and a ring of fire erupted around him.
“Dai Enkai!” Ace announced, standing tall and one had raised up to hold a massive sun in the air. “Flame Emperor!”
The heat caused the air to ripple and distort, the wooden debris scattered around them bursting into flames.
Blackheart grinned.
“So that's the full power of the Flame Flame Fruit.” He said, spitting out a glob of blood which began to evaporate. “It’s only fair that I show my trump card as well.”
He raised his claw to the air, the bladed fingers curling.
“Hamadrya!” Blackheart roared. The twisted presence Ace had felt before returned a hundredfold. The air darkened around Blackheart and something seemed to perch upon the Warlord’s shoulder and whisper something in his ear.
Ace’s eyes widened as emerald flames burst to life around Blackheart. His mind was almost not comprehending what he was seeing.
“Flame Emperor.” Blackheart said, holding an emerald sun aloft. “It’s no Devil Fruit. Just good old fashioned science so good it's almost magic.”
Ace almost scoffed but he couldn’t help but be impressed. The sheer heat of the two suns scorched the earth black and the town evaporated into nothing.
“Let’s see who wins, Ace. The Sun or Pure Spirit!” Blackheart laughed out.
“I will make Whitebeard the King!” Ace decreed.
Both roared as they threw their suns.
The air howled in protest, the banana shaped mountains melted to slag, the leaves of the forest fell as ash and every cloud in a twenty kilometre radius simply vanished.
The air cleared and the winner stood over his fallen foe. His eyes narrowed in regret.
“I do not wish to do this but I must. For the sake of my wives and crew I will climb to the top no matter what it takes. Even if I’m called a monster who turned the seas red with blood and brought low a man I have nothing but respect for.”
Blackheart said, looking down upon his fallen foe with a sad smile as rain began to fall.
“Thank you for giving me Whitebeard’s Throne.”
Xxx
This incident started a chain of events that would end in a conflict that will shake the world to its core.