Chapter 84: I Haven't Even Exerted Myself Yet!
Sag's Haki amount wasn't actually high; after all, he had only just mastered it. Normally, cultivating this thing was extremely slow; only battles against strong enemies could make Haki grow.
Since mastering Haki, he had only fought a death match with Zephyr. His Haki amount had increased considerably then. Besides that, even coating the treasure vault with Haki daily provided limited improvement.
Proficient manipulation and enhancement were two different matters.
However, his Haki amount had near-infinite rapid recovery.
Therefore, with every strike, Sag could squander all his Haki without scruple.
Furthermore, under the influence of Hokuto Shinken, his mastery of Haki was more proficient than anyone else's. He was capable of widening the Haki and striking out, causing an impact over a large area.
Seeing Ace dodge, Sag raised an eyebrow. "Oh? You noticed? Or was it just good luck?"
"Higan!" (Fire Gun!)
Ace planted his feet on the rooftop, rested his hands on his hips, thumbs up, index and middle fingers held together, forming the shape of guns. From them, he fired a large number of small flames, like pellets.
If ordinary flames were useless, then use flames with a wider range!
"No matter how much you spread out, ultimately, I am the target."
Sag raised both hands, his fists covered in pitch blackness, turning into streaks of afterimages, extinguishing all the incoming small flames.
But just as he extinguished all the attacking flames, clusters of light spots, like the fluorite Pearl used, floated around him and quickly gathered.
"Small flames can also gather into a big fire!"
Ace opened his hands towards Sag, the same luster emitting from his palms. "Hotarubi: Hidaruma!" (Firefly Light: Fire Daruma!)
Boom!
Those light spots approached Sag, directly rolling up into a huge flame, submerging Sag.
Ace showed a slight smile. "In the New World, it's full of arrogant guys like you who think they can counter Logia types just because they know Haki. Elements can't be caught! No matter how powerful Haki is, it can't resist nature!"
Haki wasn't a barrier that could isolate everything; all it could grasp was the physical body of the ability user. Flames like these, once entangled, could only lead to being burned.
"Well said."
But just as his words fell, his pupils froze. A figure appeared behind him, bringing a whip-like black shadow.
"But it's also full of idiots like you who think Logia types are invincible!"
Bang!
Sag fiercely kicked Ace's body, breaking it into two pieces, which turned into two clusters of flames. The upper flame condensed into Ace's form. His hands pulled back sharply, and firelight began to burst from his palms.
"Shinka: Shiranui!" (Sacred Fire: Sea Fire!)
Fwoosh!!
Ace's hands slammed down fiercely, the thrown flames combining into a flaming spear, carrying a piercing force straight towards Sag.
"Penetrating force? Flames can achieve this degree?"
Sag's kicking leg instantly stopped. His right hand clenched tightly, Haki rapidly flowing and wrapping around his hand, turning into pitch-black flowing fire, striking straight at the flame spear.
"Tenha Kassatsu!!"
Boom!!
Pitch-black flowing fire emitted from his palm, colliding with the flame spear. On the rooftop, the flames turned into huge sparks, blooming open like fireworks.
Lily tried hard to watch the fireworks. Within her vision, faintly, she could see specks of black interwoven within…
And in Sag's eyes, besides the crimson fire, this cluster of fireworks was also interwoven with pitch-black energy (qi/Haki), turning into black-red sparks scattering outwards.
The flame impact opened up, but the power of Haki was also impacted away by this cluster of flames.
"Higan!" (Fire Gun!)
Amidst the sparks, Ace's figure emerged. His fingers pointed forward continuously, firing numerous flame bullets. Sag just waved his hand fiercely, widening the Haki emission to create an impact, extinguishing all the flames.
The Haki impact also hit Ace's body, forcing him into a cluster of scattered fire, rapidly smashing down onto the rooftop, scorching the surroundings open, forming a ring of fire that surrounded Sag.
Within the fire ring, specks of firefly light densely gathered, emitting a brilliance almost like flames.
Ace's figure appeared in the air, opening his fingers towards Sag, smiling. "En..." (Flame)
Just at that instant, Sag moved his feet, disappearing directly from the spot. His high-speed movement broke through the ring of fire, revealing an opening.
He almost flashed in front of Ace, carrying an impact force, his fist like a plummeting cannonball, striking him in the chest.
Bang!
This punch even made the air ring, penetrating straight into Ace's chest, but it was enveloped by a cluster of fire.
Ace's entire body turned into flames diffusing outwards. His face showed a fierce grin towards Sag, instantly turning into fire, wrapping Sag's body with the spreading flames.
Several strands rose from within the flames, converging above Sag into Ace's form, flames still emanating from his mouth and face. He said fiercely, "Enjōmō! (Flame Commandment Embrace!) And…"
He raised his fist, igniting fierce flames, and plunged downwards forcefully.
"Hiken!!" (Fire Fist!!)
Boom!!
Flames as thick as buckets struck the burning blaze, descending with extremely strong impact force. With a loud bang, it struck the ground heavily. Sparks and gravel splashed outwards, scattering on the ground, scorching the earth open.
Ace descended from the air, landing in a horse stance, grinning fiercely at the burning flames. "Can this move also be evaluated as 'power not bad'?!"
Saying this, he stood up straight, pulled down the brim of his hat slightly, and said to Lily and the fiercely grinning Miote nearby, "Tell your captain to be more polite in the future, if he's still alive…"
The fire-red flames even made Lily's cheeks flush slightly red. Her left hand rested on her sword hilt, a trace of mockery in her eyes as she looked at Ace.
"You should save those words for Sag yourself, if you're not dead…"
Boom!!
The burning flames were inexplicably blasted open, creating a surge of air waves, rolling up a cloud of smoke and dust. That air wave carried flames scattering into the sky, then landing on the ground, adding another layer to the surrounding fire.
From within the smoke and dust, Sag's figure gradually emerged, walking out of the crater he had crashed into.
"Oh? Seems you're not completely unscathed," Ace stared, wide-eyed, laughing strangely.
Sag, before him, had the upper half of his shirt mostly burned away. The gemstone buttons on the shirt were burned and cracked into fragments, falling to the ground as he walked.
And on the surface of his body, Sag's arms and some other places, even his cheeks, showed signs of burns.
Whoosh…
A gust of wind suddenly stirred up, blowing Sag's relatively intact fur cloak behind him, also making his white hair flutter.
"Lily, catch."
The fur cloak was taken off. Sag reached out and threw it towards Lily.
Lily reached out and caught it, hanging the fur cloak on her arm.
Sag ripped open the mostly burnt shirt, revealing a sturdy yet well-proportioned upper body. The pupils of his eyes shrank almost to pinpoints as he glared at Ace. Different from the anger in those pupils, his tone was extremely calm: "You really piss people off…"
"Because I am fire!" Ace grinned fiercely.
"Hey, Pockmark!!"
A clear, crisp call sounded. Renettia ran closer from the front, baring her teeth and shouting, "You guy, are you an enemy?!"
Ace's face stiffened. He subconsciously looked at the approaching little girl, the corner of his mouth twitching. "Hey, you don't seem to have the right to say that about me."
Renettia also had small freckles on her face.
"I don't care! Pockmark, do you want to die?!" Renettia pulled out the mechanical hammer from her waist, baring her teeth. "You actually dare to fight us! This lady will send you to your death with one shot!"
"Ara, don't do that. The Captain is very angry right now,"
Just as Renettia's voice fell, another voice sounded from the other side. Marika walked out from an alleyway, glanced at the tattoo on Ace's back, and said with surprise, "Whitebeard Pirates?"
"Whitebeard?!"
Renettia was startled at first. Even a little girl like her knew Whitebeard's reputation.
But very quickly, she bared her teeth at Ace. "So what if it's Whitebeard? We are Natural Disaster!"
She had been bringing subordinates to buy some materials. First, she saw the smoke, then the fire, which was why she rushed over.
The reason was the same.
The rain had stopped…
"Portgas D. Ace, bounty five hundred and fifty million Beli. I've seen your wanted poster. Didn't expect you joined the Whitebeard Pirates."
Marika came from behind, stood next to Lily with Renettia, glanced at Ace, then looked towards Sag whose face was tense. "Did you cause the flames? To actually injure Sag, you're very strong."
"Why did you guys come?" Sag glanced at them.
Marika said, "I saw Marines on the way, seemed like they were chasing some Straw Hat Boy. Then smoke rose here, followed by fire. Of course, it attracted attention."
"Luffy?!"
Ace's eyes lit up. He looked back at them and smiled, "You're all guys with high bounties. Are you planning to gang up on me?"
"Doing that would make Sag angry. We're just watching the battle," Marika smiled sweetly. "After all, I don't think you can win, right, Captain?"
"So confident? Your captain is injured! Wait until I defeat him, then I'll go find Luffy!"
Just as Ace's words fell, his pupils contracted. The confident smile that had just emerged froze on his face.
Whoosh!
The airflow of breathing billowed like wind from Sag's mouth and nose.
With each breath, the burned skin on his body seemed to be submerged by normal skin, gradually shrinking, returning to its normal state.
The burns from just now, all recovered at this moment, as if they never existed.
Life Return! Activate!
In that same instant, his body was even suffused with a visible white airflow, transpiring upwards.
Chih!
A white spurt of air exhaled from his nose, spreading out on the ground like steam, forming a rippling air wave.
Boom!
That body, basically the same size as Ace's, suddenly expanded at this moment. As his height grew, muscles madly grew on the surface of his body like armor.
The shoulder muscles almost became thick shoulder armor. The muscles at the elbow protruded, becoming joint-like circular existences, like a mechanical steel man connecting joint parts. And the collarbone expanded in a circle, like the collar of heavy armor.
In an instant, he transformed into a three-meter-tall monster of muscle armor!
Turning Dragon Breathing Technique!
"80%."
Sag looked down at Ace, baring his chilling white teeth. "Saa (Well then), round two!"
Relying purely on Haki and martial arts couldn't hit Ace; instead, it would be offset by the power of the flames. Although Sag was confident that he would eventually hit if the battle dragged on, there was no need for that.
Finish it in one go, crush him.
"Ability user?" Ace was startled. "What is this? Muscle-Muscle Fruit ability?"
"Who knows."
Sag buckled his thumb towards his fist, a chilling intent appearing at the corner of his mouth. "You've used quite a bit of strength, haven't you? I haven't even exerted myself yet!"
Bang!
A sound like a pellet being fired followed the flick of his thumb, transforming into a pitch-black, cone-shaped bullet, directly hitting Ace's face.
That face turned into flames and scattered open. The bullet pierced a hole through the flames, shooting straight into the distance, consecutively piercing several buildings, creating small holes in the exact same position. Under the sunlight, a beam of light even shone through these buildings.
"Eh? Flame?!" Renettia stared blankly at the flames emerging from Ace's head.
Marika's smile also froze slightly, but quickly recovered. "So it's a Logia type. No wonder it made Sag serious. Is this the strength of the Grand Line?"
The scattered flames re-gathered into Ace's face. His face was turned sideways at this moment, looking gravely at Sag's hand. A trace had been cut on his cheek, and blood flowed down.
Almost didn't react!
"Haki, can it achieve this degree?" Ace said incredulously.
Was that Busoshoku Haki condensed into the shape of a bullet just now?
Coating?
But there was clearly no solid object. Pure emission, could it reach this degree?!
Bang!
Before he could react, another sound of tearing air echoed. Ace was startled and quickly elementalized. The 'bullet' pierced his chest, carrying away a cluster of scattered flames.
Sag revealed a fierce grin, his thumb flicking like an afterimage. This was purely Haki emission, relying on the power of the Turning Dragon Breathing Technique, allowing Haki to be fired like bullets.
Bang bang bang!!
Pitch-black bullets, fast as afterimages, struck Ace's body, causing it to disperse into clusters of flames. Like hitting a target, Sag fired Haki shots, while Ace tried his best to dodge. But amidst the extremely fast bullets, the actively elementalized flame body clearly began to react too slowly.
Even under the continuous attacks, he couldn't even actively diffuse. The Haki attacks were too dense!
Bang!
The flames dodged another 'bullet', but Ace's main body within the flames slightly gritted his teeth at this moment.
His waist was grazed…
Bang!
Just as he had this feeling, another familiar sound resounded. Its air spurt aimed straight at his forehead within the flames.
Ace's pupils contracted, crossing his arms to block…
Pa!!
The sweeping flames stopped, revealing Ace's real body. Amidst the flames, he blocked his head with his arms. Upon his hands, an extra layer of pitch blackness appeared.
"Busoshoku?"
Sag stopped his attack, letting out a choked laugh. "A Logia type who knows Busoshoku but not Kenbunshoku. Truly a brainless idiot!"
Busoshoku only required control over willpower. But Kenbunshoku, as the power of perception, needed calmness in battle to be used.
No matter how hot-blooded a guy seemed, if they used Kenbunshoku, they would definitely be calm during battle.
Impulsive people couldn't possess Kenbunshoku.
Ace shook his Busoshoku Haki-covered hands, looked towards Sag, his eyes gradually becoming serious.
This speed, and this kind of power-exerting move, although not exactly the same, gave Ace a similar feeling…
That expanding, ferocious body, gradually in Ace's vision, merged with an idiot old man who only knew how to laugh "Pwahahaha". (Comparing Sag to Garp)
Those launched 'bullets'…
Were just like the exertion of 'Kenkon' (Fist Bone)!
●●●
● 24 Advanced chapters Now Available on Patreon!!
● https://www.patreon.com/c/Devmaya
(Just remove the hyphen to access patreon normally)