Once again thankyou all and those who are supporting me on patreon.
Want to read 10+ chapters ahead? Support me on Patreon! And here by donating powerstone
for every 100 power stone I will drop a bonus chapter.
https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
Remember to only take 8$ membership, And In this you will get all the chapter of all my fanfics.
===========================================================
The alliance, if one could call it that, was a powder keg waiting for a spark. Silver D. Morgan, a grim specter of vengeance, kept to himself, his very presence a constant, suffocating pressure on the otherwise boisterous crew. Ace, now leading a fleet with two legends who could rival him in power, began the arduous task of charting their course for the Crossroads of Ruin, the last known location of Weevil and Bakkin.
The hunt had just begun when the lookout's voice shrieked from the crow's nest, this time not with alarm, but with utter confusion.
"Ship sighted! A single Marine vessel... flying a white flag!"
Ace, Marco, and Kuzan stood at the prow, watching as the small ship approached and anchored near a barren, rocky island. A lone figure disembarked, waiting for them on the shore.
"Ara ra..." Kuzan drawled, a flicker of recognition in his eyes. "Well, this is unexpected."
It was Vice Admiral Doll.
Leaving Morgan in command of the fleet—a decision that made Marco visibly nervous—Ace, Kuzan, and a wary Marco flew down to the island. They landed a respectful distance away. Doll stood alone, her arms crossed, her expression as cold and hard as sea stone.
"Vice Admiral," Ace said, his tone neutral. "To what do we owe the pleasure? Here to finish our dance?"
"I am here to settle a debt," Doll said, her voice sharp and to the point. She looked him dead in the eye. "You spared my life when you had every right and reason to take it. I do not like being indebted to a pirate. I am here to make us even."
She produced a small, black Den Den Mushi from her coat, a model Ace recognized from Kenji's memories as a high-security, encrypted recording device.
"After our... battle," she began, "I was recalled to New Marineford for the debriefing. Fleet Admiral Sakazuki was in a state of absolute fury. Commander-in-Chief Kong ordered former Fleet Admiral Sengoku to provide a full report on the historical context of your revelations at the war."
She placed the Den Den Mushi on a rock between them. "I was a guard on duty outside the office. This is a recording of that meeting."
She activated it. The snail's eyes opened, and Sengoku's grave, weary voice filled the air.
"Sakazuki. You are looking at this war as a problem of pirates. You are wrong. This is a matter of theology."
Ace, Marco, and Kuzan listened in stunned silence as the recording played out. They heard Sengoku's entire, chilling lecture about the Void Century, about the legendary, cursed figure of Davy D. Jones, and about the will of a god-challenger being passed down through the generations, culminating in Rocks D. Xebec.
"And now," Sengoku's recorded voice continued, heavy with dread, "that will, that curse, has been inherited by Marshall D. Teach. He is not just Xebec's son. He is the final vessel for a will that has been trying to consume the world for 800 years."
Then, another voice spoke. It was Akainu's. But it was not the loud, explosive roar of the magma fanatic. It was a voice that was quiet, cold, and utterly devoid of anything but a terrifying, absolute conviction.
"I see," Akainu's voice said, the sound itself a promise of death. "This is no longer a war on piracy. It is a holy crusade."
There was a pause, and then the final, chilling words.
"I will not wait for them to weaken each other. I will go to the New World myself. And I will burn this 'D.' curse from the face of the earth... even if I have to burn the entire sea to do it."
The recording ended. The silence that followed was heavier than any mountain.
Doll picked up the Den Den Mushi, her face a mask of grim duty. "He left two days ago," she said, her voice flat. "With a fleet of one hundred warships, Kizaru, and every available Vice Admiral. He is no longer a Marine following orders. He is a fanatic leading the world's most powerful army on a personal quest for holy extermination."
She looked at Ace, and for the first time, there was a flicker of something other than professional animosity in her eyes. It was a warning. "He's not hunting pirates anymore, Son of Roger. He's hunting you. Your name, your bloodline... you are a heresy to him now."
She turned and began walking back to her ship. "We are even," she called over her shoulder. "The next time we meet, I will not hesitate."
Ace, Marco, and Kuzan were left standing in the ruins of their previous strategy.
They returned to the Moby Dick in a grim silence. Ace walked straight to the map room, the weight of the world on his shoulders. He looked at the map of the New World. He placed a piece on their current location. He placed another on the Crossroads of Ruin, where Weevil and Bakkin were. He placed a third on a speculative location for Blackbeard. And then, he drew a long, red, undeniable line, charting the course of Akainu's crusade.
All four points were on a collision course.
He was no longer the hunter. He was one of three prime targets in a madman's holy war.
"Change of plans," Ace said, his voice dangerously quiet as his commanders filed into the room. "The hunt for Weevil is on hold."
He looked up at his brothers, his eyes burning with the cold, hard fire of a king facing an challenge and a problem.
=======================================
100 Power Stone = 1 Bonus Chapter
Send me some powerstone.
https://www.patreon.com/c/kapa69
Remember to only take 8$ membership