The fiery blaze even made Lily's cheeks turn a bit red; her left hand rested on the sword's hilt as she looked at Ace with a hint of mockery in her eyes.
"Keep such words for Sage if you somehow survive...
Boom!!
The burning flames mysteriously exploded, and a gust of air surged up, kicking up a cloud of smoke and dust. The wave carried the fire into the sky and then landed on the ground, adding another layer to the surrounding blaze.
From within the smoke and dust, Sage's figure gradually appeared, walking out from the crater where he had fallen.
"Oh? Seems you're not entirely unharmed." Ace blinked at Sage bore a playful grimace.
Before him was Sage, whose shirt had been mostly burned away; the gemstone buttons on his shirt had shattered into fragments, falling to the ground as he moved.
On the surface of his body, Sage's arms and some other places, even on his cheeks, showed signs of burns.
Whew...
A sudden wind blew, stirring the relatively intact fur cloak behind Sage and swaying his white hair.
"Lily, catch."
Sage untied the fur cloak and tossed it towards Lily.
Lily reached out to catch it, draping the fur cloak over her arm.
Sage tore off the remnants of his burned shirt, revealing his muscular yet well-proportioned upper body, his pupils almost shrinking to needle points as he glared at Ace. Despite the anger in his eyes, his tone was extremely calm: "You're really infuriating..."
"Because I am fire!" Ace grinned menacingly.
"Hey, you pockmarked face!!"
A crisp voice called out, as Renedia ran up from the front, baring her teeth and shouting: "You damn guy, are you an enemy?"
Ace's face stiffened, his subconscious looking at the approaching little girl, and his mouth twitched, "Hey, you don't seem to have the right to say that to me."
Renedia, who had freckles on her face as well.
"I don't care, pockmarked face, do you want to die!"
Renedia pulled out a mechanical hammer from her waist, baring her teeth: "Daring to fight us! I'll send you one shot to death!"
"Ala, don't do that, the captain is angry now."
Just as Renedia's voice fell, another voice sounded from the other side. Marika walked out of an alleyway, glanced at Ace's tattoo, and was surprised, "Whitebeard Pirates?"
"Whitebeard?!"
Renedia was first astonished. For even a little girl like her knew of Whitebeard's reputation.
But quickly, she bared her teeth at Ace, "So what about Whitebeard, we are disasters!"
She was buying supplies with her crew when she first saw smoke and then flames, which led her here.
The reason was the same.
The rain stopped...
"Portgas D. Ace, bounty of 550 million Belly, I've seen your wanted order, didn't expect you joined the Whitebeard Pirates."
Marika came from behind to stand with Renedia beside Lily and glanced at Ace, then looked over to the tense-faced Sage, "Was the fire caused by you? You're strong to actually injure Sage..."
"Why are you here?"
Sage glanced at them.
Marika said, "I saw the Navy on the way; they seemed to be chasing some Straw Hat boy. Smoke was rising here, then there was fire, so it naturally caught attention."
"Luffy?!"
Ace's eyes lit up, looking over at them with a smile, "You all have high bounties, are you planning to gang up on me?"
"No... Sage will be angry, we are just spectators."
Marika smiled, "After all, I don't think you will win, right, Captain?"
"Such confidence, your captain is already injured, after I defeat him, I will go find Luffy!"
As Ace finished his words, his pupils shrank, and the confident smile that had just surfaced froze on his face.
Whew!
The breath turned into a wind from Sage's mouth and nose.
With each breath, his burnt skin was submerging as if under normal skin, gradually shrinking back to normal.
The previous burns entirely healed in this moment, as if they never existed at all.
Life Return! Activate!
At this instant, even his surroundings were tinged with visible white airflow, rising and steaming.
Hiss!
A white gust emitted from his nostrils, scattering like steam on the ground, forming a circle of shock waves.
Bam!
The physique, which was almost similar to Ace's, suddenly expanded at this moment. As his height grew, his muscles, like armor, crazily swelled across his body.
The muscles on his shoulders almost turned into thick shoulder plates, and the muscles at his elbows protruded, becoming round shapes like joints, akin to a mechanical Iron Person connecting at joint areas, while his collarbone enlarged into a collar like that of heavy armor.
Instantly, he transformed into a three-meter-tall muscle-armored monster!
Dragon Transformation Breathing Technique!
"80%."
Sage looked down at Ace, baring his forest-white teeth, "Well, round two!"
Simply relying on Haki and body techniques couldn't hit Ace; instead, it would be offset by the power of the flames. Although Sage was confident he would hit eventually, there was no need.
Finish it in one go.
"Ability User?" Ace was surprised, "What is this considered? The power of the Muscle-Muscle Fruit?"
"Who knows..."
Sage clasped his thumb towards his fist, a cold smile appearing at the corner of his mouth, "You've exerted quite some strength already, I haven't even exerted force yet!"
Bam!
With the sound of a bullet firing, as the thumb snapped out, it transformed into a jet-black conical bullet, directly hitting Ace's face.
That face turned into flames and scattered, the bullet pierced through the flame creating a hole, shooting straight towards afar, piercing several buildings in succession, creating identical small holes, revealing a beam of sunlight through those structures.
"Eh? Flames?!" Renedia was momentarily stupefied watching the flames emerge from Ace's head.
Marika's smile also briefly froze, but quickly regained composure, "So it's Logia-type, no wonder it made Sage take it seriously, is this the intensity of the Grand Line?"
The scattered flames gathered back into Ace's face, as he turned his face to look sternly at Sage's hand, a mark had been carved on his cheek, blood flowing down.
Almost didn't react in time!
"Haki, can it reach such a degree?" Ace said incredulously.
Was the shape of the bullet formed by Armament Haki just now?
Coiling?
Clearly, there was no physical object, purely externalized, can it reach such a degree?!
Bam!
Before he could react, another breaking the sky sound rang out. Ace was startled, hurriedly elementalizing, the 'bullet' pierced through his chest, bringing forth a scattering pile of flames.
Sage revealed a grin, his thumb flickering like a phantom, snapping up like bullets. This was merely externalizing Haki, relying on the power of the Dragon Transformation Breathing Technique, allowing Haki to be fired out like bullets.
Bam bam bam!!
Jet-black bullets moving so fast like phantoms hit Ace's body, causing it to disperse into patches of flames, like shooting targets, Sage firing his Haki, whereas Ace desperately dodged amidst the extremely fast bullets, his voluntarily elementalized flaming body became increasingly unable to respond.
Even under the incessant attack, he wasn't able to actively scatter, the Haki attacks were too incessant!
Bam!
The flames dodged another 'bullet,' but within the flames, Ace's true form slightly gritted his teeth.
The side of his waist had been grazed...
Bam!
As soon as he felt this, another familiar sound reverberated, the force directly threatening the flames on his forehead.
Ace's pupils narrowed, crossing his arms in front to block...
Slap!!
The sweeping flames halted, revealing Ace's true form, within the flames, his arms were crossed in front of his head, an added layer of jet-black color on his hands.
"Armament Haki?"
Sage stopped attacking, letting out a chuckle, "A Logia-type knowing Armament Haki but not Observation, really is a brainless fool!"
Armament Haki merely requires the mastery of willpower, but Observation as sensory power needs to be used in combat while maintaining calmness.
No matter how adept at showing hot-bloodedness, anyone using Observation must be composed during battle.
Impulsive individuals can't possess Observation.
Ace shook his hands laced with Armament Haki, gazing towards Sage, his eyes gradually becoming solemn.
This kind of speed, and this kind of exertion technique, although somewhat different, gave Ace a similarly intense sensation...
That swollen, sinister body gradually converged in Ace's view with that simple-minded old man's laughter.
The 'bullets' being fired...
are just like the force of 'fist bone'!