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"She's fast!" Ace had already lowered his center of gravity, anticipating a fierce first move. As Vivi lunged, he pivoted sideways, twisted his waist, and swept his leg out in a fiery arc—his Devil Fruit ability igniting his kick with blazing intensity.
Wearing a kimono and clogs wasn't exactly ideal for combat. Vivi's claw strike hit only air. She kicked off her clogs mid-motion, landing barefoot and focused entirely on Ace's movement.
Her hand-to-hand skills weren't her strongest suit. Most of what she knew came from Smoker and Binz—naval boxing and swordsmanship, common among Marines. While lacking in raw power, those styles were practical, with few exploitable weaknesses, good for both experts and newcomers.
Vivi transitioned from claw to fist, her fingers clenched tightly as she coated them in Armament Haki and threw a punch directly into Ace's flaming whip kick.
Bang! A deep thud rang out.
Vivi shook the flames from her fist while Ace stumbled two steps back. His physical strength was below hers, but his combat finesse clearly surpassed her own.
"Oh, not bad! You've got guts," Ace muttered, slightly irritated. He loved his Devil Fruit powers, but he'd always been lax in training his Haki—decent talent, poor discipline.
Vivi could tell his technique outpaced hers, but he noticed that her Armament Haki was much stronger.
"Musket!" Ace raised two fingers and fired a small fireball with a flick.
Vivi almost laughed. "What are you, playing with kids?"
She sidestepped easily, reading his intent without even relying on Observation Haki.
Ace fired several more "shots," but instead of widening the gap, he was closing it. He grinned.
"That move was for messing with my little brother. You wouldn't believe how slippery that kid is."
Vivi scoffed and vanished in a blur. She reappeared in front of Ace, her right hand enveloped in deep black Haki. Mimicking Zefa's method of punishing Binz, she unleashed a devastating punch.
Ace evaded with a fluid backflip, hovering midair with his arms crossed.
"Crossfire!"
Two flame bolts shot out in an X-formation. Faster, wider, and more aggressive than his "musket," the crossfire left her little room to dodge.
Vivi's right hand dropped to the hilt of the second-generation Kitetsu. She assumed a power-loading stance, ready to draw.
"Slash!"
A massive sword wave, three meters high, tore across the ground, split the flaming X, and hurtled toward Ace.
Without a weapon or hardened Haki to guard with, and not willing to tank such a hit, Ace flipped sideways again to dodge.
By the time he landed, Vivi was already mid-air, blade coated in black and red Armament Haki. Her slash, naval-style, came straight for his neck.
He countered with a flaming fist—Fire Fist!
Despite his relative inexperience and some showiness in his techniques, Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit powers let him stave off Vivi's relentless offense again and again.
They traded over 30 blows. Vivi fought conservatively, wary that his flames might burn off her clothes.
"You know," she growled, "it's not that your fire is that strong. I'm just not in the mood to flash the entire coastline."
Fighting fire-users like Ace and Akainu was a tactical headache. Vivi cursed inwardly—someone like Belo Betty might not care, but she certainly did.
Ace laughed. "Honestly, I don't even like fighting women. You started this, remember?"
He opened his arms wide, flames swirling around him.
"Alright! One move to settle it. I'm done playing. Brace yourself!"
"Flame Commandment: Flame Emperor!"
From his ankles up, flames consumed him entirely. His arms turned into blazing pillars, heat coalescing in his palms before erupting in a massive, concentrated wave.
Vivi responded instantly. She swung her cursed blade, crimson energy bursting forth.
"Lion's Barrage—Thousand Cut Valley!"
A crisscross of sword beams carved into the wave of fire. Before, Vivi could only manage nine slashes, and those without a blade.
But now—after three months of training, a month with Zefa, and a boost from the magical beast fruit's enhancements—her Chikiri Valley had the feel of the Golden Lion's legendary move.
She couldn't do a thousand cuts—but a hundred? Absolutely.
The second-generation Kitetsu erupted with power. Sword light flew in wild patterns—horizontal, vertical, unrelenting. Each cut tore through the inferno. Flame after flame shattered, but Ace kept pouring more fire into the attack.
Vivi's stamina dropped quickly from continuous sword swings. Meanwhile, the sweat on Ace's brow evaporated before it could fall, his expression sharpening.
On the beach, his crewmates watched anxiously, fearing their captain might get cleaved in half.
"No way I'm losing here!" Ace roared. "I still have to take Kaido's head! Haaaaaah!"
His spirit surged, rolling out in an overwhelming force like a tidal wave. Haoshoku Haki—Conqueror's Will.
Vivi's eyes flared. "Think I can't do that too?!"
She answered with her own burst of Conqueror's Haki, equally wild and defiant.
Pop! Crack!
Their Haki clashed mid-air, generating rippling black and red lightning. Though they kept their dominance contained to a small radius, the villagers and pirates alike staggered, nauseated by the pressure and forced to retreat.
Wood planks, gravel, and debris launched into the air as if two giants were locked in a cosmic struggle, rejecting all lesser beings from their battlefield. Within this zone, only raw power was acknowledged.
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