The reason Will had unleashed more of his strength from the start was because, in his mind, Ace’s power should far surpass Smoker’s.
The reason Will had unleashed more of his strength from the start was because, in his mind, Ace’s power should far surpass Smoker’s. After all, Ace’s past battles and opponents were on a completely different level compared to Smoker’s. The man had taken to the seas and defeated a forr mber of the Seven Warlords of the Sea. He later clashed with Yamato, the daughter of Kaido from Wano, and their battle ended in a draw. He even fought against Jinbe, one of the current Warlords, for five days and five nights, both collapsing from exhaustion in the end.
From this, it was clear that Ace’s strength was anything but weak.
As for the original story, where Ace and Smoker faced off in Alabasta and claid neither could overpower the other, Will suspected it was only because Ace was preoccupied with chasing Blackbeard at the ti. He likely had no interest in getting tangled up with the Marines, especially with a natural-born Logia user like Smoker, in a pointless skirmish.
Of course, these were just Will’s speculations. Ace’s true strength would only beco clear once they fought.
"I hope Ace’s power can make this fight exciting," Will muttered to himself.
Whoosh!
At that mont, a searing blaze erupted from a nearby snow pile, snapping Will’s thoughts back to reality. Under the assault of the flas, the surrounding ice and snow began to lt rapidly, revealing Ace’s figure, his body wreathed in fire. The black coat he’d been wearing was nowhere to be seen.
Temporarily dispelling his elental form, Ace held flas in his hands, his expression grim as he said coldly, "As expected of the guy they call ’Madman.’ It seems the title of Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates ans nothing to you."
He hadn’t anticipated that Will would strike so suddenly—and so swiftly—that he couldn’t dodge in ti.
Hearing this, Will let out a chuckle, his tone laced with aning. "Is that title supposed to impress ? A fancy background doesn’t an squat. Out on the seas, you need strength—real strength—or you’ll end up dead."
Ace’s brow furrowed, and he gave a cold smirk. "Is that so? You think you’re pretty strong, huh? Let’s see about that!"
With that, Ace drew his hands to his waist, forming a gun-like gesture with his fingers, and shouted, "Fire Gun!"
Biubiubiu!
A barrage of fiery bullets shot from his fingertips, speeding toward every part of Will’s body. Will didn’t even bother to dodge. Using his Observation Haki, he predicted the trajectory of each fla, then coated the targeted areas with Armant Haki, hardening them. The flas struck his body relentlessly, one after another.
After a few seconds of continuous fire, Ace stopped. But when he looked up, he saw Will standing there, completely unscathed—not even his clothes were singed.
"This guy’s Armant Haki... is it really that strong?" Ace thought, stunned, as he quickly retracted his arms and began gathering more flas.
"Fire Fist!" he roared.
With a low growl, Ace swung his fist forward, his arm transforming into a torrent of blazing fire that surged toward Will at high speed. Will stood his ground, unmoving. As the flas closed in, he coated his entire body in Armant Haki and hardened it.
Boom!
With a deafening explosion, the snow in front of Ace was swept away by the raging flas. But as the fire dissipated, Will appeared completely unhard.
"How is this possible?!" Ace exclaid, unable to contain his shock. He hadn’t expected Will’s Haki to withstand even the power of his Fire Fist.
Will, too lazy to retract his Haki, smirked and waved dismissively at Ace. "Put so effort into it. I can handle more."
"Damn it..." Ace gritted his teeth, infuriated by Will’s apparent disregard. He decided to stop holding back. Gathering power in both hands, he shouted, "Mirror Fla!"
A massive wall of scorching flas erupted from his arms, advancing rapidly toward Will like a tidal wave. Will watched the approaching inferno and, surprisingly, dispelled his Haki hardening. Instead, he raised both hands toward the flas.
Armant Haki Release: Iron Wall!
In the next mont, the flas reached Will but were stopped dead by an invisible force, unable to advance further. It was as if an unseen barrier stood before Will’s hands. Then, Will intensified the Haki he was releasing, unleashing a powerful shockwave that shattered the wall of flas.
"What?!" Ace’s eyes widened in disbelief, unable to comprehend what had just happened. Does this guy have so kind of Devil Fruit power too?!
Will, unaware of Ace’s thoughts, couldn’t help but taunt him after dispersing the flas. "Your flas? They’re better suited for lighting birthday candles."
At the sa ti, he felt a twinge of disappointnt. Ace clearly focused on developing his Devil Fruit abilities, neglecting his Haki training. Will also recalled that, in the original story, Ace was decent in close-quarters combat, yet for so reason, he wasn’t using it now.
"Damn bastard..." Ace seethed, his anger flaring at Will’s words. But he wasn’t reckless enough to charge in. Will’s physique scread proficiency in close combat—a lesson Ace had learned the hard way from his grandfather, Garp. That’s why he’d been sticking to long-range attacks.
But even Mirror Fla couldn’t touch Will. To defeat this formidable opponent, Ace would need to unleash moves with even more concentrated flas to break through his Haki defense. Using Emperor Fla would be an option, but its destructive range was too wide. Though they were far from any villages, Ace still worried about the flas spreading and causing collateral damage. This place had already suffered from Blackbeard’s invasion not long ago, and Ace had no intention of earning a reputation as bad as his forr crewmate’s.
If it ca to it, he’d have to move the fight even farther away...
With that thought, Ace refocused. He stomped the ground and leaped high into the air. "Try this!" he shouted. Gritting his teeth, he began spinning rapidly above Will.
"Fla Commandnt: Fire Pillar!"
With a low roar, Ace unleashed a torrent of flas from his hands. The fire spiraled with his rotation, forming a massive pillar of fla several ters wide that hurtled toward Will below. The searing heat caused the surrounding air to shimr and rise!
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