aircannonsinc Chapter 277 The True Flame Emperor Awakens
Chapter 277 The True Flame Emperor Awakens
Chapter 277 The True Flame Emperor Awakens
Whitebeard's roar shattered the sky and sea.
The Conqueror's Haki solidified into a tangible impact, like an invisible giant wall crashing against the sea surface.
The ice crystal platform beneath Lucci's feet shattered with a crash, his pupils contracted sharply, and he screamed wildly, driven by animal instinct.
Back off! Get out of the way!
In the instant he retreated, the white-bearded man's first strike had already come down. Not aimed at him, but at the sea.
"First move, Sea Tremor!"
The Murakumo cut through the sea.
"Crack—Boom!!!"
The white shockwave cracks, like a giant awakened from the deep sea, surged wildly beneath the surface.
Wherever it passed, the seawater structure collapsed, shattering from a liquid state into a fine mist. Lucci's escape route instantly turned into a deadly turbulent current.
He groaned, and the black markings of death's favor shone brightly on his body as he forcefully steadied himself.
But that momentary hesitation was enough.
The white-bearded man's figure disappeared; no, it was the space itself that was trembling.
He channeled the power of the Tremor-Tremor Fruit into his surroundings, achieving short-range teleportation. In the next instant, he appeared directly above Lucci, slashing down with his sword.
"Breaking through the air!"
The white light that the Murakumo-giri was wrapped around was condensed to a tangible form. Lucci met it head-on with his crossed claws.
"clang-!!!!!"
The sound of the impact was the wailing of shattered space. The force of the shock surged wildly into his arms, his bones groaned, and the sea beneath his feet exploded a second time.
He was like a stone thrown into the sea, crashing heavily into the ocean floor.
Whitebeard landed back on the sea, leaning on his knife and panting, a trickle of bright red blood spilling from the corner of his mouth.
"Dad—" Ace clenched his fist.
He had never seen his father fight like this before; every move was burning with life force, and every strike was filled with the determination to perish together.
In the air, the duel between Marco and Shining Star Hassan has reached a fever pitch.
Azure flames and dark gold light intertwined wildly.
"Phoenix - Azure Flame Rain!" Marco flapped his wings angrily, and countless azure flame feathers poured down like a torrential rain.
Yao Xing's figure transformed into dozens of afterimages in the air, dodging all attacks with an almost impossible arc.
The two curved blades drew deadly arcs, each strike aimed precisely at a vital point.
"Speed—it's ridiculously fast," Marco gritted his teeth.
He now had three more wounds on his body, the cursed poison on the knife was suppressing his recovery, and even the healing of the phoenix's flames had become slow.
On the other side, Jozu's battle against Hassan, the only one not wearing a mask, was a clash of pure power, like an ancient beast fighting.
"Diamond Mighty Impact!" Jozu's upper body transformed into diamond, crashing down like a mountain.
The woman without a mask neither dodged nor evaded, her petite frame radiating a terrifying fighting spirit. Her black gauntlets shone with a brilliant purplish-black light as she clashed fists!
"BOOM—!!!" The shockwave blasted open a giant crater.
Joz's eyes widened as his diamond body was blasted back dozens of meters, while his opponent only took half a step back, his gauntlets shining even brighter.
She crouched down, lunged forward, and unleashed a barrage of punches!
Each punch has a different force: as fierce as an anvil, as gentle as a venomous snake, and as cunning as a hidden thorn.
Joz was forced to retreat repeatedly, and cracks spread across his diamond body.
The most troublesome one is Hassan, who is intoxicated by cigarettes.
He did not participate in the battle directly; he simply stood at a distance, leaning on his pipe and cane, puffing away.
Purple poisonous smoke billowed out, enveloping half of the Moby Dick.
"Cough cough—this smoke—something's not right—" Vista swung his sword to cut through the smoke, but suddenly felt dizzy. "It's not just poison—it's also illusion."
In the toxic smoke, phantoms appear: dead companions, the landscape of one's hometown, and the deepest fears of the heart—
The crew members began to move erratically; some frantically swung their knives at the air, while others stood frozen in tears.
"The intoxicating smoke of intoxication can uncover the most vulnerable parts of your heart."
The drunken voices came from all directions: "To die in a beautiful dream—is also a kind of mercy."
"Mercy? Let my children perish in fear? What kind of joke are you?!"
The white-bearded man roared! He surged back to the surface from the seabed, soaking wet, his eyes burning even more fiercely.
"Go to hell!"
Murakumogiri swept horizontally, unleashing a white, vibrating light blade in a fan shape, its target not Lucci, but Poison Smoke!
"Useless—" Yan Zui shook his head, "My smoke is just a concept; physical attacks are completely useless—"
The words came to an abrupt halt.
The white-bearded man's vibrating light blade didn't cut through the smoke, but rather the space itself!
"Crack—!" The space filled with toxic smoke cracked like glass!
The essence of the poisonous smoke in the intoxication is to place the concepts of poison and illusion in space. Now that the space has been shattered, the concept naturally collapses!
The purple toxic smoke dissipated like the receding tide, and the crew members regained consciousness.
"How is this possible—" Yan Zui showed surprise for the first time. "Interference with the concept of space—this is approaching the realm of laws—"
"I don't understand the laws—" The white-bearded man gasped for breath, his chest heaving violently, blood gushing from the corner of his mouth.
After unleashing three consecutive full-force attacks, his internal organs began to rupture.
"All I know is that anyone who dares to touch my sons must die!"
He raised the knife again, but his movement was a beat too slow.
Lucci burst from the seabed, covered in blood, his eyes burning with even greater madness: "I'm at my last gasp, Whitebeard—the regenerative power of Death's Favor is beyond your imagination!"
A black lightning bolt swooped down, its sharp claws aimed straight for the heart!
"Dad!!!"
Ace finally moved.
No, the flame moved on its own.
It was a pure white flame, and since leaving Alabasta, this pure white flame had finally returned.
A cold, silent flame, seemingly capable of freezing even the soul, surged forth from his body!
That's not the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, it's the manifestation of will!
It is the power that surges from the deepest part of the soul, transcending the boundaries of fruit, when witnessing the father burn his life!
"Fire Fist - White Emperor!!!"
With a single punch, white flames transformed into a giant fist, colliding fiercely with Lucci's claws!
"Sizzle—!!!" There was no explosion, only a piercing corrosive sound.
The white flames were devouring the power of death's favor! The dark red light dimmed rapidly as if it had encountered its nemesis!
"What?!" Lucci retreated abruptly, staring in horror at the charred claws. "This flame—it can burn you to death?! Even Azrael's power—"
"I don't know what this is—" Ace stood in front of the white-bearded man, his body engulfed in white flames, his eyes turning molten gold.
"All I know is this: you want to kill my father, so I'll burn you first!"
But at that moment, a shattered image flashed through Ace's mind.
Fragments of intelligence from Fishman Island —
Azrael's icy voice seemed to echo in my ears: "Reshape the cycle of life and death—all living beings will return to balance—"
Luffy's smiling face appeared in the firelight.
That rubber-idiot brother is still fighting deep in the ocean.
Although he knew Roger had already defeated his opponent, what if—
If Azrael succeeds — if the boundary between life and death is rewritten —
And Roger.
The biological father he never acknowledged, yet could not deny.
The man who was also drawn into this war, and who shone with a timeless brilliance on Fishman Island.
What Yazlar seeks to erase is the very essence of tradition.
And inheritance—
This is Roger's most precious legacy to this sea.
"I—" Ace gritted his teeth.
He kept running away.
He fled from his identity as the son of the Pirate King, and from the heavy burden of his bloodline.
But when death truly threatened everything he cherished, when his father burned his life to shield him, when his brother might lose his smile, when that man's will might be completely erased—
"What exactly am I afraid of?"
The white flames suddenly surged!
"Master."
Karna's voice rang out calmly.
Before anyone knew it, he was already standing beside Ace.
"The flames are confused." The Son of the Sun's golden eyes seemed to see through everything.
"It doesn't know what it burns for: to protect? For revenge? Or for—to vindicate itself?"
Ace suddenly turned his head.
"Look at me," Karna said.
"I am the son of the sun god Surya, yet I have been stripped of everything because of my birth. I fight with a gun not to prove my bloodline, but to uphold what I believe is right."
He reached out and touched the white flame with his fingertips.
Golden light mingled with white fire.
"Your flame can simply be Ace's flame. Why it burns is up to you."
At that moment, Ace understood.
The white flames began to transform.
It is no longer a cold white, but a warm golden white.
Tiny specks of light emerge from the flames; they are fragments of memory.
Sabo's smile as a child, Luffy's clingy shouts, Marco's helpless sighs, and his father's broad, kind hands—
There's also the coastline of Windmill Village, Dadan's angry curses, and a man's final smile on the execution platform.
"I----"
Ace closed his eyes.
When I opened my eyes again, the confusion had completely disappeared.
"My flame burns to protect everything I want to protect!"
"I burn with the passion to acknowledge everything I should acknowledge!"
"Ignite the passion to pass on everything worth passing on!"
Golden-white flames shot skyward! No longer burning, but bursting forth!
Like the first rays of dawn rising from the sea, warm and irresistible!
"Impossible—" Lucci stared intently at the flames, "This growth rate—"
"Kurarararara!!!" The white-bearded man laughed loudly, unconcerned about the blood gushing from his mouth. "See that?! This is my son!!!"
He looked at Karna and nodded heavily.
That was the highest recognition a father could give to his son for being a protector.
Karna bowed slightly, then turned around.
His gaze locked onto Hassan, who was drunk.
"Your poisonous smoke is, in essence, despair," Karna said calmly. "It makes people indulge in beautiful illusions, abandoning the struggle against reality. But—"
He raised his golden spear.
"True guardians never turn their backs on reality."
At the tip of the spear, the sunlight began to gather.
Hassan's expression changed drastically, and he wildly waved his pipe and cane, spewing out even thicker toxic smoke!
But this time, the toxic smoke melted away like ice and snow the moment it touched the area of the golden-white flames!
"To dispel despair with hope—" Yan Zui said bitterly, "Truly—a nemesis."
She did not run away.
He just took one last deep drag of his cigarette.
"Then at least let me complete the final task."
He glanced at his departing companions, then at Karna, and suddenly smiled.
"Son of the Sun—you can see through my poison, you can see through my illusions, but can you see through death?"
He raised his pipe and took a deep drag.
Then, what came out wasn't poisonous smoke, but blood.
Black, viscous blood, stained with a curse.
"With my spirit origin as a sacrifice, with my existence as a curse—"
Hassan's body began to burn, and black flames poured out from his seven orifices!
"Let this curse of death be branded upon this sea! Any member of the Whitebeard Pirates who dares to set foot in the waters of Impel Down—will be stared upon by the Grim Reaper!!!"
Black flames shot into the sky, transforming into a giant, phantom skull that roared in the air before dissipating.
Hassan's figure, now intoxicated by smoke, turned to ashes.
Lucci gritted his teeth.
He watched as Yaoxing was bound by Marco's Azure Flame Chains, watched as Kuangxinzi was imprisoned in Joz's Diamond Cage, and watched Yanzui dissipate.
Looking at the father and son again, Whitebeard stood tall despite being seriously injured, Ace's flames had transformed and sublimated, and Karna stood quietly to the side like a guardian deity.
The defeat is set.
"Retreat," Lucci said hoarsely.
"But—" Yaoxing struggled.
"I said, retreat!" Lucci turned around, giving Ace one last look before disappearing into the shadows. "Next time—it won't be that simple."
Yao Xing gritted his teeth and his figure transformed into a dark golden light as he fled.
Kyoko shattered the diamond cage with a single punch, gave Jozu a deep look, and then turned and disappeared.
The sea has returned to calm.
Only the lingering aura of the curse testifies to the fierce battle that just took place.
Whitebeard stumbled, and Murakumo Kirito jabbed him into the deck to steady himself. Ace quickly supported him: "Dad!"
How are you?!
"Still—not dead—" the white-bearded man grinned, blood gushing out continuously.
"You little brat—that flame just now—kura ra ra—you're truly my son—"
The medical team rushed over and carried the white-bearded man into the medical room.
Marco and Joz were also covered in injuries, but they insisted on directing the cleanup efforts.
Karna walked to Ace's side and looked at the spot where the smoke-intoxicated Hassan had disappeared.
"To impose a regional curse at the cost of one's own existence—" he said calmly.
"This means that we will encounter more death-related obstacles on our way to Impel Down."
Ace wiped the blood from the corner of his mouth, and the white flames slowly subsided.
"Then bring it on." His eyes were cold and resolute. "Teach, Death, curse—who dares to stand in my way—"
He clenched his fist.
"I'll burn it through to show him."
The sun completely sank below the horizon.
The lights of the Moby Dick illuminated, like a lone star in the deep sea.
Inside the medical room, Whitebeard lay on the hospital bed, his breathing weak but steady. Ace sat beside the bed, holding his father's hand.
"Ace—" the white-bearded man said weakly.
"Dad, don't talk, just rest."
'
"Listen to me," the white-bearded man interrupted him, "that curse—it's real. You'll die if you go to Impel Down."
O
"I know," Ace nodded, "but I'm going."
Why?
"Because if I don't go—" Ace looked up, his eyes reflecting the light.
"I will always be just the son of Whitebeard, and I will let this ocean know that I am Portgas D. Ace—"
"I am Monkey D. Luffy's older brother, and also the son of the Pirate King Gol D. Roger —"
The white-bearded man stared at him for a long time.
Then he smiled.
"Kura la la la———— Good———— Good————"
He squeezed Ace's hand tightly.
"Then go. Bring that bastard Teach's head back for me to have with my drinks."
"Um."
Ace nodded emphatically.
Karna stood quietly outside the door.
Marco walked over and asked in a low voice, "Are you really letting him go?"
"This is the path he chose," Karna said. "And my duty is to accompany him to the end."
Even if the end is hell?
Even if the end is hell.
The two stopped talking and just looked out at the sea.
Night was falling.
As dawn breaks, a new voyage will begin.