Chapter 147
3 weeks later. In the middle of the night, 6 people suddenly appeared out of the shadows. Two of them then immediately disappeared back into the shadows. One of them held up his hand, and a ball of flame started forming on top of it. It started increasing in size rapidly and illuminated the entire forest in front of them.
"FIRE!"
The trees and plants started screaming, but it was already too late. He threw the ball of fire right into the middle of the forest. The ball burned all the trees in its way, and once it hit the ground, a massive explosion happened that took out the entire forest. All that was left was a burning wasteland.
"Impressive as always, Ace." said Jinbe
"Yeah, and it's perfect for grabbing their attention. They must be panicking like crazy." said Urouge after doing a prayer for the forest
An extremely tall, large, and muscular man with short spiky crimson hair and two symmetric scars on both sides of his face appeared in front of the four intruders.
"Oh damn, a big shot came out so quickly. But I was hoping that Big Mom herself would come out." said Ace
"Where is Ken?"
"Why? Do you want to die or something? You should be glad that he found coming here beneath him." said Ace
3 other people suddenly appeared beside the big shot Katakuri. They're his siblings, Smoothie, Cracker, Snack, and together they're the Sweet Commanders.
"You guys really fucked up. Mama really liked this forest, so once she wakes up, all of you are going to die." said Cracker
"Then we'll just have to take care of all of you before she wakes up." said Jinbe
"Smoothie, jump back!" screamed Katakuri
Smoothie immediately jumped back, barely dodging a sword slash.
"Dracule Mihawk, you were the last person I expected to fight against." said smoothie
"I also thought of it as unlikely, but here we are."
"Five Thousand Tile True Punch!"
Jinbe suddenly appeared in front of Cracker and hit him on his chest before he or anyone else could stop the attack. Cracker got sent flying back all the way to the other side of the forest.
"Leave Cracker to me."
Ace nodded, and Jinbe disappeared towards Cracker. But his siblings didn't move. They know better than to turn their backs to such powerful opponents.
"Smoothie, Snack, give me some room." said Katakuri
They nodded and started walking away while Mihawk and Urouge started following them. Urouge knows that Ace also likes to fight alone, so he took Mihawk with him and followed the other two.
"Why did you guys come here?" asked Katakuri
"We heard that you guys have some of the best sweets, so we wanted to get a taste of it."
"Talking to you is a waste of time, it seems."
A trident suddenly appeared out of Katakuri's body, and the next second, he was already in front of Ace with the trident's points an inch from his head.
"Clang."
But before it hit Ace in the head, Ace used his dagger to block it. He pushed the trident to the side and tried to kick it out of Katakuri's hand, but Katakuri blocked the kick with a kick of his own, creating a shockwave that blew the closeby fires out. After not being able to kick the other away, they both jumped back.
"Flame Dagger."
The dagger in Ace's hand got enveloped in flames. He immediately ran towards Katakuri and swung it towards him, but Katakuri just dodged it. Ace didn't stop and kept slashing towards him. However, Katakuri managed to avoid everything effortlessly. Katakuri jumped back when Ace suddenly threw the dagger towards him, but Katakuri morphed his body, letting the dagger pass through.
"BOOOM!"
The flame dagger suddenly exploded when it was about to go through Katakuri's morphed body. However, Katakuri jumped out of the smoke with only his scarf and jacket that looked burned. Ace didn't give him any time to rest and immediately shot multiple flame projectiles towards him. Katakuri disappeared from his place, and the moment the projectiles hit the ground, they exploded.
'What are these attacks? In the war, he never used such precision attacks. He only shot out big attacks. I shouldn't have underestimated him.' thought Katakuri
"Yaki Mochi!"
Katakuri inflates his mochi forearm until the pressure caused it to explode, propelling his Haki-embedded fist towards Ace. The speed of the fist was so high that it caught on fire due to friction.
Ace looked surprised but still managed to dodge it. When he was about to counterattack, dozens of fists embedded with Haki came out of Katakuri's body, and he started punching towards Ace. Ace quickly put his arms up and blocked the attacks. But he started to get pushed back.
'This is the attack that Luffy always uses. If it was just like Luffy's attack, I could easily dodge this. But this guy sometimes dodges the attacks before I even shoot them. It's the same exact thing that Tani always does. Ken calls it Future Vision, the ability to look into the future. So if I dodge to the right, he will already know that and attack towards where I dodged.'
Ace suddenly stomped his feet on the ground, stopping him from moving even an inch.
"Fire explosion."
Ace's body suddenly started glowing bright red, and in the next second, a massive explosion appeared. The explosion took out half the beach, and Katakuri was nowhere to be seen. After the smoke cleared, you could see Ace floating in the air with flames flying out from underneath his feet.
Ace looked up at a nearby cake mountain where Katakuri was standing completely fine.
"You're quite fast. Did that scare you?"
"Countering with a big attack because you knew that you couldn't dodge my attacks. You're an annoying brat."
"That's good to hear. The more annoying I am, the bigger the chance for victory."
Both of them suddenly turned their heads and looked at Snack, who got sent flying towards the cake mountain. Katakuri's eyes suddenly widened, and Ace had a grin on his face.
"Fire Stream!"
Ace used both of his hands and sent a stream of fire towards Snack. The flames exploded at the moment of impact, and two figures got sent flying back instead of one. Urouge walked towards Ace.
"I'm sorry, Ace. I didn't think that he would be sent flying so far." said Urouge with a grin
"I should be thanking you. I managed to wound the slippery bastard. Even though it was kinda dirty, as Ken always says; We're pirates, so we don't have to play fair."
"Hahaha, that's true."
"Argh."
After the smoke cleared, you could see Snack struggling to stand up. In front of him is standing Katakuri, whose right arm is burned.
"Brother! Why did you save me!"
"Shut up and get ready to fight."
'I should stop analyzing him and get serious. I have to wrap this up and help Smoothie and Cracker quickly.' thought Katakuri
Snack wanted to keep arguing, but he knew that this wasn't the time. He stood next to his brother with his sword in front of him.
"I think that Urouge has some kind of Devil Fruit that absorbs attacks. Every time I cut him, he hits me back harder."
"Then take his head off with one slash. Be careful of Ace. His attack explodes, so don't try to block them."
Snack nodded and embedded his sword with Haki. Katakuri put his trident away and embedded his arms with Haki. Urouge and Ace also got ready to fight.
"Fire Stream!"
Ace sent another Fire Stream, which indicated the start of round 2!
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Facts & Quotes:
- The U.S. wastes 160 billion pounds of food per year
- Divorce Rates Double Over Christmas, Peaking in January
- There Used to be Hundreds of Elephant Species. Today, there are only two: African elephants and Asian elephants.
- Turkeys Were Once Worshipped Like Gods
- Pope Gregory IV Declared War on Cats
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"I'll never resent you, or hate you, or hurt you. Not ever. Not you or anyone. I'd rather die. So If I'm killed, I'll face my killer with a smile. And I'll tell them that it's okay, because it won't be their fault for doing it. It'll just be that they don't know any better. I'll die hopeful, that my death might have helped them… to understand someday."
- Photo (Kino's Journey)
"Are you listening god? The thing is, mom and dad don't like each other anymore. And it's my fault for being such a useless daughter."
- Hatori Shikishima (Alice & Zouroku)
"The two of us aren't so different. My whole life I've desired from others. I felt bitter to the people around me and I closed off my heart. And a heart that lets nothing in, will become empty before you realize it."
- Mei Aihara (Citrus)