Chapter 44

"That the last of them?" Ace asked as he lifted a pirate by his collar.

"Yup," Terzo answered before beheading one of the captains of the pirate crews that attacked them. "Stubborn assholes."

Moments earlier, the pirates in the restaurant finally got tired of the Royal Aces acting like they're the greatest pirates in the room. They are, but how would those normal pirates know?

So, one pirate crew decided that enough was enough. They stood up, asking for trouble with the Royal Aces, and the other pirates soon followed.

Most of the Royal Aces were happy for the little exercise about to happen. The first to get out was Eri who was riding Kotatsu like a horse. Next was the rest of the Royal Aces to lead the other pirates out of the restaurant to minimize the damage that the establishment could suffer. The fight happened closer to the center of the island than the port.

"Man, these guys are stubborn. They were actually serious that they'd rather die before serving me." Ace turned to Teach. "They were more serious than you, I guess."

"Oh, fuck off."

In the middle of the fight earlier, Ace tried recruiting the pirates… only to be laughed at. Despite being the son of the King of the Pirates, it seems the other pirates were more interested in making a name for themselves by killing him than serving him.

'Makes sense. This is the Grand Line, after all. Every pirate here is exceptional… in their own little way.'

"Guess I really have to make a name for myself before building a fleet in the Grand Line, huh," Ace mused aloud.

"I think so, too," Soma agreed. "I'll go back to the restaurant for your order, Ace. Want me to help them out with what I can?"

"If you want," Ace said. "Thanks, Soma!"

"Captain!" Eri called out from where she and Kotatsu hid or ran away to.

"Kotatsu! It's too early!" Mihar shouted at the big cat, but it was too late.

The Royal Aces looked in the direction Eri came from. When she saw the corpses of the pirates, Eri's face immediately went green.

"Mreow!" Kotatsu looked like she was begging Eri not to puke on his fur.

Eri held on and didn't puke. She got off Kotatsu's back. She collected herself for a moment before reporting to Ace.

"Captain! Kotatsu and I saw pirates gathering!"

"More pirates?" Ace grinned, before deflating. "Ahh, right. They probably would much rather kill me, too."

"Where'd you see them, Eri?" Terzo asked.

"Near the Giant Jack!"

"The Giant… Jack?"

"Is that the big stem in the middle of the island, Eri?" Mihar asked.

"Yes, Sensei!" Eri answered. "I heard they want to cut it down!"

"Meow!"

"Now why would they do that?" Ace asked.

"I heard a lot of pirates don't survive the journey upwards," Teach said. "They could be thinking those ships carry treasure and it's all up there."

"So they'd much rather cut the stem down?" Ace sighed. "Those idiots. Even if their plan works, they'd have a long sail before getting to the end of the stem. Someone else could have taken their treasure by the time they reach the top."

The Royal Aces looked up the giant stem. It was so tall that it pierced through the clouds. Who knows where it'll end?

"Well then! I guess we'll just have to take the treasure for ourselves!" Ace led the group to the center of the island. "Let's go and beat their asses first!"

…

"Babylon's Impact!"

With a strike enhanced by as much Armament Haki she could muster, Hepha sent an immensely heavy smashing force towards the fleet. Clear Sky assisted her by becoming ridiculously heavy. The resulting wave of force was one to be respected even in the New World.

"Block it!"

One of the three Vice Admirals, who Hepha suspected was the strongest of the five, sensed the strength behind her attack and rallied the other Vice Admirals. All Vice Admirals know about Haki, so they tried their best to counter Hepha's with their own.

They failed.

One of the Vice Admirals was critically injured. Three were only slightly injured. The strongest one, who was a giant, got through the attack without an issue.

The Vice Admirals did their best, but their mistake was letting Hepha gather enough force for a big attack. Her Babylon's Impact sent them crashing to their ships. The remaining force behind Hepha's attack was enough to crush the warships' decks. Some of the weaker marines were crushed into paste.

The crushed warships seemed to have become a makeshift platform in the middle of the sea. Hepha landed on the platform she made and heaved heavily. That attack of hers really cost her almost everything she had.

'Not yet!' Hepha thought. 'I know Ace can do that kind of attack, but it doesn't cost him as much as it costs me my Haki. What am I missing?'

Vash and Augur followed Hepha. They landed in front of her.

"What an attack," Augur said in compliment to Hepha.

"That cost you a lot, huh," Vash commented after seeing Hepha's already tired form.

"Yeah. Sorry."

"Don't be," Vash said. "Rest for a while. We have your back."

"But please, don't take your time," Augur interjected. "We are fighting a fleet, after all."

"Yeah, yeah. Give me a minute." Hepha sat down to try and control her breathing first.

At that moment, marines started getting up from the rubble that used to be their warships. Of course, Vash and Augur didn't give them time to recover. They shot those who they saw get up.

Their shots were precise and landed where they wanted it to. Of course, Augur was more ruthless. Every shot from Augur's rifle would burst a marine's head. With every pull of his trigger, two kinds of explosions were heard. Gunpowder explosion and a squelching explosion.

Those who Vash shot were luckier to some extent. The past two weeks after sailing from Bounty Plains gave Hepha more time to research Vash's Living Metal. She mastered manipulating it a little bit more.

The bullet batteries Hepha crafted for Vash were special. She knew Vash would rather not kill unless the situation really called for it, so she decided to help him out a little bit with becoming a more capable fighter for the crew.

Vash's bullets were laced with a metallic powder that could paralyze whoever it was lodged into. When Vash's bullet enters a body, the powder laced around the bullet would spread through the bloodstream and fully paralyze the target in mere seconds and stay that way for a full hour. In that way, Vash would more easily neutralize his opponents.

"They're shooting at-!"

"Marines! Att-!"

"Attack!"

The marines had no time to relax or reflect on what happened just now. But, in their hearts, they were struck by fear. In one attack, their ships were decimated. Not by the Captain, but by his Forgemaster.

They were already briefed on what to expect. They were surprised to hear that 'War Hammer' Hepha, a woman with a bounty that shouldn't be scoffed at, was a subordinate of a rookie pirate. They initially wrote it off as Ace and Hepha having an agreement.

But, their higher ups made them think otherwise. They were made to assume that Gol D. Ace was strong enough to subdue a woman like Hepha somehow. What currently scared them most was the fact that they weren't even facing the captain of the Royal Aces in the upcoming battle…

…

"You don't understand!"

"You're making a big mistake!"

"Ya callin me dumb?"

"Well…"

The sight that greeted the Royal Aces when they got to the base of the Giant Jack was a confrontation between locals and pirates. The pirate group was large. There were more pirates here than the ones the Royal Aces had to deal with earlier.

"Ships sink tryna ride up that tree, right?" the pirate captain asked the locals. "That means, up there is a lot of treasure!"

"If you want to take it, you should try to ride up the stream instead!" one of the locals argued.

"You really callin me stupid, huh?" The pirate captain looked angry. "That stunt woulda kill me and my crew!"

"Yeah!"

"Tell em, Cap'ain!"

"We can just cut it down and safely take whatever's at the end!"

The pirates cheered at the 'genius' of their captain, much to the frustration of the locals. The pirates were stupid, but they were strong. They already killed the marines stationed on the island.

The Giant Jack was important to them. Beside being a tourist destination, their legends say that the island is only afloat because of the Giant Jack. It was said that the island itself was built on a leaf of the stem. Cutting down the Giant Jack and possibly killing it would mean the end of Jackstalk Island.

Knowing what they're fighting for, the locals gritted their teeth and held the makeshift weapons in their hands tightly. If they were going to die anyway, it seems they chose to die fighting.

At that moment, the Royal Aces interrupted. Ace was leading the group. Behind him was Terzo, Teach, and Mihar. Kotatsu and Eri were watching from the top of a house safely.

"I don't suppose you guys will listen to an alternative?" Ace asked the pirates as he and his crew stood behind them.

The pirates turned around to see the Royal Aces with Ace in the lead. One of the pirates instantly recognized them.

"C-C-C-C-Captain! It's Fire Lord!"

"Fire what?" the stupid captain asked.

"Gol D. Ace! The son of the King of Pirates!"

Hearing what the pirate said, the locals didn't feel reassured. In fact, they felt even more despair.

"What, normal pirates weren't enough?"

"Damn Roger and his bloodline!"

"We don't want you evil fiends on our island!"

The stupid pirate captain laughed when he heard who Ace was. He walked to the back of the group to face the Royal Aces. He stood in front of Ace, taller and bulkier. The captain grinned at seeing Ace's scrawny form.

"This lil squirt? The son of Roger? You!" The captain pointed at the pirate that announced who Ace was. "How much is his bounty?"

"A hundred million, C-Captain!"

"Really now?" The captain grinned at Ace, looking at him like some kind of prize. "It's our lucky day, boys! We got treasure and bounty!"

"Yeah!"

Ace didn't feel like wasting more time with the rabble of pirates in front of him. His last confrontation as well as how the pirates currently saw him cemented an idea in his mind.

One can't build a pirate fleet from scratch without a great reputation.

The fleet he managed to get started in East Blue was probably because the pirates he met there are more concerned with being alive to enjoy the pleasures of life. The Grand Line is the place for more ambitious pirates. Those who have much pride in themselves. They won't serve anyone easily.

"Yeah, it's impossible," Ace said to his crew. "Can't build a fleet with our name right now."

"Well, if it's reputation and infamy, I think it's pretty easy to gain," Mihar said.

"What's your plan now, Ace?" Terzo said.

"Hmmm… I guess we have to be a little more daring," Ace said.

"The hell are you guys talking about?" The pirate captain was annoyed at seeing Ace and his crew casually talk as if he didn't exist.

"What say we beat up the Four Emperors with just us?" Ace grinned.

"ZEHAHAHAHA! A fight between you and Pops would be a sight to see," Teach said.

"The Royal Aces against the Four Emperors, huh?" Terzo started writing down notes in his journal. "Sounds great! Can't rule the New World if we don't oust them, after all!"

"Four Emperors? What Emperors?" The pirate captain and his crew had no idea about the monstrous figures ruling the second half of the Grand Line.

"It's decided then!" Ace unsheathed his cutlass and beheaded the captain with a single flying slash. "Let's make a name for ourselves first!"