Chapter 64

"RAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The sudden shrill and animal-like scream made a shiver run down Ace's spine. The sound came from in front of him.

Whatever it was, he was about to head straight to it.

"Teach!"

Ace called out to Teach. The scream he heard just now instilled a slight sense of panic in him.

"Teach!"

"A-Ace?! Ace! I'm here!"

Ace was glad he heard Teach respond. Again, it sounded like Teach was somewhere in the distance in front of him. The dense black trees and the thick snow and hail pelting down on the island made it difficult to see ahead.

Ace closed his eyes and used his Haki as well as his ability to hear the Voice of All Things. He soon sensed Teach's presence a distance away in front of him. Teach felt… disturbed.

"Teach! What happened?"

"Ace! Help me!"

Hearing Teach call for help spurred Ace to run towards his reluctant crewmate. He knew how capable Teach was. He was the Second Division Commander of the strongest of the Four Emperors, after all.

And yet, here he was. Screaming for help.

"I'm in front of you, Teach! Keep running!" Ace shouted as he ran.

Soon, Ace and Teach met amidst the cold and thick snow storm. Like a good captain, Ace examined Teach's condition. He was shocked to see a man of Teach's caliber be so wounded.

"Teach! Who did this to you?" Ace asked.

"I-I don't know!" Teach answered. His lips were quivering. His body was shivering. His pale complexion made it obvious he wasn't faking his injury. Teach was really hurt.

"What do you mean you don't know?"

"I don't know what it was! It didn't look… human."

Ace was about to help Teach walk, but then…

"RAAAAAHHH!"

There it was. Another scream. This time, it sounded much closer.

Ace closed his eyes and reached out with his Haki and ability to hear the Voice. He spread out his senses all around him to try and locate the source of the shrill scream that somehow always made his spine crawl.

But then, Teach put a hand on his arm and shook Ace awake.

"Don't bother!" Teach said. "You can't see them with Haki!"

"Wh-"

"Use your eyes!"

Then, Teach stood behind Ace. The two of them stood with their backs against each other.

"Watch the trees!" Teach said. "I'll guard your blind spot, you guard mine!"

"What the hell are we fighting, Teach?"

"RAAAAAAAAHHH!"

The scream sounded even closer now. A strange, wet, and fleshy clicking sound accompanied it. Ace started feeling something he never expected to feel on such a barren island.

Fear.

"I don't know, but it's dangerous!" Teach answered Ace.

Not a moment later, Ace saw movement. It was faint, but he chose to trust his instincts. 

Ace punched in the direction of where he saw the movement. Fire surged out of his fist and traveled quickly in a straight direction.

"GAAAH!"

Ace's attack found its target, but only barely. The scream didn't feel like a dying one.

"I'm glad you have a great Devil Fruit!" Teach said. "Haki doesn't do much to it!"

"That's impossible!"

"I thought so too!"

Then, Teach saw movement in front of him. With his claw weapon, he sent out a flying slash in the direction where he saw movement. No scream sounded out. His attack missed.

"This weather isn't helping!" Teach said. "Hey, Ace! Let's make our Conqueror's Haki clash!"

"Good idea!"

Ace and Teach let their Conqueror's Haki run wild. All around them, their Haki clashed. The force of the two Conqueror's Haki meeting made a burst of energy sweep their surroundings.

In the end, not only was the sky split, but the snowing around them died down. They quickly gained some much needed visibility.

Visibility that let Ace witness just exactly what they were fighting.

"What the hell is that?" Ace asked, not really expecting an answer.

The creature was humanoid. But that was all it was. It certainly wasn't human. Its skin was gray and leathery. Its limbs were long and spindly. The creature was hanging on a tree like a strange fusion of spider and monkey with its arms.

"RAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The creature roared at Ace and Teach. Its mouth opened unrealistically wide, showing off rows of long and bloody teeth that could undoubtedly easily sink into flesh.

Then, much quicker than it should, the creature jumped at Ace and Teach. It was fast. Very fast. Normal people wouldn't be able to catch up to its speed.

But, Ace and Teach weren't normal people.

"Die!"

Ace sent out a large column of fire from his fist. It engulfed the creature. It burned and screamed as it died.

Ace watched the creature burn. It was dead now, but it still instilled a sense of terror in him.

"It's dead now."

"But it's not over yet!" Teach said.

As if they were waiting for that queue, similarly shrill screams erupted all around Ace and Teach from different directions. Some felt far, some felt nearby.

"There's more than one of those?"

"Yeah, I should've told you that sooner!"

Ace and Teach got ready once again. With their backs against each other, they spun in a circle to sweep every direction around them.

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"

"RAHRAHRAAAAAAAAH!!!"

Soon, Ace realized why Teach was so injured. Shadows flickered on the treeline all around them. They were fast-moving blurs even for someone like Ace.

The terrifying thing was, Ace couldn't sense them with Observation Haki.

"Eyes up, Ace! They're coming!"

One of the creatures jumped at Ace from his left. It was smaller, but much nimbler than the first one.

Still, Ace was able to counter with an attack of his own. His punch made a column of fire surge out and engulf the creature. It soon died in a burning mess.

At the same time, one of the creatures also jumped at Teach. In retaliation, Teach attacked with an Armament Haki coated slash.

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The creature that attacked Teach screamed as it was sent flying. Ace was able to see what happened.

"No way. It wasn't cut?"

Ace saw how the creature didn't sustain a cut from Teach's attack. It was only sent flying.

"I told you. Haki doesn't have much effect!" Teach said. "I can only send them flying. That's what I did before running!"

"RAAAAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

To Ace and Teach's horror, more of the strange creatures arrived. There were around four of them, if Ace's quick count was correct.

"They're using the trees to move around," Ace said. "Let's cut this forest down!"

"I'm with you!"

Ace unsheathed the cutlass on his hip. They prepared a sweeping flying slash that would hopefully cut down enough trees around them to give them the chance to take a breather.

Not a second later, Ace and Teach sent out their flying slash attacks. They sent out around five each to cut down the trees around them. They did so just in time since some of the creatures were already close.

One of the creatures jumped towards Ace while it could since it felt the tree it was one was toppling down. Ace didn't fail to see the creature coming at him.

Since fire was effective against them, Ace sent a fire slash at the creature. It hit its target. The creature was split in half at the waist.

The two halves of the creature crashed down on the ground. Its legs were buried under a toppled tree.

Then, the upper half started moving.

"RAAAAAAHHH!!!"

The upper half of the creature that Ace cut started crawling towards them as it screamed. The speed of its crawl matched the running speed of normal humans.

Not wanting to let it get closer, Ace sent a fire fist at the upper half and burned it to death. At this point, he was deeply disturbed.

"Fuck this island!"

"Yeah, I hear you!" Teach said before falling to one knee.

The other creatures were buried under the trees that Ace and Teach fell. Ace used the brief lull to take a proper look at Teach.

"You're bleeding. Badly," Ace said as he watched blood gush out of the wound on Teach's side.

"Yeah. They got me good when I was fighting them earlier," Teach said. "One of them snuck behind me."

"Great. They have some intelligence too," Ace said before kneeling beside Teach. "Show me your wound."

"I'll be fine, Ace! Let's just run!"

"You can't even stand up!"

Ace gently moved away the hand that Teach used to apply pressure on his wound. Then, with a burning hand, Ace touched Teach's wound.

"Ahh! Fuck! What are you doing?"

"I'm cauterizing your wound! I don't want you bleeding out on me!"

A few seconds later, Ace stopped cauterizing Teach's wound.

"There. That should stop the bleeding," Ace said. "But, you're really in no condition to walk."

"W-Watch me!" Teach said with a wide grin. He tried standing up, only to fall on one knee once again.

Ace suddenly had an idea. He removed the Baby Transponder Snail on his wrist and gave it to Teach.

"Contact the others. We need to get you to Vash!"

"But-"

"That's an order, Teach!"

Teach shuddered under the intensity of Ace. With no other choice, he took the Transponder Snail that Ace was giving him. He quickly contacted the line that Ace used earlier to call the others.

The Transponder Snail started ringing. Meanwhile, Ace turned his attention back to the creatures that surrounded them. There were even more of them now.

Adding to the remaining three earlier, around a dozen similar creatures arrived and surrounded Ace and Teach. Ace raised his arms in preparation of his next move.

"Flame Fence!"

A thick wall of fire surrounded Ace and Teach. The creatures outside the circumference of Ace's techniques were forced to step back due to the sheer heat emanating off the flames.

Then, from inside the wall of fire, Ace prepared his next attack. His hands were raised towards the wall of fire that he created.

"Fire Lord's Gatling!"

Bullets made of compressed flames shot out from the wall of fire. It was an indiscriminate shooting. Ace heard the creatures scream in pain.

But, the creatures were smart. They weren't as mindless as they looked. Majority of them took cover behind fallen trees as they paused to seemingly wait for a chance to strike.

"RAAAAAAAAAHHH!!!"

Over the noise of the crackling flames, Ace heard more and more screams. He quickly realized that there were way more than he expected.

Outside the wall of fire, there were already around 40 of the creatures that Ace and Teach faced. Their numbers were only increasing and Ace knew it.

Meanwhile, Teach got through and was able to contact the rest of the crew.

"Vash, where are you?"

"Teach? Where's Ace?" Vash asked.

"Holding off the… monsters."

"Monsters?" Terzo's interest was piqued.

"There's no time," Teach said. "I'm badly injured. I need your help, Vash."

"Where are you?" Vash asked. His voice contained a sense of urgency after finding out that Teach was badly injured.

"I… I don't know!"

"Wait, let me call Enel!" Terzo said. "Enel! Ace needs you again!"

A moment later, Enel spoke up from Terzo's side.

"What's happening?" Enel asked.

"Enel! I need to get to Teach. Lead me!" Vash said, but Teach interrupted him.

"No! Don't! We'll go to you!"

Then, Teach was interrupted again. This time, it was Ace shouting from over his shoulder.

"Belay that!" Ace said. "Terzo! You, Augur, and Enel come to our position and retreat with Teach to Vash's position! Doppol, hurry up and return to the Ashen Dragon! Sail around this island, but make sure to stay at a distance perfect for our long range broadside cannon shots!"

"Roger that!" the voices of Terzo, Enel, and Doppol said before ending their side of the call.

"How can I help, Ace?" Hepha asked.

"Start smashing apart the trees of this island!" Ace said. "We'll sink this place!"