Chapter 169: Fire Fist And Nail Hand
“Fire Fist!”
This is Ace’s signature move.
Setting out from East Blue and rampaging all the way to the New World, he has taken down countless enemies with this move.
It first happened on an island in East Blue controlled jointly by pirates and corrupt navy, where he punched through two warships and four pirate ships with one fist, the raging flames engulfing the wailing pirates. That scene was captured on film and published in the World Economic Journal, and the name Fire Fist spread like wildfire.
To this day, Ace is no longer that boy from East Blue.
Fire Fist is likewise far from what it used to be.
However—
The Fire Fist powerful enough to burn a large warship to ashes was cleaved in half by sharp sword qi, the keen sword light slicing through the merciless flames. Through the flickering flames, one could see a valiant woman standing with sword in hand.
She was a very beautiful girl with orange-red long hair falling to her lower back, an OK bandage on her face, wearing the Eckmond Kingdom Navy uniform. Her fine figure was perfectly outlined by the tight uniform, and the white cape lacked the large “Justice” characters, being simply clean pure white.
“······Prince Elus, you are such a jerk.”
Ace looked at the opponent who had stepped in for Elus, his expression changing several times before he helplessly grumbled in annoyance.
“Ace, if you want to challenge me, beat my subordinate first.”
Elus grinned at the inconstant Fire Fist, in such a pleasant mood that he didn’t mind Ace’s insolent remark at all. He even stopped Fran from advancing—such an interesting reunion must not be ruined.
Compared to Elus’s pleasure, Ace’s mood was far more complicated right now.
He truly hadn’t expected to see this old rival in the New World.
Five minutes ago,
Elus had accepted his challenge.
Instead of fighting directly on the water, they moved the battlefield to the seaside beach—not just because Ace was unwilling to strike at doctors and nurses. He knew very well that the Whitebeard Pirates and the Black Prince had not yet reached the point of tearing faces and fighting to the death.
Elus had sneaked into Whitebeard’s territory, so Old Man Whitebeard had to respond.
But that didn’t mean the two sides were mortal enemies.
Issuing a challenge to the Black Prince was largely to express the Whitebeard Pirates’ stance, not truly to settle victory or defeat with Elus. The experiences in Sabaody Archipelago were still fresh in his mind—he hadn’t witnessed Elus and Silvers Rayleigh’s great battle with his own eyes, but during the escape, he had glimpsed some of the might of those two in combat.
Now, after being beaten by Old Man Whitebeard many times, he had finally realized the distance he still had from the true peak.
Defeating the Black Prince was impossible. What he sought was merely to hold out as long as possible until Old Man arrived without Jozu helping······ That was his initial thought. But the Black Prince accepted his challenge, and in the blink of an eye, upon reaching shore, he called someone from the ship at the port to fight in his place.
And moreover,
It was an extremely troublesome, very familiar enemy.
He had thought that coming to the New World, where navy influence was weak, meant he wouldn’t see this headache-inducing opponent again······ He hadn’t expected to meet her here and now, those suppressed scenes surging up again from the depths of his mind.
His heart was a mix of emotions, the subtle feelings stuck in his throat, yet he didn’t know how to vent them.
“Fire Fist, long time no see!”
The girl with the inelegant nickname “Nail Hand” spoke up to greet Ace.
“Second Lieutenant Isca, indeed······ long time no see.” Ace responded hoarsely.
“It’s Colonel.”
Isca corrected.
“Colonel······· Fine! Colonel Isca, I didn’t expect to meet in the New World. Is the navy moving against our Whitebeard Pirates?” Ace asked.
“Fire Fist, are you still asleep today? I’m not wearing a navy uniform—I left the navy. His Highness Elus just said it too: I’m now a member of the Eckmond Kingdom Navy.”
Isca frowned at the out-of-it Ace, her mood suddenly turning sour.
Was she that unappealing? He couldn’t even be bothered to notice the difference in her uniform? Strange thoughts inexplicably surfaced in her mind. Fortunately, she had little experience in this area and few female friends, so she quickly reined in her wandering thoughts and stared intently at Ace standing opposite.
“Left the navy? Eckmond Kingdom Navy······ Uh!”
Ace mumbled a couple times and realized his mindset was off—he had even missed the most basic observation and asked such a stupid question.
Like Isca, though, Ace was also a pure good kid and hadn’t figured out what this abnormal emotion was about.
After all, aside from a bunch of not-so-pretty nurses, the Whitebeard Pirates from top to bottom were all hot-blooded big men, and from Marco on down, they were basically all bachelors. Love didn’t exist in the Whitebeard Pirates.
“But why join Eckmond Kingdom?”
Ace didn’t know what to say and racked his brains for a topic.
“Is that what you want to ask?”
“Uh, that······”
The mumbling Fire Fist couldn’t get the words out.
Isca’s fine brows shot up, blue veins slightly bulging on the back of her sword-gripping hand, the lowered sword tip lifting again. “Since you have nothing to say, let’s continue our battle! This time, I’ll arrest you—the Eckmond Kingdom prison will be your final destination.”
Tough words from her mouth.
But the sharp sword in her hand swung a beat late.
Ace turned to flames and met Isca’s sword edge in a daze.
······
The oddly eerie chat ended, and the battle continued. But Jozu, watching from not far away, was equally extremely complicated in mood. He was the Whitebeard Pirates’ recognized steady and reliable one—Old Man Whitebeard saw him as steady, the other captains liked his honesty, and the subordinates admired his strength······
But only a few like Sachi knew his inner delicacy.
Unlike his violent fighting style, Jozu’s heart was quite delicate and sensitive.
He had noticed the strange atmosphere between Ace and Isca right away. Though he was an old bachelor too, compared to a young guy like Ace, his “experience” was deeper. He sensed that Ace and Isca were probably more than just simple old rivals.
“Deuce, what’s the deal with that girl and Ace?”
Jozu’s ears were sharp.
Ace and Isca’s voices weren’t deliberately lowered, but just those few short sentences weren’t enough for Jozu to figure out their exact relationship.
Fortunately, among this time’s companions was Ace’s old crewmate.
After the Spade Pirates disbanded, the crew mostly joined the Whitebeard Pirates with Ace. Deuce, with his decent medical skill, became a ship doctor in the Whitebeard Pirates—after all, there were over a thousand people in the crew!
No matter how great Marco was, he couldn’t manage everyone’s health.
Just worrying about Old Man Whitebeard’s body already left Marco no spare energy for others. Even over these years, a big reason his strength had stagnated was lack of time to train—his free time was all spent studying medical skills.
Besides Marco, each division of the Whitebeard Pirates basically had its own ship doctors, and not just one or two.
“Captain Isca—no, Colonel Isca was formerly navy. Not long after Ace and I entered the Grand Line, she latched onto us. No matter how many times she failed, she kept chasing Ace. Unlike those rotten navy, Colonel Isca is a truly good person. In Ace’s words, Isca is like his grandfather—both good navy······ We couldn’t bring ourselves to take her out. It’s fateful entanglement! Fateful entanglement······”
Seeing Isca appear, Deuce’s expression was complicated too.
He gave Jozu a detailed explanation of the fateful entanglement between “Captain Isca” and the Spade Pirates, including everything from Sabaody Archipelago.
After hearing it, Jozu’s brows furrowed deeper.
He looked at Deuce and asked: “Deuce, does Ace······ have feelings for this Colonel Isca?” He beckoned Deuce to walk farther away, keeping his voice very low for fear Ace, fighting Isca, would hear. He also avoided Teach and the others.
Before confirming the truth, he didn’t want any misunderstandings to cause trouble.
“This, I’m not sure.”
Deuce couldn’t give Jozu a definite answer.
He smiled helplessly. “Ace······ has always carried a heavy burden in his heart. He used to always doubt if his existence was right. You know his identity, right, Captain Jozu?”
“Yeah, Old Man told us not to speak of it.”
Jozu nodded solemnly.
“Because of his birth, he’s very afraid to embrace everyone’s goodwill. Clearly his flames saved us all from darkness, but they don’t light up his own heart······” Deuce’s voice was low and hoarse. “With Ace’s smarts, he should have realized some things long ago, but he deliberately doesn’t think about them, pretends not to know. Plus navy and pirates are natural enemies······ Over time, it became truly not understanding.”
Hearing this, Jozu felt depressed.
Well,
This matter was even more complex than he imagined.
This was no simple knot to untie, and brute force couldn’t break it······ Could he only wait for Old Man to arrive? But even Old Man probably wouldn’t know how to handle this special trouble.
Jozu watched the sword light and flames on the coastline, silently pondering.
Jozu fell silent, and Deuce timely stopped talking, staring dazedly at Ace and Isca’s back-and-forth battle, momentarily lost in reverie, as if back to their happy adventuring days aboard the Spade Ace.
Truly,
Long-lost memories!
Even though not much time had passed!
······
Unlike Deuce, Ace, clashing with Isca again, had no spare energy to distract himself. Isca’s strength stunned him at first—he was chopped twice by Isca in succession, the stinging pain on his body snapping him awake and allowing him to halt Isca’s fierce offensive.
During the time being chased in Paradise, Ace had fought Isca many times.
He admitted Isca was a decent guy. The fierce nickname Nail Hand proved she wasn’t just a vase. But in his view, Isca was just decent level. Even without Flare-Flare Fruit elementalization, relying on pure physical skills, he was confident he could crush her.
Compared to his fruit ability development, his physical skills were indeed slightly inferior.
But that didn’t mean his physical skills were poor.
In Sabaody Archipelago, Ace had mastered Armament Haki in his battle with Vice Admiral Dolo. In the New World, after joining the Whitebeard Pirates, he hadn’t slacked on training. The so-called slight inferiority depended on the comparison.
However,
Isca’s displayed power truly shocked Ace.
Armament Haki trained to an extremely high level, supremely proficient “Shave,” “Geppo,” “Paper Arts,” and other Rokushiki, plus swordsmanship that had stepped into the swordsman realm unlike before—all combined into the current Colonel Isca.
The current Nail Hand was no longer just someone who scared Paradise rookies.
With such strength, in the New World, probably only a handful of influences like the Four Emperors crews wouldn’t fear her much.
“Colonel Isca, you’re way stronger than before!”
Using Observation Haki to predict the trajectory of Isca’s descending sword edge, Ace elementalized to dodge the terrifying slash. In passing, he couldn’t help but sigh sincerely—as a genius with outstanding talent, Ace had good eyesight too.
Having fought Isca so many times, he originally thought her strength couldn’t improve much in a short time, but reality proved his judgment not always accurate.
“I’ll be truly strong after I capture you.”
Isca countered with a backhand sword, sharp sword qi tearing apart the oncoming flames.
While striking, she didn’t forget to retort verbally.
Hearing this line he’d heard countless times, Ace felt his head throb. “Colonel Isca, you’ve already left the navy—can’t you change your lines? I really don’t like prison at all!”
“Is that so? If you don’t like prison, then don’t be a pirate.”
Isca retorted.
“······Sorry, no room for discussion. Pirate······ is my fated destination.” Ace rejected resolutely as before.
“Then obediently go squat in prison for me! Fire Fist.”
Isca, just like before, suddenly got angry, the sword light in her hand suddenly sharpening by three degrees.
