One Piece - Heaven Defying Comprehension!

"Whoosh! Whoosh! Whoosh!"

A series of sharp whistling sounds suddenly sliced through the air as an overwhelming number of knives, axes, and various weapons flew swiftly through the atmosphere, as though drawn by an invisible force. Each weapon was aimed in a single direction: the mermaid princess, Shirahoshi.

"Sa-me!" Megalo, the loyal shark, watched with rising anxiety as countless weapons arced toward them. 

"Megalo!" 

Tears brimmed in Shirahoshi's wide, beautiful eyes as she saw her shark companion move protectively in front of her, crying out with a heartfelt plea.

"Sa-me! Sa-me!" Megalo gave a defiant roar, positioning itself squarely between Shirahoshi and the oncoming weapons. Its eyes were resolute—it was prepared to shield her with it own body.

"Buzz! Bah! Bah! Bah!"

Just as Shirahoshi and Megalo stared in shock, Ace's gaze narrowed, his focus intensifying. In the next moment, dark purple lightning burst through the air, crackling with fierce energy that filled the hard-shell tower.

"Boom! Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Each weapon flying toward them disintegrated instantly upon contact with the swirling black-and-purple lightning. The fierce energy tore through the steel like paper, reducing every weapon to nothing in a matter of seconds—no fragments, no shards, not even a speck of metal remained.

"No matter how many times I see it, I'm always in awe," Shakky remarked, watching the instantaneous destruction of the weapons with admiration. "Ace's Conqueror's Haki… it's even stronger than Roger's, don't you think?"

Rayleigh gave a nod, the corner of his lips lifting in a slight smile. "Ace's mastery over Conqueror's Haki is the most precise I've ever seen. As for its strength… well, let's just say it rivals any that's ever existed."

Ace's control over Conqueror's Haki was indeed astounding—so refined that he wielded it as effortlessly as his own limbs. He could use the Haki to move objects toward him without causing harm, or, as he'd just shown, he could eliminate even the tiniest fragments of metal from an array of weapons with pinpoint accuracy.

From a visual standpoint, it seemed as though these weapons disintegrated the instant they encountered Ace's Conqueror's Haki.

If applied to humans, those without sufficient Haki to resist would find every cell attacked by Ace's Conqueror's Haki in an instant. Such mastery over this Haki was unheard of before; not even Roger, the Pirate King, had achieved it.

"Ace-sama…" Shirahoshi's wide, tear-filled eyes fixed on Ace's gentle smile.

Such incredible power! Those weapons that had once seemed hopeless to evade had vanished in an instant under Ace's gaze. The black-and-purple lightning, just as she had seen during the Flame Emperor incident, left her awestruck.

"Ace-sama," she sniffed, her voice trembling.

"Ok. Don't cry," Ace said softly, his lips curving into a warm smile.

"Ace-sama…"

She gazed at him, mesmerized.

"Would you like to live freely outside?" Ace asked, gesturing toward the open air beyond the hard-shell tower.

"To go out? Truly…?" Her eyes sparkled with longing as she looked out from the tower, but fear quickly shadowed her gaze again.

If only it were possible, she thought. She missed her father, her brothers, and longed to visit her mother's grave. Yet the constant threat of attacks from Vander Decken's Target-Target Fruit weighed on her. If she left the tower, her family would sacrifice themselves to protect her, putting themselves in danger. The thought frightened her far more than losing her freedom.

"Don't worry," Ace assured her gently, "from today onward, Vander Decken will no longer trouble you."

"Truly…?" Her wide eyes glistened as she stared up at him, stunned.

"Shirahoshi!" 

The sudden sound of her father's anxious shout echoed from outside the tower.

"Father! Brothers!" she cried, her eyes filling with tears as she turned to look.

"Shirahoshi!" her third brother gasped in relief upon seeing her unharmed.

"Wonderful!" shouted Shirahoshi's second brother, Ryuboshi, his voice brimming with joy.

"Ahh!" 

The typically reserved eldest brother, Fukaboshi, also exhaled a sigh of relief. Alongside King Neptune, the three brothers had sprinted toward the hard-shell tower the moment it erupted, each one frantic with worry for Shirahoshi's safety. To their great relief, she remained unharmed.

But then, Fukaboshi's voice faltered, his gaze locking on a figure standing beside Shirahoshi.

"T-That person... that person is...!!!"

The towering Neptune, King of the Ryugu Kingdom and renowned as the "Great Knight of the Sea," was looking at the figure in stunned silence, a bead of cold sweat forming on his brow.

"Huh?!" 

Hearing Neptune's words, Shirahoshi's brothers, who had eyes only for her, finally noticed the figure by her side.

"Hey! Who are you? Get away from Shirahoshi..." Mamboshi began to shout, but his voice was cut off by his brother, Fukaboshi, who was frozen in fear, sweat beading on his forehead.

"No... he's...!!!"

Ryuboshi's gaze settled on Ace, his voice wavering.

"The Flame Emperor!!!"

The single title silenced the air around them. Fukaboshi and Ryuboshi looked at the man in horror, sweat trickling down their foreheads as they slowly recognized him.

The shock of seeing him here left Mamboshi's pupils reduced to pinpoints as he stared in disbelief.

"How... how did such a legendary figure arrive here… and with Shirahoshi?"

The three princes of the Ryugu Kingdom—known for their fierce resolve in protecting the mermaid princess and Fish-Man Island—stood utterly frozen, their bodies unwilling to move, as if they'd been bound by invisible chains. Their usual courage seemed to drain away as the reality of this visitor sank in.

They were standing before the Flame Emperor himself—the pirate who had defeated the mighty Navy Headquarters with the power of his own crew. His name alone, 'Entei', carried enough weight to make even the bravest men tremble. 

Should they offend him, Fish-Man Island could easily be reduced to ruins.

"Flame... Flame Emperor," Neptune finally managed, his heart sinking with dread. "If my daughter has offended you, I beg your mercy and will atone on her behalf."

As he paused, his gaze traveled beyond Ace, widening further as he took in the presence of the famed officers of the Entei Pirate Fleet. Not only had 'Entei' come himself, but he had brought along an entourage of legends.

It wasn't only the presence of Flame Emperor himself that instilled fear—his officers alone would have been enough to bring Fish-Man Island to its knees.

Why had Neptune assumed Shirahoshi had offended Entei? The answer was right in front of him: the doors of the hard-shell tower lay shattered, clearly destroyed by Flame Emperor's ship. In his overwhelming concern for his daughter, coupled with the sheer pressure of facing Entei, Neptune's first thought was that Shirahoshi had unwittingly provoked this legendary figure.

Without hesitation, Neptune's enormous frame descended from above, his eyes fixed fearfully on Ace. Fukaboshi, Ryuboshi and Mamboshi followed, also lowering themselves quickly, for it would be an unthinkable disrespect to stand above an emperor.

In this world, survival depended on showing proper reverence to such power—especially when standing before a man who eclipsed even the Four Emperors.

"Neptune, it's been a while! Why are you so tense?" Rayleigh, observing Neptune's obvious discomfort, chuckled in amusement. He understood well; Ace's reputation had indeed become monumental.

"Father, Ace-sama hasn't harmed me! He actually protected me from an attack," Shirahoshi quickly explained, hoping to ease her father's worry.

"What?!" Neptune and his sons froze in utter disbelief.