Traversing the Anime Multiverse with a System - Chapter 108

After Soren left there was some movement behind the rubble of Marineford, and soon a tall overweight man with Black hair and a Black beard with a tan skin complexion was seen stumbling back on his ass from everything he had just witnessed.

[W-what is he?… He healed that old bastard Whitebeard and took out an Admiral with relative ease… I need to get out of here]: ???

The man was none other than Blackbeard but was known to the Whitebeard pirates as Teach, once Blackbeard saw what happened, his plan to kill off Whitebeard once he was on his last breath backfired, Whitebeard was now as healthy as a horse. Blackbeard then called his crew and told them that they will retreat for now and try again another day, the Blackbeard pirates then left the area leaving Garp and Whitebeard, all of the Whitebeard pirates and the groups that severed under Whitebeard had gathered back to their boats and ships with all the fallen and waited for Whitebeard to finish his fight.

[Y-you really are like you were back in your prime, haaa, I can’t keep up anymore]: garp

[Gurhahaha! What do you mean? I’m still far from my prime, but after I take time to gain my powers back I will be even stronger than in my prime… We will stop for today, I need to mourn over my lost Son… I will pay the Marine’s back in full one day]: whitebeard

Whitebeard then started walking back towards his ship, The Moby Dick, and left Garp there to pick up the fallen soldier’s. Soren on the other hand had noticed the Blackbeard pirates but decided to leave them for Luffy in the future, right now he was on an island close to Marineford resting deep within a cave while waiting for Ace to wake up. After 3 days, Ace had finally woke up, once he opened his eyes he quickly shot up not realizing anything familiar, Ace took a quick look around and noticed nothing, just an empty cave, Ace then got up and looked around, he started walking towards where the only bit of light was shining. After walking just about 50 feet he came to the entrance of the cave, once the light hit his face he quickly blocked it with his hand due to how bright it was, Ace then grabbed his stomach as it started growling.

[How long have I been out?… Last thing I remember was dying after I was rescued by Luffy]: ace

As Ace was trying to remember how he got here he felt something from his Observation Haki and quickly turned towards the direction he felt a disturbance.

[My Observation Haki… I can use it again, I haven’t been able to use it in months, why now?]: ace

Ace started walking towards where he felt someone, after walking a few hundred feet he saw someone so familiar that if he didn’t recognize them he would be ashamed to call himself a student of theirs.

[Teacher! How did you get here? Last I remember of you, was when you fought with Akainu… Then Akainu punched me in the chest with his Lava fist]: ace

[Calm down Ace… I had saved you after Akainu tried to kill you, I also had killed him, so there will be no trouble with him in the future… Here, take this… You must be hungry, after all, you have slept for 3 days straight]: soren

Ace took the food from Soren’s hands and began to consume it like a vacuum, Soren gave a small chuckle after seeing this but put it aside and started speaking in a serious tone.

[Ace… Do you want to see Luffy again?]: soren

Ace stopped eating when he heard Soren’s words, he swallowed what was in his mouth and spoke.

[Yes! When can we see him again?]: ace

[We will leave in a few hours and go back to Marineford… There we will be able to see him one more time before we won’t be able to see him for a couple of years]: soren

Ace took in what Soren said and quickly ate the rest of his food, Ace then let out a big burp and gave Soren a smile while saying.

[Ready! Let’s go!]: ace

Soren then brought Ace to the boat and told Misha that he and Ace will be gone for a while, after telling Misha, Soren then grabbed Ace up by his waist with his tail and now Ace was strapped to Soren’s back, Soren then started floating up in the air and flew off towards Marineford. After an hour of flight Soren landed on top of a building far into the distance and unwrapped his tail from Ace’s waist, Ace was full of questions as to why they were so far away and where Luffy was, but all he got was a “Shhhh”, Ace and Soren then sat there waiting for 30 minutes before a boat could be seen in the distance, soon the boat docked and Soren could see Luffy and an old man with long Gray hair wearing round rimmed glasses with a white coat draped over his shoulders.

[Ace, take a good long look at your brother… We won’t see him again for at least 2 more years]: soren

Ace didn’t want to just look from afar, he felt that Luffy still thought he was dead and wanted to correct his thought, but Soren told him that if Luffy found out that he was still alive then any kind of Drive or Motivation for becoming stronger would be lost, so the best choice of action would be to let Luffy think he was dead and let him train. Right after Ace thought about what Soren said, he then heard the big bell start to go off.

*Dong!… Ding!… Clang!*

The bell rang 3 times which was the signal for the base being under attack, as Ace and Soren look towards who rang the bell they both could see Luffy with tears in his eyes with a tattoo on his left arm that said 3D2Y and the 3D had a big X through it. Reporters had taken some photos as Luffy gave a small speech about Ace before he left with the old man known as Rayleigh, but right before him and Luffy entered back into the boat Rayleigh turned his head and looked at Soren and when he saw Ace right next to him alive and well his mouth dropped. Luffy saw this and quickly asked.

[What’s wrong Rayleigh?… We need to go before the Marine’s get here]: luffy

Luffy spoke to Rayleigh and caught his attention as he coughed while turning back towards Luffy and the boat, he then closed his eyes and spoke.

[Oh, right!… Let’s go start your training]: rayleigh

Deep in Rayleigh’s mind he was thinking about how Ace was still alive and about who the man next to Ace was. When Rayleigh felt the man look at him he felt like the man was peering into his very soul, as if saying “Train Luffy well… Or else!” After seeing that the man didn’t plan on making a move Rayleigh played it off as the Man was acquainted with both Luffy and Ace. Rayleigh then started steering the boat off to some beast infested island to train Luffy, while Soren took Ace back to the previous island where they left Misha and Haku.

[Ok Ace… I want to test a theory… Can you try to use your Devil Fruit powers?]: soren

Ace thought that this was an easy one, he then raised his fist and focused on it, but no matter how hard he tried there was no flame, not even a spark.

[I can’t… My Devil Fruit ability doesn’t work… Maybe I need some more time]: ace

Soren then interjected and started speaking.

[No… It’s not that you need more time, it’s that there is no more Devil Fruit inside your body… More to say, you are perceived dead to the Laws of this world… You can eat a new Devil Fruit… Now to my second question, would you like Akainu’s Devil Fruit?]: soren

Ace thought about it for a moment before he spoke, after a couple minutes thinking Ace then looked at Soren with resolution in his eyes and said.

[I will put that bastards power to better use myself… Please give it to me Teacher]: ace

Soren then reached into his inventory and pulled out a Devil Fruit that had the shape of a chilli pepper, it was dark Red in color with some hints of black and the pattern on the fruit looked like magma flowing. Soren then handed Ace the fruit and Ace took it in hand, he looked at it for a moment before tossing it into his mouth while chewing it, and swallowing it.

[Blegggghhhh!… I can feel it… The power is surging through my body and into my brain]: ace

Ace then raised his hand and after a few seconds it turned into magma that started to drip towards the ground, after seeing this Ace gave off a smile before transforming his hand back into normal. Ace then looked at Soren with gratitude in his eyes, Soren feeling happy for his student then spoke in a serious tone.

[We’re not done yet… You had descent control over your Fire Fruit but this Lava Fruit is different, we will train here for 2 years then go to Sabaody Archipelago]: soren

Ace heard Soren and felt a little dread thinking back on those 6 harsh years of training, but he then gave off a determined smile and started his training with his teacher.