Among the many abilities of the Shadow-Shadow Fruit, whether it's the control of Stepping Shadow* or the one-hit-kill of Shadow Cutter, both are formidable techniques in close-quarters combat.
Maude reversed his grip and slashed at the shadow beneath Ace, aiming to sever it.
Unlike Stepping Shadow, which requires the user to have superior strength to exert control, Shadow Cutter only needs a sharp weapon to execute.
However—
Shadow Cutter has a prerequisite.
The target's shadow cast on the ground must have a distinct outline.
With that condition met, a successful Shadow Cutter could end the battle in an instant.
The blade gleamed.
The tip of Shusui successfully reached Ace's shadow.
Yet—
Before Shusui could fully slice through the shadow, Ace instinctively reacted and activated his Logia Intangibility a moment earlier.
In an instant, Ace's body transformed into roaring flames.
With his complete Elementalization, the shadow that had served as a tangible target vanished.
Maude's Shadow Cutter hit nothing but air.
Simultaneously, Ace's flames surged toward Maude, who was mere steps away.
At that moment, Maude had just swung his blade toward the ground, making it difficult to immediately withdraw and defend.
But Maude had White Weasel.
In that fleeting moment, no command was necessary.
With a will of its own, Bailey shifted from a flintlock into a longsword, as if reading Maude's intent through telepathy.
Armament Haki!
Haki surged forth, coating Whit Weasel's blade, turning its once pristine white surface into a deep, jet-black edge.
"If my attack speed surpasses yours, then Elementalization is meaningless."
A crimson glow flashed in Maude's eyes as he perceived Ace's true body within the flames.
Without hesitation, he slashed through the encroaching firestorm.
Sssshh—!
A single slash cleaved through the raging flames.
The sword energy trailing behind split the fire in two, sending its remnants scattering across the battlefield.
The residual force of the strike continued forward, carving a deep, straight fissure into the sandy ground.
Though Maude's skin tingled from the lingering heat, the fire had mostly dissipated.
Yet—
This attack still failed to wound Ace.
Even though Maude's Observation Haki pinpointed Ace's exact location, Ace's Observation Haki was equally sharp.
Sensing danger, Ace adjusted his movements, even if it meant slowing his offense, just to avoid being struck down in one blow.
"That was close."
The scattered flames gathered in the air, swiftly reforming Ace's figure.
Suspended above, Ace's gaze grew serious.
That brief exchange had made him feel a long-lost sense of pressure.
Especially when Maude had used his instant movement to appear behind him—a crushing sense of peril surged through him.
It had been a long time since he last felt such an unmistakable threat.
The man beneath him… was no ordinary opponent!
Calming himself, Ace spread his arms wide, his limbs transforming into blazing wings of fire.
Then, twisting his waist, he spun rapidly in midair.
As he rotated, his flames coalesced into a spiraling fire column several meters wide.
"Fire Ring: Fire Pillar!"
Ace halted his spin, propelling the fiery spiral downward toward Maude.
The searing column crashed down with an overwhelming force.
"Your fire may be powerful, but before my Hakoku… it's meaningless."
Maude raised his gaze, watching the descending Fire Pillar and, with a single slash, unleashed a well-calibrated Hakoku.
A visible, arrowhead-shaped shockwave shot skyward, effortlessly shattering the Fire Pillar.
It was like blowing out a candle.
With a single breath, the flame had no chance of remaining alight.
After erasing the Fire Pillar, Hakoku still carried residual force, heading straight for Ace.
Ace's brows furrowed.
He realized that large-scale flame attacks stood no chance against Maude's Hakoku.
This essentially nullified one of the greatest advantages of a Logia user.
Seeing the residual force of Hakoku closing in, Ace had no time to think.
His body instinctively Elementalized to evade the incoming shockwave.
Once he reformed, Ace's furrowed brows slowly relaxed as he looked down at Maude with a cool gaze.
"My flames may be useless against you, but your Hakoku will never hit me either."
"That's true."
A sudden voice resonated from behind Ace, deep and full of agreement.
Yet, in his direct line of sight, where Maude had previously stood—
there was now only a small, pitch-black bird flapping its wings in midair.
"When did he…?!"
Ace's eyes widened in alarm.
On reflex, he unleashed a burst of flames from his back, surging toward Maude behind him.
However—
Just before the flames engulfed Maude—
he swapped places with his Shadow Bird once more.
In the blink of an eye, the Shadow Bird was incinerated.
Unless Ace could coat his flames with Armament Haki, he couldn't transfer damage through the shadow to Maude's actual body.
After releasing his flames, Ace quickly spun around—only to see Maude already swapping places again with the Shadow Bird.
Back on the ground, Maude lifted Bailey, now in flintlock form, and pulled the trigger at Ace's back.
Bang!
The Armament Haki-coated lead bullet tore through the smoke, heading straight for the Whitebeard Pirates emblem tattooed on Ace's back.
"He swapped places with his shadow again…"
The instant he heard the gunshot, Ace's heart clenched.
Maude's Shadow Swap was almost indistinguishable from teleportation.
To avoid the bullet, Ace had no choice but to fully Elementalize once again, dispersing his body into blazing flames floating in the sky like burning clouds.
As a result, the Haki-infused bullet simply passed through the flames harmlessly.
Watching Ace evade another attack using his Logia intangibility, Maude remained unfazed. Instead of swapping places again, he simply kept pulling the trigger, continuously drawing Ace's attention.
Gunfire rang out in rapid succession.
One lead bullet after another soared through the air, punching holes in Ace's flame-formed body as they passed through him.
When it comes to firearms, their effectiveness in suppressive fire isn't about direct lethality.
Disrupting the enemy's rhythm is more than enough.
The continuous barrage of lead bullets relentlessly assailed the flames.
At first, Ace didn't pay much mind to these ordinary bullets. His Logia Devil Fruit made him practically untouchable to conventional attacks.
But then—
In the midst of the storm of bullets, he suddenly caught sight of one infused with Armament Haki. His expression shifted immediately.
"That's low…"
Ace sharpened his focus, wary of the occasional Haki-infused shots hidden within the rain of bullets.
However—
From the moment their battle began, Maude had maintained the upper hand.
This left Ace feeling stifled.
It was largely because Maude's Hakoku overwhelmed the destructive power of his Flame-Flame Fruit, countering it perfectly.
Looking up, Maude watched as Ace temporarily retreated, drifting downward from the sky to reassess his approach.
"Now's the time..."
A glint of sharp intent flashed through Maude's eyes.
The bullets fired from his gun silently transformed into shadow bullets mid-flight, their velocity instantly tripling.
Ace immediately noticed the change in speed and frequency, but he still felt little pressure to defend.
After all, elementalization is the natural counter to conventional gunfire. As long as he remained cautious of the occasional Haki-infused rounds, he had nothing to fear.
But just as that thought crossed his mind, the battlefield shifted unexpectedly.
"Huh?"
Right before Ace's eyes, the high-speed bullets suddenly transformed into pitch-black butterflies, fluttering in all directions.
"No way…"
Watching the butterflies swirl around him, a realization dawned on Ace.
Could it be…?
Is that even possible?
A fleeting thought raced through his mind, causing a slight disturbance in his focus even in his flame form.
Just as Ace's attention wavered, Maude sheathed Shusui and seamlessly transformed Bailey into twin pistols, gripping them firmly.
In the next instant, Maude made his move—
Shadow Flow: Daylight Fireworks!
Maude's figure vanished into thin air.
In the blink of an eye, he reappeared, swapping places with one of the black butterflies fluttering to Ace's left.
"Bang! Bang!"
The moment he materialized, he raised both guns and fired at Ace from the flank.
Before the sound of gunfire even faded—
Maude vanished again.
This time, he reappeared behind Ace.
"Bang! Bang!"
Firing another round, Maude shifted once more.
"Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang!"
"Bang! Bang!"
He continued to teleport with lightning speed, each movement accompanied by a precise double shot aimed at Ace's elemental form.
With the shadow butterflies serving as teleportation anchors and his mastery of Observation Haki granting him perfect timing, Maude unleashed a relentless barrage of bullets from every possible angle.
The continuous gunfire echoed through the sky, as streaks of golden light traced through the air, crisscrossing to create a breathtaking spectacle.
It was as if fireworks were igniting in broad daylight.
Caught in the midst of this onslaught, Ace could only weave through the storm of bullets in his flame form, barely evading the attacks.
Because—
Mixed within the countless regular bullets were numerous rounds infused with Armament Haki.
"To think someone could wield firearms like this… He's a monster."
A Logia user, who normally had no fear of bullets, now found himself in a dire predicament.
Ace was stunned by Maude's ingenious application of his abilities, a deep sense of unease settling in.
From the start, Ace had never underestimated Maude's strength.
But after actually crossing blades—or rather, bullets—with him, Maude's power had far exceeded his expectations.
"This isn't even a life-or-death battle, yet I'm completely on the defensive…"
With countless bullets converging from all directions, Ace's gaze sharpened.
On the desert sands below—
The Straw Hat Pirates, along with Perona hovering mid-air, all gazed upward, mesmerized by the dazzling light show Maude's gunfire had created.
The daylight fireworks unfolding before their eyes left them with a mix of awe and dread.
Even imagining themselves in Ace's place, they could feel the suffocating sense of helplessness—a feeling that escape was impossible, that death was inevitable.
As a sniper, Usopp was utterly speechless, overwhelmed by what he had just witnessed.
Even if he tried to imagine it, he knew with absolute certainty—
There was no way he could ever replicate an attack like that.
No one else in the world could.
This was an utterly unique and unparalleled display of skill.
And that man—
That was his master.
At that moment, Usopp felt an immense sense of pride.
But at the same time, a deep conflict arose within him.
Because this incredibly powerful master of his…
Was currently fighting someone Usopp had acknowledged as a companion.
Usopp's expression turned uncertain.
"Hey, don't say I didn't warn you. If you don't want to die, you'd better leave now."
Perona, still watching Maude's ceaseless barrage, suddenly felt an inexplicable sense of danger. Though she had trained in Observation Haki, the feeling creeping over her was subtle yet omnipresent—like an unseen force pressing in from all sides.
It unsettled her greatly.
After giving her warning, she immediately began retreating, distancing herself as much as possible from the battlefield.
She had no intention of getting caught in the crossfire and dying over mere curiosity.
That would be far too senseless a death.
Hearing Perona's warning, the Straw Hats wasted no time following her lead, quickly withdrawing to a safer distance.
All except Luffy, who remained rooted in place.
"Luffy, what are you doing? Get over here, now!" Nami urged.
"I'm a rubber man. Bullets don't hurt me," Luffy replied without even turning his head, eyes fixed on Maude and Ace's battle.
Nami hesitated.
Right. Luffy was immune to bullets.
Realizing this, she shook her head slightly and said no more.
Zoro and Sanji also understood and let him be.
But just as they had retreated to a safe distance, a stray bullet fell from the sky—
And struck Luffy's right side.
Splat!
The expected harmless ricochet didn't happen.
Instead, what followed was the crisp, decisive sound of a lead bullet piercing through Luffy's right side, tearing open a bright crimson spray of blood.
"Eh?"
Luffy froze.
Nami and the others, witnessing Luffy being shot, were equally stunned.
The air seemed to freeze for a moment.
Then—
"I got shot!!"
Luffy let out a scream, rolling on the sandy ground while clutching his wound. An unusual sensation of pain radiated from the injury, something he wasn't used to feeling.
"How is this possible?! I thought bullets don't work on Luffy?"
"Oi, Chopper! Luffy's hurt!"
"Chopper passed out from the heat again."
"…"
"Zoro! Sanji! Get over here and carry Luffy back!"
Seeing Luffy struck by a stray bullet—and wailing in pain no less—Nami and the others instantly panicked.
"Idiot."
Floating mid-air with her umbrella in hand, Perona shook her head.
So this fool doesn't even know what Armament Haki is, huh?
Hearing Luffy's pained scream, Ace—who was already under immense pressure from defending—momentarily lost focus. In that brief lapse, a tiny opening appeared in his defense.
From the relentless hail of lead bullets raining down from all directions, one just happened to be coated in Armament Haki—and it shot straight through that seemingly insignificant gap.
Shhk!
A streak of blood sprayed from the flames—only to be instantly incinerated.
Ace was shot.
His already precarious defense wavered, now on the brink of collapse.
At this rate…
If this continued any longer—Maude really might just gun Ace down right here and now.
---
TL/N:
*I don't know which technique is mentioned here. I tried searching but I couldn't find one.
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