The air in the Great Courtyard crackled, thick with killing intent. Below the dais, the straw hat ronins, their crescent moon crests stark against tattered kimonos, let out a unified war cry that tore through the oppressive silence.
"FOR ASHINA! UUUUOOOOHHH!"
They charged, a wave of desperate courage, katanas flashing as they met the first line of Crocodile's pirates. Steel rang against steel, shouts and screams erupted, and the courtyard floor began to slick with blood. This was their sacrifice, a maelstrom to occupy the fodder, to buy time for the true battle.
"Hmph. Flies buzzing before their swatting," Crocodile sneered, sand already coiling around his hook like eager vipers.
Byrnndi World cackled, his massive frame shaking. "More for Weevil to smash later! Hoohoohoo!"
Weevil just grunted, his gaze fixed, a low, guttural growl rumbling in his chest.
"No more talk," Isshin declared. He was the first to move, a blur of motion.
Isshin didn't aim for World directly but for his perceived immediate threat: the massive, grotesque cannon World often used. With 'Delicate Step', Isshin was a ghost, blade flashing with 'Armament Haki'. He aimed to disable, to disarm.
"Too slow, young man!" World roared, surprisingly agile for his bulk. He didn't try to block. Instead, he slapped his own arm. "MOA MOA – JUUBAI KIKEN!" (Ten Times Danger!)
His body expanded slightly, his speed multiplying. He met Isshin's Haki-laced sword not with a weapon, but with a monstrous, Haki-coated fist that had grown subtly larger, faster.
KRA-KOOOM!
The shockwave was deafening. Isshin was thrown back, skidding on the stone, the force jarring his bones despite his block. World's fist was smoking, but he grinned. "My body is my weapon, Ashina!"
"Your sandcastle days are over, Crocodile!" Ace rocketed forward, a living comet. "HIKEN, FIRE FIST!"
A colossal fist of flame, the size of a small house, roared towards Crocodile.
"Futile, brat," Crocodile drawled, raising a hand. "SABLES! DESERT SPADA!"
A blade of compressed sand, wickedly sharp and dense, shot out, cleaving Ace's Fire Fist in two. The flames dispersed harmlessly around Crocodile, who remained untouched, a smirk playing on his lips.
"Logia vs. Logia. An amusing, if pointless, endeavor for you," Crocodile mused as Ace landed, scowling.
"We'll see about that!" Ace shot back, already preparing his next assault. "KAGERŌ! HEAT HAZE!" He launched a stream of fire, aiming not to hit, but to superheat the air around Crocodile, trying to find a weakness.
This was a clash of pure, unadulterated power. Gunnar, wreathed in swirling frost and molten rock, charged Weevil like a runaway volcano. His fists, encased in Magma-Frost Gauntlets, were like twin meteors.
"HYŌGA BAKUSAI! GLACIER CRUSHER!" Gunnar roared, slamming an ice-clad fist downwards.
Weevil met it not with finesse, but with his massive bisento, swung with terrifying force. The weapon glowed faintly with its own Haki.
BOOOOOOM!
The impact shattered the dais floor. Chunks of rock flew like shrapnel. Gunnar's ice gauntlet cracked, spiderwebbing with fractures, while Weevil was pushed back a single, grudging step, his arms trembling from the sheer elemental power.
"GRAAAAAH!" Weevil bellowed, his eyes bloodshot. He swung his bisento in a wide, devastating arc.
Gunnar met the swing with a rising wall of obsidian-hard lava. "YŌGANHEKI! LAVA WALL!"
The bisento carved a burning gash through the molten rock, but its momentum was broken. Steam exploded everywhere.
CHAOS UNFOLDED!
The three duels erupted simultaneously, a symphony of destruction.
Ace and Crocodile were a whirlwind of fire and sand. Ace unleashed HIBASHIRA (FIRE PILLAR), trying to trap Crocodile, but the Shichibukai simply dissolved into sand, reforming yards away. "You can't pin down the desert, boy!"
Crocodile retaliated with DESERT GIRASOLE (DESERT SUNFLOWER), causing the ground beneath Ace to collapse into a massive quicksand pit. Ace propelled himself out with jets of flame from his feet, hissing. "Damn you!"
Isshin, graceful and precise, found Byrnndi World a frustrating opponent. Every time Isshin landed a Haki-infused strike, World would roar, "MOA MOA – JUUBAI KYOKA!" (Ten Times Fortification!), his skin momentarily hardening like steel, mitigating the damage. World then swung a chunk of the broken dais, now ten times its original size thanks to MOA MOA – JUUBAI KYODAIKA! (Ten Times Gigantification!), forcing Isshin into a desperate evasion. The makeshift projectile obliterated a section of the castle wall.
"Hoohoohoo! This is fun!" World cackled.
Gunnar and Weevil were pure demolition. Gunnar combined his powers, launching KAZAN DANGAI (VOLCANIC FROSTBITE) – a fist that simultaneously burned and froze. Weevil, roaring, met it with a Haki-imbued shoulder tackle that felt like being hit by a Sea King. Both combatants were trading blows that would pulverize mountains.
"TITAN HAMMER!" Gunnar bellowed, bringing both fists down. Weevil caught them, muscles bulging to an impossible degree, the ground cracking beneath his feet from the strain.
HEROIC SURGE!
"We need to break their formation!" Isshin called out, narrowly dodging a cannonball World had touched, making it scream through the air at ten times its normal speed – MOA MOA – CANNON SPEED MAX!
Ace saw an opening. "Gunnar! On my mark!"
Ace inhaled deeply. "DAI ENKAI: ENTEI! (GREAT FLAME COMMANDMENT: FLAME EMPEROR!)"
A colossal sphere of fire, like a miniature sun, formed above Ace. The heat was so intense, the surrounding pirates shrieked and fell back. Even Crocodile's sand seemed to shimmer and dry.
"NOW, GUNNAR!"
Gunnar, understanding instantly, slammed his hands on the ground. "ZETTAI REIDO: HYŌKETSU DAICHI! (ABSOLUTE ZERO: FROZEN EARTH!)"
A wave of utter cold radiated outwards, freezing the stone floor solid, encasing the feet of Weevil and even reaching towards Byrnndi World. It was a calculated risk; the ice wouldn't hold Weevil for long, but it was meant to slow him and World.
Crocodile, seeing the incoming sun, scowled. "GROUND SECCA! (DESERT CLEAVE!)" Several fissures of drying sand spread out to try and disrupt Ace, but the Flame Emperor was too vast.
Isshin seized the moment of distraction. He flowed past a slowed Byrnndi World, his katana a silver streak. "ASHINA CROSS!" Two Haki-slashes, impossibly fast, struck World's chest.
"GUAH!" World coughed blood, his Moa Moa fortification momentarily overwhelmed.
Ace unleashed Entei. The sun descended.
KA-BLAAAAAMMMMM!
The explosion was cataclysmic. A mushroom cloud of fire and smoke billowed into the sky. The entire central courtyard was bathed in searing light.
When the smoke cleared, the heroes stood panting. The dais was a crater.
But Crocodile emerged from a deep sand bunker he'd created, dusting himself off. "Impressive fireworks. Nothing more."
Weevil, encased in ice up to his waist, roared and shattered his frozen prison with sheer brute force, shards flying like shrapnel. He was enraged.
Byrnndi World, clutching his chest, was laughing maniacally. "Hoohoohoo! That almost tickled! Now you see TRUE power!" He grabbed a piece of debris, a jagged metal beam.
"MOA MOA – HYAKUBAI KIBISHISA! (HUNDRED TIMES SEVERITY!)"
The beam glowed with an ominous energy, now amplified a hundredfold in its destructive potential.
"Ace, watch out!" Gunnar yelled, sensing the shift.
Crocodile made his move. "This ends." He clapped his hands together. "SABAKU NO HŌŌ (FUNERAL OF THE DESERT KING)!"
The entire courtyard began to transform. Massive sandstorms erupted from all sides, converging inwards. The ground itself turned to shifting dunes, visibility dropped to near zero, and the very air grew parched, leeching moisture.
"I can't see!" Ace coughed, shielding his eyes. The sand stung, and he felt his natural flames dimming slightly in the oppressive dryness.
"Hold your ground!" Isshin ordered, his Observation Haki working overtime, but the sheer scale of the sandstorm was disorienting.
This was their stage.
"Weevil! NOW!" Byrnndi World bellowed.
Through the swirling sand, Weevil charged, a monstrous silhouette. But World had touched him. "MOA MOA – JUUBAI SHINSUDO! (TEN TIMES SPEED BOOST!)"
Weevil, already a powerhouse, became an unstoppable blur. He wasn't aiming for one; he was a wrecking ball.
BAM!
He shoulder-charged Gunnar, who had been trying to solidify the ground with lava. The amplified impact sent Gunnar flying like a ragdoll, smashing through a half-collapsed watchtower, which then crumbled on top of him. Dust and rock exploded. "GUNNAR!" Ace cried out.
Before Ace could react, Crocodile's voice echoed. "DESERT ENCIERRO (DESERT PRISON)!"
Giant hands of super-compressed sand erupted from the dunes, grabbing Ace's arms and legs, pinning him. The sand was imbued with Crocodile's Haki, making it incredibly difficult to burn through quickly, and it was actively draining Ace's strength. "Ngh… let… go!"
"You're just a flickering candle in my storm, Fire Fist," Crocodile's disembodied voice mocked.
Isshin, meanwhile, was dealing with Byrnndi World, who now wielded his hundred-times-severe beam like a demonic club. Every swing carried the force of a battleship's cannons. Isshin, a master of deflection, was forced into pure defense, the impacts vibrating up his arms, his ancient bones groaning.
"Where is your Ashina pride now, samurai?!" World taunted, bringing the beam down in an earth-shattering blow. Isshin leaped back, but the shockwave still caught him, sending him sprawling.
DECIMATION!
Gunnar burst from the rubble, roaring, lava and ice flaring around him, but he was visibly wounded, one arm hanging limp. "You… will… PAY!"
He lunged for Weevil, but Weevil, still under World's speed amplification, was a phantom. Weevil sidestepped Gunnar's furious, telegraphed punch and delivered a Haki-infused bisento chop straight to Gunnar's exposed side.
CRACK-THUMP!
Gunnar screamed, a sound of pure agony, as bones audibly snapped. He coughed up blood, his elemental aura flickering violently before sputtering. He crashed to his knees, frost and magma receding from his skin, leaving him vulnerable.
"GUNNAR, NO!" Ace strained against his sand bonds, flames erupting weakly.
Crocodile appeared before him, a cruel smile on his face. "Your friend is first." He then looked towards Weevil, who was looming over the downed Gunnar. "Finish him."
But before Weevil could deliver a final blow, Byrnndi World intervened. "Hold, Weevil! Let's make this a show!" He pointed his amplified beam towards the struggling Ace. "MOA MOA – HYAKUBAI LASER!"
It wasn't a laser, but he could make the beam project its force. A concentrated blast of pure kinetic energy, amplified a hundred times, shot from the tip of the beam.
Isshin, seeing the danger, shouted, "ACE!" He tried to intercept, but he was too far, too battered.
The blast struck Ace's sand prison. The sand vaporized instantly, and the kinetic force slammed into Ace full-bore.
BOOOOM!
Ace was catapulted backwards, hitting the far castle wall with a sickening thud that echoed across the courtyard. He slumped down, unmoving, smoke rising from his body, his signature flames extinguished.
Isshin watched in horror, his usually stoic face etched with grim realization. He was now alone against three monsters. He pushed himself to his feet, katana held ready, blood dripping from a gash on his forehead.
"So, Samurai," Crocodile said, stepping forward, flanked by a grinning Byrnndi World and a panting, monstrous Weevil. Sand swirled around them, a vortex of doom. "Only you remain. Your precious Ashina… will fall with you."
Isshin Ashina stood defiant, Alone. His body screamed in protest, but will of Samurai, blazed in his eyes. The enemy was too strong, and their teamwork was too brutal. He could see Gunnar barely conscious, Ace completely still. The ronins below were being overwhelmed.
Yet, he raised his sword.
"Samurai… never… bows…" he breathed, a promise and a curse.
The three pirate warlords advanced, about to finish the lone Samurai.