Chapter 214 — Memory Reawakened, Ultimate Luck

Thanks to the tireless promotion of Morgans, president of the World Economic Times, the news of Fire Fist Ace's public execution had by now spread across the seas.

Diamond Jozu, whose bounty was no small sum, was likewise a hero who had roamed the oceans.

Yet in this execution he was nothing more than a trivial bonus, dismissed in the papers with a few scant lines.

Everyone understood what Ace's execution signified.

Gol D. Roger's execution had been a failure.

Because it had ushered in the Age of Great Pirates, an age of sin.

As the sole heir of Pirate King Roger, the execution of Fire Fist Ace might well mean the end of an era.

Dark currents churned beneath the surface.

Everyone silently awaited the coming of that day.

……

Seven days remained until the public execution of Fire Fist Ace!

At this very moment, Marine Headquarters, Marineford.

Sabo, disguised as a Marine sergeant, had finally found Wang Xu.

Looking at the young man before him—black hair, black eyes, clad in a wordless snow-white trench coat—Sabo found the words he had rehearsed so long lodged in his throat, impossible to swallow, impossible to spit out.

The man seemed to radiate an invisible influence.

The instant Sabo laid eyes on him, the hostility and resentment buried deep in his heart melted away like snow heaped beneath the sun.

Almost reflexively, Sabo took off his hat and bowed slightly. "Lord Absolute Justice, we meet for the first time. I humbly ask for your guidance."

He realized that Wang Zhiyao the man was utterly unlike the figure he had imagined.

This man sought neither fame, nor profit, nor wealth, nor power.

Back in the world of A Song of Ice and Fire, a senior brother of the Night's Watch had once told Sabo, "The man who desires nothing is the most terrifying existence in this world."

This was a law that held true everywhere.

So long as a man lives, it is impossible for him to be entirely without desire.

If you believe someone to be such a man, it proves only one thing…

Every condition you could possibly offer is beneath his notice.

Sabo swallowed, moistening his parched throat.

Bracing himself, he said, "I have come this time in the hope of inviting you to join the Revolutionary Army."

Wang Xu regarded him for a while with a smile that was not quite a smile, then spoke in a slow, unhurried tone: "Your intentions are good."

"But as for the changing of the world's power, I did that sort of thing only recently. For the time being, I have no interest in repeating it."

Having received the answer he had expected, Sabo's spirits sank.

He was somewhat unwilling to accept it.

All that effort, all the hardship of finding Wang Xu, merely to deliver a single message and meet with failure?

Sabo wanted to try once more.

His thoughts raced, idea after idea surfacing in his mind, scheme after scheme and targeted stratagem slowly taking shape.

Unfortunately, all of it lay under Wang Huai'an's observation.

"Adapt to changing circumstances; adjust and overcome."

Wang Xu gave Sabo a look of approval. "Interesting little fellow. Put away those immature ideas of yours—they are meaningless to me."

Sabo's thoughts lay clear to him as a flame in the dark.

Out of admiration, Wang Xu took a sudden notion to give the man a small reward.

"Your efforts have not been in vain."

Wang Xu snapped his fingers.

Formless, quality-less power surged and roiled, pouring into Sabo's body one stream after another.

This was the [Wang Huai'an Blessing], Version 3.0, which could be regarded as an incorporeal Emblem of Fire.

It boosted the growth rate of spiritual power, strengthened the potential of every physical attribute, solidified the obsessions of the heart…

Seven benefits in all, raising Sabo's current overall strength by roughly 150 percent, and amplifying his growth potential by more than 320 percent.

Sabo's pupils dilated slightly, his expression dazed, the vital blood surging within him.

An invisible force, together with his blood, rushed through every limb and bone.

Deep in his mind, it was as if a stubborn boulder had been struck to powder.

The memories he had lost gradually returned.

The East Blue, Luffy, Ace, the cup of sworn brotherhood, setting out to sea, the cannon fire…

Every last thing came flooding back to his heart.

Sabo slapped himself across the face.

When he had first heard of Fire Fist Ace's public execution, his heart had not stirred in the slightest—he had even felt somewhat like laughing.

Because there were always so many people comparing him, the "Fire Devourer," with "Fire Fist" Ace; to claim he felt not the least bit of resentment would have been a lie.

But now, all the things of the past had come back to him completely.

"What a bastard I am!"

Sabo dropped to one knee, his right hand stabbing into the flagstones like a claw.

He clenched it unconsciously, and dust and sparks burst forth.

Ace was his sworn brother!

How could he stand by and do nothing when his brother was in peril?

"It seems you have other matters to attend to."

Hearing this, Sabo looked at Wang Linchuan with a grave expression and bowed deeply. "Thank you for your help! Otherwise, I might have regretted it for the rest of my life!"

Wang Xu only smiled gently and waved a hand. "A trifling matter, hardly worth mentioning."

Sabo's strength now was far greater than it had been at this point in the original line of fate.

A year of tempering in the Ice and Fire world, plus the enhancement of the Flame Dragon Slayer's powers, had given him combat strength enough to duel an Admiral one-on-one.

In Wang Xu's eyes, however, this small variable was still far from enough.

……

Grand Line, 159 nautical miles southeast of the Sabaody Archipelago.

Marine Headquarters Admiral "Kizaru" Borsalino floated in the air, looking down upon the Straw Hat crew.

Pouting, he taunted them: "Have you ever been kicked at the speed of light?"

"This fellow is way too clingy!"

Sanji drew deeply on his cigarette, a shadow falling across his face.

Naruto sighed.

He had assumed the Celestial Dragons were the equivalent of the Five Great Nations' daimyo in the ninja world.

Now it seemed that the death-seeking madman Luffy had knocked out with a single punch held a status far higher than he had imagined.

Two Marine Admirals pursued them like maggots clinging to the bone.

They had avoided Fish-Man Island and taken a long detour, and still they had failed to escape.

"Then… we fight!"

Luffy pressed a hand to the straw hat on his head, black-purple Armament Haki racing between his fingers.

Lightning wreathed him; his face looked as though painted with war paint, his aura fierce and his frame grown lean and hard.

"Gear Fourth: Boundman!"

With the aid of the Emblem of Fire, Luffy, who had successfully changed class, now possessed the strength to face an Admiral head-on.

A pity Zoro was not aboard; otherwise, with his combat power added, the Straw Hats would have had no fear of two Admirals at all.

"Ice Age!"

From the distance came the drawn-out voice of Aokiji Kuzan.

This was the ultimate technique developed from the Frost-Frost Fruit—Ice Age!

Once unleashed, it could remake heaven and earth, freezing all things in ice.

But this move he did not use on the Straw Hats.

"What is that…?"

Usopp adjusted his telescope and saw a youth clad in a blue, red, and white uchiwa-pattern garment, locked in fierce battle with Aokiji high in the sky.

"We're saved!"

Unconsciously, he rubbed his long nose, his eyes blazing, his voice excited: "It's the [Ultimate Luck], Uchiha Sasuke! That great pirate with a bounty of four hundred and twenty million berries!"