Pirate: I, Ace, am the King of Eclipse!

"What I want to be is the strongest being, unbound by any rules."

"Anyone who blocks the way, no matter who they are, will be crushed."

A brief silence fell over the deck.

Geno stared blankly at Ace.

There is no hypocritical justice, no fancy slogans.

This man wanted to tear the sky apart, simply because he refused to look up to anyone.

This madman's behavior of using the world government as a stepping stone was exactly what he wanted.

"Hahahahaha!"

After a brief silence, Geno raised his head and let out a rough, metallic laugh.

He grabbed the heavy hydraulic war hammer, hoisted it onto his broad shoulders, and the mechanical exoskeleton spewed out high-pressure steam, emitting a deep rumble.

"Robbing the Celestial Dragons' tribute? I'll take on that suicidal business!"

A frenzied fighting spirit ignited in Jeno's eyes. "Take your men, Captain! Let's go and turn that lousy fortress upside down!"

Seeing the two hit it off immediately, Karina painfully covered her forehead.

Reason told her that she should set sail and escape immediately. But when she thought of the fortress full of treasure, the meteorite black steel, and the unknown Devil Fruit that Jeno had described, she remained silent for a few seconds before finally gritting her teeth.

"Since the captain has already made his decision."

Karina took a deep breath, forcing herself to calm down. She looked at Ace, her eyes sharpening.

"Robbing is fine! But let's make it clear beforehand that I must be in charge of counting and managing every single penny in the fortress! Even if I'm being chased by a general, I'll run with the money!"

"no problem."

Ace laughed and agreed to her request, then turned and walked towards the gangway.

"Sabo, Leona, get ready to work."

"Let's go see just how generous our welcome gift is for us."

Chapter 39 The Heist of the Heavenly Gold

The Steel Nation, Central Highlands.

A massive fortress, constructed of thick black steel and massive stones, perched atop a cliff like a steel behemoth. Its towering walls were densely packed with heavy cannons, and thousands of fully armed elite soldiers patrolled the ramparts. This was a forbidden zone jointly funded by the warlord alliance, storing the celestial gold destined to be offered as tribute to the Celestial Dragons.

Six figures were striding along the only road leading to the fortress.

"The fortress where the meteorite black steel is stored is just ahead."

Geno carried a heavy hydraulic power hammer, and a stream of scorching steam spewed from the gaps in his exoskeleton. "The city wall is made of a mixture of high-density alloy and rock. Ordinary cannonballs can't even leave a white mark on it."

"Is that so? Then I'll see just how hard it is!"

Buggy led the way, already clutching a red glass marble bomb in his hand. Although he knew that stealing the Heavenly Gold would cause him a lot of trouble, the lure of the treasure and the encouragement from Ace completely unleashed his pirate instincts.

Consider it a small gift to say hello!

Bucky roared and hurled the bomb in his hand with all his might toward the massive steel gate of the fortress.

"Specially made Pakistani bomb!"

The bomb, the size of a fingernail, exploded the instant it touched the city gate.

"BOOM—!!!"

A massive fireball shot into the sky, and a deafening explosion echoed across the entire highland. The violent shockwave distorted and warped the tens-of-tons-heavy steel gate, peeled away large sections of the surrounding city wall, and blew the dozens of guards behind the gate into the air before they even understood what was happening.

"Enemy attack! Pirates are besieging the city! Fire the cannons!"

The guards on the city wall, recovering from the shock of the explosion, sounded the alarm in alarm, and rows of heavy cannons quickly turned their barrels around.

Before they could even light the fuse, a dark blue figure leaped high into the air, approaching the city wall amidst the smoke and fire.

Sabo adjusted his top hat, and his right arm transformed into rolling orange-red flames in mid-air.

"fire punch!"

A thick, raging pillar of fire roared out like an angry dragon, sweeping across the fortress walls with devastating force.

The intense heat and flames instantly engulfed the rows of heavy artillery pieces, causing them to explode along with the surrounding ammunition boxes. The city walls were instantly transformed into a sea of ​​fire, with screams and explosions mingling together, and the outer defenses crumbled in an instant.

Looking at the exaggerated destructive power before him, Geno couldn't help but whistle: "You guys really don't even bother to warm up when you're fighting."

"The door hasn't been completely broken down yet."

Ace stepped forward, looking at the twisted but still firmly locked steel door, and the thick alloy inner wall behind it.

He did not draw his sword, but slowly clenched his right fist.

In his mind, he recalled the old man Garp's unpretentious yet powerful technique of striking through an entire mountain when he beat him up in the forest.

"Armament Haki externalization".

Ace muttered a phrase, and a solid black aura instantly enveloped his right fist. Then, instead of remaining on his skin, this aura, guided by his will, condensed into a high-density, invisible mass of energy in front of his fist.

Ace lowered his stance and threw a punch at the twisted steel door and the thick inner wall.

"Fist-Bone Impact!"

There was no physical contact.

Just a few meters from the door, the compressed, domineering aura, like an invisible cannonball, crashed into the steel!

"Crack—Boom!"

A chilling sound of metal shattering rang out.

The door, strong enough to withstand heavy artillery fire, along with the several-meter-thick alloy inner wall behind it, shattered instantly like a fragile biscuit under this punch!

Countless pieces of steel and stones were ejected in a fan shape towards the interior of the fortress, blasting a huge passage more than ten meters wide through the seemingly impregnable front of the fortress.

"Monster! The city wall has been punched through..."

The soldiers inside the fortress watched the black-haired youth slowly retract his fist, and they could barely hold their guns steady.

"Let's go inside and get our things."

Ace flicked his wrist, stepped over the ruins and steel wreckage, and strode into the fortress. Sabo, Geno, and the others followed closely behind.

In the central square of the fortress, a large number of elite soldiers were retreating in disarray.

On the high platform in the square, a middle-aged man in a magnificent uniform with a mustache was sweating profusely as he stared at the group of madmen who had forced their way in. He was a neutral commander jointly elected by several warlords, specifically responsible for guarding this batch of celestial gold.

Do you know what you're doing?!

The commander's hand, gripping his sword, trembled violently as he shouted hoarsely, "This is heavenly gold offered as tribute to the Celestial Dragons! If you dare touch even a single hair here, the warlord army and the Marine Headquarters will tear you to pieces!"

Ace didn't even glance at him, and walked straight to the vault door behind the platform.

Leona, wielding two cleavers, swiftly cut down dozens of guards who charged at her, clearing a path for them.

Seeing that the pirates were completely ignoring his warnings, the commander was utterly desperate. He scrambled towards the communications station in the corner of the platform and frantically dialed several Den Den Mushi (snail communication devices).

"Quickly, reinforcements are needed! The Heavenly Gold Fortress is under attack by pirates! Immediately notify all admirals! Request reinforcements from the naval fleet stationed in the nearby waters! Hurry!!!"

The communications station crackled with the furious roars of the various warlords, and the piercing alarms from the navy.

A few minutes later.

"found it!"

Karina's excited screams echoed from inside the vault.

The heavy alloy door was forcibly smashed open by Jeno with a hydraulic hammer, and piles of gold coins and jewels gleamed enchantingly in the dim space.

Karina unceremoniously pulled out a specially made large burlap sack and began stuffing it with cash and jewelry. In a beautifully crafted safe deep inside the vault, she successfully retrieved the Devil Fruit covered in spiral patterns and quickly stuffed it into her inner pocket.

"Starfall Black Steel! Hahaha! My top-quality material is indeed here!"

Among a pile of weapons and supplies, Jeno found a huge piece of black metal that emitted a dim starlight. He touched the black steel as if it were a priceless treasure, then hoisted it onto his shoulder with his exoskeleton arm and burst into maniacal laughter.

"Captain, we've got everything."

Sabo glanced at the ransacked vault, then turned to Ace in the hall. "That commander has already appealed for help from all the warlords and the navy on the island. If we don't leave now, we might face an encirclement of tens of thousands of people."

"Who said we were leaving?"

Ace sat on a box of gold coins that Karina hadn't yet collected, casually picking up a gold cup and playing with it.

"captain?!"

Bucky, who was carrying two bags of treasure and preparing to run away, almost dropped his jaw when he heard this. "You've already stolen everything, are you just going to stay here and wait to die? That's a coalition of several warlords, and there might even be admirals from the Navy Headquarters!"

Karina and Leona looked at Ace with some confusion.

“For the past two weeks, you have been working up a sweat on the deck every day.”

Ace sat on the gold coin box, looking at the crew in front of him, "But just training on the deck won't bring out your true potential."

Ace pointed outside the gate.

In the distance, alarms were blaring across the entire island, and the sounds of large numbers of troops gathering and armored vehicles rumbling could be faintly heard.

"There's no need to look for opponents everywhere; this is a ready-made touchstone."

Ace stood up and looked at Bucky, Leona, and Carina.

"We'll wait for them here. Use the bodies and weapons you've honed over this time to feel the pressure of life and death. As long as you're not killed on the spot, squeezing your body's potential to the limit will greatly help you comprehend Haki."

Upon hearing this crazy decision, Jeno, carrying the Starfall Black Steel, let out a rough laugh.

"Using the entire island's warlord armies as sparring partners? You really are an incomprehensible madman! But, it's just time my hydraulic hammer got some exercise too!"

Bucky looked at the money bag in his hand with a sense of wanting to cry, then at the dark mass of troops approaching outside. He gritted his teeth and fastened the set of sea stone rings, the thin folded blades on the edge of the rings popping out gently.

Ace drew his large cleaver from his waist and swung it casually, the blade carving a deep trench in the ground.

"Get ready to work, everyone on the Eclipse."

Chapter 40 Black Arm Zephyr

Outside the steel fortress, the earth trembled more and more intensely.