A magic merchant infiltrating Fairy Tail

In an instant, Luffy's expression changed from gratitude to shock: "Huh?? You're a Marine??"

"I'm not a navy officer! Don't worry, you're not my target!"

In the time it takes to exchange two sentences, Luffy has already brushed past Killer: "Thank you so much! You're such a good person!!"

A good person? I hope you can still say that in the future.

Seeing that Killer didn't move, Smoker became extremely anxious. In that brief second, he cursed "bullshit" countless times in his mind before shouting to his true subordinates by the street, "Tashigi! Grab Straw Hat Luffy!!"

This immediately alerted all the marines who had just landed. After a brief moment of surprise, the group of marines rushed towards Luffy's direction. They were armed with swords and guns, and their movements were orderly, demonstrating a high level of military discipline.

But Luffy is as agile as a monkey. When he sensed an enemy in front of him, he immediately jumped to the side. His straw sandals, which he had worn for who knows how many years, stomped on the wall three or four times. After several leaps and bounds, he arrived at the rooftop.

The rooftop is sparsely populated, spacious, and offers a wide view, making it the perfect place to escape. This jump, aside from anything else, at least puts him ahead of half the Marines. Someone like Tashigi, who can't even climb onto a roof, simply can't catch up with the agile Luffy. And the Marines' long-range attacks, guns, and bullets are useless against Luffy. So if the Marines who are trying to capture Luffy are mediocre and incompetent, then this attempt to capture him will inevitably end in failure.

"Hey! Zoro!!" Luffy called out as he ran towards his crewmates who had changed into their new clothes and were trying to keep a low profile, but had been dragged into the Navy's pursuit.

"Don't even think about escaping!!!"

Fortunately, Smoker's strength was not bad. His lower body immediately turned into white smoke, supporting his upper body as he soared into the sky. At the same time, he stretched out his right hand and fired it in the direction Luffy was running away from.

"White Snake!!" Smoker roared, raising his right fist. With a final burst of force, his entire right arm transformed into thick white smoke, while his gloved right fist shot out like a cannonball towards Luffy, tracing a straight, pure white ray in the air.

Just as the smoke was about to hit Luffy, a huge 'boom' was heard, and an incredibly hot flame descended from the sky, blocking Smoker's white snake for Luffy.

"Kagerou!!" With a hearty shout, a shirtless man stood in front of Luffy.

He wore an orange hat with goggles, had short black hair, a few pockmarks on his cheeks, a red beaded necklace, a flintlock pistol tucked into his left hip, a backpack in his right hand, and his left hand outstretched with flames swirling around it. The letters "ASCE" were engraved on his arm, with an "X" crossed out of the "S".

Portgas D. Ace is the most popular "overpowered" character in One Piece, one of the top ten most popular older brothers in Japanese manga, the son of the Pirate King, and the user of the Dog-Dog Fruit, known as "Ai the Big Pockmarked".

"You're smoke, I'm fire. You're too green to fight me!"

With his dazzling entrance, cool special effects, and arrogant lines, Ace's appearance immediately gave Luffy and his crew the illusion that "with him around, everything is fine."

"Ace...??"

Upon seeing the person who saved him, Luffy was stunned for a moment, then overjoyed, "How did you get here?!"

"Luffy, you haven't changed at all!" Ace said, turning around as he blocked Smoker's approach with a wall of fire. "There's not much to say in this situation. You run first, I'll be there soon."

"Leave these people to me! Go!"

Luffy chuckled upon hearing this, then immediately turned around, preparing to run away with Zoro and the others who were rushing over: "Alright! I'll go first then..."

Before the words were even finished, a sudden change occurred!

A cherry-haired boy wearing a white dragon-scale scarf was grabbed by a blue cat with wings and thrown into a sea of ​​fire from high above like a cannonball. The boy spun freely in the air for two and a half times, rotating 720 degrees clockwise. At the same time, a deafening shout came from his mouth.

"Dinner's ready!!!"

As this sound rang out, the flames that had been roaring on the street seemed to come alive, surging wildly towards a certain spot within the flames. Upon closer inspection, it turned out that the cherry-haired boy was eating fire!

Eating fire?! Am I seeing things, or are these people the problem, or is there something wrong with the world itself? Setting fires and breathing fire is one thing, but someone in this world actually eats fire? Are they even human?

Whether it was Ace who had just set fire to the city center, Luffy and his crew who were about to run away, the Marines who had heard about the characteristics of Dragon Slayer Magic but were seeing it for the first time, or the innocent bystanders on the roadside who were caught in the crossfire, they all stopped what they were doing and stared blankly at Natsu, who was enjoying a hearty meal on the street.

Natsu has a large lung capacity; with just one powerful inhale, he swallowed three-quarters of the flames. He then casually grabbed the rest, formed it into a ball, and popped it into his mouth, finishing it off in no time.

In less than half a minute, the flames on the street disappeared completely, leaving only a faint residual warmth in the air, proving that there had indeed been a huge fire here.

"Thank you for the treat!!"

Natsu, with his hands at his sides, bowed deeply to Chef Ace. "The fire I just tasted was in the top ten of all the flames I've ever eaten. It was delicious!"

Smoker was completely dumbfounded, cold sweat dripping from his forehead: "That kid can actually eat fire?!"

Ace, on the other side, was also completely dumbfounded. He pointed at the boy in front of him, who was a head shorter than him, and stood there speechless: "You...you...just now..."

Ace's eyes immediately lit up: "That's so cool!!!"

Chapter 840 Natsu: I wouldn't have eaten Ace...

His own fire was eaten, and his first reaction was, "Wow, that's so cool?"

No wonder he's Luffy's brother, they're just like each other!

"Hey, hey, hey... I didn't see that wrong, did I?! He was just eating hot pot!"

"In all my years of trading at sea, I've seen and heard of many legendary figures who could set fires, but this is the first time I've ever seen someone who could eat fire..."

"Really?! Is this some new acrobatic performance from a circus?! How could anyone in this world eat fire?!"

The voices of the crowd on the roadside gradually rose, startling Ace, who was still in shock. He knew that the guy who had just arrived was no ordinary person, so he did not attack directly but chose to avoid battle.

"Luffy! What are you standing there for?!"

A loud shout startled Luffy awake. He quickly followed Sanji, Nami, and the others, carrying the supplies and daily necessities they had just purchased, and headed towards the port where the Going Merry was docked.

"Don't go, Straw Hat Boy!"

Smoker immediately transformed into smoke and flew away, intending to bypass Ace and continue chasing Luffy. However, halfway through his flight, he was met with a flaming fist. Ace suddenly dodged and blocked Smoker's path again, forcefully swinging his fist, which was wrapped in Armament Haki, in an attempt to knock him away once more.

"You're not allowed to leave either, you smoker!"

Bang! !

With a heavy thud, Ace and Smoker's fists collided precisely in mid-air, but the result was... the two fighters didn't move, but the ground beneath their feet couldn't withstand the force and crumbled.

"You damned pirate!"

Smoker scrambled to his feet, feeling a surge of anger. He turned to look at Kira, who had been standing by and watching since the beginning, and Natsu, who had arrived but had only eaten a meal and done nothing.

"Aren't you going to make a move? He's the second-in-command under Whitebeard. Nothing would promote the existence of mages more than defeating him..."

This old smoker's sinister intention to use one enemy to devour another is probably obvious even to the most naive members of the team, Natsu and Happy.

After a moment of silence, Kira shrugged helplessly and said, "We're mages, not marines... Catching pirates is your job, isn't it?"

Happy slowly flew down to Killer's side, raised his paw and chimed in, "That's right... Unless you issue a request, we won't help you fight pirates!"

Kira's eyes lit up at those words, and he gave Happy a thumbs up, saying, "Well said, Happy! To be able to say something like that, you're no longer just the team's cute little helper who only slacks off, but a qualified novice market pioneer who can open up markets for the team and provide everyone with ways to make money!"

"Thank you for the compliment!!"

The person and the cat gave each other a high five in mid-air with a 'smack', showing perfect teamwork.

Natsu, standing beside him, scratched his head, his eyes revealing a clear sense of foolishness: "Kira, was that what you were saying just now, the one and only flame in the entire world??"

Kira nodded and said, "Yes, that's a Logia-type Devil Fruit. The fire released by the user of the Flame-Flame Fruit is truly unique in the world!"

Upon hearing this, Natsu immediately recalled his previous fight with Smoker, where Smoker transformed his body into smoke to fight, and his face instantly turned ashen: "So... that means those flames were him? Could I have accidentally eaten something from him?"

Kira gave a sly smile: "What you said isn't impossible~ Not only might you forget everything once you start eating, but also his hair, nails, pancreas, genitals, and things like that..."

Almost instinctively, Natsu's gaze fell on Ace, only to be met with a scene that would shock him for a week—

Ace was standing with his back to him, clutching his left shoulder with his right hand, screaming in pain in the street as if he had suffered a serious injury: "Aaaaah!! It hurts so much!! My left hand... my left hand was eaten away!!"

Natsu was instantly horrified: "What did you say?! You you you... Don't worry, I'll spit it out on you right away!! Ugh..."

Suddenly, Ace stopped shouting, slowly turned his head, his face dejected, a faint sadness etched on his brow, and said, "It's no use. Even if you vomit it up now, it's most likely you can't put it back in..."

"How could this be..." Natsu fell backward, as if he had been hit hard.

"What's your name?"

“Natsu… Natsu Dragneel…”

"Natsu, is that right? It sounds like a name that's very much connected to 'fire'!"

Ace looked up at the sky at a 45-degree angle and said in a deep voice, "Listen up, Natsu, you must become an excellent pirate in the future! Then, when we meet again, you will return this hat... no, you will return the food fee for the flames you just ate."

"I do not want it!"

"What?!" Ace, who had originally wanted to continue acting, was stunned by Natsu's firm refusal.

Natsu clasped his fists together in front of him and said, "I am a mage of 'Fairy Tail,' and that will never change! I don't want to be a pirate!"

Ace let out a soft "Huh," stroking his chin and muttering to himself, "This is strange... This script isn't right! This guy's personality is so similar to Luffy's, I thought things would go smoothly..."

Just as Ace was wondering why he couldn't achieve the same effect as Shanks with the same move, Happy noticed a blind spot in Natsu's perspective and exclaimed, "Ah!! Natsu, his left arm isn't broken at all!!"

"Hey hey hey?! It wasn't broken after all?! That's great!!...Wait! Wasn't everything he just said a lie?!"

Natsu was initially pleasantly surprised, then belatedly realized he'd been tricked. A surge of anger rose within him after the realization dawned on him: "How dare this guy lie to me like that?! I thought someone who could create that kind of flame couldn't be too bad..."

The farce left the surrounding navy and onlookers speechless, and some even began to doubt Natsu's intelligence.

"So he really was fooled? Just how slow is this guy's brain?!!"

"How could the legendary 'Fire Fist' Ace have lost an arm in a place like this?"

"That's not necessarily true. After all, even the legendary Red-Haired Shanks..."

Seeing how easily Natsu was fooled, Ace suddenly realized that Natsu had a similar temperament to his younger brother, and couldn't help but burst into laughter: "Hahahaha...you're really funny! But I'm not that easily hurt! Without Armament Haki, you can't capture the body of a Logia-type Devil Fruit user!"

After saying that, Ace's expression suddenly turned serious: "Then let's end the joke here. I have to go. After all, Luffy is still waiting for me!"

Before you leave, here's a serving of fruit for your dessert!

"Inflammation is on the rise!!"

With that, Ace pressed his hands to the ground and shouted, releasing a large amount of flames to isolate himself from the Marines, Kira, and the others. He then immediately turned and ran away.

He knew that, given the speed at which Natsu had consumed the fire, the wall of fire wouldn't hold for very long.

Half a minute later...

Natsu absorbed the flames again, patted his bloated belly, and let out a satisfied burp: "So full... That guy was really hospitable!"

Fearing that Natsu might go astray, Smoker snorted and warned, "He's no good person. He's a great pirate with a bounty of 550 million Berries, the second-in-command of Whitebeard, one of the Four Emperors, Portgas D. Ace!"

"What?! 550 million Berries?!" Natsu and Happy were both shocked, staring blankly at each other. "We actually missed the chance to make so much money?!"

Upon hearing the amount, the two penniless men's first reaction was regret, deep regret. However, after calming down, their conscience ultimately prevailed: "Oh well, after all, they treated me to two decent hot pot meals. If we miss out, we miss out..."

As the saying goes, "He who eats another's food is bound to him, and he who takes another's money is bound to him." Natsu had just enjoyed two good meals with Ace, so it's a bit unreasonable for him to turn around and arrest Ace now.

Meanwhile, having missed another opportunity to capture the Straw Hat crew, Smoker felt utterly frustrated. He sat alone on a roadside stone, sulking. But he knew it wasn't anyone's fault; it was simply the Straw Hat crew's... incredible luck? Or perhaps it wasn't a matter of luck at all?

"First, Dragon escorted him out to sea in Loguetown, and now 'Fire Fist' Ace is protecting him as he leaves Nahana. Just who is that Straw Hat kid?! Damn it!!"

Smoker had a feeling that Luffy's background was probably incredibly powerful, but unfortunately, he didn't have any evidence to prove it yet.