The Pinnacle of the Navy! Starting from Being Captured by Garp

Marine Headquarters, Roy's Residence, The Next Morning

"BOOM!"

The morning silence was shattered by a tremendous explosion. Thick black smoke rose from the direction of the kitchen, and window fragments flew out with the flames.

"F-Fire!!!"

In the living room, Nami, holding a toothbrush, screamed. Nojiko covered her ears and instinctively rushed to Bell-mère. "Sis!! How did you blow up the kitchen?!"

"This wasn't my breakfast!" Bell-mère quickly denied any involvement.

Roy, who was drinking tea in the courtyard, flashed and teleported into the kitchen's wreckage, grabbing the culprit—Ace, whose face was covered in soot and whose hair looked like fried chicken.

"Cough, cough... I didn't do it on purpose!" Ace waved his smoking hands, explaining pathetically, "I just, just wanted to toast some bread..."

"You can turn the entire kitchen into a volcano just by toasting bread?" Roy glanced at the overturned oven and the half-melted ceiling, his tone incredibly calm.

"I can't control it!" Ace squatted down, holding his head, his face full of pain. "The flames listen to me too well... but sometimes they don't listen to me at all!"

Roy's mouth twitched, and he sighed. "It seems we need to arrange for some enhanced training."

Marine Headquarters, Training Ground, Morning

"Fire Fist!" Ace roared, his right fist punching out. A thick flame erupted from his knuckles, like a burning mountain transforming into a giant fist, roaring as it charged towards Zephyr. The fire waves rolled, the heat oppressive.

But Zephyr just stood his ground, his gaze cold, his right arm slowly wrapping in a black, iron-like Armament Haki. "Hmph!" He raised his hand and swung it casually.

"BANG!!" The flame shattered, dissipating in all directions like scattered smoke, the air itself trembling with a "rumble." The spectating new recruits all took a few steps back, exclaiming in amazement.

Ace gritted his teeth and charged forward again. "What about this, Flame Whip!" He flipped into the air, his right leg wrapped in flames, drawing a scorching crescent in the air, like a burning whip lashing down.

"Hmph, flashy tricks," Zephyr snorted lightly and threw a punch to meet it. The flame exploded, and a shockwave sent dust and sand flying. Ace was sent flying back in mid-air, landing pathetically, rolling several times before he stopped.

"Ugh...!" He propped himself up on the ground and barely stood, gritting his teeth, cold sweat on his forehead.

Zephyr slowly walked over, his tone cold. "Your attack range is wide, and your presence is strong."

"But your flame's temperature is not high enough, its density is not enough, and its concentration is even worse." He pointed to his own arm, where the flame attack had only left a slight scorch mark. "You can't even burn my skin. Who are you trying to burn?"

Ace's face turned red from his words. "I... I'm still getting used to the fruit!"

Zephyr frowned slightly. "That's no excuse! Your control right now is like a three-year-old lighting gunpowder with a match. It could blow up at any moment."

"If you don't learn to 'refine' your flames, and just keep piling on 'range' and 'flashy tricks,' you'll never beat Law."

Ace lowered his head, his fists clenched, the flame in his palm dancing quietly. It was clearly hot, but it made him feel a helpless frustration. "...Then what should I do?" he finally asked in a low voice, his tone filled with an unprecedented seriousness and unwillingness.

Roy walked over, patted his shoulder, a slight smile on his lips. "Start by learning to 'light a fire'."

"Flames are not for throwing around wildly." He looked into Ace's eyes, his tone slow and steady. "It is a blade, not a firework."

Hearing this, Zephyr nodded and continued, "Control the temperature, control the output, control the trajectory... Start by practicing lighting a flame on one finger that doesn't burn your skin."

Ace was stunned and opened his mouth. "Huh?"

Roy casually picked up a branch and threw it to him. "Come on, first char this, but don't burn it through."

Ace looked at the branch in his hand, which was thinner than his finger, then at them, and complained, "...You adults really know how to torture a kid."

"Wrong," Roy and Zephyr said almost in unison. "This is teaching you to learn control."

On the other side of the training ground, the new recruits were gathered in a circle, watching. Drake stared quietly at Ace, his fists unconsciously clenched; while Law narrowed his eyes, a new seriousness in them. "As expected... Mr. Roy's teaching is not just a simple transfer of knowledge."

Just as Ace was trying hard to control the flame so as not to burn through the branch, Roy, who was beside Zephyr, spoke up again. "Ace, come here."

Ace quickly ran over. Roy sat down cross-legged and pointed to the spot beside him. "Sit." He casually drew a diagram in the sand, a simple flame pattern with a string of numbers next to it.

"Ace, who do you think has the strongest offensive Devil Fruit ability in the Navy right now?"

Ace blurted out, "Of course, it's Vice Admiral Sakazuki's Magma-Magma Fruit!"

"That's right," Roy nodded and held up three fingers. "But his strength is not just because of the Magma-Magma Fruit."

"First, Vice Admiral Sakazuki's Armament Haki is also ridiculously strong."

"Second, his Observation Haki prediction is extremely accurate, allowing his magma to pierce through his opponent's defensive gaps."

"Third..." He wrote a line of numbers in the sand: Magma temperature: about 1200°C.

Ace's eyes widened. "Only over a thousand?"

Roy chuckled lightly, his gaze falling on Ace's flame. "And the theoretical upper limit of a flame is close to five thousand degrees."

"Do you know what that means?"

Ace held his breath.

"If you can finely control the temperature of your flame, for example, by raising it to 4000°C and concentrating it on the tip of a needle, you can melt through the keel of an entire warship in one second."

"At five thousand degrees, one strike is enough to burn through armored steel walls, evaporate the moisture in an enemy's breath, and even instantly defeat a master with low Armament Haki proficiency." He paused and looked at the training dummy in the distant equipment room. "Don't be fooled by its sturdy material. It's a special composite steel from the Marine science unit. But if you use a high-temperature flame to burn a concentrated point..." He pointed to Ace's hand. "Like a needle."

"You can make an enemy turn to ash before they even have time to scream."

Ace's pupils constricted, and the flame in his palm trembled unconsciously.

"So..." Roy looked at him, his voice low and firm. "Don't treat the Flare-Flare Fruit as a large lighter."

"What you hold in your body is the authority of destruction and reshaping."

Zephyr slowly spoke from the side. "From today on, you will report to the science unit every afternoon. A fire engineering lieutenant will lead you in thermodynamic model training."

"Before you start clamoring for a fight again, learn to control your energy first."

The two of them had thought Ace would complain about the trouble of studying, but they found that his eyes were getting brighter and brighter. "Wow...!" His eyes were shining, as if he had heard some kind of battle bible. "So, in the future, I can evaporate a pirate fleet with one finger?!"

Roy rubbed his forehead. "That's not the point, okay?"

But Zephyr just laughed. "It doesn't matter. As long as he understands."

Ace suddenly stood up and patted his chest. "I'm ready! I can start now!"

Roy narrowed his eyes and chuckled softly. "...He really is a battle maniac."

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