One Piece: Starting at the War of the Best

"What is she trying to do?"

Everyone had assumed that Katie gathered all the flames into that massive fireball as a means of attacking Akainu. But now, the orb simply floated in the sky, unmoving. No further action followed. If they couldn't still sense Katie's presence inside, some might have thought she had already run away.

"Ugh, why is it so hot? This heat is unbearable!"

That casual complaint suddenly triggered a realization among the powerful figures present. One by one, their expressions turned serious as they focused their senses.

Heat. But why?

Undoubtedly, the source was Katie—and more specifically, that massive fireball in the sky, over a hundred meters in diameter.

When the top fighters extended their Observation Haki toward the fireball, they discovered something unusual: the temperature on the surface was climbing rapidly in huge leaps. Even the outermost layer of flames had reached a terrifying 3,000 degrees Celsius, and the deeper interior was certainly even hotter. On top of that, the fireball was slowly shrinking in size.

Upon realizing this, many people felt a sense of relief. From their perspective, Katie was simply compressing energy—a well-known tactic, as more compressed energy meant a more powerful explosion. It was only natural they assumed this was Katie's plan.

But they were completely wrong.

As that fact slowly became apparent, everyone's attention gradually shifted—from Katie to Akainu. At this point, Akainu had become the focal point.

Undoubtedly, now was the best time to attack. The longer Katie had, the more dangerous the situation would become. Everyone wondered what Akainu would choose to do. Would he strike again in front of the world, just like before?

Feeling the eyes of others on him, Akainu's expression turned cold and grim. If not for the Navy's tarnished reputation, he would've attacked long ago. With his temperament, there's no way he'd wait this long. So what if it was a sneak attack? Victory is the only justice. Losers are nothing.

And so, the war came to a sudden pause, with everyone silently waiting for Katie's attack to be complete.

Under their watchful gaze, the enormous fireball rapidly shrank—100 meters, 50 meters, 30 meters... It took less than half a minute. Now, only a 10-meter-wide sphere remained.

All eyes were on the now tiny fireball in the sky. No one had imagined Katie could compress flames—infamous for being wild and uncontrollable—to such an extent.

Even with so many powerful people present, few dared to claim they could survive an attack containing that much concentrated energy.

Even Akainu started to regret his hesitation. This was no longer something he could afford to ignore.

Then, suddenly, a strange flash of light flickered inside the orange fireball. It moved so quickly that most missed it—but not Ace, who was watching from Moby Dick.

His eyes locked on the fireball. He didn't know what that flash was, but his body instinctively reacted. The moment it appeared, a violent tremor ran through him, as if something inside wanted to burst out—but was restrained by invisible chains.

Ace had a feeling: the thing he had never managed to achieve… Katie just might have done it.

"Huh? What's that?"

After the first flash, more followed—second, third, fourth... until the entire fireball began to change.

Its outer shell remained a brilliant orange-yellow, but the core turned dark and shadowy, almost impossible to make out.

"Akainu, now! Attack!"

Just as everyone was still trying to figure out what was going on, Aokiji suddenly shouted, urging Akainu to strike.

Like the others, Aokiji didn't know what those flashes were—but his instincts screamed danger.

Because his power was the opposite of fire, he was uniquely sensitive to it. And whatever was hiding inside that orange fireball was definitely extraordinary.

Almost at the exact moment Aokiji's voice rang out, Akainu vanished.

Never mind the unknown energy inside the core—for now, the 10-meter-wide compressed fireball itself was a major threat. Akainu had already planned to strike.

Now with Aokiji's warning—despite their usual conflict—Akainu knew Aokiji wouldn't lie in a moment like this. Without hesitation, Akainu made his move.

A gigantic lava fist fell from the sky, striking the fireball directly. At the same time, Akainu's body transformed completely into magma—except for his head—to avoid being harmed by the blast of energy inside.

BOOM!

A deafening explosion rocked the entire battlefield.

When the shock passed and people came back to their senses, they were shocked to find—the fireball had disappeared. There was no explosion, no eruption of energy as expected.

But in the sky, two figures stood locked in a standoff—and the sight left everyone speechless.

Katie had taken Akainu's full-power strike head-on—and hadn't moved an inch.

But what truly stunned everyone was how Katie blocked the attack:

She didn't use Armament Haki.

Instead, her hand was wrapped in a blue-cyan flame.

"Th-this is…"

Once again, Katie left everyone in awe. Just moments ago she had been on the verge of defeat—now she had turned the tide completely. The speed of this reversal was simply overwhelming.

Watching the figure surrounded in strange flames high above, even Doflamingo's expression turned grim—more serious than at any time before, even when Katie compressed his flames.

As someone who had awakened his Devil Fruit, Doflamingo's understanding far surpassed most present. He clearly knew what those flames meant: either Katie's fruit had awakened, or it was on the verge.

One thing was certain—Katie now was no longer the same person who had used mere orange flames.

"Ace, watch every detail of what comes next. This is important for you."

Whitebeard wasn't the only one who noticed the transformation. But he made sure to point it out to Ace.

"Yes, Dad."

Even without the reminder, Ace was watching with everything he had. This transformation—this realm of power—was what he had longed for but never reached. Now that he was seeing it in real life, he couldn't look away.

His fists clenched tight. He didn't know where Katie's fire ability came from, but he was certain it was related to him.

Katie's techniques were identical to his own—which meant Katie had only had this power for a day at most.

Yet in that single day, Katie had achieved what he had failed to do in years.

Ace was filled with resentment—not toward Katie, but toward himself.

He hated his own weakness.

He hated that he hadn't worked harder.

If only he'd been stronger, he wouldn't have lost to that bastard Teach.

Whitebeard wouldn't have been hurt because of him.