Chapter 176 - Chapter 178

A week later in the desert of Alabasta, two people were fighting with each other. Both of them were controlling fire, and one swipe from their hands or one casual kick created waves upon waves of fire that could easily burn down cities. Whenever the flames of these two individuals clashed pillars of flames would appear and incredible explosions occurred around them. These two were Ace and Amell, and they had been doing this for three days now. Ace's crew stayed in the nearest city because no one could be near their location when they were fighting. Amell taught Ace how to combine his powers with martial arts. Previously, Ace had relied too much on his invincibility as a logia user.

"It's IMPOSSIBLE!" Ace fell backwards on the scorching sand with sweat pouring down his body. It looked like he had just gone through an hour-long torture session, and that wasn't that far from the truth of the situation. Amell didn't pull any punches during this intensive training camp. He gave Ace the very feared, Gotei training session.

"Nothings impossible, it's all a matter of finding the silver lining in things. you are a lot stronger than you were three days ago. I taught you proper martial arts, and I showed you how you can master your flames. Now, you just have to do it, and all you need is some talent and hard work. Talent, you have plenty of, and hard work shouldn't be difficult either." Amell stood casually on the sand with not an ounce of sweat visible on his body. "Don't give up, Ace!"

"Give up? I have thrown everything I have at you, and I'm not even close to getting you to use your other hand!" Ace lifted his head and glared at Amell.

"Do not compare yourself to me, brat! I killed Kaido almost without touching him, and I could kill Whitebeard just as easily. First, you should focus on beating an admiral, then move on to emperors." Amell hit him with a teasing smile.

"Uncle, are you even human?" Ace's head found its place on the sand again.

"Of course not! Hahaha!" Amell waved his hand and Ace was lifted on his feet by the wind.

"Now, come attack me again!" Amell gestured with his hand for Ace to attack. "AAAH!" Ace gave in to the taunting and flew at Amell, he threw out hundreds of concentrated and accurate punches. The longer they spent together and the more Ace observed Amell fight, the more he started to adapt to that style of fighting himself. He started fighting more like a fire bender instead of how he usually fought, which consisted of simply pumping out as much fire as possible on his opponent.

Amell used the back of his hand to counter all of Ace's punches, and every time Ace used his fire to attack either up close or from a distance, Amell always managed to redirect the fire. "Be more accurate with your power. When fighting powerful opponents, small concentrated flames rather than giant waves."

Ace glared at him in frustration, "I know, concentrated fire means more power and more damage." He dodged a punch from Amell by quickly leaning to the side. He rushed in and delivered a punch against Amell's stomach, but he performed a sideways spin and dodged it. Amell delivered a palm strike against Ace's head making him plunge into the sand with his face first.

"It's IMPOSSIBLE!!" Ace flew up on his feet with a big red mark on the side of his face. Suddenly soft clapping was heard from the side. "Reminds me of when grandpa used to train me!" Robin's sweet and seductive voice was heard from the side. She and her guardian, Minerva stood off to the side with Minerva holding a black umbrella over Robin to shield her from the sun.

"Who're you guys?" Ace calmed down and observed the newly arrived party of beautiful women. Their arrival was so random and unexpected that Ace didn't bother analysing the context of what Robin said.

Robin stopped looking at Ace and turned her gaze to Amell, and she quickly left the comfort of the black umbrella and ran over and hugged her grandpa. Ace looked on with confusion, "You two know each other?"

"This is Robin, she is my granddaughter," Amell said and let go of her after their hug. "It's good to see you again, little one," Amell winked at her and flicked her softly on her forehead. "It's really good to see you too. Why don't you visit more often?" She wanted to look angry but she couldn't stop her beautiful smile from spreading across her face.

"A lot of things going on, you know. Had a war with Kaido, and now I have three other emperors to take care off." He said with a smile.

"HELLO!?" Ace flipped out and he finally couldn't take being ignored any longer. "Granddaughter? So, she is a Portgas too?" He said now that he had their attention.

"In name only, grandpa rescued me when my home island was attacked by the World Government many years ago. My real name is Nico Robin, nice to meet you, Portgas D Ace." She performed a bow, and because of her somewhat baggy shirt, Ace got an uninterrupted viewing directly into her shirt and on her somewhat bigger than normal breasts. His face grew red and he himself started behaving weirdly. He started nodding while clearing his throat and saying, "I see, good, good," over and over again.

"What happened to you?" Amell tilted his head and asked Ace, whose behaviour suddenly turned weirder than usual.

"N-Nothing, just exhausted!" Ace sat down on the sand while trying to cover up the fact that he was blushing. "So, uncle, I forgot to ask, but how many members of the Portgas Family are still alive?"

"Except myself and you, three, my two sons and my grandson. Maybe you'll meet them someday."

"Are they strong?" Ace always grew excited at the prospect of fighting powerful opponents. "Very," Amell said.

"My grandson, Byakuya, I'm sure you know about. To put his strength into perspective, you met Kenshin, my third commander, well, Byakuya is stronger. His father is even stronger than him. Lastly, my other son, Gildarts. Well, he is still quite young, but he would beat you into the ground with his index finger." Amell's description of his family got Ace thinking about the fact that no matter what you do, there will always be someone stronger waiting around the corner.

"Suddenly the world seems bigger than before." Ace was in a weird mood. He was excited, nervous but also fearful of the future. Amell noticed the slight hesitation building up inside Ace.

"Not to worry, kid, among my family members, you have a very real chance of beating Gildarts if you two should ever meet. The only thing stopping you is you. Both you and he have that powerful Portgas blood running through your veins, so if you keep working hard you will see how truly powerful you can become." Amell finally smiled kindly at Ace, and Robin smiled at him as well, and when he noticed that, his blush came back in full force. This time though, Amell noticed what was the source of his previous weird behaviour. "Ace!" His tone became a little more serious. "My granddaughter is off-limit!" His words caused Robin to almost fall down.

"I don't think that was his intentions." She said and awkwardly marched over to Minerva.

"Better not be! Let's get back to it, brat!" Amell brought Ace up on his feet again, "Attack me!" He said sternly. "I'm done being nice now!" He started radiating incredible heat.

"You were nice before?" Ace took a step back. "Save me!" Ace said softly before everything went black.

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