Formation of the Spade Pirates
Washed up on the shores of a deserted island at the edge of the East Blue Sea, two men from different backgrounds unite in their shared thirst for adventure.
One of them, Portgaz D. Ace, will follow in his infamous fa...
Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
A body turned to fire-flames that leapt off his physical self. One of the most powerful forms of energy found in nature. And it was at Ace's beck and call now.
I had a sudden flash of inspiration.
"Ace! You can control that, right?"
"Hmm? Well, I might need a bit of practice at first, but it seems to be pretty easy."
He made the shape of a gun with his hand and shot a small ball of fire from his index finger toward the sea. It curved up, then down, and vanished into the dark of night.
"Well, what if you just used the force of expelling the flame? Like, by regulating its output, or something. Can you consciously control it to that extent?"
"I dunno, but I feel like... it could be possible," Ace said.
I grinned back at him. "Then maybe we can get off this island."
The next day, Ace's training began.
Enveloping objects in flame and burning them up. Using the force of the fire to push things away. We practiced over and over; I jammed sticks and branches into the sand to serve as targets.
Thanks to Ace, we could easily make fires now, so the process of survival was much easier. In fact, he knew a lot about the jungle too, and he said he grew up in one.
We dug holes until we found natural water, filtered it and boiled it for a supply of drinking water.
Things that hadn't been quite edible suddenly became much more so after they were cooked over a fire. And we didn't have to suffer the chill at night.
A few days passed in this way. Ace could control his fire at will at this point. And, at last... "It's done!"
We finally finished building a ship. Our hands and clothes were filthy black now, as once Ace had trained himself properly, we burned all the wood we were using to make the ship. Charring and carbonizing the surface of the wood made it more durable and resistant to fire and water-much better than using untreated wood, according to a sailor's journal I once read. How effective this was, I didn't know, but surely it could withstand the waves and salt breeze better than untreated wood. Our vessel was only possible because Ace could instantly create fire, and direct it to do exactly what he wanted.
Also, this ship had a method of propulsion-the exact thing we needed to escape the current trap around the island and get out to the open sea. The two of us together weren't strong enough to do such a thing, but I had the idea to use the power of Ace's flames.
"Listen, we need the force of the flames-their energy-to spin this board. That's going to push the boat forward. I've decided to call this baby the Striker."
"Striker, huh? And this will get us past the currents? In that case, let's celebrate before we go! Let's use up all the food we've got and have a party!"
