Journey to One Piece

239. Is this an illusion?

Ace felt a little sad looking at his grandpa, who cared and loved him with all his heart. Though he never regretted being a pirate, he did feel bad for his grandpa. If one looked at Ace, one could see that the skin on his hands and under his eyes looked like snakes.

His white eyes had a red color tint on them, making him look like an animal, but more particularly, a dragon. He had been under the watchful eyes of Akainu since he was caught, and he almost freed himself once in the beginning. Akainu, being the mad dog he was, proceeded to nail him on a steel bar after Ace made a run, which was stopped by Aokiji and Akainu together.

Ace was proving to be too difficult to be held for a long time, and thus it was deemed better to kill him early and be done with it. Garp just looked into the distance with sadness, feeling conflicted in his heart. While Garp was nearby, Sengoku was standing on the side with a den den mushi in his hand.

He used the den den mushi as a speaker and announced through it. Below the platform, there were thousands of marines and some giants among them. They all looked up at Sengoku, eager to hear what he had to say.

"Today's execution is of significant importance. The person to be executed today is Portgas D. Ace. Ace, tell them who your father is," Sengoku said, getting straight to the point.

Ace remained silent and didn't answer.

"Go on, Ace, tell them who your father is," Sengoku urged.

"It's Whitebeard," Ace shouted at the top of his lungs.

"Wrong. Ace is the son of Gol D. Roger, the King of the Pirates."

This sent shockwaves through all of Marineford. Sengoku's words were not only heard in Marineford but also in many places around the world. The World Government had made sure that the war was shown to many people around the world to boost their morale.

"He isn't my father," Ace shouted. He wanted to free himself and run, but the pain was bone-wrenching, and he had to stop moving his hands. As Ace spoke, the clouds above started to darken. It happened quickly, and the once clear white sky turned dark in the blink of an eye.

Lightning surged, creating a deafening noise around them. The marines felt an ominous feeling as they looked at the angry sky. Garp, Sengoku, Tsuru, and the Admirals furrowed their eyebrows when they saw the sky change. It was not a good sign.

Then, silently and very politely, a small whirlpool appeared near Ace and Sengoku. The whirlpool grew larger, and in the blink of an eye, a man materialized. The man had a mask on his face and wore a huge overcoat with red clouds on it.

Everyone, including the Admirals who were sitting on the bottom, looked at the man who had just appeared. They were puzzled, but Aokiji, Kizaru, and Garp widened their eyes in confusion. They didn't expect this man to appear out of nowhere. However, the man possessed a very weird kind of power – the kind that would make fighting him very annoying.

"Ken!"

"Kenny!"

Ace and others shouted out when the man appeared. Nobody could see his face, so nobody could tell what his expression was. But those who knew him, knew that it was Kenny. Ken slowly walked towards Ace.

"Oh no, this isn't your home." Sengoku had been vigilant from the beginning and when he heard Garp mention Ken, he already knew who this guy was. His hands glowed with a golden color, and for those who knew Haki, they could tell that his hand was infused with Armament Haki.

Sengoku didn't even think twice and hit Ken with considerable might. However, something amazing happened. Sengoku's punch didn't hit Ken's body; instead, his hands went straight through Ken's body, as if he was nothing but air.

"What?"

"What is this?"

"An illusion?"

"What the hell is going on? Who is he?"

Everyone was surprised by what had happened. While there was a small ruckus around with the arrival of Kenny, he walked slowly towards Ace. The first thing he did was punch Ace right in the face. It was a hard punch, and the sound of the impact echoed loudly. Ace's head bent to the other side because of the sheer strength Ken had used.

The punch made everyone around more serious. When Sengoku punched him, they thought that Ken was just an illusion and not real, but him hitting Ace with a hard punch meant that he was real and not an illusion.

And they were sure that Ken didn't move fast as people around had haki to begin with. So what was going on?

"What the hell Ken, why did you hit me?" Ace shouted quite angry at his brother. He was glad and happy that his brother came to save him but also confused why his brother decided to hit him.

"When we met in Alabasta, I fucking told you to go back to the New World and you didn't listen. When I advised you to control your impulsiveness, you didn't listen. Now look where you are. It's your fucking selfishness that has brought you here. If you had thought for one second the consequences of your actions you would have known not to do something but no. You need to be the hero of the day! And the mad dog at the end caught you. Luffy and Sabo are in anxiety thinking of you and you decided to be the selfish prick." Ken roared and his voice was heard by everyone present.

Sengoku and others were stupefied because they were still trying to understand what had happened and how Sengoku's attack didn't have any effect. As Ken looked down at Ace and lectured, Akainu came flying from behind, his arm shining in red magma with it's heat being felt in the surroundings.

He didn't stop and hit Ken with all his might from behind.