"My child… just hold on a little longer. Very soon, very soon now, you'll be born…"
A gentle whisper drifted softly into his ears.
Ace struggled to open his eyes. What greeted him was a warm, comforting sea of fluid surrounding him.
"This is…?"
He tried to speak, but no sound emerged.
Shifting his gaze slightly, Ace was struck by a startling realization—
He had been reborn as an unborn infant!
"My child… your father is the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger. As his son, you'll endure this too, won't you?"
"Just a bit longer… you'll be born soon."
"Hold on."
The soft voice spoke again, echoing in his ears and shaking him to his core.
Gol D. Roger—the Pirate King?! The world of One Piece?!
He had reincarnated into this world, and what's more—into the body of someone bearing the same name as his former self: Ace.
And the voice speaking to him now? It could only be his mother in this life—Portgas D. Rouge.
In order to protect Roger's bloodline from being purged by the Marines, Rouge had forcibly carried Ace in her womb for twenty long months, far beyond the normal term—ultimately resulting in her death during childbirth.
No wonder he already felt fully developed, yet hadn't been born.
So now… he was Fire Fist Ace, reborn into the world of One Piece?
Ace's mind whirled, recalling the events of his previous life.
He had wielded the power of the Flame-Flame Fruit, a Logia-type Devil Fruit. He had been born with Conqueror's Haki, and possessed the potential to rise as king of the seas…
Yet he had neglected that supreme gift, out of self-loathing for his father's bloodline.
In the end, he had died at Marineford—punched down by Akainu's magma fist.
A tragic fate, in every sense.
Back when he first appeared, Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit power had left fans in awe.
But as time went on, it seemed like every other character was tossing around flame-based attacks. What had once been a top-tier Logia power was now mocked as the "Flame-Flame Fruit that even dogs wouldn't eat."
And Ace… childishly neglected his Conqueror's Haki, without the heart of a king.
His downfall had been inevitable.
When it came to flame abilities, the most awe-inspiring wielder wasn't from the world of One Piece at all—but from the Soul Society, in another realm altogether.
Genryūsai Shigekuni Yamamoto, Captain-Commander of the Gotei 13 in Bleach—his flames could rival the very core of the sun. The strongest Shinigami in a thousand years.
Even when his Zanpakutō, Ryūjin Jakka, had been sealed, he unleashed Hadō #96 – Ittō Kasō, the Flame Sword Burial.
Now that—that was what you called fire.
Ace's mind wandered through these thoughts—
Whoosh!
In the next instant, the warm waters faded to black. The world around him dissolved and shifted—
When he opened his eyes, he was no longer in the womb, but standing amid the ruins of a shattered cityscape.
He was looking up from the depths of a crater, buried in rubble.
"Genryūsai Yamamoto, you are Soul Society's history itself. I will finish you off with my sword."
A cold, inhuman voice pierced the silence.
Ace struggled to lift his head.
Walking toward him was a man dressed in pristine white, sword in hand.
Aizen?!
Ace's heart jolted. That familiar face, the unmistakable presence—
And just as Aizen stepped beside him, Ace's right hand moved on instinct—grabbing his ankle in a death grip.
"Don't make me repeat myself, boy."
A deep, gravelly voice thundered out—not Aizen's, but his own.
It wasn't Ace's usual voice.
It was the voice of a hardened elder.
From Ace's charred and blackened arm, crimson cracks began to spread.
Aizen's eyes narrowed.
"This… this is the forbidden art that can only be triggered by sacrificing a burned-out body…
"Hadō 96—"
His pupils shrank.
"ITTŌ KASŌ!!!"
BOOM!! KRAKOW!!
Ace roared.
A torrent of blazing fire exploded from his ruined frame, erupting skyward in an inferno.
A single blade of flame pierced the heavens—its fury unmatched.
The atmosphere itself shattered under the sheer heat.
In that moment, everything in existence seemed as though it would be consumed.
The towering flame sword, blazing into the sky as if to cut the world in half—
It was the true emblem of the one and only King of Fire.
Whoosh!
Suddenly, the vision shattered.
Ace was back in the comforting warmth of the womb.
[Your comprehension is unparalleled. Through visualization and firsthand experience, you have deduced a unique technique—Ittō Kasō!]
[Your comprehension is unparalleled. Through Portgas D. Rouge's whispers, you have fully mastered the language of the One Piece world.]
The information surged into Ace's mind like instinct.
He shuddered.
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TL/N:
The first 48 chapters are short with only over 1000 words each chapter. Which is why I am releasing them all at once.
Access 40 chapters in advance on my Patreon: p@treon.com/juanfiction (Replace @ with 'a')