Three days before the Dragon Riders new bounty poster shocked the world, another event that would shake the world was transpiring on an island not far from Water 7. Drago and his pirate crew had ransacked the village stealing everything that wasn't nailed down and killing anyone who got in their way.

"That crazy kid," said Drago as he read the newspaper. He then tossed the newspaper over towards Grimmel. "Get a load of this; it's about Dragon. He and his crew went wild on Ennies Lobby. His bounties should go through the roof after that one."

"That's next to Water 7, yes?" said Chaghatai. "I wonder if they hijacked a Sea Train to get there."

"That island isn't far from here," said Grimmel. "At this rate, we might meet them again."

"Then I say we go after seeing as we have the opportunity," said Mildew.

"Then what are we waiting for?" Rock roared.

"Nothing! Let's go!" Drago laughed and began to leave the village. "We had better cut them off before they leave or before the Navy gets them first."

"Hey!" said a voice. "Hold on a second there, Drago; we need to talk."

Drago stopped and looked up and saw standing on one of the buildings was Ace.

"Well, what do you know? It's Commander Ace," Drago smiled.

"You have no right to call me that anymore," said Ace narrowing his eyes. "Use that title with respect or don't use it at all. I won't have you mock me."

"So this is the famous Fire Fist Ace," said Chaghatai.

"Yep, that's me, you guessed it." He then looked down at everyone member of Drago's crew. "So this is your crew; it looks like you become a captain now, huh? Captain Drago D Bludvist all the Warlord Pirates."

Drago laughed. "Come on, Ace. Lighten up; it is good to see you again. What brings you here? You weren't looking for me, were you?"

"Let's stop beating around the bush now, shall we?" said Ace giving him a dark look. "Even if you play dumb, I know that you're a crafty bastard. There is only one reason for me to be here, and you know what it is. So spare me the chitchat."

"Fine, have it your way, but there's one question I would like to ask first. Instead of fighting, why don't you become a member of my crew? I have the perfect plan to rise to the top; if you stick with me, I'll swear we can rule the world. Stoick's days are numbered, and you know it, I'm going to be King of the Pirates! First, I'm heading off to Water 7 to kill Dragon Conqueror Hiccup as a special gift to the World Government. Wouldn't hurt to have you along for the fun."

"Hiccup, huh?" said Ace. "You're out of your mind."

Drago frowned. "You know him? I mean, I knew that he's Stoick's son, but he dropped him off on a small island in the East Blue before you even joined the Hairy Hooligans."

"True, but we were raised together, and that makes him my brother!" Ace glared. "And I am not going to let you kill him! Also, you're crazy if you think I'll join your crew, you can take a little offer and shove it up your—"

Grimmel then fired his rifle, but the shot went straight through him thanks to his Devil Fruit powers.

"Well, you get it," Ace sighed, not looking phased in the slightest.

Drago glared at Grimmel.

"Looks like you need to teach your crew some manners, Captain," said Ace and then pointed his fingers as if he was holding a gun at Grimmel. "Fire Gun!"

He then fired several small fireballs like bullets from the tips of his fingers at Grimmel, who quickly ran across the street. Rock had managed to get behind him, and somehow it's an entire house with his bare hands and then slammed it down on top of Ace,

"Flame Commandment: Fire Pillar!" Ace yelled and unleashed a powerful column of flames.

The flames ripped through the house, sitting flaming debut across the village.

"Rock! Grimmel! Both of you stay out of this fight!" Drago ordered. "Until you get stronger, this guy is out of your league! Do you hear me?"

"Sorry," said Rock.

"Fire Fist!"

Then suddenly, all of them were struck by a powerful burst of flames and went straight through the building. Drago howled in pain as his entire body was on fire.

"Are you okay?" Rock asked, rushing to his side.

Chaghatai had been the only one to escape the flames and appeared alongside his crew. "Captain!"

All of them then rushed in order to join their captain, who was still crying out in pain. He began rolling on the floor, trying to put out the flames covering his body; for some reason, he was experiencing even more pain than the rest of his crew.

Ace jumped down and began making his way through the burning building, and as he walked, the flames began to enter his body.

"Get off of me!" Drago snapped, putting his men away. "I'm fine! Just stand back."

He then classed face-first into the ground and looked up at Ace. He then managed to roll on his back the last of the flames.

Ace stood there and put out the fire surrounding him. He then watched as Drago began to laugh.

"All right, Ace, I get it," he said as he picked himself up. "You want to finish me, don't you? The murder of a fellow crewmate is a serious crime, after all. And yes, I killed Fourth Division Commander Finn with my own hands, but there wasn't any other choice. It wasn't personal, but he had the Devil Fruit I had been searching for.

You know the rules on Stoick's ship: Anyone who finds a Devil Fruit is able to eat it. I memorised the shapes and colours of all known Devil Fruits that have been discovered. So I knew that was the one I needed. Whether I like it or not, I have spent decades biding my time on Stoick's ship because that was the best shop that I had at finding that one single Devil Fruit. But just when I fought, there was no hope left; there it was. Right in the hand of my friend."

"Then you murdered him in cold blood and stole it, without a second thought?" said Ace narrowing his eyes.

"Bad luck for him. There's no other way; this ability has chosen me." He then stood up on his 2 feet and laughed. "And its power has made me the strongest man in the world! Watch even among the Logia fruits. There's nothing quite like it."

His hand then suddenly turned to darkness and then suddenly unleashed a pillar of darkness from his body.

"Ace, your body is made of fire, right? My body is darkness!"

The townspeople in the area saw the column of darkness erupted in close by.

"Look! It's that weird black smoke from before!"

"What? I thought those pirates were leaving?"

"What are we going to do now?"

"I don't know what they want, but it can't be good! They're going to wreck the entire town at this rate!"

"We sure can't stop them; it's best just to run away!"

No one was going to disagree on the ground the wounded and quickly place as much distance between them and the town as possible.

Ace witnessed the darkness surrounding Drago like some sort of shroud.

"Darkness?" he asked.

"You'll see soon enough, Commander Ace. I think you might want to reconsider my offer. In the history of all Devil Fruits, this is said to be the most dangerous power of them all. The Logia type Dark Dark Fruit. In other words, I've become a darkness man. I'll give you a taste of its power; I wouldn't blink if I were you."

Ace just smirked, not feeling threatened in the slightest. "Stop yapping and do it."

The rest of Drago was fleeing just like the townsfolk; they knew will their captain was capable of, and they didn't want to be anywhere near him.

"The captain is on a rampage; if we don't hightail it out of here, he'll kill us too!" said Rock.

"Why do you think we're running?" Mildew snapped.

Drago raised his palm and clenched into a fist, and then suddenly, darkness began to erupt around him like a mist. Ace had no idea what he was trying to accomplish, but it looked as if his range was exceeding the entire town.

The townsfolk were completely terrified when they saw this dark mist leaking out across the town.

"It's crawling on the ground; it's pouring out of him more and more!"

"This is too creepy; it's pitch black like a bottomless pit. What if sucks us up?"

"Everyone make a run for it! Get out of here! Run to the forest! Run to the coast, just get away quick!"

"Darkness is gravity; it swallows everything around it even light itself cannot escape!" Drago roared. "Its power is infinite!"

"That's nice, but it's nowhere near me," Ace pointed out. "Are you sure you got the hang of this?"

"Calm down; I'm not aiming at you yet. You'll be glad once you see what I do to this town." He then slammed his palm into the ground. "Black Hole!"

Suddenly the entire ground began to shake, and everything that the dark mist had touched was beginning to break down and absorbed into its essence. It was almost as if it was being crushed by an invisible hand; the only thing that remained untouched was the area where Ace was standing.

The townsfolk were observing everything from the forest on the edge of town, and they were completely horrified as they watched their homes being sucked into the void.

"Our town, it's been swallowed into the earth."

"Why is he doing this? What's going on?"

"Within these shadows lies limitless power to compress anything and everything, to crush whatever they touch."

The dark mist began flying back towards Drago, leaving not a trace of the town. If no one knew of the town had been there, they would never have thought it had existed before today.

"But that's just the beginning, now I'll show you what happened to that town or whatever is left of it, I should say. Liberation!"

Darkness then once again shot of his body and suddenly shooting out of the darkness was the day debris of the town. It all fell towards the ground creating a massive dust cloud, and when it cleared, the rubble had encircled around Ace and Drago.

"So, do you get it now, Ace?" Drago laughed. "This is what I was willing to kill a friend for."

Then suddenly, he saw small lights appearing around him, and it only took a few moments to realise they were coming from Ace.

"Firefly: Fiery Doll!" he yelled.

Suddenly a massive inferno erupted, consuming Drago, and he howled in pain as he desperately tried to put the fire out.

"The darkness part I get, but this not so much," Ace frowned. "I wonder what's going on here? If you're a Logia Type, it shouldn't hurt you, or rather it shouldn't even hit you."

Darkness then erupted from Drago and saw the flames putting them out, though judging from his panting, it had caused quite a bit of damage.

"I already told ya, my darkness swallows everything around it while it is punches, blades, bullets, lightning or fire. Unlike you, I can't just turn into an element and dodge an attack and the pain I absorb when I get hit is much greater than what a normal human feels. But the trade-off for that inconvenience is more than worth it because there happens to be one other thing I can absorb."

He then pointed his palm directly towards Ace. "Black Vortex!" Darkness erupted in his hand, and he began drawing towards Ace. "First, I use the gravity of darkness to pull a Devil Fruit power holder into my grasp.

Ace then suddenly felt himself being pulled in towards Drago, and no matter how hard you fought against it, he couldn't stop it.

"Too strong!" he said as his hat blew off.

"And then when I touch them…" Ace suddenly found within Drago's clutches, and he discovered that he was unable to turn into flames. "…you're smart. Have you figured out the secret yet, huh?"

"It can't be!" said Ace shocked.

Drago then punched him hard in the chest, and he actually coughed up blood. Seconds later, he found himself cracking into the rubble; he was hit so hard that he almost lost consciousness.

"It's been so long since you have been hit; I bet you forgot how much it hurts, Ace," Drago smiled broadly. "But you understand now? You understood the second I grabbed you. Not only can my darkness pull you in it can also absorb your Devil Fruit power. In other words, so long as I'm in contact with me someone with Devil Fruit powers is no different than a normal human. Logia… Zoan… Paramecia… All those with Devil Fruit powers who have become dependent on them are in for a surprise. One little touch will remind them just how weak they really are."

"Then all I'll have to do is avoid you," said Ace brushing the blood off his lip.

"If you think you can escape gravity that easily, I like to see you try," said Drago and raised his palm. "Black Vortex!"

He then pulled in Ace once again, but this time he was ready for it, and flames appeared out of his hands.

"Unknown Fire!" Ace roared and launched two spears of flames at Drago.

The flames pierced right through Drago's shoulders, but he persevered and punched him in the neck so hard that he nearly broke it. Ace was crashing into the rubble while Drago collapsed to the ground.

"Damnit, get this off of me!" Drago roared, and his dark clouds began to absorb the flaming spears.

Ace was grasping his neck. "That bastard almost broke my neck. His ability is going to be a bigger pain than I thought." He then crossed his fingers together. "Cross Fire!"

He then launched a flaming cross directly at Drago while he was still recovering from his last attack.

There was a huge explosion that caused an entire mountain to collapse.

"Even the rocks falling! Nothing is safe anymore!"

"No one should have this kind of power. Who are these monsters?"

"Forget about the town; they will destroy the entire island. We're done for!"

Drago's crew had managed to retreat to a safe distance and were observing the battle from afar.

"This is quite the surprise," said Grimmel. "Most Devil fruit power holders with one such as his would-be rendered ineffective as soon as their trump card was taken away from them. That's not so with Ace; his powers are not a crutch but unaided his own talents. We should expect no less from one of the Stoick's commanders."

Drago had managed to save himself by absorbing the attack before it even reached him.

"We're at the crossroads of fate," said Grimmel. "It's no coincidence that these men have been brought together."

Both Ace and Drago were completely worn out, though Ace was in worse shape. He was on his hands and knees, taking deep breaths while Drago continued to stand.

"Everything falls before darkness; even you can only struggle for so long," said Drago. "Still finish you off here would be a waste of your talents. Don't fight it, Ace, join me!"

Ace began picking himself up and smirked at him. "If I surrender to you, then I could never call myself a man again. I won't submit, and I won't live with regrets no matter what. You got that, stupid?"

Drago narrowed his eyes. "Once you die, your morals are useless. I'm sorry you can't understand that, Ace." Darkness then began to flow out of Drago at an astonishing rate. "Darkness take you!"

"Great Flame Commandment!" Ace roared. Flames then began to erupt around Ace until they formed a giant fireball with his palm. "Flame Emperor!"

"Flame against darkness, huh?" Drago laughed. "Only one can win!"

"I will make Stoick the king or die trying," Ace vowed.

The two of them then clashed their powers against one another, and soon the entire island was consumed by darkness and fire.

Even though no one realised it at the time, the duel between these two powerful pirates set off a massive chain of events that would change the world.