Marco rushed through the papers, carefully avoiding all the black papers. But he couldn't avoid them all, some hit his skin, some burnt down. It was at that moment he realized not all of them were Haki-coated, some were fakes meant to create an overwhelming impression. In a heartbeat, he sent a wave of flames around him, and just as he had guessed, a quarter disappeared.
When he looked up at a passive Konan, he was a bit impressed and wary, in addition to sheer skills, she also had the brains to use them to their fullest while minimizing the losses on her side. If he hadn't noticed, he would have tired himself trying to avoid the flurry of papers.
His attack created a hole in the wall of papers that he used to rush to attack her, he lifted his leg and brought it down in a flash, forcing her to counter with her Haki-covered arms.
He didn't let her create any distance, following his kick with others, sometimes targeting her arms or legs, never leaving her any space to counter-attack.
The shock waves provoked waves below, still both seemed to hold well against the strength of each blow.
Only Konan knew how badly that actually messed up her insides. She forcefully repressed the increasing headache with sheer willpower.
The kicks didn't leave her enough space to gather another attack, and as she countered another Haki-coated kick to the stomach, she decided to change strategies. She could clearly see that, though in the beginning he was going easy against her, he had changed his mind after her first attack.
Black feathers flew from her wings to attack Marco. He was forced to stop his attacks to focus on his defense. With that second of destabilization she gained, she paused and took a large breath as she gathered chakra to the tip of her fists. She concentrated, flying at high-speed to gain a bit more time before turning back to her opponent, and if he saw the purple glow coating her fist, it was too late to avoid it, he couldn't stop his flying path.
Their black fists came into contact. The world seemed to stop for a second. Then they were both sent flying back, the shock wave causing the boats to start violently rocking.
Ace's mouth dropped open as he lost sight of Konan, his mind replayed the scene until he moved again and jumped off the boat. Even he didn't know if he could survive a blow that violent.
Whitebeard frowned as he saw the suicidal move from the young devil-user, before he saw him run on the waves like it was nothing. He raised a brow, wondering silently if he had grown that old that he didn't know such things were possible.
Before Ace could find Konan, he saw her fly back, face pale and wings noticeably smaller, some papers falling from the edges.
Konan pressed some papers over her ears, hoping it would at least dampen the ringing but it still made her head terribly ache. She had used a large part of her chakra reserves in that last attack, in hopes of finishing the fight quicker to nurse her hangover.
"How is he still alive," she muttered seeing the phoenix fly back with a large amount of blood on his clothes. She sent him crashing against a nearby island if the leaves were any indication and he still came back faster than she had time to sigh and breathe.
"Once I'm done with that I'm going to sleep," she mumbled under her breath, staring at Marco like he was the devil. She shook her head and her hands moved quickly to form a bunch of signs she hadn't used in a while, "Shadow Clone." Smoke burst out before another Konan appeared. It was her current limit given her drained chakra reserves.
"How about we stop here?" Marco asked with an awkward smile, putting his hands up, they were visibly bent in wrong ways, the bones protruding in the wrong places. He hid a shiver a the thought of having to deal with two Konan of equal strength. "Even with my capabilities, it will take me a little while to recover."
Konan nodded as the clone dispersed. "Great, let's do that."
They both flew down to land in front of Whitebeard.
"This was a great fight," he commented, while stroking his beard. He observed the both of them, Marco was heavily injured but could recover in a few days while Konan was visibly better off, with a few bruises and cuts here and there, she appeared fine.
Ace jumped up the boat, "are you injured?" he asked while walking up to her, forgetting momentarily who caused her to fight in the first place.
However, she didn't forget, her hand went black before she bumped his head. "I didn't teach you to be a reckless brat, you better explain to me how you got stuck here."
Whitebeard chuckled humorously, before he took it upon himself to explain. When he finished, Konan put a hand on her forehead as she leaned against the edge of the boat.
"I-" Ace was about to explain himself when she cut him off with a glare.
She looked at his handcuffs and put a hand on the key hole, in a second, they unlocked, a paper key in her hand.
"You won the fight, you can take him if you want to," Whitebeard interrupted, not commenting how unexpected what she just did was. She was strong in a lot of ways he quickly discovered.
Konan glanced at a sheepish and silent Ace before sighing, "Nevermind, I changed my mind," she smirked, patting Ace's head heavily. "You can keep him."
"Wait what?" Ace exclaimed, looking at her in betrayal.
She simply smiled, raising her shoulders nonchalantly, "he can't always escape the consequences of his actions."
He glared at her before turning away, knowing she was right but refusing to admit it. He had become too used to her always coming to save his and his brothers' lives. He was too reliant on her.
Marco cut in with a smirk, "Don't worry we'll take care of him." He was visibly enjoying Ace's plight and her decision. Because that meant he would see her again—he was already itching to ask for another fight, it wasn't often he met a worthy rival.
"And don't lose that again," she handed Ace another paper origami, a dragon this time. He nodded, carefully hiding it in his hat despite his continued sulking. "Have fun Ace," she gently reminded him, hugging him lightly.
Marco stared at the place where Ace hid the paper in curiosity, remembering its purpose and the mess it had created, if he hadn't seen it in use, he would have never believed it was capable of summoning a monster in human skin.
This time she turned toward Whitebeard and nodded respectfully, "My apologies for the disturbance," she knew instinctively she stood no chance against the old man; he was simply entertaining her. She flew up to his eye level, too far for Ace to hear what she whispered to him before dispersing into papers.
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(. ❛ ᴗ ❛.) There aren't that many chapters left before Luffy sets sail... (Meaning no more daily chapters when that happens) :')