Firestorm (Ace x OC)

Chapter 11: Combustion and Ozone

The following morning Ace woke up, probably an hour before sunrise, and turned over onto his back to see if Ryoko was awake yet. However, the yawn he had been stifling died in his throat seeing her sleeping bag was empty and her bag and person was gone. He sat up before getting out of the tent and looking around, holding up one hand it burst into flames to give off enough light in order to see a bit further ahead, his eyes landed on the tracks in the sand that lead away from the tent.

Ace moved over to the make shift fire pit and lit a small fire with the leftover wood that Ryoko had set aside the previous night. Once the flames took on the surface of the wood, to give him something to look for if he got lost, he began to follow after the tracks, "Ryoko!? Are you out here!? We shouldn't be splitting up! Come back to the fire!" he called out to the sands while looking around flames still encompassing his hand.

He hadn't even completely left the campfire's light before he hear the sound of sand shifting down to the dune nearby. Ace was alerted to something approaching rapidly towards him, causing him to spin around towards the flying object and sending flames into the air in front of him as he leaped back. The light from the fire glinted off of a curved blade, which had been thrown towards him. He had just enough time to become entirely made of flames so that the blade passed through him harmlessly.

Ace's flames shifted around the chain, his right arm being the first part to reform as he gripped tightly onto the chain of the weapon that had been thrown at him. The chain was wrenched back, however Ace's stance didn't change and he looked towards the source of the attack. His eyes landing on a silver raven skull mask which reflected the fire light, and the black feathered cowl and cloak that the figure wore. The figure was slightly hunched forward, boots digging into the sand at their feet. The shifting sand forcing them to focus not on recovering the weapon, but instead keeping themself upright. "To whom do I owe the honor of the Death Collector making an appearence?" Ace questioned, not loosening his stance at all, and keeping them at a stalemate for the moment.

The silver mask tilted forward slightly, showing the dark and stormy grey eyes of the Death Collector. His own right hand clasping the chain, which was also wrapped around his forearm. The eyes narrowed towards the Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates, "No one dictates where I go..." The voice slightly bouncing around within the mask, muffling the exact tone of voice, but it was certainly filled with anger and contempt. His form tenses for a brief moment before quickly launching off of the dune arms spreading out for a moment as the cloak around his shoulders billowed into feathered wings to launch further towards Ace.

Ace grinned as he tugged onto the chain which was around the wing of the Collector and quickly wrenched it past himself and let it go as the raven began to fall towards him. He drew his right hand back in a fist before punching towards the falling bird, sending out a billowing flame, Fire Fist.

The collector turned back into their human form and barely manages to pull himself out of the way of the flaming fist, rolling in the sand past Ace. His thick gloved hand clenching tightly around his now retrieved weapon as he pops back up on his feet. He ran to the left in order to dodge the line of fire that had been sent at him, spinning around he flicks a clasp on the neck of the weapon and the metal covering on the blade head falls into the sand. The collector slowly began to spin the now duller grey stone weapon around on the end of the chain launching it once again towards Ace.

Ace didn't panic as his form turned to flames and he side stepped the attack, however a surge of exhaustion hit him along with a sharp sting against his left side. "Deciding not to play fair, huh?" he says upon full solidifying as he leaps out of the way of a second strike from the weapon. He glances down noticing the nick on his side which was bleeding ever so slightly. "Why are you here?" He asked as he dodged out of the way of another strike.