Outside the cabin of the Dadan family bandits on Mt.
Colubo.
The heavy rain had just ceased, and the morning sunlight filtered through the tree canopy, spilling onto the muddy ground.
“Bang!” The heavy corpse of a saber-toothed tiger was tossed carelessly into the clearing in front of the cabin, shaking the entire house three times over.
The cabin door was kicked open.
Dadan, puffing on a cigarette, poked his head out timidly with a group of bandits.
When they saw the mountain-like beast corpse and the bare-chested, black-haired boy standing beside it, everyone gasped.
“Hey, Dadan, don’t just stand there.
Process this big cat and roast it for me to eat.” Ace brushed his damp hair aside with his hand and grinned, revealing a flamboyant smile.
He hadn’t closed his eyes for a day and a night in the forest.
If an ordinary ten-year-old child tried to endure this, he would have collapsed long ago.
But Ace’s physique was different from ordinary people; it was as if there was a tireless furnace inside his body.
He didn’t need much sleep, and his stamina recovery speed was comparable to a monster, just like Marshall D.
Teach, who had once lurked on Whitebeard’s ship and was known as a “freak.” “Ace!
You brat, you went and provoked a monster of this level again!” Dadan roared in exasperation, but deep in his eyes hid a profound sense of awe.
“Hahaha!
Can’t help it, ordinary wild boars aren’t enough for me to warm up anymore.” Ace laughed and walked toward the water vat, preparing to wash off the blood on his body, but his movements suddenly paused.
His innate Observation Haki detected an extra, weak yet extremely tenacious life force inside the cabin.
There was also a powerful presence that felt incredibly familiar to him.
A burly figure walked out from the shadows of the cabin.
It was none other than the Marine hero who had just beaten him up in the back mountain, Garp.
And in Garp’s hand, he was holding a seven-year-old kid wearing a straw hat with a scar under his left eye, just like holding a chicken.
Although the kid was dangling in mid-air, his limbs were stretching comically like rubber, and he was still shouting defiantly: “Let go of me, old man!
I am the man who is going to be the Pirate King!” Ace looked at the kid with the straw hat, his pupils shrinking slightly, and then the smile on his lips gradually widened.
Luffy.
We finally meet.
In the original story, the ten-year-old Ace was full of hostility toward everyone because he hated his own background, and he even spat at Luffy when they first met.
But the current Ace would not.
He possessed a mature soul and the ambition to devour the world, and in his past life, he had liked Luffy very much.
In his eyes, this future child of destiny would be the most interesting witness on his path to the throne.
“Thud.” Garp threw Luffy on the ground and pointed at Ace, saying: “Luffy, from today on, you will live here.
That is Ace, three years older than you.
From now on, you will follow him.” Before Garp could finish his sentence, Ace had already strode in front of Luffy.
The ten-year-old Ace, due to years of inhuman training, was already much taller than his peers.
He looked down at Luffy, who was sitting on the ground.
The terrifying pressure made Luffy subconsciously stop shouting and swallow nervously.
“W-what do you want?” Luffy pressed down hard on his straw hat.
“Pirate King?” Ace suddenly burst into laughter without warning.
His laughter pierced through the morning forest, startling a large flock of birds.
Not only did he not mock Luffy, but he grabbed Luffy’s elastic rubber cheeks and pulled them hard to both sides, laughing wantonly: “Hahaha!
Interesting!
Although you’re a weak rubber kid, your eyes aren’t bad!” “Hey!
Damn it!” “Listen up, kid.” Ace let go, pointed his thumb at his own chest, and declared arrogantly, “Be my little brother!
Follow me.
If you want to be the Pirate King, go ahead and be that boring title, but on this sea, the only man who can establish absolute rules and be called the ‘King of the World’ can only be me, Ace!” As soon as these words were spoken, Luffy was stunned.
Even Garp, who was standing nearby, widened his eyes, looking in disbelief at the boy in front of him who radiated Haki and arrogance.
…
Late that night.
The members of the Dadan family were all snoring.
Luffy, having been tormented all day by Ace’s “hellish welcome ceremony,” was also fast asleep in a corner with his mouth wide open.
Only Ace did not sleep.
He only needed a simple rest to recover all his energy; his stamina was incredibly vigorous.
Ace pushed open the window and leaped lightly onto the roof.
There, a blond, gap-toothed boy wearing a top hat and a small blue vest had been waiting for him.
“Sabo, why did you come over in the middle of the night?” Ace walked over and sat down casually next to Sabo.
“I came to share information with you, you reckless guy.” The ten-year-old Sabo sighed helplessly and pulled a crumpled bounty poster from his bosom.
“Look, there are rumors in the black market of the East Blue recently that a Devil Fruit has been found…
Hey, are you even listening?” “I’m listening.” Ace rested his hands behind his head and looked up at the starry sky, his eyes flashing with a depth that only an adult could understand.
“Sabo, what would happen if someone ate two Devil Fruits?” Ace asked suddenly.
Sabo was stunned for a moment, then replied as if reciting a book: “Do you even need to ask?
The encyclopedia in the noble library is very clear: a person’s body can only house one devil.
If you greedily eat a second one, your body will explode.” “That’s right, that is the limit of ordinary people.” Ace sat up straight, turned his head to look at Sabo, and the smile on his lips appeared incredibly unyielding under the Moonlight: “Because their souls only have one ‘vessel’.” Sabo’s heart skipped a beat.
He looked into Ace’s eyes, and a crazy premonition surged in his heart.
“Ace…
you aren’t thinking of…” “Sabo, get stronger with me.” Ace stood up, the wind blowing through his black hair.
He reached out his hand to his future First Mate: “Seven years!
We will use seven years to train our bodies and Haki to the extreme!
The day we set sail at seventeen, I will prove to this world—” “Whether it is the high-and-mighty nobles or the remnants of the old era in the New World, they are all just stepping stones for me to reach the throne!
I will make this entire ocean submit to my feet!” Looking at Ace’s eyes, which were burning with wild ambition in the night, Sabo’s heart skipped a beat.
He knew that the boy laughing in front of him was definitely not joking.
Because of Garp, Ace had carefully considered taking the path of a Marine, but due to his own personality, he would inevitably provoke the Celestial Dragons and some high-ranking Marines.
Besides, he felt tired just thinking about life within that system.
He only wanted to live freely and as he pleased in this world, and in this world where the strong prevail, he needed absolute strength to support it.
To ensure no one could ride on his back, he could only strive and strive to become stronger, step by step, until he reached the very top.