Colubo 3: Chapter 3: The King of Mt.
Colubo Early morning, deep in Mt.
Colubo.
“Hahaha!
You big clumsy bear, did you not eat breakfast?
Use more strength!” Accompanied by an extremely wild and unbridled laughter, an astonishing scene was unfolding in the forest clearing.
Ten-year-old Portgas D.
Ace, his muscular upper body bare, was engaged in the most primitive “wrestling” with a giant bear from Mt.
Colubo that stood fully four meters tall.
He did not use a blade, nor did he use any technique; he simply gripped the giant bear’s shoulders tightly with both hands, his legs plowing two deep furrows into the muddy ground.
Relying on his monstrous recovery ability and vigorous energy, he forcefully suppressed this forest overlord in terms of raw strength.
“Roar—!” The giant bear let out a frustrated low growl, clearly running out of steam.
“Bang!” Ace laughed heartily as he performed a shoulder throw, slamming the massive creature hard onto the muddy ground.
The giant bear was left dizzy and confused, rolling its eyes, before it rubbed against Ace’s thigh in a fawning manner and lay down beside him like an aggrieved giant dog.
“Well done, I’ll reward you with half a roasted crocodile later.” Ace patted the giant bear’s head and sat down casually on its soft belly.
“Ace!
You are bullying the animals in the mountain again!” The bushes not far away were pushed aside, and ten-year-old Sabo and seven-year-old Luffy ran over, panting heavily.
On their shoulders, each carried an extremely thick log, their bodies soaked with sweat, and they collapsed directly onto the ground, exhausted.
“Hey, hey, what do you call this bullying?
This is called’sparring’ for practice, okay?” Ace grinned and gestured to the surroundings.
At the edge of the clearing, several beaten-up tigers, giant crocodiles, and Masira were lying there.
These ferocious East Blue beasts, usually so fierce, were as docile as a flock of lambs in front of Ace at this moment.
“Forget it, they were clearly beaten into submission by your fists…” Sabo complained helplessly, then rubbed his sore shoulders.
“But seriously, this ‘Marineford Elite Recruit Training Method’ you pestered Garp for is simply life-threatening.” That is right, Ace was not doing any strange training.
He knew very well that the most scientific physical foundation training in this world, which could best push human limits, was all mastered within the Marineford system.
Since he was eight, every time Garp returned to East Blue, Ace would find ways to pry information out of Garp, forcefully stripping away a whole series of devilish training methods like “weighted cross-country, waterfall pressure resistance, and deep-sea diving” from Marineford.
Then, this set of plans, originally used to train elite adult Marines, became the daily homework for the three brothers (mainly Ace and Sabo).
“If you do not polish every inch of your muscle to the limit, how can you walk sideways on this ocean in the future?” Ace stood up and stretched his limbs, and a series of crisp cracking sounds like popping beans came from his body.
“Luffy, rested enough?
Go, practice your impact resistance with that giant Masira!” Ace kicked Luffy toward the giant Masira that was flexing its muscles nearby.
“Aaaah!
Help me, Ace!” Luffy screamed as he was tossed into the air by the Masira like a ball.
Watching Luffy’s miserable state, Sabo swallowed, turned his head to look at Ace: “What about you?
You finished your basic training for today in the middle of last night, right?” “Me?” A curve of excitement hooked at the corner of Ace’s mouth, his eyes looking at the several huge wooden stakes erected in the center of the clearing.
“Today, I am going to try to dismantle the old man’s footwork.” As soon as he finished speaking, Ace’s figure suddenly blurred in place.
“Bang!” A faint air-burst sound rang out under Ace’s feet, his body disappeared instantly like an arrow leaving the bow, and in the next second, he appeared directly in front of the wooden stake ten meters away.
“This is…?!” Sabo widened his eyes suddenly, “That teleportation Garp uses every time he beats you up?!” “The old man calls this’Soru’.” Ace turned his head and laughed: “Using the reaction force generated by stepping on the ground dozens of times in an instant to move at high speed.
This is one of the Rokushiki.” This was the muscle exertion technique Ace had keenly captured, relying on his innate Observation Haki that could “listen to all things,” after being beaten by Garp countless times.
Since he wanted to build a foundation under Garp, he absolutely could not just learn the superficials.
Although Ace wanted to steal all the Rokushiki and eventually learn Life Return.
But what he was most interested in, and what he wanted to learn first, were these three moves: The explosive Soru, the Moonwalk that allows for aerial combat, and the Kami-e that can dodge attacks like a piece of paper, perfectly matching Observation Haki!
“Bang!
Bang!
Bang!” Ace kept trying to exert force on the clearing.
Although his movements were still a bit raw and the number of times he stepped on the ground was far from the level of a Marineford general, his exaggerated physical talent had already allowed him to barely master the prototype of “Soru”.
“He really is a monster through and through!” Sabo watched Ace leaving afterimages in the field and could not help but sigh.
He originally thought his talent was already quite good, but compared to Ace, it was a whole dimension apart.
“Stop spacing out, Sabo!
Come and trade a few moves with me!” Ace flashed in front of Sabo and swung a punch with a laugh.
“Wow!
You bastard, you are serious!” Sabo hurriedly raised his pipe to block.
“Hahaha!
If you cannot even take my punch, how can you be the First Mate of the Eclipse Pirates in the future!” As the sun set, Mt.
Colubo echoed with the crisp sounds of the youths’ playful fighting and the roars of wild beasts.
That night, the three brothers sat around the campfire at the campsite, eating the roasted crocodile meat “tributed” by the giant bear, while chatting about the future.
“Ace.” Sabo took a bite of meat and suddenly asked, “I heard Garp bragging when he was drunk that on this vast ocean, the truly top-tier powerhouses all master a power called ‘Haki’.
When do you plan to let him teach you that?” Hearing the words “Haki”, even Luffy, who was grabbing meat to eat on the side, curiously perked up his ears.
Ace swallowed the food in his mouth, wiped the oil from the corner of his mouth with the back of his hand casually, and looked at the jumping flames with deep eyes.
“It is still too early.” Ace grinned, a flash of sober fanaticism in his eyes: “Haki, to put it plainly, is the will and vitality hidden within humans.
If you do not have a sufficiently monstrous physique as a container, forcefully cultivating Armament Haki will only overdraw your body’s potential.” “What we need to do now is to treat this body as a sponge, crazily absorbing nutrients, crazily polishing muscles, and pushing the limit of our physique to the limit of this mountain!” Ace raised his oily fist and shook it heavily in front of Sabo: “When we reach fifteen, the day our body’s frame is completely grown and set.” “I will personally pry open Garp’s mouth and squeeze out his Armament Haki and the essence of his martial arts without leaving a drop!” “Then, wait until we are seventeen.” Ace stood up, facing the night wind, and let out his signature unbridled laugh: “We set sail and turn this boring world upside down!”