In front of the cabin in the woods deep in the mountains of Kolbo, there was a banging sound of fighting...
Calling it a "fight" may not be accurate, because it is just one person "beating" the other one-sidedly.
boom!
The broken water pipe was stained with blood, and Shanks was severely slapped on the face.
Bang! Bang! Bang...
Blood splattered, and Shanks was beaten with stick after stick by the angry Ace, leaving his head badly bruised and bleeding.
Shanks is not Lynch, and he does not have the instinct to turn iron into bones. It is almost turned into a passive skill... When he did not use his weapon color and gave up all defense, facing a person like Ace, although he was only ten years old,
A young boy who was 20 years old, but had been practicing "training on the road" in Mount Korbo, and was even able to fight wild beasts, even if he attacked like crazy, Shanks would be beaten with bruises on his nose and face.
Luffy looked very angry and clenched his fists tightly.
Huh? Tulip discovered that although her son was angry, he only glared angrily at Ace who beat Shanks violently, and restrained the urge to step forward and stop Ace.
Hehehe... Tulip raised a smile at the corner of her mouth.
It can't be said that she is gratified or not, after all, people with different personalities have different choices. Not stopping Ace may not appear to be greater than running over to stop Ace from beating up Shanks; but she does care about her son.
I was amazed.
Bandit Dadan and his gang stood at the door of the wooden house in shock and bewilderment, looking at what was happening in front of them, "This kid Ace is too scary..." "He is indeed the 'bloodline of the devil'." "It's a good fight.
It’s not me!”
"..." Garp just crossed his arms and stood watching and listening without making a sound or stopping him.
"Huchi... Huchi... Huchi..."
After fighting for a long time, Ace finally got tired. He stood there holding the water pipe, breathing heavily, looking at Shanks with a big letter lying in a pool of blood, with a bruised nose and face, and said coldly: "That abandoned man
The bastard who married my wife...is not my father. Don’t mention him to me!"
His hands trembled slightly, and blood dripped down the water pipe onto the grass, dripping into a pool of blood.
Bang, a pair of leather shoes stepped on a pool of blood. Garp walked over with his arms folded, looking down at Shanks lying in the pool of blood. The latter was already covered in scars, and his face was beyond recognition.
With a hint of sadness and pity.
Garp said calmly: "Roger surrendered and handed Estor to me in prison."
Huff... Huff... Ace's eyes were covered by shadows, he was panting, and he tremblingly clenched the blood-stained water pipe.
"Later, I found Ace's mother in the South China Sea who was still pregnant with Ace at the time." Garp slowly talked about the past many years ago, "In order to avoid being hunted by the World Government and kill Roger's bloodline, Lujiu held on
I was pregnant for twenty months before giving birth to Ace..."
After hearing what Garp said, Ace pursed his lips and turned around to leave.
"Are you going to run away?"
Suddenly, a voice made Ace's pupils shrink and he stepped on his feet with a "bang".
"..." Ace suddenly turned around, "Who do you think will run away?!"
He glared at the guy who was a few years younger than him, "He's just a weak coward."
"You are so weak!" Luffy made a face, "I think people who can laugh even when someone throws alcohol at them are the most powerful people! You have no idea how powerful Shanks is. If he wants to hit you, he will hit you a hundred times."
One, no, one thousand, ten thousand, you are no match for him!" He stuck out his tongue and said disgustedly, "But he is willing to be beaten like this by you! Now you want to leave, isn't this strange?
!”
Luffy's words made Garp, Tulip, and Ace all look at him, but Shanks was still lying in a pool of blood.
"..." Garp sighed softly, "It was as if he had burned everything he had. After giving birth to Ace, Lujiu died. Later, I brought Ace to this remote country in the East China Sea..."
Ace finally did not turn around and leave. He stayed rooted to the spot, stubbornly holding the blood-stained water pipe with a gloomy expression.
"..."
Shanks, who was lying on the ground with a bloody head and a face that was beyond recognition, listened and remained silent. He suddenly raised his bloody hand and grabbed it towards the dim sky outside the gap in the woods. "I... once asked Captain Roger a question.
:I was born, is it really okay?”
"...?!" Ace never thought that the man who was beaten with blood all over his body would say such a thing.
This simple sentence made Ace's heart, which was pretending to be strong, tremble violently.
The freckled boy opened his mouth slightly and looked at the man holding up bloody hands in the pool of blood. The latter said to himself: "I am the son of Captain Roger's enemy... My father was the most powerful person in the world at that time.
The biggest villain...Later, he was eliminated...Captain Roger adopted me on the ship...For a while, I was confused. With such a bloodline, would anyone really want me to live?"
"The captain answered me this way..."
In the pool of blood, Shanks slowly sat up. In the gap between the bruises and swelling, you could vaguely see the corners of his mouth raised and the tears in his eyes, "'What are you talking about? You were born in this place.
The world is gone'..."
Huchi...huchi...
Ace's breathing became heavier again.
He didn't want to cry at all, but there was unsatisfactory warmth and sorrow in his eyes, so he had to grit his teeth desperately, put on a vicious look, and squeezed out the words from his heart, "I said... don't mention that, bastard!
"
"'No matter what other people do...'"
Shanks looked at Ace and said slowly to himself, "'Since you are still alive, even if there is only one day left, live with your head held high.'"
Like the final blow that penetrated his heart, Ace went completely crazy.
"I told you to stop talking!!!"
The freckled boy closed his eyes tightly, roared, and swung the blood-stained water pipe towards Shanks.
boom!
Garp grabbed the broken water pipe covered in blood. The force of the water pipe being smashed down... wasn't much at all, and it was easy for him to hold it.
Ace still held on to the broken pipe and refused to let go. He lowered his head and his shoulders were shaking. He didn't dare to look up, speak, or make a sound.
"..."
Looking at this stubborn boy who especially likes to get into trouble, there was a tear in the corner of Garp's eyes.
He sighed softly, pulled the water pipe over, knelt down and pressed Ace into his arms.
"..."
Luffy watched all this blankly. Tulip squatted down, hugged her son and leaned on her shoulders, stroking his head.
"What on earth is going on..."
Bandit Dadan and his family were completely dizzy. They felt like they heard a lot of important things that they didn't understand but seemed very powerful.
Gululu, a sudden stomach rumbling sound broke the atmosphere.
Everyone looked at Luffy. Luffy touched his belly and looked at the wild boar where Ace was sitting. Drooling at the corner of his mouth, he pointed at it with a smile, "Can I eat it?"
Garp smiled and turned around and said, "Dadan, Ace is treating us to a treat today. Let's eat out."
"Oh, okay, then we-" The Dadan family nodded. They had also been coveting the wild boar that Ace had hunted for a long time, but they heard Garp say: "Oh, you are not included. Let's have a barbecue together tonight.
Wild boar.”
The meat was gone, Dadan said angrily: "Why aren't we included?!"
Garp picked his nose and said nonchalantly: "Oh, is this your prey?"
Dadan and the others stopped talking. Indeed, Ace lives here, and what they provide him every day is only a bowl of coarse rice, a glass of water, and a floor on which he can lie down and sleep. It is comparable to the meat that Ace hunts every day.
Compared to that, it seems a bit worth mentioning... But that's not how the score is calculated, right? They took a lot of risks by taking Ace in!!
Obviously, Garp was not someone who would care about how they settled accounts. He smiled and said to Ace, who was bowing his head, "If you didn't refuse, I'll treat you like a kid and agree to the treat."
"..." Shanks, who had a bruised nose and swollen face, smiled slightly.
"Oh! Eat meat!!!" Only Luffy was the most excited, drooling and rushing towards the wild boar. Tulip held him up with one hand and kicked his two short legs in the air.
……………………
"Eh?!!!!!! Ace's father is the Pirate King?!!!!!!!!!"
At night, a bonfire was lit in the forest. The wild boar was on the grill, and the golden fat kept dripping on the flames of the woodpile.
Luffy gnawed on wild boar barbecue, his mouth was full of oil, and his eyes almost popped out of his head in shock.
Ace was sitting across from him, the flames of the bonfire swaying, making it difficult to see his dim expression.
"Didn't you listen carefully before?" Tulip was speechless. Is her son a little stupid? She took out her handkerchief, wiped grease on Luffy's mouth, and cut off a large piece of wild boar barbecue to serve.
handed the meat to Luffy, "Shanks said he was adopted by Ace's father on the pirate ship..."
"Eh?!!!!!!!"
Luffy took a bite of the fragrant grilled meat cut by his mother. Hearing this, he was so shocked that his eyes almost popped out, "Shanks is a crew member of the Pirate King?!!!!!"
Beep, beep, explosions were heard from time to time in the bonfire, and Luffy's startled movements were like a backdrop...
Looking at the dancing flames, Shanks suddenly said: "Fifteen years ago, Captain Roger contracted an incurable disease."
These sudden words not only made Ace's pupils shrink instantly and he suddenly raised his head to look at Shanks, but also surprised Garp and Tulip opposite him, who all looked over.
Of course Tulip had never heard of such a thing; in fact, even Garp had never heard of it.
Garp murmured: "That's it... no wonder that guy chose to surrender voluntarily..."
If he could live to witness the era, how could a guy like Roger be willing to use his last words before his death to usher in some bullshit "Great Age of Pirates"?
Before the so-called "Great Pirate Age", were there no pirates chasing each other and fighting for hegemony on the sea?
If he still had life left, Roger would certainly prefer to witness with his own eyes some kind of future that he had foreseen... Garp held his forehead and said nothing.
Shanks picked up a branch and stirred the bonfire, looked at the flames and muttered to himself: "Although Garp has been chasing Captain Roger for a long time, although he is called an enemy but is actually a friend, he is a navy after all, and he knows many things.
It’s also limited.”
He turned to look at Ace, "I know I have no right to make irresponsible remarks about your life, Ace. But... let me tell you about Captain Roger and the experience of that pirate group.
."
Ace pursed his lips tightly and said nothing.
"Even if you still choose to resent him in the end, you should at least know a little more about him..." Shanks said slowly, "The story of the man named 'Gol D. Roger' that you hate."
Ace lowered his head slightly, with the dancing fire reflected in his eyes, and in his ears was Shanks recounting a memory about the Pirate King and his pirate group...
…
Of course Shanks didn't start from the beginning, after all, even he didn't know many things.
He started talking about it when Captain Roger was diagnosed with a terminal illness thirteen years after the Roger Pirates first completed the Grand Line and arrived at Suixian Island only to find that the road ahead was cut off.
…
"When the doctor said Captain Roger only had one or two years to live..."
Shanks recalled the past many years ago. Although it was only fifteen years ago, it seemed like it was a lifetime ago. "Vice Captain Rayleigh, Jabba, Spencer...it's hard for everyone to accept it, but
The captain said..."
["Haha, there are only one or two years left," Roger looked at the blood he coughed up in his hands and said with a hearty smile, "Guys, then every day of my life will be precious! Hahaha... let's go
, find a more powerful doctor first!”]
[He shook the pirate captain's big trench coat and put it on his body, pushed the door open, turned around and said with a smile, "Why are you looking at me like this? Don't look at me like this. If possible, I also want to live a few more years, hehehehehe
..."]
…
"We found Dr. Kurokas at the Twin Points at the entrance to the Grand Line and invited him to join us. Later, he also accompanied us throughout the entire journey..."
Luffy had eaten and drank enough, and had fallen asleep on Tulip's knees. Shanks was still slowly recounting the past events that had accumulated deep in his memory.
【"Every day from now on, I will never look back!"】
[At the entrance to the Grand Line, the scarred Island Whales raised their heads and chanted loudly, as if to say goodbye to them. Roger stood on the bow of the ship and held down his captain's hat, laughing loudly at the sea in front of him with high spirits. ]
["Guys, let's set sail——!!!"]
["Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh!!" All the pirates cheered, singing and dancing towards the Grand Route. 】
…
"...When the captain was at a loss and thought he was going to die of illness if he couldn't find the big secret treasure, we met the Whitebeard Pirates at that time. Fortunately, we got a key figure, so we were able to reach the final island."
["Oden, it's great to have you join us! Hahaha..."]
[Roger stood on the bow of the ship and looked at the rough sea and the thundercloud sky. He raised his beard and smiled, "Destiny, you took away the rest of my life, but you sent it to me at the last moment."
If you get Oden, you’re not doing bad to me!”]
Ace stared blankly at the much smaller bonfire, picked up a branch and stirred it to make the flames reignite and grow stronger.
…
"...We came to Fish-Man Island again and got some kind of prophecy about the future..."
["He's about to be born!" "Our king is about to be born..."]
[At a depth of 10,000 meters, the giant sea kings communicate in their language, "The ocean in the distance... is also about to be born!"]
["The whales are also happy, looking forward to the day when the two kings will meet."]
【"There are still ten years until birth."】
【"There are still fifteen years left before we grow up."】
[On the pirate ship diving into the sea, Roger looked at the deep sea in confusion, "Who is talking?!"]
…
"...Because I had to take care of my sick companion, I didn't go to the Final Island with the captain and the others. I don't know what they saw."
Shanks looked at the clean white bones of the wild boar on the grill, "When the captain came back, he announced that the Roger Pirates... would be disbanded."
After so many years, when he read this sentence again, Shanks still felt a little sad, "Although I knew that the captain would only have a few years left to live, when I heard the word "disband" from the captain's mouth... I never
Crying as hard as I did that day."
"..." Ace listened to the story he told about the journey of the Roger Pirates, and remained silent for a long time.
Shanks continued: "The captain turned around and headed back, passing by the places we had walked before, and one by one our partners got off the ship along the way... On the farewell night, the captain thought of the prophecy we heard on Fish-Man Island,
He suddenly realized that it seemed that we had arrived at the final island too early... He was very sorry for this reality, but there was nothing he could do about it. He didn't have much life left, and he would definitely not be able to see that future with his own eyes. But the captain
But I’m not sad at all…”
At this point, Shanks glanced at Ace who was silent and said, "One day in the future, who will really get the great secret treasure? The captain said proudly - 'It must be my son.'
!”
Ace, who was stirring the bonfire, paused. His fingers were burned by the flames and he didn't even notice.