"Bang!"
"Bang!"
"Bang!"
The loud thuds of fists striking rock echoed through Mount Cobolt. These sounds came from a 12-year-old child whose fists were leaving fist marks on a huge rock, breaking it or making huge cracks. Beside the rock he was destroying in his training, there were debris scattered around, smaller rocks that were once part of larger rocks, that were destroyed by this child.
The boy's name is Portgas D. Ace, the son of the Pirate King, Gol D. Roger, who conquered the Grand Line. He is the adopted grandson of Monkey D. Garp, the Hero of the Marines, the brother of Sabo, the chief of staff of the Revolutionary Army, and the older brother of Monkey D. Luffy, the protagonist of this world.
The background seems very impressive, but for him, it is the biggest curse right now. Being the child of Gol D. Roger puts a huge target on his back, and he knows that because of it, he will become a donut in the future. His impulsivity doesn't help, especially after fighting an admiral of the navy who insulted his adoptive father, Whitebeard, the strongest man in the world, who is currently suffering from cancer. Ace took the bait and was made a donut by a lava fist.
As for how he knows about these things, it happened after he learned about Sabo's presumed death from Dorag, a short bandit part of the Dadan Family. Curly Dadan is the leader of this family and the woman who is the closest to a mother in his life.
After hearing that Sabo was killed by a World Noble, Ace tried to run off to get revenge, but Dadan stopped him. When she pushed him to the ground to prevent him from leaving, he passed out.
Not from physical trauma, but because at that moment, a soul from another world tried to take over his body. During that night, both of their souls fought. Ace's soul was that of a child, but his willpower was extremely strong. The other soul was also hurt from accidentally appearing in another universe, but this journey had made his soul stronger, and both of them were tied.
When both were on the brink of perishing, they ceased their fighting. Following a brief conversation, they merged together because their souls were too damaged, and they faced the possibility of death, with Ace's body becoming vegetative.
From this union, a new Ace emerged. It was quite strange to comprehend that he was neither the original Ace nor the invader, but a combination of both. Additionally, the fact that he is a character created by someone in another world added to the peculiarity.
But he got over it fast after thinking about the multiversal theory and that if there are infinite universes, then it must mean there is a universe exactly like One Piece.
"Ace, I am tired and hungry," said a nine-year-old boy with a straw hat on his head. He had previously been training a bit farther away from Ace by swinging his fist, which would extend like rubber, and then trying to his target to improve his accuracy and control.
This was Luffy, who ate the mythical zoan fruit called the Human Human Fruit Model: Nika, which people believed to be the Gomu Gomu no Mi because of its rubber properties.
Ace stopped and looked at the huge boulder, which was half destroyed, and thought he would have a long time until he could punch a mountain to destruction like Garp. He also felt a little hungry, and a nap would work wonders. In this world, besides training hard to get stronger, you also need to eat huge amounts of food, rest, and fight strong opponents.
"I am also hungry," said Ace as he turned to Luffy. "Let's hunt a buffalo, eat, and then take a nap."
Luffy, who heard this, was drooling and muttering, "Meat."
Ace, who heard it, just sighed. It would be a miracle if Luffy gave him a nephew or niece when they were older. This guy has more chances of marrying meat than anything else. Even in the anime and manga, he never showed interest in women. Either he is very focused on his goal or is meatsexual.
Ace dragged Luffy, waking him up from his dreams about meat, and left the training place to look for buffalo.
After hunting a huge buffalo, which was more than enough, they brought it back to Dadan's hideout. With the help of one of the bandits, Ace skinned it carefully, ensuring the pelt was not damaged. Since that incident, Ace hunted almost every day, bringing back large beasts to eat with Luffy and the other bandits. The pelts and other organs that could be sold were saved.
Once they finished preparing the buffalo, they roasted it with Ace taking the lead. Ace used some of the spices he had made himself from plants on Dawn Island. The man who had invaded the original Ace's body was a chef named Valentine, so Ace had also gained the ability to cook better from his memories.
"The meat is so good," said Luffy as he gulped down his bite before asking Ace for the thousandth time, "Ace, be the chef on my crew."
"I refuse," said Ace as he took a bite of meat and then a bite of the skewer with vegetables he had roasted.
Seeing Luffy not touching any vegetables, he said, "Luffy, eat some vegetables. Meat alone is not good."
"I refuse," Luffy said, mimicking Ace.
"I will tie you to a tree and have you watch us eat without you again," Ace threatened.
"Okay, okay, I will eat them," said Luffy before reluctantly taking a bite from the skewer. Luckily, he had meat to eat with them, and Ace had roasted them well.
Seeing this, Ace nodded. Without good nutrition, training your body could do more harm than good. But maybe Luffy's body, because of his Devil Fruit, could handle it. Still, Ace didn't want to take any chances.
The bandits who were also around the fire and eating smiled a bit, still wondering how Ace had become such a good cook. The meat he roasted or cooked was always delicious and juicy, and even the vegetables were just right and tasty.
Dadan was relieved to see Ace taking good care of Luffy. It seemed like Sabo's death had made him a bit more mature. He wasn't playing around as much anymore or stealing but training. She had also seen where he was training and how many rocks he had destroyed. Even the mayor of Foosha Village came occasionally to take the small rocks to use them for building in the village or selling them. Otherwise, the training ground would have been full of just rocks.
Even Garp was proud when he saw how Ace trained during his last visits. He said he saw his shadow in Ace and was even praising him.
"Ace, you're going to be a powerful marine if you keep it up. How about training under your grandpa and becoming a hero of the navy like me?" Garp suggested.
"No chance, old man! You're never going to catch me being a Celestial Dragon's dog!" Ace retorted.
"You little shit!" Garp exclaimed. As usual, it ended with Ace getting a beating, but Garp still gave him some guidance to ensure he trained correctly.
Remembering something, Dadan took out a book. "Ace, I found an introductory book about navigation," she said.
"Nice, I was wondering if I should go into town to look for one," Ace replied.
Luffy, who had heard this, asked, "Why are you looking for books on navigation? Do you want to be a navigator?"
"No, dumbass. I need to know how to navigate if I don't want to get lost or stranded just when I start sailing," Ace explained.
"Ohh... right, right," Luffy said, as if he understood.
Ace, seeing this, wanted to suggest that Luffy should learn with him but then stopped, realizing it would be worthless. Luffy, outside of combat, had no patience to learn anything else. He was like a monkey with ADHD on crack.
After finishing their meal, Ace thanked Dadan for the book. She told him not to worry, and after taking a good nap, both Luffy and Ace fell instantly asleep.
Ace was grateful for one thing: from Valentine's memories, he knew he had suffered from insomnia and struggled to sleep. Now, he could fall asleep within seconds, and if he was too relaxed, he might suddenly doze off. Luckily, this never happened during training or fighting.
After their good nap, Luffy and Ace returned to the training ground. Instead of their usual training, they did bodyweight exercises with extra weight using rocks.
Some time later, both of them were sweating and huffing to varying degrees. Luffy, who was about to give up, remembered his conversation with Ace the day after Sabo died.
While Luffy was crying in front of the sea, he heard footsteps behind him. Sobbing, he turned around. "Ace!"
Ace, who was still a bit confused at that time, saw Luffy, who was truly suffering, thinking Sabo was dead. But Ace knew from Valentine's memories that Sabo was alive and in the care of Luffy's father, Monkey D. Dragon, the leader of the Revolutionary Army.
"Ace... I want to become stronger," Luffy said while sobbing, "More... more..."
Ace then hugged Luffy. He didn't know why, maybe because of his newfound maturity and knowing that Luffy needed it at that moment.
After a bit of crying, Ace broke the hug but placed his hands on Luffy's shoulders and said while looking him in the eyes, "I also want to become stronger. In this world, without strength, you can't protect the ones close to you or even achieve your dreams."
"Strength is everything!"
"But strength is achieved through training hard, pushing your body to the limit, but also eating and resting to let it recover. Ultimately, strength is achieved through hard work and discipline!"
"So let's train together and try to become stronger so we can protect each other and help each other achieve our dreams. We're brothers, and brothers help and protect each other!"
Luffy, hearing this, cried a bit harder, thinking about Sabo, whom they couldn't protect.
"But we couldn't protect... and help Sabo."
"That's understandable. We are young and weak. Now we must learn from this and become strong enough so that it doesn't happen again!"
Seeing Luffy still crying, Ace said, "Luffy, look at me and stop crying!"
Luffy stopped and looked up, noticing Ace's smile.
"Luffy... I am sure that Sabo is alive. He can't be dead; I feel it. And if we want to meet him again, we must be strong, very strong!"
"But he was shot by a World Noble's cannon, destroying his boat."
"Luffy, I promise on my father's legacy and reputation as the Pirate King that Sabo must be alive, and we will meet him again. We just need to work hard. We didn't see his body, and there's a chance he survived and was saved by someone."
Luffy nodded but was still skeptical, though he hoped inside.
"Luffy, promise me one thing."
"What, Ace?" Luffy asked, still sobbing a bit.
"That you will work hard enough to become strong enough to fulfill your dream, protect your loved ones, and meet Sabo again."
Luffy brushed the tears from his face and shouted, "I promise, Ace!"
Remembering this, Luffy started working harder, trying to push his body to its limits.
Beside him, Ace smiled, hoping that Luffy could keep it up and become incredibly strong. As the protagonist and inheritor of his father Gol D. Roger's will, as well as that of Joy Boy and Nika, Luffy would face a journey full of challenges, thorns, and dangers.
As his brother, Ace also needed to become strong, perhaps even the strongest in the world. Ace himself didn't have a grand dream; he simply wanted to become strong enough to escape his father's shadow and be free to do as he pleased, living a fulfilling life.
But he would help his brother achieve his dream and fight against the World Government together with him, and this would require enough strength.