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Chapter 53: The Flames That Burn the World
Night, like spilled ink, silently stained the Goa Kingdom.
At every filthy intersection bordering High Town and the Gray Terminal, kingdom guards appeared.
They wore brand-new uniforms, held spears and firearms, and their faces were blank.
They silently set up one blockade after another, their movements uniform, like a group of soulless marionettes.
No warning.
No announcement.
Only a cold, invisible wall, suddenly erected in the darkness.
Entry was allowed, but exit was forbidden.
The residents of the Gray Terminal quickly discovered that something was wrong.
The trash heap had no clean water, no stable food source. Everything relied on trade with High Town.
A mother, holding her sick child, tried to go to town to exchange for some clean medicine, but was blocked by the cold spears of the guards.
"Go back."
The guard's voice held no emotion.
"Please, sir, my child has a fever, I just need a little medicine..."
"I said, go back."
The tip of the spear was nearly at her throat.
The mother stumbled back, her arms holding her child trembling. Tears cut two channels through her grimy face.
At another exit, a few young men, starving, tried to force their way through.
"Why won't you let us out! We're starving!"
What met them were mercilessly falling clubs.
Thud!
Thud! Thud!
The dull sounds of impact, mixed with the snap of breaking bones and horrific screams, carried far in the oppressive night.
Blood stained the filthy ground.
Those who tried to resist were tossed back into the trash heap like broken sacks.
Panic, like a plague, began to spread wildly through the trash heap.
"We can't get out! All the roads are blocked!"
"The guards are hitting people! They're going to kill us!"
"Why?! What are the nobles planning to do?!"
Desperate cries and angry questions rose and fell within the giant mountain of trash, but they were cut off by the thick walls of High Town, separated into another world.
Meanwhile.
In a clearing in the forest of Mt. Colubo, a bonfire crackled brightly.
Ace, Sabo, and Luffy sat around it, excitedly counting their "spoils" from the day.
A small bag of Beri.
It was the bounty they had just received from the Marines for taking down a small pirate hideout.
"Hehehe! Another haul!"
Luffy clutched the money bag, drool nearly spilling from his smiling mouth.
"We're one step closer to the next dungeon!"
"Don't get too happy, Luffy."
Ace leaned against a tree trunk, wiping his steel pipe, but he couldn't suppress the slight upturn of his lips.
"Boss Blake is a real shark. No discounts at all."
"It's fine! We'll just go catch more pirates tomorrow!"
Luffy waved his hand dismissively, then turned his gaze to Sabo.
"Right, Sabo!"
Sabo smiled gently and nodded.
The "Wings of Gliding" he had exchanged for from Blake lay beside him. In the moonlight, the wings glowed with a faint cyan light.
Every time he saw it, Sabo could feel that freedom of breaking bonds and soaring through the sky.
The feeling was too wonderful.
He believed that as long as they kept working, one day, they could truly rely on their own strength to go wherever they wanted.
However, just at this moment.
A burst of hurried, panicked footsteps, mixed with pained gasps, broke the forest's peace.
"Help... help me..."
A boy, covered in wounds, scrambled out of the woods, collapsing by the fire.
It was a familiar face, a resident of the trash heap who sometimes played with them.
"Hey! What happened to you?!"
Ace was the first to rush over, helping the boy up.
The boy was covered in cuts and bruises, one leg twisted at an unnatural angle. His face was a mask of sheer terror.
"Can't... can't get out..."
The boy gripped Ace's arm, his nails white from the force, his voice sharp with fear.
"The trash heap... all the exits... are blocked by guards!"
"They won't let anyone out!"
"A-Hai and the others... they just wanted to get some food... and they were... they were beaten to death!"
"The guards are killing people! They're killing people!"
The boy's incoherent cries laid the horrific scene bare before the three brothers.
The cheerful laughter by the fire died.
The smile on Luffy's face froze.
Ace's hand, holding the boy, clenched tightly.
And Sabo... the moment he heard the words "blocked" and "guards," his body froze.
He remembered a proposal he had once seen in his father's study.
A terrible idea, like a bolt of lightning, split his mind.
No!
It can't be!
Sabo shot to his feet, dashing to the cliff's edge.
He pulled a high-powered spyglass from his coat and raised it, trembling, to his eye.
The lens focused on High Town.
And then... he saw it.
He saw the walls of High Town, lined with guards holding weapons, as if facing a great enemy.
He saw, under the cover of night, teams of men, secretly transporting huge, black oil drums to the entrances of the trash heap.
Those oil drums... Sabo had seen them in books.
They were used to hold kerosene!
A bone-deep chill shot from the soles of his feet to the top of his head!
His blood... almost froze.
"Sabo? What did you see?"
Ace's voice came from behind him, laced with a sense of foreboding.
Luffy also came over. He looked at Sabo's deathly pale face and asked, confused.
"Why are they moving so many black barrels? Are they having a party?"
A party?
Sabo lowered the spyglass, his body trembling.
It's... a death party, held with fire and lives.
He slowly turned, looking at his two brothers, who were still in the dark. His lips trembled, and he forced the words through his gritted teeth.
"They..."
"They're going to... burn this place... the entire trash heap..."
"Burn it all."
His words fell.
The world... went silent.
Only the crackle of the bonfire... sounded exceptionally loud.
The innocence and confusion on Luffy's face slowly faded, replaced by a strange and cold bewilderment.
Burn it?
Burn... everyone?
Why?
Ace's fists... had already ignited in uncontrollable flames.
Crimson flames leaped between his knuckles, reflecting the rage and murderous intent in his eyes.
"Those... scumbags!"
After a brief, dead silence.
BOOM!!!
A suppressed, extreme rage exploded from Ace's body!
Violent flames shot into the sky, a pillar of fire that burned the night sky a dark red!
The surrounding trees instantly withered and charred under the terrifying heat wave!
"Ace!"
Sabo cried out.
Luffy was also stunned. He had never seen Ace unleash such terrifying flames.
This wasn't sparring. This wasn't a fight.
This was pure, unadulterated rage, wanting to destroy everything!
Ace tilted his head back, letting out a bestial roar, his chest heaving.
His face, which usually held a defiant sneer, was now just a mask of ferocity.
And Luffy... he looked toward High Town, at the lights twinkling there.
In his world, bad guys were pirates, were bandits.
He couldn't understand why people who wore pretty clothes and lived in pretty houses... would do something a hundred times crueler than any pirate.
His eyes, usually as clear as the sea, for the first time... showed an ice-cold fury.
Sabo watched his brothers' reactions. His heart felt like it was being crushed by an invisible hand, aching so badly he couldn't breathe.
So-called nobles.
So-called bloodlines.
So-called glory.
At this moment, all the fantasies he had about that world, the last lingering thread of connection, were burned to nothing by these world-burning flames. Not even ash remained.
All that was left... was a bone-deep hatred.
Hatred for that class. Hatred for that world. And for his own noble status... a thorough and complete hatred!
Suddenly.
Sabo spun around. His blue eyes burned with a will even more resolute than Ace's flames.
He looked at Ace and Luffy, and in a voice that was calmer, and more terrifying, than ever before, he spoke, word by word.
"We have to stop them."
"Ace. Luffy."