The sunlight shines through the lush woods.
In the clearing in the forest, Ace and Sabo, one in front and one behind, held steel pipes in their hands and trapped a tiger in the middle, staring intently at the tiger in front of them.
"Ace, come on!"
Right behind the tiger, Sabo tightened the steel pipe in his hand and suddenly spoke out to remind his companions not far away.
"ah!"
Upon hearing this, Ace tightened the steel pipe in his hand, nodded slightly, and responded.
Just a few breaths after the two of them finished speaking, the two children moved at the same time and rushed towards the tiger in front of them almost at the same time.
The two men started at the same time, but their speed of advance was different. Sabo, who was behind the tiger, was faster. He rushed to the back of the tiger and swung the iron rod in his hand to hit the tiger's hind legs.
I don't know why Sabo chose to target the tiger's leg bones. A little kid like him, facing a nearly three-meter-long tiger, even if the tiger stood there motionless, Sabo might not be able to break the opponent's defense by hitting it with a steel pipe.
Moreover, the leg bones are almost one of the hardest parts of a tiger's body. Even if you hold a steel pipe in your hand, it may not cause any harm to the tiger.
Sabo was moving very fast, and the steel pipe fell rapidly towards the tiger's legs. But just when Sabo's attack was about to hit the tiger, the tiger, which was facing Ace, seemed to have eyes on its back. It kicked out with both hind legs and used its front paws as a foundation, and the whole tiger jumped up quickly.
The moment it avoided Ace's attack, the tiger rolled over and bit the rushing Sabo with its bloody mouth.
"Ace!!!"
Sabo was like a lamb that voluntarily threw itself into the tiger's mouth. Seeing that he was about to die in the tiger's mouth, Sabo suddenly swung the steel pipe in his hand and shouted Ace's name.
A strong fishy smell rushed into Sabo's nostrils, and his heart was pounding, but his eyes did not blink, staring at the attacking tiger.
“Drink!!!”
A loud roar sounded in the forest, and Ace's figure suddenly appeared above the tiger, smashing the steel pipe in his hand hard on the tiger's head.
Hit the bull's eye.
“Bang!!”
A muffled sound came into Sabo's ears. The tiger that opened its bloody mouth and bit Sabo involuntarily closed its mouth under Ace's attack. Its raised head suddenly sank and hit the ground directly.
Ace was clearly just a child, but he could produce such an effect with just one strike. His thin body contained a terrifying power that others could hardly imagine.
"Well done, Ace!"
Sabo escaped from the tiger's mouth and let out a low cry of excitement. As he landed rapidly on the ground, he twisted his body, tightly grasped the steel pipe in his hands, and swung the steel pipe like hitting the tiger's cheek.
A huge force hit the tiger's head. The tiger, which had just been hit by Ace and had become drowsy, tilted its head and blood kept flowing out of its mouth.
Under the repeated heavy blows from Ace and Sabo, such a strong and sturdy tiger fell to the ground, completely fainted, and was unable to stand up again.
In just one short round of confrontation, the two little brats Ace and Sabo actually relied on the steel pipes in their hands to team up to hunt a tiger.
“Bang!!”
The giant tiger fell down with a dull thud.
Neither Ace nor Sabo relaxed their nerves. Instead, they cautiously stepped back a few steps in case the tiger suddenly woke up and counterattacked them.
If they were attacked by such a cat at such a close distance, it is unlikely that the two of them would be able to react and dodge.
After retreating a few meters, Ace wordlessly unhooked the long sword from his back and held it firmly in his hand:
"Sabo."
Ace called out to Sabo, holding a knife in one hand and slowly approaching the tiger. Hearing his partner's voice, Sabo also held the steel pipe tightly with both hands and held it upright in front of his chest. He walked around to the tiger's head and slowly approached. As he approached, his eyes were fixed on the tiger's face. If the opponent showed any signs of waking up, he would strike it immediately.
Ace's speed increased. After approaching the tiger, he quickly chopped the tiger's belly with the long sword in his hand. The sharp blade instantly ripped the tiger's belly open. Blood gushed out and the strong smell of blood immediately filled the air.
After slashing with the sword, Ace and Sabo quickly retreated and met each other.
It was not until now that the two of them finally relaxed and smiled brightly on their little faces.
"A tiger this big can be eaten for two days."
"If we sell the tiger skin and bones, they should be worth hundreds of thousands of baileys."
"If we catch more prey like this, in a few years we'll be able to buy a big ship and go out to sea!"
Sabo grinned, and with his teeth leaking, he looked forward to the future.
As they grew older, the talents of Ace and Sabo began to gradually show. Not only did their appetites grow, but their strength also grew.
By chance, the two people who had been living in the wild also mastered the secret of partial life return and were able to speed up the digestion of food by controlling the internal organs.
It was precisely because of the power of life returning that such a ferocious tiger only consumed two days' worth of food for the two of them. And it was also because of the power of life returning that these two children were able to possess such terrifying physical strength at such a young age.
"It's a pity that there are still fewer valuable beasts in the mountains."
"I really want to go out to sea soon!"
The biggest dream of Ace and Sabo is to own their own ship and sail out to sea. Through the newspaper in Morgans, Ace learned that the new navy is recruiting new soldiers from the public all over the world.
He has been out for many years and really misses his mother, so he wants to go back and visit her.
Of course, another important thing is to be called up to join the new navy.
After Ace and Sabo mastered the life return, their strength expanded very quickly, and ordinary adults had no way to compare with them.
The two of them working together were able to easily kill a tiger. Such strength and reaction were beyond the reach of ordinary people.
Ace is full of confidence in himself now, and he feels that he is qualified to become a new navy.
Even now he is just a little kid less than 1.3 meters tall.
The tiger lying in the pool of blood was completely dead. Ace and Sabo chatted for a while, and then came to the tiger and worked together to skin and cut up the tiger meat.
Both of them were very strong and could handle the heavy slaughtering process with ease.
Just when the two children were busy, Garp and Zephyr, who had been watching in the forest for a long time, finally stopped hiding and emerged from the dense forest.
“Rustle—”
The branches and leaves swayed slightly, making a series of soft sounds.
Sabo and Ace, who were cutting up tiger meat, felt their skin tighten when they heard the noise behind them. Ace quickly stood up with a long knife in his hand, pressed his back tightly against the tiger carcass, and looked behind him.
Sabo and Ace's actions were almost identical. They immediately dropped the tiger meat in their hands, picked up the steel pipe, and stood shoulder to shoulder with Ace on the tiger's back.
The two of them have lived in the wild for quite some time and have accumulated a lot of experience and knowledge.
The bloody smell of the tiger carcass would attract other predators, so the two men rarely spoke while cutting up the tiger meat and were always in a state of high tension.
When they heard a strange noise behind them, the two of them immediately reacted defensively.
The back will be pressed against the tiger's back to avoid being attacked from the front and back by predators as much as possible.
"Hmm?"
"He's very vigilant, and his reaction is great!"
Garp and Zephyr walked out of the forest. When Garp saw the defensive actions of Ace and Sabo, a smile immediately appeared on his face and he praised them out loud.
Beside him, Zefa was looking at Ace and Sabo with curiosity. His gaze lingered on the knife in Ace's hand for a long time.
If he was not mistaken, the sword in Ace's hand should be the sword of Pirate King Roger!
Although he had never had a head-on encounter with the Pirate King Roger in his "career", Zephyr was quite familiar with people of Roger's level. He not only knew the other's life, but also knew everything related to Roger.
This is the most basic thing as a professional soldier. It would be too funny if a senior naval officer did not know the navy's biggest enemy at that time.
Hearing the familiar voices and seeing Garp and Zephyr walking out of the woods, Ace and Sabo, with tense faces, not only did not relax, but their bodies became even tenser.
“Old man?!”
"Why are you back?!"
Ace and Sabo both let out a low cry, and looked at Garp with eyes that were even more serious and nervous than when they looked at Tiger just now.
And in fact it is
In the eyes of these two children, Garp was even more terrifying than that man-eating tiger.
"What are you talking about?"
"Ace, judging from your tone, you seem very unhappy to see me back?!"
"If you do this, I, your grandpa, will be sad!"
Garp quickly came to Ace's front, put one hand on Ace's head, rubbed it hard, and said with a smile.
"whispering sound--"
Ace accepted Garp's call of "Grandpa" and did not refute it. However, in the face of Garp's "caress", Ace showed resistance and reached out to push Garp's big hand away. At the same time, his eyes swept towards Zephyr who appeared with Garp and bowed politely.
Although Ace didn't know Zephyr, he knew that he would appear with Garp and must be Garp's colleague. When facing elders, Ace knew the principle of "the more courtesy, the less blame".
He developed good habits under Lu Jiu's education since he was a child.
At this time, Sabo completely relaxed. While Garp and Ace were chatting, the boy sat down on the ground with the steel pipe in his hand leaning aside.
Zephyr kept looking at Ace and Sabo with scrutiny. When he heard Garp calling Ace's name, his pupils shrank slightly. And when he saw that Ace actually saluted and greeted him with a slight respect, his eyes revealed a deep surprise.
He couldn't believe that a guy like Karp could actually teach such a polite child.
After just the first meeting, Zephyr had some doubts about Ace's background.
"Something's wrong"
"That sword is definitely the sword of Pirate King Roger. It seems to be called Ace!!"
"Is this child also called Ace, and is he Garp's grandson?"
"impossible."
"Garp probably doesn't have a grandson this old, and Long probably only has one son. I just saw him in Seawind Town!"
"But."
"Roger's Child"
Zephyr's eyes flashed with reminiscence as he recalled the events surrounding the Pirate King, Roger. Zephyr had never been one to believe in coincidences. If the coincidence of Ace's name and Roger's sword was a coincidence, then how could Roger's sword be in Ace's hand?
Once may be a coincidence, but is twice also a coincidence?
There are so many coincidences in this world?!
While searching his memory, Zefa remembered that he had actually heard about Roger having a posthumous child before, and it seemed that it was revealed by the small fry on his ship.
When recalling the relevant news, the figure of Yoriichi Tsugakuni appeared in Zefa's mind.
The posthumous child of the Pirate King; Roger's sword Ace; a child named Ace; a user with natural abilities chosen by Yoriichi.
When Zefa connected these things together, the truth became clear.
"Could it be..." Zefa guessed Ace's identity, but he had no intention of asking Garp the truth. Zefa just looked at Ace deeply for a few times and buried the matter deep in his heart.
After a friendly "conversation" with Ace and Sabo for a while, Garp finally formally introduced Zephyr to the two children:
"You two, come."
"This guy's name is Zephyr, and he's the chief instructor of the Marine Headquarters."
"His duty in the Navy is to help train new recruits."
"This time, I asked him to come and see you."
"We all saw the scene where you two worked together to hunt the tiger. You did a great job."
“Although it can’t be compared to when I was a kid, it’s still pretty outstanding.”
Garp brought the two children to Zephyr and introduced him to them.
Upon hearing that Zephyr was the chief instructor of the navy, Ace and Sabo just bowed politely. Neither of them was very interested in Zephyr.
These two children have had what they want and goals to pursue since they were young.
Although Garp has been instilling in them the idea of becoming "excellent navy", in reality, neither of them wants to follow the same path as Garp.
Garp obviously noticed that Ace and Sabo were not in high spirits, but he was not angry. He continued with a smile:
"Zefa, these two are the ones he chose."
"This one is called Ace, and this one is called Sabo."
"Ace is from the South Seas, and Sabo is a native of the Kingdom of Goa."
"You just saw that the potential of these two guys is not to be underestimated."
"What do you think? Do you want to give them a new training environment?"
There was something hidden in Karp's words.
Zephyr understood what Garp meant. He looked at Ace and Sabo, nodded, and confirmed, "It is indeed time to start some systematic training."
"It's more beneficial for them that way."
"I will personally teach you after bringing you back to the Marine Headquarters."
Hearing this, Ace and Sabo looked at each other, both expressing strong resistance. Sabo frowned, shook his head, and refused, "Old man, I don't want to go to the Marine Headquarters!"
Sabo also quickly chimed in: "Me too, I don't want to leave the Kingdom of Goa, I think life here is pretty good."
Ace and Sabo have their own plans. They secretly set up their own small treasury so that they can buy a big ship and go out to sea one day.
How can we go out to sea after going to the Navy Headquarters?!
Seeing Ace and Sabo madly refusing, Garp didn't care. He just put his hands behind his back and said with a smile:
"Tsugikoku Yoriichi is Zephyr's disciple."
Just one sentence made Ace and Sabo look stunned and quiet down.
Upon hearing this, Zefa couldn't help but shook his head: "I can't teach a disciple like that."
(End of this chapter)
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