Even Green Algae Practice Swordsmanship These Days?

Over the next few days, Mount Colubo was livelier than Ron had imagined.

On the first day, Garp hauled Ace and Luffy to the foot of a hundred-meter cliff and told them to climb it barehanded.

Halfway up, Luffy's hand slipped. He dangled from a branch halfway up the cliff, swinging back and forth and crying for help.

Ace called him an idiot, but dutifully made his way back down, reached out, and yanked him off the branch.

Ron sat at the top of the mountain, munching on an apple, and called down, "Keep it up! Any slower and lunch will be cold!"

"Then get down here and help!" Ace roared, looking up.

"The training's yours. The apple's mine."

The second day was even tougher.

Garp drove the three children into the woods to challenge an adult black bear, counting even Sabo, who happened to be passing by, among the trainees.

"I'm not even your grandson!" Sabo protested.

"If you want to be a marine someday, of course you have to train with them!"

"Who said I wanted to be a marine?!"

The black bear's swat shook the mountain. Ron sat on a rock nearby, and whenever things looked bad, he opened a door to move the three brats to safety, then had them get back up and carry on training.

On the third day, Garp finally started teaching them basic boxing.

Ace trained the hardest, his punches whipping through the air with force.

Sabo was clever and grasped how to put power behind a punch after watching it twice.

Luffy was halfway through throwing a punch when he suddenly raised his hand.

"Gramps! Once I learn this, can I become the Pirate King?"

Thump!

"King of the Marines!!"

The Fist of Love landed squarely on his head, raising another round bump.

Ron rocked with laughter on his rock and nearly fell off.

The three brats' skills improved by the day. As for their willingness to become marines... each shook his head more firmly than the last.

Even so, Garp was quite satisfied. "Train their bodies first. Their heads can be set straight later!"

Ron seriously suspected the old man had come specifically to raise future pirates for the seas.

That evening.

Ace and Sabo came back from Gray Terminal, each carrying a bulging cloth sack. They had just entered the mountain woods when they ran into Ron beneath a tree.

"What are you hiding?"

Ace immediately tucked his sack behind his back. "What's it to you?!"

Click.

A small door opened out of thin air beneath his sack.

In an instant, the sack landed at Ron's feet. Its mouth fell open, revealing a pile of Beli and assorted gold and silver jewelry.

Luffy's eyes lit up. "Whoa! That's a lot of money! How much meat can you buy with it?"

"Give it back!" Ace clenched his fists and started to charge.

Sabo's expression changed too. "We worked hard to save that!"

Ron didn't smile. He nudged the sack with his foot. "Where did it come from?"

"It's for buying a pirate ship."

"I'm asking where the money came from."

Sabo hesitated for a moment, then told the truth.

They had watched the bullies at the terminal and the petty pirates passing through, striking while they were up to no good and taking their money, saving it up bit by bit.

"You didn't rob ordinary people?"

"No!"

Ace stuck his chin out. "Those guys started it!"

Ron tied the sack shut and tossed it back.

"Keep it safe. Robbing pirates doesn't mean you won't get into trouble. Don't go picking fights with just anyone because you can handle yourselves."

Ace caught the sack, still defiant. "Don't pirates do whatever they want? That's what freedom on the seas is!"

"And if someone stronger than you comes along one day and wants to do whatever he likes to you, you'd accept that?"

"Of course not!"

"Then there you go."

Ron stood up and brushed off his trouser legs.

"Don't just think about your own freedom. Leave others a way to live too."

"If you really want to be pirates, suit yourselves."

"But next time you run into someone strong, don't come crying for help."

Ace gave a defiant snort.

Sabo, however, looked down at the money bag in his arms and said nothing more.

Luffy scratched his head. "Then when I become a pirate, can I just steal bad guys' meat?"

"..."

Ron rubbed the space between his brows.

"You'd better learn to tell good people from bad first."

That night, on the roof of Dadan's house.

Ace sat alone on the eaves, gazing at the dark forest in the distance, his shadow stretching long.

Soft footsteps sounded.

Ron came over carrying two bottles of juice, sat down, and offered him one.

Ace didn't take it.

"Don't you marines hate pirates most of all?"

"The pirates I hate are the ones who murder and burn."

"There's a difference?"

"A big one."

"Some people go to sea to bully others. Others just want to find a place where they can live more freely."

Ace fell silent for a long time, picking at the wooden boards beneath him.

"Then what if... someone's father is a bad man?"

Ron glanced at him.

"What do his father's bad deeds have to do with the child?"

Ace clenched his fists.

"But everyone says his child shouldn't have been born either."

"Who says?"

"Lots of people."

"Does that mean they're right?"

Ace opened his mouth but said nothing.

Ron set the juice down beside him.

"Let me ask you: what bad things did you do today?"

"None!"

"Then there you go."

"But..."

"No buts."

Ron bit the cap off his juice bottle and took a sip.

"If you ever do hurt innocent people, I'll arrest you all the same."

"Until then, you're Ace."

He turned to look at the boy.

"As for who your father is, what's that got to do with me?"

Ace froze.

After a long while, he lowered his head and picked up the juice.

"Do all you marines think that way?"

"Of course not."

Ron answered without hesitation.

"So if you run into trouble in the future, remember to find someone reasonable."

"Don't see a Justice Coat and assume everyone wearing one is the same."

Ace took a sip of juice, and its cool sweetness spread through his mouth.

"You're a pretty strange marine."

"Same to you. A nine-year-old who spends every day thinking about becoming a pirate isn't exactly normal either."

"Mind your own business!"

Ace's words were fierce, but he didn't put the juice down again.

Early the next morning, the three brats squatted by the stream, arguing about their futures.

"I'm going to be the freest pirate of all!" Luffy shouted the loudest.

"I'm going to sail all around the world!" Sabo's eyes shone.

Ace raised his head, the morning light falling across his face. "I'm going to make the whole world remember my name!"

Ron happened to be passing by. He stopped and glanced at Ace.

He casually asked, "You really won't consider the marines?"

"No!!"

The three answered so perfectly in unison that they might have rehearsed it.

"Tsk, you won't even give me that?"

Luffy grinned. "Big bro! When I become a pirate, come catch me!"

"Sure. Once I catch you, I'll pack you up and send you to Garp so he can give you extra training every day."

Luffy's smile instantly froze, his whole face twisting in agony.

"What?! You're so evil—!!!"

Ace folded his arms and scoffed. "Who'd want to go to that stinking old man?!"

Sabo laughed so hard beside them that he doubled over.

Before they left, Garp insisted on having Ron assess the results.

"Well? How was my teaching?!"

"Not bad."

"Hahaha! I knew it!"

"All three can fight pretty well."

"And?"

"Each wants to be a pirate more than the last."

Garp's smile froze on his face, and Ron patted him on the shoulder.

"First, think about how you're going to make up for that year's worth of rice crackers."

"When did I lose?!"

In the distance, the three brats were lined up, shouting, "We'll definitely set sail someday!" Their cries rang through the mountains.

"I haven't trained you enough today!"

Garp raised his fists and chased after them.

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy took off running, their racket echoing through the mountain woods.

The light in the three brats' eyes when they looked at the sea reminded him of Tom watching the Sea Train leave the station.

Some paths, people had to choose for themselves.

The mountain was thrown into chaos once again.

By the time the three brats ran back to the cabin, dusty and disheveled, Ron was preparing to leave too.

He left an ordinary emergency contact Den Den Mushi.

"If you run into trouble you really can't handle, call this."

Dadan started. "Rear Admiral, are you sure?"

"It's only for saving lives, not for helping them escape training."

From outside came a distant snort from Garp. "That's more like it!"

Luffy suddenly poked his head through the window. "Big bro! Are you coming back?"

"Depends on my mood."

Sabo shook his head. "You really say whatever you like."

Ace said nothing, but he looked over too.

Ron smiled. "See you again if we get the chance."

"Then you can show me what you've grown into."

Ace turned his head away, his voice muffled. "Next time, I'll definitely beat you."

"Beat your grandpa first, then we'll talk."

Ron waved a hand and stepped through the Air Door, disappearing beyond it.

There was another place in the East Blue he had long wanted to visit.

East Blue, Shimotsuki Village, Isshin Dojo.

The sharp clack of wooden swords rang out from the courtyard, one strike after another.

Bang! Bang!

Kuina suddenly stepped forward and knocked Zoro's guard aside with her wooden sword, then brought it down on his forehead!

"Ow!"

The green-haired little boy slipped and landed squarely on his backside, sending several wooden swords clattering across the ground.

The wooden sword wasn't heavy, but it left a faint red mark on his forehead.

Kuina & Zoro

Kuina drew back her wooden sword and raised her chin proudly.

"You're still so weak, Zoro."

Zoro looked up, clutching his head, his hair bristling with anger. "You hit me on the head again..."

Outside the dojo.

Ron stopped in his tracks and listened to the commotion inside, unable to keep the corners of his mouth from curling upward.

Could this guy's terrible sense of direction later in life have come from getting hit on the head two thousand times like this...? (As everyone knows, Kuina was the girl young Zoro fought two thousand times without winning once, and every time, she defeated him by hitting him on the head with a wooden sword.)

As Ron pondered, a gentle voice came from inside.

"Guest from afar, please come in."

A smiling man wearing glasses slid the wooden door open.

Shimotsuki Koshiro.

Ron's gaze passed over him and fell on the green-haired brat in the courtyard, who was clutching his forehead and climbing to his feet in a huff to pick up his wooden swords.

"Yo~"

He leaned against the doorframe and drawled, "These days, even green algae are practicing swordsmanship?"

Zoro whipped around, his eyes wide.

"Who are you calling Moss Head?!"