The Monster Named Ace

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East Blue, Goa Kingdom, Mt. Colubo.

"BOOM!"

A pale bolt of lightning tore through the pitch-black night sky, and the torrential rain hammered down into the dense primeval forest like a collapsing river from the heavens.

In this harsh weather, where even sight was completely blurred by the curtain of rain, a wild chase was unfolding deep within Mt. Colubo.

A mutated saber-toothed tiger, over five meters long and covered in hard scales, was sprinting frantically through the mud in terror. It was the overlord of this forest, but now, only despair remained in those cold, vertical pupils.

It was running for its life.

"Hahaha! Don't run, big cat! Didn't you want to eat me just a moment ago?!"

A crisp yet wildly unrestrained laugh suddenly erupted from the canopy above the saber-toothed tiger.

"BANG!"

A thick tree trunk was snapped instantly by a burst of violent force. Accompanied by a gust of wind, a black-haired boy of about ten, shirtless, descended like a meteorite and slammed straight down in front of the saber-toothed tiger.

The boy had slightly curly black hair and a few freckles on his cheeks. Although he was only ten, his muscle definition was as taut as a leopard's, and as the cold rain lashed against his body, a wisp of scorching white steam even rose from his skin.

In his hand, he held a heavy, blunt iron broadsword, notched and completely unsharpened.

There was no stance, nor any refined swordsmanship.

The boy simply grinned, revealing an excited smile. The next second, his legs exerted sudden force, the muddy ground beneath him exploded into a deep crater, and he lunged toward the massive beast like a cannonball.

"Get down!"

The boy gripped the hilt with both hands, using the heavy iron sword as a pure club, and smashed it down toward the saber-toothed tiger's skull without any flair!

The air emitted a piercing sonic boom at this moment. The muscles in the boy's arms bulged instantly, veins protruding beneath his skin like coiling dragons, pouring out the monster-level strength contained within his ten-year-old body without reservation!

"CRACK!"

Accompanied by a hair-raising sound of bone fracturing, the saber-toothed tiger's massive body was forced into the mud by this unreasonable, freakish strength. Its entire skull sank deep into the mire, and after twitching twice, it completely lost all signs of life.

"Phew, you really are thick-skinned."

The boy casually shouldered the iron sword, breathing heavily as he inhaled rain mixed with the scent of blood, then laughed heartily: "Still, at least I've got a late-night snack!"

"You brat, your strength has grown again!"

Just then, a voice like a muffled thunderclap rang out through the downpour.

A burly old man in a floral shirt appeared out of nowhere, ten paces away. He looked at the beast's carcass on the ground, his eyes hidden in the shadows flickering with undisguised shock and complexity.

"Oh? Old man Garp, you're back early this time."

The boy named Ace didn't turn his head; he just flicked the blood off his sword casually and grinned: "I heard your footsteps and that terrifying aura of yours from a kilometer away."

Garp's eye twitched.

He heard it?

In this thunderstorm-ridden mountain, hearing a person's heartbeat and aura from a kilometer away?

Observation Haki! And it was that top-tier, innate Observation Haki—the kind that didn't require deliberate training, similar to the "Voice of All Things"!

Truly... a monster born to defy all logic.

Garp muttered to himself, strode forward, raised his massive fist with pitch-black Haki instantly coating it, and slammed it down hard on Ace's head!

"Take this! A fist of love!"

Facing a punch that could shatter mountains, ten-year-old Ace didn't dodge like an ordinary child; instead, he raised his blunt iron sword and met Garp's fist head-on!

"BOOM!!"

A visible shockwave exploded between the grandfather and grandson, instantly clearing the surrounding rain.

"CRACK!"

The iron sword shattered upon impact, and Ace was sent flying like a kite with a broken string for over ten meters, crashing through three trees before he finally stopped.

"Ow, ow, ow, ow! You old geezer, your strikes are still as ruthless as ever!"

Ace climbed out of the wreckage as if nothing had happened, despite a blow that would have pulverized an ordinary person. He patted the mud off his body, and the terrifying bruise on his chest was actually fading at a visible rate.

Garp watched this scene, falling into complete silence.

This son of Roger, whom he had raised since childhood, had displayed hair-raising talent from the moment he was born.

He had been fighting beasts in the forest since he was three, seemingly never knowing fatigue. That seemingly inexhaustible energy was something even Roger himself hadn't possessed back in the day.

"Brat, take your prey and get back to Dadan!" Garp snorted, turned, and strode into the rain, though his back looked a bit more helpless than before.

Roger, what kind of monster have you left behind?

The rain continued to fall.

Ace glanced at the broken hilt in his hand, tossed it into the mud, and dragged the heavy carcass of the saber-toothed tiger with one hand.

He lowered his head, using the faint light of a lightning strike to look at his own young, freckled face reflected in a puddle.

"Portgas D. Ace... Heh."

Ace whispered to himself, a curve of arrogant defiance hooking at the corner of his mouth.

Garp had no idea what kind of mature and ambitious soul was hidden within the shell of this ten-year-old boy.

He was not the original "Fire Fist Ace"—that boy who suffered from insecurity, craved familial affection, and ultimately died in the Summit War due to a ridiculous provocation.

He was a transmigrator.

To be precise, his soul had completed the deepest level of fusion with this body while still in the womb.

This cross-dimensional soul reconstruction had granted him three trump cards capable of overturning this world.

First, innate Observation Haki and the Voice of All Things; he had been able to hear the voices of the world since he first regained consciousness.

Second, stamina as monstrous as a freak of nature. While not as excessive as Big Mom's Iron Balloon, it provided him with enough of an edge to perfectly digest Garp's hellish training regimen. His energy was so abundant that he barely needed sleep; when others were exhausted, he only needed to sit and catch his breath for a moment before he could stand up again.

And the third, most terrifying point...

Ace slowly raised his hands, feeling the "two abysses" within his body, created by the doubling of his soul's strength.

In this world, everyone could only consume one Devil Fruit; eating a second would cause them to explode.

But he was different.

His soul capacity was naturally sufficient to bear the arrival of two demons!

"Second Division Commander of the Whitebeard Pirates? A tragedy of being pierced through the chest by Akainu?"

Dragging his prey, Ace laughed loudly into the thunderstorm amidst the mountain forest. There was not a shred of fear for his fate in that laughter, only the unruliness of someone ready to trample all rules underfoot.

"Since the heavens have allowed me to live another life, descending into this Great Pirate Era with such innate trump cards,"

"What I want to be is absolutely not the son of some Four Emperors!"

"Gods or Celestial Dragons, it matters not. This world—I will conquer it with my own two hands!"