A Fateful Meeting

Mt. Colubo, outside the small cabin of the bandit Dadan Family.

The torrential rain had just let up, and the morning sunlight filtered through the canopy, falling on the muddy ground.

"Bang!"

The heavy corpse of a saber-toothed tiger was casually tossed into the clearing in front of the cabin, making the entire house shudder three times.

The cabin door was kicked open. Dadan, a cigarette dangling from her lips, cautiously poked her head out with a group of bandits. When they saw the enormous beast's corpse, which was like a small hill, and the black-haired boy standing beside it with his upper body bare, they all sucked in a sharp breath.

"Hey, Dadan, quit standing there. Do something with this big cat. We're roasting it for dinner tonight."

Ace casually ruffled his wet hair and called to Dadan and the others.

He had set out to hunt in the forest before dawn, spending the whole day running around, observing and tracking his prey.

An ordinary ten-year-old would have been worn out by that. But Ace's constitution was anything but ordinary. It was as if an inexhaustible furnace burned inside him. He barely needed sleep, and his stamina recovered at a monstrous rate—much like Marshall D. Teach, the "Freak" who had once lain low aboard Whitebeard's ship.

"Ace! You little brat, picking a fight with monsters of this caliber again!" Dadan yelled furiously, though a trace of awe lingered in her eyes.

"Hahaha! Can't help it. Ordinary wild boars aren't enough to warm me up anymore."

Ace laughed as he headed for the water barrel, about to wash the blood off himself, when he suddenly stopped.

His Observation Haki sensed a faint but incredibly tenacious life force inside the cabin, along with a powerful presence that felt very familiar.

A burly figure emerged from the cabin's shadows. It was none other than the Hero of the Marines, Garp, who had beaten him up on the mountain just moments ago.

And in Garp's hand, held up like a little chicken, was a seven-year-old kid wearing a straw hat, with a scar beneath his left eye.

Though dangling in midair, the kid's limbs stretched out comically like rubber. He was still shouting defiantly, "Let go of me, old man! I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

Ace looked at the straw-hatted kid. His pupils narrowed slightly, then the smile at the corners of his mouth gradually widened.

Luffy.

So we finally meet.

In the original story, ten-year-old Ace loathed his own origins so much that he was hostile toward everyone. When he first met Luffy, he even spat at him.

But this Ace wouldn't do that.

He had a mature soul and the ambition to devour the world. And in his previous life, he had liked Luffy a lot. To him, this future child of destiny would be the most entertaining witness on his road to the throne.

"Thud."

Garp dropped Luffy on the ground and pointed at Ace. "Luffy, you're staying here from now on. That's Ace. He's three years older than you. You'll follow him from now on."

Before Garp could finish, Ace had already strode over to Luffy.

At ten years old, after years of inhuman training, Ace was already much taller than other kids his age. He looked down at Luffy, who was sitting on the ground. The terrifying pressure made Luffy stop shouting and nervously swallow.

"Y-you wanna do something?" Luffy clutched the straw hat on his head.

"Pirate King?"

Ace looked at Luffy. Instead of mocking him, he grabbed Luffy's elastic cheeks and tugged them apart, then laughed. "Hahaha! You're interesting! You may be a scrawny little rubber brat, but you've got a good eye!"

"Hey! You jerk!"

"Listen up, kid." Ace let go and pointed his thumb at his own chest, proclaiming loudly, "From now on, you're with me! If you want to be the Pirate King, go ahead. That's a boring title anyway. I'm going to be the King of the World. I'll rewrite the rules of the world myself!"

Luffy froze. Even Garp, standing nearby, opened his eyes wide and stared at the boy before him in disbelief, sensing the Haki he radiated.

Late that night.

Everyone in the Dadan Family was snoring. After being put through Ace's welcoming ceremony all evening, Luffy was fast asleep in a corner, mouth wide open.

Only Ace was still awake.

A little rest was all he needed to recover his energy. His vitality was astonishing.

Ace pushed open the window and nimbly leaped onto the roof.

A blond boy with a missing tooth, wearing a top hat and a blue vest, was already waiting for him there.

"Sabo, what are you doing here in the middle of the night?" Ace walked over and sat down beside him without ceremony.

"I came to share some information with you, you reckless idiot."

Sabo, also ten years old, sighed helplessly and pulled a crumpled wanted poster from his clothes. "Look. There's been a rumor in the East Blue black market that someone found a Devil Fruit recently... Hey, are you even listening?"

"I'm listening."

Ace rested his hands behind his head and gazed up at the stars. His eyes held a depth only an adult could understand.

"Sabo, what would happen if someone ate two Devil Fruits?" Ace suddenly asked.

Sabo paused, then answered as if reciting from a book. "Isn't it obvious? A person can only host one devil. If they greedily eat a second, their body will explode."

"Exactly. That's the limit for ordinary people."

Ace sat up and turned to Sabo. In the moonlight, his smile looked utterly defiant. "Because their souls have only one 'container.'"

Sabo's heart skipped a beat. Looking into Ace's eyes, he felt a crazy premonition well up inside him.

"Ace... you're not thinking of..."

"Sabo, let's get stronger together."

Ace stood up. The wind tousled his black hair as he held out his hand to his future first mate. "Seven years! We'll train our bodies and Haki to the limit for seven years! When we set sail at seventeen, I'll prove to this world—"

"Whether they're nobles who look down on everyone from on high or the remnants of the old era in the New World, they're all just stepping stones on my way to the throne! I'll make the entire sea bow at my feet!"

Looking into Ace's eyes, burning with mad ambition, Sabo's heart skipped a beat. He knew the boy before him wasn't joking.

Because of Garp, Ace had once seriously considered joining the Marines. But given his personality, he was bound to clash with the Celestial Dragons and certain high-ranking Marines. Besides, the thought of life inside that kind of system bored him. He only wanted to live freely in this world and do what he wanted. And in a world where strength reigned supreme, that took absolute power. So, to make sure no one could ever walk all over him, he had to work harder and harder, live up to his talent, and climb step by step to the very top.