King of Mt. Colubo

Early morning, deep within Mt. Colubo.

"Hahaha! Big clumsy bear, did you skip breakfast? Put some effort into it!"

Accompanied by a burst of laughter, a shocking scene was unfolding in the forest clearing.

Ten-year-old Ace, his toned upper body bare, was engaged in a primitive "wrestling match" with a giant bear from Mt. Colubo that stood four meters tall.

He didn't use a blade or any technique; he simply gripped the giant bear's shoulders tightly with both hands, his legs carving two deep furrows into the mud. Relying on strength that could only be described as monstrous and his boundless energy, he was forcefully suppressing this forest overlord.

"Roar!" The giant bear let out a frustrated, low growl, clearly running out of steam.

"Bang!"

Ace executed a shoulder throw, slamming the massive creature hard into the mud. The bear was left dazed and confused, rolling its eyes back before it rubbed against Ace's thigh in a fawning manner, collapsing to the side like a giant, aggrieved dog.

"Good job, I'll reward you with half a grilled fish later." Ace patted the giant bear's head and sat down nonchalantly on its soft belly.

"Ace! You're bullying the animals in the mountain again!"

The bushes nearby were pushed aside, and ten-year-old Sabo and seven-year-old Luffy ran over, panting heavily.

Each of them carried an incredibly thick log on their shoulders, their bodies soaked through with sweat, and they collapsed onto the ground, exhausted.

"Hey, hey, what do you mean bullying? This is called 'sparring' for practice, alright?"

Ace grinned and gestured to his surroundings. At the edge of the clearing, several tigers, giant crocodiles, and gorillas were lying about, bruised and swollen. These beasts of the East Blue, usually fierce and vicious, were now as docile as a flock of lambs in front of Ace.

"Give it a rest, they were clearly beaten into submission by your fists..." Sabo retorted helplessly, then rubbed his sore shoulders. "But seriously, this 'Marine Headquarters Elite Recruit Training Method' you pestered Old Man Garp for is absolutely lethal."

That's right, Ace wasn't doing any strange or eccentric training.

He knew very well that the most scientific physical conditioning capable of pushing the human body to its absolute limit was all held within the Marine Headquarters system.

Ever since he was eight, every time Garp returned to the East Blue, Ace would find ways to pry information out of him, eventually squeezing out the entire series of "devilish training" methods used by the Marine Headquarters, including weighted cross-country running, waterfall pressure resistance, and deep-sea diving.

And so, this program, originally intended for training adult elite Marines, became the daily homework for the three brothers (primarily Ace and Sabo).

"If we don't polish every inch of our muscles to the limit, how are we going to walk sideways across this ocean in the future?"

Ace stood up and stretched his limbs, his body emitting a series of crisp, bean-popping cracks.

"Luffy, rested enough? Go on, practice your damage resistance with that gorilla!" Ace kicked Luffy toward the giant gorilla, which was already warming up.

"Ahhh! Help me, Ace!" Luffy screamed as he was tossed into the air by the gorilla like a ball.

Watching Luffy's miserable state, Sabo swallowed hard and turned to Ace. "What about you? You finished your basic training for today in the middle of last night, didn't you?"

"Me?"

A hint of excitement curled the corners of Ace's mouth as he looked at the several massive wooden stakes standing in the center of the clearing.

"Today, I'm going to try to deconstruct the old man's footwork."

No sooner had he spoken than Ace's figure suddenly blurred in place.

"Bang!"

A faint sonic boom sounded beneath Ace's feet. His body vanished instantly like an arrow released from a bow, and the next second, he appeared directly in front of the wooden stakes ten meters away.

"This is...?!" Sabo's eyes widened sharply. "The kind of teleportation Old Man Garp uses every time he beats you up?!"

"The old man calls it Soru."

Ace turned his head and laughed loudly, "It uses the reaction force generated by kicking the ground dozens of times in an instant to achieve high-speed movement. It's one of the Six Powers of the Marines."

This was a muscle-activation technique he had keenly captured after being beaten by Garp countless times, relying on his innate Observation Haki that allowed him to "listen to all things."

Since he had to build his foundation under Garp, he couldn't just learn the surface-level stuff.

Although Ace wanted to steal all of the Six Powers and eventually master Life Return, the three techniques he was most interested in—and wanted to learn first—were these:

The explosive speed of Soru, the Geppo that allowed for aerial combat, and the Kami-e that allowed one to dodge attacks like a sheet of paper, perfectly complementing his Observation Haki!

"Bang! Bang! Bang!"

Ace continuously attempted to exert force across the clearing. Although his movements were still a bit raw and the number of times he could stomp the ground was nowhere near the level of a Headquarters officer, his exaggerated physical talent had already allowed him to barely grasp the prototype of Soru.

"What a complete and utter monster!"

Sabo watched Ace leaving trails of afterimages across the field, unable to help but sigh. He had thought his own talent was quite good, but compared to Ace, he felt like he was in a different dimension.

"Stop spacing out, Sabo! Come and trade a few blows with me!"

Ace flashed in front of Sabo and threw a punch directly.

"Whoa! You bastard, you're actually serious!" Sabo hurriedly raised his pipe to block.

"Hahaha! If you can't even take my punch, how are you going to be my vice-captain in the future!"

As the sun set, the sounds of the boys' playful fighting and the roars of wild beasts echoed through Mt. Colubo.

That night, the three brothers sat around the campfire at their camp, eating the grilled fish "tributed" by the giant bear while chatting about the future.

"Ace," Sabo asked suddenly after taking a bite of meat, "I heard Old Man Garp say when he was drunk that the truly top-tier powerhouses on this ocean all master a power called 'Haki.' When do you plan on having him teach you that?"

At the mention of "Haki," even Luffy, who was busy snatching meat nearby, curiously pricked up his ears.

Ace swallowed the food in his mouth, casually wiped the grease from the corner of his lips with the back of his hand, and gazed into the leaping flames with deep, contemplative eyes.

"It's still far too early for that."

Ace chuckled, a flash of clarity crossing his eyes: "Haki, to put it plainly, is nothing more than the hidden will and vitality of a human being. If you don't have a physique monstrous enough to serve as a vessel, forcing yourself to train in Armament Haki will only overdraw your body's potential."

"What we need to do now is treat these bodies like sponges, absorbing nutrients frantically and honing our muscles until we push the limits of our physiques to the absolute peak of this mountain!"

Ace raised his greasy fist and shook it heavily in front of Sabo: "When we reach fifteen, the day our body frames have fully grown and set."

"I will personally pry the old man's mouth open and squeeze every last drop of his Armament Haki and martial arts essence out of him!"

"And then, when we turn seventeen."

Ace stood up, facing the night wind as he spoke:

"We set sail, and we turn this boring world completely upside down!"