The King's Fury

Being forced back by a child filled Bluejam with unprecedented humiliation. Using the momentum of his retreat, he jerked his left hand up, the short-barreled flintlock hidden in his sleeve aimed directly at Ace's head.

"Die!"

"Bang!"

Fire spat from the muzzle. With less than three meters between them, this was a blind spot from which there was absolutely no escape!

Luffy squeezed his eyes shut on the pillar, screaming, "Ace—!"

Yet, the smile on Ace's face did not fade in the slightest.

"Bang!"

A strange, muffled thud echoed through the air. Instead of dodging left or right, Ace slammed his right foot into the empty air! In that instant, the atmosphere seemed to solidify into a tangible staircase.

Navy Six Styles: Geppo!

The very moment the bullet left the chamber, Ace's body shot upward by two meters. The lethal lead projectile grazed the soles of his shoes, shattering the wooden pillar behind him.

"He... he stepped on the air?!"

Bluejam looked up in despair at the black-haired boy hovering in mid-air like a demon god, his brain completely unable to process what he was seeing. How could a backwater place like the East Blue produce a monster capable of such legendary martial arts?!

"Warm-up's over, trash."

Suspended in mid-air, Ace flipped his body, his right leg drawn back like a fully tensioned giant bow. The muscles beneath his red vest bulged to their limit. With a suffocating whistle of displaced air, he swung down like a massive battle-axe cleaving the heavens!

Bluejam could only instinctively raise his broad-backed saber horizontally above his head in a desperate attempt to block.

"Crack—!"

A teeth-grinding sound of snapping metal rang through the cabin. The heavy blade, which had claimed countless lives, shattered into pieces like fragile glass under the sheer force of Ace's physical kick!

Ace's heel continued its momentum, smashing into Bluejam's shoulder with unstoppable force.

"Rumble!!"

The entire abandoned ship groaned and shook violently. The massive impact drove Bluejam, bones and all, straight through the rotting floorboards. Wood splinters and mud erupted into the air as Bluejam spat out a mouthful of blood. He was slammed deep into the mire below, his body a broken mess of shattered bones, and he fell completely unconscious. The remaining twenty or thirty pirate lackeys watched the unconscious Bluejam in the pit, their courage utterly broken.

"Monster! These two brats are monsters!"

One lackey shrieked in terror. He suddenly pulled a short blade from his waist, spun around, and pressed it against Luffy's neck, roaring in desperation:

"D-don't come any closer! One more step and I'll kill this straw-hat brat!"

Ace, who had been preparing to continue his assault, slowly stopped in his tracks.

He turned his head, his pitch-black eyes looking coldly at the pirate holding Luffy hostage.

There was no anger, nor was there despair.

There was only the extreme, detached indifference of a dragon looking down upon an ant.

"Kill him?"

A cold curve touched the corner of Ace's mouth. "You can try, if your hand isn't shaking too hard."

The moment the words fell.

An invisible, terrifying aura that seemed capable of crushing the very space around them erupted from Ace's body without warning!

There was no gale, nor was there an explosion.

But the moment this aura appeared, time within the broken ship seemed to grind to a halt.

The air became thick and viscous. A profound fear, originating from the depths of the soul, gripped the hearts of every pirate present like an invisible giant hand.

"W-what is this..."

The pirate holding Luffy felt his mind go blank, his legs trembling uncontrollably. With a clatter, the short blade fell from his hand to the floor.

Immediately after, "thud," "thud"...

The twenty or so pirate lackeys around them didn't even have time to scream. Their eyes rolled back, foam bubbled from their mouths, and they collapsed in rows like harvested wheat, falling into a dead faint!

In just one second, the only ones left standing in the cabin were Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, who remained tied to the pillar in stunned silence.

Conqueror's Haki!

There was no desperate, life-or-death stimulus, nor any painful epiphany.

During these three years of savage growth, Ace's ambition to conquer the world and his kingly spirit had already accumulated to their peak. When this rabble of low-life trash tried to cross his bottom line with such pathetic tactics, this Haki simply overflowed like a full cup, naturally and inevitably pouring forth!

"W-what just happened?"

Sabo looked in shock at the pirates unconscious on the floor, then back at Ace, who hadn't even moved a finger. Even he had felt a terrifying pressure in that instant that made his heart constrict.

"Nothing. Just cleaned up some annoying trash."

Ace withdrew his presence, the coldness on his face melting instantly as he returned to his usual flamboyant grin.

He stepped forward, looking down at the thick iron chains binding Luffy, feeling the unique, cold texture of Seastone.

"So this is Seastone, with a hardness rivaling diamonds. I never expected to find this on a small-time pirate."

Ace inspected it briefly, then turned and walked over to Bluejam, who lay unconscious at the bottom of the pit. Without ceremony, he kicked the great East Blue pirate over, roughly tore open his clothes, and fished out a ring of blood-stained copper keys from his chest.

He walked over to Luffy and inserted a key into the lock.

A crisp "click" echoed through the room.

The heavy Seastone handcuffs and chains slid off in response, clattering onto the wooden floor.

"Wow! Saved!" The moment Luffy was free, he began jumping up and down with excitement, his rubber arms flailing about. "Ace! That 'stare' you just did was so cool! Teach me, teach me!"

"Hahaha! That's not something you can teach; it's the natural disposition of a king!"

Ace laughed heartily, reaching out to pull the straw hat down over Luffy's head before turning to face the ruins.

"Sabo, stop standing there like a statue, let's get to work!"

Ace kicked aside a few broken planks and dragged several heavy iron chests out from under the debris.

With a loud "bang," he pried open a lid, and a dazzling golden light instantly shimmered from within. It was all the gold and treasure the Bluejam Pirates had plundered across the East Blue over the years!

"Robbing the robbers?" Sabo walked over, his eyes lighting up as he gazed at the treasure, which was easily worth tens of millions of Beli.

"This is called returning things to their rightful owners."

Ace hoisted the heaviest chest of gold coins onto his shoulder, looking quite satisfied. "The rule of this sea is that the winner takes all!"

"With this money, Sabo, we've just about gathered enough starting capital to build our pirate ship!"

Watching Ace's joyful expression, Sabo couldn't help but break into a satisfied smile as well.