High Town Nightmare! The "Three Heroes of the Night" Who Broke the Nobles' Spirits

Time passed quickly.

Especially when all you had to do every day was two things.

Bask in the sun.

Beat up your little brothers.

Three years might have been nothing more than a few waves crashing against the shore for this sea.

But for the Goa Kingdom, those three years had been nothing short of a nightmare.

A nightmare brought by three brats.

Mount Colubo, atop a massive boulder.

A boy wearing nothing but beach shorts lay there spread-eagled.

If one ignored his exaggerated height and marble-statue muscles, judging by his face alone, he looked no older than twelve.

Kahn.

At twelve years old, Kahn had already shot up to two meters and ten centimeters.

That was only because he had deliberately used his Bio-Force Field to suppress his skeletal growth.

Otherwise, with the Kryptonians' growth rate and three uninterrupted years of daily sunbathing, he would probably have reached three meters by now.

He yawned.

Then rolled over.

Golden sunlight flowed across his back as though he had been coated in liquid gold.

Comfortable.

Every cell in his body cheered with joy. That overflowing feeling of power meant he did not even need to use his muscles; with the Bio-Magnetic Field alone, he could make his body hover a few inches above the ground.

"They should be back soon, right?"

Kahn lazily opened his eyes.

His golden pupils pierced through the forest, through the so-called high wall, and looked directly toward the noble district known as High Town.

It was very lively there right now.

The chaotic kind of lively.

Goa Kingdom, High Town.

The so-called residential district for nobles.

Its ground was paved with marble tiles, every one of them polished to a shine.

The air carried the scent of expensive perfume. Even the trash cans by the roadside were cleaner than the dining tables in the slums.

At that moment, the night was at its darkest.

A bedroom inside a mansion rang with pig-like shrieks.

"Guards! Where are all the guards?!"

"Are you all dead?! Get in here!"

The one shouting was a noble as round as a ball.

A gold chain as thick as a finger hung around his neck, and eight of his ten fingers wore rings.

He was currently curled up in the corner of his bed, every fold of fat trembling.

Because someone was crouching on his bedside table.

A child.

He wore a black top hat, with a pair of windproof goggles over his eyes.

He held a water pipe polished to a gleam.

A black bedsheet ripped from somewhere hung behind him, pretending to be a cape.

"Good evening, esteemed Baron Bally."

The child lowered his voice, trying to make himself sound like a weathered middle-aged man.

But he could not quite hide the childish milkiness in his voice.

"I am... the Dark Knight."

"In other words, the embodiment of justice."

Baron Bally's eyes nearly popped out of their sockets.

What the hell was this?

Where had this wild brat come from?

"Y-you... what do you want? I'm a noble! I have immunity!"

"Immunity my ass."

Before the Dark Knight could speak, another voice came from the windowsill.

The window had somehow been smashed open.

A shirtless brat wearing only a red vest crouched there.

He wore a somewhat ridiculous red mask, like some cheap knockoff bought from a street stall.

He held a water pipe too.

Only, his pipe was a full size thicker than the one by the bed.

"Stop wasting time talking to this fat pig."

The brat in the red vest looked impatient.

"Hand over the money already. We still need to hurry back for a midnight snack."

Baron Bally was dumbfounded.

Who was this one now?

Before he could react.

The ceiling suddenly cracked.

Yes, cracked.

With a boom.

A sandal-clad foot stomped straight through the ceiling.

Amid a shower of dust and wood chips, a third figure fell from above.

He landed squarely on Baron Bally's soft, enormous belly.

"Ow!"

Baron Bally nearly vomited up his dinner.

"Hehehe! Sorry, sorry!"

The little one who had fallen down was the shortest.

He wore a Straw Hat.

His face was painted in every color, making him look like a giant calico cat.

He bounced off Baron Bally's stomach, his body twisting like noodles a few times.

"I'm Rubber Superman!"

Baron Bally rolled his eyes and foamed at the mouth.

He felt like the world had gone insane.

Where had these three lunatics come from?

"Stop playing around, you rubber idiot."

The top-hat-wearing "Dark Knight"—Sabo—rubbed his forehead helplessly.

He knocked out Baron Bally, who had tried to reach for a gun, with a single strike.

He was so practiced at it that it was almost heartbreaking.

"Red Devil, go open the safe."

"Rubber Man, keep watch."

"I'll handle the packing."

The division of labor was clear.

Ace, known as "Red Devil," curled his lips.

"Don't call me Red Devil. It sounds awful."

"And I've told you a thousand times, I'm not Rubber Man. I'm Monkey D. Rubber King!"

Luffy shouted as he stretched out his arm.

He grabbed the chandelier like a monkey and began swinging.

"Shut up!"

Ace and Sabo roared in unison.

Could this idiot little brother show even a little professionalism?

We were stealing... no, we were carrying out justice!

Ten minutes later.

The mansion's alarm finally sounded.

The kingdom's soldiers raised torches and surrounded the main gate so tightly that not even water could get through.

"People inside, listen up! You're surrounded!"

"Drop your weapons! Surrender immediately!"

The guard captain held up a loudspeaker and shouted himself hoarse.

High Town had been unsettled this past month.

Rumor had it that a criminal gang called the High Town Three Heroes had appeared.

They specifically targeted wealthy nobles.

They did not kill anyone.

But what they did was even worse than killing.

They would rob the nobles of every last coin, then strip them down to nothing but their underwear and hang them from the streetlamps in the square.

This was a naked humiliation of the noble class!

The king was furious.

He ordered that these three lawless maniacs had to be captured.

"They're coming out!"

Someone shouted.

The soldiers raised their guns in unison.

Three dark figures leaped out onto the second-floor balcony.

"Fire!"

Bang! Bang! Bang!

A dense volley of gunfire echoed through the night sky.

Bullets poured toward them like rain.

Ordinary people would have been riddled with holes long ago.

But those three figures were unbelievably agile.

Especially the little one in the Straw Hat.

The bullets that struck him actually bounced right back.

"Rebound!"

Luffy shouted, puffing out his belly.

Several bullets ricocheted back, striking the soldiers' butts and hats.

The crowd fell into chaos.

"Rubber?! He's a Devil Fruit user!"

"Monster!"

The soldiers panicked.

Just then.

A red figure descended from the sky.

The water pipe in Ace's hand swung into an afterimage.

No Haki.

There was no need for Haki.

The brute strength he had developed under Kahn over the past three years was terrifying enough.

Clang!

With one strike.

Three rifles were bent outright.

Using the momentum, Ace kicked a soldier in the chest.

The soldier flew back more than ten meters as though he had been hit by a truck, knocking over a whole group of people.

"Too weak!"

Ace snorted coldly.

Though he was only ten.

His physical abilities now were enough for him to crush a whole group of petty officers and even warrant officers at Marine Headquarters.

On the other side.

Sabo moved like a ghost.

He used the terrain to leap back and forth between the walls and streetlamps.

The water pipe in his hand struck only the backs of heads.

Steady.

Accurate.

Ruthless.

"Geppo!"

Sabo kicked off the air.

Though he was still far from proficient and could only manage two or three steps.

It was enough to carry him over the soldiers' encirclement and onto the rooftop.

"Retreat!"

Sabo let out a whistle.

Ace grabbed Luffy, who was still pulling faces at the soldiers.

The three of them moved like apes through the forest, vanishing into the vast night after a few leaps.

Leaving behind only soldiers groaning on the ground.

And Baron Bally, hanging from the balcony railing in nothing but a pair of pink briefs.

When the wind blew.

The baron was a complete mess in the breeze.

It was a sight too beautiful to behold.