Conqueror's Haki Awakens!

"Oh? You can still stand?"

Garino raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Then I'll start with you."

He lifted his foot off Sabo and walked toward Ace step by step.

Each step left a deep footprint in the ground.

A beastlike killing intent poured out of him without restraint.

"Kill him."

In the distance, Bluejam, who had been watching the show, impatiently swirled his wineglass.

"Stop playing around and get it over with. I didn't spend over ten million Beli for nothing."

"As you wish."

Beside him, Salome let out a sinister chuckle. He spun the dagger in his hand, then flashed past Ace and charged straight at Luffy on the ground.

"If we're killing them, we'll kill the weakest one first."

"After all, this little monkey was the loudest."

A cold glint flashed.

The dagger stabbed straight for Luffy's throat.

Luffy's eyes widened, the blade that would slit his neck reflected in his pupils.

He wanted to dodge, but his body would not move at all.

"Luffy!!"

Sabo let out a heart-wrenching roar.

Time seemed to slow at that moment.

Ace stared at the dagger.

At Luffy's terrified face.

His mind went completely blank.

He couldn't let him die.

Absolutely not.

If he couldn't even protect these two idiots, what right did he have to surpass that bastard Roger?

What right did he have to stand beside that monster Kahn?

His blood burned.

His heart pounded wildly.

An indescribable power erupted from the depths of his soul.

"Don't touch him!!!"

Ace suddenly opened his mouth and let out a roar.

It was not particularly loud.

Yet it carried a tremor that made souls shudder.

Boom!

Centered on Ace, an invisible shockwave swept across the entire area in an instant.

The air grew thick.

The pirate lackeys carrying barrels of oil nearby did not even have time to groan before their eyes rolled back and they collapsed in swathes like harvested wheat.

Thud.

Salome froze.

That pressure striking directly at his soul left even a pirate with a bounty over one hundred million stunned for an instant.

And in that instant.

Luffy instinctively tucked in his neck. The dagger skimmed across his cheek, leaving a bloody cut, but his life was spared.

The entire place fell silent.

Only the wind howling through Trash Mountain could be heard.

Bluejam's glass of red wine fell onto the deck and shattered.

His mouth hung open as he stared at his unconscious men scattered across the ground, his mind unable to process it.

"W-What kind of witchcraft was that?"

"What did he do?"

Garino, standing in the middle of the field, lost the mocking look on his face.

It was replaced by solemnity, and even a trace of barely concealed excitement.

"Conqueror's Haki..."

Garino narrowed his eyes at the youth, who was covered in blood but carried a completely different presence now.

"A brat with the 'qualities of a king' was born in a backwater like this?"

"No wonder that person regarded you differently."

Ace panted heavily.

That burst just now had nearly drained all his strength.

But he did not fall.

He stared fixedly at the two powerful enemies before him. Even with his vision blurred, he was like a little wolf cub guarding its food.

"Don't... touch my brothers."

"Interesting."

Garino rolled his neck, producing a series of cracking sounds.

His grayish-brown muscles tensed, and Armament Haki instantly coated his entire right arm, making it gleam black.

"You may have the potential, but you're still far too green."

"You don't even know how to control that power. All you can do is release it indiscriminately."

Garino raised his fist.

"In the New World, geniuses like you who are snuffed out before they can grow are as numerous as the sand in the sea."

"Die."

There were no fancy moves.

That jet-black Iron Fist, carrying enough force to smash through stone, slammed down toward Ace's head.

Ace wanted to dodge.

But his legs felt as heavy as if they had been filled with lead.

He could only watch helplessly as the fist grew larger and larger in his vision.

Was he going to die?

Was this how it ended?

How frustrating.

He had not beaten that perverted big brother yet, had not gone out to sea, had not made the whole world know the name Gol D. Ace.

Then.

The sky seemed to brighten.

It was not because the Sun had risen.

A fiercer, more domineering presence descended from the heavens.

Whoosh—

The temperature in the air suddenly soared.

The mountains of garbage began to smoke and curl before they even came into contact with any flames.

A streak of golden light fell like a meteor.

Boom!!!

The ground shook violently.

A powerful shockwave sent dozens of tons of scrap metal flying in every direction.

Dust filled the air.

Within the billowing dust.

A hand.

A pale, slender hand that did not appear to possess any exaggerated muscles.

It steadily caught Garino's Iron Fist, which was wrapped in Armament Haki.

It did not move an inch.

Not even the ground beneath that hand cracked in the slightest.

What did that mean?

It meant that the force capable of blowing apart a small building had been perfectly absorbed in full by the owner of that hand.

"Looks like I got here just in time."

A lazy voice rang out.

The dust dispersed.

The youth wearing beach shorts and nothing on his upper body stood before Ace.

Over two meters tall, his shadow completely sheltered the three brothers behind him.

He did not even look at Garino.

Instead, he lowered his head and looked at the dumbfounded Ace.

"Conqueror's Haki?"

"Pretty loud, but completely lacking in technique."

"It's no different from a dog barking."

Kahn released his hand.

He wiped it on his pants in disgust.

"When we get back, copy 'Basic Control' a thousand times."

Ace opened his mouth, wanting to curse, but tears fell before he could stop them.

"Big brother..."

"Shut up. You look ugly when you cry."

Kahn turned around.

His golden pupils swept across the entire area.

At that instant.

The scorching air seemed to suddenly drop to freezing point.

It was the gaze of something at the top of the food chain looking down.

It was not Conqueror's Haki.

But it was even more suffocating than Conqueror's Haki.

"Who did this?"

Kahn pointed at the wound on Luffy's face.

Then at Sabo's broken water pipe.

And at all the blood covering Ace.

"I'll give you three seconds to choose your words."

Bluejam, aboard the ship in the distance, finally snapped out of his shock.

Another one?

Where had this brat come from?

He looked like he was only twelve or thirteen, didn't he?

He was tall, but who knew whether he could take a beating?

"Hey! Garino! Salome!"

Bluejam gripped the railing and screamed hysterically.

"What are you standing around for?!"

"Kill him!"

"That brat is an accomplice too! Twist his head off! I'll add another five million Beli!"

"A deal worth over ten million, and I get a buy-one-get-one-free?!"

Bluejam felt rather imposing.

After all, he was the employer.

These two experts from the New World had taken his money.

However.

The next moment.

What happened nearly made Bluejam's eyes pop out of their sockets.

That "Iron Wall" Garino, who had been so arrogantly cocky that he looked down his nose at everyone.

And that sinister, terrifying "Viper" Salome, who killed without blinking.

These two great pirates with combined bounties nearing three hundred million.

After hearing the youth speak.

Their bodies suddenly trembled.

Like mice seeing a cat.

No.

It was as if they had seen a god.

Thud.

Thud.

Without the slightest hesitation.

The two of them dropped to their knees in unison.

Their knees slammed into the hard heap of garbage with dull thuds.

Garino, who had been about to crush Ace's head just moments ago, now pressed his face deep into the ground, every muscle in his body trembling uncontrollably.

"Th-This subordinate greets Lord Kahn!"

Salome did not even dare breathe. His forehead was pressed firmly to the ground, and sweat instantly soaked the scrap metal beneath him.

"We... we were only following your orders, giving these young masters... a lesson."

Silence. Deathly silence.

Bluejam's hand froze in midair, pointing toward Kahn. His mouth hung open wide enough to fit an ostrich egg.

What was going on?

Had they gotten the wrong script?

Those two were pirates with bounties exceeding a hundred million!

They were figures of some renown even in the New World!

How could they see some little brat from the East Blue and act like grandsons before their grandfather?

No, it was even more exaggerated than that.

That kind of fear could not be faked.

"L-Lord Kahn?"

Bluejam swallowed, feeling as though his throat had been stuffed with sand.

Why did that name sound familiar?

He seemed to have heard it in intelligence from certain Underworld channels.

The shadowy mastermind who controlled the East Blue Underworld, known as "Eclipse"?

The monster whose true background even the Marines could not uncover?

"A lesson?"

Kahn strolled casually over to Garino.

He raised his foot.

Then lightly stepped on the giant man's head.

As if he were crushing an empty can.

"I told you to give them a lesson."

"Not to actually kill them."

Kahn's voice was soft.

But to Garino, it was no different from a death sentence.

"Especially that monkey."

Kahn pointed at Luffy.

"If his face gets scarred and he can't find a wife in the future, can you take responsibility?"

"This subordinate deserves death!"

Salome was scared out of his wits and began frantically kowtowing.

"This subordinate will sever an arm at once to atone!"

As he spoke, he raised his dagger and was about to stab it into his own arm.