Ace's Defiance? Break His Legs First, Then Heal Them

The night wind swept over Mount Colubo, making the leaves rustle.

With his back to the forest, Lei En sat at the edge of a cliff, tossing the Cloud-Cloud Fruit up and down in his hand.

"Coming to find your demon instructor instead of sleeping in the middle of the night? You don't want that pipe anymore?"

Without even turning his head, he spoke lazily, with a hint of mockery in his voice.

A small figure covered in bruises emerged from the bushes behind him.

It was Ace.

Though he had not been shocked into rolling around on the ground like Monkey D. Luffy during the day, he had still taken a solid, no-frills beating from Lei En. He was even limping slightly as he walked.

Yet his eyes were like a wolf's glowing green in the darkness, fixed on Lei En's back with undisguised hatred and vigilance.

"Quit playing mysterious!"

Ace clenched the Iron Water Pipe, still caked with mud, and growled through gritted teeth.

"What exactly are you after? Did that old bastard Garp bring you here just to torture us?!"

Burdened with the world's most vicious bloodline curse—the son of Gol D. Roger, the One Piece—Ace had grown up amid the scornful looks and insults of others.

It had made him incredibly extreme and volatile, like a little hedgehog with every spine raised, unwilling to trust anyone.

"Purpose? Torture you?"

Lei En stopped tossing the fruit and slowly turned around.

Looking at Ace, who resembled a wild cat with its fur standing on end, he suddenly burst out laughing. His laughter was especially grating in the night sky.

"Kid, don't you think too highly of yourself?"

Lei En rose to his feet and dusted off his pants.

"With your pathetic little tricks, do you really think you're worth the effort of torturing? I'm only teaching you how to survive in this man-eating sea."

"Shut up!"

It was as if Ace had been struck where it hurt. He roared like a mad dog.

"I don't need you to teach me! Once I set sail, I'll prove to everyone that I'm stronger than anyone! I'll become the One Piece!"

"With what?"

Lei En sneered disdainfully and wagged a finger.

"With that soft little strength of yours and that ridiculous pride? Don't make me laugh. In the New World, trash like you wouldn't even be enough to fill someone's teeth."

Those words completely ignited the powder keg in Ace's heart.

"Aaaahhh—!"

Ace's eyes turned bloodshot as he let out a beastly roar.

He kicked off the ground, shooting toward Lei En like an arrow released from a bow. The Iron Water Pipe in his hand howled through the air as it swung straight for Lei En's temple!

Fast! Precise! Ruthless!

It was a lethal strike aimed directly at a killing blow!

Faced with that savage attack, Lei En did not even bother to dodge.

His eyes turned cold. He raised his right leg slightly, and a layer of pitch-black Armament Haki instantly covered the tip of his shoe.

"Bang!"

A tremendously muffled impact rang out.

Before Ace's Iron Water Pipe could touch a single hair on Lei En's head, Lei En's toe struck first, viciously kicking Ace square in the shin.

"Crack!"

The crisp sound of bone breaking was especially horrifying in the silent night.

"Urgh—!"

Ace's charging body instantly lost its balance. Pain twisted his freckled face out of shape, and beads of cold sweat immediately covered his forehead.

He crashed heavily to the ground, and the Iron Water Pipe rolled away from his hand.

The leg Lei En had kicked was bent at an utterly grotesque angle, its bone clearly shattered beyond repair.

Yet Ace clenched his teeth so hard that his lips bled, refusing to let out even a scream.

Those lone-wolf eyes remained locked on Lei En, as though he wanted to devour him alive.

"Your bones are pretty tough."

Lei En walked over to Ace and looked down at him, without the slightest trace of pity in his eyes.

"But what use is that? In this world, weakness is the original sin."

He lifted his foot and casually stepped on Ace's broken leg, applying a little pressure.

"Mmgh..."

Ace finally could not hold back a pained groan, and his body began trembling violently.

Looking at his twisted leg, a deep sense of despair rose within him.

It was broken.

Was he crippled for life?

How could he still go to sea? How could he prove himself to the world?

Just as Ace thought his life was about to reach its end, and even his eyes began to dim.

Lei En suddenly removed his foot.

He took an exquisite little porcelain bottle from his clothes and poured out a red pill that gave off a strange medicinal fragrance.

It was an [Advanced Bone-Restoration Pill] exchanged from the system shop. Though it could not compare to the Marrow-Washing Pill, it was still extremely valuable.

Lei En rudely pried open Ace's mouth, shoved the pill inside, then slapped him across the back and forced him to swallow it.

"Cough, cough... What poison did you make me eat?!"

Ace coughed as he glared furiously at Lei En.

But before he could finish speaking, he felt an extraordinarily numb and strange sensation coming from his broken leg.

Before Ace's ghost-stricken eyes!

His lower leg, which had been bent at that grotesque angle, began correcting itself at a visible speed!

Under the effect of the medicine, the broken bone rapidly healed, becoming even thicker and harder than before!

Less than ten seconds later.

The pain had completely vanished.

Ace moved his toes in disbelief and discovered that his leg had somehow been restored completely!

"H-How is that possible?!"

He stared blankly at Lei En, his mind completely empty.

One second, the demon had mercilessly kicked his leg apart. The next, he had taken out a miracle medicine and healed him?

What was he after?!

Just as Ace's head filled with question marks and he even began wondering whether Lei En had some peculiar fetish.

"Bang!"

Without warning, Lei En threw a punch and smashed it viciously into Ace's chest.

"Crack!"

Three more crisp bone-breaking sounds rang out!

Ace flew back five or six meters like a torn sandbag, slamming heavily into a tree trunk and spitting out a mouthful of blood.

"You...!"

Ace clutched his broken ribs. The pain was so intense that every breath felt like swallowing blades, and his eyes were filled with incomprehensible terror and fury.

"What about me?"

Lei En slowly walked over and took out another identical pill.

He pinched Ace's chin and stuffed the pill into his mouth as though feeding him candy, watching Ace's injuries rapidly recover again.

"What? Still don't understand?"

Lei En's face looked exceptionally sinister beneath the moonlight, like a true devil king from hell.

He raised both hands, cracking his knuckles.

"I said I would teach you how to survive."

"And my teaching method is—break you, heal you. Break you again, heal you again!"

Lei En suddenly grabbed Ace by the collar and lifted him into the air.

Those deep, black eyes carried an oppressive force that made the soul tremble as they locked onto Ace's eyes, which had begun to show fear.

"I'm going to carve the mark of absolute obedience into both your body and your mind!"

"Until I crush that ridiculous pride and arrogance of yours beneath my feet and turn you into the sharpest, most obedient blade in my hand!"

The sinister smile at Lei En's lips expanded infinitely in Ace's eyes.

"Now then, the second round has begun."

That night.

At the cliffside of Mount Colubo, horrifying bone-breaking sounds echoed through the air, along with Ace's finally unleashed, piercing screams.

His proud defiance was ground to pieces bit by bit in that repeated "hellish torture," until it completely collapsed.

When the first ray of dawn shone over Mount Colubo.

Ace lay sprawled on the grass like a dead dog.

His body was completely unharmed, even stronger than it had been the day before.

But the way he looked at Lei En had changed completely.

It was an extreme reverence born from the depths of his soul, as though he were looking at something that was both god and devil.

Lei En clapped his hands, looked at the "Fire Fist" at his feet who had finally been tamed, and nodded with satisfaction.

"Very good."

He turned toward the bandit cabin in the distance, anticipation flashing through his eyes.

"The foundation has been laid."

"Next, shouldn't I teach you something real? Like... how to coat your fists in Armament Haki and beat people up?"