"Rustle..."
The strange noise in the bushes suddenly stopped.
Lei En lounged lazily against a rock without even turning his head, the corner of his mouth curving into an amused smile.
Within his Advanced Observation Haki, which was practically full-map vision, the appearance of the newcomer was reflected with perfect clarity.
A blond boy missing a tooth, wearing a black top hat and a blue formal suit, was hiding behind a large tree.
He gripped an Iron Water Pipe tightly in his hands, cautiously poking his head out to look around.
It was Sabo, who had run away from the noble district of the Goa Kingdom and become sworn brothers with Ace in Gray Terminal.
At that moment, Sabo's eyes were practically bulging out of their sockets!
His mouth hung wide open, his face full of disbelief. He even rubbed his eyes hard, thinking he was hallucinating.
I... I'm not seeing things, am I?!
Sabo roared wildly in his heart.
He had originally been waiting in Gray Terminal for Ace so they could go stash their pirate fund together.
But after waiting for more than ten days, he had not seen even a trace of Ace.
Worried that something had happened to his brother, he had carefully followed the clues all the way into the depths of Mount Colubo.
And the moment he arrived, he witnessed a scene that utterly shattered his worldview!
On the clearing beside the cliff.
Ace and that rubber idiot Luffy in the Straw Hat were bare-chested, their bodies covered in sweat and mud like two mud monkeys.
Most terrifyingly, each of them had the corpse of a Sea King on his shoulders, one as tall as a two-story building and weighing tens of thousands of pounds!
And that was not all. Heavy-looking black chains were wrapped around their bodies!
"Nine hundred ninety-seven... nine hundred ninety-eight..."
Luffy's legs shook violently, his face flushed bright red and veins bulging across his body as he continued counting with extreme difficulty.
With every number, he carried that mountain of flesh and painfully completed another squat!
Ace did not make a sound beside him, but his lone-wolf eyes were bloodshot.
His knees had even been rubbed bloody, yet he still gritted his teeth and kept the same rhythm and movements as Luffy.
"Is... is that something a human can even do?!"
Sabo swallowed, feeling his own legs go weak.
He knew Ace's strength well. Although Ace was far stronger than children their age, there was no way he should have been able to carry such a terrifying weight!
Not to mention that rubber idiot!
And what was with that black chain wrapped around them?
Why could Luffy, a Devil Fruit user, still force himself to do squats while carrying a Sea King after putting that thing on, even though he looked weak to the extreme?!
"No, Ace and the others must have been captured and tortured by that black-clothed bastard!"
Sabo's gaze finally shifted away from Luffy and Ace, landing on Lei En, who sat on a rock not far away leisurely eating an apple.
Seeing Lei En's smug overseer expression, Sabo's fury instantly ignited.
"I'll never forgive him! I have to save them!"
Sabo took a deep breath and tightened his grip on the Iron Water Pipe.
He had received an elite noble education since childhood. Though rebellious by nature, he was much smarter and calmer than Ace and Luffy.
He did not rush out blindly. Instead, using the forest as cover, he silently crept toward Lei En's back like an agile cheetah.
As long as I knock out that overseer, I can save them!
Ten meters.
Five meters.
Three meters.
Sabo had reached the large tree behind Lei En and held his breath.
He raised the Iron Water Pipe high with both hands, his eyes utterly focused.
Now!
Sabo shouted in his heart, then explosively pushed off with both legs, launching out from behind the tree like a cannonball!
The Iron Water Pipe cut through the air with a sharp whistle as it viciously smashed toward the back of Lei En's head!
He had even put every ounce of his strength into this strike, holding nothing back!
"Die, you bastard instructor!"
However.
At the very instant Sabo thought he was about to succeed.
Whoosh!
His vision suddenly blurred.
Lei En, who had been sitting on the rock, vanished into thin air without warning!
"What?!"
Sabo's face changed dramatically as the Iron Water Pipe slammed into the boulder with a clang, sending sparks flying.
The impact numbed his hand so badly that he nearly lost his grip and sent the pipe flying.
"Where did he go?!"
Sabo looked around in panic.
Then, an incredibly lazy yet faintly teasing voice drifted down from above his head.
"Well, your stealth skills are pretty good. Your killing intent is just a little too obvious."
Sabo's entire body stiffened, cold sweat instantly soaking his back.
He slowly raised his head.
Lei En had somehow appeared upside down on the thick branch above him, dangling like a weightless ghost!
"You...!"
Sabo had barely begun to speak when Lei En gave him no chance.
With a flip, Lei En landed steadily behind Sabo.
Then, with perfect precision, he grabbed Sabo by the scruff of his neck as if picking up a kitten!
"Let go of me, you bastard!"
Like a furious cat with its fur standing on end, Sabo wildly flailed his arms and legs in midair, but he could not break free from Lei En's iron-grip fingers.
"Shut up. Stop struggling."
Lei En carried Sabo over to the cliff's edge and threw him in front of Luffy and Ace, who were still doing squats.
Bang!
Sabo hit the ground face-first.
"Sabo?!"
"What are you doing here?!"
Luffy and Ace, exhausted to the point of nearly coughing blood, both froze when they saw Sabo suddenly fall from the sky.
Ace in particular had obvious panic flash through his bloodshot eyes.
"Idiot! Who told you to come here and die?! Run!"
Ace shouted desperately at Sabo in a hoarse voice.
He had personally experienced Lei En's hellish torture. He knew that if Sabo fell into the hands of this devil instructor, nothing good would come of it!
"Run? Where would he run to?"
Lei En clapped his hands and looked at the three future sworn brothers on the ground, the smile on his face gradually turning unhinged.
"Now that everyone's finally here, there's no need to be strangers."
That blinding azure electric arc, enough to make Luffy and Ace tremble to their souls, once again danced between Lei En's fingers.
"As the saying goes, a family should be nice and complete."
He raised an eyebrow kindly at Sabo, who still looked utterly confused and had no idea what was about to happen.
"New arrival, are you ready to accept the baptism of the Thunder God?"
Sabo swallowed as he looked at the terrifying lightning at Lei En's fingertips, finally realizing why Ace had told him to run.
"W-Wait! I'm not with them! I was just passing by..."
Crackle—!
Before Sabo could finish.
A thick blue current mercilessly surged through his body!
"AAAAAHHHHH—!!!"
An even more miserable scream than Luffy and Ace's, with a distinctly aristocratic voice crack, instantly shot into the sky!
The morning on Mount Colubo had originally featured a two-part symphony of screams.
At that moment, it perfectly ascended into an even more horrifying three-part chorus!
Amid the flashing electricity.
Every strand of Sabo's blond hair stood on end. He convulsed wildly on the ground like an electrocuted frog, rolling his eyes back and foaming at the mouth.
Luffy and Ace looked at Sabo's miserable state. They exchanged a glance and saw an extremely complicated mix of schadenfreude and shared misery in each other's eyes.
"Whew..."
Lei En withdrew his finger, looked at the three little brats lying neatly on the ground, and nodded in satisfaction.
"Not bad, not bad. Now this feels like a proper raising game."
He walked over to the three little brats who were still twitching, looking down at them from above as an extremely domineering glint flashed through his eyes.
"Listen up, brats."
Lei En's voice echoed amid the thunder, deafeningly loud.
"From today onward, you three are the first batch of members in my Heavenly Court reserve force."
"And the strongest muscle-man squad personally built by yours truly!"
"Now, all of you, get up immediately! With Seastone on you, do two thousand weighted frog jumps!"
"Anyone who dares slack off..."
The lightning in Lei En's hand erupted again with an extremely dangerous crackling sound.
"Ten Million Volts—there's plenty to go around!"
Before you continue