Ace = Asuma, the Strongest Son!

"I will never surrender!"

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Ace raised his pipe, his gaze resolute.

No matter how strong this guy was, he definitely still had a chance.

A minute later, Ace was beaten black and blue and knocked to the ground, bound by Brando's vines.

"I gave you a chance, but you were useless, kid."

Brando felt thoroughly satisfied.

He had vented the frustration Garp had caused him last time by suppressing him.

Besides, he did not think he was bullying the weak. This brat would become a pirate in the future, not some good person. He was merely helping correct a child who was about to go down the wrong path.

He would not do this to ordinary children.

"Damn it!"

Ace was utterly unwilling to accept it.

How was this person so fast? He could not even react and had been getting beaten the entire time.

He had wanted to surrender when Brando knocked his pipe away, but Brando's first punch had landed on his mouth, leaving him unable to call out at all.

Only Sabo was left.

That brat had not kept running. Instead, he hid here and there as though they were playing hide-and-seek.

But the traces of his movements were crystal clear beneath the Sharingan, and he was quickly found and brought back.

Sabo did not resist. Treating it as though he had lost a game of hide-and-seek, he obediently returned with Brando.

"Ace, are you okay?!"

When they returned, Sabo was shocked to see Ace's bruised and battered face.

"You look so pathetic, Ace!"

Luffy was still laughing at Ace.

Sabo untied the two of them.

"You lost, so start cleaning up the surroundings. The last brat caught does not have to work."

Brando began assigning tasks.

Polite children still deserved preferential treatment.

One had a foul mouth, while the other was stubborn. They could work honestly.

Ace was unwilling, but he also knew he seemed unable to escape this guy's grasp. He could only think, Just wait until I grow up.

"Damn it, I should've run from the start."

Luffy was still reviewing his mistakes.

But neither of them tried to cheat. They immediately began clearing up the area: broken tree trunks, animal remains, and the like.

"Recognition from the Will of the Overlord: You showed no mercy to Ace, son of the Pirate King, and gave him an education with iron fists!"

"Reward obtained: Fire Attribute Nature Transformation and Fire Attribute Shape Transformation."

Brando had just sat down to continue roasting the bear paws when he received the Will of the Overlord's reward.

Brando's eyes lit up. Though the reward was not particularly impressive, it was very useful to him right now.

It greatly increased the area-of-effect damage of his techniques, equivalent to adding the scorching effect of a mask to Fire Release.

This time, Brando had not acted for the reward. The Will of the Overlord had simply flared up in him.

If he wanted to farm rewards, Brando now counted on getting them from strong people. Still, Ace's status was quite noble. Going by the status hierarchy in Naruto...

This Pirate King had to be comparable to the strongest Hokage, Hiruzen Sarutobi, right?

Or perhaps Hanzo of the Salamander, the demigod of the Shinobi World.

Right now, Brando was basically beating up Hiruzen's son Asuma in the village.

"So hungry..."

Luffy struggled to drag all sorts of things around. Smelling the meat, he could not stop drooling.

Ace thought that he would never come here again. Brando had no money either, just a poor bastard. Once he grew strong enough, he would definitely beat this guy until he knelt and begged for mercy.

Sabo did not stand around watching either. He joined in the work, since he had found this place and was partly responsible for how things had turned out.

They worked through the entire afternoon before finally clearing the surroundings, making the place much more open. There were still many things scattered across the ground, though.

After the three brats finished, they collapsed on the ground from exhaustion.

If they had not used Luffy's Devil Fruit abilities, turning him into a slingshot to launch the debris away, who knew how much longer they would have needed to work.

"Hey, time to eat."

Brando called out to the three brats.

After all, he was not some demon. Once the work was done, he would at least give them food.

More importantly, he could not finish it himself. Without cold storage, meat spoiled easily and would not last even a day.

Basically, Brando went hunting every morning before returning to train. His appetite was not as monstrous as Luffy's, and he could not eat that much. Of the bear he had hunted today, he had only eaten around a fifth.

"I knew you couldn't finish it!"

Luffy had looked like he was about to die, but the moment he heard that, he sprang up and grabbed a skewer of cooked meat, then started eating.

"Have some, Ace. Mr. Brando is not a bad person."

Sabo could see Ace's reluctance.

Still, he tried to persuade him.

If Brando truly meant them harm, he would never have done something so unnecessary.

And Sabo could tell that Brando's words did not carry the hypocrisy of those nobles.

Ace curled his lip, but he still followed Sabo over.

"Oh, the meat is so tender, Mr. Brando!"

After taking a bite, Sabo recalled the grilled meat he used to eat at home.

He had not had this kind of texture in a long time. Ace could not cook, and Sabo could only boil things.

The salt on this roasted bear meat was just right.

"I have very high standards when it comes to food!"

Brando said proudly.

This was a delicacy roasted with the Sharingan activated. The heat had been controlled perfectly, leaving the meat at its most tender.

Ace took a bite and widened his eyes as well.

Ever since he was born, he had never eaten much good food. The mountain bandits always fed him burnt roasted meat.

After realizing how delicious it was, Ace silently began competing with Luffy for more.

Before long, nearly sixty pounds of meat had been eaten by the three brats. Brando wondered where all that meat had gone. Did these guys really digest that well?

Ace had eaten so much that he could not even sit up.

"Can I ask you a question?"

Ace could not help asking Brando.

Brando nodded.

Training was over for the day, and what remained was rest time. He did not want to ruin this body.

"How did you become so strong?"

Ace asked.

He felt that Brando was only a few years older than him, yet he was far too strong. Ace was not even qualified to make him get serious.

"Hmm... One hundred push-ups every day, one hundred sit-ups, one hundred squats, plus a ten-kilometer run. Keep it up for more than three years!"

"My strength was gained through nothing but my own hard work and sweat."

Brando thought for a moment, then gave him Saitama's training regimen and answered with utmost seriousness.

"So that's how it is!"

After hearing Brando's words, Ace suddenly understood.

Every day, he thought about making money so he could buy a ship and sail out to sea. But now, he felt that he should improve his strength first.

"Huh?"

"Brando, you..."

Luffy suddenly realized that Brando had not become strong because his brain was broken?

But before he could finish, one look from Brando frightened him into shutting his mouth.

Brando put considerable pressure on him, at least more than his grandfather did.

Ace did not notice any of that. He merely memorized the training method Brando had mentioned, deciding to begin training that way tomorrow.

Sabo was the same. He wanted to become stronger too!