"Hey, hey! Ace, you kept this from us for so long!" George punched Ace in the chest at the banquet as he complained.
Ace held a huge chunk of meat. "Kept what from you?"
George pointed at Lott, who was talking with Whitebeard. "The fact that Lott is your master."
Ace lifted his chin at that. "Who says I'm his disciple? He's just a guy who likes to act cool."
Although Ace sounded dismissive, he looked quite proud.
Clearly, he was still grateful to Lott and acknowledged him as his master.
Seeing Ace's expression, George naturally knew he was just being stubborn.
"Really? Being a powerhouse like that's disciple must be pretty nice."
Ace spat at that. "Nice, my ass! He barely treated us like human beings!"
As he spoke, he recalled those days.
Almost every day, he and Luffy were either getting beaten up or on their way to getting beaten up. Unable to beat Lott, they could only vent their anger on pirates.
He remembered Lott once saying, "Are your brains made of mush? Can't you adapt? If you can coat your hands with Haki, why can't you concentrate all the Haki in your body into one spot?"
Even then, it had taken the two of them half a month to barely learn it.
Lott had been so angry that he turned into a foul-mouthed Zaunite and gave them both a vicious tongue-lashing.
He and Luffy had tried to argue with Lott, which naturally earned them another thrashing.
Right around then, they had encountered Don Krieg, who called himself the strongest man in the East Blue.
So they had let out all their pent-up resentment.
Don Krieg had suffered terribly. The two of them took turns beating him until he barely looked human anymore.
Things like that had