At this moment, many people had flocked around Ace. While his crews knew he had simply fallen asleep, everyone else believed that something mysterious had caused the young man to die while eating.
Suddenly, Ace woke up, oblivious to the astonished looks around him, and continued eating his egg-fried rice, as he had not finished his meal yet.
"Ace, right?"
Giotto casually sat down beside Ace. "Captain of Spade Pirates. It sure takes you really quick from East Blue to Grand Line. It looks like you didn't even have the chance to enjoy the scenery along the way. From the looks of it, you don't seem to stay in Alabasta for long either. Are you going to set sail right after restocking?"
Ace responded, "Yes, mister, do you know me? I don't think we've met though. I just set out to sea not long ago, so..."
Before he could finish his sentence, Ace's head was back in his plate of egg-fried rice, with a spoon in hand, and he was asleep again.
Even Giotto had to admit that this unique ability was quite impressive. He could fall asleep while eating and, surprisingly, didn't seem to be alerted whatsoever even with a stranger sitting next to him.
"Good grief..."
The masked man beside Ace sighed. "I'm sorry; that's just how our captain is. He can fall asleep at any time apart from during battles. I don't know how he developed this ability. Oh, by the way, I'm Deu, the ship's doctor. Do you know our captain?"
Masked Deus, or commonly known as Deu, was Ace's first crew and the vice-captain of Spade Pirates. However, he wasn't that strong, especially for Grand Line's standard.
Spade Pirates mostly a one-man crew as Ace did most of the work for the crew. However, the current Ace still had ways to go compared to when he was the Commander of Whitebeard Pirates' Second Division
"Kind of, I know his family and brothers. We're here for a trip, and we didn't expect to run into this kid," Giotto noticed that the person he was talking to didn't recognize him, so he made the conversation as casual as possible. It wasn't surprising if most people didn't recognize him in the first half of Grand Line. After all, despite Luffy's notorious reputation and bounty exceeding 100 million Belly, there were a lot of people who didn't recognize him.
Ace, who woke up again, asked, "Do you know old man and Luffy?" When Giotto mentioned the word family, what came to Ace's mind was Luffy and Garp. Those were the people he considered true family. He didn't acknowledge Roger as his father.
To Ace, his family consisted of Luffy and Sabo, with Garp as the only elderly figure he acknowledged. If there was another one, it would be Dadan.
"The other one. Luffy is not your only brother, right? But I've met little Luffy before, and I even witnessed what happened between him and Shanks in Foosha Village," Giotto had nothing to hide from Ace.
Ace immediately caught on and said, "Ah! You're the one who saved Sabo, right? Is Sabo doing well now? Aside from the letter I received a few years ago, saying 'See you again on the sea,' I haven't heard another word from him. I've been quite worried ever since."
Sabo hadn't seen Ace or Luffy even once after being saved by Giotto, and all he had done was sending a letter. As a result, Ace wasted no time and set out to sea, while Luffy kept trying to sneak out, but always get caught by Dadan or the village chief.
"Sabo is doing very well. He's been diligently polishing his skills. I think it won't be long before his mentor deems him qualified," Giotto reassured Ace. "But if you want to meet him, you'll have to reach New World first."
Aria smiled and said, "Right now, Sabo should be training under his master or studying various things on Ryusu Island. Though he's still quite young, he's exceptionally skilled."
Sabo was indeed very powerful at the moment. If he were to demonstrate his true strength to the world, there was no doubt he'd have a hundred million Belly bounty. In addition to learning Dying Will Flame Fruit and illusion, his Color of Arms and Observation Haki were pretty good. However, he still preferred using pipe as a weapon, and he actually learned it from Enel! Could you believe that?"
Ace was overjoyed by the news. "Is that so? That's great! I'll pick up the pace and reach New World soon, and then I'll teach that brother of mine a good lesson for disappearing without a word!"
Ace seemed genuinely happy for his brother. However, the odds of Ace teaching Sabo a lesson seemed unlikely.
"Hey, Ace! It's Grandpa here. I advise you to surrender and come back with me right now. If you struggle, don't blame me if I get a bit rough!"