Time flies, and a month passes quickly. Ace is sent back to the Dadan family by Garp.
"Ace!" Dadan exclaimed, surprised to see him, but quickly masked her emotions with a dry cough. "Hey, this little brat is back again. It's really annoying," she grumbled.
Garp's presence made Dadan pay attention immediately. "Mr. Garp, are you here too? Do you want something to eat?" she asked, trying to be accommodating.
"No, I have other matters to attend to. Anyway, Ace will be left to you after this," Garp replied.
"No problem," Dadan promised, but then she noticed Garp's right cheek. "Mr. Garp, what's going on with your face?" she asked, puzzled by what looked like a burn mark.
Garp's eyes hardened. "You must be mistaken. How could I be injured?" he said sternly.
Dadan quickly backtracked. "Yes, I must have seen it wrong. How could Mr. Garp be injured? Hahaha."
Garp turned to Ace. "Ace, remember, you must become an excellent Marine. I'll teach you again next time I'm on vacation," he said before disappearing in a flash.
"Dadan, let's have a party!" Ace shouted triumphantly as Garp left.
Meanwhile, on Garp's boat, he stood on the deck, touching the burn on his right cheek. "Is this the power of the Mera-mera Fruit?" he thought, recalling the flaming blade from the last day of training. The power exceeded Ace's own strength limits. Even with Garp using Observation Haki to guide him, this blow left him with a burn.
"The destructive power is more exaggerated than Sakazuki's Lava-Lava Fruit," Garp mused. The Lava-Lava Fruit was considered the Logia Devil Fruit with the strongest attack power, capable of burning even flames. Yet, Ace's Mera-mera Fruit demonstrated superior destructive power. Garp intuitively felt that if Ace had the same experience and power as Sakazuki, Sakazuki's Lava-Lava Fruit would collapse under Ace's attack.
"With such power, you can live well, right? Ace," Garp murmured, gazing at the vast sea with a bright smile.
Three years later, Ace is now ten years old. During this time, he met Sabo at the Grey Terminal and began to "collect" money. Although Ace's strength didn't grow as rapidly as during training with Garp, it steadily improved. With his heaven-defying understanding, Ace could fully absorb and fight using Turtle Breath, leading to smooth and unhindered growth in strength.
Ace roughly assessed his strength: in terms of pure physical fitness, he was at the level of a Colonel at Naval Headquarters. As a Logia Devil Fruit user, if his opponent didn't know Haki, Ace would be invincible. He also possessed Conqueror's Haki-Infusion, along with the powerful techniques "Ring of Fire - Red Hole" and "Itto-Kaso." Even a Vice Admiral would find it hard to escape unscathed if caught off guard.
One day, Garp brought someone new to Dadan's house. "Dadan, this is my grandson. Raise him too, hahaha," Garp said, carrying a seven-year-old boy.
"Are you kidding?! This is not a children's nest. I won't do it!" Dadan protested.
"Huh? Do you want to spend your whole life in prison?" Garp threatened, exuding a devilish aura.
"Yes, yes! I understand! I will raise him," Dadan quickly conceded.
"Ace, you guys need to get along well," Garp said, looking at Ace who was standing on a big tree.
"Monkey D. Luffy?" Ace narrowed his eyes at the boy holding a slipper in Garp's hand. This was the protagonist of the original One Piece world, Luffy, who had eaten the Human-Human Fruit, Model: Nika.
The Dadan family house was filled with tension as Garp pushed Luffy forward. Ace looked at Luffy and narrowed his eyes. Before growing up, Luffy seemed entirely unreliable.
"Luffy, this is Ace. Get along well with him," Garp instructed, pointing at Ace. "I'll come see you next time I'm on vacation." With that, Garp tossed Luffy to the ground and walked towards the forest.
"You're Ace! My name is Luffy, let's be friends," Luffy said excitedly, running up to Ace with a big smile.
"Friends? You want to be my friend?" Ace asked with a wicked smile, jumping down from the tree.
"Yes!" Luffy responded eagerly.
Having been disgusted by bandits due to the red hair incident, Luffy was eager to find companionship. Ace, despite his rough demeanor, was preferable to loneliness.
"Then, come with me," Ace said, leaping into the dense forest. Luffy hurriedly chased after him, calling out, "Ace! Wait for me!"
Ace finally stopped in a secluded spot deep in the forest. "Ace! Are you here?" called a boy with yellow hair and a gap in his teeth, smiling at Ace.
"Sabo," Ace greeted him with a smile.
"Look, Ace! We've saved so much money; we're one step closer to going to sea," Sabo said, opening several treasure chests filled with various treasures and Baileys. These had been collected from the Uncertain Terminal, thanks to Ace's strength and skills. Despite the area's poverty, they had amassed about 10 million Beli. Ace planned to acquire 100 million Beli from a noble before heading out to sea.
"Hey! Ace, wait, wait for me," a staggering figure cried, running out of the woods and collapsing from exhaustion. "Who are you?!" Sabo quickly closed the treasure chests and glared at the newcomer.
"I'm Luffy! Who are you?" Luffy replied, taking a breath and standing up.
"My name is Sa... Who wants to tell you who I am?" Sabo yelled, annoyed.
"Don't say that, let's be friends," Luffy grinned.
"This guy is Garp's grandson. I thought I lost him," Ace remarked casually.
"Who believes that?" Sabo retorted. "With your speed, it's amazing he caught up. You did this on purpose."
"Hey Ace, what do we do? This guy saw our treasure," Sabo said grimly.
"You saw it, so we have no choice. We'll have to kill him," Ace said nonchalantly.
"That's our only option," Sabo agreed, looking darkly at Luffy.
"No, don't kill me! Let's be friends instead! Don't throw me into the sea to drown!" Luffy pleaded, exhausted and collapsing on the ground, tears streaming down his face.
"Drowning is a good idea, but why would he suggest it himself?" Sabo muttered, puzzled.
"Go ahead, Sabo. Do it," Ace encouraged.
"I've never killed anyone. You should do it," Sabo's hands were shaking.
"You suggested it. You have to follow through," Ace insisted.
Sabo walked towards Luffy with gloomy eyes, but couldn't go through with it. "No, don't kill me! I don't want to die yet!" Luffy screamed in fear, closing his eyes tightly. After a long moment of no pain, he opened one eye. "I can't do it," Sabo admitted, sitting down and panting heavily.
"If we can't kill him, we have to let him join us," Ace said, patting Sabo on the shoulder.
"Ace, Sabo, if you don't kill me, does that mean we're friends?" Luffy asked hopefully.
"There's one more ritual before you can join us," Ace said with a wicked smile, causing Sabo to shiver.
"Anything is fine, as long as we can be friends," Luffy shouted.
"Then don't move," Ace commanded, a flash of red in his eyes as he punched Luffy.
"Boom!"
"It hurts!!!" Luffy's screams echoed through the forest.
"Your understanding is heaven-defying, and through the counter-shock force produced by hitting the target, Conqueror's Haki has been improved!"...
My Conquerors haki improves after hitting him.... ,Ace flashed a devious smile.