Big brother, I want to become the strongest pirate in the world!

Kazan repeated the exact same thing he did to Sabo as he did to Ace.

However, Sabo's reaction was completely different from Ace's. The moment Kazan kicked the log down the slope, Sabo was startled at first, and then ran at full speed towards the 'little girl' at the bottom of the slope.

"Hey!!! Get out of there right now!!!"

Sabo was incredibly fast; even he felt he had never been so fast before, as if he were flying. However, Yokogi was also quite fast, and even with all his might, Sabo could only barely keep up with him.

However, he eventually reached the 'little girl' before Yokoki could and pushed her forcefully to the side.

Bang!

That's great...she's alright.

Sabo, who was thrown into the air by the log, coughed up blood, his eyes were unfocused, and only this one thought remained in his mind.

Am I going to die?

Through his blurred vision, he could only see a huge horizontal log flying through the air, heading straight for his head.

Finally, it was caught steadily by a ferocious, bloody hand.

"Those who are willing to give without expecting anything in return will eventually get what they want... but end up battered and bruised."

"Good people don't necessarily get good rewards."

"Are you really going to die for someone you have absolutely no connection with?"

"Sabo, does the 'freedom' you dream of hold so little weight in your heart?"

Hearing the low whisper in his ear, Sabo struggled for a moment, then gritted his teeth and said firmly, "No matter how many times, I will never turn a blind eye! I am not like those damned 'nobles'!!!"

"Then you'd better remember what you said today."

After Sabo fell unconscious, Kazan called Ace over: "Ace, you'll need to play the 'child' for Luffy's test later."

"...Huh? Why do I have to play house with that brat?"

"There might be a surprise."

Ace was actually very unhappy with Luffy. In his eyes, Luffy was just a snotty brat who talked about being a pirate as if it were child's play all the time!

Finally, it was Luffy's turn. He was already being tested on the spot, and he was still jumping around full of energy.

"Hey Luffy, did you see that? Ace's down there."

"Huh? Oh!! Eh~ Hey???"

Just as Luffy was about to shout for Ace, he saw Kazan suddenly kick out a huge log that rolled down toward Ace, and his eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

Luffy instinctively tried to stop him and ran down the slope, but his short legs were no match for Sabo's speed, and he could only watch as the log rolled closer and closer to Ace.

"Ace!!! Run!!!"

Seeing that he couldn't catch up with Yokogi, Luffy got very anxious and frantically shouted at Ace.

Ace, who was downhill, turned around with the hose in his hand and didn't even glance at Yokoki. He just stared coldly at Luffy, who was running towards him as fast as he could.

Kazan gave him the water pipe, saying it was for "breaking the crossbeam." Ace didn't understand why he needed to break the crossbeam; he could have just dodged it. How much effort would it take to break such a fierce crossbeam?

Snapped.

Luffy fell down, but quickly got up and continued running towards him.

Why are you standing still?! Run!

Snapped.

She fell down again.

"You'll die!"

Snapped.

Ace was heartbroken watching Luffy fall down repeatedly. How had such a stupid guy survived this long?

However, this time Luffy didn't get up after falling. Instead, he turned into a small ball of flesh and rolled down the slope at a speed that rivaled the horizontal bar.

Within seconds, Luffy and Yokoki rolled to a spot not far in front of Ace.

"Ace!"

Luffy felt dizzy, but he could still barely see Ace's figure, and subconsciously reached out and gently pushed Ace.

"Well, although it didn't make any progress, the desired effect should still be achieved."

Kazan, who had somehow arrived at the bottom of the slope, watched Ace's astonished reaction to Luffy's actions and nodded in satisfaction.

Bang!

Ace raised the water pipe in his hand and used all his strength to knock away the horizontal bar that was attacking the two of them. The force was so great that the horizontal bar broke. Judging from the ferocious look on Ace's face, he probably also suffered a lot of recoil.

He could have easily dodged it.

Chapter 097 ASL

"Why didn't you move aside? Didn't you know you would have died if you had pushed me?"

"...Hmm?"

Ace, his face dark, looked at the still dazed Luffy and asked in a deep voice.

"Ah... I think I almost died just now, waaaaaah... waaaah... thank you for saving me."

"...What are you crying about?! It's so annoying!"

“┭┮﹏┭┮”

"Hey! Why did you run down here? Don't you know you're going to die?"

"But... if you die, we can't be friends anymore."

Luffy struggled to hold back his tears and choked out the reason.

"Better to die than not be friends, right? Seriously, why are you so eager to be my friend?!"

"because……"

"Can't you see how much I hate you?"

"Because... I have no one else to rely on! Nobody in Windmill Village plays with me anymore, and when Grandpa comes back, he'll just leave me in the mountains! If you guys don't play with me either, I'll be all alone! Being alone is so painful!"

"What about your other family members?"

"There's only Grandpa."

Looking at the two little children, one big and one small, Kazan understood that Ace's path of brotherly love was about to begin.

"Won't you feel better with me here?"

"Ah."

"Would you be bothered if I wasn't there?"

"Ah."

……

"Roger's child? If there's such a guy, that would be troublesome."

"That kind of creature is a devil that should not be born, nor should it live in the world."

"If people really found out about that kind of guy's existence, everyone would probably try every means to kill him."

"Ha ha ha ha ha ha ha!"

……

Ace gripped the hose tightly, lowered his head, and quietly asked, "Do you want me to live?"

"Ok!"

o（′^｀）o

Luffy nodded vigorously, answering with utmost seriousness.

"Is that so... But I really hate crybabies like you."

Ace heard Luffy's reply and turned around. Only Kazan, who was standing not far from Ace, could see the smug look on Ace's face.

He developed a brother complex.

Kazan nodded and left, returning to Caroso to check on the unconscious Sabo, who was still completely unaware of what was happening.

"I don't cry! I'm very strong!"

"Strong? A grown man who cries and whines all day long, how is that strong?!"

"I'm only six years old!!! When I'm nine years old like you, I won't cry anymore, and I'll become even stronger!"

"I didn't cry when I was six! Idiot! Don't lump me in with you!!!"

……

Kazan had walked away and could barely hear what happened next. The noise almost made him think that Bon Clay, Monet, and the other two troublemakers were around.

"very nice."

The results of the second test showed that Sabo and Luffy were not suited to be pirates, especially Sabo, whose compatibility with pirates was practically zero. Ace, on the other hand, was the only one of the three who already had some pirate traits.

……

"For the third test, all of you must take off your shoes and stand on this large steel plate."

Kazan held a steel plate large enough for five or six people to stand on in one hand, then raised it up, gesturing for the three little ones to go up.

A: "Huh? What's the point of that?"

S: "Is it going to be some kind of super dangerous test again?"

L: "Come on, I'm not afraid of anything!"

This time, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy are no longer worried about the upcoming test. Having gone through the previous two tests, the three of them are now noticeably braver.

The three of them took off their shoes. Ace and Sabo worked together to throw Luffy up, and then jumped up on their own.

"Hmph... You'd better prepare yourself mentally."