"That's more like it."
Outlook III nodded in satisfaction, the aristocratic, fake smile on his face becoming a bit more genuine.
"Bloodlines cannot be tainted. Sabo, at your core, you still have our noble blood. You understand what is right and what is wrong."
He took two steps forward, then stopped in disgust, as if afraid this filthy land would soil his polished leather shoes.
"Come back with me. I will personally teach you. I will correct all of these filthy habits you've picked up from the low-class."
"I will make you a true, impeccable noble."
Sabo froze, like a puppet whose soul had been ripped out. He listened to his father's condescending, charitable tone, and the light in his eyes completely extinguished.
Just then.
"Sabo! We're here!"
Ace's voice, full of excitement and energy, suddenly cut through the woods!
That voice!
Sabo's body jolted, and he froze completely.
That idiot!
That hopeless idiot!
Why did he have to come at this exact moment!
He had just traded his own freedom for their safety!
All the color drained from Sabo's face. He snapped his head around, his red eyes looking at his father with an undisguised plea for the first time.
His eyes were saying: Don't!
Don't touch them!
Please!
Outlook III caught the fear and pleading in his son's eyes. The arc of his lips deepened. It was a sickeningly elegant expression of someone in complete control.
He didn't speak. He just mouthed a few words silently to Sabo.
"As long as you're obedient."
"I won't bother... with two stray dogs."
Boom!
This silent promise was more devastating to Sabo than any vicious curse.
He understood.
He completely understood.
He had to... sever this relationship with his own hands.
Just then, Ace and Luffy's figures ran over excitedly from the woods. Following behind them was that lazing, white-haired young man.
"Sabo!"
Ace ran to the front of the tree hole and immediately saw the Goa Kingdom guards surrounding the place, as well as the well-dressed man who clashed with the surroundings.
His brow immediately furrowed.
"Hey! Sabo! Who are these guys? Are they your enemies?"
"Oh! A fight! A fight!" Luffy waved his fists, looking excited.
However, what answered them was a look from Sabo that was colder than anything they had ever seen.
He slowly stood up from the tree hole, patting off dust that wasn't really there. He looked at Ace and Luffy with a condescending, detached gaze.
"Why are you here?"
His voice was calm, but it carried a bone-chilling cold.
"This isn't a place that trash like you should come to."
Ace's smile instantly froze on his face.
Luffy also tilted his head, his rubber brain unable to process this.
"Sabo...? What are you saying?"
"I'm saying..."
A mocking, fake smile that Ace had never seen before appeared on Sabo's face.
He pointed at Ace, then at Luffy, and finally at himself.
"Am I... close with you two?"
"Hanging out with you was just a game of playing house. It was just a whim."
"You... you didn't really think that I, a high-and-mighty noble, would actually be worthless brothers with two low-class trash who live in a garbage dump, did you?"
Every word.
It made the expression on Ace's face turn uglier.
His body began to tremble. It was not from fear, but from extreme anger and disbelief!
"A game... of playing house?" Ace forced the words through his teeth.
"What else?"
Sabo spread his hands, his expression so matter-of-fact, so... infuriating.
"A game has to end eventually. And now, I'm tired of it."
He pointed to the chest of glittering treasure behind him.
"You can have that money, as a toy I'm giving you."
"Now."
"The game is over."
"You... can get lost."
"Sabo...!"
Ace let out a roar, suppressed to its absolute limit!
He clenched his fists tightly, his nails digging into his palms. His black eyes were churning with humiliation and pain.
"Say what you just said... one more time!"
However, Sabo didn't even look at him again.
He turned, straightened his tattered collar, and, with an incredibly standard and elegant posture, bowed slightly to the well-dressed man.
"Father."
"Let's go home."
"I don't want to stay in this filthy place for one more second."
The sneer on Outlook III's face finally turned into a look of genuine satisfaction.
He glanced condescendingly at Ace and Luffy, who were frozen in place. His gaze was like that of someone looking at two cockroaches that had accidentally crawled onto the dinner table.
"That's more like it."
He spoke, his tone full of approval.
"A bloodline truly cannot be tainted."
"How could a pit of low-class mud trap a noble eagle."
He turned elegantly, not even bothering to give the two "trash" eyesores another look.
"Let's go."
"Home."
The guards uniformly parted to create a path.
Sabo's body, stiffly and sluggishly, turned.
He did not look at Ace's eyes, which were practically spitting fire.
He did not look at Luffy's face, which was full of confusion and hurt.
He didn't dare.
He was afraid. He was afraid that with just one look, the dam he had worked so hard to build would instantly collapse.
He took a step.
The first step.
He was stepping away from the ship to freedom, the one he had promised his brothers.
The second step.
He was crushing all their past laughter and brawls on this trash mountain.
"Sabo...!"
Behind him, Ace's voice, now distorted and filled with a tearing agony, roared out.
Sabo's body trembled violently.
His pace faltered for a second.
I'm sorry.
Ace.
I'm sorry.
Luffy.
Sabo bit his lip, using all his strength to stop himself from turning around.
He forced himself to keep walking forward.
One step.
And another.
Every step landed on his own shattered heart.
Please...
Please don't be impulsive, Ace.
I'm begging you.
Don't come after me.
Forget about me.
Just pretend you never knew a coward like me.
And then, take my dream with you...
You have to live!
You have to set sail!
You have to get... the freedom you want!
Tears had already blurred his vision. But his face still maintained that aristocratic, cold, and detached expression.
He walked past Blake, not even noticing the man who had been watching the show from beginning to end.
"Waaaah! Sabo...!"
Luffy's heart-wrenching cry finally pierced through everything.
"Where are you going...!"
"Aren't we brothers...!"