"That's right."
Otriluk III nodded in satisfaction, the aristocratic fake smile on his face becoming a little more genuine.
"Bloodlines cannot be defiled. Sabo, deep down, our noble blood flows through your veins, and you understand what is right and what is wrong."
He took two steps forward, then stopped in disgust, afraid that the dirty ground would stain his polished leather shoes.
"Come back with me. I will personally teach you and correct all the dirty habits you've picked up from those commoners."
"I will make you a true, impeccable noble."
Sabo froze in place, like a puppet whose soul had been extracted.
Listening to his father's condescending, charitable tone, the light in his eyes completely extinguished.
Just then.
"Sabo—! We're here—!"
Ace's excited and energetic voice suddenly burst from outside the woods!
That voice!
Sabo's body trembled violently, and he froze completely.
This idiot!
This incorrigible idiot!
Why did he have to come at this exact moment!
He had just exchanged his own freedom for their safety!
The blood drained from Sabo's face. He whirled his head around, and for the first time, his reddened eyes showed an undisguised plea as he looked at his father.
That look said: Don't!
Don't touch them!
Please!
Otriluk III caught the fear and pleading in his son's eyes.
The curve of his lips deepened, an elegant, sickening smile of someone in control of everything.
He didn't speak, only mouthed a few words silently to Sabo.
"As long as you obey."
"I won't bother with two wild dogs."
Boom!
This silent promise, however, brought Sabo more despair than any vicious curse!
He understood.
He understood completely.
He had to... sever this relationship himself!
Just then.
Outside the woods, Ace and Luffy's figures had already excitedly run over, followed by the swaggering White-haired Youth.
"Sabo!"
Ace ran to the tree hollow and immediately saw the kingdom guards surrounding it impenetrably, as well as the richly dressed man whose demeanor was completely out of place.
His brow furrowed instantly.
"Hey! Sabo! Who are these guys? Are they your enemies?"
"Oh! A fight! A fight!" Luffy waved his fists, his face full of excitement.
However.
What answered them was Sabo's never-before-seen, utterly cold gaze.
He slowly stood up from the tree hollow, brushed off non-existent dust from his clothes, and eyed Ace and Luffy with a condescending, distant look.
"Why are you here?"
His voice was calm, yet carried a bone-chilling coldness.
"This isn't a place for trash like you."
Ace's smile instantly froze on his face.
Luffy also tilted his head, his rubber brain struggling to comprehend.
"Sabo...? What are you saying?"
"I'm saying..."
A mocking, fake smile, one Ace had never seen before, appeared on Sabo's face.
He pointed at Ace, then at Luffy, and finally at himself.
"Are we... very close?"
"Hanging out with you guys was just a temporary whim, a game of make-believe."
"You didn't... really think that I, a high and mighty noble, would genuinely be 'brothers' with you two commoners living in a garbage dump, did you?"
Every single word.
Made Ace's expression worsen.
His body began to tremble, not from fear, but from extreme anger and disbelief!
"Make-believe... game?" Ace gritted out these words.
"What else?"
Sabo spread his hands, his expression so matter-of-fact, so... punchable!
"Games always get boring eventually. Now, I'm bored."
He pointed at the box of glittering treasure behind him.
"Consider that money my reward to you as toys."
"Now."
"The game is over."
"You can get lost."
"Sabo—!"
Ace let out a suppressed roar of extreme anger!
He clenched his fists tightly, his fingernails digging into his flesh, his black eyes filled with surging humiliation and pain!
"Say what you just said again!"
However.
Sabo didn't even glance at him again.
He turned around, straightened his tattered collar, and with an impeccably standard, elegant posture, bowed slightly to the richly dressed man.
"Father."
"Let's go home."
"I don't want to stay in this filthy place for another second."
The sneer on Otriluk III's face finally transformed into a genuine smile of satisfaction.
He condescendingly glanced at Ace and Luffy, who were frozen in place, his gaze 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.
"Bloodlines, after all, cannot be defiled."
"How could the mire of commoners possibly trap a noble eagle?"
He turned elegantly, not even sparing another glance at the two irritating "pieces of trash."
"Let's go."
"Home."
The guards uniformly cleared a path.
Sabo's body, stiffly, sluggishly, turned.
He didn't look at Ace's eyes, which were practically spitting fire.
Nor did he look at Luffy's face, which was filled with confusion and grievance.
He didn't dare.
He feared that if he looked even once, the dam he had so painstakingly built would instantly collapse.
He took a step.
The first step.
He stepped on the path of the ship to freedom, which he and his brothers had promised each other.
The second step.
He crushed all their past laughter and mischief on this garbage mountain.
"Sabo—!"
Behind him, Ace's voice, now distorted and filled with tearing pain, roared out!
Sabo's body trembled violently.
His footsteps faltered for a moment.
I'm sorry.
Ace.
I'm sorry.
Luffy.
Sabo bit his teeth tightly, using all his strength not to turn back.
He forced himself to keep walking forward.
One step.
And another.
Each step, he walked on his own broken heart.
Please... please don't be impulsive, Ace.
I beg you.
Don't come over.
Forget about me.
Just pretend you never knew this coward.
Then, take my dream... and you must live!
You must set sail!
You must achieve... the freedom you desire!
Tears had long blurred his vision.
But on his face, he still maintained that aristocratic, cold and distant expression.
He walked past White Night, not even noticing the man who had been watching the entire drama unfold.
"Waaah—! Sabo—!"
Luffy's heartbreaking cries finally pierced through everything and reached him.
"Where are you going—!"
"Aren't we brothers—!"
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