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Sabo's entire body trembled the moment he heard Ace's words.
For a brief moment, he felt as though he had just witnessed the most terrifying thing in the world.
He looked at Ace, then at Luffy, and finally back at Ace again. There was something about the faint smile on Ace's face that made Sabo feel deeply uneasy. He had thought that this so-called initiation ceremony would be nothing more than some childish prank or a simple challenge.
He had never imagined that Ace would actually suggest killing Luffy.
However, Luffy himself did not seem to care about the danger at all.
As soon as he heard Ace's words, his eyes lit up with determination.
"Anything is fine, as long as you two can become my friends!"
Luffy shouted without hesitation.
His voice was filled with sincerity.
He had never been good at hiding his feelings. To Luffy, becoming friends with Ace and Sabo was far more important than whatever strange test they had prepared for him.
Ever since he had arrived at Dadan's hideout, he had been surrounded by people he did not like. The bandits were frightening, noisy, and completely different from the kind of people he wanted to spend time with.
But Ace was different.
And now there was Sabo as well.
For Luffy, who hated being alone more than anything else, simply having two people willing to stay beside him was enough to make him happy.
Ace stared at him for a moment.
Then the corners of his mouth curled upward.
"Then don't move."
Luffy blinked.
"Huh?"
Before he could ask what Ace meant, Ace's eyes suddenly flashed with a faint red light.
An invisible pressure spread outward from his body.
Sabo's expression changed instantly.
He felt a chill run down his spine.
Although he had already witnessed Ace's terrifying strength many times, the feeling he was experiencing now was completely different.
This was not ordinary strength.
It was an overwhelming force that seemed to come directly from Ace's very soul.
Conqueror's Haki.
Ace slowly raised his fist.
A faint crimson aura gathered around it.
Then—
He brought his fist down.
BANG!
The impact echoed through the forest.
"AARRRGHHH!!!"
Luffy's miserable scream exploded through the trees.
Birds scattered from the branches, startled by the sudden noise.
Ace, however, remained completely calm.
Because at that exact moment, a familiar notification appeared in his mind.
[Your extraordinary comprehension has allowed you to gain insight from the recoil generated by striking the target. Conqueror's Haki has increased!]
Ace's eyes immediately lit up.
It worked.
It had actually worked!
A surge of excitement flashed through his heart.
As expected, Luffy really was different.
He was worthy of being the protagonist of the original story.
Ever since Ace had awakened Armament Haki and Observation Haki during his training with Garp, he had been searching for ways to accelerate the growth of his Haki.
His extraordinary comprehension had already given him an advantage that ordinary people could never hope to possess. He could learn things at an astonishing speed, understand the principles behind techniques almost instinctively, and discover connections that others would completely overlook.
But the problem was that Haki was not something that could simply be increased by sitting around and thinking.
It required experience.
It required battle.
And, most importantly, it required a suitable opponent.
During one of his training sessions with Sabo, Ace had accidentally discovered something astonishing.
When he struck Sabo while coating his attacks in Haki, the recoil generated from the collision allowed him to gain a tiny bit of insight.
That insight would then strengthen his Armament Haki.
At first, Ace had assumed it was merely a coincidence.
So he tested it again.
And again.
And again.
The result remained the same.
After that, Ace began experimenting.
He went to Gray Terminal and fought all kinds of thugs and delinquents. He beat them with Armament Haki, tested different strengths, changed his attack patterns, and carefully observed the results.
But most of the time, nothing happened.
The system gave him no increase whatsoever.
Ace even went so far as to beat the members of Dadan's family with Haki one after another.
The result was still the same.
Nothing.
Not a single increase.
At that point, Ace understood that there was a condition involved.
His ability did not allow him to endlessly farm Haki from random people.
The target needed to possess extraordinary potential.
Only then could the impact and recoil generated from clashing with that person provide him with genuine insight.
And even then, there was another limitation.
The target's strength mattered.
When Ace first discovered this phenomenon with Sabo, he had been able to obtain a steady increase by fighting him repeatedly.
But after beating Sabo for five consecutive days, the improvement gradually stopped.
Ace immediately understood the reason.
Sabo's current strength had reached its limit.
As long as Sabo remained at the same level, Ace could no longer extract anything new from their clashes.
Therefore, Ace changed his approach.
Instead of continuing to beat Sabo pointlessly, he began putting him through brutal training.
Running through the forest.
Carrying heavy objects.
Fighting wild beasts.
Enduring physical punishment.
Pushing his body far beyond its normal limits.
The training was so intense that Sabo often wondered whether Ace secretly hated him.
But the results were undeniable.
Sabo's strength improved dramatically.
And once Sabo became stronger, Ace discovered that the effect had returned.
By striking Sabo with Haki again, Ace could once more obtain new insights and strengthen his own Armament Haki.
That discovery had led Ace to an even more important conclusion.
His method was not simply about beating people.
It was about using talented individuals as catalysts for his own growth.
The stronger they became, the more he could potentially gain from fighting them.
Which was exactly why Ace had been looking forward to Luffy's arrival.
Ever since he realized that Luffy would eventually become one of the most terrifying monsters on the sea, Ace had wondered whether the same principle would apply to Conqueror's Haki.
There was only one problem.
Conqueror's Haki was fundamentally different from Armament Haki and Observation Haki.
The latter two could be strengthened through practice and repeated use.
But Conqueror's Haki was tied to something much deeper.
The user's own spirit.
Their ambition.
Their will.
Their caliber.
In simple terms, one's Conqueror's Haki could only become stronger when the person themselves grew stronger in a spiritual sense.
That was why the best way to cultivate Conqueror's Haki was to constantly clash with powerful opponents, defeat them, surpass them, and prove the strength of one's own will.
Unfortunately, Ace was still too young to travel freely across the sea.
He had no access to the endless battles that would allow his caliber to rise naturally.
But now...
He had discovered another possibility.
Luffy.
Ace stared at the boy before him.
His eyes seemed to shine brighter than before.
Luffy had barely begun his journey.
He was still weak.
He was still reckless.
He was still a child who could cry over something as simple as being punched.
And yet, despite all that, there was a terrifying potential hidden within him.
As expected of the future Sun God.
Luffy suddenly clutched his head and began yelling.
"That really hurts! Why does it hurt as much as Grandpa's punches?!
"No! It hurts even more than Grandpa's punches! I'm a rubber man! I ate the Gum-Gum Fruit! Why does it still hurt?!
"And besides, Ace, your fist didn't even hit me directly!"
Luffy rubbed the top of his head with a miserable expression.
Ace looked at him calmly.
He already knew why.
Even someone as ruthless as Garp would never use Conqueror's Haki coating when punching a seven-year-old Luffy.
There was simply no comparison between ordinary Armament Haki and a fist coated in Conqueror's Haki.
They were fundamentally different levels of power.
Sabo, who had been watching from the side, suddenly looked surprised.
"Gum-Gum Fruit? Ace, this guy ate the same kind of Devil Fruit as you? But how can he be so weak?"
In Sabo's mind, Devil Fruits had always been associated with terrifying powers.
And compared with Ace's Flame-Flame Fruit, Luffy's rubber ability seemed almost useless.
Ace could transform into flames.
He could generate massive amounts of fire.
He could burn through steel and turn the battlefield into an inferno.
Compared to that, becoming rubber did not look particularly impressive.
"Huh? Ace, you ate a Devil Fruit too?"
Luffy suddenly looked at Ace in surprise.
Then his expression immediately brightened.
For the first time since eating his own Devil Fruit, he had discovered that he was not alone.
"Of course," Sabo said proudly. "Ace ate the Flame-Flame Fruit and became a man made of fire. His Devil Fruit is much stronger than that weird rubber fruit of yours."
"Fire?! That's amazing!"
Luffy's eyes sparkled.
Then he turned toward Sabo with confusion.
"But why are you so proud of it?"
Sabo's face instantly darkened.
"None of your business!"
He bared his teeth and shouted.
Luffy tilted his head.
Ace almost laughed.
These two really were already starting to behave like brothers.
Still, Ace had no intention of wasting time.
He looked back at Luffy.
"We can talk about Devil Fruits later."
His voice became calm again.
"If you want to join us, this initiation ceremony can't be skipped."
Ace deliberately paused.
"But if you're afraid of pain, then there's nothing we can do."
Luffy's expression immediately became serious.
"No!"
He clenched his fists.
"As long as you two can become my friends, this little bit of pain doesn't matter!"
His eyes were shining with determination.
"Come on, Ace!"
Ace stared at him.
There was no hesitation in the boy's voice.
No fear.
No retreat.
He genuinely wanted to become friends with them badly enough to endure whatever punishment they gave him.
A strange smile appeared on Ace's face.
"Then... I'll continue."
A crimson glow began flickering within his eyes.
What a perfect experience dummy.
Not only could Luffy endure his attacks, but he was actually looking forward to getting beaten.
In that case...
Ace certainly had no reason to hold back.
The crimson aura around his fist intensified.
Conqueror's Haki surged outward.
Then Ace's attacks began to fall one after another.
BANG!
BANG!
BANG!
"AAAAAAAH!!!"
Luffy's screams echoed through the forest.
Trees shook from the force of the impacts.
The ground beneath their feet cracked slightly.
And once again, familiar words continuously appeared in Ace's mind.
[Your extraordinary comprehension has allowed you to gain insight from the recoil generated by striking the target. Conqueror's Haki has increased!]
Another message.
Then another.
And another.
Every time Ace struck Luffy, new insights surfaced within his mind.
His understanding of Conqueror's Haki became clearer.
The flow of power.
The way his will interacted with his body.
The subtle difference between simply releasing Conqueror's Haki and actually coating his attacks with it.
All of these tiny discoveries accumulated.
Like drops of water filling a vast ocean.
Ace's Conqueror's Haki was becoming stronger.
And the source of this incredible growth was a seven-year-old boy who was currently rolling around on the ground and screaming at the top of his lungs.
Luffy, meanwhile, had no idea that he was being turned into Ace's personal training treasure.
To him, this was simply the price of friendship.
Every punch meant he was one step closer to having companions.
Every painful impact meant he was getting closer to becoming part of their little group.
So even when his body hurt so much that tears streamed down his face, Luffy still refused to give up.
"Again!"
He shouted through his tears.
Ace paused.
Even Sabo looked stunned.
Luffy wiped his eyes and grinned.
"I can take it!"
Sabo stared at him for a long moment.
Then he silently looked toward Ace.
That idiot really was something else.
But there was one thing Sabo could not deny.
For the first time, the three of them were beginning to form something resembling a real bond.
It might have started with threats, beatings, and a ridiculous initiation ceremony.
But sometimes, the strangest beginnings led to the strongest relationships.
And Ace...
Was more than satisfied.
He had found the perfect partner for his Haki training.
Luffy.
The future Pirate King.
The future Sun God.
And, for the moment...
His very own experience dummy.
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