Vice Captain of One Piece

Chapter 49 The Scorpion Man's Dream; Ace's Leaving
The desert is scorching hot, and walking on it feels like being in a steamer.

Everyone was too hot to say a word, even Luffy, who was the most energetic, didn't say a word. Chopper was defeated by the high temperature of the desert again and continued to be dragged by Sauron.

"Hey, Weiwei," Nami said slowly while sitting on the camel, "Can you tell us about the situation of the rebel army? We don't know much about it yet."

"That's right," Weiwei said with her head lowered, "When I was young, I had a very good friend, Kou Sha. We were the captain and vice-captain of a small team, 'Sand Sha Tuan', and we took risks together. Let’s make trouble together. He said that he would protect me even if he died, and he kept this promise. But later, in order to develop Yuba, he and his father left. Before leaving, he said that he wanted me to be a very good princess... ..."

"It seems to be your very good partner..." Nami returned to the original topic, "but what does this story have to do with the rebel army?"

"The rebel army is stationed in Yuba," Weiwei looked at the boundless desert, "Their leader is Kosha..."

"What??" Nami looked at Weiwei sitting in front in surprise, but couldn't see her expression.

At this moment, a purple round object with barbs suddenly appeared in the desert, and it kept twisting.Luffy's attention was suddenly attracted, he ran over and knelt down, poked it with his hand and asked with a smile, "What is this? Is it for food?"

At this time, the surroundings of the sphere suddenly trembled, and after shaking up a large amount of dust, a huge purple scorpion appeared.Luffy, who happened to be standing on the back of the scorpion, said excitedly: "It's so big~~so awesome~~"

The scorpion waved the hooked stinger of its tail and stabbed at Luffy. At this time, Sauron and Sanji rushed up, and the heat-resistant Chopper also turned into a giant and ran over with his fists, while Usopp was shocked He ran around in dismay, but refused to go in to help.Enke, who was woken up, looked over helplessly, just in time to see the messy scene, and commanded Ace helplessly, "Ace, burn them..."

"OK!" Ace quickly sent a fireball up, but this time he carefully avoided Encore's clothes, he didn't want to be beaten again by the little one in his arms.

"What, burned??" The three and one deer who were fighting with the scorpion were stunned, and when they turned around, they saw a fireball flying towards them, and immediately dodged to the side, but the huge scorpion was not so lucky. The sub was cooked.

"Ace!!!" Lu Fei slapped the flames on his body, and shouted at his brother with his fangs: "What are you doing?? I almost baked it!!" The saliva jumped directly over Chopper, who was dizzy on the ground, and ran to the roasted scorpion, and Usopp was already eating it.

"That's right, Luffy's brother," Sanji said with a burnt cigarette in his mouth, "You should remind us!!"

"Ah no," Zoro calmly withdrew his knife, looked at the person in Ace's arms, and said, "I don't think it was Ace who did it. Judging from his personality that is so considerate of Luffy, it is impossible to burn it." His younger brother, unless..."

Two pairs of eyes stared at the sweetly smiling Encore in Ace's arms, and Encore, who pretended to be innocent, said slowly: "I just suddenly want to eat roasted scorpions~~" And at this time, Luffy should be hungry, so don't feed them. It will be very troublesome for him~~
"What?? Roasted scorpion??" Zoro and Sanji repeated blankly, turned their heads and saw Luffy and Usopp who were eating, and rushed up.Nami and Weiwei, who were not interested at all, rode on the camel 'eyelashes' and continued their conversation.

"Are you sure you asked me to burn it because you wanted to eat it?" Ace asked in a low voice.Anke smiled slightly, and said mischievously: "What do you think? 'Brother who thinks about Luffy~~~"

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At noon three days later, in a rock pile, everyone was quietly eating the lunch cooked by Sanji. Well, everyone did not include Luffy.

"One more bowl!!" Luffy, who instantly killed his own lunch, yelled, knocking on the plate with a spoon, and was kicked by Sanji, "Enough calories! Endure it!" But Luffy stretched out his hand He grabbed a piece of meat from Sauron's plate next to him and stuffed it into his mouth.

"Luffy!! That's my meal!!" Zoro put down the plate with a piece of meat left and rushed up to pull Luffy's cheek, hoping to save his meal.

"Why do you make such a fuss every time you eat?" Weiwei is still not used to the way the Straw Hat Pirates eat. Usopp and Chopper are desperately pushing the food into their mouths, and there is no chance to steal it. Not to that gluttonous captain.

"Close your eyes and eat, and leave them alone." Nami, who had long been used to it, closed her eyes and ate without looking at the mess over there.

"Well, take a look," Vivi whispered, "Ace has wiped the plates and forks clean."

"Really, the standard is different." Nami opened her eyes and looked at Ace, and then compared it with the noisy Luffy, "There is such a nonsense younger brother. It is really unimaginable from his polite personality. , Ace's head actually offered a huge bounty..."

"Huh??" Weiwei looked at Nami in surprise, "Ace also got a reward??"

"It is said that the bounty hunters in the world will drool over the amount of bonuses. The Whitebeard Pirates Fire Fist Ace, just hearing this name will scare pirates all over the world..."

"Ace actually went to hunt him down himself. It seems that the pirate named Blackbeard is also very powerful, right?"

"Blackbeard... the betrayer who killed his partner, Ace vowed to find him no matter where he hid..."

An Ke looked at Nami and the others, then at the dazed man on the rock, frowning slightly.

"Ace, are you still thinking about Blackbeard?" Encore walked under the rock and looked at Ace who was rarely smiling.

"Ah," Ace watched Encore slowly rise up from the crystal platform, and said lightly, "I always feel that Yuba's information is wrong, but I don't want to let go of any useful information."

An Ke didn't speak. After looking at his face for a while, she suddenly reached out and pulled his cheek. "Ah, pain, pain, pain!!!" Ace suddenly became more energetic, but he didn't dare to slap Encore's hand away, so he had to shout: "Encore, let go!!"

Anke obediently let go, watched Ace grinning and pressing his pinched flushed cheeks, and said after pursing his lips: "You two brothers are not suitable for this kind of expression, let me see it next time If so..." He moved his fingers threateningly.

Seeing Anke trying to threaten himself, Ace wanted to tell her that with her current appearance and age, she was not suitable for this kind of action, but she didn't dare to speak, so she nodded with a smile: "I see." La……"

Seeing Ace showing a gentle smile again, Anke sat on the crystal table with satisfaction and looked at Luffy who was wrestling with Sauron, and then glanced at the fishing line that slowly stretched out and hooked it into Sauron's plate He said: "That guy Luffy has never been defensive, no matter where he goes, he looks heartless."

"It's because of this that I have been worried about him, but if you go out to sea with me, I feel more at ease now..." Ace also looked there, and heard the faint voices of two children.

"Wow~~ You see, the meat can run, wow!! And it can talk!!" Luffy looked at the piece of meat hanging by the fishing line in amazement, and excitedly followed, "Ah!! Meat is about to run away!! Wait for me!!!"

Feeling that Luffy's aura and the two children's aura were getting farther and farther away, Ace sighed and muttered, "It seems that it's too early to completely relax," and followed.Anke smiled helplessly, and chased after those two auras.Seeing Luffy and the three of them running out, Zoro and the others also followed their footsteps.

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Hiding behind the rock were two little boys with light gray hair and simple clothes.The older child handed the stolen meat to the boy who seemed to be his younger brother and said, "Is it delicious, Butch, I haven't eaten for ten days, eat slowly."

"It's really good to eat, brother," Butch took a bite and handed it to his brother, "I'll eat it for you, brother~~"

"Great, I haven't even eaten in 'Badland'~~" The boy excitedly held the meat in his hand, but was interrupted by Ace who followed, "Are you from 'Badland'?"

"Who are you??" The nervous boy immediately protected his younger brother behind him, looked at Ace warily, and Butch, who was hiding behind, shouted: "We will not return the meat to you!! "

"Don't move!!" The boy suddenly pulled out a gun, trembling at Ace, threatening: "If you dare to move, you will die!!"

"Hehehe, I hate dangerous things the most~" Ace chuckled, but Anke, who was standing behind, said lightly: "Your existence is very dangerous, Ace. Don't scare them anymore ..."

"Brother... brother... have you ever shot in the city??" Butch looked nervously at his brother holding the pistol and said, "Will there really be bullets coming out??"

"I didn't know, wait..." The boy's trembling fingers accidentally pulled the trigger, but Butch, who saw his brother shooting, rushed forward, but it was still a step too late.

Seeing the bullets flying, Ace picked up a stone and knocked it down, "Dangerous games should be stopped in moderation~ Good boy, let's brush your teeth, wash your face and go to bed~"

"He blocked it with a stone," the boy looked at the bullets on the ground and the stone that was broken into two pieces in amazement.Butch hugged his brother tightly in fear and said, "I've never seen such a powerful person..."

"What's wrong?" Usopp who just arrived looked at the two children and said strangely, "Who are they?"

"The brat who stole the meat of the walker," Anke tidied up the face scarf that he didn't know when he put it on, and explained lightly: "I was just scared by Ace..."

"How could I," Ace said innocently, "I just told them not to play such a dangerous game..."

Seeing Ace's toughness, the boy threw his pistol on the ground and ran to the rock where Ace was standing and shouted anxiously: "I want you to do me a favor! There is a man who wants you to help me catch him , if you catch it for me, I will pay you 100 million..."

"100 million??" Nami's eyes immediately turned into a shining Bailey when she heard the money, but returned to normal after a while, looking at the boy's simple clothes: "Do you have 100 million now?"

"Not now..." The boy lowered his head slightly, but then clenched his fists and said loudly: "But I will definitely give it to you when I grow up!" Then he took out a photo and showed it to Ace: "Help me find this Man!! My brother and I followed this man to come here..."

"Who is this man?" Anke jumped to the next door to Ace and stood there, looking at the gray-haired man with a fork and two hearts drawn on his forehead with a little interest, "Do you have any grudges against them?" ?”

"Eh? Children??" The two children watched Encore jump out strangely, and were almost frightened when they saw Sauron and the others popping up.Anke looked back at Sauron and the others helplessly, and said, "Soron, Usopp, you scared them..."

"Why me?" Zoro frowned and looked at the two trembling children, Sanji said helplessly, "Who told you to dress like a bandit?" Zoro couldn't help but growled with his fangs: " It’s not the clothes you bought!!”

"What?? Do you have a problem with my taste??" The two who couldn't see each other fought together again, and Nami punched each other angrily: "Stop it, you two idiots! !" Looking at Zoro and Sanji who fell to the ground in an instant, Usopp and Chopper hugged each other in fear, and slowly moved away from Nami and the innocent Vivi who was implicated.

Ace knelt down, reached for the photo, looked at the man, and continued to ask, "Who is this person?"

"Scorpion, it's from the bounty hunter..." the boy said blankly, still not recovering from the shock just now. "Bounty hunter??" Sauron was immediately interested when he heard the term. After all, he was also a bounty hunter before.

"But why are you chasing a bounty hunter around?" Nami looked at the two children suspiciously, but only got a hesitant answer.

"I also have something to ask about this person," Ace stared at the photo, and said lightly, "I heard that Yuba has a person who defeated Blackbeard, and he is 'Scorpion'. I just came here to find him." To Yuba..."

"But this person is not a very powerful guy no matter how you look at it." Enke looked at it carefully and said: "Ace, it seems that his defeat of Blackbeard is probably a misunderstanding, but I still can't be too sure. .” As he spoke, he looked at a sand dune not far away, with a hint of helplessness in his eyes.

"Ace?? Are you the one..." The boys stared blankly at Ace's face.

Ace stood up abruptly, looked at the dune and said, "Something is coming, two people, a bird..."

"Really??" Everyone except Anke looked at the peaceful sand dune.Sure enough, after a while, there was the sound of things running, and then an ostrich wearing a black helmet carried two people standing on the top of the sand dune, one was the bounty hunter 'Scorpion' in the photo just now, and the other was Yes..."Luffy..." Anke looked helplessly at the yellow straw hat behind the scorpion, completely speechless.The boys quickly hid behind the rocks.

"You are here, Fire Fist Ace!" Scorpion declared loudly: "I am Scorpion, a hero without compromise. I came all the way to challenge you. Let's fight it out!"

"Yo!!" Luffy poked his head out from behind the scorpion, and greeted with a bright smile: "Are you all there?"

"Luffy!!" Except for Ace and Encore, everyone's jaws dropped in shock. "Why are you there!! Luffy!" Sanji looked at the captain who was obviously in the wrong line, smoking a cigarette.

Ace didn't say a word, just stood up and looked at Scorpion quietly, with calm eyes.While staring at Ace, Scorpion slowly shed cold sweat. Luffy looked curiously at Scorpion's nervous expression and asked, "What's wrong with you? Uncle?"

"No...it's nothing!!" Scorpion immediately pretended to be calm and continued to declare war on Ace: "I'm so sorry, you were unlucky, but you met me today, and your heroic deeds at sea ended today!!"

"Really, it's really him..." The boy hiding behind the rock looked at the man with complicated eyes. "Wow~~ Someone is coming to you for a duel!!" Don't lose! ! "Luffy sitting on the ostrich danced excitedly." Who will lose! ! "Ace lost his composure for a moment, but then he regained his composure and said, "I just happened to have something to ask him, Luffy, stay away..."

"Oh!" Luffy jumped off the ostrich excitedly, ran to stand next to Ace, looking forward to the next development with staring eyes.Encore looked at the man whose complexion was starting to turn sour, and thought to himself: "It seems that he is really weak, but why did he find Ace so overwhelmed, could it be related to these two children?" '

"Here I come, Fire Fist Ace!!" Scorpion yelled, riding down on an ostrich while assembling a novelty cannon.In order to avoid affecting Luffy and the others, Ace jumped to the open space in front, and watched the scorpion rushing towards him with ease.

"Eat my move!!" Scorpion roared, fired the cannon, and an iron net moved towards Ace.Without raising his head, Ace directly turned his whole body into flames. The huge flame smashed through the iron net and bounced back to the scorpion.

"Ah!!" The scorpion, who was too late to escape, screamed and was hit by the iron net with sparks, fell off the ostrich and rolled on the sand, and the ostrich immediately kicked up the sand with its legs to help its master put out the fire.

"Wow!!!" Luffy waved his hands excitedly to cheer for Ace, and the others were happy to see Ace fight easily. "Since you want to catch devil fruit users, you should have sea stones embedded in the net," Anke chuckled, looked at the two children who suddenly became nervous, and reminded Ace with a smile: "Ace, don't Hands that are too heavy."

"Ah, I see," Ace waved his hand, indicating that he already knew how to do it.Watching the scorpion slowly get up again, he coughed a few times and continued to challenge himself: "Sure enough, if you catch it easily, you won't be Fire Fist Ace, but the warm-up exercise is over here! Bobo! Get ready to digest and squeeze! The ostrich immediately put a cloth bag in front of the scorpion.He dodged into the distance.

Ace stopped smiling and watched him quickly assemble the parts, put on his backpack and point a gun at himself.Scorpion laughed and rushed forward: "This is a compressed gun that has hit the fire extinguishing agent! I'm going to inject this compressed fire extinguishing agent into your body!!"

"Fire extinguishing agent??" Luffy repeated in doubt, and after thinking hard for a while, he shouted nervously at Ace: "Ace!! You are fire!! Be careful!!"

Ace smiled and waved his hands, nimbly dodging the compression cannon that the scorpion kept shooting at him, and quickly stepped forward to punch the scorpion in the abdomen. The huge momentum made the scorpion slide on the sand for a certain distance before stopping.

"What," Usopp said boredly, "it's simply vulnerable~"

"I've expected it a long time ago. The story about you defeating Blackbeard is fake, right? You think you can attract me by playing the name of Blackbeard, right?" Ace looked at the person who fell not far away, and analyzed lightly. .

"That's right...is this a good tactic?" Scorpion gritted his teeth unwillingly, slowly got up and said, "It's a tie so far, and I'm going to start fighting seriously!" But he still didn't get up, and lay powerlessly on the ground gasping.

"Stop fighting!! Dad!! You can't beat him!!" The two boys rushed towards the scorpion, crying. "Father?" Luffy and the others repeated in doubt, watching the child cry and rush towards the man.

"Dad??" Scorpion, who heard the child's voice, tilted his head and saw the child rushing towards him, his expression changed: "Dib, Butch, why are you here?? When are you leaving 'Badland'? of??"

"Dad, don't think about the world's number one battle now, we are here to pick up Dad..." the older boy, Dib, whispered: "

"Hahaha, what are you talking about??" Scorpion laughed and stroked his child's hair, "I am the world's number one bounty hunter, Dan Nehru Batruscia with two guns, whether it is with Whoever fights will make them kneel down and beg for mercy..."

"Is that just your plan?" Butch naively broke his father's big words.

"Haha, have you been exposed? Yes, I'm just a bragging father," Scorpion said, with a smile not to be outdone: "No matter how humble a person is, as long as he is determined, he can challenge the number one in the world." Hero challenge!! I have always wanted to show you this spirit, let you see what a great dream is! It is impossible for a man to have a burning dream in his heart. Even if he endures every day, he cannot give up standing up and challenging. To live with a smile, as long as you have the courage to challenge the possibility, no matter what kind of life you live is heaven!! Even if my life is blocked, I want you to know that as long as you have the courage to challenge, you will definitely be able to create a path!!"

With tears in their eyes, the boys watched their father stand up slowly and firmly, and walked slowly towards Ace: "You look after Dad's unyielding soul, it's nothing, I won't lose, as long as my heart is burning with greatness My dream! Bobo, prepare the anti-tank gun!!" The ostrich immediately picked up another cannon.

"He's a pretty good guy..." Anke said lightly, and looked at the excited Luffy. "Ah, that uncle is very interesting~~" Lu Fei waved his hands excitedly and said, "Uncle!! Come on!!"

"Fire Fist Ace!! This is the final blow!!" Scorpion ignited the cannon, but was stopped by his own child crying the next second: "Dad, that's enough!! We already know what Dad wants to tell us, But we are also willing to face everything bravely and work hard to survive, as long as Dad is with us, we will have the courage..."

"..." Scorpion lowered his head, and finally shed tears and threw the cannon in his hand and hugged his child tightly.Looking at the cannon, Anke reminded: "Ace, is that cannon..."

"Leave it to me!!" Ace chuckled, sending out violent flames to burn the cannon up...

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From dusk to dusk, the soft sunlight shines on the entire desert, coating the vast desert with an intoxicating golden color.But the beauty is tainted with a trace of parting sadness.

"They're gone..." Nami said with emotion as she saw the figure of Scorpion leaving slowly with the child sitting on the ostrich.

"He's a pretty good person..." Usopp wiped away his tears, and Chopper nodded slightly choked up.

"Are you really leaving, Ace?" Encore looked at Ace packing his bag, and said with a little reluctance.

"Since Blackbeard is not in this country, I have no reason to stay in this country," Ace explained calmly with his bag on his back.

"Where are you going this time?" Sanji asked suspiciously.

"Scorpion said that someone saw him go to the west, so I will go there next," Ace took out a white paper from his trouser pocket and threw it to Luffy, saying, "Luffy, keep this thing well."

Luffy opened it suspiciously but found it was just a blank piece of paper: "What, it's just a small note..."

"This piece of paper can make us meet again," Ace said with a smile, "If you don't want it, you can return it to me."

"No, I want it!"

"Having such a stupid little brother, as a big brother, I have always been worried, you must have a headache too?" Ace said and bowed slightly to Sauron and the others, "I ask you to take care of him in the future."

"Don't worry," Nami said with a smile, "Who told him to be our captain~~"

"Luffy, next time we meet again, I hope to be at the highest peak of pirates." Ace looked at his younger brother who hadn't seen him for three years and said, "You have to go to the highest point as soon as possible..."

"Oh!"

"And the last one is Encore." Ace lowered his head, looked at Encore who was still smiling sweetly with complicated eyes, and said meaningfully, "We must become stronger quickly, Luffy..."

Luffy tilted his head in doubt, expressing that he didn't understand what Ace meant, but still nodded obediently: "Yes! I see!"

Ace bent down and rubbed Encore's long hair before turning around and leaving gracefully, "Then I'll go first."

"Take care!!! Ace!!!" Although Luffy and the others were reluctant to give up, they still waved their hands to say goodbye to Ace.An Ke stretched out his hand from the cloak, touched his black hair, his eyes were a little helpless and reluctant.

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"I must live on, Encore..."

'You too, Ace...'

——Who told us that we all made a promise to that innocent boy, saying "I will never die".Let's work together, Ace, for the promise, for the boy, and for myself! !

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　Who the hell banned me from speaking? ? ? ?And I actually forgot to publish Chapter 43......

　　
　
(End of this chapter)