【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

"Ace, are you okay?" Lucci walked up to the drunk Ace and asked.

"Ugh!" Ace covered his head which was swollen and painful from drinking too much. He didn't raise his head until he heard Lucci's voice.

"You've drunk too much." Lu Qi looked at the boy with red cheeks and a strong smell of alcohol, feeling a little helpless. "Although I can drink as much as I want because I'm an adult, I can't drink so much."

"Hey! Lucci, don't worry about the captain! This is a party to celebrate this guy's coming of age, we can't let him escape easily!" The other Spade Pirates said with laughter.

“That being said, you can’t drink too much at once. If you get drunk like this, it will be very troublesome if you encounter an enemy attack!” Lucci shook his head helplessly.

"You just worry too much!" Deus drunkenly patted Lucci's shoulder and said with a smile, "Our captain is not a weakling. And we have you."

"Lucci, you are the only kid on our ship now!" Dutch Brie said to Lucci with a wink and a smile.

"Get lost," Lucci laughed and pushed Bree away, "If Ace hears you say that, you'll lose your clothes."

"Hey!" Brie pretended to be horrified, approached Lucci again, and begged with a smile, "He's drunk. It's fine as long as you don't tell Ace, Lucci."

"Okay, okay." Lucci smiled and pushed Bree's face away again. He turned and walked towards the tavern owner's seat, waving his hand and saying to Bree with a smile, "You watch over Ace. I'll go get something to sober you up."

"No problem!" Bri patted his chest exaggeratedly, but he didn't notice that behind him, Ace, who had been drunk on the table, had stood up and staggered towards the door of the tavern.

Bri looked at Lucci's back as he left, shook his dizzy head, turned around and joined the group of people drinking enthusiastically next to him and continued drinking with them, completely forgetting what he had just promised Lucci.

When Lucci came out with the sobering drink, what he saw was the completely drunk pirate lying on the floor of the tavern.

Lucci looked around and found that Ace was not in the crowd. Could he have gone out drunk? Lucci frowned and wanted to use his Observation Haki to find someone, but the aura around him was too mixed. He could only walk out of the tavern and look for him in the surrounding alleys.

……

Damn it, Ace covered his throbbing forehead. He was no longer sure where he was. Was he at the beach? Ace tried to recall, but as he thought, his forehead throbbed. If he learned anything tonight, it must be that he would never drink so much again. It was not fun at all. Who cares? Why do people like to do this?

He barely supported his body and squinted his eyes to look around. Lucci was not here, and the members of Spade were not nearby. He seemed to have somehow walked into the alley next to the tavern. He remembered that he passed by here earlier when they entered the town.

The alley was dirty, and the building he was leaning against was a bit filthy. There was a foul smell in the air that made him feel a little nauseous. His stomach seemed to want to vomit uncontrollably, but since there was no food in his stomach, he could only dry heave.

This feeling was not good, as it caused the darkness in his heart to begin to envelop him again, and he could feel his heart becoming increasingly empty.

Damn it, he missed home and his brother so much, he hadn't seen Luffy for a year and he had never been away from Luffy for so long.

Ace was lost in his confused thoughts until an arm was placed on his shoulder and he realized that he was not alone, there were other people in this alley.

The next second his instinct took effect, and Ace turned around, wanting to attack the unknown enemy with a flaming fist.

When the familiar flames did not respond to him, he took a breath and realized too late that the alcohol had not only reduced his vigilance, but also made his body abnormally weak, and he could not even use his Devil Fruit ability.

He caught a glimpse of an ugly smirk as he was knocked away, the back of his head slamming into the ground, Ace clutched his hand as the blood poured out of his head, his drunken state did not help the pain, it only made his brain throb more violently.

Before Ace could turn over, a hand grabbed his head and slammed it to the ground, again and again.

"Aren't you a superstar? You don't look that great!" Someone standing in front of him sneered.

Ace roared, trying to break free, he desperately tried to call upon his flames, but he could find no flames that responded to his feelings.

A sharp pain shot through his shoulder and he screamed in pain. He turned his head as far as he could, but the other party held him tightly. When he raised his hand to grab the dagger on his shoulder, his arm felt weak. There was no doubt that the bastard used seastone to deal with a special ability user like Ace.

This was a targeted attack, Ace suddenly realized, which temporarily dispelled the confusion in his mind, that guy knew he would be here, Ace didn't waste any time, he tried to attack the enemy's abdomen with his knee, but was rewarded with a heavy blow to the stomach, then, regardless of the pain in his head and shoulders, he directly punched upwards to attack the guy's neck, he needed to get rid of his control, he just needed to stand up, he couldn't fight like this.

As the attacker thrust the knife deeper into his shoulder, another sharp pain struck him, and he gasped violently, his arms shaking slightly. The attacker took the opportunity to dodge his fist and hit him back with his other hand, then grabbed his head again and slammed it to the ground, pressing his head to the floor with his hand.

"Do you know how much a captain with special abilities like you can be sold for? It would be a shame to hand it over directly to the navy, Fire Fist." The man smiled sinisterly.

Pirate hunter? He thought uneasily.

"Let me go, you damn bastard!" he roared, and he exploded with all the energy in his body. The impact of fire pushed away the person who was holding him. He would rather die than lose his freedom.

The man was pushed a little further away from him. "Can't you let me catch you more easily?" He sighed. "But I will make it easier."

Ace quickly stumbled to his feet, sneering at his words, the energy he had burst out earlier now gone from him. He would never drink so much again "I think you need to loosen up your ugly face."

The man's expression became even uglier.

Ace was ready to fight, he would win, he had been through too many battles where his opponent had the upper hand, he would draw Luffy's dagger if necessary, another part of him realized that the seastone dagger on his left shoulder was troublesome, it made his body unable to use its usual strength, and he could not handle the large amount of blood loss caused by this in the battle, which would make this battle more difficult.