One Piece: Under the Throne

"fire punch."

"Hit the water."

The battle between water and fire has been going on for half a month. Ace used to be killed instantly by Will, but now he can fight back even with Will letting him go. Of course, the premise is that Will cannot use the Qinglong Temple martial arts and armed color domineering.

"Try my move, [Cross Fire]." Ace crossed his index fingers to form a cross shape, and the flames from both hands superimposed together to instantly form a hotter attack.

"A new move? Let me try it, [Fishman Karate: Super Push Hands]."

The palm covered with sea water collided with the cross-shaped flame and caused an explosion. After the smoke and dust dissipated, Will looked at his palm and saw a small burnt spot on the center of his palm.

"Ace, you've improved. The move you just used can already hurt my body." The injured Will looked at Ace with relief.

Ace was very happy to see that his move worked, and he fought even harder.

Ten minutes later, Ace was knocked down by a punch again, and Will carried the unconscious Ace back to the ship.

"Thank you for your hard work, Will. Leave him to me. Ace has made obvious progress and can already last half an hour."

"Gloria, are you the only one here? Where are the others?"

"Charles is catching birds, Mr. Alfu is training Deuce, Victoria and Sister Gloria are exploring the forest, and the captain is over there."

The maid pointed to a beach chair in the shade of the deck where Leo was sleeping. Then she dragged Ace into the infirmary.

As the last ray of sunlight sank into the sea, the entire uninhabited island seemed to be covered with a layer of black gauze. The stars shone and intertwined in the night sky, and the sea breeze gently caressed the tranquility of the night. In such a picture, the bonfire on the shore became the only embellishment.

During the past half month, everyone trained Ace and the other two in various ways during the day, and beat them up black and blue every time. At night, they held banquets together. It turned out that there was nothing that could not be solved by a banquet, and if there was a problem, they would hold it every day.

"Cheers!" Bang! Tons, tons, tons.

"Sure enough, waking up and drinking some cold wine is the most enjoyable thing." Leo drank the wine in the glass generously.

Ah Fu looked at his captain with a useless look, and after a long while he sighed, "Leo, if you keep going like this, you will become a degenerate. You have been living a reversed day and night life for half a month."

Gloria also complained: "He doesn't stay up late. It's obviously a life of eating and sleeping. Captain, do you feel powerless just after turning 30?"

"Fuck, didn't we agree not to mention this?" Leo muttered softly with a slightly red face.

Victoria said with some concern: "How about I try to prescribe some medicine for you? If that doesn't work, just eat more oysters. There are plenty of those anyway."

"Wulu Sai, don't talk nonsense, I don't have any, I'm still single, how can I have any problems in that regard."

Gloria looked at Leo suspiciously and grabbed his head: "Then why are you always in low spirits? You also have the problem of hair loss."

Leo was also helpless: "I don't know why, I feel sleepy when I see the sunrise. Maybe life on the island is too comfortable."

Hearing this, Ace said a little embarrassedly: "This is all our fault. Why don't we just end the training now? After all, it has delayed everyone for a long time."

"Shut up x5."

The four people who had just collectively mocked the captain, plus Leo, spoke in unison.

Seeing that everyone was looking at him, Ace embarrassedly used drinking to cover up his embarrassment. No matter how dumb he was, he had already noticed the other party's good intentions, but Ace still didn't understand why Leo and the others were nice to him.

"Huh? Ace, why are you drunk today? I remember you are only 17 years old." Ah Fu stared at Ace with a stern look.

"What's wrong with being 17? I drank sworn brotherhood wine with my brothers when I was less than 10 years old. I am a warrior on the sea now, and I am no longer a child."

This scene made Leo feel that Sicheng was familiar with him. The scene of the red-haired and red-nosed guy secretly drinking with him in Rogue Town that year came to his mind. Thinking about it, Leo laughed, and the louder he laughed, he patted Ace on the shoulder and said, "Haha, that's right, cheers to our little warrior Ace."

The banquet lasted until very late. Today was another happy day. Many people had already fallen down. Charles, who boasted of his good alcohol tolerance, had been vomiting towards the sea for a long time. He was so unhygienic that he actually vomited into the sea.

Those who were still awake in front of the bonfire were Leo, Ace, Alfu and Victoria. Yes, you read that right, the princess also persevered to the end.

Ace took sips of wine and stared at the campfire in a daze. The firelight made the boy's face look uncertain.

"Leo, I actually met you a long time ago."

"I know you've seen me."

"Oh? How did you know?"

"Where have you seen me before?"

"Yeah, I'm so stupid. How could a big shot like you not notice that someone was peeping at you?"

Ace's memory drifted far away. On that day of that year, a rare grand village celebration took place in the Windmill Village of the East China Sea. The protagonist of the celebration was a boy with a silly smile. At that time, he secretly hid behind the house and watched. He was really envious of that boy who could laugh so heartily and be surrounded by so many friends.

Later, that boy became my younger brother. Maybe it was jealousy that made me hate him when I first met him, but he kept pestering me and finally I was moved by his words "I can only rely on you".

Thinking of Luffy's silly grinning face, Ace couldn't help but reveal a hint of tenderness, and then gently stroked the letter S tattooed on his left arm.

"Ace, I've known about you for a long time. After all, that old bastard Garp loves to show off his grandson."

"Grandpa?" Thinking of Capes, he touched his head unconsciously, but before he could ask back, Leo said something shocking.

"Besides Garp of course, you also look like your father."

As soon as these words came out, the three people sitting around the campfire put down their cups at the same time, and Ace looked at Leo in surprise.

"Don't be surprised. When your father was executed, many people from our group went to see him off. Do you want to know what kind of person Roger is?"

Ace's knuckles turned white as he gripped the wine glass, and he seemed to be crushing the glass with such force: "No, don't mention him to me. I don't care what kind of person he is."

"Oh? Your reaction doesn't seem like you don't care. Instead, it's like a child who hasn't grown up. You're not still longing for your parents' warm embrace, are you? In fact, I can guess why you hate Roger so much. You grew up without a father or a mother, and suddenly you learned about your life experience. It turns out that I am the continuation of that evil bloodline.

Everyone hates pirates, and Roger, as the Pirate King, is naturally the target of abuse. In addition, your mother's death was also influenced by Roger, so you must have been aspiring to surpass Roger since you were a child. I can even imagine that when you succeed, you will definitely go to Roger's grave and taunt him harshly, saying that I, Ace, can do what you haven't done, and do it better than you."

Ace felt that Leo had seen through him completely at this moment. This feeling was terrible. He covered his ears and shook his head continuously, his expression gradually becoming hideous.

"Stop talking, stop talking, shut up, [Fire Fist]."

But before the fire fist could be released, Ace was entangled by the water flow again, and at the same time, the tip of Afu's sword was against Ace's neck.

Victoria looked at the three people who were on the verge of a fight and sighed helplessly: "Oh men, tsk! They have such bad drinking habits."

After being controlled by the water flow, Ace only felt weak, but the weakness could not dispel his anger: "Leo, you bastard, let me go. Let's fight one-on-one."

Leo didn't even look at Ace, still sipping his wine: "Want to fight me in a one-on-one duel? You'll die."

"I am not afraid of death. Even if I die, I will not forgive you."

"Heh! Ace, do you know why the Flame-Flame Fruit chose you?" Leo did not answer Ace's question directly, but asked an irrelevant question instead.

"It's not that the fruit chose me. I just picked it up by chance."

"No, you are wrong. Devil Fruits will respond to the deepest prayers in this world. Your heart longs for warmth more than anyone else, so the Flame-Flame Fruit came to you. Everything is arranged by fate."

"Stop talking nonsense. I don't believe in fate. Let me go."

Leo continued to talk to himself: "You and the Flame-Flame Fruit are a perfect match. It's a pity that you should be as warm as the sun, but you live like a candle in the dark. The candle that may go out at any time is just like your attitude towards life. Is living so painful for you?"

Ace couldn't stop crying any more, and cried to Leo, "For someone like me who is not even allowed to speak, what is the meaning of living?"

Leo didn't rush to answer Ace. He first carefully glanced at his drunk companions lying on the shore, and suddenly a smile appeared on his lips: "There is no such thing as a meaningful life, but if you live on, you may find something interesting.

And there are so many things that are not allowed in this world, you can't go out to sea, you can't cross the class, you can't disobey orders, you can't commit crimes, you can't interpret historical Chinese, you can't disobey the Celestial Dragons, and evil blood can't live like normal people. But who stipulated these things? Even if everyone in the world rejects you, at least there is a woman with a D in her name who is happy that you were born."

It seemed as if Leo was speaking to Ace, but also to himself and everyone else. Everyone had their own interpretation of these words.

Deuce had already woken up when Ace and Leo were arguing, but the two of them were arguing so fiercely that he didn't dare to move for a while. After listening to their conversation, Deuce's tears flowed down his cheeks and formed a puddle on the ground.

When Deuce heard Ace actually denying his own life, he could no longer hold back and wanted to cry out loud. Fortunately, Gloria took the lead and pretended to turn over and slapped Deuce in the face to cover his mouth.

Gloria, who was lying not far away, kicked Deuce's head accurately, causing the girl to fall asleep in tears.

Leo turned his head and looked at Ace tenderly: "Boy, even if you want to find the meaning of life, you must be able to protect yourself. After all, you are really weak now."

Ace couldn't remember how long it had been since he had been stared at like this. It was like a ray of light shining into the darkness, making Ace stop struggling: "Thank you, Brother Leo. I will seriously consider your proposal."

The water flow dissipated and Ace fell back to the ground. Leo smiled and grabbed the boy's shoulder and picked up the wine glass again: "That's right, don't live like an old man at such a young age, come and drink."

After a glass of wine, Leo continued, "Starting tomorrow, everyone will train you two comprehensively. Alfu will teach you two-color domineering, Gloria will teach you fighting skills, and Gloria will accompany you to practice your fruit ability. With Charles and Victoria by your side, you don't have to worry about your physical strength. Boy, be prepared to face the hellish training."

As soon as Leo finished speaking, he heard a few mumbling sounds like talking in a dream.

"Hoohoo, what about you?"

Leo: ...

"Ahem, of course you can't be idle at night. I will teach you how to develop a devil fruit."

"So lazy x7."

Leo: ...