Mt. Colubo.
Here stood the base of the Dadan Family, a bandit group.
At its center rose a large wooden house.
Night had fallen.
The house glowed brightly, golden firelight pushing back the darkness.
"Damn brat!"
"Late at night, and I still have to deliver food to you."
Ace cursed under his breath, his face full of annoyance.
He carried a simple dinner in his hands, step by step making his way to Kai's room.
Since Kai hadn't come out for dinner, Dadan ordered Ace to bring the boy's portion over—
and to check what he'd been doing cooped up inside all this time.
"Next time, I'll definitely beat you!"
Clearly,
Ace was still brooding over his humiliating loss earlier that day.
Among his peers,
This was the first time he'd ever been crushed.
And crushed so badly at that.
His pride, always sky-high, burned with anger and unwillingness.
What made it worse…
was that he'd been defeated in an instant—by a single hand!
That was something Ace simply could not accept.
He swore—
one day, he would settle the score!
One day, he would make Kai taste defeat.
"Hey, your food!"
Reaching the door, Ace raised his hand, ready to knock.
But then,
as if struck by a thought, he froze, lowering his hand mid-motion.
Driven by curiosity,
Ace leaned closer, pressing his ear to the door, trying to eavesdrop on whatever Kai was up to.
"No sound at all?"
"Don't tell me he already left the room?"
Ace muttered to himself.
Just as he was about to knock—
Without the slightest warning—
BOOM—
A surge of overwhelming, boundless pressure suddenly exploded from within the room!
Like a raging tide,
endless and unstoppable,
violent to the extreme.
In an instant,
that invisible force engulfed Ace's small body.
Crushing.
Devastating.
It was terrifying.
In but a single moment, it struck straight at his spirit and consciousness—
BOOM!
Shattering his mind to pieces.
Breaking.
Destroying.
Ace's eyes rolled back white.
His body went limp, his limbs uncontrollable.
He collapsed sideways with a dull thud!
The plate of food slipped from his hands, crashing onto the floor.
He lay there motionless, completely unconscious, breath faint.
At only three years old,
Ace couldn't possibly withstand such terrifying spiritual pressure.
His consciousness was instantly crushed, leaving him comatose on the ground.
At the same time,
in the main hall of the house—
The Dadan bandits, led by Dadan herself, were happily enjoying their dinner.
The atmosphere was lively and warm.
"Big Sis Dadan, was it really okay to send Ace to deliver that guy's food?"
A scrawny man asked nervously.
Everyone knew what had happened that morning.
The boy Ace, who had always been untouchable in their eyes,
had been completely crushed—
defeated in an instant by the newcomer, Kai.
Even though Ace was only three,
none of them had ever dared treat him like a normal child.
After all—
this boy could wander into a beast's den alone,
fight wild predators,
and hunt on his own.
Such feats were beyond any ordinary child.
And yet today—
unbelievably—
Ace had been taken down by a peer, in a single move!
This had shocked them beyond words.
"Relax. The two of them just need time to get used to each other."
Dadan tore into the leg of a beast, chewing noisily.
"Who could've thought…"
"That old bastard Garp would dump off a kid even scarier than Ace!"
Her first impression of Kai came down to two words—
Unbelievably strong.
Three years old—yet already terrifyingly powerful.
She had a hunch:
Ace would never be able to catch up to this Kai kid.
The difference between them was clear as day.
"That's good then."
"The children Garp brings us… each one more terrifying than the last."
The other bandits sighed in amazement.
Toward Kai, they held no ill will.
If anything—
his overwhelming strength had already earned their grudging recognition.
"Eat up!"
"No need to worry about the rest."
Dadan ate ravenously, and the others followed suit.
But just then—
An invisible, suffocating pressure silently swept through the hall.
Towering.
Overwhelming.
BOOM—
The terrifying aura engulfed the entire hall in an instant!
Every single member of the Dadan Family was caught in it.
The force was hellish,
monstrous,
terrifying beyond belief.
It crushed straight into their minds, tearing at their spirits.
The first to fall was a burly middle-aged man.
The moment the pressure hit him—
his eyes rolled white, foam dribbled from his mouth, and his limbs went limp.
"Ugh…"
He tried to speak,
but only a weak gasp escaped.
The plate in his hands slipped—
CRASH!
Shards of porcelain scattered across the floor, food splattering everywhere.
A moment later—
THUD!
His body hit the ground.
Completely unconscious.
Once the first fell,
The second followed.
Then a third.
Then another.
Thud!
Thud!
Thud!
One after another, bandits collapsed, eyes rolled back, foam at their mouths, lying motionless on the ground.
Plates shattered.
Food spilled.
The hall became a chaotic mess.
From noisy chatter to dead silence—
the entire house was suddenly still.
Every single member of the Dadan Family had collapsed under the invisible onslaught.
Every single one…
except Dadan herself.
"This… this is…"
Her throat went dry, the beast's leg frozen in her grip.
Her eyes bulged as she stared in shock at the inexplicable scene.
Never could she have imagined—
that in the blink of an eye,
her whole family would be wiped out!
Gulp!
She swallowed hard, her mind racing to a chilling conclusion.
A memory stirred—
an old rumor she'd once heard, long ago, and buried deep in her mind.
But now—
that memory resurfaced.
"N–No way…"
"That terrifying force just now…"
"Could it be… Conqueror's Haki?!"
Dadan's lips trembled, her face filled with utter shock.