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Chapter 62: Father and Son Severed
Goa Kingdom, High Town.
In the Outlook family mansion, the study, a room that usually displayed luxury and power, was currently the stage for a farce.
On the expensive Persian rug, Outlook III, his gaudily dressed wife, and their pride, their younger son Sterry, were all roughly held on the ground.
Two small figures, however, emanated an oppressive aura that was hard to look at.
Ace stood in the center of the study.
The flames burning on his fist illuminated his freckled face, making the shadows dance, outlining a kind of violent beauty.
Luffy had his hands on his hips, cheeks puffed out, glaring angrily at the nobles on the floor who were usually so high and mighty.
"You... you..."
Outlook III, collapsed on the floor, trembled uncontrollably but still tried to maintain his ridiculous noble air.
He forced a stiff smile, speaking in a condescending, preachy tone he thought was appropriate.
"Children, you are young, you mustn't be so impulsive."
"Violence doesn't solve problems. You must not go down the path of breaking the law."
Ace tilted his head, a dangerous arc hooking his lips.
He couldn't be bothered to waste words on this man.
His fist, wreathed in roaring flames, slowly drew closer.
A scorching heat wave washed over Outlook III's face, distorting it. He could even smell his own hair scorching.
"Cut the crap."
Ace's voice was calm, but beneath the calm was a volcano about to erupt.
"Give the order. Now."
"Cancel the plan to burn the Gray Terminal."
The threat of death was so real.
Outlook III shrieked, all his dignity gone.
"No! No, no! It wasn't me!"
He babbled, waving his hands frantically.
"The King approved the plan! It's the King's decree! I... I'm just a noble, I only suggested it! I have no power to revoke the King's order!"
"Oh?"
The smile on Ace's face grew more wicked.
"So you can't."
He pulled back his fist, looking with amusement at the man who was about to wet himself.
"That's fine too."
"The trash heap needs someone to light it, anyway. I think you're a perfect fit."
"If you can't do it, I'll just throw you into the Gray Terminal first. You can turn to ash along with all that trash you wanted to burn."
There was no trace of a joke in Ace's words.
He'll really kill me!
This realization shattered Outlook III's sanity. In his extreme terror, he grasped at the last straw he could think of.
He screamed at the top of his lungs.
"You can't do this to me!"
"I am Sabo's father! His biological father!"
"You're his brothers! You can't lay a hand on your brother's father!!"
He was certain that blood was the final shield.
However.
"Haha..."
"Hahahahahahaha!!"
Ace laughed as if he had just heard the funniest joke in the world, clutching his stomach. His laughter was filled with undisguised mockery and scorn.
He straightened up, his burning eyes looking down on the man.
"Father?"
"You... trash... are worthy of saying that word?"
"I'm telling you, if Sabo knew what I was planning, he'd be the first to applaud and throw you in himself!"
Before Outlook III could react, Ace stepped forward, leaning close to his ear.
He used a voice only they could hear to drop a piece of information that would doom him.
"Oh, right. Forgot to tell you."
"Your 'good son,' to protect those people in the trash heap, has already run off to the port."
"He's going to stop the Celestial Dragon's ship."
Boom!
The words "Celestial Dragon" were like a silent, black lightning bolt, shattering Outlook III's mind.
The fear, panic, and hope on his face all froze.
Then, all the blood drained from his face at a visible rate, leaving it as white as a corpse.
Attack a Celestial Dragon?
What does that mean?
It means the entire Goa Kingdom will be wiped off the map!
It means his Outlook family... his proud noble bloodline... will be uprooted and destroyed in the cruelest way!
Compared to his family's destruction, to the Celestial Dragons' wrath, his own life, even the "merit" of burning the trash heap, was insignificant!
"No..."
"No!!!"
A fear deeper than death consumed Outlook III's sanity.
His survival instinct exploded with unprecedented force.
He must sever all ties!
He must completely disown that traitorous son!
"That traitor! That damn traitor!!!"
Outlook III shrieked hysterically, his voice sharp and piercing.
"He's going to get us all killed! He's going to destroy the Outlook family!!"
"I have no son! I never gave birth to such a son!!"
He scrambled to his feet, pointing at the door, at the air, at Ace and Luffy, at his terrified wife and son, using all his strength to make his most vicious proclamation.
"I! Outlook III! From this moment on, sever all father-son ties with that sinner, Sabo!!"
"He is no longer my son! His life, his death, his sins... have nothing to do with the Outlook family!!"
The rage on Ace's face turned to utter contempt and disgust.
Luffy's eyes were wide. His small brain couldn't understand how a father could say such things, but he could feel the nauseating ugliness coming from the man.
"You..." Luffy clenches his fists. "You're the worst!"
Ace had no more interest in this waste of space. Threatening him was pointless.
He grabbed the collar of Outlook III, who was still screaming about "severing ties," and hauled him up like a dead dog.
"Since you can't make the decision, I'll take you to someone who can!"
Ace grinned, showing his white teeth.
"You're the one who proposed the plan, right?"
"Then I'll drag you to the King, and you can tell him, in person, that the plan must be canceled!"
"Aaaah! Let me go! You ruffian!"
"Honey!"
Amid his wife's screams and Outlook III's useless curses, Ace dragged him out of the study.
In the corner of the ruined room.
The younger son, Sterry, who had been silent, watched his father being dragged away. He heard the curses about his "disaster-causing" brother, Sabo. His eyes showed no sympathy, no fear.
Instead, his eyes, belying his age, flashed with a near-fanatical, ambitious fire for power and inheritance.
Brother... has been disowned.