East Blue, on an island with many large windmills.
This place had a wide coastline, with fine, clean sandy beaches. Some small boats were docked by the shore, these were the tools used by the island's residents for fishing.
At a certain spot on the beach, a red flag was planted, as if marking something.
Suddenly, two figures almost simultaneously dashed out from the nearby forest, both rushing towards the location of the flag.
Both were children in appearance.
One child had black hair, freckles on his cheeks, and wore a red vest.
The other child had short blonde hair, a missing tooth visible in his mouth when he smiled, looking mischievous and full of energy.
The black-haired child turned to look at the blonde-haired child and said, "Sabo, if you can't beat me, just admit defeat early. That way, you can save some face."
"Huh."
Sabo sneered, looking disdainfully at Ace.
"Ace, what nonsense are you bragging about? How many times have you ever beaten me in our contests so far? The loser should have the awareness of a loser, okay? And you're still here spouting big words."
"What did you say? Clearly, I've won more times."
Ace was so angry he started hopping. However, this momentary distraction caused the two, who were originally neck and neck, to shift to Sabo leading Ace by one body length.
Seeing that the distance to the red flag at the finish line was only about ten meters, a distance under normal circumstances Ace absolutely could not catch up to Sabo.
So Ace, without thinking, used a "divine hand" move and grabbed Sabo's clothes.
The sudden pull caused Sabo to lose his balance and fall down.
Ace's eyes lit up, and he strode forward, while also not forgetting to turn his head and mock Sabo.
"I told you, in the end, it would definitely be me."
Thud.
Ace face-planted into the sand, getting a mouthful of grit.
He lifted his head to look back and saw Sabo tightly gripping his ankle.
This made Ace furious.
"Sabo. You're cheating."
"Who cheated first? Don't you have any sense? You're the bad guy making the first accusation."
Sabo was even more furious.
Then he directly got up, stepped on Ace's back, and continued running towards the red flag. However, after taking just one step, he also fell flat on his face.
Ace was tightly gripping his ankle.
"Don't think ... you can beat me easily."
For the next while, the two entangled like two earthworms, neither wanting to let the other get away.
They inched towards the red flag at an extremely slow speed.
Just as the two of them were about to inch their way to the front of the red flag, a pair of feet suddenly appeared behind the flag. Then a small, pale hand picked up the red flag, and a voice came over.
"Sorry, it seems I'm the one who wins in the end."
The sudden voice made the two entangled in the sand pause for a moment. Then they both looked up together. What met their eyes was a boy about their age, with an incredibly cute appearance.
The boy was Kyle. At this moment, he couldn't help but smile as he looked at the two.
Because the system prompt had just sounded again.
[Ding. Detected a recruitable genius nearby. Loading genius profile.]
[Sabo. Born a noble but able to see through its hypocrisy. Had a troubled childhood, lost his memory after an attack by Celestial Dragons, grew and became stronger within the Revolutionary Army.]
[Recruitment suggestion. The future Flame Emperor Sabo possesses extremely high talent. Believed to be capable of becoming a pillar of the Marines in the future.]
[Recruitment reward. Observation Haki, Devil Fruit experience book.]
Sure enough, his guess was correct. Sabo was also within his recruitment scope.
However, what puzzled him was that in the original story, Ace and Sabo would meet at the Gray Terminal when they were ten years old and then become best friends.
At this point in time, both were only eight years old. But from the current situation, it seemed the two had already known each other for quite some time.
After being puzzled for just a moment, Kyle didn't continue thinking about this issue.
Whatever. The two being together actually saved him trouble. Otherwise, his original plan was to recruit Ace first and then go to the Goa Kingdom to find and recruit Sabo.
Now, not having to do so much was even better. Coming to Foosha Village, directly recruiting two geniuses, completing two tasks in one trip, a huge win.
Although the two didn't know Kyle now and had absolutely no thoughts of joining the Marines.
But Kyle was still somewhat confident in his own ability to persuade ... recruit.
The reward for recruiting Sabo was similar to Ace's, only the type of Haki rewarded was different.
Once these two tasks were completed, he would have all three types of Haki.
Nice.
"Who are you."
Suddenly, Ace's voice interrupted Kyle's thoughts.
Looking up, he saw that Ace and Sabo had both stood up by now, eyeing him unfavorably.
What was with this kid who came out of nowhere acting so familiar? And he took their red flag.
Thinking of this, Ace put one hand on his hip and pointed at Kyle with the other.
"Kid, quickly give me the red flag in your hand. Otherwise, I'll beat you until you cry for your mom."
"Kid, don't listen to him. You should give the red flag to me. If you don't give it to me, you know the consequences, right."
As he spoke, Sabo deliberately made a fierce expression.
"Sabo, what are you doing? The red flag should be given to me. I'm the winner."
Ace shouted at Sabo, straining his neck.
"Nonsense, it should be given to me."
For a moment, the two argued over who the red flag should be given to, completely ignoring Kyle standing to the side.
Kyle's brow furrowed slightly, then relaxed, with a strained smile.
Sure enough, his tolerance for these somewhat impolite kids wasn't very high.
The next moment, Kyle's figure flashed, instantly disappearing from the sight of the two.
Before the two could react, two fists landed on their heads, one on the left and one on the right.
The next moment, a huge pain came, causing the two to let out a cry.
Both heads were smashed into the sand, like inverted scallions.
Kyle patted the non-existent dust off his hands.
Acting arrogant in front of him? Who were they messing with? Really.
The two upside-down bodies suddenly twitched. Then their feet touched the ground, and they used force to pull their heads out of the sand.
What met their eyes was Kyle's impassive face.
Instantly, the memories from just now flooded their minds.
"You damn brat, you actually dared to hit us."
Ace shouted and charged at Kyle. Sabo on the other side also didn't want to fall behind. He was also holding in anger.
The two charged at Kyle from left and right, one using fists, the other using legs.
However, Kyle just glanced at the two faintly and said disdainfully.
"You two really are pitifully weak."
After saying this, Kyle slightly sidestepped, simultaneously dodging the attacks of both.
At the same time, one hand grabbed Ace's arm, the other grabbed Sabo's calf.
He exerted a little force, pulling the two directly towards each other, making their faces collide head-on.
The impact made the two see stars, their steps unsteady, like drunkards who had drunk ten pounds of white wine.
Before they could react, Kyle gave each of them another kick, sending them flying and crashing onto the sand.
He walked forward slowly, stopping about a meter in front of the two. He looked down at them from above, the disdain in his eyes almost overflowing.
"Is that all."
...