A foot suddenly appeared, squarely kicking Higuma, instantly sending him flying.
At the same time, violent violet lightning exploded, striking him until his entire body was charred black.
Higuma's body flew out at an extremely high speed, vanishing from everyone's sight in the blink of an eye.
Everyone stiffly turned their heads, only to see a young boy standing where Higuma had originally been, with violet lightning occasionally crackling around him.
Kyle slowly turned his head, looking at the somewhat stunned shopkeeper who had even forgotten to cry out in pain, and asked,
"Mister, is your head okay?"
The shopkeeper subconsciously replied,
"It's... it's okay!"
At this moment, shock conquered the pain in his body.
That was the Mountain Bandit King Higuma with a bounty of seven million Berries, and he was just kicked away by this child in front of him?
"Then hurry and go bandage it up, mister. There are glass bottle fragments in your head, don't let the wound get infected!"
As he said this, Kyle shifted his gaze from the shopkeeper to Higuma's henchmen, the bandits.
His eyes narrowed slightly.
The next second, violet lightning flashed. Before they could react at all, they were given a thunder bath.
Screams of agony sounded.
In just a short while, the sounds completely disappeared, and the lightning vanished as well.
The bandits were now all lying on the ground, bodies charred black, a strong smell of roasted meat wafting around.
Their life signs had all completely disappeared.
As for Higuma, needless to say, he was already kicked to death by Kyle the moment he was sent flying. The subsequent lightning strikes were purely because Kyle disliked him and was venting on the corpse.
These bandits of the Higuma Bandit Gang were a vicious group, each one a ruthless killer.
Dealing with such people, Kyle had no intention of wasting Impel Down prison cells.
Sending them down to meet the Buddha was more efficient.
"You, you are Kyle?"
Suddenly, an elderly woman in the crowd asked.
Her words immediately reminded the other villagers around.
They had thought Kyle looked somewhat familiar earlier, but they were stunned into place for a moment by the terrifying power he displayed.
Now, after calming down a bit, they realized this Kyle was the child who had been hanging out with those two troublemakers Ace and Sabo these past few days, wasn't he?
"Yes. Auntie, it's me."
Kyle turned his head and smiled at her, then continued,
"I didn't mention it to you all before, but I am actually a Marine. So everyone doesn't need to feel any psychological burden about what happened today. Don't worry about any problems arising afterward either."
At this moment, Garp and the others finally walked over. From a distance, Garp spoke up,
"Kyle, you were a bit quick with that."
Kyle rolled his eyes at him.
"Or should I have waited for you to take your time?"
Seeing Garp appear, the many villagers greeted him.
Garp's recognition was quite high.
What followed was simple. After Garp made a call, specialized personnel came to clean up the scene.
After bidding a brief farewell to the villagers, the group continued walking out of the village.
This time, no further mishaps occurred. Before long, they arrived in front of the warship, where many Marines were already waiting.
The moment they saw Garp, they saluted in unison and shouted,
"Vice Admiral Garp!"
Garp nodded, pointing at the bandits behind Dadan and said,
"Incorporate them into the military. You can arrange the specifics as you see fit."
The officer in charge, though somewhat puzzled, did not ask further.
As soldiers under Garp's command, they simply followed Garp's orders.
The bandits were now full of excitement.
They had all been forced into banditry because they had no other options.
They never imagined that one day they could become regular soldiers. Although Dadan had already mentioned this possibility to them before, now that it was really happening, they couldn't suppress their inner excitement.
Not a single one of them was unwilling to take this stable, secure job. They all joined the Marines.
Onboard the warship, Ace and Sabo looked around curiously.
They had only seen warships from afar before; this was their first time aboard.
Soon, the warship weighed anchor, raised its sails, and slowly left the shore.
Watching Foosha Village grow farther and farther away, both Ace and Sabo couldn't help but feel a sense of melancholy.
Especially Ace.
He had lived in Foosha Village ever since he could remember, never leaving during that time.
Now, leaving this place he had called home for so many years, he felt somewhat reluctant.
However, before Ace could continue reminiscing, a slap landed on his head.
The pain made Ace cry out.
He turned his head angrily, unsurprisingly seeing Kyle standing behind him, looking at him with a faint expression. Before Ace could say anything, Kyle spoke first,
"What are you getting sentimental about here? Better use this time to come train quickly."
"See what that guy Luffy is doing?"
Following the direction Kyle pointed, they saw that Luffy had somehow already started doing push-ups on the deck, with a weight plate nearly as big as himself strapped to his back.
Sweat continuously dripped from Luffy's forehead. It was even possible to see his arms trembling with each descent. But he didn't complain of being tired, nor did he stop. He kept persevering.
Watching this scene, Ace's mouth involuntarily fell open a little.
Huh? Luffy, when did you become such a grinder?
Back in Foosha Village, didn't you play around with us every day? How come you're like a different person the moment you board the warship?
Before Ace could think further, Kyle continued,
"Ace. Wouldn't it be a bit too embarrassing if you, the third brother, got beaten by the fourth brother?"
"You're a full three years older than Luffy. If not for the advantage in age, neither you nor Sabo would be a match for Luffy in the same age group."
Ace's expression gradually became serious.
He knew what Kyle said was not wrong.
In the same age group, he couldn't possibly be Luffy's opponent. Remember, last time he defeated Luffy it wasn't easy, almost requiring Herculean effort.
Luffy's Devil Fruit ability did give him a bit of a headache.
He also wouldn't make excuses about Luffy relying on his Devil Fruit ability or anything like that. That was something only the weak would say.
Thinking of this, Ace immediately walked over to Luffy's side, picked up an even larger weight plate than Luffy's from nearby, and hoisted it onto his back.
The moment it was on his back, Ace felt his body suddenly grow heavy, his expression changing drastically. The weight of this plate was a bit beyond his expectations.
But after glancing at Luffy beside him, he didn't hesitate at all. Carrying the weight plate, he started doing push-ups.
If Luffy could persist, how could he, as the third brother, say he couldn't?
On the other side, when Sabo came out of the cabin holding a glass of juice, his world collapsed.
He saw Ace and Luffy doing push-ups side by side, their sweat dripping onto the deck, soaking a large area.
Sabo was dumbfounded. What are you two doing?
Grinding in secret while I'm not around?
Trying to usurp my position as second brother?!?
In an instant, Sabo's sense of crisis flared up.
No, absolutely not!
If he got surpassed by these two, wouldn't he lose a lot of face?
With this thought, Sabo downed the juice in his hand in one gulp. Immediately after, he also went to Luffy and Ace's side, picked up a weight plate one size larger than Ace's, hoisted it onto his back, and started doing push-ups.
As the second brother, the weight plate he carried naturally had to be bigger than the third brother's.
However, this seems a bit too heavy!!
All three of them were masters at refusing to admit defeat. A person lives for the sake of that one breath of pride.
Luffy: Work hard. I want to shed this title of fourth brother and become the third brother!!
Ace: I don't want to become the fourth brother, and I don't want to settle for being the third brother either. I want to become the second brother!!
Sabo: The second brother can only be me!!!
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