A suffocating silence fell over the battlefield.
Garp stood with one hand gripping Bluejam's sword—stopping it from coming down on me. No Haki. No special power. Pure, raw physical strength alone.
And Bluejam's sword couldn't move a single inch.
"You..." Garp's voice was low, cold, and dangerous. "You dared raise a weapon against my grandchild?"
Bluejam broke into a cold sweat. He tried to pull his sword back but it didn't move at all—as if locked in place by Garp's grip.
"L-let go!" Bluejam shouted in panic.
"Let go? Alright."
Garp released the sword. Bluejam's face briefly flashed with relief—then turned to pure horror as he realized Garp's other hand was already clenched and moving.
WHAM!
One punch.
Just one punch to the stomach.
Bluejam was launched like a ragdoll—crashing through three large trees before finally coming to a stop with his body half-buried in the earth. He didn't move. Completely unconscious or dead, I couldn't tell.
Every one of Bluejam's pirates still standing immediately went pale.
"R-run!" one of them screamed.
They all fled—abandoning their wounded comrades, abandoning their weapons, abandoning everything. All that mattered was getting away from the monster known as Monkey D. Garp.
Within seconds, the battlefield was empty. Only our forces remained alongside the wounded from both sides.
Garp turned and looked at me. His face was still angry but there was hidden concern in his eyes.
"Ace. Are you alright?"
I tried to stand but my legs gave out. I collapsed immediately.
"Energy... gone..." I panted.
"You idiot! Why did you force a body this small to unleash an attack that massive?!" he picked me up carefully—a sharp contrast to the brutal punch moments ago.
"Because... had to protect... the family..."
Garp went silent. He looked at me with a complicated expression.
"Stubborn kid. Just like your father."
Father. Gol D. Roger. The man even Garp had respected despite being his enemy.
"Rest. Grandpa will handle the rest."
My consciousness began to blur. Too exhausted. Too much energy spent.
The last thing I heard before blacking out was the sound of Garp shouting at Dadan—and the sound of Dadan shouting right back with zero respect.
Even in a crisis, the two of them were bickering as usual.
I smiled faintly before everything went dark.
When I woke up, it was already night.
I was lying on a mat with bandages wrapped around several parts of my body. The sharp smell of medicine filled the air. Every part of me ached—like I'd been hit by a truck.
"Finally awake."
I turned my head. Garp was sitting beside the mat with his arms folded across his chest. His face was serious—none of the loud laughter or wide grins I was used to from him.
"Jii-chan... why are you here?" my voice came out hoarse.
"I got a report from some of my subordinates who happened to pass through this area a week ago. They said there was trouble with the Bluejam Pirates. So I came to check the situation." He fixed me with a sharp stare. "Turns out my three-year-old grandchild has been fighting real pirates. And has a Devil Fruit on top of that."
Uh oh. He knew about the Mera Mera no Mi.
"When did you eat that Devil Fruit?!"
"When I was one and a half..." I answered honestly—there was no point in lying now.
"ONE AND A HALF?!" Garp shouted in shock. "You ate a Devil Fruit at that age?! Who gave it to you?!"
"Nobody gave it to me. I... found it in the forest. Didn't know it was a Devil Fruit so I ate it."
Half a lie. I had known exactly what it was. But Garp didn't need to know that.
Garp rubbed his face in frustration. "You reckless kid... do you know how rare and dangerous a Devil Fruit is?! Especially a Logia type! You're now a major target for bounty hunters and corrupt Marines!"
"I know. That's why I've been training hard to become strong."
"Training?! You're only three years old!"
"Age doesn't matter. What matters is strength—enough strength to protect the people I love."
Garp went quiet again. His expression shifted—from angry to... something like sadness.
"You've grown up too fast, Ace. You should be playing like a normal child. Not fighting pirates."
"The world doesn't offer that choice, Jii-chan. If I wasn't strong, we would all be dead or sold to the slave market today."
I pushed myself to sit up—despite my body protesting fiercely. I looked Garp directly in the eyes.
"I know you're worried. I know you want me to become a Marine and live safely. But that's not the path I'm choosing. I'm going to be a pirate. A free pirate. And nothing can stop me."
A bold declaration from a three-year-old.
Garp stared at me for a long moment. A very long moment. And then—
He laughed. His signature booming laugh.
"GWAHAHAHA! You really are just like that man! Stubborn! Idealistic! And an idiot!" he patted my head—a little hard but full of affection. "Fine then! If you want to be a pirate, then be one! But don't be a weak pirate! Be the strongest! Make your old grandpa proud even as he comes to arrest you someday!"
A complete contradiction. But that was pure Garp.
"But—" his tone shifted back to serious. "You need to become far stronger. Much stronger. That attack earlier—the one you called Hiken—it was impressive. But you blacked out afterward. That's a fatal weakness. A powerful enemy can kill you while you're unconscious."
He was right. That was my current weakness—powerful attacks that completely drained my energy.
"Starting tomorrow, Grandpa will train you. Only three days—because I have to return to Marine headquarters. But those three days will be the worst hell of your life."
I swallowed hard. Yamamoto's training was already brutal. Garp's training would surely be even more terrifying.
But this was a rare opportunity. Being trained directly by the Marine Hero who had once stood against the King of Pirates himself.
"I'm ready."
"Good! Now sleep! Tomorrow morning we start at three o'clock!"
"THREE O'CLOCK?!"
"Yes! The earlier the better! GWAHAHA!" he stood and walked toward the door. "Oh right, I'll train Sabo too. That kid has real talent."
The door closed. I lay back down with a swirl of emotions—excitement, fear, and just a little regret at having said I was ready so quickly.
But there was no turning back now.
The next morning at three, Garp woke us in the most brutal way possible—dumping buckets of ice water over our heads.
"WAKE UP! TRAINING STARTS NOW!"
Sabo and I shot out of our beds screaming like lunatics—the water was freezing!
"Get changed and outside in two minutes! If you're late, no food for the entire day!"
We changed clothes at what had to be world record speed.
Outside, Garp was already standing with a wide grin and... enormous iron boxing gloves?!
"First exercise is simple. You have to dodge my punches for one hour. If you get hit—well, let's hope your bones are sturdy."
"ONE HOUR?!" Sabo screamed in horror.
"Yes. Starting now—ATTACK!"
No countdown. No warning signal. Just attack!
His fist came like a cannonball. Sabo and I leapt in opposite directions—the ground where we had been standing exploded into a small crater.
"Good reflexes! But too slow! AGAIN!"
BOOM! BOOM! BOOM!
Every punch shattered the earth. Every kick toppled a tree. This wasn't training—this was attempted murder!
"Use your Observation Haki! Predict the movement! Don't just react!"
I focused. Observation Haki pushed to maximum. Sense—there's a presence moving from the left!
I dodged right—Garp's fist passed by a hair's width.
"Better! But still not enough!"
He increased his speed. Now it wasn't individual punches—it was a relentless barrage!
Sabo and I moved frantically—dodging, rolling, leaping, doing anything to avoid getting hit. Every movement was a choice between survival and broken bones—okay maybe not death, but definitely several fractures.
The first fifteen minutes were still manageable. But after that—
WHAM!
I was too slow to dodge. Garp's fist caught my left shoulder. Even with his power reduced, I was still sent flying five meters and tumbling across the ground.
"ACE!" Sabo was distracted for just a split second—
WHAM!
He got hit too—sent flying in the opposite direction.
"DON'T GET DISTRACTED! In a real fight, one moment of distraction means death!"
We got back up—bodies aching everywhere, but we couldn't give up.
The brutal training continued. Every time we got hit, we learned. Every near-miss made us faster.
One hour later—which felt like ten—Garp finally stopped.
We collapsed completely. Couldn't move at all.
"Not bad. You were hit a total of twenty-five times. Tomorrow the target is no more than ten. The day after, no more than five."
Twenty-five hits from Garp—and we were still breathing. That was an achievement in itself.
"Rest for ten minutes. Then the next exercise."
"THERE'S MORE?!" we shouted in unison.
"Of course! That was just the warm-up! Gwahaha!"
Dear God. We were going to die in these three days.
But if we survived... we would become far, far stronger.
And that was what mattered.
The second exercise was strength training—lifting massive boulders, doing push-ups with Garp standing on our backs, and various other tortures that challenged both the laws of physics and the health standards for children.
The third exercise was intensive Haki work—Garp taught us how to accelerate spiritual energy recovery and how to use Haki more efficiently.
"Haki isn't about the amount of energy. Haki is about control. You could have limitless energy but with poor control, it's still useless. On the other hand, a small amount of energy with perfect control can defeat a far more powerful enemy."
An invaluable lesson.
The fourth exercise was fighting against Yamamoto and Dadan simultaneously—with Garp acting as referee, though he occasionally joined the attack himself if he felt we were getting too comfortable.
Day one ended with our bodies in complete ruin. Sabo and I couldn't move—we had to be carried to the hideout and spoon-fed dinner because our arms couldn't lift a spoon on their own.
Humiliating. But that was the reality.
"Tomorrow will be even harder! So get proper rest!" Garp said cheerfully, clearly enjoying watching us suffer.
Sadistic.
But effective.
Because even after just one day, I could feel the difference—a stronger body, more stable Haki, better energy control.
Two more days.
If we survived them, we would emerge far stronger.
If we didn't survive... well, at least I'd have died from training rather than from an enemy.
That was a small comfort.
The flame of destiny burned brighter.
Forged by the Marine Hero himself.
There was an irony in that.
But I didn't care.
Strength was strength.
No matter where it came from.
TO BE CONTINUED