One Piece: Marine System Chapter 16: Ace and Sabo

East Blue, on an island with many large windmills.

This place had a wide coastline, with fine, clean sandy beaches. So 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 sothing.

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 , just admit defeat early. That way, you can save so face."

"Huh."

Sabo sneered, looking disdainfully at Ace.

"Ace, what nonsense are you bragging about? How many tis have you ever beaten 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 tis."

Ace was so angry he started hopping. However, this montary 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 ters, 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 ."

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 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 extrely 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 ca 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 mont. Then they both looked up together. What t their eyes was a boy about their age, with an incredibly cute appearance.

The boy was Kyle. At this mont, 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 mory after an attack by Celestial Dragons, grew and beca stronger within the Revolutionary Army.]

[Recruitnt suggestion. The future Fla Emperor Sabo possesses extrely high talent. Believed to be capable of becoming a pillar of the Marines in the future.]

[Recruitnt reward. Observation Haki, Devil Fruit experience book.]

Sure enough, his guess was correct. Sabo was also within his recruitnt scope.

However, what puzzled him was that in the original story, Ace and Sabo would et at the Gray Terminal when they were ten years old and then beco best friends.

At this point in ti, both were only eight years old. But from the current situation, it seed the two had already known each other for quite so ti.

After being puzzled for just a mont, 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 sowhat 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 ca 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 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 . If you don't give it to , 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 . I'm the winner."

Ace shouted at Sabo, straining his neck.

"Nonsense, it should be given to ."

For a mont, 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 sowhat impolite kids wasn't very high.

The next mont, 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 mont, a huge pain ca, 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 ssing 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 t their eyes was Kyle's impassive face.

Instantly, the mories 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 sa ti, 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 ter in front of the two. He looked down at them from above, the disdain in his eyes almost overflowing.

"Is that all."

...