"Eh? Brother Shano! What are you doing!"
Luffy was surprised and instinctively reached out to take it, "I can lend you other things as props, but this is something very important to me, I can't..."
"Watch closely."
Shano smiled and tossed the straw hat into the air.
And just as the hat fell and was caught, it suddenly vanished without a trace.
"?!!!"
Luffy's eyes widened like saucers, circling Shano's outstretched hand, looking left and right, unable to find any clues.
"Stop looking, do you believe it's already in my bag?" Shano laughed.
"Impossible!"
Luffy snorted, hurriedly unzipping Shano's bag, and indeed found his straw hat beneath a few loaves of bread.
"Whoa whoa whoa!!!"
Luffy held up the hat high, exclaiming in amazement, "It's really here! That's incredible! How did you do that, brother, do it again, do it again!"
He handed the straw hat to Shano like a treasure and shook his arm vigorously, "Just one more time, just once, please..."
"Performing the same magic trick twice just makes it lose its charm."
Shano laughed and ruffled his hair, "Alright, let's stop here, they seem to have packed up their things, it's time for me to leave."
...
No one noticed, at this moment, beneath the cliff.
A freckled youth was gritting his teeth, climbing up bit by bit.
Several times, he almost slipped and fell, but eventually, he made it to the top, grabbing the edge of the cliff and flipping himself up.
"Those damn bandits!"
They dared to capture Luffy, they're not getting away without a beating!
Turning his gaze to the stone pillar, Ace was taken aback, huh? Where are they? He clearly saw from afar earlier that Luffy was tied up to this stone pillar.
He felt around the back of the pillar, poked his head out, and was shocked.
He saw a burly black-haired man who looked like the bandit leader, holding Luffy's head, grinning fiercely.
And beside Luffy, a big pot was boiling, the thick soup bubbling inside.
What are they doing?
These bandits, have they gone mad to the extent of resorting to cannibalism, do they want to cook Luffy alive!
"Stop it!"
Ace's heart was burning with anxiety, he shouted in anger and dashed out without hesitation, clenching his right fist and charging at that damn bandit leader.
Thunk!
In a flash of lightning, the bandit leader suddenly reacted, turning abruptly, extending his large hand to wrap around Ace's fist, stopping it.
Hmm?
Ace was stunned, this guy... what fast reflexes!
Shano was equally stunned.
This distinctive freckled face... is it Ace? Why did he suddenly jump out and start attacking me?
Their eyes met for a moment.
Ace abruptly pulled back his fist, simultaneously reaching for his waist with his other hand, drawing a dagger and thrusting it towards Shano's wrist.
"You..."
Shano had just opened his mouth when he was forcibly interrupted, could only retreat quickly while sweeping his leg out to kick the dagger away.
"Calm down, kid!"
He grabbed Ace's incoming fist, frowning, "Did you misunderstand something? We're meeting for the first time, right?"
"Misunderstand? What's there to misunderstand, I saw you with my own eyes holding Luffy's head, wanting to throw him into the pot!"
Ace roared with anger, breaking free from Shano's grip, twisting his waist and hips, delivering a fierce upward kick towards Shano's groin.
"Cannibalistic monster, go to hell!"
Hey, this just won't stop!
Shano was instantly furious as well, what's this brat imagining, not listening to reason no matter how it's explained.
Alright, then I won't hold back anymore!
He suddenly lifted his foot, without dodging, stomping down on the incoming leg of the flying kick.
At the moment of collision, Ace let out a piercing scream, his face twisted in pain, the leg emitted a crisp cracking sound, bending at an unnatural angle.
It hurts! Why is this person's strength so much greater than mine, Ace felt a mix of shame and anger, started to act recklessly, tightly grabbing onto Shano's waist, lifting his upper body with the support of his waist, headbutting Shano's chest hard.
Still coming?
This time Shano really lost patience, clenching his fist directly, delivering a straight punch to the freckled face coming up.
Thunk!
A dull thud, Ace's nose spurted blood, his eyes glazed over, his body wobbled for a moment, then he collapsed softly to the ground, passing out.
Passed out just like that?
Shano withdrew his fist, somewhat surprised at the sight of Ace on the ground, I didn't even use full force.
This kid's strength and speed are not bad, about half of my level, but this resistance to blows is worse than Luffy's.
But Luffy's a special case, the rubber properties of the Nika Fruit allow him to naturally offset most blunt impacts at a young age.
"Ace!"
Luffy's eyes widened, rushing over to shake Ace urgently, "Are you okay? Wake up!"
He actually wanted to help stop him the moment Ace pulled out the dagger.
But everything happened too fast afterward, before he could react, between punches and kicks, Ace was already knocked out by Shano.
"He's fine, he'll wake up soon."
Shano checked him over, shaking his head slightly, "But his leg seems a bit broken, he better rest for a few days without intense activity."
He's fine?
That's good, Luffy felt relieved, looking at Ace, whose face was bruised and swollen, laughed uncontrollably, pointing at him:
"Fell so quickly, what a shame! You finally had such a day, Ace!"
"..."
Shano raised an eyebrow slightly, "I thought you were going to rush over to avenge him."
"Ace is being unreasonable, although I know he's worried about me, I'm not an idiot, of course, I wouldn't blame it on you, brother Shano, and besides, I can't beat you."
Luffy stood up, "We often spar, Ace is much stronger than me, I haven't won once out of a hundred times, always getting beaten badly, always watching him smugly show off, didn't expect to see him get knocked down in a few moves one day."
"You're very strong brother Shano!" Luffy pinched his chin, "Hmm, should I let you teach me magic first, or the fighting technique to beat Ace..."
"Neither."
Shano chuckled, grabbing his backpack, casually slinging it over his right shoulder.
"Scar and the others have packed up, this time I am really leaving, until we meet again, Luffy."
Eh?
Luffy instinctively looked up, indeed seeing the camp all cleaned up, those poor folks were gathered outside the fence gate, waiting for Shano.
"Let's go!"
Shano ruffled the kid's hair one more time, tickling a bit, the texture felt quite nice, he waved with a smile, leading Scar and his group as their silhouettes gradually faded away.
The bustling camp suddenly became quiet and cold.
...
Luffy stared blankly outside the gate, only coming back to his senses after a while, touching his slightly shriveled stomach.
So hungry, he turned his head to glance at the bubbling cauldron.
Inside were some radishes and wild vegetables, he wouldn't normally eat these things.
But now he's so hungry and has to keep an eye on Ace until he wakes up, he couldn't go out looking for food, so he simply ladled a bowl and gulped it down.
As he was almost finished, a moan came from beside him, it was Ace waking up holding his head.
"Luffy?"
Ace looked at him in surprise, "You haven't been cooked?"
"What being cooked... you misunderstood, Ace!" Luffy ladled another bowl, handing it to Ace, "Those uncles weren't bandits at all."
Radishes?
Ace looked down at the soup brought to his lips, scratching his head, suddenly understanding a lot.
He chuckled wryly, accepting the bowl, "Looks like I was impulsive, who was that guy I fought earlier? He's really strong, what kind of person is he?"
"That guy..."
Luffy recalled the scenes from before, giggling.
"He's a really good person! And he knows magic, amazing magic, too bad I haven't learned it yet. Ace, I'll show you later, can you perform it for me in the future?"