Chapter 40

"He's clearly about the same age as them, so why is the difference so huge?"

On the road.

"Where are we going to play today?"

Luffy looked at Ace and asked.

Ace clasped his hands behind his head: "Hmm… the terminal station's probably all burned down by now, so let's just go play in the mountains."

"Go catch some rhinoceros beetles?"

Luffy's eyes sparkled, his face full of anticipation.

Sabo listened to their conversation with a smile on his face.

Suddenly, he spotted a black-haired boy and a girl with short blue hair walking toward them from straight ahead.

After catching sight of those two faces.

Sabo's eyes widened slightly.

He was…

"Luo En?"

Luo En, who had just been helping Kuina buy things, looked up and saw Sabo staring at him with pleasant surprise, along with Ace and Luffy beside him.

"It's you."

Luo En was a little surprised; he hadn't expected to run into the three of them here.

"Sabo, who is this guy? Someone you know?"

Luffy pointed at Luo En and asked Sabo curiously.

"He's the benefactor I told you about — he's the one who helped me escape the city, which is how I was able to find you two back then."

Sabo said, staring at Luo En with an excited, thrilled expression.

Hearing this, the look in Ace's eyes as he gazed at Luo En changed at once.

He stepped forward and, with a serious expression, bowed his head and bent at the waist to Luo En:

"I'm Ace, their sworn elder brother. Thank you for helping Sabo. You may not know what happened, but your help to him saved all three of our lives. I'll remember this kindness."

"Luffy, you come thank him too."

He pressed down on little Luffy's head with one hand.

"Thank you."

Little Luffy said obediently to Luo En.

"Don't mention it."

Luo En accepted their gratitude, then looked at Sabo and said:

"Have you decided not to go back to that home anymore?"

Hearing this, the smile on Sabo's face instantly stiffened.

He lowered his head:

"I-I haven't decided yet."

Luo En didn't say anything more.

He watched him and the short blue-haired girl carrying Wado Ichimonji on her back enter Makino's tavern.

Ace couldn't help asking Sabo: "Sabo, are you sure the benefactor you mentioned — the one who took down several noble guards in an instant — is really him?"

"There's no way I'm wrong."

Sabo nodded.

"But he clearly looks about the same age as me. How could he possibly take down several grown noble guards in an instant?"

Ace still found it hard to believe.

Little Luffy, picking his nose as he spoke, said to him:

"I think he's quite a bit taller than you."

"Shut it, Luffy."

Sabo turned his head toward the tavern and said: "Luo En might really be about the same age as us, but he's definitely a lot stronger than us. I'm sure of that."

"Really that amazing…"

Ace pinched his chin, thought for a moment, and his eyes lit up.

"Then how about we ask him to teach us how to get stronger."

…………

Inside Makino's tavern.

"Ask me to teach you how to get stronger?"

Luo En, sitting at the table, looked at the three brothers bowing to him with some surprise.

The three nodded in unison.

"Luo En, you're really strong, right? We heard you knocked that bald guy Root flying with one punch. We want to be like you too."

Ace said.

Sabo and Luffy stared at him with wide eyes, their faces full of anticipation as well.

Luo En took a sip of fruit juice and said unhurriedly: "I can't directly help you get stronger."

Disappointment showed on the three brothers' faces.

"But for Makino's sake, I can let you train together with me."

The three brothers were instantly excited again.

"If we train with you, Luo En, we'll get stronger?"

Sabo said excitedly.

"At the very least, you can become stronger than you are now. But my training is very grueling, are you sure you want to do it with me?"

The three brothers exchanged a glance and grinned.

"We're sure!"

After going through that great fire, the three of them finally understood how weak they were, and truly wanted to become stronger.

"Alright, then tomorrow morning at five o'clock, we'll gather at the foot of Mount Gorbo."

"Five o'clock?"

Luffy got a huge fright.

Ace and Sabo exchanged a glance, then turned to Luo En and nodded firmly:

"Understood!"

^…………

【Weakly begging for some flowers and comments……】

32, Days of Cultivation Together (1/5)

The next morning, at dawn.

Around five o'clock, the sky was still dark.

Ace and Sabo brought Luffy, who was still drowsy, out of the Bandits' Hideout and arrived at the foot of the mountain where they had arranged to meet Luo En.

When they got there.

Luo En and Kuina had just finished a sparring match; all around them were great trees that had been cut down.

"Then let's begin."

Luo En, with Lei Qie on his back, looked at the three of them and said.

"The first training exercise: run from the foot of the mountain to the top, three round trips."

"Th-three times?!"

Sabo and Ace gaped.

"This is the most basic physical training. If you can't handle it, you won't be able to become stronger."

After Luo En finished speaking, he and Kuina ran off toward the mountaintop.

Ace and Sabo exchanged a glance.

"What's wrong?"

"We can only run!"

They nodded.