Dawn Island, East Blue
The Gray Terminal had always been a place the world pretended did not exist. On the outskirts of the proud and gleaming Goa Kingdom, where noble estates and polished streets ended, the land collapsed into a rotting wasteland of discarded things—and discarded people. Mountains of trash stretched across the horizon like diseased hills.
Broken furniture, rusted weapons, splintered ship parts, torn clothing, empty bottles, rotting food, and charred metal were piled into grotesque towers that leaned dangerously over narrow pathways carved out by those forced to live there. Smoke rose constantly from slow-burning heaps of waste, turning the sky above the terminal into a permanent haze of gray and orange.
The air smelled of ash, mold, sweat, and decay. Yet despite the misery, the place had grown even more chaotic in recent days. Whispers had spread through the East Blue like wildfire. Salvation could be found in Goa.
Ships carrying desperate refugees had begun slipping into nearby coves under the cover of night. Families, runaways, fugitives, starving fishermen, and ruined merchants—people from across the East Blue arrived with nothing but the hope that somewhere within Goa's borders they might survive.
But the people of the shining capital wanted nothing to do with them. So the refugees ended up here. Gray Terminal. The kingdom's trash heap had become a city of the unwanted. But desperation attracted predators. Word had also reached a different kind of traveler. Pirates and slavers.
Nameless crews drifting through East Blue had begun treating Gray Terminal as their personal hunting ground. The Goa royal army conveniently ignored everything that happened within the trash district's boundaries—as long as the violence stayed inside the terminal.
Which meant the pirates could do whatever they wanted. And they did. Today was no different. A group of rough-looking pirates stood near one of the towering junk hills, surrounding a small clearing littered with broken crates and shattered barrels. Several refugees lay scattered on the ground nearby, beaten and bleeding.
"Look at this little bastard," one pirate laughed.
In the center of the circle, a small boy struggled against thick ropes that bound his arms. He couldn't have been older than five. His black hair stuck out wildly, his face smeared with dirt and blood. Bruises had already begun swelling across his cheeks. But what shocked the pirates most was the damage around them.
Two of their crew lay unconscious nearby. One had a broken nose. The other was missing several teeth.
"…I swear this brat jumped on me like a damn animal," another pirate growled, clutching his bruised jaw.
"Where the hell does a kid get strength like that?" The boy glared at them fiercely despite the ropes. His chest rose and fell with furious breaths. Even restrained, he still struggled like a wild beast trying to break free. The pirates looked down at him with irritation.
"Little monster nearly cracked my skull," one muttered. Another pirate kicked the boy lightly. "Maybe we sell him." The boy snapped his teeth at the pirate's leg.
"Oi—! Did you see that?!" the man shouted, jumping back.
"Definitely a slave buyer somewhere who'd pay for something this crazy."
"Or we could just dump him in the ocean…Either works." The boy spat blood on the ground. His voice came out hoarse but furious.
"Let… me… go!" The pirates laughed.
Then— CLANG. A loud metallic crash echoed from the junk hill behind them. Everyone turned. A mountain of rusted scrap metal suddenly shifted as something came sliding down it at terrifying speed. Two figures. Two boys. They came barreling down the garbage slope like falling cannonballs.
"LUFFYYYY!!"
The shout shook the clearing. The pirates barely had time to react before— BAM!
Two figures slammed into the ground. Dust and ash exploded into the air. When the smoke cleared, two boys stood there gripping metal pipes like weapons. One had messy black hair and burning eyes. The other was blond, his expression sharp with rage.
They looked a little older than the tied-up child. But the aura around them was completely different. The blond boy's eyes locked onto the pirates.
"You touched him… you hurt our little brother." The black-haired boy's voice was even colder.
"You're dead." The pirates burst out laughing.
"Oh great—more brats!"
"How many kids are crawling out of this dump?" One pirate stepped forward casually, raising his cutlass.
"Run along before we—" He never finished the sentence. The black-haired boy moved. CRACK.
The metal pipe smashed into the pirate's jaw with brutal precision. The man flew sideways, crashing into a pile of broken barrels. The clearing went silent. The blond boy moved next.
His pipe whistled through the air. THUD. Another pirate collapsed instantly. The remaining men froze.
"…What the hell—" But the two boys were already moving again. More than a year of training in the savage wilderness under old man Naguri and the recent months of hellish training under Bogard had turned them into something else entirely.
Their movements were sharp. Precise. Fast. They didn't swing wildly like children their age were supposed to; rather, they struck like hunters. The black-haired boy's pipe crashed into ribs.
CRACK. A scream followed. The blond boy ducked under a blade and drove his pipe straight into a pirate's stomach. The man folded instantly. These pirates were grown men. Hardened criminals. But against the two boys— They might as well have been amateurs. Even more terrifying was the faint pressure surrounding the boys' strikes.
A primitive instinct. A rudimentary form of Haki born purely from survival and hellish training pushing their bodies beyond limits. The pirates began falling one after another. And when the tied-up boy saw them— His eyes lit up.
"ACE…!! SABO…!!" The boys froze for half a second. They saw the bruises. The blood. The ropes cutting into their little brother's arms. Something dark flickered across their expressions. Ace's grip tightened on the pipe. Sabo adjusted his stance quietly.
"Those guys hurt you, Luffy?" Sabo asked softly. The pirates suddenly realized something horrifying. The fight up until now… Had been restrained. Ace's voice dropped into a growl.
"…Then we're not holding back anymore." The clearing exploded into chaos again. And this time—the pirates truly understood what it meant to face the three little monsters of Gray Terminal.
The moment Ace finished speaking, the last shred of restraint vanished. The pirates felt it instantly. What they had mistaken for reckless children now felt like two predators staring down prey. One of the pirates snarled and charged first, swinging his rusted cutlass wildly toward Ace's head.
Ace didn't step back. He stepped forward. The metal pipe in his hands swung upward with terrifying speed.
CRACK!
The pipe smashed into the pirate's wrist. The sound of bone snapping echoed through the clearing. The cutlass flew from the man's hand as he screamed, dropping to his knees.
Before the scream could even finish— THUD! Ace brought the pipe down again. This time onto the side of the pirate's skull. The man collapsed face-first into the dirt, completely unconscious.
Another pirate lunged at Sabo from behind with a dagger. Sabo ducked just enough for the blade to whistle over his head. In the same motion, he spun and drove the end of his pipe straight into the attacker's ribs.
CRACK. The pirate's body folded instantly. Air exploded from his lungs as Sabo followed with a second strike to the back of the man's knee.
SNAP. The leg bent at an angle it was never meant to. The pirate collapsed screaming. Around them, the rest of the crew finally understood the situation. These weren't normal children. They were monsters raised in Gray Terminal.
Two pirates rushed Ace at once. One grabbed a broken plank while the other tried to tackle him. Ace moved like he'd done this a hundred times before. He sidestepped the plank swing, grabbed the attacker's collar, and slammed his forehead forward.
CRACK!
The pirate's nose exploded in blood. Before the man could fall, Ace spun and drove his pipe straight into the second pirate's stomach. The force lifted the man off his feet. He crashed into a pile of scrap metal with a wheezing gasp.
Nearby, Sabo moved with frightening precision. One pirate tried to retreat. Sabo chased him down. The pipe whistled through the air— BAM!
It smashed against the back of the pirate's knee. The leg gave out instantly. The man collapsed screaming. Sabo didn't stop. He grabbed the pirate by the collar and slammed the pipe into his jaw.
CRACK! Teeth scattered across the dirt. Another pirate swung a club wildly toward Sabo's head. Before it could connect, Ace appeared beside him. His pipe collided with the attacker's elbow.
SNAP. The arm bent sideways. The pirate shrieked. Ace followed with a brutal upward swing that cracked against the man's temple. The pirate dropped like a sack of grain. Within moments, the clearing had become a battlefield. Men twice their size lay scattered everywhere.
Some clutched broken limbs. Others groaned weakly, skulls split and faces swollen beyond recognition. A few had passed out entirely. The pirates who had come hunting for helpless refugees now crawled across the dirt like wounded animals.
Ace stood in the center of it all, breathing hard. His knuckles were bruised. Blood stained the end of his pipe. Sabo wiped dirt from his cheek, adjusting his grip. Neither boy looked remotely satisfied. Ace turned toward the pirate who had first tied Luffy up.
The man tried to crawl away. Ace walked up slowly. The pirate looked up with terror in his eyes.
"W-wait—!" Ace swung.
CRACK. The pipe struck the man's shoulder, shattering the joint instantly. The pirate screamed before collapsing into unconsciousness. Silence slowly returned to the clearing. Broken pirates groaned weakly across the dirt, the smell of rust and blood mixing with the burning stench of Gray Terminal.
BANG! A gunshot shattered the quiet. BANG! Another followed instantly. The sharp cracks echoed violently across the junk hills. But the bullets never found their marks. Ace's body moved before the sound even fully reached him. His instincts screamed danger an instant earlier—brutal survival training and the faint awakening of Observation Haki warning him.
He twisted sideways. The first bullet tore through the air where his head had been. Sabo moved at the same time. He jumped back—but not fast enough.
THWACK. The pellet grazed along the side of his thigh, ripping through cloth and skin before embedding into the junk pile behind him. Sabo staggered slightly as blood began running down his leg. Ace's head snapped toward the source of the shots.
A pirate stood at the far edge of the clearing, half-hidden behind a leaning stack of broken barrels. His hands trembled as he held the smoking flintlock pistol. His eyes were wide with horror. He had seen everything. Nearly twenty grown pirates dismantled by two children.
Even their captain—once feared across parts of East Blue—lay sprawled nearby, his skull split open from Ace's earlier strike. The pirate realized one simple truth. He would be next. Panic overtook him. His survival instinct screamed louder than reason.
The man lunged forward and grabbed the nearest body. Small. Bound. Defenseless. Luffy. The pirate yanked the five-year-old up by the collar and pressed the barrel of the pistol against the side of his head.
"STOP!" His voice cracked into a terrified roar. "Stop you little freaks!" Ace froze mid-step. Sabo's hand tightened around his pipe. The pirate's entire body shook, sweat pouring down his face.
"Stop… or I swear—!" He jammed the pistol harder against Luffy's temple. "I'll put a hole through this brat's skull!"
Luffy struggled immediately. "HEY! LET GO OF ME!" The pirate tightened his grip, dragging Luffy closer. "DON'T MOVE!" His voice had turned shrill with fear.
"I swear I'll do it!" For a moment, the clearing stood perfectly still. The only sound was the faint groaning of broken pirates and the distant crackling fires of Gray Terminal. Ace's eyes slowly darkened. The pipe in his hand creaked as his grip tightened. Sabo noticed it instantly.
"Ace," he murmured quietly. But Ace didn't answer. His gaze was locked onto the pirate holding Luffy. The man felt it. Felt the killing intent pouring off the boy. The pirate's breathing grew faster.
"D-Don't look at me like that!" His finger trembled on the trigger. "I'll shoot! I swear I will!"
Luffy, however, wasn't scared. He twisted around and glared up at the pirate. "You're dead when Ace gets you." The pirate's face turned pale. Ace took one slow step forward. The pirate screamed.
"I SAID STOP!" The pistol cocked back. One twitch of his finger and the gun would fire. Sabo's eyes narrowed. Blood still dripped from his wounded thigh. But his mind was racing. Calculating.
Watching the pirate's trembling hands. Watching the angle of the gun. Watching the distance. Ace took another step. The pirate's finger tightened on the trigger. And the clearing stood on the edge of another explosion of violence.
The clearing had reached a breaking point. The pirate's finger tightened on the trigger. Ace stepped forward, something dark building inside him—an invisible pressure beginning to coil within his chest, ready to erupt.
And then everything changed. A shadow suddenly swallowed the pirate. A massive figure had appeared behind him. Not running. Not jumping. Just… there. Silent. Towering. Wrapped in a dark cloak that seemed to drink in the dim light of Gray Terminal.
Ace froze mid-step. Sabo's eyes widened. Both boys felt it instantly. They had sensed nothing. No footsteps. No breath. No presence approaching. The man had simply appeared as if the air itself had decided to take shape. The pirate felt it too. A cold presence behind him.
His panicked eyes began to turn—but he was already too late. The cloaked figure casually lifted one large hand. To anyone watching, it looked almost lazy. Just a small wave of the palm. But both Ace and Sabo saw it clearly.
On the center of the man's palm— A strange mark. A paw-shaped imprint. Then the hand touched the pirate's back.
POP.
The man vanished. Not fell. Not flew. He simply disappeared, like he had been erased from existence. Before Luffy could even fall—the cloaked figure caught him gently in his arms. Ace's breath hitched. Sabo instinctively stepped forward—but Ace shot an arm out, blocking him.
"Don't." Sabo glanced at him sharply. Ace shook his head slowly, eyes locked on the stranger. "…Wait." His instincts screamed the truth. This man… Was far beyond them. Even if they attacked together. And both boys had seen something else.
The paw mark. That wasn't strength. That was a Devil Fruit ability. The cloaked man looked down at the child in his arms. Under the hood, his expression softened slightly.
"Such terrible injuries…" The man sighed quietly. This was Bartholomew Kuma. A high-ranking member of the Revolutionary Army. For weeks he had been stationed here in Gray Terminal. The rumors of "salvation in Goa Kingdom" had not spread by accident. The revolutionaries had spread them deliberately.
Refugees fleeing across East Blue were being quietly guided here—to safety, aid, and sometimes recruitment. Kuma's Nikyu Nikyu no Mi had been invaluable. With it, he could repel pain, fatigue, and injuries from the wounded who arrived at the terminal. He lowered his hand toward Luffy's chest.
But just then— WHOOOOOSH! A metal pipe tore through the air toward his head. Kuma didn't even turn. His palm simply lifted.
POP.
The pipe bounced away instantly, deflected by the invisible force of the Paw-Paw Fruit. Ace stood several meters away, arm still extended from the throw.
"What are you doing to Luffy?!" His voice cut through the clearing like a blade. "Put him down!"
Sabo had already shifted into a fighting stance beside him despite the blood running down his thigh. Both boys looked ready to explode. Kuma remained completely calm.
"I mean him no harm." His deep voice carried quietly through the junk-strewn clearing. "I am simply going to heal him."
Ace didn't lower his guard. But Kuma moved anyway. His massive palm hovered above Luffy's small chest. The paw-shaped mark began to glow faintly. Then the air rippled. A translucent bubble slowly emerged from Luffy's body. Inside the bubble swirled dark energy—pain, bruises, exhaustion, and damage being physically repelled from his body.
The bubble grew larger. And larger. Until it hovered beside Kuma like a pulsing sphere of compressed suffering. Luffy's breathing steadied instantly. The swelling on his face began to fade. The tension drained from his small body. Ace and Sabo stared. They had never seen anything like it. The bubble throbbed violently with all the damage Luffy had suffered. Kuma gently pushed it aside with one finger.
POP.
The sphere shot into the nearby junk pile and burst harmlessly against the metal scraps. The energy dissipated. Luffy blinked.
"…Huh?" His bruises were already fading. The cloaked giant carefully set him down. Ace and Sabo remained frozen. Ace's pipe slowly lowered. Sabo exhaled slowly, still staring. They had both realized something terrifying.
This man… had healed Luffy with the same effortless power he used to erase a grown pirate from existence. And neither of them fancied their chances against such an opponent.
"ACE! SABO!" Luffy's voice exploded across the clearing. The small boy sprang out of the cloaked giant's arms like a firecracker, landing on his feet and immediately sprinting toward his brothers.
"I'M FULLY HEALED!" he shouted excitedly, waving his arms. "Look! Look!"
He jumped up and down, spinning in a circle to prove it. The bruises that had covered his face were already fading. The swelling had vanished. Even the cuts along his arms had sealed over. To Luffy, the situation was simple. The giant cloaked man had healed him. Which meant the man was obviously a good person.
So Luffy had already forgotten about him. He reached Ace and Sabo and grabbed their arms with a grin stretching ear to ear and almost whispering.
"And guess what!" Luffy continued, bursting with excitement as if none of the chaos from moments ago had even happened. "There are really ghosts in the forest!"
Ace blinked. "What?"
"I saw one!… I swear," Luffy insisted loudly. "It chased me! I ran all the way here, and then I saw those pirates grabbing people, so I punched them!" He swung his fists wildly to demonstrate. "I was gonna beat them all but then they tied me up!"
Sabo stared at him in disbelief. "You… started this fight?"
"Yeah!" Luffy nodded proudly.
Ace slowly dragged a hand down his face. "…You idiot."
But despite the scolding tone, his eyes softened slightly. Luffy was being Luffy. Even though he was barely five years old. Even though he was far weaker than the men he attacked. He had still jumped into a fight to protect strangers. Ace turned his gaze back toward the cloaked figure.
The man had already moved on. Without saying another word, he began lifting the unconscious refugees scattered around the clearing. One by one. Men. Women. Children. His massive frame made it look effortless. Within seconds he had two people slung over one shoulder and another under his arm.
Like a giant calmly gathering fallen leaves. Ace watched him carefully. Every movement. Every step. Even now, Ace's instincts screamed the same warning. That man is dangerous.
Still… Ace finally spoke. "…Thank you." The words came out rough, as if they didn't come easily. The giant paused briefly. Kuma turned his head slightly beneath the hood. He gave a small nod. Then continued carrying the refugees away. He didn't ask for gratitude. He didn't explain anything. He simply continued his work.
****
Far beyond the clearing, hidden in the shadows of twisted trees, two figures watched silently. Cloaked. Unmoving. They had witnessed everything. From the moment Luffy had come screaming down the mountain of garbage to attack pirates nearly four times his size.
If Ace and Sabo hadn't arrived… They would have stepped in. The woman standing beside the taller figure crossed her arms, still watching the boys disappear into the junk hills of Gray Terminal.
"You sure you don't want to go say hello to your son or something?" Her voice was low. Careful.
She glanced sideways at the man beside her. Monkey D. Dragon stood perfectly still, his cloak shifting slightly in the wind. His gaze remained fixed on the direction the boys had gone. The woman beside him—Livia—was one of the very few who knew the truth.
That the loud, reckless child running through Gray Terminal… was Dragon's son. Not even most of the highest leadership of the Revolutionary Army knew. Not even Zephyr. Dragon had kept it buried. Hidden. Protected.
Livia exhaled sharply. "You really are a terrible parent, you know that?" she muttered, half teasing and half serious. She understood why he did it. But still. Watching your son from the shadows… That couldn't be easy. Dragon didn't answer. Because his attention wasn't only on Luffy. His eyes had shifted.
Toward the older boy with messy black hair. Portgas D. Ace. Dragon's gaze sharpened. Earlier… when the pirate had pressed the gun to Luffy's head… Something had happened. Others might not have noticed it. Even Ace himself hadn't realized it. But Dragon had felt it clearly.
A pressure. A presence. Something vast and powerful stirring beneath the surface. The faintest whisper of Conqueror's Haki. Still dormant. Still buried. But unmistakable. Dragon's eyes narrowed slightly.
That boy… It was like sensing a sleeping volcano. Quiet now. But containing unimaginable force. Even Dragon, a conqueror himself, could feel the latent power coiled inside Ace. Raw. Unshaped. But monstrous.
Livia noticed the shift in his gaze. "What?"
Dragon finally spoke. "…That boy." Livia followed his line of sight. Ace had just grabbed Luffy by the collar and was scolding him while Sabo tried to calm them both down. "To others he might just look like another street kid…"
Dragon said quietly. "But his spirit…" His voice lowered. "…is the kind that shakes the world." The wind rustled through the forest. Dragon's thoughts drifted briefly toward his own bloodline. The Monkey family. His father. Monkey D. Garp. A man who also possessed the will of a conqueror.
Dragon himself carried that same power. The rarest ability in the world. The mark of those born to stand above others. His gaze shifted briefly toward Luffy. A small smile flickered across Dragon's face.
Will you inherit it too…?
Then his eyes returned to Ace. The boy walked like a fighter already. Even as a child. Even without knowing it. That sleeping volcano would awaken someday. And when it did, Dragon knew the very sea itself might tremble.
"…Interesting," he murmured quietly.