Goa Kingdom, High Town.
Inside the House of Otriluk's mansion, the study that usually showcased luxury and power was now the scene of an absurd drama.
On the expensive Persian rug, Otriluk III and his gaudily dressed wife, along with their proud youngest son Stelly, were all roughly pinned to the ground.
Two small figures emanated an oppressive aura that was impossible to ignore.
Ace stood in the center of the study.
The flames burning on his fists illuminated his freckled face, flickering between light and shadow, with shadows dancing across his face, outlining a violent beauty.
Luffy, with his hands on his hips and puffed cheeks, glared angrily at the normally high and mighty nobles on the floor.
"You... you..."
Otriluk III sat slumped on the ground, trembling uncontrollably, yet still trying to maintain his ridiculous aristocratic demeanor.
He forced a stiff smile and spoke in a self-righteous, preachy tone.
"Children, you are still young; don't be so impulsive in your actions."
"Violence doesn't solve problems; never take the path of crime."
Ace tilted his head, a dangerously wide grin spreading across his lips.
He couldn't be bothered to waste words on this man.
His fist, burning with raging flames, slowly approached.
A wave of scorching heat washed over Otriluk III, his face distorted by the warmth, and he could even smell his own hair singeing.
"Don't give me that useless talk."
Ace's voice was calm, but beneath that calm lay a volcano about to erupt.
"Order it immediately."
"Cancel the plan to burn Styx."
The threat of death was so real.
Otriluk III shrieked in terror, all pretense of dignity gone.
"No! No, no, no! It wasn't me!"
He waved his hands frantically, incoherently.
"This plan was approved by His Majesty the King! It's the King's decree! I... I'm just a noble, I just suggested it! I don't have the authority to revoke the King's order!"
"Oh?"
The smile on Ace's face grew even more sinister.
"You can't do it, huh."
He withdrew his fist, observing the man, who was on the verge of wetting himself, with interest.
"That's fine too."
"The garbage mountain just happens to need someone to light the fire, and I think you're perfect for it."
"If you can't do it, then I'll be the first to throw you into Styx, and let you turn to ashes with all the trash you suggested burning."
There was no hint of a joke in Ace's words.
He would really kill him!
This realization completely shattered Otriluk III's sanity. In extreme fear, he clutched at the last straw he could think of.
He screamed at the top of his lungs, pouring all his strength into it.
"You can't do this to me!"
"I am Sabo's father! I am his biological father!"
"You are his brothers! You cannot lay a hand on your brother's father!!"
He firmly believed that blood relation was the final barrier.
However.
"Haha..."
"Hahahahahahahahaha!!"
Ace burst into laughter, holding his stomach as if he had heard the funniest joke in the world, his laughter filled with undisguised scorn and mockery.
He straightened up, looking down at the man on the ground with eyes burning with fury.
"Father?"
"You trash, do you even deserve to utter those two words?"
"I'm telling you, if Sabo knew I wanted to do this, he would absolutely be the first to cheer and then personally throw you in!"
Before Otriluk III could react, Ace stepped forward and leaned close to his ear.
In a voice only the two of them could hear, he lightly dropped a piece of information that was enough to condemn him to eternal damnation.
"Oh, right, I forgot to tell you."
"That good son of yours, to protect the people of the garbage mountain, has already run to the port alone."
"He's going to stop the Celestial Dragons' ship."
Boom—!
The three words "Celestial Dragons" struck Otriluk III's mind like a silent, black lightning bolt.
In that instant, all the fear, panic, and hope on his face froze.
Immediately after, all the color drained from his face at a visible speed, turning deathly pale, like a corpse.
Attacking Celestial Dragons?
What did that even mean?
It meant the entire Goa Kingdom would be wiped off the map!
It meant his House of Otriluk, this noble bloodline he was so proud of, would be uprooted and utterly destroyed in the most brutal way!
Compared to the destruction of his family, compared to the wrath of the Celestial Dragons, his own life, and even the
"merit" of burning the garbage mountain, became so insignificant!
"No..."
"No—!!!"
A fear deeper than death completely consumed Otriluk III's sanity.
His will to live erupted within him with unprecedented intensity.
He had to distance himself!
He had to completely sever all ties with that rebellious son!
"That rebellious son! That damned rebellious son!!!"
Otriluk III shrieked hysterically, his voice shrill and piercing.
"He's going to kill our whole family! He's going to destroy the House of Otriluk!!"
"I don't have that son! I never gave birth to that son!!"
He suddenly scrambled to his feet, pointed outside the door, at the air, at Ace and Luffy, at his terrified wife and son, and with all his life's strength, uttered the most vicious curse and declaration.
"I! Otriluk III! From this moment on, I disown Sabo, that sinner!"
"He is no longer my son from now on! His life or death, his sins, have absolutely no relation to my House of Otriluk anymore!!"
The fury on Ace's face, at this moment, completely transformed into extreme contempt and disgust.
Luffy's eyes also widened; his small mind couldn't understand why a father could say such words, but he could clearly feel the sickening ugliness emanating from this man.
"You guy..." Luffy clenched his fists, "You're really the worst!"
Ace completely lost interest in continuing to bother with this useless man.
Threatening him? It was meaningless now.
He grabbed Otriluk III, who was still frantically shouting about "severing ties," by the collar, lifting him off the ground like a dead dog.
"Since you can't make the decision yourself, I'll take you to see someone who can!"
Ace sneered, revealing his white teeth.
"Aren't you the one who proposed the burning plan?"
"Then I'll drag you in front of the King and make you tell him yourself that this plan must be canceled!"
"Ah ah ah! Let go of me! You thug!"
"Darling!"
Amidst his wife's terrified screams and Otriluk III's futile curses, Ace dragged him out of the study without looking back.
In a corner of the messy room.
The youngest son, Stelly, who had remained silent throughout, watched his father being dragged away and listened to the curses about his "troublemaker" brother Sabo. There was no sympathy in his eyes, nor any fear.
Instead, in his eyes, which were completely unfitting for his age, a nearly fanatical fire of ambition for power and inheritance flickered.
Brother... has been disowned, huh.