Sabo reached out and poked Luffy's cheek with a finger, then grabbed one side and pulled it outward. It stretched farther and farther.
"So it really is rubber… it can stretch this much." Sabo clicked his tongue in amazement.
Not only did he not let go, he pulled even harder!
Luffy's face was completely distorted from being stretched, and even his words came out garbled.
"LET GO OF ME! THAT HURTS!"
Ace stood nearby with his arms folded, a faint grin tugging at his lips.
"See? I told you already. He's a rubber boy."
Cain crouched beside them, staring straight at Luffy's stretched cheek as he said with a smile.
"Yeah. Luffy ate a Devil Fruit, though it was an accident."
At the moment, the four of them were in a clearing near the edge of Gray Terminal, perched on the branches of a large tree.
In the distance lay mountains of garbage, with the stench of rot and dust drifting over now and then.
Even farther away, the clean, orderly outline of the Goa Kingdom could be seen, separated so sharply that it looked like two completely different worlds.
Ace had brought Cain and Luffy here for one simple reason: to introduce them to Sabo, his partner who scraped and fought alongside him while saving up money to go out to sea.
At last, Sabo released Luffy's face. With a snap, it bounced back into place.
Luffy immediately covered his cheek and complained with a frown,
"That really hurt! Don't pull it again next time!"
"Sorry, sorry." Sabo laughed and waved a hand.
Then he turned to Ace and asked, "Why didn't you come yesterday? I waited at the meeting place for two whole hours."
"We ran into trouble." Leaning against the tree trunk, Ace answered helplessly, "We ran into a wolf pack near the canyon. It took us most of the day to deal with them, and by the time we got free, it was already too late."
"Alright then." Sabo shrugged and waved it off generously. "I forgive you."
As he spoke, he pulled a heavy cloth pouch from the inner pocket of his coat and gave it a light shake. Inside, clear metallic clinks rang out—bright, crisp, and pleasing to the ear.
"Look at this."
Ace took the pouch, his fingertips sinking a little from the weight.
He immediately opened it and peeked inside, and his eyes lit up.
"This much?"
"Since you didn't come yesterday, I went by myself." Sabo lifted his chin proudly. "I hit that pirate ship that just docked at the port. The haul was twice as much as what we usually get together."
Ace leaned over for another look into the bag, his brows furrowing.
"That also means twice the risk. Pirates aren't people you can mess with lightly."
"Worth it." Sabo snatched the pouch back and tucked it away carefully. "With this, we can save up enough to buy a big ship faster and have more funds for going out to sea."
Luffy leaned closer, staring curiously at the pouch in Sabo's arms.
"Pirates? You stole money from pirates?"
"Borrowed," Sabo corrected him at once, emphasizing the word with a serious face. "We're only borrowing it for now. Maybe after we become important people, we'll pay it back someday."
Ace didn't respond to that. He only pointed at a small hole in the tree trunk.
"Hide it in the usual place?"
Sabo nodded and was about to answer when sudden shouting came from far away, mixed with hurried footsteps that were getting closer and closer.
"SEARCH OVER THERE! CHECK CAREFULLY!"
"THEY'VE GOT TO BE SOMEWHERE IN THESE WOODS! THEY CAN'T HAVE GOTTEN FAR!"
"WHEN WE FIND THOSE BRATS, KILL THEM ON THE SPOT!"
All four children went silent instantly, even their breathing becoming lighter.
Ace immediately made a hush gesture.
The four of them slipped down from the branch and hid in the bushes behind the tree, pressing themselves flat against the ground.
Through gaps in the leaves, they could see more than ten men walking toward them, all carrying swords, knives, and muskets, their faces savage with killing intent.
The man leading them, with a face full of ugly flesh, was the captain of the pirate ship Sabo had visited yesterday.
"That's way more people than usual," Sabo muttered, brows tightly drawn, his voice tinged with regret.
"How much did you steal exactly, for them to mobilize the whole crew?" Ace glared at him, keeping his voice extremely low.
"Just… one pouch of beli and a few pieces of jewelry…"
Sabo's voice got quieter and quieter before he finally admitted it.
"Uh, it might also have been… their entire stash."
Cain parted the leaves and swept his gaze over the pirates drawing closer.
"They've started spreading out to search. If this keeps up, they'll find us soon."
The moment he finished speaking, Luffy suddenly let out a loud sneeze.
It wasn't very loud, but in the quiet forest it sounded startlingly clear.
"OVER THERE! I HEARD SOMETHING!" one pirate shouted at once, pointing toward the bushes.
The pirates immediately charged toward them, their footsteps coming closer and closer.
"RUN!" Ace barked, springing out of the bushes first.
The four children took off toward the deeper forest at full speed, with the pirates cursing behind them and their pounding footsteps echoing among the trees.
Cain had been trained by Garp for a while now, so his stamina and speed were both solid.
Ace and Sabo had spent years running wild around Gray Terminal and were used to this kind of chase.
The slowest was actually Luffy—his rubber body still hadn't fully adjusted, so he always ran in a clumsy, stumbling way.
Very quickly, one pirate caught up and reached out for the back of Luffy's collar.
Seeing that, Cain spun around at once and drove a hard kick into the pirate's stomach.
The pirate let out a muffled grunt and staggered backward several steps, but more pirates had already surrounded them, completely trapping Cain and Luffy in the middle.
"BRAT, HAND OVER THE TREASURE AND WE'LL SPARE YOUR LIVES!" The pirate clutched his stomach and roared viciously.
Ace came to a sudden stop and looked at Sabo.
Up until now, their rule had always been simple: steal the money and run, never fight head-on and risk extra trouble.
But now Cain and Luffy were surrounded.
There was no way they could escape on their own.
Sabo understood immediately from Ace's look. With a helpless sigh, he clicked his tongue.
"What a pain! But making an exception once in a while doesn't sound so bad."
The two of them turned at the same time and rushed straight toward the encirclement.
Swinging the pipe strapped behind his waist, Ace smashed it hard into one pirate's shoulder.
The pirate cried out in pain and dropped his sword with a clang.
Sabo gripped his own pipe, deftly dodged a slash aimed straight at him, and struck another pirate in the knee with a backhand blow, sending him directly to the ground.
"CAIN, TAKE LUFFY AND RUN FIRST!" Ace shouted, forcing the pirates in front of him back with a single swing.
Cain immediately grabbed Luffy's hand and tried to break through a gap in the encirclement. But there were simply too many pirates.
Every time they forced open one opening, another wave blocked it again.
This was completely different from the original situation.
Instead of a few scattered pursuers, the entire pirate crew had come out in full force.
More than ten men formed a complete ring around them. Under the sunlight, the gleam of blades sealed the four children in tight.
"NOT ONE OF YOU IS GETTING AWAY!" The pirate captain raised his pistol, aiming it at the group, his face twisted into a savage grin.
Ace and Sabo stood back-to-back, gripping their weapons tightly.
Cain shielded Luffy behind him, watching the pirates around them with sharp vigilance.
Luffy tried to counterattack with his rubber arms, but one pirate broke through the line and kicked him hard in the stomach, sending him sprawling to the ground.
His straw hat fell off with him.
In no time, the group's formation was broken apart. The pirates swarmed in, punching and kicking all four of them.
One pirate raised the butt of his rifle and brought it crashing down toward Luffy as he tried to retrieve his hat.
Cain didn't think at all.
He instantly threw himself over Luffy to shield him, and the rifle butt struck his shoulder with a heavy crack of pain.
He let out a muffled grunt, but gritted his teeth and refused to move.
Ace's situation was even worse.
Three pirates attacked him at once. He barely dodged one slash, but another sliced open his arm, and blood immediately started spilling out.
Sabo swung his pipe hard and smashed one pirate in the face, but another took the chance to kick him in the stomach from the side.
He staggered backward several steps and slammed into a tree trunk.
At that moment, the pirate captain sneered and slowly raised his pistol, aiming first at Ace, his eyes full of malice.
"Let's deal with you, the ringleader brat, first!"
Seeing that, Sabo tried to rush over to help, but two pirates pinned his shoulders tightly, leaving him unable to move.
He struggled frantically.
During the fight, a cut had opened on his forehead, and blood ran down the side of his face, blurring his vision.
"ACE!" Sabo shouted with all his strength.
The muzzle of the gun pointed straight at Ace's head.
The captain's finger tightened on the trigger.
Watching all this, Cain felt as though an invisible hand had seized his heart.
Lying protectively over Luffy, he saw the gun aimed at Ace, saw Sabo pinned down helplessly, saw the twisted faces of the pirates all around them—and suddenly a violent surge of emotion burst up inside him.
Anger.
Unwillingness.
And a desperate urge to protect the people before him.
"STOOOOOOOOOOOP!!"
Cain roared.
At the same instant, an invisible wave burst out from his body, spreading outward in all directions with him at the center.
For a moment, the air itself seemed to freeze.
There was no sound, and yet one could clearly feel a suffocating pressure sweeping over everything.
The pirates' movements stopped at once.
The cruelty on their faces was replaced by blank confusion.
Then, one after another, their eyes rolled back and they collapsed to the ground, completely unconscious.
The pistol slipped from the captain's hand and clattered to the earth. His body swayed once before he too fell.
In just a few seconds, every pirate had lost consciousness.
The forest suddenly fell silent.
Only the rustling of leaves in the wind remained.
Ace stood there panting heavily, staring at the pirates sprawled all around them, then slowly turned toward Cain.
Sabo shook off the hands of the pirates who had collapsed beside him, wiped the blood from his forehead, and looked over with shock in his eyes.
"What… was that just now?" Luffy crawled out from under Cain, staring with wide eyes and asking curiously.
Cain shook his head.
He had a rough idea of what it was, but right now all he felt was dizzy and weak.
He nearly collapsed on the spot!
Ace reacted quickly and immediately caught him.
"We need to leave first." Sabo picked up his top hat, dusted it off, then grabbed the pouch of treasure again.
His voice turned urgent. "They could wake up at any time. Let's not create more trouble."
The four children supported one another and staggered deeper into the forest, vanishing quickly among the thick branches and leaves.
...
Later, they built a new hideout deeper within Gray Terminal—a half-collapsed treehouse hidden among towering trees and dense vines.
Unless someone searched carefully, it would never be found.
Ace found some clean cloth strips nearby and helped treat everyone's injuries.
Sabo needed his forehead bandaged, Cain's shoulder had swollen badly, while Luffy only had a few minor scrapes and was cheerfully complaining that he was hungry.
After fighting side by side through this incident, the bond between the four children deepened rapidly, and a real friendship was born.
Every day after that, they were together.
There was always another fight to have, another game to play.
They would compete to see who could climb the tallest tree first.
It was always Cain and Ace tying for first place, with Sabo close behind, while Luffy inevitably got stuck halfway up, flailing and yelling because his limbs wouldn't cooperate.
They hunted together in the forest, with Ace and Sabo setting traps, Cain tracking prey, and Luffy acting as… bait.
They also challenged the wild animals that looked especially dangerous, using them to build their strength.
Sometimes, they even disguised themselves as adults and sneaked into Goa Kingdom's town to scrounge for food.
Fortunately, Cain had managed to save up a bit of money, so none of them ever had to eat and run.
As the days passed, the four children went through many things together.
They laughed together, fought together, faced danger together, and the bond between them only grew stronger.
Then one afternoon, they sat in the clearing in front of their treehouse, roasting a wild rabbit they had just caught.
Firelight leapt up, painting the faces of the four boys red.
"What do you all want to do in the future?" Sabo suddenly asked, breaking the silence.
Without even looking up, Ace turned the rabbit on the spit and answered firmly,
"I'm going out to sea. I'm going to become a pirate, get famous, and make the whole world know my name."
"Same here." Sabo smiled and stated his own dream. "I'm going out to sea to become a pirate and gain true freedom. I don't want to stay trapped in this country. I don't want to be bound by this garbage class system. And after I travel the world, I'm going to write a book about my journey."
Luffy raised his head from the roasted rabbit leg he was gnawing on, his eyes sparkling.
"As for me, my dream is…!"
It was not to become Pirate King.
It was something that could only be accomplished after becoming Pirate King.
Ace and Sabo both froze, clearly not expecting Luffy to say something like that.
Cain nodded and answered seriously,
"It might actually come true. Even if it sounds impossible."
As he said that, he lowered his gaze to the dancing fire and began thinking about his own dream.
Just like Shanks had once asked him, he still didn't truly know what he wanted.
But looking at the three of them now, looking at the light in their eyes, he already felt like he could see the outline of it.
"I want to become strong." Cain lifted his head, his eyes resolute. "Strong enough to protect the people important to me, and never lose anything again."
The moment he finished speaking, the other three all invited Cain to join their crew, only for the argument to turn into a fierce debate over who ought to be captain!
"I HAVE TO BE CAPTAIN BECAUSE I'M GONNA BE PIRATE KING!" Luffy yelled.
"NO WAY! AS THE OLDEST AND MOST EXPERIENCED, I SHOULD BE CAPTAIN!" Ace refused to accept that.
"I'M THE SMARTEST AND ALL THE PLANS COME FROM ME, SO NATURALLY THE CAPTAIN SHOULD BE ME!" Sabo argued.
The three of them argued without end, while Cain sat to the side and quietly watched them with a faint smile at his lips.
In the end, Ace was the first to stop the quarrel.
From the corner of the treehouse, he pulled out a bottle of sake—something he had secretly taken earlier from Dadan's place.
"The future can wait," Ace said, twisting open the bottle and pouring a little into his own cup.
"Maybe one day the four of us will all sail separately anyway."
Then he passed the bottle to Sabo, and poured some for Cain and Luffy too.
"Let's drink this cup." Ace raised his cup solemnly. "Then we'll become brothers! Maybe when we become pirates, we won't all be on the same ship—but between the four of us, we'll still be the best of brothers."
"No matter where we are or what we do, this bond will never be broken."
"From today on, we're brothers," Sabo said, lifting his own cup, his eyes shining.
"No matter what happens, we support each other and never betray each other."
"We'll go out to sea together and achieve our dreams," Ace said, looking at the three of them with unwavering resolve.
"THE STRONGEST PIRATE CREW EVER!" Luffy shouted excitedly, pumping his arms around, clearly not really understanding the part about them becoming pirates separately.
Cain looked at the faces of the other three in the firelight.
Their eyes were bright and steadfast, filled with longing for the future.
He tightened his grip on his own cup and said softly,
"Until the end of our lives."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
"Cheers."
They raised their cups and clinked them together, a crisp sound ringing out.
Then they tilted their heads back and drank.
The harsh, burning taste flooded their mouths instantly.
Luffy began coughing violently, which made Ace clap him on the back and laugh out loud.
Sabo bent forward laughing too, while Cain also choked a little, yet couldn't stop the smile tugging at his lips.
The firelight danced, stretching the shadows of the four boys longer and longer, as though they would keep stretching all the way toward the distant sea.
And then, little by little, what came into Cain's view was the overwhelming blaze of fire.