Chapter 19: Sabo's Background
"A legend?"
Axel, Ace, and Luffy all turned to Sabo at the same time.
Sabo had just returned from Gray Terminal looking far too pleased with himself, and the first thing out of his mouth had been that word. It sounded so abrupt and so self satisfied that it instantly drew everyone's attention.
After catching his breath, Sabo crossed his arms and said, "A legend about us has started spreading through Gray Terminal."
Ace's eyes narrowed with interest.
"What kind of legend?"
Sabo cleared his throat dramatically, clearly enjoying the moment.
"The first one is about a cruel boy wearing a straw hat. He tricks people with a cute and innocent expression, but in reality, he's ruthless, never shows mercy to his enemies, and can stretch and shrink his body at will."
Luffy's eyes lit up.
"That's me!"
Ace slapped the back of Luffy's head without hesitation.
"Don't interrupt."
Then he waved him aside like an annoying insect.
"Keep going."
Sabo nodded solemnly, though the corners of his mouth were already twitching.
"The second one is about a bloodthirsty boy with freckles. Apparently, he has a cold and handsome face with very distinctive freckles, loves fighting, and is fearless even when facing Bluejam."
Ace's expression froze.
"Why did you emphasize the freckles twice?"
Sabo ignored the question with perfect dignity.
Axel, already feeling a bad premonition, asked, "And yours?"
Sabo coughed awkwardly.
"Mine is... a cunning boy with goggles. After defeating his enemies, he stands on top of them with a sinister smile and shows off his missing tooth like some kind of villain."
For one brief second, the clearing fell silent.
Then Axel, Ace, and even Luffy burst out laughing.
"Cunning! Missing tooth! Hahaha!"
Sabo's face twitched.
"You bastards."
Then, as if unwilling to suffer alone, he turned toward Axel with obvious malicious intent.
"But the funniest ones are still Axel's and Dadan's."
That instantly caught Luffy's attention again.
"Tell me! Tell me!"
Sabo coughed once more, then delivered it with all the seriousness of a storyteller revealing sacred history.
"They say she appears to be a white haired little girl, but in truth, she's a witch in disguise. She uses terrifying strength, injures people without blinking, and enjoys making others submit to her."
Axel froze.
Then he exploded.
"What do you mean 'little girl'?!"
That was the part that got him?
Apparently yes.
Ace, who had only moments ago been privately irritated over the "freckles" part, forgot about his own title immediately and started laughing harder than before.
"A little girl! Hahaha!"
Luffy joined in too.
"Little girl! Little girl!"
Then, after repeating it twice, he suddenly tilted his head and asked with perfect sincerity, "What's a little girl?"
Silence.
Everyone chose to ignore him.
Right on cue, Dadan, who had apparently overheard enough to become curious, stepped closer and asked, "Oi. If you're all talking about legends, what's mine?"
Sabo's smile stiffened.
For the first time since he started, he actually hesitated.
Then, very carefully, he said, "You are... the legendary mountain bandit leader. Fierce face. Vicious words. Violent actions. Strong limbs." He paused. "A true man among men."
The clearing went quiet again.
Dadan stood completely still, her eyes closed, looking almost petrified.
Axel slowly turned to Sabo.
"Why that title?"
Sabo's expression immediately became awkward.
"Well... that is..."
Before he could stumble his way out of it, Luffy cheerfully sold him out.
"I shouted that when the pirates were leaving!"
Axel's mouth twitched.
What a complete idiot.
Dadan's face darkened in an instant.
"Luffy..." she said in a voice so calm it was terrifying. "You said that?"
Luffy realized too late that he had ruined himself.
His lips trembled slightly. He looked away. Then, in the worst possible choice he could have made, he lied.
"I... I don't know."
If he had admitted it, Dadan might have let it go after beating him half to death.
But lying to her with that face?
That only made it worse.
"You little brat! I'm going to kill you!"
Luffy yelped and instantly ran.
He even had the nerve to turn around once and pull a face at her.
"Old hag Dadan, you'll never catch me!"
That was the final blow.
Dadan roared and charged after him with murder in her eyes.
Watching Luffy sprint straight down the path of self destruction, Axel could only sigh inwardly.
Another brilliant tactical decision from the future Pirate King.
Still, now the earlier calm made sense.
Of course the pirates had behaved themselves.
Rumors, fear, and exaggeration had spread through Gray Terminal and done half the work for them. In an era like this, reputation was power. Once enough people believed a story, that story became a weapon of its own.
And unfortunately for Axel, that weapon now included the title "little girl."
He slowly turned to Ace and Sabo, both of whom had stayed behind.
"I don't look like a little girl," he said flatly. "Right?"
Both boys avoided his eyes at the same time.
Sabo reacted first.
"I just remembered I have something to do."
And then he ran.
Ace was right behind him.
"Yeah. I should go help Luffy before Dadan actually kills him."
Then he also disappeared into the trees.
Axel stood there alone.
Speechless.
Absolutely speechless.
...
Far away from Mount Colubo, in the noble district of Goa Kingdom known as High Town, a very different scene was unfolding.
Inside a large mansion, a finely dressed couple sat staring at a portrait laid out before them.
The man's features were stern and aristocratic.
The woman beside him wore an elegant dress and a faint, pleased smile.
They were Sabo's parents.
The woman looked down at the image and said, "This is Sabo, isn't it?"
The man's expression remained mostly calm.
"Yes," he said. "I didn't expect him to still be alive."
There was no joy in his tone.
No warmth.
No relief.
It sounded less like a father discovering his lost child had survived and more like a businessman confirming the condition of missing property.
The woman, however, brightened.
"That's good news. If he's alive, then the marriage arrangement with the royal family can still proceed."
The man's eyes softened only then.
"Yes. That would be helpful for my business." He tapped a finger against the armrest. "I'll contact the guards and have them assist with the search."
Then his face darkened slightly.
"The only problem is that he's gotten mixed up with the trash of Gray Terminal. I've heard he was even involved in Bluejam's fall." His expression turned openly disgusted. "Trash that associates with trash becomes trash itself. We cannot let our family reputation be stained. We need to retrieve him immediately."
The woman gave a gentle, eerie smile.
"Of course. From the moment he was born, his duty was to make his parents happy. That is his true happiness." She turned to her husband. "Isn't that right?"
The man smiled back.
"Yes."
There was something wrong with both of them.
Something cold.
Something hollow.
Not long after, the message about Sabo's identity was passed down through Goa's guards and eventually reached the new pirate groups gathering in Gray Terminal.
Bluejam's death had not caused piracy there to disappear.
If anything, it had splintered into several smaller gangs. New recruits, former thugs, and opportunists all rushed in to fill the vacuum left behind.
The guards did not know the full story between those pirates and Axel's group. They only passed down the order. Find the noble child Sabo, and there would be a reward.
That information spread quickly.
Before long, someone from Gray Terminal found a way to quietly inform Axel and the others.
And because the matter could no longer be avoided, Sabo finally revealed the truth.
The four boys sat together after hearing the message, and Sabo kept his head lowered for a long moment before speaking.
"I'm... the son of a noble."
Silence.
Not because the others were shocked.
But because they were waiting for him to continue.
Sabo swallowed.
His voice lowered.
"I didn't tell you because..." He hesitated. "Because I was afraid."
Ace frowned.
"Afraid of what?"
Sabo finally raised his head a little.
"In Goa Kingdom, nobles are rotten. They treat the people of Gray Terminal like filth. I hated the thought of being one of them." His fists tightened. "So I thought... if you knew, maybe you'd start seeing me the same way. Maybe you'd hate me too."
Ace stared at him for a second.
Then shrugged.
"What do your parents have to do with you?"
The answer came out so naturally that Sabo blinked.
But for Ace, it was not a casual statement.
He knew better than most what it meant to carry the sins of a parent in other people's eyes.
Luffy nodded along immediately.
"Yeah! Since you told us now, it's fine."
That was his entire standard.
Simple.
Brutally simple.
Axel also shrugged.
"I don't care."
And he genuinely did not.
Compared to Ace being the son of the Pirate King and Luffy being the son of Dragon, the world's most dangerous criminal, Sabo being the son of a noble barely even registered on the scale of troublesome family backgrounds.
Besides, Axel had come from a completely different world. Blaming a child for the choices of his parents felt absurd to him.
Sabo looked at all three of them.
He had clearly been bracing for something heavier.
Instead, he got this.
Confusion.
Acceptance.
Shrugs.
It almost seemed to hit him harder than rejection would have.
Then Ace asked the thing that actually interested him.
"If that's true, then why leave? You could've stayed in High Town living comfortably."
Sabo's expression changed.
The moment High Town was mentioned, something unpleasant moved behind his eyes.
He took a breath.
Then answered slowly.
"Because I'd rather live in filth than in that cage."
His voice was steady, but the disgust underneath it was obvious.
"They already planned my whole life for me. Every word I should say. Every person I should smile at. Every connection I should make. Even what kind of future I'm allowed to have." He looked down at his own hands. "That place suffocates me."
Then he looked back up.
"I came to Gray Terminal because at least here, my life feels like mine."
.....
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