"I don't know!" Ace replied, cutting him off.
How could this guy be looking for Luffy? Is it because of that smelly old man Garp?
His hand reached for his back, finding nothing; he hadn't brought his steel pipe. Spreading his feet, Ace faced Nero like a snarling puppy.
Nero looked at Ace, speechless. How had his aggressiveness increased again? These kids nowadays, their thoughts are truly strange and unfathomable.
Shaking her head, Nero didn't intend to get entangled with this kid: "Is that so? Then, goodbye!"
With that, she prepared to continue towards the back mountain, but was, as expected, stopped again.
"Stop! What do you want with Luffy?" Ace spread his arms, staring at Nero.
"Just visiting an acquaintance's grandson, that's all. Do I look like a bad person?"
The people in this village are truly simple-minded. Shouldn't normal people run as far as possible?
"You won't pass here unless you explain yourself!" Ace's eyes were firm; even if he wasn't Nero's match, he wouldn't back down.
Looking into his eyes, Nero frowned, understanding Ace's resolve. She sighed... "Hmm, this mountain path is really difficult to walk. My skirt is getting caught."
Carrying the unconscious Ace, who was covered in bumps, Nero arrived at the Dadan family's bandit hideout.
Being lenient with children is a virtue, Nero thought, so she didn't leave Ace behind. Instead, she carried him all the way, taking him home... Drip, drip!
"Hold on, kid! Don't bleed so much, you're home now, damn it! Why is your forehead so fragile? I didn't even use much force. Do you have an old injury?"
Shaking Ace, who had turned quite pale, Nero's expression was hard to describe.
I just got distracted for a moment; that stone must have appeared suddenly! It's not because of my punch that this kid hit it!
Hmm, absolutely!
"So... so cold..." The unconscious Ace mumbled subconsciously.
"Bang! Bang bang!" Nero knocked on the wooden door: "Open the door quickly! Your Ace hit his head and is almost dead!"
Footsteps in a panic came from inside the wooden house. Nero took the opportunity to adjust her bangs; first impressions are still important.
Ever since arriving here, everyone has been overly wary of her.
"Ace!!" The wooden door opened, and a powerful, burly... woman? Rushed out, her eyes immediately locking onto Ace, whom Nero was holding.
Without a word, she snatched him away, and there was another flurry of chaos. Ace, who had been saying he was cold, instantly turned into a mummy.
"Ace? Are you okay?" The little Luffy, wearing a straw hat, asked tearfully from the side.
"He should be fine... What exactly happened?" Dadan exhaled smoke from her mouth, then turned her head.
"Ne... Nero!!!" Her eyes almost popped out of their sockets. Dadan rubbed her eyes in disbelief.
"Eh? Is she an acquaintance of yours, Dadan?" Luffy picked his nose, full of questions.
"Hmm, it's the first time in my life I've been ignored!" Nero crossed her arms, her emerald eyes turning blood-red.
"My deepest apologies!" The entire Dadan family, except for Luffy and the lying Ace, all slid into a standard dogeza.
"How rude! I brought back your child who fainted by the roadside, yet I'm being ignored like this."
The perpetrator, full of righteous indignation, puffed out her cheeks and looked unhappily at... Luffy.
Luffy:???
"Furthermore, I've been here so long, and you haven't even offered a cup of tea!"
"My deepest apologies! I'll just... Eh? Tea???" Dadan, as the leader, looked up, wondering if she had misheard something.
"As a guest, isn't it basic courtesy for the host to offer tea?"
Luffy was still a bit confused, but he had heard that this big sister had saved Ace's life.
Although he didn't understand why she kept staring at him, he immediately gave Nero a brilliant smile: "Thank you for saving Ace."
"Hmm, no need to thank me! It was no trouble at all." Nero replied casually, while her Observation Haki was running at full power.
"Gum-Gum—Giant Axe!"
"Second Gear!"
"Give me back my companion! Nami, she's my navigator!"
"Ace!!! I'm here to save you!"
"This is my freest form! Hahahaha!"
"Warrior of Liberation—Joy Boy!"
"Look closely, this is the answer to your prosperity!"
"It is the end of desire, accumulating wealth on the surface!"
"What a pleasant shriek~"
"You, what is your purpose in looking for Luffy?" In the interval while Dadan was brewing tea, Ace, clutching his head, struggled to get up.
"Looking for me?" Luffy pointed to himself: "And Ace, are you okay?"
"Luffy! Get behind me!"
Ace shouted loudly. Contact with such a person was too dangerous for Luffy. As his elder brother, he absolutely had to protect Luffy.
Especially since they had already lost Sabo today, no matter what, he couldn't let Nero and Luffy confront each other.
He had to shift this person's attention to himself, even if it meant revealing his most detested identity.
"Hey, Nero! I am the descendant of Gol D. Roger. My identity should interest you more than Luffy's, shouldn't it?"
Nero was still pondering the fragments she had just seen with her Observation Haki when she suddenly heard the kid named Ace say he was Roger's child.
"Pfft... You said... you are Roger's... Hmm... Muhahahaha!"
"What's so funny?" Ace didn't understand why Nero was laughing so exaggeratedly.
"Kid... have you ever met Roger?" Nero covered her stomach with one hand, and with the other, wiped away the tears from the corner of her eyes from laughing so hard.
"No... No..."
"Hmm, then are you from a single-parent family?"
"Mama died when she gave birth to me."
"Although I don't understand why you would think you're Roger's child, that's false!"
Ace pursed his lips, not speaking, but looking at Nero, he was somewhat shaken. Could there be some inside story to this?
"Roger, huh..." Nero gestured with her hand: "His nose hair was this long, he never trimmed it, and he only bathed three times a year. Such a slovenly guy couldn't get a wife!"
"Unless your mother was also a dirty, slovenly person!"
"No way! My mother was a gentle, clean, good woman!" Ace immediately retorted loudly.
"Well, I guessed as much!" Nero said with absolute certainty: "Then you absolutely cannot be Roger's child!"
"But... but..."
"Hmm, no 'but'! The facts are right in front of you. Are you more willing to believe someone else's one-sided story?"
"I am someone who reached Raftel with Roger. My words, no matter how you think about it, should be more credible than anyone else's, right?"
Unable to refute, what Nero said made too much sense. Ace looked down at his hands. So, I'm not the Pirate King's descendant?
Then who am I?
And who is my father?
What is the truth?
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