【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 462 Sabo vs. Ace

"Sabo, go for it!" Luffy grinned and shouted at Sabo. Hearing Ace's words, Luffy immediately shouted back, "I'll help Sabo win!"

"Why!?" Ace shouted angrily, "Am I not your favorite older brother? You should be helping me win!"

"I told you, I'm Luffy's favorite older brother!" Sabo smiled happily and waved vigorously at Luffy. "Luffy, I'll definitely win!"

"Luffy, cheer for Ace!" Ace shouted angrily. "If you support me to win, I'll give you meat!"

"But Lucci won't let me cheer you on." Luffy was conflicted. If he called out to Lucci, he wouldn't get meat for him. Luffy's eyes lit up. Then he could just cheer him on!

"Ace, you have to give me meat!" Luffy grinned, then continued to cheer, but this time he didn't include names, so he was cheering for both of his older brothers.

"Luffy is cheering me on right now!" Ace provocatively said, while glaring angrily at Lucci, who was watching from the other side. He was even angrier when he saw Lucci's innocent smile at him.

“No, that’s not true.” Sabo continued to laugh happily. “Luffy obviously really wants me to win. I really am Luffy’s favorite older brother.”

“With my brother’s support, how could I possibly lose to Ace?” Sabo said seriously, then lowered his hat brim to cover his eyes; he was about to get serious.

Ace frowned as he watched Sabo approach. They were now less than a dozen steps apart, but Sabo showed no intention of making a move.

Moreover, his aura seemed completely harmless, which made Ace a little impatient. He couldn't wait to teach Sabo a lesson and show Luffy who his strongest brother was, since he had already won two matches.

Ace began to gather flames in his hands while keeping an eye on Sabo's movements. As Sabo charged forward, he unleashed a powerful "Fire Fist!"

Sabo started running, chuckling, while Ace still couldn't control his impatience.

As Sabo laughed, he dodged Ace's fire attack. As Ace leaped past him with his fists clenched and burning, Sabo smiled and interlocked his fingers, making his familiar dragon claw shape.

In the instant the two passed each other, he suddenly reached out and tightly gripped Ace's wrist. Ace's flames burned harmlessly on his black-gloved hand.

Ace's eyes widened in surprise. He hadn't expected Sabo to have such a strong grip, and when had he coated his hands with Armament Haki? It wasn't there when he charged.

Sabo grinned. It wasn't the tightest grip, but he could easily break Ace's arm if he wanted to. However, the pressure he applied was just enough to make Ace frown.

Sabo didn't give Ace time to be shocked. He wanted to win the match as soon as possible, so he twisted Ace's arm, leaving him no choice but to follow his momentum or he would suffer a great deal. Clearly, Ace was smart enough to know how to avoid serious pain.

With a light pull, Sabo nimbly moved behind Ace, never letting go for a moment, leaving Ace with his completely unguarded back.

Sabo clenched his free hand into a fist and punched Ace in the shoulder, then released his grip, letting Ace stagger forward. Sabo grinned and said, "Ace, you lost!"

"Damn it." Ace rubbed his shoulder, which he had just twisted, with displeasure. "Why is your grip so tight?"

"This is my attack method," Sabo grinned, then looked at Luffy. "So, Luffy, am I good?"

"That's so cool, Sabo!" Luffy excitedly jumped between the two, grabbed their arms tightly, and looked at Sabo with excitement. "Can I use this move to defeat Ace too?"

“You can enhance your Haki.” Sabo grinned.

“Pay up, Jozu.” Lucci proudly held out his hand to Jozu. “2 million Berries.”

Jozu shook his head in despair, never expecting Ace to make him lose so badly. Jozu reluctantly took out his savings, "Could you give me a discount, Lucci?"

"No way." Lucci interrupted Joz's delusions without hesitation, and smugly took the Belial from his hand.

"Lucci, you bastard!" Ace turned to Lucci, who was taking money from Jozu, and shouted angrily, "You didn't bet on me winning!!"

"Of course not, thank you for winning the prize money for me! Thank you so much, Mr. Ace, for letting me win 2 million Berries!!" Lucci bowed to Ace triumphantly, glancing up mockingly as he did so, "But you really did lose quite badly!"

"You bastard!!" Ace was furious. That bastard Lucci was still smugly mocking him, "Isn't it because you called Luffy to interfere with me!!"

"I didn't do anything, I just had Luffy cheer for Sabo." Lucci grinned smugly at Ace. "It's obvious that you were overconfident and underestimated Sabo in this battle."

"You come here!" Ace charged angrily at the bastard who kept mocking him.

"Who would be stupid enough to go there, you idiot!" When he said the last word "idiot," Lucci made a mocking face at Ace, and then his figure disappeared.

Seeing Lucci disappear, Ace was furious. Lucci was so fast that he couldn't even sense his presence.

Sabo and Luffy were laughing hysterically on the side.

"Hahaha! Ace, why don't you go after him?" Sabo asked knowingly while laughing.

"Sabo!" Ace shouted through gritted teeth, then, as if remembering something, his anger subsided. He turned to Luffy and smiled maliciously, "Luffy, don't you want to defeat Lucci?"

"Yes!" Luffy immediately stopped laughing and his eyes lit up instantly.

"How would you know his moves if you haven't even fought him, right?" Ace grinned. "So, do you want to fight Lucci?"

"Yes!" Luffy nodded. "I also want to fight Lucci."

"But what if he gets away?" Ace grinned mischievously. "Shouldn't we catch him and keep fighting?"

“That’s right.” Luffy nodded.

Ace almost laughed out loud. His brother was as naive as ever. "I have a way to get him to come out on his own."

"What?" Luffy tilted his head and looked at Ace.

Just as Ace was about to speak, he suddenly turned to Sabo, who was standing aside and said with displeasure, "You want to get involved too?"

“This has nothing to do with me,” Sabo shrugged. “I don’t want to get involved. I’ve had enough today.”

"Don't you want to continue fighting Lucci?" Ace blinked, seemingly unintentionally saying, "You don't think that just because you beat me, you're the strongest brother, do you? Your move won't work against Lucci."

"I'll reluctantly participate in your plan."