Chapter 24 Interesting bandits

"Ga… Garp-san?"

The burly, tough-as-a-man female bandit Dadan opened the wooden door of her house. When she saw Garp standing outside, she instinctively took two steps back, almost petrified.

"You all seem pretty lively."

Garp started with a casual greeting, as if nothing had happened.

But those words instantly opened the floodgates for Dadan and the others, who rushed out the door, spitting complaints in rapid succession:

"Are you joking? Spare us, please!"

"That Ace brat is already 10 years old. We've reached our limits; we can't handle him anymore…"

"I see…"

Garp nodded slightly, completely ignoring Dadan and the others' complaints.

"Well then, this brat Luffy is also yours to take care of."

"Another one?! What's the deal with this kid now?"

"Garp-san, we're mountain bandits, not some kind of daycare!"

While Garp and Dadan were chatting away, Luffy, standing off to the side, was staring at Dadan and the other bandits with shining eyes.

"Uncle, are you guys mountain bandits?" Luffy interjected with a curious question.

"Hey, I'm a woman, you little brat!" Dadan's face turned dark.

"So you are mountain bandits! That's so cool."

Dadan looked at Luffy, who was staring at her with sparkling eyes, and started mumbling to herself:

"Garp-san, what's the deal with this brat?"

"Not only is he not scared of us when he hears we're mountain bandits, but he actually seems excited?"

Hearing Dadan's remark, Garp's face lit up with a gratified smile. He burst into laughter and said:

"That's because he's my grandson."

"Just like Ace, the two of them will both become the strongest marines. So how could they be afraid of some mountain bandits?"

"What?!"

Dadan and her crew were completely petrified, their minds turning into mush.

Before they could recover, Luffy, standing nearby, shouted discontentedly:

"I don't want to become a marine! I'm going to be the Pirate King!"

"This…" Dadan and her crew were even more bewildered.

The marine hero Garp intended to leave his grandson in the hands of a gang of mountain bandits, and this kid wanted to become the Pirate King?

Wait… Wanting to become the Pirate King was already bizarre enough, but why did he seem so excited when he found out they were mountain bandits?

"This kid is probably going to be just as much trouble as Ace," Dadan thought to herself, her heart sinking.

"Anyway, Luffy is yours to look after," Garp concluded. "When he's a little older, I'll have him and Ace train together to become the strongest marines."

"No way!" Luffy immediately protested.

"I'm going to be the Pirate King… Even if it's being the Mountain Bandit King, I'm not going to be a marine!"

"Mountain Bandit King? Pfft… Hahahaha!" Garp froze for a moment, then burst into laughter so hard he nearly teared up.

"A king of mountain bandits? Where on earth did you get such a ridiculous idea?"

For a moment, he completely forgot to argue about Luffy refusing to become a marine.

However, Dadan and the others weren't laughing. Instead, their expressions grew more serious.

"Hey, kid, it's fine to say that in front of us, but if you're planning to hang around here, don't ever mention wanting to be a Mountain Bandit King."

"If you do, the consequences could be very serious."

A bandit standing behind Dadan added, his voice tinged with dread.

"Why?"

Luffy and Garp asked in unison, both casually picking their noses as if nothing had happened.

"…Garp-san, you might not believe this if I tell you…"

The bandit standing behind Dadan lowered his voice and cautiously glanced around to ensure no one else was listening.

"In this area, there's actually a mountain bandit who calls himself the Mountain Bandit King of the East Blue!"

"This self-proclaimed king leads the largest bandit crew around here…"

"The key thing is, if anyone in this area says anything disrespectful about the Mountain Bandit King, like what this brat just said, it gets scary."

The bandit shivered as he continued:

"I've heard several stories. If anyone speaks ill of the Mountain Bandit King, within five minutes, a bald man and dozens of bandits will leap out of the bushes, shouting about giving you a 'buff,' and then they'll chase you over several mountains before letting you go…"

"Pfft! Hahahaha… there's a bandit that interesting, huh?"

Garp was laughing so hard he was crying.

"Garp-san, this isn't a joke," Dadan said as she chimed in, explaining from the side:

"This so-called Mountain Bandit King of the East Blue has been extremely active recently. In the lawless area of the Goa Kingdom's Gray Terminal, there's no mountain bandit or pirate force stronger than his."

"Really?"

Luffy, far from being scared, instead grinned from ear to ear, his smile stretching so wide it almost reached his ears.

"So there are powerful people even among mountain bandits. I actually know a really strong mountain bandit too…"

"Uncle Dadan, have you ever heard of a mountain bandit named Sig?"

As soon as Luffy finished speaking, a glob of liquid suddenly flew through the air and splattered right across his cheek.

Reaching up to wipe his face, Luffy didn't manage to clean it off but instead found his hand covered in sticky goo.

"Spit? That's disgusting! Who spat at me?"

Luffy backed up a few steps and looked around. In the shadow of a large tree, he saw a boy slightly older than him sitting on top of a massive boulder with his legs crossed.

This sudden commotion immediately drew the attention of Garp and the others.

"Is Ace back?" The bandits froze.

"Ace, Grandpa came to see you!" Garp said with a kind smile spreading across his face.

However, Ace kept his face stern, sitting atop the boulder. Even as Garp greeted him, his expression didn't waver. He sat there with his arms crossed, his face as still as stone.

Looking closely, it became clear that the "boulder" beneath him was actually the massive corpse of a wild boar.

The boar's body was riddled with blunt-force wounds, and the metal pipe in Ace's hand was stained with dark red blood.

It was obvious that this was a trophy brought back by the ten-year-old Ace.

"Hey, you! Apologize!"

Under the tree, Luffy had already started a one-sided argument with Ace.

Luffy was shouting, but Ace kept his expression unchanged, his lips slightly downturned, showing no reaction whatsoever. He sat atop the boar's corpse, gazing coldly and silently down at everyone present.

But Dadan, standing by the wooden cabin, wasn't paying attention to the argument between Ace and Luffy.

She stood there in a daze.

Just now, she thought she'd heard Luffy mention a name that made her freeze in shock.

"Brat, did you just say Sig? How do you know that name?"

Dadan grabbed the still-shouting Luffy by the back of his collar and hoisted him up.

"Ah, so you know Uncle Sig too? He really is an amazing mountain bandit, isn't he?"

Luffy instantly forgot about the spit incident and beamed with a wide grin.