Chapter – 39 A Rescue Operation

Ryuma questioned, "You aren't thinking of going to the High Town, are you?"

Ace nodded, "Sabo doesn't want to be there… and since he will only suffer there, then he doesn't need to be there… I am going to bring him back…"

Luffy also nodded with a grin, "Mmm, yes, let's bring Sabo back with us…"

Ace shook his head, "No… you aren't coming Luffy… you would only slow me down…"

Luffy's expression turned sour, "I will not… I will be of help!"

"You won't… you are too weak… you can't even sense the presence of others!" Ace was still hell-bent on not having Luffy accompany him.

But Luffy wanted to come, and how do you stop a headstrong Monkey D. Luffy? The answer is, you cannot stop! But then again, the person he was arguing with was equally as headstrong as Luffy if not more… so the two started to argue and the argument soon turned into a brawl, of course, Luffy was getting a one-sided beatdown, but he was standing up again and again.

"Damn you Ace, I am coming… don't stop me!"

"No, you are not!"

Ryuma watched the two of them bicker for a while with a light smile, then decided to interfere and stop them. He separated them, and then held Ace with one hand and Luffy with the other. The two were struggling and waving their arms at each other, "Let… let go of me Ryuma… I am going to beat the shit of Luffy first before I go bring back Sabo!"

"I am coming with you no matter what!" But Luffy wasn't backing down and started to swing his rubbery hands, 'Gomu Gomu no...'

"Okay, you two… calm down… neither of you would be able to make it to that place and help out Sabo if you go with this attitude… let's not talk about Luffy, he is still far too weak, but even you Ace… The Military of the Kingdom of Goa will be there to interfere… and mind you, the military of this nation is not weak, it's very strong…" said Ryuma, while explaining Ace the situation.

But Ace wasn't able to understand, "It doesn't matter… Sabo… we can't abandon him… he is our brother…"

Luffy also nodded, "No matter how strong the military, we will bring back Sabo…"

Ryuma sighed and questioned, "Do either of you even understand what I am trying to say?"

Both of them had question marks all over their faces. It wasn't strange that neither of the two was capable of understanding complicated stuff.

Ryuma said, "Sit down for some time and listen to me. I will dumb down the matter so that both of you can understand…" Though Ryuma wasn't sure whether Luffy and Ace would still be able to comprehend such a matter. Not to mention that they are far too young… they are also far too dumb to understand such things.

But seeing Ryuma being serious about it and since it was concerning Sabo, both decided to stay quiet and listen to him.

Ryuma posed a question, "Why do you think that Sabo gave himself up when clearly he doesn't want to be there?"

Luffy said angrily, "It's because of that idiot Bluejam… if he hadn't interfered, then Sabo wouldn't have gone, sooner or later, I am going to kick his butt for making Sabo sad!"

"Uhh… I will give you points for that, but no, that's not the answer…" said Ryuma and looked at Ace.

Ace knew the answer, "It's probably because he did not want any harm to come to us."

Ryuma nodded, "Bingo," and explained, "His father used the two of you as leverage (hostage) to convince Sabo to return back… if Sabo hadn't accepted, then the two of you would have been harmed… now imagine, if you go and bring back Sabo with brute force… you would only make things difficult for him… he is trying to protect the two of you…"

Luffy was disheartened, "But…"

Ace also said, "But, we can't leave him there… I would rather die than allow Sabo to suffer!"

"That is very admirable indeed," nodded Ryuma and said, "But it would make no difference… in fact, it would only make things more difficult for Sabo… imagine, you try to save Sabo, but fail, and die… Sabo will of course learn of your death… and he will be in more pain… he would have to live there in guilt fully aware that 'he' is the cause of your death! Not to mention, Luffy would also be left alone… and then his father would use Luffy as a hostage making everything all the more difficult for Sabo…"

"Ace… you are going to die?" asked Luffy, and suddenly started to cry, "Don't die, Ace!"

"Shut up Luffy!" shouted Ace, immediately causing Luffy to shut up. Ace then looked down, he… he hadn't thought that far. He doesn't care about his life all that much… he doesn't think his life holds any value, but… thinking of Luffy being left behind, and Sabo having to bear the guilt... Ace hesitated…!

Noting the hesitation in Ace's eyes, Ryuma said, "It seems you are able to understand what I meant, right?"

Ace nodded, "Yes," he clutched his fist and with confusion in his eyes, he muttered, "What… what should I do?" Obviously, he couldn't let Sabo suffer… and the only thing Ace thinks is the cause of Sabo's suffering is the fact that 'I am too weak… and my weakness is the cause of Sabo's suffering!' If he was strong enough, then they would have defeated Bluejam and his henchmen, and escaped that area… and Sabo wouldn't have to suffer… but… he couldn't, and the only reason is, 'I am too weak… far too weak!'

Ryuma smiled as he thought to himself, 'Good… he is starting to understand one of the root causes of the problem,' then said, "Now, be that as it may… we will definitely save Sabo… but it won't be your brute force approach… it will be a different approach that I have thought about… Sabo's suffering won't end by brute forcing, his situation is far more complicated than you understand… he is a noble of the Kingdom of Goa, therefore, running away from his home won't be the end of his suffering as his stubborn father won't give up easily and considering how kind Sabo is… yup, it will be very difficult…"

Ace and Luffy looked up at Ryuma, "What plan?"

"Don't worry about it too much… just follow along for the time being," said Ryuma, not bothering to explain the plan. There was no need to explain the plan to these two pea brains since neither Ace nor Luffy were the kind of people who would follow a plan. In this regard, Sabo is different… oh well, but anyway…

Ryuma got up and looked at Rio, "It's your turn Rio… you will be the one taking us to the High Town." Considering that it's just a day before the Fire of the Grey Terminal, the security at the Edge Town and the High Town will be a lot, that was not something Ryuma wanted to deal with.

"Leave it to me!" nodded Rio happily.

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"Su… Sugoi… we are flying… Rio, I didn't know you could grow so big!" exclaimed Luffy with stars in his eyes and jumped around on Rio's back.

"Humph, of course, I am the best parrot in the World!" said Rio with a prideful snort.

"Calm down Luffy… or you will fall!" said Ace, keeping a hold of Luffy's hand. Then looked at Ryuma, and asked, "How did you do this? How did Rio become so big? Has he eaten a Devil Fruit or something?" Ever since Ace met up with Luffy, he has started to understand that there are really mind-boggling powers out there.

If something like 'Gomu Gomu no Mi' that can turn your body into a rubber can exist, it must also mean that another Devil Fruit that can allow Rio to increase his size also exists, and Rio might have eaten that devil fruit.

"Not really… well, it's something else… Rio being able to become larger is not because 'he' has eaten a Devil Fruit, it's something else…" answered Ryuma. He denied the possibility of Rio having eaten a Devil Fruit but did not say that it was because 'he' had eaten a Devil Fruit.

Ace nodded, "Hmm…" and didn't ask any further not caring too much about how Rio could grow larger, it didn't matter all that much, what's important is that they are able to use Rio's large size to their advantage and possibly rescue Sabo.

Suddenly Luffy said, "Look… look Ace… that's Grey Terminal, everything there looks so small!"

Ace didn't answer but followed Luffy's gaze and looked down. They were currently high above in the sky, flying over the Grey Terminal as they made their way toward the Capital of the Kingdom of Goa in order to rescue Sabo from his 'family.'

They flew for a while before reaching the Edge Town. From a higher angle, they were able to spot quite a lot of Military Soldiers around the Edge Town, guarding the entrance between the Grey Terminal and the Capital.

Ace looked confused, "Why are there so many of them there?" At the same time, he realized that if he had tried to sneak in and rescue Sabo, it would have been very difficult… sure he could sense their presence now that he had gotten a hang of using Observation Haki, but no way was he fast enough to be able to dodge bullets, or strong enough to fight hundreds of soldiers.

"It's because something big is about to happen there… and the nobles of the Kingdom of Goa do not wish for the people of the Grey Terminal to enter the Edge Town," answered Ryuma lightly, but did not elaborate on the matter; much too the confusion of Ace and Luffy.

They continued to fly for a while and soon reached the High Town, flying further they would be able to reach the Royal Palace, but since that wasn't the goal, they were circling above the High Town.

'More More: Fifty-Fold Vision!'

By increasing his 'Visual Acuity' by a factor of fifty, Ryuma searched for the house of Sabo's father. He knew that house from the time he had spent living in the Capital of the Kingdom of Goa, and it didn't take long for him to spot the house, but at the same time he spotted the house, Ryuma also noticed another thing, "Is that?"

He noticed a small figure sitting atop one of the houses. It wasn't the house of Sabo's father, it was another house, but closely looking at the clothes the figure was wearing, it was obvious who the person was, "There he is…" said Ryuma and pointed at the figure.

Ace and Luffy followed the directions and quickly spotted the person, "Saboooo!" "Sabooo!" Both shouted at the top of their lungs causing the figure to suddenly look around with confused expression.

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"Saboooo!" "Saboooo!" suddenly familiar voices started to ring in Sabo's ears and call out his name. Sabo wiped his tears, and muttered, "I am missing them so much that I am even hearing their voices…"

Sabo didn't think that Ace and Luffy would be able to come all the way to the High Town to get him. They would want to, that's something he is definitely certain about, but whether they will be able to reach here or not is a completely different matter, moreover, Sabo personally doesn't want them to come, they would be risking their lives for nothing.

As these thoughts crossed his mind, once again the familiar voices reached his ears, "Saboooo!" "Saboooo!" and this time, they were louder… as if both Ace and Luffy had come closer compared to the last time.

"Huh?" confused Sabo looked around. He was also a bit panicked, "Don't tell me… are they really here?" he was also extremely happy.

"Saboooo!" "Saboooo!" once again the voice reached his ears, louder than previously, "Loook up…" "Uppp…. We are above you!!!"

"Above?" muttered Sabo as he looked at the sky and his eyes widened as he saw a giant bird coming at him at full speed. His eyes almost popped out of sockets, and his jaw hit the floor, more so when he noticed Ace and Luffy sitting at the back of the bird and waving at him excitedly, "Ace? Luffy?" Sabo also noticed another figure on the back of the bird and realized that it was, "Ryuma?"

Before he could understand the situation, the bird flew down, approaching closer and closer, as they were just a few dozen meters above the city, suddenly Ryuma said to Luffy, "Come on Luffy, stretch your hand and pick up Sabo!"

"Shishishi… on it!" nodded Luffy with a grin, then rolled his hand while shouting, 'Gomu Gomu no…' and said something which no one was able to understand then stretched his hand all the way to Sabo.

"Sabooo… Grab Luffy's hand!" shouted Ace, urging Sabo to quickly grab Luffy's outstretched hand.

"Al… alright!" still unable to process what just happened, Sabo followed Ace's instruction, he quickly grabbed Luffy's hand, and was pulled along the bird as it flew away, "Whaaaa–?"

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