[OP] Matchless 無双 / AceLu

02 PROLOGUE: Live, I Guess

As time passed, Dadan and the bandits came to grow more fond of the new member in their family. They would never admit 0, especially Dadan herself.

The boy didn't bother them much, eats a whole lot, and minds his own business half of the time.

Though something was a bit weird about him. He didn't talk, he never talked.

Dadan didn't know much about children but even she knew that something might be up with the kid. He was already 5 years of age, with not a single syllable spoken.

She had tried to teach him about some basic Japanese, the things she knew, but he didn't seem like he was interested.

Ace always had a strange glint in his eye, a bright one. It always looked like he wanted to express something, but it just wouldn't come out. Dadan was a bit worried but she figured he simply didn't want to talk to them. And since Garp said absolutely nothing each time he visited, she decided to let it slide. After all, he'd have to speak someday.

But that someday never came. Ace liked to wander off into the forest, typically without informing the bandits. Then, he'd come back around dusk to eat dinner and sleep.

It was a strange cycle, but no one had a problem with it. They indeed, got used to having the quiet boy around.

Unbeknownst to the bandits, Ace would go out stealing with another boy his age, called Sabo. Both of them would stash up their savings and compare them with each other.

"Yo!!" Sabo greeted his friend, "Up for another heist today?"

Ace said nothing and tossed a bag of valuables to the top-hat wearing boy. His eyes widened slightly.

"Well damn! You're fast! Now let's see what we've got here.." Sabo exclaimed and began to count the stolen stuff. Ace just looked at him as his friend counted carefully.

"Wow! This is quite a lot, huh? Dang, Ace, you beat me again!" Sabo smiled, standing up and giving the other a playful elbow nudge, "Gotta teach me sometime where you find these!"

Ace nodded and began to climb down the tree.

"Hey, where're you going?" Sabo called, climbing down after him.

Ace jumped to his feet and started heading back. Sabo then knew that Ace was leaving, "Okay then, see you tomorrow Ace!!"

Ace walked down the path toward the bandit home. On his way, he found a little pond. He decides to sit next to it and maybe clean his pipe staff.

As Ace started to wash his staff, he couldn't help but get lost in his reflection, a recent memory playing through.

--

Ace sat there with his arms wrapped around his knees, he looked up in slight curiosity as he waited for a response to his question about his family.

"Gold Roger." He said, "King of the Pirates"

Ace's eyes widened at such a luxurious and extravagant title for his very own father. He wondered how the man had earned it.

Though then he wished he didn't. Because all it did was to bring him eternal confusion and anger.

--

Ace was brought back to the present as a gush of fury in his veins rushed to the tips of his fingers. He picked up his pipe and violently thrashed it at the water, but his reflection reappeared. The boy stared at himself in the water one last time before angrily storming off.

--

"Did I deserve to be born?" Ace asked his adoptive grandfather. Garp could tell Ace was lost, he could see the grey in his eyes and the sorrow in his soul.

"Something like that is for you to decide." He sighed.

Ace turned to Garp a little upon hearing such an honest answer.

"I guess you'll have to live to find out."

--

Ace had never thought about ending his life, and it was all thanks to the old man. He didn't have a reason to live, but he knew that he needed to find one before he died.