The sunlight was rude. It stabbed through the gaps in the wooden planks, demanding attention.
Argentus hissed, shielding his eyes with a forearm that felt heavy as lead. He tried to sit up, but his body staged a mutiny. Every nerve ending screamed. His chest, his shoulder, his ribs—they were all wrapped tight in what looked like strips of torn bedsheets and... was that a shirt?
He was a mummy of mismatched fabrics.
He blinked, clearing the grit from his eyes. This wasn't Gray Terminal. The air didn't smell like burning trash—it smelled of sap, leaves, and... roasted pork.
Creaaaak.
The wooden door was kicked open.
Luffy marched in, grin so wide it practically split his face. He was holding a massive bone-in shank of meat with both hands, chewing on the end like a feral puppy.
"Oh! You're awake!" Luffy announced, crumbs flying from his mouth.
Argentus stared at him, brain lagging. The rubber kid?
Luffy stopped chewing. He looked at Argentus, then down at the glorious, glistening meat in his hands. A war fought behind his eyes. He swallowed hard, sweat forming on his brow. His hands trembled as he slowly, painfully, extended the meat toward the bed.
"Here," Luffy said, voice sounding like he was ripping off a bandage. "You... you can have some."
Argentus didn't move.
"I'm only giving you my meat because you gave me some before!" Luffy insisted quickly, looking away as if looking at the meat would make him take it back. "And... and definitely not because you were so cool in that fight! Bam! Pow! You took that sword right in the shoulder like it was nothing!"
Argentus looked at the meat, then at his bandaged shoulder. I took the sword because I had to, not because it was cool, you idiot.
"And we totally didn't follow you!" Luffy added helpfully. "Ace said we were just 'patrolling'!"
"Shut up, Luffy!"
A second figure ducked through the doorway. Ace.
The older boy's face was flushed a slight shade of pink, though he tried to hide it with a scowl. He was carrying a bucket of water and a rag. He glared at Luffy, then shifted his gaze to Argentus.
Ace looked different than before. The hostility was gone, replaced by grudging, awkward respect.
"You talk too much," Ace muttered, smacking the back of Luffy's head. He set the bucket down with a heavy thud.
Argentus ignored the water. He pushed himself up into a sitting position, gritting his teeth against the wave of nausea.
"You moved me," Argentus rasped. It wasn't a question.
"You were bleeding out in a pile of garbage," Ace replied, crossing his arms. "We dragged you up here. Dadan patched you up. She wasn't happy about it, by the way. Said you look like trouble."
"I am trouble," Argentus said. He looked at his hands—cleaned of blood, but still scarred. "Why save me? I told you to leave."
"Because you're crazy!" Luffy chimed in, apparently recovered from the emotional loss of the meat. He sat cross-legged on the floor. "You fought Bluejam! He had a gun! And a big sword! And you were like woosh and he was like dead!"
Luffy's eyes sparkled again.
"Join my crew!" Luffy shouted.
"No," Argentus and Ace said in perfect unison.
Ace looked at Argentus, surprised by the synchronization, then cleared his throat.
"Luffy's an idiot, but... he's right about the fight," Ace admitted, looking at the floorboards. "You took down the boss of the Terminal. The other pirates and bandits are scrambling for his spot. If we left you there, they would have finished the job."
Argentus reached out and took the meat from Luffy's trembling hand. He took a massive bite, tearing the flesh off the bone, silver eyes never leaving Ace.
He chewed, swallowed, and wiped his mouth.
"Fine," Argentus said, voice regaining its steel. "One favor. I owe you one life. After that, we're even."
Luffy cheered, throwing his hands in the air. "Yay! New friend!"
"I said 'favor', not 'friend'," Argentus corrected, but he lacked the energy to argue as Luffy bounced around the small treehouse.
Ace watched him, a small smirk touching his lips. He picked up his pipe.
"Rest up, 'King of the World'," Ace said, the nickname dripping with only mild sarcasm this time. "You can't rule anything if you can't walk."
Months Later
"Ninety-eight... ninety-nine... one hundred."
Argentus pushed off the ground, arms trembling slightly but holding. Sweat dripped from his silver hair, landing in the dirt. His bandages were gone, replaced by fresh, pink scars that crisscrossed his chest like a roadmap of violence.
"Argentus! Let's play!"
Luffy burst into the clearing, hanging upside down from a tree branch. "Ace and I are gonna hunt the giant gator! Come on! It'll be fun!"
Argentus stood, wiping the sweat from his brow with a rough cloth. He didn't smile.
"Play?" Argentus repeated, voice flat. "Playing won't make me stronger or richer."
"Booooo," Luffy groaned, drooping like a wilted flower. "You're so boring! Being King of the World sounds like too much work!"
Luffy turned around, kicking at a stone with his sandal. "Fine, I'll go ask Ace—"
"Luffy."
The tone wasn't loud, but it had the weight of a falling anvil. It stopped Luffy mid-step.
Argentus walked over to his spear, stuck in the ground. He pulled it out with a spray of dirt.
"Are you really sure you want to be King of the Pirates?"
Luffy didn't turn around, but his shoulders stiffened. "Of course I am! I'm gonna find the One Piece and be the freest man on the sea!"
"Freedom," Argentus said, testing the word like it was a dull blade. "You think being a Captain is just about freedom?"
Argentus took a step closer.
"When you're a Captain, you're not free. You're the anchor. Every soul on your ship belongs to you. If they starve, it's your fault. If they bleed, it's your fault. If they die because you were too weak to protect them... that's your fault."
Behind the massive oak tree at the edge of the clearing, Ace froze. His hand, which had been reaching for his pipe, dropped to his side. He pressed his back against the bark, listening.
Argentus stared at Luffy's back.
"Weak pirates often end up as slaves or toys for nobles. Do you want to see your crew become one of them?"
"Being a Captain means the life of the whole crew depends on your judgment. One bad order, one moment of hesitation, and your 'friends' become corpses."
Luffy turned around slowly. The playful grin was gone. His eyes were shadowed by the brim of his straw hat.
"I won't let them die," Luffy said quietly.
"How?" Argentus challenged, stepping into Luffy's personal space. He loomed over the smaller boy. "By punching harder? By stretching further?"
Argentus pointed the tip of his spear at Luffy's chest.
"The sea doesn't care about your dreams, Luffy. It will send storms. It will send monsters who can crush islands with a sigh."
Argentus leaned in, silver eyes burning with cold intensity.
"If you want to play pirate... go play with the other children. But if you want to be King... then you need to stop playing and start carrying the weight."
The silence in the clearing was heavy. The wind rustled the leaves, but neither boy moved.
Luffy looked at the spear tip, then up at Argentus. He didn't get angry. He took a deep breath, chest expanding.
"I know," Luffy said. His voice wasn't childish anymore. It was resolute, eyes reddening. "That's why I'm gonna be strong. Stronger than anyone. So I don't have to lose anyone again."
Argentus held his gaze for a long moment. Then, he lowered the spear.
"Good," Argentus said. "Keep that fear. It will keep you alive. Don't forget the past that reignited your desire to become stronger."
He turned away, walking back toward the treehouse to gather his things.
"I'm leaving today. You know where to find me."
Behind the tree, Ace let out a breath he didn't know he was holding. He looked at his own hands. He'd always fought for himself, for his own anger.
But what am I carrying?
The Shore of Mt. Colubo
The waves crashed against the jagged rocks, white foam hissing as it receded.
Argentus stood waist-deep in the churning water. He was eleven years old, but his silhouette looked like a statue carved from granite.
On his shoulders sat a boulder—not just a rock, but a massive chunk of cliffside, jagged and uneven, easily weighing three times his own body weight.
"Four hundred... and two," he gritted out, voice strained.
He squatted down, the water rising to his chest. The sea tried to push him over. The sand shifted beneath his feet. The weight on his shoulders tried to snap his spine.
"Four hundred... and three."
He exploded upward, driving his legs straight. His muscles—dense, corded, and terrifyingly defined for a child—rippled under his skin. Capillaries in his shoulders burst, turning his skin a mottled red.
He didn't stop. He welcomed the damage. Every fiber that tore was a weakness leaving his body. Every ache was a promise of tomorrow's strength.
On the beach, two other figures watched.
Ace sat on a piece of driftwood, whittling a new spear. He watched Argentus with a mixture of competitiveness and concern. Ace trained hard—he fought giant tigers and alligators daily—but Argentus trained like he was trying to kill himself.
"He's at it again," Ace muttered. "Does he ever sleep?"
Luffy was trying to lift a rock the size of a watermelon nearby. "Guh... guh... I'm gonna lift a mountain too!"
Luffy's rubber arms stretched, and the rock didn't move, but his arms just got longer. He snapped back, the rock hitting him in the face. "Ouch!"
Argentus ignored them. He was in a trance of pain.
He did another rep. And another. Until his vision went white and his legs finally gave out.
He collapsed into the surf, the boulder splashing down beside him, missing his head by inches.
He lay in the shallow water, gasping for air, the salt stinging his raw skin. He couldn't move his arms. Couldn't move his legs.
Ace walked over, looking down at him.
"You're a maniac, Argentus," Ace said, shaking his head. But he reached down and dragged Argentus out of the tide before he drowned.
"Tomorrow," Argentus wheezed, staring up at the sky, silver eyes burning. "Heavier... stone."
One Year Later
By the end of the year, Argentus was completely transformed.
He didn't look like a child anymore. He carried a subtle aura in his every move. He could punch through the scales of a giant crocodile without a weapon. He could outswim the coastline's currents.
Argentus sat cross-legged on a flat rock, turning a skewer of crocodile meat over the smokeless flame.
He sprinkled salt on the meat with his left hand while turning it with his right.
Crash.
The bushes to his left didn't just rustle—they exploded.
Argentus didn't flinch. Didn't reach for a weapon. He simply shifted his weight, muscles coiling beneath his shirt, ready to react to whatever beast had been foolish enough to charge him.
But it wasn't a beast.
"Argentus!"
Luffy stumbled into the clearing. He wasn't bouncing. He was sprinting, chest heaving, straw hat nearly falling off his head.
The usual ear-to-ear grin was gone. The bright, stupid optimism was extinguished. Luffy's eyes were wide, trembling, filled with a raw, primal terror that Argentus had never seen on the rubber boy before.
Luffy skidded to a halt, grabbing Argentus's arm with a grip so tight his fingernails dug into the skin. He was shaking.
"Argentus..." Luffy gasped, voice cracking, staring back toward the darkness of the forest he'd just run from. "Help..."
Argentus dropped the skewer. The meat hissed as it fell into the fire.
He stood up slowly, silver eyes narrowing as he looked past Luffy, into the deep shadows where the birds had suddenly stopped singing.
"Luffy," Argentus said, voice low and dangerous. "What did you see?"
(END OF CHAPTER)
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