【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 469 I have a suggestion

"No vegetables!" Luffy protested, puffing out his cheeks as he chewed. "Meat is the best!"

Ace looked at Lucci and raised an eyebrow, saying, "He picked out all the vegetables you put there."

"It's okay, he'll eat it." Lucci grinned as he watched Luffy stuff food into his mouth, ignoring Ace's provocation.

Ace looked at the calm Lucci and knew he had a solution, so he stopped worrying about it and started eating his breakfast. It has to be said that Lucci's grilling skills were pretty good.

Rayleigh sipped his drink, watching the three brothers interact without making a sound. He couldn't help but smile, especially at the happy and relaxed expression on Lucci's face. He rarely saw his apprentice so relaxed, and he rarely saw Lucci's expressions so vivid. During this time, he had seen many other sides of Lucci, completely different from the side he showed during training.

"Ace, Lucci."

"What's wrong, Master?" Lucci asked Rayleigh, puzzled.

“I have a suggestion,” Rayleigh said with a gentle smile.

"What?" Ace looked at Rayleigh in confusion. He still had complicated feelings about Rayleigh. After all, he was that guy's crew member. Although he no longer cared about that, he didn't want to know anything about that guy, even though he wanted to know some things about his mother.

“Lucci, you seem to be quite skilled at using Conqueror’s Haki,” Rayleigh said, taking a sip of his drink.

“Yes, that’s right. Maybe it’s because I activated it once when I was a child, so I got used to it quickly.” Lucci said with a frown. Then he remembered something else and asked in confusion, “Master, how did you know I have Conqueror’s Haki? I don’t remember telling you about it.”

"Rayleigh, what's your proposal?" Ace grinned, interrupting Lucci's question.

"Lucci, this is super delicious!" Luffy held up his hand, which was covered in meat juice, grinned, and stuffed a piece of meat to Lucci's mouth, looking at him expectantly. "Try it!"

Lucci immediately laughed, ate the meat Luffy handed him, and instantly forgot about the little incident just now. While chewing, he smiled smugly and said, "Of course, I grilled it!"

"Super delicious!" Luffy grinned and replied, then continued to stuff meat into his mouth.

Ace couldn't help but laugh at this scene, then looked at Rayleigh again and asked, "Rayleigh, what were you trying to say?"

"Hmm." Rayleigh chuckled and cut to the chase without further preamble. "I was wondering if you two would like to train together for a while as well."

Lucci looked at Ace thoughtfully and said, "Ace, I think you should accept that your Haki does need further training."

"Are you admitting that your teaching skills are lacking?" Ace raised an eyebrow.

"This isn't my fault!" Lucci glared at Ace, dissatisfied. "It's because you haven't practiced enough!"

“I have been practicing Haki, and I’ve been using Observation Haki.” Ace shrugged. “So it’s still your teaching that’s lacking.”

Lucci couldn't help but roll his eyes at Ace. "I'm talking about your Armament Haki. I seriously doubt that your Armament Haki is even as good as Luffy's."

"You underestimate me too much, Lucci!" Ace glared at Lucci with displeasure.

"So you've surpassed Ace?" Luffy immediately stopped eating, his eyes shining as he looked at Ace. "I defeated Ace!!"

"No way!" Ace shouted angrily.

Lucci burst into laughter. "That's right, Lucci, you'll beat him soon!"

“Ace, under my tutelage, I believe you will soon be able to master the three types of Haki.” Rayleigh’s smile deepened as he watched their conversation.

"Thank you for your hard work, Mr. Rayleigh." Ace stood up, bowed to Rayleigh, and then grinned. "After all, that bastard Lucci is really not a good teacher."

Lucci pouted in dissatisfaction, but it was indeed a good thing that Rayleigh could also teach Ace. Ace was fully talented enough to master the three types of Haki more skillfully.

However, he always felt that flames were stronger and more useful, and he had never encountered an enemy that his flames couldn't defeat, so Ace had always neglected to practice Armament Haki and Conqueror's Haki.

"Then you guys will train with me!?" Luffy exclaimed excitedly, staring intently at his two older brothers.

“Ah, that’s right, we might stay with you for a while longer,” Ace grinned.

“Not now,” Lucci interrupted Ace’s thoughts.

"Why?" Ace looked at Lucci in confusion. "We just need to ask Dad, right? I don't think Dad will disagree."

Lucci ignored Ace's question and looked at Rayleigh instead, saying, "Master, we'll train with you again in four months."

“No problem, I also need to teach Luffy first and see how well he has mastered Haki.” Rayleigh smiled and took a sip of his drink.

Ace seemed thoughtful, then turned to Luffy and grinned, "Luffy, we'll come back to find you in four months. We'll have another training session then, and we'll see how you've progressed in Haki."

Luffy grinned smugly, "I'll be able to defeat you in four months!"

"Really? We'll see!" Ace teased.

"I can definitely do it!" Luffy grinned, then continued eating the food in front of him.

"Rayle, are you finished eating?" Ace asked as Rayleigh got up to leave.

"I'll leave this place to you; I'll be waiting for you on the beach."

Rayleigh waved and left, then smiled again as he recalled Lucci's smile when he told him about the trouble Luffy had gotten into as a child. His apprentice had found his goal and had someone he wanted to protect. He was happy; Lucci had the power to face anything.

Lucci laughed as he watched Rayleigh's departing figure. He knew that his master had agreed to his earlier request to help keep an eye on Luffy. Rayleigh already understood how easily Luffy could get into trouble, and he hoped that his master could stop Luffy from doing some foolish things outside of training.

Lucci shifted his attention back to Luffy, who had almost finished off the pile of meat, except for the vegetables he had abandoned.

"Luffy, finish those vegetables, and we'll bring you a gift next time we come to see you. It might be some delicious special meat!" Lucci said with a grin, resting his chin on his hand.

Luffy's eyes lit up, and he immediately rolled the vegetables and meat into his mouth. "Deal!"

"...This guy is really easy to fool," Ace said helplessly.

“This trick always works against Luffy,” Lucci said with a smile.

Ace smiled helplessly, "That's why I was worried that this guy would be tricked away with food before we set sail."

"Hahaha, that really does sound like something Luffy would do." Lucci grinned.

"I can hear you!" Luffy immediately interjected after hearing his brothers' words, "I'm not that stupid!"

Ace and Lucci exchanged a glance and immediately burst into laughter, clutching their stomachs.