【One Piece】Dawn in the Darkness

Chapter 451 Dispersion

"Sabo! There's a ramen shop over there!" Luffy suddenly exclaimed excitedly, grabbing Sabo's hand and pointing to the small shop ahead.

"Would you like some?" Sabo asked with a smile.

"Yes!" Luffy nodded excitedly. "But Lucci and Ace should come with us too!"

“They’ll be here soon, let’s go!” Sabo grinned, and the next second he was dragged to the counter by a hungry Luffy.

It seemed the restaurant was newly opened, and they were the first customers. The chef was overjoyed when he learned they had ordered 10 bowls at once and invited them to sit in a booth by the window.

"Sabo, is ramen still your favorite food?" Luffy asked, swinging his leg happily. "I remember when we were kids, we used to pretend to be adults and go to that ramen shop together."

“It was the three of us pretending to be adults,” Sabo said with a laugh, exposing the truth. “But ramen is still my favorite food.”

Luffy pouted in dissatisfaction, but cheered up when he heard Sabo's last words: "You should try Sanji's ramen. Everything Sanji makes is delicious!"

"Then I can look forward to it!" Sabo grinned, then took the ramen handed to him by the chef. Luffy picked up one of the bowls the moment the chef approached and quickly finished it.

"Why haven't Lucci and Ace arrived yet?" Luffy asked, somewhat bored, because the next bowl of ramen hadn't been prepared and delivered.

“They should be here soon.” Sabo frowned, but wasn’t too worried. While Luffy urged the chef to bring him the ramen faster, he contacted Ace’s Den Den Mushi.

"Saab."

"Where are you?" Sabo asked, looking at the Den Den Mushi in his hand. Luffy had slowed down his wolfing down of food, his eyes wide as he ate while quietly watching their communication.

Sabo was grateful that Luffy didn't interrupt, because he sensed that Ace's voice sounded a bit off.

"I encountered a Marine, but Lucci... Anyway, can you come find us now?"

"What happened?" Sabo asked hurriedly, but before he could finish speaking, the Den Den Mushi had already lowered its head.

"What's wrong with Lucci?" Luffy asked nervously.

“I don’t know, Ace didn’t say anything.” Sabo frowned and said, “Don’t worry, they’ll be fine. Let’s find them first.”

"I have Lucci and Ace's Vivre Papers." Luffy immediately took off his straw hat and quickly searched for Lucci's Vivre Paper inside. He took it out and held it in his hand. Luffy noticed that there were some burn marks on the edge of the paper. He pursed his lips. Was Lucci injured? But he was fine just a few hours ago.

"Luffy, is that Lucci's or Ace's Vivre Paper?" Sabo asked, his eyes fixed on the Vivre Paper, noticing the direction it was drifting.

“Lucci’s,” Luffy replied quickly, shifting his attention from the Life Paper to Sabo and saying, “Sabo, we need to find them.”

Sabo nodded and went straight to the counter to pay.

……

"Where did Ace go?" Lucci sighed helplessly, looking around. A few moments ago, Ace was right behind him, but now he was gone. He didn't know where Luffy and Sabo had gone either, but with Sabo around, he wasn't too worried.

"Lost, young man?" A gloomy, hoarse voice suddenly rang out.

Lucci ignored the man and continued walking forward, searching for Ace's aura, but the surrounding aura was still too mixed.

"Stop right there, kid."

"I'm talking to you, brat!"

Lu Qi stared expressionlessly at the group of thugs who were blocking his way with knives.

"Little one, how about coming with us to a nice place?" the voice from the beginning asked again.

Lu Qi frowned, not ignoring the malice emanating from him and the glint in his eyes.

"Get lost!" Lu Qi said simply, not wanting to say another word to these people.

"That's not up to you, grab him!"

The filthy man shouted, and then the thugs around him attacked Lucci at the same time. Lucci didn't even flinch. The fight ended quickly. Lucci stared at the filthy man on the ground screaming in pain for a few seconds, then swung his sword again, and the sound completely disappeared.

"Where did Ace go?" Lucci muttered to himself again, frowning. He fully extended his Observation Haki and it took him a while to vaguely pinpoint Ace's location. Only after a few minutes of complete confirmation did Lucci's brow finally relax. "Found him."

……

"Where did that bastard Lucci run off to again?" Ace said with dissatisfaction, looking around. He was now standing at the bottom of a staircase, a straight uphill staircase. He himself was not quite sure why he was here. He only remembered that after following Lucci through an alley, he could no longer find his figure, and then he did not know why he ended up on this staircase.

Ace scratched his head helplessly. It couldn't be because of the few pieces of grilled meat he picked up on the way to the market. He only took a few pieces and didn't keep any to eat. He ate them as he walked, so how could he have lost Lucci? It could only be that Lucci got lost on his own.

Looking at the deserted steps and the empty surroundings, it was unlikely that there would be any enemies. Ace relaxed a bit, put his hands behind his head, and leisurely walked backwards, thinking as he went. The top of the steps looked like the main road leading to the residential area.

He was contemplating whether to rush up the steps. He remembered that Lucci had said that to reach the tavern, he had to go through an alley. An alley certainly wouldn't be on these stairs; it would have to be somewhere with lots of buildings.

Although he knew that if he waited here, Lucci would find him faster, he would definitely be criticized if he stood there and Lucci found him. If he arrived at the tavern first, he could say that Lucci had gotten lost.

Thinking of this, Ace grinned and prepared to rush up the steps to end his stroll. Before he could turn around, a voice rang out.

"Fire Fist Ace? What are you doing here!?"

Ace turned around and looked up at the man standing on the steps above. He was a young man who looked friendly. It would have been better if he hadn't pointed a gun at him. He hadn't even noticed that there were other people using the steps.

"Who are you?" Ace asked casually, not paying much attention to the gun in the man's hand. This kind of threat was useless to him. After all, he was a Logia-type Devil Fruit user. Even if the man fired, the bullet would only pass through his body. He was capable of handling it.

"I'm really lucky. I was just on vacation today, and I didn't expect to have such a great harvest." The young man smiled smugly.

"Are you a Marine?" Ace frowned. He remembered Marco telling them not to attract the Marines' attention, but Marco should forgive him in this situation, right?

This wasn't something he deliberately provoked, nor was it something he intentionally showed off. Thinking this, Ace grinned. "Trying to arrest me? Do you think I'll let you succeed?"