Chapter 46: A Skeptical Ace #46
Dawn Island
Curly Dadan's house
"So you're really sixteen...?" Ace asked, giving Cedric a skeptical look, prompting the young man to stop setting his futon and nod. "You must be strong if grandpa is taking you with him..." He added, trailing off with a curious expression.
"Well, I've been in situations that would make most marines sweat their asses off..." Cedric replied with a grin. "But I'm nowhere close to your grandpa's level.... he's a real monster..." He added with a shrug.
"But why do you want to be a marine?" Ace asked, sounding genuinely confused as he spoke. "Isn't it kind of boring to take orders from some old guys instead of being a free pirate?" He added, scratching his head.
Cedric sighed at his words and scanned the room. "Who said I wanted to be a marine?" He asked once he was sure one loud-mouthed rubber human wasn't present.
"If I had a choice, I wouldn't want to be a pirate or a marine..." Cedric said as he finished setting his bed. "I'd just travel around and see the world..." He added as he lay on his back.
"What's stopping you then?" Ace asked in a confused tone, giving Cedric a skeptical look. "You can steal a ship from the capital and run now if you really want to... grandpa is in a hurry to go to Marine HQ..." He added, trailing off at the end of his sentence. "So he won't chase after you..."
"It's not that simple..." Cedric replied with a chuckle. "I'm pretty confident in my strength, but I don't know the first thing about navigating a ship..." He added, firmly shaking his head.
"I'd probably end up drowning myself if I tried...the sea is no joke, you know?" He calmly went on. "You need people you can rely on, or you won't make it far..." He concluded.
"So you're just afraid of the sea?" Ace asked with a scoff. "That's the lamest reason I've ever heard for joining the Marines..." He went on, crossing his arms as he looked at Cedric.
"Well, of course, I'm afraid..." Cedric blankly replied as he turned to Ace, much to his surprise surprise. "I've only got one life. If I drown in the sea, it'll go to waste, so why wouldn't I be?" He asked, and the Ace could only stare at him in stunned silence.
"There's a distinct difference between being brave and being a reckless idiot..." He went on without waiting for Ace to reply. "A brave person can calmly and rationally face the dangers ahead of him, while a reckless idiot would just blindly charge into them and probably die..." He concluded, pausing as the room's door burst open and Luffy walked in.
"What are you talking about, Ace, Diabetic?" He asked with a broad grin as he strutted toward the two, earning a chuckle from his brother and a facepalm from the blonde young man.
"It's Cedric, brat..." Cedric said, rolling his eyes. "And we're not talking about anything... we're just getting ready to sleep..." He added, giving Ace a meaningful look, to which the latter merely nodded with a sigh.
"That's what I said, Redneck..." Luffy said, unfazed by the rejection as he approached Cedric. "Come on, tell me! I won't tell anyone if it's a secret!" He added as he stopped in front of the young man.
"It's Cedric..." Cedric parroted with an exasperated expression as he sat straight and turned to Luffy. "And we're not talking about anything..." He added as he pinched his rubbery cheeks and began stretching them.
"Now hurry up and go to sleep before Garp hears the racket and whoops our asses..." He concluded, and Luffy's words widened at his words as the beatings he had received earlier flashed in his mind.
Cedric let off of him, and Luffy immediately set his bed and went to sleep, as the prospect of getting another beating had already caused him to forget everything else.
...
As he felt something poking him in the chest, Cedric opened his eyes and found Luffy staring him straight in the face with the biggest smile, prompting him to sigh in resignation. "What is it?" He asked, stretching his arms as he slowly sat up.
"Grandpa said we should show you around," Luffy replied, maintaining his grin. "Look, he even had Dadan make bentos for us!" He added as he happily raised three bento boxes as if to showcase them.
"If that old monster said so, it can't be helped..." Cedric said with a sigh as he got off the bed. "So where are we going...?" He asked as he put on a shirt and picked up his spear.
"I don't know, but I hope Ace will let us go to the tree house so we can show you our trea--" Luffy said, pausing halfway through as Ace suddenly lunged at him from behind and covered his mouth.
"I'm not interested in your treasure, kid," Cedric said, raising an eyebrow as he reached for his backpack. "I'm already rich," He added as he opened it and revealed the stacks of cash inside.
"Wha! There's so much!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes as he looked at the backpack's interior. "How did you gather so much money?!" He asked with an awed expression.
"By hunting down wanted pirates and turning them into the marines..." Cedric said with a tone full of meaning as he looked at Luffy, and the latter instantly panicked and began jumping around while holding his head.
"This is bad, Ace!" Luffy said, the panic audible in his tone as he anxiously ran circles around his brother. "He's going to capture us and turn us into the Marines! I don't want to go to jail!" He added, promptly going quiet as Ace gave him a knock on the head.
"Stop it, you idiot... you're not a pirate yet.." Ace said, sighing and palming his face in exasperation. "You don't have a bounty..." He added, causing Luffy to stop pacing around with a relieved expression.
"Well, even if you did have a bounty, I wouldn't turn you in..." Cedric said, causing Ace and Luffy to tilt their heads in confusion. "Your grandpa would probably kill me if I did..." He added with a chuckle, shaking his head.
"Not if the old monster kills us first..." Ace said with a sigh, awkwardly scratching his head. "Anyway, let's head out.. grandpa said he wants us to be back before nighttime..." He added as he picked up his steel pipe and headed for the room's exit.
"Anything to keep me away from that monster you call grandpa..."
...
Mt. Colubo
"Hmm? So you're staying at the tree house...?" Cedrick asked, raising an eyebrow as he followed behind Garp's grandsons down the forested mountain and toward Gray Terminal.
"We are, but we have to get back to Dadan's every once in a while since grandpa wants us to stay with her..." Ace replied without halting his steps, nodding as he led the way. "He'll whoop our asses if he found out we were staying alone..." He added, scratching his head.
Cedric wanted to reply, but he had to swallow his words as he noticed the leaves moving in the bushes ahead. "Hold on. Something's coming..." He said as he quickly walked past the two boys, spear in hand.
The young man kept his gaze on the bush and didn't flinch as a gigantic tiger jumped through the leaves and menacingly growled, seemingly preparing to lunge at them.
"Crap! It's the Tiger Lord!" Ace exclaimed with a slight hint of panic as he looked at the tiger. "We could beat this guy when Sabo was around!" He added as he gripped his little brother's shoulder and prepared to run.
However, he could only watch in awe, frozen in place, as the blonde young man suddenly lunged at the tiger, spinning his spear and smashing its blunt end over the gigantic animal's head.
The tiger growled in pain and stepped back, staring Cedric in the eyes as he landed in front of it. The oversized animal's eyes shifted as it looked around, seemingly assessing the situation and weighing its options.
Still, the young man held his ground and didn't budge, meeting the tiger lord's gaze as it settled on him. "Get out of here, you dumb animal.." He calmly said as he hit the ground with the blunt end of his spear.
At his words and calm demeanor, the tiger relented with a final growl before turning around and leaving, much to the surprise of the two boys standing behind Cedric.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone