One Piece: The sky is azure, I just time-traveled today.

Page 48

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy leaned against the mottled wall, panting heavily.

"Did...did it work?" Luffy stuck out his tongue, like a tired little dog.

"Nonsense! Look who started this!" Sabo wiped his sweat smugly and patted his bulging belly. "How about it? Was this 'victory celebration' good enough?"

Ace grinned and said, "Awesome! It's just a little tiring running."

The three high-fived each other, celebrating yet another "victorious escape," completely unaware that two people were missing from the group.

“Eating only meat is a bit dry,” Sabo licked his lips with lingering satisfaction, then glanced out of the alley. “Let’s go! I know a dessert shop up ahead; their donuts are absolutely amazing!”

"Donuts!" Luffy's eyes instantly turned into stars.

"Again?" Ace hesitated. "My legs are about to cramp from running just now."

"What's there to be afraid of!" Sabo waved his hand dismissively. "Same old rule! Eat and run! They can't catch us!"

So the three of them sneaked over to the clean-looking dessert shop.

This time, Sabo was smarter. Instead of going in directly, he pulled Ace and Luffy aside and hid in a corner, whispering their plans:

"Our three targets are too big and easily remembered. Let's change tactics this time!"

He pulled out a wrinkled, obviously ill-fitting old coat and a tattered hat from somewhere.

"Come on, Luffy, squat down! Ace, stand on his shoulders! I'll put your coats on you, and make sure your hats are on! Let's fold up and pretend to be adults!"

Although Ace and Luffy thought the idea was a bit silly, they did it anyway.

Then, an extremely strange man appeared in the alley—at his feet was the youngest Luffy, in the middle was Ace, and at the very top was Sabo.

"Alright! Don't move around! Walk steadily!" Sabo directed the wobbly "combination" towards the dessert shop.

The middle-aged shop owner saw a customer dressed strangely and walking awkwardly. Although he found it a bit odd, he didn't think much of it.

"Cough...cough cough!" Sabo said in a deliberately low but somewhat childish voice, "Boss...boss, give me...give me fifty donuts!"

The middle-aged boss quickly packed fifty donuts and handed them over.

Sabo and his two companions staggered as they took the heavy bag of donuts.

The old coat and tattered hat were suddenly ripped off!

Luffy and Ace below were like wild dogs that had broken free of their reins, while Sabo was like a nimble monkey. The three of them instantly "disintegrated," clutching donuts, and ran for their lives into the depths of the alley without looking back!

"run!!!"

The middle-aged boss stared at the three kids who had vanished in the blink of an eye, then at the tattered coat and hat on the ground, and remained stunned for several seconds before he came to his senses.

"You little brat!!! You dare to dine and dash!!! Stop right there!!!"

Enraged, he grabbed a rolling pin and stormed out of the shop, cursing loudly at the empty alleyway, but there wasn't a soul in sight.

"Huff...huff...I did it!" Sabo leaned against the wall of another alley, panting heavily, but his face was flushed with excitement.

"Quick! Divide the spoils!" Ace eagerly opened the oil paper package, and a rich, sweet aroma instantly filled the air.

Luffy grabbed two and stuffed them into his mouth, his cheeks puffed out as he mumbled, "So...so delicious!"

The three of them wolfed down the fifty donuts in no time.

"Burp—" Sabo let out a satisfied burp, licking the frosting off his fingers, still wanting more. "The taste was good, but it was a bit too sweet..."

His gaze began to wander the streets again, like a hungry wolf searching for new prey.

"Over there! That juice stand looks pretty good!"

"And that guy selling grilled sausages!"

"That cake shop..."

Having tasted initial success, the trio completely let loose and went wild.

With their familiarity with the town's terrain (mainly escape routes) and their increasingly sophisticated "tactics" (including but not limited to feints, diverting attention, and the one who just pretended to be an adult), they moved like three cunning loaches among the town's various food stalls.

The juice stall owner had just turned around to get a cup when she turned back to find that several bottles of freshly squeezed juice had vanished from the stall.

The uncle at the sausage stand simply looked down and wiped his sweat. When he looked up again, half of the sausages on the grill were gone.

In the cake shop window, the staff had only served one customer when the few small cakes displayed outside mysteriously disappeared...

Chaos erupted in the town, with shouts and curses filling the air.

"Those three little brats again!"

"Get 'em!"

"My cake!!!"

Ace, Sabo, and Luffy, however, were having a great time, carrying various "trophies" in their arms and mouths as they wandered through the alleys, enjoying the thrill of "getting something for free" and the adrenaline rush.

As the sun set, the three of them, their bellies full and with the last lollipop they had stolen still dangling from their mouths, strolled contentedly toward the town's exit.

"Today... what a great harvest!" Sabo patted his belly, beaming with pride.

"Mmm! That was really satisfying!" Luffy nodded vigorously.

Ace let out a burp and was about to agree when he suddenly stopped in his tracks.

He frowned, looked around, and then counted on his fingers.

"one two Three……"

He suddenly looked up, a blank expression on his face:

"Wait... Sabo, Luffy, don't you guys feel like... we're missing two people?"

Sabo and Luffy were taken aback when they heard this, and they looked at each other.

Sabo scratched his head: "It seems so... Where did Kuina and that nerd go?"

Luffy tilted his head, trying hard to remember: "Didn't they... run away with us?"

The three looked at each other, then belatedly realized that the two ladies had stopped participating in their "revelry" after the barbecue stall incident.

"Uh..." Sabo touched his nose somewhat awkwardly, "They...could they be lost?"

Ace and Luffy's expressions instantly became somewhat unnatural.

A subtle sense of guilt.

What if... Kuina catches me when I get back? The consequences seem serious!

Hey! You three little devils over there!

A rough, unfriendly voice came from the alley entrance.

The three turned their heads and saw five or six thugs dressed in a shady style, carrying wooden sticks or short knives, blocking their way.

The leader was a burly young man with a scar on his face, who was eyeing them with ill intent, his gaze lingering for a few seconds on Sabo's clothes, which, although dusty, were of decent quality.

"Look at you, all greasy and shiny from eating. You must have just made a lot of money from the city, right?"

The scarred young man weighed the wooden stick in his hand, grinned, revealing yellow teeth, and said, "Hey guys, we're a bit short on cash lately, want to lend us some?"

Typical street extortion.

But Ace and Sabo didn't take these guys seriously at all. Together, they could easily handle these thugs.

Chapter 52 Luffy is captured

"Borrow money?" Ace scoffed, cracking his knuckles. "You'd probably never live to spend our money!"

Sabo clenched his fist, his eyes sharp: "Trying to cause trouble? Bring it on!"

Although Luffy was a little nervous, he imitated their fighting stance and shouted, "I'm not giving you any money!"

"Hmph! They won't listen to reason, so they'll have to suffer the consequences!" The scarred-faced youth's face darkened, and he waved his hand. "Go! Teach these three arrogant brats a lesson!"

The five thugs behind him immediately charged forward, yelling.

Ace and Sabo, like two enraged lion cubs, charged forward fiercely!

Ace moved swiftly, dodging the swinging wooden stick and delivering a powerful punch to the opponent's abdomen. The thug immediately curled up like a shrimp and collapsed to the ground, unable to get up.

Sabo was more agile, ducking to dodge the slashing short swords, sweeping his leg to knock down one person, then snatching the wooden stick from the opponent's hand and slamming it into another person's shoulder, the crisp sound of bones cracking accompanied by a scream.

The two worked together seamlessly and ruthlessly, taking down four thugs in the blink of an eye.

"Luffy, watch out!" Ace shouted hurriedly when he caught a thug circling behind Luffy out of the corner of his eye.

Luffy reacted a beat too slow. As soon as he turned around, the thug grabbed him from behind and choked him tightly! The short knife in the other hand was pressed directly against his throat!

"Don't move! If you move again, I'll kill this kid!" The thug grinned maliciously, the blade pressed tightly against Luffy's skin.

Ace and Sabo froze instantly, hesitant to advance for fear of harming the enemy.

"Let him go!" Ace roared, his eyes practically spitting fire.

Sabo also kept a close eye on the thug, looking for an opportunity to save him.

Seeing this, the scarred-faced youth smiled smugly, walked over to Luffy who was being held hostage, and poked Luffy's cheek lightly with a wooden stick:

"You brat, now you're scared? Too late!"

He looked at Ace and Sabo, his tone sinister: "Listen! If you want this kid to live, pay 500,000 Berries as ransom! Not a penny less!"

He paused, his gaze sweeping over the two men, and added, "I don't care if you're going to steal, rob, or cheat! Be here again at this time tomorrow! If you don't see the money, you can expect to be collecting this kid's corpse!"

After saying that, he gestured to the thug who was holding Luffy hostage. The two of them, with the struggling Luffy in tow, quickly retreated from the alley. The other thugs who were still able to move also helped each other and followed.

"Luffy!" Ace tried to chase after him, but Sabo held him back tightly.

"Don't be impulsive! They have knives!" Sabo's voice was filled with suppressed anger and helplessness.

Ace slammed his fist into the wall beside him, blood instantly seeping from his knuckles. He lowered his head, his shoulders trembling slightly with anger and self-reproach.

"It's all my fault... If I hadn't been careless..." Ace's voice was hoarse.

"No, it's my fault." Sabo's face was equally grim. "I was too busy dealing with the people in front of me..."

The two were consumed by deep self-blame and regret. Despite being far stronger than their opponent, they had let the weakest of them, Luffy, fall into their hands due to a moment of carelessness.

The alley was deathly silent, save for the heavy breathing of the two men.

Just then, two figures appeared at the alley entrance.