One night when he and his mother were walking back from the orphanage hand in hand, he suddenly felt his heart begin to race, and his palms start to sweat. He came to a sudden stop as he clutched his chest, hoping this feeling of anxiety would pass.
His mother seeing the state he was in, started to panic. “Ace? What’s wrong?”
Next thing she knew, he was down on both knees clutching at his chest as if he wanted to grab his heart.
“SOMEBODY HELP… PLEASE HELP MY SON!”
People stopped and began gathering around them, but Ace was in too much discomfort to pay them any mind.
‘This almost feels like…’ Ace decided to stop resisting and embrace the feeling tugging away at him. ‘Haki! This is observation haki!’
As he allowed his observation haki to focus on what was pulling it in the first place, he sensed the aura of three powerful individuals.
Turning his head away from his crying mother, he noticed three robed figures running on the rooves of the buildings besides them, and in the arms of the lead man was a woman.
‘Isn’t that Lina Baruch? Isn’t she supposed to be…’
Before he could finish his train of thought, he felt two more powerful auras chasing them, but the gap only seemed to be widening.
‘The whole town was excited as today was the day Lina was supposed to give birth to her second son.’
It was then that he saw the panic in her eyes as she seemed to be looking back in the direction of the Baruch family manor.
At that moment, her face seemed to overlap with the image of his mother from his first life. He realised that if the kidnappers got away, there was a good chance that a newborn baby could grow up not knowing his mother's love.
“STTOOOPPPP!” Ace roared furiously.
An invisible energy exploded out of the toddler, and one by one, the people around him started falling unconscious. Despite being further away and significantly stronger, even the three kidnappers had to stop as they felt a pressure they’d never experienced before.
Ultimately, the only one able to stay conscious was the man in the front, but even he had to stop for a few seconds to shake off the fear welling up inside him.
He looked towards the boy on the street beside him, who shouted stop right before that terrifying pressure enveloped him. He shook his head, instantly dismissing the idea that it originated from a child, especially as said child – like the other ordinairy civilians – was now unconscious.
He looked around for anyone else present, but he was the only one still conscious.
“I don’t know which esteemed expert is watching, but as long as you are willing to let me leave with my little life, I am willing to leave the woman.” He said, believing that the expert was protecting his target.
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Seeing that there was no response and knowing it wouldn’t be long before Hogg caught up to him, he decided to drop Lina and escape. But not before killing his two comrades and stripping them of their valuables.
Moments later, two men arrived on the scene. The one in the lead had a full head of brown hair tinted with white edges showing his age. He was dressed in regal golden armour, with a large crimson-tinted war blade in his hand that emanated a fearful killing aura that seemed to match his own.
The other man had long, flowing black hair and was dressed in an all-black armour with a large saber sheathed by his side.
The black armoured man studied the environment warily, but the more he looked around, the more confused he became.
“What happened here?” He asked as he looked at the unconscious civilians littering the floor.
The Golden armoured man didn’t have eyes for anyone or anything but the woman on the ground.
“Thank goodness you’re okay!” He said, holding Lina into his chest after ensuring she was still breathing and checking her for injuries.
“Lord Hogg, I checked the bodies of the two remaining kidnappers, but I don’t recognise them, and they were carrying nothing on them.” The black armoured man reported.
“Don’t worry about them for now, Hillman. First, check to see if the citizens are okay. I’m going to take my wife back to the manor. Come and find me when you’ve finished.”
Hogg instructed, not daring to take his eyes off his wife for even a second as though she would disappear at any moment.
“Yes, milord!”
Ace woke up the following day in his mother’s arms. He could tell from how hard she held him that he must have given her quite the fright. A helpless sigh escaped his lips as he remembered what happened. ‘I guess the idea of a mother being forced to separate from her child has become something of a trigger for me.
But that doesn’t explain how I can use haki in this world. I wonder if Haki is something that humans can use in every universe, or if it’s something unique to me…’
As his thoughts reached that point, he spread his observation haki as wide as possible.
‘500 meters? That’s over double what I could do in my past life; I wonder if that has anything to do with my increased intelligence.’
He then tried to coat his arms in armament haki. But almost immediately, he grimaced in pain as his bones began to creak under the pressure.
‘I guess my body is too weak to bear the pressure of armament haki. Haha, it’s hard to believe, but it looks like I’m going to excel in observation over armament in this life. I guess Pops was wrong when he said I would always be brawn over brain!
But why is it I still can’t sense my conqueror’s haki?! I know I have it; I used it last night, for heaven’s sake! Even in my previous life, no matter how much Pops sat down to teach me, I couldn’t use it other than by accident!
Was he right? Do I really have a mental knot where Roger is concerned, preventing me from tapping into it?
Even if I do, how would I even start to tackle that?’
“Ace…”
Hearing his mother’s waking voice, Ace’s body tensed as he considered how to explain what happened to him.
“Are you ok?”
Milianna asked as she placed the back of her hand on his forehead.
“I’m okay, mom.”
Ace replied weakly, making Milianna think he might still be in some discomfort. She instantly grabbed his wrist to take his pulse.
Ace smiled helplessly, knowing how overprotective his mother was on a typical day, let alone after last night.
To prove he was fine, Ace jumped out of bed and flexed his non-existent muscles. “See, I’m all good.”
Seeing his energetic display managed to put a smile on her face and quell her worry, even if only in part.
“That’s good, but we’re still going to your granny Surielle’s so you can get a check-up.” She said, ruffling his jet-black hair.
Ace could only agree helplessly, knowing he didn’t actually have a say in the matter.
Despite being unbelievably healthy, to the point of having never suffered so much as a common cold, he would still be dragged to see the town’s doctor, Surielle, at least once a month.
Whether he tripped over and banged his knee or just sneezed, his mother’s first reaction was to drag him to get checked over.
As inconvenient as it was, it still warmed his heart. He’d never been lucky enough to feel the love of an overprotective mother in his last life, so he did whatever he could to embrace it in this life.