Ace’s words once again provoked a wave of anger and resentment from the residents of the O’Brien Empire, not that Ace seemed to care one bit.

He was just about to continue speaking when a cold and disdainful voice entered his ears. “You certainly speak a good game,”

Turning his attention to the direction of the voice, Ace saw a handsome young man with tanned olive skin, jet-black hair and piercing blue eyes looking at him with clear disdain.

He was sat right in the centre of the students of the college as though he was their leader, or at least second only to Castro.

“The way you speak,” the young man continued. “It’s as though you genuinely believe that you’re superior to us of the O’Brien Empire, but we all know the truth.

The real reason you sent your beast companion to fight today instead of fighting yourself is because he’s the stronger of you two, and you have no confidence in your own ability. Isn’t that right?”

After his initial look, Ace’s attention never returned to the young man clamouring for his attention.  Instead, his attention returned to Castro, the saint in charge of the War God’s College.

“Is there anyone else, or is that all your little College has to offer?” Ace asked, paying absolutely no attention to the young man.

His arrogance was simply inconceivable. The young man he was holding in such blatant disregard was Zaron Feltin – the current number one student of the War God’s College. Although that was only with Olivier already having graduated, his strength was undeniable.

Not only that, but his father, Izran Feltin, a middle-aged man with a striking resemblance to Zaron, was a mid-staged saint and one of the many saints in attendance today.

Whether it was his own personal ability or his background, it was top-notch, and yet Ace saw it fit to play him off like he was air.

Still, Zaron didn’t get angry as one may expect; he simply laughed. “My master was right; anyone related to that Aiden Rohault is a liar and a rat.”

As soon as the words left Zaron’s mouth, a fearful killing intent erupted out of Ace; a killing intent so potent the temperature in the surrounding area seemed to plummet.

“Your master?” Ace asked frostily.

As soon as Ace’s killing intent was exposed, everyone present stared at Ace in shock. This was the first time they had seen Ace wear anything aside from that infuriatingly arrogant smirk, but what really caught them off guard was the killing intent he was exhibiting.

Forget the mortals in attendance, the killing intent of many of the saints present wouldn’t have reached such a level, and yet here it was coming from a mere teenager.

Even though he too was surprised by Ace’s killing intent, it was nowhere near the point of being paralysed by fear. If anything, it was more of a fleeting surprise before he erupted in laughter.

“I see that got your attention,” Zaron snorted disdainfully. “As for who my master is, something tells me you’ve already guessed, but just in case you’re too slow to put two and two together, I am Zaron Feltin, the disciple of Byrius O’Brien.”

“Good,” Ace said as he slowly began to walk towards the stage, a malevolent grin suffusing his lips as he stared directly into Zaron’s eyes. “That’s perfect.”

“And why’s that?” Zaron asked, feigning curiosity.

“Because this way, I get to kill that trash’s disciple and prove to the world that whether it’s master or disciple, my lineage will always be superior to yours!” Ace said as he made it to the centre of the ring, summoning his glaive from his storage ring.

Hearing that, Zaron didn’t rush to make a move. Instead, he turned his head to where the rest of O’Brien’s Disciples were sitting. More specifically, the crimson-haired man sat beside Fain.

“Go,” Byrius nodded indifferently. “Ooh and Zaron.”

“Yes, master?” Zaron asked as he suppressed his excitement.

“Bring me his head,” Byrius replied. “I want to give it to his master as a gift.”

“As you wish,” Zaron smirked.

“It doesn’t seem as though you’ll be able to recruit that Ace boy after all,” Desri mused as he continued to watch things play out.

“How troublesome,” Fain sighed.

Although his master had told him to recruit Ace by any means necessary, forgetting the grudge Ace seemed to have against their empire because of Aiden’s problems with Byrius, he knew Byrius would never be okay with Ace joining them.

And although, overall, O’Brien didn’t care much for his descendants, Byrius was the one true exception. Because of the incredible talent and dedication Byrius had displayed since a young age, as well as the fact that he was related to him by blood, despite being separated by several generations, O’Brien saw him as his grandson and doted on him as such.

Fain knew that if it were a choice between Ace and Byrius, even if Ace was the more talented of the two and even had a Divine Beast as a beast companion, O’Brien would always choose Byrius.

“For such a talent to have to die here today,” Desri sighed as he watched the two youngsters face off. “How unfortunate.”

Desri didn’t know whether or not Ace was strong enough to defeat Zaron, but what he did know was that even if Ace was somehow able to win this next fight, there was no way Fain and the others would allow a talent like Ace to leave with his life, and if his party attempted to intervene, they too would forfeit their lives as well.

Like everyone else, Olivier was also watching with rapt attention. Like Vena before, Zaron was also a member of his generation and, once upon a time, a former rival of his. As such, he was very clear on precisely how strong Byrius’ disciple was.

Even among the various veteran generals of the O’Brien Empire – each of whom had decades, if not centuries of experience – Zaron ranked near the top.

If it was the Ace of last year, Olivier knew Ace would essentially be committing suicide by stepping into the ring against him today, but between what he had been told by Blumer and Talore, and the unwavering air of confidence coming from Ace, Olivier wasn’t too sure. Still, one way or another, this match would tell him everything he needed to know about Ace’s current strength. Luckily, he wouldn’t have to wait long to find out.

The moment both fighters locked eyes, they both erupted with their strongest strength – Zaron with his crimson battle-qi and Ace with his pseudo-battle-qi made from his mageforce.

Olivier was still a mortal with a relatively limited understanding of the infinite mysteries of the profound laws; as such, he couldn’t understand the limits of Ace’s strength, but with his sharp eyesight, he could still sense that Ace’s improvements weren’t small.

The same was true for all the mortals watching, but the saints were a different matter altogether. The moment they sensed Ace’s fiery aura, they couldn’t help but look at Ace as though he was a monster, the likes of which they couldn’t even imagine if they weren’t seeing it.

“Im…

That’s Impossible!” Byrius spat out in horror, unable to believe what he was seeing.

“His insights,” Fain murmured, his shock no less than his junior brothers. “Have they…”

“They’ve reached the level of us prime saints,” Desri confirmed.

When he first heard the rumours of Gol D. Ace, a teenager whose comprehension of the laws of fire had reached the Profound realm despite only being in the fifth rank, he thought they had to be exaggerated.

But he guessed that the rumours were true when he went on to lay eyes on him and his exquisite use of ‘Impose’, allowing him to walk on air. Still, at best, his insights only matched that of an early staged saint.

Then he saw Leonel’s comprehension of the laws of fire, which appeared to be fast approaching that of a mid-staged saint, and unlike many of the others here who believed Ace to be the weaker of the two, he knew how prideful Divine Beasts were. There was no way one would submit to a human weaker than them, not even if they were a genius themself.

Even still, he doubted Ace’s insights were at the level of a peak saint, and on the off chance they were, it was only just, but it was only now that he understood just how wrong he was.

But that was just the start of their shock.

Zaron wasn’t a saint, nor was he as gifted as Olivier, so whilst he could sense flames at the saint level, he had no idea how powerful they were, and he already knew about Ace’s monstrous comprehension, so although slightly envious, it wasn’t enough to make him falter.

As such, the moment he summoned his battle-qi, both he and Ace stepped off at the same time. What was shocking, though, was that Ace’s speed wasn’t the slightest bit inferior to his as a warrior at the peak of the ninth rank.

Even though he didn’t specialise in speed, he still had a good quality movement technique that made him superior to most at his level, yet Ace’s movement was just as fast.

Still, that wasn’t enough to make him hesitate. Since he couldn’t overwhelm him with speed, he’d do it with raw power – the attribute he was best at!

The blade of his sword arced through the air, his fiery battle-qi causing the air to sizzle from the heat it radiated as he aimed to cleave Ace’s head off in one go.

Ace could sense that, at least in terms of raw power, Zaron was the strongest opponent he had ever faced, but unless you were a saint, a contest of strength was the thing he feared the least.

He thrust his haki-infused polearm forth with unparalleled ferocity as the butt of his glaive erupted in flames, only adding to his momentum.

Zaron wanted to laugh in delight when he saw Ace’s actions. If Ace tried to keep him at distance, then it’d make this fight a little more complicated, but Ace was just playing into his hands – or so he thought…

The moment their weapons made contact, everyone expected Ace to be sent flying, but instead, they watched Zaron’s eyes threaten to bulge from his eye sockets as he was the one sent stumbling back with the sounds of bones breaking ringing in the ears of the audience.

He had no idea what just happened; he went from preparing to chase down his opponent, whom he was sure would be the one flying back, to feeling as though a shockwave of some sort had travelled up his arm, violently shattering the bone.

Before he could figure out what happened, he sensed the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge.

He wanted to leap back to evade the blade of Ace’s glaive beautifully arcing through the air when a mysterious energy suddenly assaulted his consciousness.

Byrius furiously jumped to his feet as he prepared to make a move to save his disciple. “DON’T YOU DA…”

Ace sensed Byrius move, but he didn’t care in the slightest. He was determined to kill his disciple!

Ace’s [Conqueror’s Haki] was strong, but it didn’t affect warriors at the ninth rank much. Still, that fraction of a fraction of a second was all Ace needed to prevent Zaron from being able to dodge.

By the time, Zaron shook off Ace’s haki, the flame-coated obsidian blade of his opponent’s glaive had already made contact with his neck. It was then that he understood how wrong he had been; Ace hadn’t shied away from fighting today out of fear. He genuinely just hadn’t seen them as his match.

He wished he could go back and refrain from provoking this little monster. Unfortunately, hindsight was a bitch!

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Book 10: Part 5 – Unearthing Potential