Chapter 15: New Destination

(In a forest near Tarrin)

Ace and Rika are currently sparring in an open patch of grass. Since their first fight, Ace has slowly been increasing his speed and adding in his other abilities to help improve Rika's combat prowess. Rika was more than disheartened when she learned Ace wasn't even using half of his power against her when they first fought. Seeing that Rika was close to collapsing from exhaustion, Ace decided to end their training for the day. He also thought this would be a good opportunity to tell Rika his future plans. As the two started to relax in Rika's metal home, Ace spoke getting the attention of Rika.

"What's the next nearest town from here?"

"Well I wouldn't exactly call it near, but the capital is the closet. Are we leaving soon? I'm dying to get out of here."

The only reason Rika had stayed in Tarrin for so long was to get revenge for Efi but considering she didn't have to worry about that anymore she felt no reason to stay. This town only had bad memories for her anyway.

"Yes, I want to leave as soon as possible. I don't want to stay in Tarrin any longer now that "Saviors" know where I am."

Ace had told Rika everything he knew about "Saviors" already and asked her if she knew anything else. Unfortunately, her information was limited as all she knew was that someone from the group attempted to recruit her and when she declined, they never bothered her again.

"In fact, you should pack up your belongings now. I'll head back to town to get ready to leave as well. I'll come to get you early tomorrow morning so be ready to leave by then."

After seeing Rika nod her head, Ace left and headed back to Tarrin. Once he showed the guard at the wall his guild ID and stepped inside the town, he was happy to notice he was no longer being watched. He had dispelled the clone he left to distract the spy a while ago. He made sure to dispel the clone when the spy wasn't looking making it seem like he had suddenly escaped. This way the spy would go on a wild goose hunt looking for him without any leads to go on.

He reached his inn and saw Jin wobbling around while drinking from one of his many gourds. Ace went up to him and told him he would be leaving tomorrow but when Jin asked who he was, he decided to tell another employee instead. His next stop was the guild, but he was surprised when he learned his guild ID would be good wherever he went. With everything sorted out, Ace went to his favorite restaurant and ordered too much food for a normal person to eat. Needlessly to say everyone nearby was shocked at how quickly he devoured this mountain of food.

As it started to get late Ace went back to the inn and walked up to his room. He sat on the edge of the bed and decided to finally use his 'skill upgrade cards' he received a while ago. After debating how to split the cards, Ace finally called up his system.

[System, use two 'upgrade cards' on Observation and Conqueror Haki and one on Armament Haki]

[It is done, young master]

SHOP SKILLS

OBSERVATION HAKI: LEVEL 3

ARMAMENT HAKI: LEVEL 2

CONQUEROR'S HAKI: LEVEL 3

After upgrading his skills, Ace could already feel a difference in his power. He could sense a larger area around him. He could tell that he wasn't able to see into the future yet and was curious at what level he would acquire that power. When he used Armament Haki on his arm he could now see a translucent black shell covering his arm. He had no way to test his upgraded Conqueror Haki for now and decided to wait for an opportunity to use it. Having completed everything he wanted to, for now, Ace lay in bed and fell asleep.

Ace woke just as the sun began to rise and left to meet up with Rika. It seemed she had been up earlier than him as she was sitting outside her door with two magic bags tied to her waist seemingly waiting for him. When she saw Ace, she sat up and greeted him with a smile.

"Mornin', so you ready to go?"

"Yeah, we should be good to go. How long will it take to get there?"

"It depends how fast you're going but it usually takes about five months."

For this trip Ace had decided to not travel at his usual light speed. Although he wanted to reach the capital fast and could just create a clone to carry Rika to match his speed, he decided against it. He wanted to explore more of this world and gain some good experience and SP from any monsters encountered along the way. He was still a long way away from gaining the skills and swords of Mihawk and knew killing monsters was the best way to farm points for now.

With everything ready, the two started walking towards the capital. A couple of hours after walking on a dirt path Rika happened to notice an old man wearing a cloak collapsed farther down the path. Rika concerned about the old man immediately ran over to check on him. Ace, on the other hand, was more cautious and extended his Observation Haki around him and couldn't help but grin at what he sensed.

Rika looked closely at the old man to see if there were any visible wounds and as she went to get a closer look, ropes suddenly shot out from the old man and tied Rika up. The old man suddenly stood up and took off his cloak dramatically to reveal a bald middle-aged man wearing both white shirt and pants with black lines going across. Ace couldn't help but raise an eyebrow at how obvious the clothes made this person look like a bandit. The bald man grabbed the tied up Rika and pulled a knife to her throat while giving Ace an evil grin. Suddenly four men wearing the same clothing as the bald man surrounded Ace.

"If you don't want to see your girl harmed, I suggest leaving all your valuables here"

Ace was trying his best to hold in a laugh. This was the most cliché event he had ever seen, and he couldn't help but feel slightly bad for the bandits for trying to rob him.

'Well, it would be slightly fun to play along with this.'

"Please don't do anything to hurt her please! I'll give you everything I have just let her live!"

Ace put on his best "distressed" face and seeing this Rika tilted her head in confusion before she understood what was happening. She smiled and 'attempted" to break free from the ropes. The bald man looked at the two of them and smiled thinking his plan was working out perfectly. He ordered one of his goons to take Ace's belongings but strangely when the goon got near Ace, he and the rest of his team suddenly collapsed. The bald man's eyes went wide as he looked at his entire team knocked out from seemingly nothing. He looked over at Ace to see him looking directly at him while smiling.

"What did you do to-"

Before the bald man could finish his sentence, he felt the temperature rising at a rapid pace to the point where he had to drop his knife to prevent it from burning his hand. He looked at the woman he thought was captured only to see the ropes holding her burn to ashes. Flames surrounded Rika and looking between the two monsters the bald man made a pledge that day to never rob again.