Chapter 106 Child-rearing Issues

Ace originally wanted to take off something from his body and give it to these young men as a token of inheritance, but then he thought again that his body was all Mr. Ougai's special ability and it was not a real thing, so he gave up.

The young men who had never seen the world were overwhelmed by his words, but Akutagawa Ryunosuke quickly calmed down. He had stopped struggling at some point, and stared at Ace with his dark eyes.

“Why should we trust you?”

"Huh?" Ace made a short, confused sound. He took back the hand that was holding down Akutagawa Ryunosuke and said in a depressed tone, "Do I look like I'm lying?"

Akutagawa Ryunosuke took the opportunity to escape from him, standing in front of Yukikawa Hiko and staring at Ace vigilantly.

He thought about it, and took off a metal pendant from his neck. At the bottom of the pendant was a skull with a crescent beard, and on the back of the skull was a cross bone.

Ace handed the pendant to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, "This is the symbol of the Whitebeard Pirates that I belong to, and also the symbol of my captain, Father Whitebeard. When I carried it on my back, Father Whitebeard told me to carry the name of Whitebeard and live freely on this sea under his protection. The sea is vast and tolerant, and it will accept anyone, no matter who they are... Although it seems a little inappropriate to give this to you as a token, it is the only thing I have now. What do you think, do you want to accept it?"

The pendant was made by Ozaki Kouyo after he and Ozaki Kouyo went shopping for the first time. Ozaki Kouyo asked her secretary to take him to a custom jewelry store to make it. Apart from two consumable lemon bombs that he got by chance, this was the only real thing he had on him.

Akutagawa Ryunosuke's eyes fell on the pendant in his hand. At this time, he discovered that there were several deep cut marks on Ace's palm after the fall, but they were different from the scars he had seen before.

The wound was deep enough to bleed, but the appearance of the wound was like a wound that only injured the epidermis and therefore did not bleed. There was neither bleeding nor scab.

——The attack power of the beast transformed by the cloth was a little stronger than Ace expected. When he first held it, the strong cutting force cut his hand, but because the essence of the body was the supernatural power, there was no bleeding. In order to prevent the whole palm from being cut off and then pinched back by him, Ace still wrapped his palm with domineering in time.

The thought of the wound flashed through Ryunosuke Akutagawa's mind, and he looked at the pendant - not only him, but also the others behind him were looking at the pendant. Precious metals like silver.

Ace's voice rang in my ears again, "If you feel confused, just go out to sea at the age of 17 like I did. One day, the sea will give you the answer."

The scene was somewhat quiet for a while.

When the unrelated people found out that this was a fight between people with special abilities, they had already hidden far away. The people present were all young boys and girls who knew each other. At this moment, they all looked at Ace, then at Akutagawa Ryunosuke, with conflicted expressions on their faces.

After a while, Akutagawa Ryunosuke raised his head with a serious look and met his gaze. "So, have you found the answer?"

Ace was stunned. He could not help but see the huge Moby Dick, the old man with a white beard laughing "Kulala", Marco hooking his shoulder and pouring him a drink, and Thatch walking out of the cabin with a tray...

Then there is his grandfather, Garp, and his younger brother, Luffy.

And in the last battle of his life, everyone smiled at him and showed him affirmation when they came to the execution ground to save him.

He smiled. "Yes, I found the answer."

"The haze that had been lingering in my heart and the things that had puzzled me all along have now been answered."

This time, Akutagawa Ryunosuke was silent for a long time, and finally said: "...I understand."

He reached out and took the pendant from Ace, then turned and walked away without saying a word.

Ace understood that he was willing to take him to find his two friends, so he immediately followed him.

The boys and girls who fell behind looked at each other. Although they didn't understand why Akutagawa Ryunosuke, the most stubborn among them, suddenly changed his mind, they couldn't just stand there and do nothing, so they quickly followed.

…

After Ace followed the group of young men to their base camp, Edogawa Ranpo, who was tied up and thrown in a corner of the ruined warehouse under guard, greeted him first as if nothing had happened: "Hey, Ace, you're finally here, you're a little late."

The minors who stayed in the gathering place stared nervously at Ace who came in with Akutagawa Ryunosuke. The minors who came back with him formed a siege and surrounded Ace in the middle of them.

"Haha, sorry, sorry." Ace laughed but didn't say why.

But Edogawa Ranpo didn't need him to tell him anything. He just looked up and down at the silent Akutagawa Ryunosuke several times and roughly figured out what had happened.

He pursed his lips and snorted in dissatisfaction: "Really, I wanted to bring someone useful back to the president, but you got there first--"

This time the president is going out, not only does he have things to discuss with officials he knew before, he also has to bring back a new member. However, that member is also a clerical staff who can only sit in the office. Judging from the way the president mentioned that person, he is probably not a fighter, so there is still a shortage of field members.

This commission was actually the client's revenge against the detective agency. The location was set in the dangerous place of Labo Street, and the mafia was secretly hired to ambush. Even if Ace had not come to him today and made him feel inspired, the other party would have tried to separate him and the president. After all, the president's fighting power was not something that an ordinary killer could deal with.

That's why the president said earlier that I must be accompanied by him to do this commission.

As for the fact that he took a fancy to Akutagawa Ryunosuke, it was just a sudden impulse. These people happened to bump into him, and he remembered that the detective agency was still short of errand runners, so he wanted to see if he could recruit the people with special abilities in this small group.

The Armed Detective Club has been a supernatural club since the beginning. It is even the only supernatural club in Yokohama that has a supernatural business license. When choosing members, Ranpo Edogawa will naturally prefer people with supernatural powers.

"Eh? Is that so?" Ace untied the ropes for Ranpo Edogawa and Yosano Akiko with Ryunosuke Akutagawa's tacit consent, and turned to Ryunosuke Akutagawa and asked, "So what do you think? Do you want to go with me or with Ranpo?"

Seeing Ace untying the rope, the others were a little agitated, but seeing that Akutagawa Ryunosuke didn't react, they didn't stop him either, but they still looked like they wanted to say something but didn't. His subsequent questions made the minors who stayed behind a little agitated, and they whispered to their companions who had just returned from outside what was going on.

A smaller girl walked up to Akutagawa Ryunosuke and asked softly, "Brother, are we leaving here?"

"Well, he said he would take us away from Raymond Street." Akutagawa Ryunosuke said calmly.

It can be seen that he has a very high status in the group. His words were basically equivalent to confirmation, so the minors present became even more agitated.

Leibo Street is not a good place. Of course they want to leave if they can, but they still don't trust strangers. In their minds, which have been formed after living in Leibo Street for so long, children are material resources. The prettier they are, the more valuable they are. In the eyes of adults, they have no human rights.

They were afraid that this person would say he was taking them away from Raibo Street, but in fact he was going to trick them out and sell them off.

Akutagawa Gin didn't say whether he believed it or not, but there was still obvious worry on his face.

At this time, it was Edogawa Ranpo who spoke first: "I don't want him anymore!"

Ace looked at Ranpo Edogawa, who had just untied the rope and was moving his wrists, and called out to him in confusion, "Ranpo?"

Edogawa Ranpo didn't want to explain, he frowned, "Anyway, that's it! If you want to take them away, it's up to you."

Recruiting one person is like finding an employee for the detective agency, but accepting a group of children is like asking for trouble.

Moreover, the entrance test of the detective agency tests one's character and determination to protect others. With the values ​​of these kids from Ray-Ball Street, it would be very difficult for them to pass the entrance test of the detective agency. Ranpo Edogawa would never do such a thing to ask for trouble. He is not a kind-hearted person.

Ace scratched his head and turned to look at the kids, "There's nothing we can do. I'll have to take you out."

Yosano Akiko moved her wrists and shoulders, and raised her eyebrows when she heard him say this, "Have you thought about how to take care of them after you take them out?"

Ace replied immediately: "No."

Yoseno Akiko frowned and said, "Then I advise you to think clearly about how to place them before taking them out."

If they were taken out directly, in Ace's case, wouldn't that mean they would be handed over to Mori Ogai? Considering her own experience, she didn't think Mori Ogai would treat them well. In the eyes of a bastard like Mori Ogai, there was no difference between children and adults. The only difference was their value of use!

It's hard to say which is better, sending them to Mori Ogai or letting them stay in Leibo Street.

"Ah... Then I'll call Mr. Ougai and ask him how to handle this kind of thing?"

Yoseno Akiko was almost emitting a dark aura, "I advise you not to let him know."

Ace was stunned. "Huh? Why?"

Yoseno Akiko opened her mouth, but was not very willing to bring up her past that she did not want to recall. In the end, she could only say a little aggrievedly: "It is not a good thing to bring them outside Moriou. Anyway, you just need to know this."

The minors around them seemed to be able to hear the implicit message in their conversation, and for a moment they looked at each other anxiously.

"Ah..." Ace made a distressed sound. He did not disbelieve Xie Ye Akiko, but he just couldn't think of any good way to deal with it for the moment.

Just when Akutagawa Ryunosuke was about to give up his original idea and let them go after asking them for some money to buy medicine, Ace, who was thinking about his past, suddenly thought of a solution.

An idea suddenly occurred to him, and he said, "How about this, let's find a group of mountain... mafia members and ask them to take care of you!"