Chapter 53 Confinement

After dinner, on the way back to the port building, Mori Ougai and Ace took over.

Sen Ouwai looked down at the cub in his arms, sighed, and continued to carry him back to the office.

Anyway, it's already like that, right?

The difference between Mori Ogai and Ace was obvious. Yumeno Hisasaku didn't notice it when he was held in his arms, but when Mori Ogai put him down, he found something different.

"Uncle...Sen?"

Yumeno Hisasaku stood outside Moriou somewhat uneasily, with his head lowered and his toes pointed inward, speaking softly.

Mori Ogai did not respond to Yumeno Hisasaku immediately. He picked up the mirror in the office and looked at himself. Sure enough, he found a dark handprint on the neck where Yumeno Hisasaku had touched before.

He sighed and turned to look at the hesitant Yumeno Hisaku, "Kusaku-chan, don't you have anything to say?"

Yumeno Hisasaku's hands hung in front of him, his fingers rubbing together, but he didn't speak.

Ace asked strangely: [Mr. Ouwai? What's the matter? ]

Mori Ogai: […You really didn’t notice anything at all.]

There was a hint of helplessness in his voice, and Ace asked in confusion: [What did you notice?]

Mori Ouwai sighed, "Xiao Jiusaku has marked you."

[…Ah, is that so?] Ace reacted belatedly.

Most of the games they played today were quite mild, with the few that were a bit more intense, similar to bumper cars. Hisashi's mark was probably given to him during that time.

Mori Ogai sat down at his desk and looked at Yumeno Hisaku with a serious look: "Kusaku, you should still remember what I said, right?" He stretched out his finger and tapped the dark handprint on his neck, "If you can't control your special ability, what will happen? Do you remember?"

He had no intention of soothing Yumeno Hisasaku's soul. If anything, Ace had already been doing that for a whole day, so it was time for him to strike him with this big stick.

This kind of rhetoric is one of the ways to force the other party to speak. Yumeno Hisasaku has never seen such a battle before. At this time, he stammered: "I... I..."

"Kyusaku-chan, I am the leader of the Port Mafia. If anything happens to me in your hands, your fate will only be more tragic than what you said before."

"I didn't mean it! I didn't want to do that!" Yumeno Hisasaku burst into tears.

How could he want to hurt his uncle when he liked him so much during the day? Obviously, he wasn't like this before... Why did he change so much at night?

"Sure enough, no matter who it is, it will turn out like this in the end..." Yumeno Hisasaku's eyes dimmed again, and a familiar sarcasm surged up in his face.

Ace felt something was wrong as he listened, and he felt that what Mori Ogai said sounded like a threat. He couldn't help but interrupt Mori Ogai's performance and questioned: "There's no need to say that, right? Hisaku is still young, and it's normal that he can't control his abilities. Abilities need to be trained, how can you strengthen your control without training?"

Just like his younger brother Luffy, who ate the Gum Fruit at the age of 7, but when the three brothers first met, his fists were weak for a long time, and he was easily beaten by him and Sabo who had never eaten the Devil Fruit. Who would have thought that when they met again in Alabasta 10 years later, Luffy's fists had become as powerful as bullets?

[What you said makes sense. But for a child, there must be punishment, so that he will work hard to achieve the goal we want.] Mori Oo said rather coldly. "Kusaku, you should be thankful that your doll is with Dazai, so we can suppress the effect of your special ability. But if Dazai is not there, what do you think will be the consequences?"

Yumeno Hisasaku cried even louder, "It's not me! I didn't want to! I clearly said it a long time ago! It was you who said you were willing to accept me! It was obviously you!"

[Mr. Ougai,] Ace didn't agree with such coercive words, [It's not his fault that he can't control his superpowers. As the leader, shouldn't you help him control his superpowers now?]

[What he needs is not only help, but also rules.] Mori Ougai remained unmoved. [He must know clearly what not to do and obey orders.]

【？ ？ ？】Ace's mind was full of question marks, 【Even if that's the case, it's too early! 】

Six years old. At that time, both he and Luffy were left alone without anyone to take care of them. He even learned how to intimidate the thief Dadan's family, who were forced by his grandfather Garp to take care of him!

"Of course, we are not lying when we say we are willing to accept you." Mori Owl softened his voice, "Xiao Jiusaku, of course we hope to be someone you can trust and rely on, but people need to be punished when they do something wrong, otherwise how can I explain to others?"

Ace couldn't figure out what Moriou was up to, so he decided to wait and see.

Yumeno Hisasaku's crying gradually subsided. He hesitated for a long time before asking, "What is the punishment?"

Mori Ogai pretended to think, "Then... put you in the confinement room for one night. I'll come and pick you up tomorrow, okay?"

Ace had never been put in any kind of confinement before. He only knew that he was locked in a room and not allowed to come out. But when he saw Yumeno Hisasaku's face suddenly turn pale, he felt that it might not be what he thought.

But before he could raise any questions, Yumeno Hisasaku had already broken free from the horrible memories, and his voice suddenly became a little hoarse: "...Okay." He quickly added, "Will you really come to pick me up?"

He knew that Ace was different from Moriogai, but he couldn't figure out the situation more clearly. He only knew that the uncle he liked was indeed the man in front of him, so even if he became a little scary, he still wanted to hold on to this uncle who would not show disgust and hatred towards him and would take him to the playground.

Mori Ogai gave an affirmative answer: "Of course, I won't give up on you."

The emotional return from letting Ace get along with Yumeno Hisasaku is better than Mori Ogai expected. If possible, Mori Ogai would certainly want to strike while the iron is hot and firmly secure Yumeno Hisasaku's emotional sustenance in himself.

Yumeno Hisasaku was sent to the confinement room, and Moriowa immediately summoned Dazai Osamu.

When Dazai Osamu saw the dark handprint mark on the outside of Mori Owl's neck, he suddenly sneered.

"You've been tricked, Mr. Mori~" His tone was deliberately prolonged, with a kind of sarcastic stickiness.

"It can't be helped. Who told the other me to take him to the amusement park?" Mori Ogai said with a smile, and then lightly mocked Dazai Osamu, "Come to think of it, I haven't taken Osamu to the amusement park yet? Do you want to go?"

Dazai Osamu showed a look of disdain, "Who wants to go to the amusement park with a perverted middle-aged uncle? Even if I want to find someone, I'd rather find a gentle and pretty young lady." After talking trash, he said coldly, "If there's nothing else, I'll leave."

He said this on purpose. He knew clearly that Mori Ogai had called him here to solve the problem of Yumeno Hisasaku's supernatural powers, yet he did not take the initiative to suggest removing his supernatural powers.

"Dazai-kun." Mori Ogai called him.

Dazai Osamu turned his head and looked at him expressionlessly.

Mori Ogai tapped the mark on his neck and smiled, "Dazai-kun, I'm sorry to bother you before I leave."

“…Tsk.”

…

Mori Ogai had blocked the news about Yumeno Hisasaku before he went offline last time, so when Ace took Yumeno Hisasaku out to play and was seen by people who didn't know the truth, they thought Yumeno Hisasaku was his illegitimate child.

Of course, not many people had seen Mori Ogai and knew that Mori Ogai's face was the leader of the port mafia. Those who knew did not dare to discuss it, or they knew the whole truth and there was nothing to discuss, so the rumor did not spread.

Nakahara Chuuya was shocked when he heard that Yumeno Hisasaku was locked up. He didn't know the whole truth. The night before, he went out with the leader and Dazai Osamu to eat sukiyaki. He only knew that Yumeno Hisasaku was a child to be recruited into the organization.

He was just recruited yesterday and was put in a solitary confinement cell today. He wanted to ask what was going on, but the night before yesterday he was a very outgoing leader, and today during the day he should be a distant leader. Nakahara Chuuya felt that it might not be a good idea for him to ask him, but if he was asked to ask Dazai Osamu, he would be even more reluctant!

However, Yumeno Hisasaku was not locked up for long. This afternoon, Mori Ogai went to the confinement room in person to pick him up.

In the confinement room, Yumeno Hisasaku huddled in a corner pitifully. Even when he heard footsteps stopping outside the door, he did not move at all.

Sen Ou looked out the observation window on the door for a while and asked someone to open the door.

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Yumeno Hisasaku raised his head. Seeing that it was Mori Ougai, he was about to get off the simple bed, but just as he moved, he stopped and stared at him.

Mori Ogai opened his arms towards him, "Kusaku-chan, I'm here to pick you up."

This time, Yumeno Hisasaku did not reach into his arms like he did yesterday. Instead, he observed carefully first, then slowly got out of bed, slowly walked over, and then held one of his fingers.

Mori Ou sighed quietly.

Oh, is it really a generation gap? When Ace was around, Kokusaku was quite close to him.

However, he did not force him and just led Yumeno Hisasaku out, talking to him about business as they walked.

"Kusaku-chan, I'm afraid you'll have to continue living with Dazai from now on. Until you can fully control your special abilities, you can't move around freely."

Yumeno Hisasaku's hand that was holding his fingers suddenly tightened.

"I will arrange someone to help you practice your special abilities. You must work hard to master them as soon as possible."

He finally remembered what Ace said. Unlike passive abilities like Dazai Osamu, most abilities require practice and development, including his own. In the beginning, Alice couldn't be as agile as she is now.

Yumeno Hisasaku followed him in silence, and after a long while he finally responded in a low voice: "...Okay."