Gol D. Ace In Coiling Dragon

"Who do you think you are to speak…"

The mystery man turned his head to Brutus, who immediately stopped speaking when he felt the hairs on the back of his neck stand on edge. As their eyes made contact, Brutus felt as though he was a mouse being eyed by a lion.

Paying no more attention to the oversized warrior, the mystery man finished yawning. He lazily stood up, only to stretch his body as if he had just woken up before leisurely strolling towards Ace as if no one else existed.

Just as he got to the stage, the church official stepped forward. His warm expression replaced by one of anger.

He was given the simple task of overseeing this year's assessment exams. As an official of one of the most powerful forces in the world, he thought it would be one of the most straightforward tasks of his career thus far, but people kept challenging his patience.

He gave Brutus a lot of leeway because he was from an organisation that was supported by a force no weaker than his own, but now, even a no-named individual decided to treat him, and by extension, the church, as if they were air.

"Leave now, your prese…"

The church official couldn't even finish his sentence before the mysterious man vanished. It wasn't until he followed the line of sight of the other recruiters that he realised the man in question had somehow appeared behind him.

'Impossible, I'm a rank seven mage and rank five warrior. The only people able to move fast enough for me to lose track of are all…'

Whilst the church official was starting to understand the threat of the man he was dealing with, Ace raised his arm to stop Killian, who was preparing to attack.

'Other than those saints who almost completely destroyed Wushan back then, this man is by far the strongest person I've ever seen. Judging by his aura, not even Pops would've been this man's match!' Ace thought to himself as he calmly looked at the man before him.

"You don't seem scared of this king." The man playfully said.

"If you wanted to kill me, there's nothing I or anyone here could do to stop you." Ace calmly replied, ignoring how he referred to himself in the third person as a king.

"Don't you fear death?" The mystery man asked in pure amusement.

"I do!"

Due to his hood still being raised, no one could tell for sure, but the man seemed to be staring directly into Ace's eyes. And despite being unable to see his face, Ace remained calm as he stared back.

After what felt like an eternity to the spectators who didn't dare to breathe too heavily for fear of offending this madman, but was actually no more than 10 seconds, the mystery man roared with laughter.

"Yahahaha, you truly are an interesting kid! Ahh, where are my manners?" The hooded man asked as he raised his hands to lower his hood. "This king's name is…"

"Wu…

"Wukong!" Brutus blurted out as he stumbled back in fear.

Everyone was shocked when they saw his face, but other than Brutus, only Peter and the official from the church seemed to recognise him.

Everyone else seemed to be more surprised by the features of his face.

"You look younger than I thought." Ace said honestly as he looked at Wukong's spiky light brown hair, tanned skin, and piercing purple eyes.

In Ace's eyes, he looked no older than 20, but after finding out Brutus was over 60, he didn't dare guess the actual age of the people in this world lightly.

"That's what surprised you?" Wukong asked with raised eyebrows.

"As opposed to?" Ace asked, not seeming to follow.

"You look a lot like the monkeys me and Ace used to play with as kids." Killian blurted out, looking at Wukong's almost vampire-like fangs and the golden-brown fur surrounding the young-looking man's face.

As soon as the words came out of Killian's mouth, everyone gasped, thinking Wukong would be offended. Even Killian himself covered his mouth, realizing he'd spoken without thinking.

"Yahahahaha. This king likes you, brats!" Wukong exclaimed, patting the top of Killian's head.

"Are you the same Wukong that camped outside the War-God Academy's front gates challenging all their students five years ago?" Alissa asked as stars appeared in her eyes as if she was in front of a celebrity.

"The War-God's academy made sure to keep that information hidden; this king is surprised you heard about that," Wukong said with a chuckle.

"I heard you were an early rank eight warrior at the time. You defeated several of their rank eight and nine warriors. It wasn't until their prodigy, Olivier Akerlund, who had just broken through to rank nine at the time, stepped forward that you stopped. Even then, it's said he only managed to fight you to a draw!" Alissa didn't notice the glare she was receiving from Brutus as she publicised the most embarrassing incident in the academy's history.

It was only when she noticed the knowing smile that hung on Wukong's lips did she realise that she had said too much.

Wukong, though, didn't say anything in response. Instead, he turned back to face Ace and explained.

"This king is here today on behalf of the Yin-Yang Pavilion, looking for youngsters whose talents meet our entry requi…"

"Yin-Yang Pavilion, I've never heard of it," Brutus said when he regained his nerve after concluding that not even Wukong was crazy enough to do anything to him in the Cathedral of the Radiant Church.

"It's a new institute opening its gates for the first time this year." Wukong calmly explained, not seeming to mind that he had been interrupted.

"A new institute? Who's the head of the institute? How many teachers are there? Is it a school for mages or warriors?" The church official fired off one question after the other trying to get as much information as he possibly could for when he gave it to his superiors.

"Yes, a new institute. The head of the institute is the first brother of this king, and there are only two teachers, not including this king, who is only a substitute teacher."

"You have a senior brother? How strong is he? Who's your master?"

Hearing the church official's barrage of questions, Wukong raised his hands to massage his temples as he replied. "Yes, this king has a senior brother. This king isn't sure exactly how strong he is, but he's definitely stronger than this king for now.

Our master is someone who likes their privacy. Ooh, and to answer your earlier question, the Yin-Yang Pavilion is a school for both mages and warriors, hence the 'Yin-Yang' in the name."

"Hahahaha, so the only institute willing to take in Ace, the supreme genius, is a newly opened one that dares to start a school for both warriors and mages with only two teachers? Hahaha, this is perf…"

"If you stop speaking, this king promises, no one will think you're dead!" Wukong said, interrupting the annoying warrior.