It was currently the middle of the night; Mark was sitting with his father and mother.
They were relaxing after his birthday party.
"Son, you have made our Rose family proud again!"
Charles Rose, Mark's father, praised Mark without hesitation.
Luna Rose too gleamed with joy as she spoke to Mark.
"Mark my sweetie! You have been named a God's Knight! Only few families can get this glory."
"Because of you, the Rose family will have a Knight sitting on top, for the upcoming century!"
Mark smiled; yes, that was true. The stunt his father pulled had secured the Rose family a position in the top families.
The God's Knight all came from different families, these families were generally known as the top families.
Of course, it's all an unofficial ranking. But everyone knows that if a choice has to be made, a God's Knight will always choose their own family.
"I am happy that my deeds have brought glory to Rose."
"Worry not, although all celestial dragons are one, I'll keep the Rose family in my mind as long as I live."
Mark declared seriously, but deep down he wasn't sure if he could do it; he didn't know what Im did to make the God's Knights so subservient to him.
It could be memory manipulation, or forced submission; maybe even a strong king's haki was responsible. Only time will tell.
If it was anything extreme like that, Mark will not be able to help himself, much less the Rose family behind him.
'I can have everything in the world by becoming a God's Knight.'
'Glory, power, authority, everything! And all it would cost, is bowing down to Im.'
'All it would require is to give up my freedom and live my life according to Im's wishes…'
Mark paused his thoughts; he involuntarily clenched his fists.
'Is that okay…? Am I going to give up my freedom for everything in the world?'
'While Luffy becomes the freest man in the world, am I going to dedicate my life to Im for a position of absolute authority?'
Mark's eyes became slowly shadowed.
'No.'
'I will not bow down to you, Im.'
'I'll make myself so strong that neither your Haki nor your devil fruit will work on me, and if the chance presents itself…'
Narrowing his eyes dangerously, Mark thought something that was blasphemous for a celestial dragon to think.
'If the chance presents itself, I'll replace you, Im. There can only be one top dog, and that will be me.'
'Mark Rose.'
As soon as Mark made this declaration, something changed.
Something was unleashed from within him; he could feel it; he could project his ambition, his will, outwards.
But Mark kept this feeling in check and didn't do anything; he was currently with his parents, foolishly releasing whatever this was would only result in unnecessary attention.
"Mom, Dad, I am tired; I want to rest. Excuse me."
Mark had a feeling that he wouldn't be able to keep his emotions in check for long, so he excused himself immediately.
His mom, though, was startled; Mark never wanted to leave in the middle of their family time.
He must be feeling very tired.
"Sweety! Do you want me to call a doctor? How dare the guards let this happen to you!"
Charles became incredibly angry as well.
"Don't worry, honey, I'll execute all of them immediately!"
"Mark, my son! Do you want me to call a doctor? I'll call every doctor in the Holy Land!"
Although his parents words were brutal, Mark felt warm seeing them losing their cool for him; it was clear that they would do anything for him, but this was a little too extreme.
He didn't really feel tired; it was a simple excuse to avoid harming them by accident.
"It's okay, Mom and Dad; I just want to rest."
But his dad shook his head in denial.
"No, Mark! How could it be okay?"
"Servants! Come here, take Mark to his room, and give him the best care there is!"
The maids and butlers in the room started running towards Mark as if their lives depended on it.
Bringing a luxurious carriage up to Mark, they bowed down and made a path for Mark to walk towards the carriage.
'These people are way too overkill.'
Thought Mark while walking towards the carriage.
A butler helped him up, and a maid quickly got inside and started fanning him.
"Set off! Immediately!"
His father, Charles, roared, and they ran like the wind. Their destination? Mark's room is on the opposite side of the villa.
Yes, they were moving Mark through a carriage inside of his house.
"This is overkill, right?"
Mark twitched his lips and asked the maid beside him, who was currently fanning him.
But the second Mark looked at her, the maid felt so stressed she passed out directly.
Speechless, he looked around everywhere. Seeing that nobody had noticed the girl fainting, he decided to wake her up, or she would be really screwed.
_Pat pat._
Mark lightly patted her face, causing her to frown.
After a few seconds passed, she opened her eyes.
"Huh?"
The first thing she saw was Mark looking at her unamused; she was confused for a split second, and then memories came rushing in.
"No... Saint… Saint Mark…"
"Forgive… please forgive!"
Quickly closing her mouth with his hand, Mark gestured at her to shut up.
"Do you want to die? First you fainted in the middle of critical work, then you yelled after waking up. Are you slow?"
The maid quickly closed her mouth and stopped her terrified ramblings.
Mark's harsh words were like honey to her ears, because this confirmed that she was not given up!
Saint Mark not only didn't tell anyone she fainted due to the immensely dangerous question presented.
He also made sure nobody actually saw her making this critical mistake!
"Saint Mark, I… I am sorry…"
"I won't do it again, I promise!"
Mark nodded silently, and he gestured at her to get back to work.
He had already shown great tolerance by not letting anyone know that she messed up; if he was actually sick and needed help, and she happily fainted that time as well, it would be him who dies.
She was quite unfit for caregiver work at the very least; Mark will arrange for her somewhere she can actually achieve her worth.
'Sigh, where was I? Yes, now that I have managed to escape my parents, it's time I see what the feeling of ambition was.'
Mark wasn't completely certain but was almost 80% sure he had awakened his conqueror's Haki.
Almost all powerful celestial dragons have it; no reason he won't have it too.
His desire to not succumb to Im must have triggered his awakening; that was Mark's current thought on the matter.
'My ambition made my body react to it; if I have king's haki, many things will become much easier.'
Mark knew that in higher-tier fights, conqueror's haki is a necessity to even damage your opponent.
Having conquerors Haki made things way easier for Mark; he wouldn't have to look for different ways to make up for his damage output anymore.