For those who are willing to make an effort, great miracles and wonderful treasures are in store.

Isaac Bashevis Singer

The sun was already setting in the sky, painting the mountains and the treetops above me orange and red. I had been walking since yesterday till now without stop. I was completely exhausted and my feet were sore from walking, but I knew I had to keep going. If I didn't make it to any civilization before night, I would have to spend the night in the forest. Not because I'm a wimp or anything, but that's not really something I like. But I could take it if I had to – I'm a pirate after all.

But what kind of pirate am I? I couldn't even kill a few children. I know what you're thinking now: "Oh, but that's okay! Who would be able to do that?" But if you had grown up as my father's child, you'd know that a real pirate should be able to do this. But I hadn't been able to, so here I was, sent off to complete an impossible task.

"The greatest treasure in the world," I muttered as I made my way through the forest. "Like I could ever find that in China…"

Once when the crew was resting on a pub I had overheard some drunk pirates talk about it, but the rum's effect made it impossible to understand them and overall the pirates in the pub were noisy, so I hadn't heard anything that could help me now.

At least I wouldn't starve if I didn't get to a town before nightfall; the villagers, whose children I had spared, had given me some supplies. I hadn't really wanted it at first, since I wasn't that proud of the fact that I hadn't been able to kill their children. If it wasn't because I was sent off without anything but a wooden sword, I wouldn't have accepted their stuff. But anyways, those pandas seemed to be more than happy to help me, despite what my dad had done to their village. I didn't quite understand how they could forgive me for such a thing.

But I had other things to worry about right now. The Greatest Treasure in the World… Where could it be? And more important: What could it be? Did my dad mean gold, or did he mean like a weapon or an item? Whatever my dad had in mind, it probably wouldn't be easy to get. My dad is a cruel man, so it wouldn't be a surprise if I would die in the process of getting the treasure – he probably didn't even care.

The air had gotten colder when I finally reached a cliff. I stopped, mainly because the road stopped here, but also to enjoy the sight. I knew I didn't have time for this, but who even cared? I had like three weeks!

The sun still lit up the mountains and the valleys, so there were still some hours till nightfall. It was then that I noticed that there was a village in valley far away. If I could just make it to there before nightfall I could possibly find shelter, but it would be quite a long walk, so I couldn't waste any more time here.

I walked along the edge of the cliff, careful not to fall. I could see that the edge continued, but on the side of the mountain it became a very narrow path. I stopped when I reached the mountainside. It wasn't more than one foot in width, and I was still a little unsure of whether I should take the risk or not. I wasn't that big, even for a lynx, but it still looked like a small edge to me. I didn't want to fall into certain death, but there didn't seem to be any other way. I took a deep breath and put my right foot on the edge. My furry foot barely fit, but at least I had a good balance. I carefully slid my foot along the edge and soon my back was leaning against the mountain behind me. My left foot also stood on the edge now and soon I swiftly and agilely made my way across the cliff-edge. One problem was that the wooden sword my dad gave me was on my back and just made it harder to press myself against the mountain-wall.

I tried to focus, but I couldn't help but smile a little at my great 'footwork'. Maybe this task itself wouldn't be too hard! But then again, there were bounty hunters to deal with. I'm not a rumored murder like my dad, but I'm quite a good thief – if I have to say it myself. So my bounty was around 120 gold coins or whatever. It didn't really matter, but my bounty was pretty decent, I think. One thing I didn't like about it was the fact that the bounty posters for pirates read 'Wanted dead or alive'. That kind of bothered me, since I didn't want to get slaughtered by some bounty hunter.

Oh well… I finally reached the other side of the cliff and took a deep breath of relief as all my focus and tension soon washed away as I relaxed again with solid ground under my feet. It had been around fifty meters, but I made it! On the way I had pushed some pebbles into the cliff, but they didn't keep me from crossing the cliff – no way!

Soon I was on the move again, this time towards a goal – the little mountain village I had seen from a distance. It was soon nightfall and out in the west, the sun painted the sky greenish with a little mix of blue and violet, which I had seen so many times before on the sea where it looks even more magnificent, just saying.

I came to another little forest. From earlier, when I had looked down on the valley, I knew that the village would be just beyond this forest.

The forest was already pretty dark, but luckily I have an excellent night-vision, due to being a lynx. My night vision didn't make that much of a difference, since the full moon also shone down. But all I could see was trees – the forest was deserted for all life.

Suddenly I heard running footsteps. It sounded like they came from behind me. I wasted no time and started running; whoever was after me, they hadn't been good at sneaking or stalking me. I ran at full speed through the little forest. I then turned to see if my stalker was still after me, but I saw no one behind me. I could still hear the footsteps though.

This was weird. How come I could hear them, but not see them? Maybe they played a trick on me – maybe it was a trap! But it was too late when I looked forwards again; I bumped right into someone and from the impact I could feel that we had both been running at full speed. The impact sent me a few meters backwards into a tree. When I hit the tree, a massive sound was heard throughout the forest – plus I groaned in pain at the same time, which also echoed throughout the forest and probably also the rest of the valley.

I don't know if you've ever tried to fly into a tree, but personally I don't like it. The impact with the wooden log knocked the air out of my lungs and I couldn't feel my back. The back of my head hurt like something that would be inappropriate to say with this story's rating, but appropriate to a pirate. Oh, and having a sword on you back just makes it that much worse.

It took a while for me to recover from the pain, but the other person already stood in front of me. Whoever it was, I was sure that they'd get me tied up or something so that they could get the bounty.

But the other person just stood there. "You okay?"

Okay? What kind of bounty hunter would ask their catch that? Maybe she was newer to bounty hunting. I could see that she was a tigress. She was a little taller than me and she even looked more muscular. She wore a Kung Fu outfit, but I wasn't able to see the color of her fur and her clothes – my night vision isn't that good – only gray scale. Her clothes actually looked pretty expensive. Since she was a tiger, she could probably see me too just as well.

My head still hurt from before, but if she tried anything, I would be ready. My wood-sword was in its sheath on my back and all I had to do was to draw it… and use it of course.

"Are you okay?" she repeated. When I still didn't answer she growled: "Have you lost your tongue?"

"N-no, I'm… fine…" I finally replied. I carefully and cautiously got to my feet as I kept my eyes on the other person. I carefully watched her as she examined me with her eyes, probably not too impressed with my old and torn clothes; my clothes made me look very poor compared to her. Dad earned lots of money and might on the seas over the years, but we never spent money on clothes, so we would have to use what we had or simply steal it. My black robes were pretty old, but they still fit me.

"So… aren't you going to…?" If she was a bounty hunter she probably would have caught me by now, but a pirate can't be too careful around strangers. That was one thing I had learned on the seas.

"Oh right… Sorry about before," the tigress replied, keeping the same facial expression all along. If she hadn't talked, I would've thought that she was a statue – her face didn't change and only changed slightly when she opened her mouth to speak.

"What do you…?" It wasn't really what I had expected her to do. I would have expected her to like attack me or something, but all she did was to apologize to me!

"Oh, nothing… it's fine…" I replied when I saw her face change expression to a more confused one. I just realized that she wasn't a bounty hunter and I didn't want to reveal myself – it could change her mind and her arms looked awfully muscular.

"Gotcha!" I almost jumped out of my fur in surprise. Just as we were talking, someone appeared out of nowhere and patted the tigress on her shoulder. The ambush surprised me so much that I jumped backwards and pulled my sword from the sheath, which still hung on my back. As I did so I also went into a battle position, so that I was ready to use my sword any second – wood or metal, it would still be able to protect me.

From what I could see, the other person who had jumped the tigress was some kind of monkey. His face looked kind of weird to me; I don't know if it was just his fur, but his cheeks looked really chubby. He had long arms and fingers and a very long tail too. As for clothes, he wore a pair of pants with robes around his ankles and he also wore leathery-looking wristbands. I couldn't make out the color of his fur and his clothes, due to the fact that my night vision is on gray scale. But I was able to make out which parts of him had darker colors than others, but still not the actual color.

He had a smile on his face, but it changed to a surprised expression when he saw me. Then his eyes moved up a little and I was sure that he was looking at my sword.

"Wow, relax," the monkey said and held up his hands in surrender, even though I could tell that he wasn't serious about it. It wasn't that much of a big deal, but his sarcasm still annoyed me at this moment.

It was a little weird that he reacted like this, but maybe he couldn't see that it was actually a wood sword I wielded in my hands and he probably thought that it was metallic. If he would turn out to be an enemy of mine, this would get useful.

"Who are you two?" I asked, not moving a muscle, other than the ones I used to speak. I couldn't be too careful around these people, whether they were bounty hunters or not.

"Now he's getting all dramatic," the monkey commented, still with an obvious sarcasm. If it wasn't because I only had a wood sword, I would have shredded his sarcastic face in half… probably.

But before I could even get an answer someone else entered the scene. I could feel their eyes on me and I immediately knew that we were being watched. Suddenly a few leaves in the tree behind me twitched. I looked up at the treetop where the sounds had come from.

I could see movement between the leaves, but I couldn't react when something shot out and slammed the sword out of my hand. Whatever it was, it had moved faster than I could see and I'm a lynx, so I have pretty good reflexes.

"Ah!" After grabbing my hand to make the pain from impact subside and looked up to see who had attacked me. I looked around after the person, but I didn't find her before I looked downwards. She was some kind of snake with weird, dark markings on her back. And was that flowers on the back of her head? She stood – or whatever it's called – between me and the two others and my sword was a little further away, due to the impact.

"We're not someone you would like to mess with," the snake replied. She sounded confident about it and by the looks of it, she was probably right. One thing was the fact that they were three and I was one. Another was that the way she had slammed the sword out of my hand had been faster than I could even see.

"… Can I have your names?" I asked, trying to buy some time. If they were about to beat me up, the longer time I used on talking, the more time I would have to come up with a plan. I just needed a minute or so…

"Viper," the snake – or more politically correct, the viper – replied.

"Tigress."

"Monkey," the monkey replied as the last. He still had that challenging and teasing voice, which really annoyed me, but I just ignored it and tried to figure out what to do.

Now, if I could just get my sword back I could possibly be able to defeat them. But how?

"And you – who are you?" Monkey asked. I still found it kind of dull that their names were what they were, but that didn't matter right now.

What should I say? Should I tell them the truth? Oh, hi my name is Hai and I'm a pirate and I'm on the hunt for the greatest treasure in the world! That would sound really weird and dumb… plus they'd probably beat me up if I said that I was a pirate.

"… My name is Hai…" I replied calmly. I don't know why I told them my real name, but they couldn't use that against me – hopefully. I mean, as long as I didn't reveal my last name or that. And by 'that' I mean the tattoo that marks you as a pirate. It's not that special, just the kanjis for pirate. If you really want to know, then it's on the right side of my chest. Anyone who calls themselves s pirate has a tattoo like that, but it's their own decision where it should be – except me, since my dad determined that.

"What brings you here, then… Hai…?" Tigress asked. The way that she had said my name sounded like it was a whole new word for her to pronounce – or maybe she just doubted that it was my name. But why trust some weird, sword-wielding stranger?

"I'm a traveler," I lied. What else could I have said that wouldn't get me revealed? "I saw the village over there and thought that I could stay there for the night."

None of the tree seemed to buy it. I couldn't really blame them for that, since I wouldn't really trust a person like me – since I knew me.

"And your sword…?" Tigress asked with a raised eyebrow.

"A gift from my dad," I replied. It wasn't a straight up lie, since my dad had given it to me, but that was because he confiscated my two real swords, which were made of metal. By the way, the wood sword was just an extra punishment and insult.

They still didn't seem to believe me, but I couldn't really care about it. I mean, if they had a problem with me, then they could just leave me alone.

"Fine," Viper finally said to break the silence.

"What's fine?" I asked.

"You can come with us to the village."

"What?" I wasn't the only one to ask, but Monkey and Tigress did as well in unison with me. Who the heck just tells a stranger with a sword to just come along to their village? And even a pirate! Okay, they didn't know, so that didn't really play a major role at this moment.

"Viper, you can't be serious," Monkey started. Obviously he was just as surprised as he had sounded before, but I didn't notice it that much, since I was pretty surprised as well.

"Why not?" Viper seemed used to arguing and she actually seemed to know what she was doing – somehow. "It's called the Valley of Peace, so anyone should be welcome, right?"

At first Viper had looked as cool and cold as Tigress had, but now she seemed to be the more peaceful type. It was kind of weird though; she went from slamming my sword out of my hand and now she invited me to come along with her, Monkey and Tigress. Not that I was complaining – I did want to come along and all, but only to get shelter for the night.

But Tigress and Monkey simply turned so that they faced Viper and their backs were turned against me, obviously because they didn't want me to overhear an upcoming conversation.

"Do you really think we can trust him?" Tigress asked. I probably wasn't meant to hear it, but lynxes have an excellent hearing, you know… which they apparently didn't know.

"Probably," the snake answered her feline friend. "I mean, maybe he just needs time."

"Time," Monkey repeated in an immature and doubtful way as if he thought that was crazy. He wasn't actually whispering, so I had no problems hearing what he said. "What's your point, Viper?"

"Remember how you felt about Po?" I heard her ask in a lower voice than Monkey's. This seemed to have a certain effect on them since they didn't say a word after this. I didn't know who this Po person was, but obviously he had been some kind of newcomer like me.

After a few seconds of silence Viper told me that I could follow them to their village. But not without adding: "But we'll hold onto this for now." And by 'this', she meant my sword. It was as mentioned given to me as an insult, but I had just realized that a wooden weapon was better than no weapon at all.

We were walking through the forest and Tigress had asked me where I came from. I had lied and told them that I came from Gongmen City. I had been in that city before, but only on the harbor and the area around it. You see, the one time that I was there was because the crew had to get some supplies, but that was before my dad started taking a liking in the violent and terminating way of getting supplies, which was the reason why I was where I was. Of course I didn't say it to them, what wouldn't they think about me if I did? Actually, whatever they would think of me wouldn't be a lie, since I'm a pirate.

I also told them that my dad was a very old sailor and that he had tried to fulfill a great task in his days and that he didn't have many days left to live in. I also told them that my goal was to complete that task.

"Oh, I'm sorry about your dad," Viper said. Her voice was full of sympathy, but I didn't really notice… or maybe I just didn't care – life's great questions…

Anyways, I just tried to be polite and said thanks for the sympathy. Then Tigress suddenly asked: "What was this task that he wanted to fulfill?"

Telling the truth would either reveal myself or make them think that I was a son of some weird old sailor with mental problems. Both of which I'd equally hate.

"Well, he wanted to discover the greatest treasure in… the… world…" I started to slow down my stream of words as soon as I realized what I had said. If I could, I would just go back in time and rip my face off to avoid the awkwardness that came now. The three stopped, but didn't say a word. I stopped as well, but I just wished I was even smaller than I already was.

"What?" Monkey asked in a very confused and questionable way. This moment was very embarrassing, since I was sure that I had revealed myself as pirate now.

"Eh… My dad is also a philosopher," I quickly lied. "He spent most of his life wondering about such things…"

Fortunately they seemed to buy it – at least Viper and Monkey seemed to buy it… As long as someone believed in me, I'd have no problems at all – this far.

"So you're trying to fulfill something impossible?" Monkey asked, but was cut off by Viper.

"Monkey!" She seemed to fully respect what I had said – unlike Monkey – and that would just make it easier to gain the others' trust. Who knew? Maybe they'd even become useful in finding that treasure – that was if I could gain their full trust.