Chapter 5: Way to the West - Part I

Somewhere at the sea in the west of the Western Country…

It was near dusk. The sea breeze was flowing quietly, and seabirds were lined up flying over the sea. The sky was in fantastic golden in the twilight with some loose clouds that were swimming across the setting sun. The afterglow of the sun crossover the clouds and scattered on the calm sea which had no waves and created a beautiful seascape.

In the middle of the sea, a great clipper ship was sailing in such a dreamy seascape alone. It belonged to the Western Country, and it was heading to the Continent of Kuja on the other side of the sea. The ship carried more than a hundred passengers and it was known as the fastest and safest ship of Western Country. It had sailed this shipping line for dozens of times, and under Captain Rodrigo, the ship's oldest and well-experienced captain's command. The ship surmounted every dangerous and difficult on its way.

On the ship's deck, a large group of passengers was singing and dancing. This is because the ship had just achieved its Twentieth Anniversary of the maiden voyage. There was going to be a celebration party for this anniversary on the ship, so lots of sailors and attendants were preparing for that. Many tables and chairs were arranged at one side of the deck. A young girl with long auburn hair was worn in a ponytail was holding a large plate of freshly cut Tuna Sashimi and ran quickly to a waiter who was standing and counting seats near the corner. The girl was wearing a black west and black leggings with a belt and ankle bands full of golden runes. Her tiny little bare feet were pattering along the wooden deck.

"You've been working very hard, Poney." the waiter said to the young girl kindly. "I can't image how capable you are at a very young age."

"It's a piece of cake!" the girl whose name is Poney answered in an innocent voice.

After saw Poney's face bathed in sweat, the waiter smiled and gave Poney a cup of ice water.

"Thank you!" Poney said literally and took the cup from the waiter's hand. She then gulped the ice water in it quickly.

"You look tired, we just have done our work right now. You can have a rest for yourself." The waiter said to Poney.

"I'm not tired. I can keep working!" Poney said and wiped her forehand with her hand. She cleaned her sweat off her head at once.

"I know you are hard-working." The waiter said, "however, you shall listen to me because I am your supervisor."

"Mmm… Okay." Poney answered. She then went to the edge of the deck and sat down against the guardrail at the edge of the deck. The waiter smiled at Poney, then he turned around and did his job.

"AHA…" Poney stretched her arms out and yawned. She then looked around the people celebrating on the deck. Her eyes finally fell on a newly married couple who went to Continent of Kuja for their honeymoon.

"Oh…" Poney suddenly felt a little distressed. She lowered her head and recalled what she had experienced in the past few weeks.

A couple of weeks ago, at a harbor near the west border of the Western Country…

"What!? He went to the Continent of Kuja on the other side of the sea!" After heard a passing sailor's description, Poney was a little shocked.

"Yes, because he was a handsome young man, so I remember him exactly." The sailor replied with his hand rubbing his chin. "He was muttering to himself when he got on the ship."

"I thought he went to Putra because he was controlled by the Gravekeepers from there." Poney thought, "I can't believe that he went to the Western Country and then headed to the overseas. It must be the controller's death made Najasho lost his mind!"

"Continent of Kuja is not only far from here but also has so many dangers on the way. I think you'd better give up!" The sailor advised Poney.

"Thank you," Poney answered. She turned around and looked at the endless sea. "At least I find a clue. I'm coming for you, Najasho!" Poney thought. She then ran to the ships berthed at the port and asked each captain.

"I'm sorry, there's no more space onboard." Captain Rodrigo said to Poney helplessly. "Moreover, your money doesn't even enough for a fourth-class ticket."

"Please captain! I'm willing to work on the ship to pay for the rest of the ticket costs." Poney entreated a favor of the captain with a tear in her eyes.

"But…Can you tell me what reason makes you go to such a faraway place alone, little girl?" Captain Rodrigo started to suspect.

"Because there is someone really important to me there," Poney answered.

"Hmm… I see." Captain Rodrigo seemed understood. "The ship will achieve its Twentieth Anniversary during this trip, so there will be celebrations. We will need more workers. However, sleeping may be a problem. I'm afraid you will have to lie on those moldy junk in the bottom cabin."

"It doesn't matter! I can even sleep on the deck." Poney said with confidence.

Suddenly, a girl's voice came out, "She can be my roommate."

Both the captain and Poney turned around to the direction of the voice when they heard it. Next second, Poney was surprised to see that a girl with silver short hair and big blue eyes in a medical uniform was smiling to her and the captain. She also had a mahogany medical kit on her arm. What made Poney surprised was the similarities between the outlook of this girl and her passed friend Tsukushi. The only differences between them were the color of this girl's hair and pupils, and her normal chest measurement. Poney froze there, she didn't know how to answer this enthusiastic girl.

"Helen!" the captain was a little surprised and said. "Yes." The girl answered. "My bed is up and down. It's fit for this girl to sleep. I just hope she doesn't have too much luggage."

"That's settled then. Just go and get aboard." Said the captain.

"Oh! Thank you so much!" Poney suddenly realized that she forgot to say thanks to this girl whose name was Helen.

At that moment, Poney felt she was fortune's favorite. Not only because she can go to the Continent of Kuja to find Najasho in a short time, but she also met a nice traveling companion that made her feel not lonely during the trip. With this thinking, Poney and Helen introduced each other and said goodbye to Captain Rodrigo. They followed the rest of the passengers on board.

Helen led Poney through crowded the passageway of second-class and arrived at a small room at the back of the ship.

"Here is the clinic…" Poney read the label on the door of this room and said to Helen, "Does it mean you are…"

"Yes, I am the on-board physician of this ship," Helen answered happily and opened the door of the clinic.

The room was not so big but very clean. There were many different books of medical science and remedies on the shelves next to the desk on the left. There was an upper and lower bed on the opposite side of the desk. The upper berth was full of sundries because of idling for a long time. On the wall near the head of the bed, there was a small porthole that can see the seascape at the back of the ship. Helen put her medical kit on the desk and turned around to remove those stuff on the upper berth.

"Let me help you." Poney couldn't just stand there and watch. She came and tried to take a dirty glass on the upper berth.

"No! Please don't!" Helen was a little scared and she stopped Poney. "Most of these containers had contained chemicals, they have certain dangers!"

"Ah!" Poney stopped quickly after heard Helen's words.

Since then, Poney listened to Helen's suggestion and sat on the chair near the desk with her hands held her legs. She was looking at Helen cleaning the upper berth. After Helen removed all of the stuff and swept the dust on the upper bed, she then sat on the lower bed and started chatting with Poney.

After a short conversation, Poney learned that Helen was an orphan like her. Her foster father was the best physician in the capital city of the Western Country. Although Helen's foster father was the only physician that had a fantastic craniotomy in the whole city. He chose to only serve the poor even he could get high payments from the rich. For this reason, the physician built his clinic near the main river, flowing through the city.

Many years ago, in a morning. The physician's wife came to the main river to wash clothes. She suddenly saw a papyrus basket flowing from the upper reaches of the river. The basket flowed to the riverbank and stuck in the reeds. There was some crying of a baby came out of the basket. The woman hurried back home and called her husband to the river. They worked together and moved the basket out of the river. They opened the basket and saw a beautiful baby girl crying in it. The couple was both over fifty with no children, so they adopted this baby girl and gave her a name Helen.

Helen was a brilliant girl since she was a child, so the physician passed on his medical skills to her. After Helen graduated from school, she began practicing medicine on her own. The reason Helen chose to be an on-board physician was to avoid stealing her foster father's patients.

"Where do you come from, Poney?" Helen asked.

"Oh, I came from the Capital City of the Empire," Poney answered.

"Really?" after heard what Poney said, Helen was a little surprised. Then she began worried.

"What's the matter?" Poney felt puzzled and asked.

"I heard that there was a terrible thing happened near Capital City recently," Helen said sadly.

"What happened?" Poney got worried, too. Because she still had some companions working in the assassination squad.

"You don't even know it?" Helen was surprised because she had heard some people that came from the Capital City of the Empire talked about this event. She thought Poney might be got involved in it. "Several weeks ago, in a night. An unknown celestial body crash-landed in the forest not far from the Capital City. It set a huge fire and burnt several villages surrounding the Capital City." Helen said sadly.

"What!?" Poney was amazed by what Helen just said.

Three weeks ago, in the suburbs of the Capital City…

The forest fire had been burning for two days. Because of the lack of control, the fire spread rapidly and many villages and small towns near the Capital City were destroyed by the fire. This disaster was so huge and closed to the Capital City of the Empire that both the Imperial Army and Revolution Army sent teams to extinguish and rescue people.

In a village that had just been hit by the fire, the scene was pretty chaotic. The beep of the house burning, the screams, cries, and prayers of the escaping people were all intertwined and extremely distressed. A signalman of the Revolution Amy was riding a horse carefully through a chaotic crowd and headed to a woman in a black suit with short straight hair that looks like a man who was commanding the firefighting.

"General Najenda! General Najenda!" The signalman said to the woman out of his breath. "The fire in the south is out of control!"

"Let the subordinates and the refugees evacuate as early as possible! And don't forget to cut down the trees on both sides! We are almost done our mission." Najenda said to the signalman.

"Yes, sir!" The signalman answered, "and be careful, the Empire has called General Esdeath back from the battlefield in the north to put out this fire. She is on the way here!" The signalman warned Najenda.

"Got it!" Najenda answered. She then began thinking, "I can't believe that the subjugation of the Northern Tribes was finished so quickly! How powerful you are, Esdeath?"

Tens of kilometers away from the forest fire…

Esdeath was riding a flying Danger Beast that looks like a dragon heading towards the burning forest. Her three best subordinates, Liver, Nyau, and Daidara, also known as the Three Beasts, were riding three smaller flying creatures after her.

"Well, I can't believe that the Prime Minister called me back just for this piece of junk!" Esdeath looked at the forest under fire angrily and complained, "If it wasn't the Hero of the North weaker than what I thought, I swear I'll never come back in such a hurry!"

Back to the present…

"After this disaster happened, the whole Empire was in a huge panic and there were many rumors appeared. Someone said this disaster was God's punishing hand to the corrupt imperial officials, others said it was a warning to the imperial court to punish those treacherous court officials that brought misery to the citizens. I heard that Capital City is in chaos right now." Helen said.

"How could this be possible?" Poney felt unbelievable after heard what Helen said about the Empire because this was different from what Gozuki taught her in the Elite Seven. "It was the rebels who against the Empire brought pain and suffer to the citizens," Poney said to herself.

"It was true." Helen said seriously, "Today's Empire is already rotten under the tyranny of the Prime Minister who uses the young Emperor as his puppet. This has been known for a long time in the Capital City."

"Really?" Poney still felt uncertain, but she immediately recalled the cold feeling came from the head of the assassination squad who asked her if she could go to search for Akame, the traitor of the Elite Seven and the hidden pistol in that man's pocket that aimed at her. It seemed that there is still a lot of things she doesn't know. Having thought this far, Poney held her leg tighter and bowed her head.

"However, it's great to hear that Poney escaped from this disaster." Helen smiled and said to Poney. She then held out her hand in a medical glove to shake with Poney.

"Oh, thank you." Poney felt relaxed after seeing this and then she held Helen's gloved hand kindly.