Chapter 12

As they were walking through Edge Town, neither having said a word since they started making their way out of the Town Center, Sanji caught sight of something darting quick as a flash on the roof tops in his peripheral. When he snapped his head in the direction of it however, it was gone. What is that thing?

"What is it?" The Shepherd looked at him, and then in the direction he was watching.

"Something is following us." Sanji said narrowing his eyes as he scanned the rooftops.

"I believe it is more in the lines of, we are following it." The Shepherd looked thoughtful as he looked at the rooftops as well, before turning his eyes back on towards the wall and started walking again.

"You mean, that was the real Ace?" Sanji tore his eyes away from the roofs and stared at the Shepherd.

"He is the one controlling what we see, and I did tell you that he would undoubtedly be watching them as well." The Shepherd still had that thoughtful look on his face as he kept walking.

"So how come I couldn't feel him, I'm able to feel and see his spirit thread. Shouldn't that be linked to him directly?" Sanji looked around them; it was slightly off-putting walking through the streets when there were no people there.

"Yes and no, he is hidden from us as I have said. The thread is connected to his memories, which in turn is connected to him. I must admit I do not fully understand it myself." He shrugged. "In some people's afterlife the thread is connected to them directly, and in others it is routed through their memories, I do not know why that is."

"So we still have to find the next memory? I wonder how long we'll have to walk this time. This island is huge." Sanji huffed as they neared the gate, which was, thankfully, still open.

"I am afraid so." The Shepherd nodded.

"This sucks." He kicked a pebble through the gate before walking through it and into the Grey Terminal, where all the people had disappeared again, just like everywhere else. "I must admit it's pretty eerie here when all the people are gone."

The Shepherd only nodded as he looked around them at the mountains of trash, the fog still heavily obscuring the vastness of the area. "I do not wish to linger here, please lead the way. I pray our next memory is not in this horrid place."

Sanji nodded, he shared the Shepherd's sentiment, he didn't want to be there any longer as well. He focused on the thread; it was faint, but going towards the forest again. "No worries, we're heading back to the forest." He said gruffly as he started walking back the way they had come.

They made their way through the rubble in silence; there was nothing to speak about really as they both watched the dismal scenery around them.

Once they made it up the slope to the treeline Sanji felt he could finally breathe freely again. It was such a stark contrast to the sad and grey world of the Grey Terminal. Lush green grass and large trees that stretched high up towards the clear blue sky, the line between the two was like night and day.

"I believe we still have a long walk ahead of us, would you like to hear the rest of the story as we walk?" The Shepherd asked him as he gazed up at the trees, a more content look on his face.

Sanji felt the tug of the thread, it was still faint. When they had found the previous one it had gotten stronger the closer they got, so he agreed with the Shepherd, it would be a long walk to the next one. "About The Shandian Chief? Sure, why not." He shrugged; they had nothing better to do anyways.

The Shepherd nodded and smiled warmly at him, "Good, we could use some cheering up after that ordeal, the second memory we saw was a lot more cheerful you see." He smiled more brightly now, "It was of the Shandian Chief telling the story of the great warrior Calgara to the children of the village. You were quite enthralled by it, as was all the children and quite a few of the grown women and men of the tribe as well. I understood their feelings quite well. It is a marvellous tale of bravery and friendship, I am sad to say that it is mostly untrue however, as I did meet with both Calgara and Noland after their passing and was told the truth of their friendship."

Sanji hummed as he thought of the story of Noland the Liar, he wasn't surprised that it was mostly untrue, most stories that had been told from mouth to mouth for a long time before being written was mostly that, exaggerated retellings of an event no one could remember. It was like the game he had seen some children play at the Baratie called Pass the Whisper, in its simplicity one kid would start by whispering a sentence to another kid, and that kid would whisper it to another kid, and that kid would whisper it to another, and so on, until the final kid would say the sentence out loud. It never failed to have changed completely from what was originally said. It was why he never trusted a story told to him by someone else, other than the person who experienced, it to be honest. But that didn't deter him from enjoying a good story nonetheless. "I'm not surprised," he shrugged.

"You are thinking of the book about Noland, and while that is not only horrendously poorly written, it is also the furthest you can get from the truth. The story told by the Chief was a much different tale. In short it told the story of how Noland came to Jaya and helped the Shandians when a decease had spread through their sacred forest, and had begun affecting the people. And how he halted the sacrifice of an innocent young girl, and killed an ancient snake that the Shandians thought of as a god. At first Noland was despised by what he had done, but when Calgara learned of the reason he did it, a friendship blossomed between them. So when the island was brought into the sky the Shandians goal was not to only find their city, but to ring the golden bell so that Noland's decedents would know where they were." The Shepherd smiled warmly at Sanji, "Though that story is closer to the truth than that atrocious book, it is a glorified version of it, as you can imagine would happen when the story has been told ad nauseam for over four hundred years."

Sanji nodded, now that he was told about it, he did sort of remember hearing a tale like that, which he again had no recollection of where he had heard it from. He remembered being annoyed when he read the book when he was younger, because the story didn't feel right. He had of course jutted it down to it being a story meant to keep children from lying and that none of it was real, but he had never been able to shake the feeling of it being something more than just a children's story. "So? What really happened?"

The Shepherd stroked his goatee, "Well, as you have probably gathered, the Shandian's are very quick to resort to bloodshed, the war on Skypiea is a clear example of that. So when Noland and his crew arrived at Jaya, the Shandian's did not take kindly to their visit as one would imagine. They did their outmost to chase the newcomers from their land, resulting in loss of life on both sides. But Noland refused to leave," The Shepherd chuckled, "He was a good man, but profoundly stubborn." He smiled at Sanji, "He was not unlike your captain in many ways. He was set on exploring the island, and he would not be hindered by anyone. He did, as the Shandians tell in their stories, find a decease that was killing the tribe, and he did kill the ancient snake, Kashigami, as he was about to kill a young girl being sacrificed to appease the gods. But what is not told in the stories is that Noland was imprisoned, tortured, and was about to be executed by Calgara himself, until Calgara fell victim of the decease. Noland tried desperately to convince the Shandians that he could cure him, but they refused to listen. So Noland decided he would prove them wrong and after days of coming up with a plan he managed to escape. But instead of rushing back to his ship and crew he snuck in to Calgara's tent and gave him an antidote for the decease. He was, as you can imagine, caught again, and went through several more days of imprisonment until Calagara, still weak and pale from the illness, came to him and demanded to know why he had done it, after all they had done to him and his crew. Noland's simple reply had been, because he felt like it."

Sanji couldn't help the chuckle that left him at hearing that, it was something Luffy would have said. When the Shepherd looked at him quizzically he just waved his hand to indicate he should continue the story.

"The truth, which Noland later told me, was that he knew that Calgara was just protecting his tribe, and he knew that he was a good person, they had just gotten off on the wrong foot." The Shepherd shook his head, "I must admit I have difficulty understanding his reasoning, even if I share in his kindness and understanding of others."

"You're right he does sound a lot like Luffy," Sanji chuckled again, "I can see him doing the same thing."

"He is much the same as Roger as well," The Shepherd chuckled softly, and just shook his head at the surprised look on Sanji's face, "Do not worry, that is a different tale we will no doubt delve into later. Now, as for Calgara, you can imagine his shock at being told he was saved by a stranger, whom he had chased, imprisoned, tortured and was about to murder, all because Noland supposedly felt like it. He had been outraged, and had felt it to be a great insult to his pride. But yet again Noland surprised him by getting angry at him for wishing to throw away his life like that. He had then asked him if he was willing to let his people suffer, merely because he was too prideful to accept help from a stranger. Calgara had only sneered at him at that, and left him where he was, still tied up."

"So Calgara didn't release him after he had just saved his ass? That's shitty of him." Sanji muttered.

"Oh yes, but it was not long before he came back-," The Shepherd chuckled softly, "With his tail between his legs as it were as well. You see, the day after this Calagara's own daughter, and the Chief's son had both contracted the disease, and Calgara had no option other than to swallow his pride and ask Noland for his aid."

Sanji hummed, "Well, that's karma for you, I guess."

The Shepherd nodded, "You could call it that I suppose, but the fact of the matter was that Calgara, who had never in his life needed aid from anyone, was now forced to receive aid from someone, and an outsider at that."

"Hmm, I can get why that must have been hard on him. So, they became friends after that, or what?"

"In a manner of speaking, it was more that Noland had earned Calgara's respect, enough to allow him and his crew to destroy their sacred trees, and save the rest of the villagers who had been infected. It took them a few weeks with trading stories, and learning about each other's customs and history for them to build a friendship. It took a month after Noland and his crew had saved the tribe, before Calgara decided that he trusted them enough to bring them to Shandora, the city of gold. Of course you know the rest of the story, how Noland arrived back in his kingdom and told the king of his travels, and how by the time he came back to Jaya half of the island was gone."

Sanji nodded, "So I get a story changing over time, but it's a big leap going from that to the story that is told today though."

"That is true, I suppose the Shandian's wanted to make Calgara out to be the hero, and not Noland. He is their idol after all." The Shepherd looked thoughtfully up at the sky, before shifting his gaze to the forest around them, "Are we getting nearer to the thread, or do we have time to delve into the third and final memory?"

Sanji had felt the tugging from the thread become progressively stronger as they had made their way deeper into the forest and up a hill, he could feel that it was close by now. "No, we're almost there."

Not even a minute later they came to a clearing on a hilltop, and Sanji stopped as he stared at what was in front of them. A ramshackle building stood on the highest point with a lookout tower on the side of it. "Where the fuck are we?"

"This, I believe is Mt. Colubo, home to the mountain bandits led by Curly Dadan, The Dadan family." The Shepherd looked curiously at the building, "I believe this is the place Ace, Luffy and Sabo lived and called their home."

"The kids lived here?" Sanji asked incredulously, staring at the building in front of him, before he noticed something glinting in his peripheral. Turning around sharply he saw the thread coiled around a boulder close to a trail leaving on the opposite side of the hilltop.

"I have not been here before, but it would seem so." The Shepherd looked at the building, an unreadable expression on his face.

Sanji made his way gingerly over to the boulder and reached out towards the thread, "I guess there's only one way to find out though, maybe we'll get the answer in this memory."


AN:
So, I don't know if I'll be able to upload chapter 13 tomorrow. I'm gonna try, but it might not be out until wednesday or thursday.
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