THE NEW WORLD – THE FATEFUL CHASE
The Trio's Hideout
Following Tsuna's moment of rage Gokudera begins to hyperventilate. Haru realises that he is probably about to have a panic attack and she doesn't blame him at all. Gokudera has worked hard for months, he is the only reason she has been able to avoid losing her mind, he has protected Tsuna as they have travelled the continent and yet Tsuna woke up only to tell him that there is no hope.
Haru sits Gokudera down on an old leathery sofa and takes a hold of his head with a hand on each cheek.
"Hayato, calm down" Haru begins only to see it is having no effect.
"Look at me". Haru firms up her voice, knowing that right now she needs to snap Gokudera out of this state.
Gokudera manages to raises his head to look at his comrade, shocking Haru with the way he holds his eyes wide open.
The Mafia Police member quickly calms herself, "We will find a way out of this, do you understand me, we will find a way out of this".
"If I had…" Gokudera whispers, "If I had trained the 10th better in the first place this wouldn't have happened".
"Listen to me, you did a fantastic job of training him, better than anyone could have done" praises Haru.
Haru gained her belief for Gokudera's training methods when she visited him the night before battle. Unlike many other members of the mafia Haru was capable of keeping up with the science behind the engineering supervisor's work and could see the genius in what he was doing. The storm guardian's training methods were the most efficient the mafia had ever seen.
Gokudera closes his eyes tightly and shakes his head free from Haru's grasp. "Reborn, Xanxus, Hibari, they could all have done better".
"No, they couldn't and you know that, this is not your fault, understand Hayato".
The engineer reluctantly nods bringing a smile to Haru's face. The latter heads into the kitchen and brings the former a glass of water, forcing him to promise that he would drink it while she went to check on their boss.
"I'm going to check on Tsuna then". Haru heads out of the room and searches the upstairs for Tsuna. She finds him in a child's bedroom not that different to the one they all met in when they were teenagers.
Tsuna doesn't share the state of panic his right-hand-man was in a few moments ago. The 10th gazes out the window at the setting sun, as if contemplating the meaning of life itself.
"Hey, have you calmed down yet" smiles the sword user.
"Yeah" replies Tsuna, "I'm sorry about my behaviour".
"Hayato is in a terrible state downstairs, I don't know if he is going to be able to keep moving forward" explains Haru with a frown on her face.
"Don't worry, I will carry him, feed him, keep him safe, I'm willing to look after him for the remainder of his life if that is what is required, he is family after all".
Haru nods not knowing whether she should be grateful or whether she should expect this much from the man who is technically her boss.
"He's blaming himself for his defeat you know?".
"I know" the boss responds.
"Did you know he came up with a way for you to get stronger?" the storm policewoman asks.
"What do you mean?" the 10th questions, confirming to Haru that he doesn't know of this method to get stronger.
Haru smiles, "In his spare time he was showing me the data from your zero-point breakthrough, you can still get stronger, if you move even further in the x-axis".
Tsuna smiles for a moment before shaking his head vigorously, "But it will take a lot of training and I can only move it further into the x-axis in ultimate mode".
Tsuna brings up the most fatal flaw of any potential training, "Honda will sense me and come after us".
"Then we will run" declares Haru.
"Run?". Tsuna looks at Haru as if she is crazy, if they were to allow time for an escape following each bout of training it would mean that Tsuna could only train for a few minutes at a time.
"Yes, run". Haru says it once again, setting up her explanation, "We'll run every time we have to, we will do it for years if that's what you need but you are Sawada Tsunayoshi dammit, you are going to save these people".
Tsuna turns to his subordinate and offers her a warm smile, "When did you start believing in me again".
Haru looks away from him. The stubbornness she obtained while being trained by Vongola Bana causing her to maintain her grudge against Tsuna even now that she realises the whole incident was the Yakuza's fault and not the mafia's.
"I don't believe in you, I believe in Hayato and he has placed his belief in you" she justifies, "Even now, deep down, he believes you are going to find a way to save him and I'm not going to let you prove him wrong".
"You've stood up so many times before and I'm not going to let this time be any different".
"Thank you Haru, it's like you say, we'll find a way, I'll protect Gokudera, defeat the Yakuza and free the world, one step at a time".
The duo head down stairs and Tsuna pokes his head into the living room.
"Hey Gokudera, what are you doing, it's time to go now".
Gokudera raises his head to look at the source of the voice, "10th".
"What are you waiting around for, Haru and I can't save the world all by ourselves you know" the boss enthusiastically declares.
A moment passes before Gokudera gets to his feet. "I've got it".
"Let's do this, 10th, Haru".
One Year Later, Istanbul
Another year has passed, during this time Tsuna, Gokudera and Haru have frantically been searching for a way in which Tsuna could train and make a quick getaway. It has been exceedingly difficult though. The easiest way to escape would be using some form of transport but if any of them are caught doing it Honda will move to the country and Tsuna will have even less time to train before he has to run.
In the latest search for training methods, the trio have made the exceptionally risky move of travelling to the city of Istanbul. Ironically Istanbul has become a more peaceful place since the Yakuza took control of the world, the city formerly plagued by national and international violent incidences has become better guarded. The iron hand of a dictator may have ironically fixed many of the world's issues.
In the past year terrorism in the middle east has vanished. Terrorism in the middle east and Asia was formerly an attempt to take control of the nations in which it was present. Even the most brainwashed of terrorists realised this was impossible when Honda took control of the world. If the combined armies of the world couldn't defeat the Yakuza, what hope did they have.
Despite the removal of some of the world's problems the situation should not have been mistaken for an improvement. Curfews had been introduced all over the world and taxation had been increased enormously. The lower classes are starving in the streets while the middle classes are just about surviving. Slowly the upper classes are losing their ability to buy luxuries and are becoming closer and closer to having to spend all their money on essentials.
At night in the city of Istanbul the only people on the well-lit streets are the enforcement officers of the Yakuza. They patrol the streets just like their comrades do all over the world, looking for the mafia and reporting it if they see them. This is Honda's attempt to kill of any survivors of the battle, as the propaganda would put it, 'god's children are helping him to remove his enemies'.
The enforcers are hand-picked by lower-ranking members of the Yakuza, those who fought atop the water in the battle against the mafia. Certainly all of whom could not be killed using the guns and bullets the world had come to be reliant upon. These enforcers can be identified by their dark green hoods and capes. They also have a small tattoo on their right hand, a sign of their allegiance to the Yakuza.
The enforcement officers are particularly identifiable to the trio of mafioso lead by Sawada Tsunayoshi, because they are being chased by them at this moment.
"They've got us completely surrounded" Gokudera comments as he runs through the darker side streets with his two friends.
"Then we will have to use force" Haru asserts.
Tsuna shakes his head gently without turning around. "These guys are weak, chances are they are just slaves and that the Yakuza has broken their minds".
"Yes that may be true but there is a problem, if they catch up with us and confirm we are mafia they will report our whereabouts to Honda" retorts Gokudera.
The group turn left at the end of the street they are running down only to find that the enforcement officers are waiting at the end. With no other options they turn around and continue to run the other direction.
'Damn' Tsuna thinks to himself, 'They are too well organised'.
"Haru and I are able to run using our powers but if you run then your power would draw Honda like a moth to a flame" the storm guardian reminds the boss.
Tsuna begins with a low voice, "If you two escape then I will be…".
"SHUT THE HELL UP" screams Haru.
"Haru…".
"Have you seen nothing of this new world, the only one who could ever stop Honda is you" Haru proclaims with certainty, "It doesn't matter if you have to sacrifice every single member of the mafia. If you do then that is your job, you have to do it Tsuna".
"She's right 10th, let Haru and I attack, our power won't draw Honda's attention… let's sacrifice these few for the sake of the many".
Tsuna stops in his tracks with a sigh as he hears the steps of the approaching enforcement officers.
"Fine, go for it but only on my word".
The leader of the group raises her gun and points it at Tsuna.
"Name yourself" the leader says with a loud voice.
Tsuna flinches when she speaks, his hyper intuition speaking to him.
'That was perfect Turkish indeed but this woman isn't Turkish, her accent has a hint of Japanese in it' he notes to himself.
As the leader loads her gun Tsuna begins, "My name is Sawada Tsunayoshi".
Upon the declaration the enforcement officers all begin to chat between themselves.
Gokudera has yet to receive the go ahead from Tsuna so he mulls over the situation, 'No wonder they are shocked, the 10th is the most wanted man in this new world'.
The leader of the group lowers her gun for a moment before she takes down her hood. She is revealed to be a woman with a slightly aged face covered by wispy strands of blonde hair. Tsuna sizes her up and realises for the first time how tall she is.
'This lady doesn't appear to be Japanese, she looks American, perhaps she spent her youth in Japan'. Tsuna decides not to dwell on the subject.
"I will withhold my full name for safety purposes" the leader declares, "But you can call me Ellen, I used to be a part of the US Military".
Tsuna continues to look at the woman, Ellen as she has named herself, he decides that she must have been raised in Japan and joined the US military at a later date.
"What do you want" Tsuna asks finally, "Are you going to contact Honda".
Ellen smiles, "What do I want, millions of people were depending on you when you decided to battle Honda and then you lost, you let them all down, men and women across the world".
Ellen approaches Tsuna, "I want to speak to you on behalf of the millions who felt let down when you lost that battle".
Ellen extends her hand to Tsuna.
"Welcome to the resistance, boss".
Tsuna hesitates for a moment, shocked that such a thing has happened. Recovering from his daze, he quickly and firmly shakes Ellen's hand. This is the best news that the mafia have received in over a year, there is a resistance movement.
The enforcement officers surrounding the mafia cheer as the raise their guns into the air and pump their fists.
'How hard must it have been' Gokudera contemplates, 'All this time we at least knew that the 10th was alive, yet these people had to just pray that he was alive, that he would save them'.
As various people walk over to Tsuna and shake his hand, Haru smiles to herself. 'Now do you see Tsuna, all these people, you are their hope, you can't give up no matter what'.
A few minutes pass before Ellen starts shouting. "Alright men, women, real enforcement officers must be on their way by now so clear out, I will get the mafia to the rendezvous point and I expect you all to be there".
As the men and women begin to flow out of the side streets of Istanbul, Ellen offers some spare enforcement officer's robes to the trio. "Put this on, we don't want anyone to identify you".
As the mafia begin to change clothes Tsuna speaks, "So then you will take us to the rendezvous Ellen".
"Yes, and can I say one more thing to you on behalf of the world sir".
Tsuna chuckles, "You don't have to call me sir or boss or anything like that, just call me Tsuna".
"Well then Tsuna, it's damn good that you're still alive".