Chapter five

The sun was slowly inching itself towards the highest point in the sky. It was nearly ten in the morning when Sana managed to lead the Heart Pirates to the northern temple. Having been close to it certainly did them a favour. Though she had never been in there, she was aware that the northern and southern temple of Khaso had the exact same layout as opposed the the eastern and western temples. With the ruins of the old southern temple being underneath the current High Priestess' temple, she was somewhat familiar with how to get around.

After some digging around in some of the rooms, she found a hidden old stairwell leading them underground. Unlike her brothers, she was rarely out of anyone's sight whilst growing up. Having been the only female offspring at the time, her father took no risks when it came to raising her. One might say he was rather overbearing, getting furious when she got even the smallest scrape on her. During these years, Sana often mistook this as parental love. It took her years to learn that her mother didn't just abandon her and run away like her father made it out to be. Thinking her mother abandoned her, she was eager to please her father just so he doesn't leave her too.

Her older brothers had a lot more freedom than her growing up, until they reached a certain age where they were able to train to become guards. Until then, Sana would notice them being missing from the temple for hours at a time sometimes and eventually overheard them talking about the secret passageway to the northern temple. It was out of pure curiosity that she would try and see where this passageway was whenever she did end up going down to the ruins and was out of everyone's sight.

"You're sure this will lead us to the place?" Penguin questioned, looking at the shabby state of the stairs leading towards nothing but darkness. Shachi picked up a small lamp with it's other glass broken, looking for a way to light it up to take downstairs.

"I've never actually gone down the passageway myself, so I wouldn't know." Sana answered honestly. "This place is very similar to the ruins of the southern temple. There were a number of times when I tried to find the passageway as a child, but I would never have enough time to investigate it."

Her younger sister looked fascinated by all this. Siah was the youngest in the family after all, and although Sana was already the High Priestess when she was born, that didn't stop their father form giving her the same royal treatment as her older sister. After all, should something happen to Sana, Siah was the only one to take over the role. And her elder brothers for that matter were fully grown up at that point to mention anything about sneaking out.

"That's not very reassuring." Shachi exclaimed, feeling a sense of dread looming in his stomach. Sana had already made him the most wanted man on the island, and he had a feeling that her bad luck didn't just end there.

Penguin and Shachi, who were still apprehensive about this plan looked at their captain. Sana followed their gazes and found Law briefly staring down at the dark void, before making his descent down. It was his way of telling them he wasn't going to back out. Shachi and Penguin still wavered and watched Sana follow their captain, carrying Siah in her arms as the stairs weren't safe enough for her younger sister. The two men briefly looked at each other, before following them both.

The dark path was barely illuminated by the lamp Shachi was able to light up. The silence was filled with the sound of their own footsteps.

"Captain, what if this is way doesn't take us to the temple?"

"I'll take my chances. It was between using this path or the travelling through Hewe which is heavily guarded."

As Sana predicted, the path was empty and there were no signs of it having been used recently. That gave Law even more hope that they won't encounter anyone other than those who were aware of the path.

.

"Who's there?"

Eventually, as they reached the end of the passage undisrupted, they could see a small light at the end of the pathway and a voice coming from there. Law looked back over his shoulder and saw a look of recognition creep up on Sana and Siah's faces.

"Brother Yaz..." Siah muttered really quietly, loud enough for the three men to hear. They remembered that name, it was indeed one of their older brothers.

The light came closer, until they were fully able to see his face. Yaz looked fairly similar to his brother Kai. Tall, built with tanned skin, but his black hair was longer than that of his other brothers.

"Would you look at that, I was right after all." A snarky grin crept up on Yaz's face as he instantly spotted both of his sister's horrified faces. "Those bastards Kai and Vasu said I'd be wasting my time waiting here. Kal that idiot laughed with the younger ones saying I'm an idiot look who found you first."

There had always been this competitiveness between some of the brothers in trying to win their father's trust. Sana and Siah were useful pawns in his game, and he would treat them as such. The brothers on the other hand were all failed attempts in trying to have a female offspring. Their value was measured on how useful they were to their father.

"Guess what Sana, father wants us to bring you back even if we kill you in the process. At this point, he'd rather have you back as a corpse," Yaz continued, "how about I change his mind. I'll convince him to keep you alive. You'll live and I'll ask to be made commander like Vasu and Kai."

Sana remained quiet, being completely shocked by the fact that their father would want her dead already. It made sense, as long as Siah was alive and well, she was replaceable. Siah was caught in a whirlwind of emotions after discovering that her sister too may be taken away from her. Shachi and Penguin couldn't hide their surprise at the situation either.

"Come on, I'm the only one you can trust, Sana. We are the closest in age after all."

Law looked rather bemused at this encounter, "Is this where we say goodbye?" He asked in a snarky, sarcastic tone.

"You already know I'm not going with him."

"Captain, leave him to me!" Shachi announced, stepping in front of the group protectively. "I'll catch up to you once I'm done here."

Law and Penguin trusted him, and without a word they continued making their way towards the staircase they could see in the distance. Sana remained still, not sure whether she should warn Shachi about his brother. As prideful as he was, he was just as persistent and would stoop to anything.

"Shachi will handle this," Penguin announced, ushering her along. "We have to keep going."

Apart from Law the crew did not carry around any weapons, so she seriously hesitated wanting to leave him alone. But seeing his skills first-hand, and the way he blocked any of Yaz's attacks and stalled him, she took Siah along in her arms and ran after the men.

"So he's not your favourite brother after all."

"Don't even joke about it. At least the younger ones are somewhat cute."

"Is there anything you need to do before you head to Hewe."

"I'll have to change into my ceremonial clothes first, they're in my chambers on the third floor."

"If that's all you need, I guess we are heading there first then."

Law took a brief look around the ruins of the southern temple that were under the High Priestess' temple. She was right, the layout was roughly the same as the northern temple's where they just came from. He also knew that this was where the poneglyph Sana mentioned was located. It was probably hidden somewhere, so having her help lead him to it was still vital. The Grandline was full of secrets, and the poneglyphs scattered across them were puzzle pieces that could potentially help him attain his goal. He was still a rookie pirate, and his crew consisted of only three men, so any information he could get could prove to be useful.

Sana wasn't going to be easy to work with. Her moral compass was different from his own he thought. Judging from her reaction to his sword, her naivety was probably on par with that of her younger sister's. Her father and brothers implied that killing her was an option to put an end to her rebellion, yet she stuck to what she believed in.

The temple wasn't swarming with guards as expected, most were still patrolling the coast line and the smaller towns in Khaso. The last place anyone would've expected Sana and Siah to appear was the temple after all. It was fairly easy for them to manoeuvre through any resistance with just Penguin's help. Although she was only able to see Shachi in action very briefly, Penguin's combat skills did not fall behind. His moves were quick and proficient.

"Room..." Law created a sphere enveloping them and a pair of guards knocked out by Penguin. "Shambles."

Sana and Siah then witnessed Penguin and a guard's clothes being switched in an instant. Penguin was no wearing the temple's guard uniform as he was running along.

"You'll need this," Law pointed out. After all, Penguin was the only one not on a wanted poster, so he could easily pass off as a guard and stand next to Sana during the ceremony.

Penguin on the other hand looked down at his new outfit, and pouted. "These clothes look awful!"

"You'll have enough time to complain later. Whatever happens, you are to stay by the girl's side."

"Yes, captain!"

But it was on the second floor they finally encountered a taller man, with greying hair. There were some striking similarities between him, Kai and Yaz. It was Sana who first stopped running, and it didn't take much to understand that this was the mastermind behind everything that was going on in Khaso. In contrast to the impoverished villages and humble towns of Khaso, the inner temple was decorated in luxuries and maintained as such. Her father, who was surrounded by dozens of guards, wore a fancy gown made of expensive handwoven fabrics. Around his neck were several golden chains and he wore a ring on each of his finger.

"Two strange men were all that were needed to convince you to come back."

Sana remained quiet, remembering what Yaz said about her life being in danger.

"I didn't want to believe my ears when your brother told me. Not only are you following these dangerous pirates around, but you're also putting your sister in danger. I thought I raised you better than this."

"He makes a good point," Law made a snarky comment.

"Siah, you're safe now. Come back to your father."

Carrying a six year old around for this long wasn't an easy feat for Sana, but it was the increasing anxiety of being back at the temple and knowing she could be snatched from her at any moment that made her do so. Hearing her father's words only made her tighten her grip on her younger sister. Her father looked visibly displeased at her cautious action.

"Was that enough to get you out of your rebellious phase?" Law questioned, with the same sarcastic tone as before. In contrast to the two girls, he was very laid back. Penguin too remained calm seeing his captain's cool composure.

"I'm staying with Sana!" It was the younger sister who made the announcement first, surprising their father.

"I'm not letting Siah back to you."

She drew a clear line on where she stood, and that was enough for both sides.

He was seething with anger, and through clenched teeth he said, "Drag them back!"

"Room." As he saw the dozens of armed men run towards him, Law created another circle encapsulating the men.

"You may want to close your sister's eyes for this part," Penguin warned, knowing where this attack was headed. Not wanting to take and chances, Sana covered her sisters eyes tightly, making sure she won't witness whatever the pirate captain was about to do.

He drew his sword, and moved it in one swift motion. "Amputation."

It was a horrifying attack to witness without prior warning. As Law sheathed his sword again, the guards' bodies were all cut into pieces. The men were still alive, confused, screaming not sure why they weren't feeling any pain or why they weren't dying.

"Shambles."

The body parts of the men were shuffled around in Law's room as he mix and matched them at random. Sana didn't know what to think, this was the first time she had seen something this blood curdling. If anything, her devil fruit ability could never allow her to do something like this.

"Let's go, we'll leave this to the captain." Penguin whispered, gesturing at a path created for them to continue towards her chamber. Her father too, though he was not in the sphere, was distracted by what was taking place in front of him.

Sana didn't hesitate when she agreed, and led the way towards the nearest staircase. "If we go this way we'll get to the third floor."

Suddenly, a dagger go thrown in Law's direction with his back turned towards it. But since he was in his room, he was able to stop the sharp knife before it could reach him. Sana froze hearing the sound of the metal clanking against the hard floor. Running into her father with the Heart Pirates on her side never worried her. He hadn't fought in decades and now had people to do it for him. Her worst case scenario was running into the eldest two of her brothers.

Law turned his head to look over his shoulder and saw a familiar figure. Though they met briefly, he remembered Kai enough to recognise him again. It was obvious that his attack was not actually meant to cause any damage, it seemed as though Kai was testing his abilities. His sister's Koe Koe no mi powers was very straightforward, and he knew the extends of her abilities. Law on the other hand seemed much more used to his Ope Ope no mi abilities, and Kai couldn't begin to imagine what he was capable of.

Kai looked stunned for a moment, seeing the body parts of the guards mismatched with them still being alive and well.

"Is this how you welcome your guests?" Law questioned.

"In our country rats are not considered guests."

"Why are you standing around doing nothing?" Their father raged at the sight in front of him. The guards proved to be useless against Law alone, and noon was soon approaching. Seeing Kai looking this unprovoked angered him.

"You think I'm going to run at him after seeing that?" Kai responded calmly, gesturing towards the room with his chin. His gaze moved towards where his sisters were, before something else caught his eye.

Behind his father, who stood on the other side of the room, his other brother Vasu appeared. With his arms that were more muscular than his own, he raised a sword and swung it down at their father. Hearing his blood curdling screams, everyone's focus shifted from Kai to Vasu and their father. With a loud thud, his body fell to the floor.

Although Law didn't falter at the scene, it still horrified the guards, Sana and Penguin who witnessed the scene. Siah, who's eyes were still covered by her older sister began to shake him her arms, knowing something must have happened to their father.

Surprisingly, Sana was the first to scream out in protest. "What in the world do you think you're doing?! How dare you raise a sword against your family?"

"How dare I?" Vasu scoffed in disbelief. "Know that it is you who is the root cause of all of this."

"You know that we've been doing nothing but lying to the people. They deserve to live their lives without being confined into a box."

"She has a point, Vasu," Kai agreed with her, surprising the other siblings. "You were being hasty. We agreed not to draw a sword against father today."

"If I hadn't done it today, you would've done it eventually," Vasu replied. "He was becoming useless, did nothing but bark orders at us. What a fucking waste of space."

"Sana, take your sister and go upstairs. I'll deal with these damn pirates and need to teach your brother a lesson."

Kai's tone was threatening, clearly mad that Vasu purposely acted on his own. But despite his warning, Sana refused to move. They've always had very strong personalities and would never seem to be able to agree with each other. Beheading their father was one thing, but doing it in front of their youngest sister Siah led to anger bubbling inside of her.

"Don't tell me what to do."

Vasu found her protest hilarious. "Not even our cowardly sister is scared of you. Just because you're the oldest doesn't mean you can claim father's place like this."

Becoming more irate with Sana's refusal and Vasu's provocations, Kai stepped closer to his sisters. He dodged in an instant as Law created another room, this time enveloping Penguin and Sana.

"Sorry to crash the happy family reunion, but the reward I've been promised is way too sweet to resist."