Months later
Dark-red clouds covered the whole kingdom of Elegia. The air, hot and thick, almost hard to breathe in due to the burning flames that engulfed the once beautiful country of music.
Kael felt a throbbing sensation on his head and various parts of his body. His eyes felt very as he forced it open, everyone was on their feet moving from one part of the ship to another they paid no attention to him.
His head was messed up, his memory blur. He wondered if they were under attack, but if that was the case he was meant to be in one of the cabins with Uta…
"Big sis…?"
A piece of his memory suddenly came back, although it only made matters worse.
They were all excited having coming ashore Elegia, Shanks, the rest of the crew and Uta, she was most excited about Elegia but the rest after that was in a mist
"You're finally awake"
Shanks and Beckman trailing behind walked up to him. He wiped off the dirt of his cheek "You're not hurt right?" He asked
"I'm fine, pops" Kael said, then noticed some bruises on Shanks arm. He looked at Beckman and noted he was also covered with bruises. There was a fight he thought, and he'd remembered.
Shanks stood up to leave, "Go clean yourself up, we'll be leaving for–"
"Where's Big sis pops?"
Kael asked
"Uta…she's gone Kael. She decided to pursue her music career than become a pirate" Shanks turned, with a smile said, "That's a good thing right, remember that was want she–"
"She wanted to be pirate, she was part of the crew as our musician" Kael barked
"And she chose another part, a good part. And I think it's about time you start reconsidering too" Shanks walked away without looking him in the face.
Kael wanted to fume out but each time he moved his lips his tongue felt stiff, his throat burning up from inside. Drop of tears rolled down his cheeks, all he could do was to swallow his words"
"The Boss only wants what's better for you, you know" Benn Beckman ruffled his red hair. "Being a pirate is fun, it's free but it's also dangerous. I think that's what Uta saw and decided to follow the part of music. I may not change your mind but think about it with this little head of your"
"I want to be a Pirate" Kael bit down hard "I don't care if Big sis betrayed us, I'll still become a pirate"
"Uta didn't…" Beckman stopped, looked Kael in the eyes "...she didn't betray us"
Kael wasn't interested in what happened to Uta at Elegia, whatever changed her mind and made her decide to leave the crew. He felt betrayed, abandoned, and that's all that mattered.
***
The sea tides were gentle today, waves of blue stretching as far as the eyes could see. It was another average day out in the sea but this time no Uta.
Ever since the incident at Elegia and Uta's sudden disappearance the crew never felt the same, the journey too. Each day felt longer than the last, everybody were at a distance or rather it was Kael who distanced himself from the rest of the crew
There was something between him and Uta. Even for a child the bond was strong. And now she left the crew it was as if his other half left him too.
Kael was lost while looking into the blue sea beneath them. It took some time and effort before the cry of seagulls hovering over them distracted him from the sea.
He looked up to the seagull right above him. It was strange looking. It wore a bag around its neck, a pouch containing neatly arranged newspapers, with one clamped on its beak and finally, a navy like hat on its head
Kael had seen quite a number of them so he knew why it was here.
He moved forward a little standing directly beneath it and stretched his hand anticipating something from it. Just then the seagull let go of the paper on its beak. It was carried around by the breeze before landing on the deck floor. Kael picked it up and began to go through it
He wasn't a fan of newspapers but since Uta wasn't around, nobody to talk to there wasn't much of an option for him so he decided to try new things.
Kael flipped through the pages and came to a stop in the middle, the content of the page took him by surprise. The face was not mistakeable but the whole write up didn't just add up. He wondered if it was some sort of error.
He folded the newspaper holding it in one hand. He needed to understand what was going on so he ran to where the rest of the crew were staying, to where Shanks was at the front of the deck.
"Pops!" Kael barked. Everyone at the from deck looked startled
Shanks on laying on the floor of the deck with his straw hat on his face. He didn't move an inch even after Kael's barking
"Pops!"
"Haa what is it–" Shanks flew from the floor. He turned side to side with his sleepy eyes before stopping at Kaels standing before him "Ugh what is it Kael finally decided to talk?"
"What's this pops?!" Kael slammed the newspaper to the ground at exactly the page where the content didn't seem right. It reads
[The country of Music, Elegia, destroyed. Love and peace are trampled with only two survivors. The culprit, Red-Haired Shanks]
"Hmm.." Shanks picked up the newspaper and quickly skimmed through the content "...Oh? Latest issue huh? Hey the latest issue is out and nobody bothered telling me"
"It hasn't been long since it arrived, and you were sleeping we didn't want to disturb you" Yasop shrugged
Shanks sighed and turned to Kael who had been on his scary look for over a week now "So…? What's the matter?" He asked
"What's the matter? This is obviously a lie, Pops. You saved lives back there you saved people lives, whoever made is wrong, we need to correct this we need to–"
"Kael!" Shanks stopped his rant. He walked up to Kael and ruffled his hair then flashed a smile "First off you need to calm down and smile. You look so ugly with that serious face"
Kael hesitates for a minute. He relaxed his face muscles a bit, brought his hands down and stood straight looking at Shanks
"That's good" Shanks said then continued "The first thing you need to understand is who I am – who you are. We are pirates, we are not heroes and saving people doesn't make us heroes and why is that? Because we are pirates" Shanks sat on the ground, crossed his legs and continued "We aren't the ones that determine if our actions are good or bad. The world does that for us. If the world says we destroyed the kingdom then that's what we did. You said you want to be a pirate, this is what it means to be a pirate, it's not just about the journey, adventure, the thrill. You'll always be seen as criminals no matter what you do, you'll always be on the run and you'll lose people"
The last part hit Kael but he had to sit inside, the growing emotion swelling inside him. This was the first time he had a serious conversation with Shanks even the rest of the crew were quiet and glum, he couldn't recognize the Red-Haired Pirates he knew before and the ones he was seeing right now
"You are still too young to sail with us"
Shanks stood up from the ground and looked North West from their position. Far at the horizon something was coming to view. It was a gigantic tree that shot straight into the clouds, from different sides of the tree streams of crystal clear water gushed down all the way to the vase of the tree. At the side of the gigantic tree a ring of rainbow hung still looking like a crown on the tree
"This is Elbaf. The land of giants"
Kael was too captivated by the beauty of the island he didn't hear a thing Shanks uttered
"Kael, You're still too young to be a pirate. I have a friend here, you'll stay with him and he will take care of you until you're ready to sail these seas…" Kael was already tearing up he moved his gaze to the rest of the crew everyone with a smile on their face, then he looked at Shanks "...you become a great pirate one day I believe in you"
This was goodbye to Shanks and to the crew. Kael understood the message Shanks was passing to him, he wasn't meant to be part of the Red-Haired Pirates, he was to find his own path.
Thus that was the last time Shanks and Kael ever saw each other for the ten years