ᴛᴇᴀʀs ᴏғ 16ᴛʜ ɴɪɢʜᴛ (Akatsuki no Yona Fanfic)

Chapter 6-What's important to me is my opinion of myself

 I left the cave and went up the stairs. I walked my way through the maze and found Zeno sleeping on the bench. I sighed in relief to be here in time. As the sun's up, we left the Seiryuu's village and look for another dragon warrior.  

"Zeno..How far is it?"I asked. We've been walking for three hours without rest. He smiled and grinned,"We're already here, miss." I walked to where he stood. It's a village that was located near the ocean. "This is Awa Port. Where the Ryokuryuu is. It will take us a while to find him since he won't stay in one place."Zeno chuckled. 

"Lead the way."I said. 

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We are now in the village, swarming with many people. There are some soldiers eyeing the two of us suspiciously. Not only two or three soldiers, we met a lot of them patrolling the area. We kept our head down each time they passed us. Beside that, the people of Awa seem to be lively unlike Seiryuu's village, although..there are a bit different than that. The eyes of the people here is..dull. The colour of sadness and tortured. 

While I was focusing on the people, I didn't focus on what's in front until Zeno called me,"We're here." In front of us is a pirate ship. "Since the Ryokuryuu isn't active, I'll be able to locate him."Zeno said as he took the first step on board. 

There is no one on board. Just as I was about to open my mouth, pirates appear out of nowhere with different kind of weapons and surround the two of us. I gave no reaction to that. "Who are you and what do you want?"The old lady who was with the pirates spoke with a sharp voice. Her dark gray hair is tied in a bun with a purple ribbon keeping her hairstyle in place.She wears a light violet cloak trimmed with fringe over a purple robe with black and yellow cuffs and hemlines. For her footwear, she has a pair of black flat shoes. Her accessories are dangling earrings with a bell shaped ornament. 

"We want to meet the Ryokuryuu."Zeno answered. 

"Ryokuryuu, huh? What do you want with him?"I could feel her narrowing her eyes at the two of us. "Place all of your belongings down."We obey as she ordered. The men took my bag and start to search it and report to the old lady,"There are no weapon in her bag."

"No weapon?"She looked at me,"Why are you coming here unarmed?" "It's not necessary to bring weapon."I answered back. "Are you telling me you want to get yourself kill by coming here?" "If that's the case, why didn't you kill me before?" They were taken aback by my words. All of them were startled by the old lady's laugh,"You got guts. I like it."Her lip formed into a smirked,"Doesn't that interest you, Jae-ha?"

A man in green stepped out from the shadow,"I can't believe you lose to a girl, Captain Gi-Gan." He has long green hair that he ties behind with an orange ribbon and a long fringe which he styles to cover the right side of his face.For attire, he dons a dark blue robe designed with yellow hemlines and cuff. It has a high collar and three buttons located on the top of the chest area.

"Oh! Ryokuryuu!"Zeno cheered when he sees him. "Arh...Ouryuu.."His sweat dropped. "I'm not your master. I just came to say 'Hi'."Everyone stayed silent as I told them. "EEHHHHHH????"

"Only that??"

"Why do we have to go through the trouble protecting him???"

The pirates began to argue. I made my way through the crowd and stand in front of the Ryokuryuu,"Your master is on its way." I bow at him and was about to leave with Zeno but he blocked my path.

"Dear~It's not nice to just leaving with these shocking news."He smiled. "Is that so..."Then I bow in apologize. The man just sighed and slowly walking towards me and cornered me against the wall. The pirates watched us with amusement. "Even if my master come, I won't go with him." "....."I just look at him as he continued. "Life is too short to waste any amount of time on wondering what other people think about you. In the first place, if they had better things going on in their lives, they wouldn't have the time to sit around and talk about you. What's important to me is not others' opinions of me, but what's important to me is my opinion of myself."

"A freedom..as a pirate?"I then looked at all of the pirates,"Someday...there will be someone who will free all of you." With that, Gi-Gan widened her eyes and asked,"And who might that be, young girl?" "A girl in red." 

I took out my hairpin which Yona gave it to me from my pocket, it's easy to identify the object that Yona saw it before. I gave it to the green haired man,"If you see a girl in red, named Yona. Give it to her." I bow and take my leave, leaving the pirates there watching me and Zeno go. 

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"What are you going to do now?"Zeno asked while humming a song. We are now a few distance away from Awa Port. Soon..Yona and Hak will be there too. "To Ik-" "Watch out!!!" I stopped at my spot as an arrow flew across me. "I'm sooo sorry!!"A man with a hood came down from his horse and ran towards me, make sure I was unhurt. "I wasn't watching where I was shooting!! I'm sorry!"The man bow. "It's fine."I said. 

Zeno had disappeared at the same time when this man showed up. "I take my leave then..." "Wait."He stopped me. "I can't just let a woman who was about to lose her life go...! Let me...umm.." "It's fine. I don't need anything."I told him. 

He can't accept it even though I forgave him, he remind me of someone I know...A long time ago.... "Here."He handed me a necklace,"If you're in trouble, or something you can't afford to buy, show it to them." My eyes widen as he let his hood down. "I haven't introduce myself, haven't I..? I apologize. My name is...Soo-Won."