Hisao's perspective was filled with a drowsy hazy like environment... and as he glanced about, he recognised his previous flat, and an imitation filled his thoughts. It was a little shack apartment on Japan's city side, where his father had reared Hisao his whole life. Despite its little size, he cherished his recollections of it. His father built a little workshop within the small flat, which took up about half of the space. He had barely spent that much time in this apartment as his dad sea-faring adventures took predence over the simple and that left a hole deep within his heart.

His gaze drifted to his old bedroom window, and for a little time, he felt as if he were watching the sun set over Tokyo, lighting up the buildings around his beloved apartment complex. The evening sun threw beautiful shadows over his old familiar chamber, which had become a sanctuary of shelter after the sea battles. This area was so soothing that it seemed like a dream... or well, it is a dream. Soon the pleasant apartment changed into one of his quarters in the Neo Kansai Maru.

Hisao froze as he felt an odd sensation feel across his body. It was still like a dreamy haze. A warm breeze suddenly blew, caressing Hisao's skin like a lover. A strange sensation of peace settled deep within his heart. It felt comforting and almost magical... but also tense and rough. The environment changed once again ejecting from his bed and now he was in the training grounds. His crew training on the deck of the ship, swinging swords back and into targets.

Now... this was his life; he had taken command of the Neo Kansai Maru following his father's untimely death - and despite the fact that some of the people on the ship didn't exactly accept his original role as captain. Hisao even considered assisting his father's pirate ship, which had consumed so much of his life by leaving Hisao in the flat for lengthy periods of time and only infrequently bringing him along.

Despite their lack of talking, Hisao had a lot in common with his father. Both men were highly passionate and worked very hard to attain their goals, both had a fighter's mentality and spirit with swift strengths- yet were pacifists in terms of fighting and wanted to avoid conflict and combat.

Seeing the view of the training grounds on deck, Hisao felt a sense of pride that was his crew, it was a crew of warriors who lived for the cause. These men were his family... a family he would never lose. As the crew continued to train, Hisao sat on a bench, thinking of how lucky he was to live aboard his beloved ship - he had gained such good fortune in his life that it made him wonder whether any of the people here on the Neo Kansai Maru deserved the luck that they had.

The pleasant scene that fell in front of him quickly changed... it became dark and hazy - as if a cloud cover had gathered over the horizon. At first, his surroundings weren't really clear but slowly, he started to pick out details - it was that tragedy five months ago... where the emperor's ship attacked.

This novel's true home is a different platform. Support the author by finding it there.

He relived that moment feeling the dread that came from it, the fear and uncertainty - the terror and the helplessness. He remembered the screams of those on the ship as their lives ran out. The screams yelled out louder and louder, making Hisao's ears ring and the ringing in his head only worsened. He could hear the cries of despair, the sounds of suffering and he couldn't bring himself to do anything... and suddenly, he felt a tapping on his body.

----------------------------------------

Hisao awoke and glanced about; it was daylight and he was no longer in that nightmarish hell of sleep. Slowly opening his eyes, he observed Ye-Hsiung in front of him, in the little cot where he slept.

"Good morning, Hisao," Ye-Hsiung greeted him with a smile. "I'm glad to see you're finally awake. We have a long day ahead of us."

Hisao sat up and stretched, feeling the aches and pains of the previous day's fights. "What do you mean?" he asked.

"Well, the mayor of this island asked me to get you," Ye-Hsiung said, his eyes sparkling with excitement. "I think it might be something interesting - considering that we protected the village from all those pirates."

Hisao was confused, but sauntered out of the hut to follow Ye-Hsiung to a fancy house, it wasn't the government building they visited last time, so Hisao was quite confused. Once inside, he found the mayor standing there anxiously, her arms folded tightly as she awaited Ye-Hsiung to return with him. "Come quick," Mayor Noriyama said as she gestured for the two to enter. He and Ye-Hsiung were both accompanied by two guards to the basement of Noriyama's household.

"Hey uhh, thanks mayor for letting us into your house..." Hisao said.

"No problem, you valliantly fought in that battle." Noriyama replied in a fast tone. "I can't believe that pirates actually attacked my village, but it seems that those opposing pirates are crazy..."

"Oh yeah? I guess that would explain why nobody would come back after the fight," Hisao said, looking around the basement. It seemed to be a pretty large room, filled with strange machines and equipment, it was completely different from the rest of the island. Hell, even the fight they had was completely devoid of cybernetic fighters and there was always such a traditional sense of life here that Hisao was shocked to see everything in this basemen be so... up to par with the large cities. He didn't know what made this place special, but maybe it had something to do with its architecture...

"Also..." the mayor interrupted Hisao's thoughts. "Are you okay Hisao, you seemed to suffer multiple er... injuries in that last fight."

"Ah no it was nothing, I've seen worse - and there were no crazy laser beams or anything like that so I'm fine..." Hisao replied, shaking his head and hoping that she wouldn't pursue the subject.

Mayor Noriyama gave him a dubious glance. She sighed "Alright, if you say so..." she continued, turning to walk over to a large computer screen in the corner of the room. "Okay... this is the thing that they were probably after..."