The Last Hope

18. The Symbol of Honor

Ravan's ears were still ringing from the loud bang of the explosion. When finally, only a slight whistling went through his auditory canal, he slowly dared to take command again. He jumped onto a low strong branch and surveyed the chaos. Most of the other ninjas had recovered and struggled to their feet again.
The leader let out a snarl of anger, his anger was building in his stomach more and more with every second. He still had Shen's withering glare burned into his memory, and that was reason enough for him to take it as a battle requirement.
"The pale bird can't be so far away yet!" the panther thundered over the heads of the others. "Spread out and look for him!"
One of the ninjas, who must have been hit in the back somehow, raised his paw shyly. "Do you really think that's wise? This bird easily took on our whole squad. Maybe we'd better start looking for another creature for our fight dances before he kills us all."
Ravan thought he had misheard. Angrily, he jumped at the feet of the person. "Are you already fed up if someone kicks your butt just once?! If we could take on the samurai back then, then even more so with a sword-wielding fowl!" He grabbed his colleague by the collar. "So go now! Search him! Torture every passer-by you can find! But find him!" His pupils narrowed. "And we'll get back our Tori again! I swear to you!"

"Shen, could we slow down maybe?"
Shen turned to Po, who was still carrying Dao through the undergrowth. But instead of waiting for an answer, Po put the still motionless peacock down on the grass and perched himself on a rock.
"Why don't we try to sober him up?" Po suggested. "Maybe he can walk on his own now."
Shen narrowed his eyes skeptically. "I don't think so."
He walked over to Dao and gave him a searching look, but Dao was still apathetic and unable to speak as before.
"What was that explosion?" Po wanted to know. "Was that in the glass?"
Shen looked up, then he lifted the right corner of his beak in a crooked grin. "A capsule filled with a powder and a liquid. When the glass breaks, these two components react to form a very explosive mixture and it..." he snapped his finger feathers, "...everything blows up."
Po raised his eyebrows. "How do you know that?"
Shen folded his wings and looked away. "I just know it."
The panda's mouth twisted. Such an answer was rather uncharacteristic of Shen. Apparently, he just didn't want to say it.
"Okay," Po admitted defeat. He was exhausted enough. He was getting too tired even for a chat. "Is it still far?"
"We're already there," Shen announced calmly. "Koyosho is over there."
"Huh?" Po lifted his head with a jolt. Then he quickly got to his feet and joined next to Shen, who could see the illuminated port city from a hilltop position.
Po breathed a sigh of relief. "Well, what a stroke of luck," and plopped down on the grass. "Hopefully this guy is already on board. Then we can leave here immediately."
Shen looked at him in surprise. "Who are you talking about?"
"Well, the python that stole your sword from you." Po looked at Shen in surprise. "Have you forgotten that again?"
"Let's go." With that, Shen hurried down the hill. Po almost forgot Dao. He hurriedly turned around, picked up the second white peacock from the forest floor and ran after Shen.

They stayed close to the coast to avoid densely populated residential areas. Although it was already several hours after midnight and there were almost no people on the streets, they marched as close to the harbor as possible in order not to take any risks, so that they finally reached the ship without any problems, which someone couldn't overlook with his red sail.
It was empty at the dock. After Shen had made sure that they were completely alone among themselves, he waved the panda over to him with Dao and together they hurried across the bridge onto the ship.
"Phew," Po breathed a sigh of relief. "That went better than I thought."
"Maybe," Shen murmured suspiciously, looking around the ship's deck carefully.
Suddenly, someone jerked open the door of the ship's cabin. "Who's there?!"
"Don't you dare threaten me!" Shen scolded and held the katana in front of him, which he was still carrying.
The antelope backed away, startled. "Oh, my lord. I didn't even recognize you."
Shen did not elaborate further on this incident. He pulled the katana back and looked down at the captain demandingly. "Did anyone come on board while I was away?"
Po was expecting a "yes" and then setting sail and steaming away from the ninja horde, but the opposite happened.
"No, my lord," the antelope answered, which even made Shen's limbs tremble for a moment.
"What?!" Stunned, the peacock looked at the captain. "Would you repeat that again?"
The captain looked at Shen in surprise. "Were you expecting someone else? So no one has come forward until now."
There was silence for a moment, then Shen stamped his food on the floor furiously. "I knew it! Never trust a snake!"
Po immediately protested. "Hey, that wasn't nice," and put Dao down somewhere on the ship's deck. "My friend Viper is a snake too and she would never do that. I might as well say whether I should trust a peacock."
Shen turned to him, scowling, and Po immediately ducked his head. "That was just an example," the panda explained sheepishly, but then he immediately straightened his back again. "Anyway, we should see that we get out of here."
"Not without my weapon!" Shen interjected.
Po let out a deep sigh. "Oh, Shen. Let it be. It's just a piece of metal. You can replace that."
"Don't say that again!" the peacock cried. "You will seek it now and bring it here!"
Po thought he had misheard. "What?! Are you seriously asking me to look for it now? Even though we run the risk of the ninja finding us after all?"
Shen lifted his head in affirmation. "That's exactly what you're going to do!"
Po's mouth fell open for a moment. "Why me of all people?"
"You didn't prevent him from taking it!" Shen enlightened him gruffly.
"What should I have done?"
Shen nudged him toward the ship's bridge. "You brought that on yourself, now you can eat your spoiled noodle soup again, panda!"
The panda pouted. "And how should I do that? He can be anywhere."
"Find him!" Shen demanded angrily. "You don't come on board until you find it!"
Po frowned. "So what now? The snake or the sword? What am I supposed to be looking for now?" He stopped when Shen's peacock crest started to tremble until his anger fully vented again. "Get lost! Find it now! Do it without delay! Right away! Right away! Right away!"
Po sped off the ship and into the harbor. He came to a brief standstill behind a few wooden crates. "Great. What should I do now?" Groaning, he rubbed his forehead. "My goodness, he is so pig-headed. I would love to know who he got it from. Who am I supposed to ask here? And anyway. Is there anyone who speaks Chinese here?"
Pondering, the panda leaned against a stored cargo and thought so hard he thought his head was spinning. Then an idea came to him.