Her Wanderlust Odyssey

One on One

"It's so much quieter now that Luffy and his crew are gone!" Sakura laughed.

"Well, Luffy is always causing trouble left and right, I kinda feel bad that they have to constantly take care of him."

"Mhm! Being a part of his crew requires an extra responsibility!" she smiled. "But now that we're alone, I can finally have a talk with you."

"Oh god, don't tell me that pops told you to lecture me to stop pursuing Blackbeard."

"It's kinda like that?"

"Sakura, I know that no one wants me to pursue him, but he killed Thatch just for a devil fruit. He managed to break the one and only rule on pop's ship! And you know that Thatch didn't deserve to die like that."

"Of course he didn't deserve that. But think about it Ace, if he was willing to kill someone just for a devil fruit, how powerful is it? You can't win every fight, Ace."

"I know that, but he's my subordinate and I have to take responsibility for him!"

"Is that really the only reason? I've known you long enough that you'd want to avenge Thatch."

"So what if it is?!"

"What will you do if you do manage to avenge him? Revenge isn't always worth it. You're using the fact that Blackbeard was your former subordinate to convince yourself that you aren't doing this for revenge. I can see it in your eyes, Ace."

"Shut up! You don't know what it's like to lose someone dear to you!"

"Excuse me Ace? Don't tell me that you think that Sabo wasn't dear to me. Wake up, Ace! You aren't the only one who has lost people that they love! " she turned away from him. "Blackbeard isn't someone to underestimate. He is a dangerous man. Just how far are you willing to go to kill him?"

"I'm sorry Sakura, I wasn't thinking straight. I didn't mean what I said before. But I'll tell you this Sakura. I don't mind if I die fighting him. But now I have a question for you, have you ever wanted to avenge someone?"

"Of course I have. I wanted to avenge my father years ago. But trust me, for those who follow the path of revenge, it never ends well. You'll only tear yourself apart. And even if you succeed and you get your revenge, what will you have then? Nothing. Emptiness."

"I... I'm aware of that Sakura. Please don't stop me."

She sighed. "That's your decision huh? Well, just please don't die."

Ace only smiled and hugged Sakura.

"Say hi to pops for me whenever you go see him."

=~+~=

As Sakura walked alongside Ace through the dessert. She couldn't seem to forget what he asked her.

Have you ever wanted to avenge someone? Revenge for my father. I'll never be able to forget that day...

'"Your grace! Thank god you're okay! Where is his majesty?" a tall brown-haired man was speaking to Sakura. She only looked at him in pain.

"H-He's gone... he sacrificed himself to save my life."

"W-What, his majesty died?!"

"I'll explain more later! For now, I need to kill the people that destroyed Nagakawa!"

"Forces sent by her majesty are fighting them in Shiwa village. I headed here to see if any more enemies were coming..."

"Good, the messenger that was sent made it back alive, and thank you, Asato, I'll take care of them-" She noticed at the corner of eye movement in the forest. She starts to run towards the movement and tackled the person in hiding. "Who the hell are you?!"

"Crap! Crap!" the man tried to shake out of her grip. "How did you even see me?!"

"You're in no place to ask questions," she threatened. He flinched from her words and froze in fear. "Now let me ask again. Who the hell are you?"

"M-My name is Koda and I was one of the men sent by Arata Katsu to eliminate the Queen of the Kharis Kingdom. And along with anyone with her royal blood."

"You're being too vague," she sighed and pulled out her dagger. "Give me more details. I'm sure that Arata Katsu knows that we aren't a weak enough kingdom to be beaten by a mere group of men. You would need a whole army to take out this kingdom. He lacks that. He allied with us because of our strength."

"I'll tell you! Just p-please don't kill me!" He blurted out. "Arata Katsu plans to send more men when we took over Shiwa village. I would be the one to return to him with the news, t-that's why I was waiting here." He nervously looked up at her.

Her violet eyes burned with rage.

"Well? What next?" she urged.

"Your eyes... don't tell me that you're Sakura?! He warned us about you! You... you should be dead!"

"That bastard ambushed me and his majesty and only I came out alive. What next?" she threatened once more.

"Once I inform him of us taking over the village, we would disguise ourselves as the people of Kharis and enter the capital city. Then we would slaughter and create confusion and chaos. Arata Katsu would then bring all of his men into the city and 'kill' the infiltrators and pose as a hero of Kharis. That's how he plans to take the throne."

"Tch. And how do you plan on eliminating her majesty and everyone else with her royal blood if you are doing all of this? Is there another group that headed towards the castle?" He nodded.

"They ran through the forest here and followed the river."

"Asato, deal with him and don't take your eye off of him. I'll decide his punishment when I get back."

"You're planing to take them all on yourself?! The group traveling to the castle consists of Arata Katsu's strongest men!" Koda warned.

"I don't care how strong they are. I will do whatever it takes to protect her majesty." She took his katana and ran towards the river.

"I will not let you take my mother's life as well, Arata Katsu."'

[End of Part 5]