Chapter 3

Today was different from any other because it is the time of the month of a happy harvest. The morning light shined through the village as the loud laughs of children who are playing and the cheering of beer of the old workers rang Mary up. After waking up, Mary was instructed to go to the forest to carry some woods for the evening fire ceremony.

After arriving, she filled up her bag with dried-up woods, she would need two trips for her to reach the expected woods that her brother told her.

"Let's go!"

Mary rolled up her sleeves, exposing her untanned skin, which was pale and stood out. Long years of farm life ensured that although her arms looked slender and frail, they were very strong, with just a hint of muscle on them.

The filled bag was very heavy, but Mary hoisted them up like she always did.

'If the bag were a little bit bigger, I could make fewer trips, wouldn't that make things easier for me? Then again, if the bag were bigger, I probably wouldn't be able to lift them since the woods are too big for me to carry...'

As Mary thought about that issue on her way back home, she heard a sound and turned to look at it. There was tension in the air over there, and the seeds of fear began sprouting in her heart.

Her ears seemed to pick up something like wood being broken, and after that—

"A scream?"

The scream sounds like a birds cry having its last breath, but there was no way it could be a bird's call, it is the time of the year where they enjoy their happy harvest so it couldn't be -

A chill ran down to Mary's spine. Unbelievable. There must be some kind of mistake. It couldn't be a human's voice. She tried to erase her unease with these thoughts, and it can't vanish.

She had to run to the source of the scream to confirm it and it is also because it was coming from the direction of her home.

Mary cast aside the bag of woods. She could not run while carrying that heavy burden. Although she nearly tripped over her long skirt, she managed to keep her balance by some stroke of luck.

The sound rang through the air once more. Mary's heart became very heavy in her chest. There was no mistake about it, it was a human scream.

She ran, and ran, and ran.

Mary could not recall going faster than this in her life. She was running so fast that her legs were about to tangle each other up.

The evil laugh of people and the sound of guns echoing through the air. The screams of people, and shouts. These sounds were becoming clearer and clearer.

In the distance, Mary could see an unfamiliar man in a casual red shirt and has his big sword swinging at a villager.

The villager collapsed to the ground with a howl of pain, like a puppet whose strings had been cut, and a swift thrust from the sword dealt him a fatal blow, he lied there taking his last breath.

"Mr. Berto…"

There were no strangers in a small village like this. Everyone was as close as kin. As such, Mary knew exactly who had been killed before her eyes.

Mr. Berto was a drunkard but a good man and husband. He had done nothing wrong and did not deserve to die like this. Mary wanted to stop but in the end, she gritted her teeth and ran on to her house to see if her brother is still there.

The distance felt fairly close while carrying woods but now it felt like an endless stretch. As the sounds of shouts and cursing filtered into her ears, she finally saw her home before her.

"Brother!"

Mary opened the door as she shouted for her family, her single and only relative. She found a familiar face with unfamiliar looks of fear. It was her brother, he was motionless waiting for something. However, when Marry opened the door and entered, his face softened, the fear replaced by relief.

"Mary! Are you all right?"

Her brother hugged her in his strong arms, which were brawny and tough from fieldwork.

"Good, Mary you are back, then we'd better flee too!"

The village was in grave danger. He had stayed at home because he was worried about leaving Marry behind, and so he had missed the best chance to escape. The threat to their lives would be catching up with them any moment now.

As he thought about that fear, it became a reality.

Just as the two were about to run, a human figure appeared in the house's doorway. The man silhouetted by sunlight glittered. He was a big brawny man with a big longsword, his bandana bore the insignia of the most notorious pirate in South Blue, Betch Pirate! He held a longsword in his hand as fresh blood drips around it. He pulls up the sword near his face and licked the blood from it before letting it loose on the ground.

Mary could feel the man's cold eyes on her from between the vision slits of his bandana, as though he were looking up if there any other people hiding in Mary's family. It frightened her.

The pirate clenched the gauntlet holding his sword, and a creaking sound came from where metal rubbed against the ground.

And then, just as he was about to enter the house------

"Arghhh!!"

"Nuuuu!"

His brother lunged at the man, tackling him out of the doorway and out of the house with his momentum.

"Hurry up and run!"

"Damn you! Die!"

Blood streamed from the cheeks of her brother. It was a slash from the sword of the pirate.

Mary's brother was rolling around as he grappled with the pirate on the ground. The pirate grabbed the hand of Mary's brother which was holding a knife, while he, in turn, kept the pirate from drawing his sword.

The sight of blood on the body of her only family made Mary's mind go white. She wavered over whether to help her father or run away.

"Mary, run to the forest!"

"I-I want to help you, brother!"

"Rruuunnn!"

Her brother's shouts returned Mary to her senses, and as she looked at her brother, she saw her older brother shaking his head, with a heart-breaking expression on his face.

Mary grabbed a little knife in her hand and ran at the forest with big strides. Guilt and hesitation clawed at her heart, but in the end, she knew they had to flee into the forest.

The smoky smell of guns, angry shouts, the clash of steel, and the stench of burning flesh.

All these assaulted Mary's ears and nose from the direction of the village. Where had it come from? Mary ran with all her might as she tried to make sense of matters. When fleeing to an open space, she had to make her body as small as possible, or hide in the corners of houses.

The violent beating of her heart chipped away at the fear that threatened to freeze her body solid. In addition, the small knife she held in her hand in hers spurred her on.

'Brother, please be safe'

A while later, she hid on a barrel to catch up some breath and try to investigate the vicinity. After clearing up and there's no pirate around she hurriedly readied herself to run.

But before she could run again someone touched her shoulder from the back, she hurriedly turned and saw her brother smiling at her, he gestured his hands frantically at her to run somewhere else. As Mary realized why her brother would do that, she bit her lip and forced back her tears.

"Brother don't do it! We'll escape together!"

His brother shakes his head and said: "No, someone must help our village, I must ensure the other villagers before the Marine comes, if I die please don't be sad, just remember, after the rain, there's a rainbow"

He smiled at her before running in the village's direction, he carried the longsword that the man back then was carrying.

She clenched her hand and ran, trying desperately to get away from there, because she did not want to see what would happen next. As she arrived at the forest she hid in the bushes, silently wait for the Marines to come, praying for her brother's safety.

As she hides in the bushes she heard a rattling sound from the woods, the sound of a foot stepping into the woods.

Cracks

It echoes through the air, the sound of laughter can be heard, she backs from the bushes but accidentally steps on a dried-up branch. Mary gasped out as she heard the pirates coming closer in her direction.

"Come quickly I heard something over here! It might be some of the villagers, thankfully we've managed to run away from that guy, damn it! I nearly died from him!"

As they closely walk to the bushes, Mary's body shivers, time suddenly slows down as seconds become an hour.

"Maybe it's your imagination again"

The other man slapped the back of the other pirate before he laughed it off. They walk past in her direction as Mary slowly sighed.

As she starts to change her position and find a better place, she was grabbed at her back and was suddenly thrown, she slammed at a tree and nearly fainted.

"You think you can outrun me?"

He pulled Mary's hair as he evilly laughs "Looking at your face you're pretty beautiful aren't you?"

"Stop it! You can do that later, let's first imprison her and report to the Captain"

As they manage to arrive at the village, piled up corpses and burned houses can be seen, pirates can be seen fighting a single man, his bloodied body made him look like a devil from hell, he withstands every slashes that the pirate made and kills them in a single slash.

The man looked at the approaching pirate but before he could do that, he stopped his action, he saw someone familiar approaching, it was his sister being captive. That slight moment of loss has gotten him good, he was pierced by a spear from one of the pirates.

Before he could die, someone shouted from the pirate ship: "The Marines are here!"

All of the pirates readied their loot to go but they were reluctant to lose the remaining villagers. They'll be a good pawn for the slave trader but were soon dismissed by the Captain. The pirates carried Mary and imprisoned her, she saw her brother being pulled around. He was shot at his legs and was harshly been thrown in the cage, slamming his body like a ragged doll.

"Brother!"

Mary ran to her brother and slowly lifted his head and placed him on her lap" I guess I'll die soon, sorry Mary"

Her heart went cold and blamed everything on the pirate and marines, pirates for doing such evil way and marines for not doing their jobs. If only they stationed some Marines in every village this wouldn't have happened.

As time passes, the losses too much blood that he can barely even open his eyes. When the Marine has arrived he already died.

"Noooooo!!!!"

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

It's been 2 months since Mary has been lying on the bed. She sometimes twitches her body and sometimes calls out for help. Raul kept helping every villager to remake their village and live anew and he also didn't forget to look out for Mary.

Early in the morning, Mary's eye slowly opened, the approaching sunlight slowly touches her face as she was showered with the gleam of light. Beside her is a table of fruits various of sizes, she gently leans on the bed contemplating what happened back then, she barely remembers what happened after she collapsed.

As she thinks deeper, someone came in and was surprised that she finally woke up.