Chapter 5: A New Journey

The next morning Ethan got up early , readied himself up and checked his luggage for all the necessities he would be needing for his upcoming journey. Afterwards he came to the small sea beach near his house where he used to practice with the urn carrying the ashes of his uncle , aunt and their unborned child and he slowly released the urn with some white flowers he picked up earlier in the sea. This is the last custom of his family to send the dead to their next journey with well wishes , hoping for the sea to carry them to a better place. Watching the urn and the flowers slowly drifting away in the company of the wind and the rising sun , Ethan waited there until the urn completely disappeared from his site before returning back.

After taking one last look at his home where he has spent more than 5 years of his life and which carried the first happy memories he locked the door and left here after some reminiscence , he walked towards Stephen's house. Ethan has already talked to Stephen couple about his decision of leaving the island and although they were somewhat reluctant at first but they didn't try to stop him even though Ethan is only 10 years old this year . They have known Ethan from when he was a small child and knew that he is very precocious from an early age , they also knew that he is very stubborn and once he has decided on something he will not change his opinion based on other people's advise. They knew that the life on this small island cannot bind him and he will leave eventually to go out to the wider seas but they didn't expect that this day would come so soon and he will be leaving in these circumstances.

Ethan has asked Stephen to accompany him to the South Heart merchant association branch on the Casterilla Island and arrange for a ticket of the merchant ferry to bring him to the Jaconi Island and withdraw some money left by his parents. This is an island which he had heard about earlier from the mouth of his relatives and is said to be as prosperous as the Casterilla Island. It is located outside of the Casterilla archipelago and is approximately a month's journey away from the Casterilla island with the speed of a standard medium sized sailing vessel. From there he will search for the information regarding important places in South Blue where he can train and also search for a place to secure his new identity as well important happenings on the sea.

You know South Blue is the place with almost the least exposure among the four seas in the anime even in the flashbacks. East Blue is obviously well know due to being the place of origin of protagonists , West Blue is known due to famous characters like Don Chinjio , Capone Bege etc. and flashbacks of Ohara and Robin's childhood , North Blue is shown in flashbacks of Law and Doflamingo. Although South Blue too has produced famous characters it is mostly known for Portgas D Rouge but not much is known about other important places , so Ethan needs to gather comprehensive information to be able to proceed with his future development.

These things can easily found out on the Casterilla Island as well since it is a fairly advance island in these seas but Ethan doesn't want to risk an exposure of his identity. He doesn't want to be traced back to Casterilla archipelago in any shape or form. Its not that he is paranoid but one cannot underestimate the intelligence gathering capacity of the Navy and the WG , especially in the Four Seas which are the area mostly under their control. He doesn't have any background in the navy or the WG so he won't naively think that he can rise up the ranks without going through a background check and he doesn't want to leave his fate to chance.

He has already explained to Stephen and Mary that if in the future someone tries to inquire about his family they were to respond that he had already died with his parents. As he didn't have much contact with the outside world aside from them it is much easier to hide his existence with their help. Anyway he is now a growing boy and his height and facial features will change frequently in the future and coupled with some simple additional camouflage such as growing his hair and donning glass now one who doesn't have had an intimate contact with him would be able to recognize him. As for Stephen and Mary ? , he doesn't worry about them disclosing his information as he trusts them completely.

After saying his goodbyes to the emotional Mary , Ethan left the island with Stephen on a vessel to Casterilla. He wore a long trench coat with a hood and long neck which can cover the mouth which he bought in the festival marked to hide his face and lower his presence , along with his height which has reached nearly 1.6 m if one doesn't carefully examines him they would not be able to distinguish him from an adult male who is somewhat on the short side. Don't think that everyone in the One Piece World is more than 3 m tall by default , in fact the height of an ordinary person here is not much different from the corresponding proportions on Earth.

By the evening they arrived at their destination and after arranging a room at a hotel , Stephen left to procure a ticket for Jaconi island and to also withdraw 60% of the money deposited by his parents with the South Heart merchant association which almost amounts to 5 million Beris. Don't think this is less when compared to the bounties in the later stages where even new pirates have bounties near 50 million beris. At this time the value of Beri has not deteriorated to the extent of 20 years later and it is enough for Ethan to survive and carry out his plans for the next five years. This goes to show that his parents were fairly well off. He left the premium card and the rest of the money for the Stephen couple as it would be very hard for him to visit them in the near future and he would not be able to help them in anyway , although they didn't want to take it , Ethan insisted and finally made them accept it.

It isn't hard for Stephen to get a ticket for the sailing vessel to Jaconi Island as there are lots of transactions between the two prosperous islands and hence there are many merchant ships frequenting between the two islands regularly. This particular ship would be leaving early the next morning. Stephen also brought the money withdrawn from the account , some of which Ethan hid in his luggage between the clothes and rest is kept in the inner pockets of the coat he is wearing . After everything is in order, they retire to their respective rooms to rest after having some dinner .

Early the next morning Ethan boarded the merchant vessel after hugging Stephen and bidding him farewell. Although Ethan is also emotional in his heart and reluctant to part with his only trusted acquaintances here but after thinking about his goals , he finally steels his heart and his eyes show an unprecedented determination and some expectations for the upcoming future.

The vessel slowly boarded the waves and riding the winds , it disappears on the horizon as if going to meet the rising sun which is coming out of its slumber from the deep sea to light up the whole world and bestow a new life upon it.