Chapter 14

|Lisa of the Nakuum Island|

Trouble after trouble. Problem after problem.

Was this all there was to life?

Two days ago, a pirate came and demanded that we give them money that we didn't have. Nakuum Island is a small island where fishers and farmers live! There is no money here! Hell! Some of us even still use the Barter System to live.

How in the hell can we gather three million Bellys in a week? We can't.

It was obvious what the pirates wanted. They wanted to pillage, loot and r*pe. There was nothing more than that they wanted.

We already gave up any dream that we would be rescued or any marine came to our island because we were only a small island that the marine did not care about.

However, it was then I saw our hope and our only savior. A single marine ship appeared and docked on our island. The captain of the ship was around my age. He has red eyes and long brown hair. He was wearing white clothes with a red triangle on the edges of his clothes.

Seeing the situation of our people, the captain asked the elder what had happened. After telling him the situation, he nodded his head and ordered his men to barricade the village before heading deeper inland, where we would be safe.

While his men were busy barricading our village, he told the elders to gather the sick and the injured. At first, we did not understand why but after seeing him healing them all in a few minutes, we understood.

One of the elders asked the captain, Yuuji, what he and his men were doing. Captain Yuuji looked at the elder and gave him one of the most beautiful smiles I have ever seen.

"We will help you."

That was his word.

"Why?"

That was my question as I saw him answer with such serenity. Why did he want to help us even when the pirate was already waiting not too far away from our island. Why does he want to help us when the others never helped us?

"Because we are Marines!"

The captain spoke with authority. Because he demanded it and because their duty demanded it. They are marine, and protecting the innocent is their duty.

The brave few in her town begged him not to throw his life away. He had already given them joy in healing them. The pirates outnumbered the Marines nearly five to one. It was suicide!

The captain was adamant.

So we barricaded the town, and I… I search for a supply as much as I can. From mushrooms to fish caught in the net we placed a few days before. When I wanted to take the fishnet, the pirate arrived, and they were in a greater number than before.

Some of the marines managed to pull me away and put me behind the barricade in the General Store.

And they fought.

Gunfire rang out constantly. Blood pooled among bodies in the streets. Men and women died.

But not the Marines. The Marines stabbed, slashed, and shot with their bayonets and rifles. They roared and screamed as they kept killing the pirates. The bodies of the pirates became hills. The Marines stood atop them.

I saw the captain fighting in the front and leading his men in this fight. I saw him glowing; from that glow, I could see he was healing all his men. He did not back down, and he did not lead from the back.

And I saw in their trembling and exhausted arms, glowing dimly with light, why the Marines existed. To Protect.

That day was the day I learned what it meant to be protected. What it meant to be saved and what it meant to see hope in the darkest time.