Chapter 17

…..

–General Pov–

After confirming Viper's death, and witnessing his body getting cremated, Amon returned to the tribe with a satisfied spirit. Viper's burning ashes brought Amon a sense of peace, as he felt a sense of freedom after 8 long years.

While enjoying this feeling, Amon hummed while he returned to the tribe .

….

"Ahh…" Amon sighed, as he reached the village. "Now that Viper's gone, this place feels like home," Amon said as he enjoyed the smell of the fresh sleeping gas. This type of sleeping gas does not affect the current Amon, as he had previously done many experiments on his body with these harmless gases.

The whole tribe was 'sleeping', with only Amon being the one awake. Still, he used his [Observation Haki] to check if things were as he left or not…

Confirming the safety, Amon shook his head lightly. He was too skeptical. After all, unless he spreads the antidote of the gas, the people have a 0% chance to wake up before the 3 days time limit.

However, Amon didn't have any reason to wake them up so early, as he started to enjoy the peaceful silence while walking towards the Chief's house.

After reaching there, Amon again checked if the Chief was awake or not using his Haki. Double checking that the Chief was also sleeping, he then started to walk on the opposite side.

….

Ignoring the 'sleeping' chief and his house, Amon went to dead Viper's house. Entering without any prior checking, as if he owns the house, Amon then went and sat on the chair.

Here, unlike Amon's house with only a bed and few accessories, Viper's had a chair, a table, along with a few other pieces of furniture in his room, Amon gave them a side-glance. Three days later all of this will be his.

…..

Resisting his greed, Amon took out a few papers from the table's drawer. Few of them were empty, but the others contained the handwriting of Viper in the ancient language.

"Fuuhh."

Without wasting any time, Amon released his [Observation] at full power, concentrating it solely on copying Viper's handwriting…

«…*...»

"That just… unbelievable!"

"I know right…"

Around Viper's hut, a big crowd was gathered, containing almost every tribesmen. Except for Amon, who was so injured after the fight with Viper, that he couldn't even move.

Outside the hut, the Chief was standing with a sheet of paper in his hand. The handwriting being Viper's.

"Sigh…" the chief sighed. "Everyone, listen." Hearing the chief's voice, everyone stopped their chattering. "As you have already realized, we've been unconscious for three whole days, and now, that we have finally regained consciousness, we… 'seem' to be missing the former leader of the Shandia warriors, Viper…."

Hearing him, the tribesmen again started to chatter. They were very surprised, but they were more confused.

"Alright, calm down…" the chief then raised his hand along with the paper. "You see this?" He said. "This is a letter left by Viper… Ah, and I've also verified this as his own handwriting…"

As everyone looked towards the paper, the chief sighed. "Sigh… Now coming to the contents of the paper itself…" He stopped for a short while.

"It's like this, 'To my dear tribesmen.

In my whole life, I've mistreated all of you… Even my son. And I'm aware that apologizing now won't change anything. However, I will still ask for forgiveness one last time…

As for the reason for all this drama, it's because of the battle that happened last time… truth be told, I was confident that I would win, however, I never in my dreams would have thought that I would lose to a kid.

It took me a while to accept it, however, the reality is in front of me now… and I've fully accepted it too. Yet, even if I try to change myself presently, nothing will work.

After all, now that I'm injured like this, there aren't many chances for me to change… I obviously don't blame that kid for this though. He did what he had to, and it's not as if I was going easy on him." The chief then flipped the page. It seems he wrote too much before death.

"Now, in this state, I'm practically useless. But as a warrior, I can't take this! I… I have decided to attack Upper-yard this night. I know, I will lose. However, instead of dying like this, bedridden my whole life, I... would like to die like a warrior. Like my ancestors did… However, I'm sure, if I try to attack Upper-yard normally, you guys will stop me.

So… So, I have spread sleeping gas all around. For that reason, you won't be up for 3 days… Please stay safe my tribesmen."

The chief had a frown on his face, as he finished reading the letter out loud.

He calls this a warrior's death? Pathetic! Not only did he literally commit suicide, but he also left the whole tribe unconscious. What if an enemy attack happened last night? Won't that have caused their massacre?!

All the tribesmen had this type of thought. Even Wiper. Though he was very sad and, if possible, would love to bring his dad back to life, he also felt ashamed that a man, who called himself warrior, would act like this…. He can feel people's gaze filled with anger in his back.

'W-why…. Don't look at me like that!' Wiper almost broke out crying. Not only is his father dead, now he's being looked at like this! 'This isn't my f-fault!' He screams internally.

…..

The chief sent a few people to check if Viper is really dead, or if he was kept hostage.

The raiders, after reaching Upper-yard, and seeing God's army partying while gossiping about Viper's cremation, returned without picking a fight. Now the whole tribe was sure that Viper was dead.

People were sad, however, they were still pretty angry at what he did. Many even lost respect for him, as some even started to call him a coward openly.

In the end however, he was once their leader who had done several things for them. So they still attended the memorial service held for him at the graveyard in the most southern part of the village. It was around the same place where Viper flew last time.

As children were joking. "Amon's kick let Viper fly directly to his grave!"

Though one glance from the adults was enough to stop their mouth, the adults realized that Viper's name had already been polluted, and in the future generation, he will be seen as a coward.

'At least the one getting the limelight is none other than Amon, the current leader. That's a good thing…' They thought.

….

"Hey, you kid! I told you to stay in your bed!" Saying this, Isa pulled Amon by his arms who was about to fall face first.

"Argh, let me go!" Amon staggered as he walked slowly while dragging his left leg that had been rendered unable to move. He was going to Viper's memorial, it would leave an empty place in his heart if he doesn't attend it.

However, Isa was strictly against it, as she knew he should just lay down on the bed. After all, he was injured, if he moves too much, his wounds might open again!

"You don't get it! He is my uncle! How can I not be present at his memorial?" Amon said, as his eyes became teary. "After all… in the end, I'm technically the one who killed him."

Amon had a little argument with Isa, who now had a small bulge on her belly. Proving her pregnancy.

A few minutes later, Isa gave in as she accompanied him along with Raki.

….

At the graveyard, the first thing he encountered was the crowd. As all of the tribesmen were present, while many of them glanced at him, their gaze becoming soft.

They started to whisper, "Poor child… he lost his parents at birth, and the one blood relative he had, even he is dead…" One of them said. "Even if Viper wasn't the best uncle, having a relative was better than nothing. No, along with Wiper, he is also alone…"

Another one joined, "Look at his red eyes… I don't know how much he cried…" He said. "He must be blaming himself for all this…"

Amon ignored them as if he couldn't hear them at all, and looked at the corner of the crowd.

In the corner of the crowd, a kid was standing. His head down, and he had tear-red eyes. He was Wiper, who clenched his teeth seeing Amon. 'That bastard… that bastard Amon is the root of all of this.' Wiper thought.

Amon chuckled internally. 'He must be cursing me right now… I can even feel his emotions… Oh? Is this a [Observation Haki] advancement?' Amon thought, surprised. 'Haaaa, only good things are happening after Viper's death.' Amon thought while approaching Wiper slowly.

…..

"...!"

Wiper's body flinched as he felt a hand on his shoulder. "Hey, cus…" It was Amon.

Wiper didn't answer, and Amon also didn't say anything.

Both of them just stared at the gravestone in front of them, wearing a blank and sad expression. Soon Amon slowly opened his mouth. "You know, cus… this is very sad. He was our best warrior, and yet, we can't even do a proper funeral for him…"

Each of Amon's words enraged Wiper more. As he clenched his fist. He wanted to shout, "Bastard! This is all your fault!" However, he knew this was wrong. After all, if he was in Amon's place, he would have also tried his best to win too. And it's not like anyone had expected Amon to win, not even him.

So, in the end, it was all Viper's own fault for deciding to prove his 'warrior spirit'.

Tears started to fall in a singular line down his cheeks, however, he still clenched his jaws .

Seeing this, Amon again snickered internally. But on the outside, he put his arms across Wiper's shoulders and held them tightly. Giving him a reassuring side hug.

As he said, "If I were his place, I would have done the same…. sacrificing yourself for your tribe, or for someone you respect…" Amon stopped and looked at Wiper with a smile. "To me, that's the most honorable death possible."

Wiper also looked at him, as Amon moved his gaze up towards the 'sky' with a smile.

However, there was no sky.

The sun wasn't there, the stars weren't visible, the cloud-dome was imprisoning them, isolating them from the rest of the world.

This wasn't that isolating for the other tribesmen, however, Amon who lived in an open habitat before, hated this feeling of being imprisoned. He wanted to be free, but stuck in this place, he himself felt secluded and stagnant.

However, though he was frustrated, he had enough self-control to not mess things up. Rather, use this as a weapon for himself.

He then pointed his fingers up. "You see that?" He said. As all the people around looked towards them. "We are supposed to be the Great Shandia Warriors. The Warriors who fought alongside the Great Kingdom 800 years ago. But now," Amon stopped for a while, as he noticed not only Wiper but many other people were also looking towards him. "But now, we're just birds trapped inside a giant cage!!"

"".....""

Everyone stayed silent hearing him. No matter how much they called themselves "Great Warrior", inside they all knew the current they were nothing but, as Amon said, birds inside a cage.

"Wiper…", Ignoring the gaze, Amon looked at him. "I know you are sad. You might even be so angry at me that you want to kill me… However," Amon said. "However, we need to move forward… We need to fight. Your father, my father, our ancestor… We have to keep up with their wishes. "

He then stopped talking and looked at Wiper's eyes. He was a little taller than him, so he was looking down at him. As he said with great resolution, "I'm strong, but WE are stronger! Give up on your grudges towards me, your own blood. I want you to become strong. Strong enough to one day, if something happens to me, you can be a great leader!" Amon put forward his hand. As he said, "Promise me, O warrior Wiper, you, with me, will fulfill our ancestor's orders!"

A few seconds passed, as people paid great attention to the two. Wiper's eyes started to widen while his mouth started to open, as he started to realize, his goal wasn't to be the leader, it also wasn't to surpass Amon, but it was just to protect everything his ancestors left behind.

"Protect everything until the Golden Bell rings again!"

After a second, without any hesitation, Wiper put forward his hands atop of Amon's! As he grinned, with tears still falling down his chest.

"Yes, big brother…. Shandorians are strong together!"

He took all his words to heart. He will work hard, to one day surpass him. But the important thing was to accomplish his ancestor's will.

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