Chapter 2: Family Home
It didn't take long for Sol to reach a shore where he left his little boat behind to enter Venomous Sabre Fang Park. For now, all he took with him was a small leather bag containing whatever proviant still remained, as well as some books, a dagger and some money yet it was quite enough for him.
Eagerness urged each of his steps, whereas feelings of nostalgia made him deaf towards all kinds of horrible roars, growls and wails that would make any sane man keep his goddamn distance from this place.
Sol on the other hand just continued walking right into the mentioned forest, occasionally passing by some places he fondly remembered.
First was a small clearing relatively close to a cliff facing the ocean. This is where they used to gather for family picknicks during summer. A particular childhood memory of little him running around with Raon snuck in and made him smile softly, without Sol noticing.
'I always won our games of tag, whereas Raon never failed to find me when we played hide and seek.'
Walking around half a mile (ca. 800m) further brought him to a strange, reddish-brown tree. It was by far the tallest and thickest tree in Sabre Fang Forest, with no other tree growing anywhere withing 20 metres around this one.
''Great King Tree' is standing as strong as ever. I still remember our first scolding from mom after we secretly practiced climbing on it, which got us nearly killed.'
He chuckled. Back then they both cried for the first time since moving to Sabre Fang Park. Neither of their parents could have guessed that it would be because of a scolding instead of some huge or scary beast.
Ready to move again he turned around but just when Sol tried to continue onwards, he was suddenly ambushed. From a thick branch right above him, a venomous beast leapt at the first opportunity it thought it got.
It was a nearly 15 metres long, snake-like monster with two horns on top of its head, as well as small spikes growing out on its back. The snake had two proportionally large fangs and reddish-brown fur instead of scales, which camouflaged it almost perfectly while resting on 'Great King Tree'.
"Close but nowhere near close enough to pose a threat."
Sol commented after a quick analyse, not disturbed or surprised one bit by this sneak attack. He had avoided the snake's attack quite easily and was now eying it form 1 or 2 metres away.
"Hiss!"
It angrily hissed and despite not being able to speak parseltongue, Sol was sure that this 'hiss' meant nothing friendly. His guess proofed to be spot on. Thanks to its enormous size the snake had no problem with coiling up and striking again even at such a distance, yet it was still futile.
Sol had taken a quick step to the right, while a white light converged on his left arm. To bystanders that light would seem 'pure' or 'holy' whereas opponents would feel an intense dread and even pain on contact, from it.
In the time it took the snake to realize it didn't hit its target, a white shield, as big as Sol's torso, appeared where mentioned light had converged. Golden vine-like threads outlined its beautiful appearance as well as a bright red gem placed in its centre.
"Had you been little wiser you would have chosen your opponent better."
He cheekily commented before rotating his body, swung his arm and bashed his shield into the snake's head.
*Crack*
With a sickening sound the shield cracked it open and popped one of its eyes on impact. Needless to mention even such giant beast went completely limp and fell like a puppet whose strings got cut.
No longer wishing to waste any more time after an unpleasant encounter, Sol dispelled his shield and left, though he kept glancing back from time to time.
'I don't really like snake meat, but wouldn't it be too wasteful to leave a whole fresh cadaver? My proviant is nearing it's end as well so maybe I should- '
Some beast's roar, which could be heard from afar, reminded him that there are more than enough predators on Sabre Fang Park, who would gladly take upon themselves the heavy duty of not letting fresh meat go to waste so he could go without feeling bad.
It took nearly 2 more hours of non-stop hiking professionally like a German to finally reach his destination after the night fell. A fairly large family home located right below a cliff.
It was built by his father when he and Raon were around 5 years old. There were no glass fensters, no electric lights nor constantly warm water but out of all houses, villas and palaces, Sol got to see while traveling for nearly half a decade, it was the most beautiful to him.
Simply because each and every amateurishly designed decoration, entertainment or comfort one could see or find in his family home, was added by hand for him, Raon and his mother.
'It feels good to be back.'
Sol thought as he opened the door. He was met with a small entry room from which one could go up to the second floor, an old and very traditional kitchen to the right and the living room to his left. Except for handcrafted wooden furniture and all kinds of fur carpets, they were mostly empty. Everything was just as he remembered, even the various smells.
'Judging by how everything stayed the same, Raon must have visited a few times to look after our house… should I have visited sooner?'
He shook his head as the answer to this question was quite simple: No.
'Both of us had to prepare on our own. My brother simply stayed someplace close, whereas I had to leave.'
Continuing with some quick inspections until hunger enticed his stomach to grumble in loud protestforced Sol to eat something before leaving again for a bit.
Walking for a few minutes towards the nearest shore side brought him to a quiet place with nothing in sight except for two tombstones. It is where him and Raon had to bury their parents after they passed from a sudden illness.
Their inscriptions read respectively:
Kenway D. Jacob.
1468-1506.
Our papa was the kindest and always made us smile. He was a hero.
Kenway D. Alexandria
1470-1506.
Our mama was also the kindest and prettiest. No one made us feel safer.
As one can easily conclude by reading those inscriptions, both sons were not only very young when Jacob and Alexandria passed, they also had to bury them and make those tombstones on their own. At least they had one another to weather through such a terrible storm of emotions, a fact that Sol isn't shy about to admit.
'No one knows what would have happened to me, if it weren't for Raon.'
He always thought whenever visiting his parents' graves. By now both stones looked very old and had cracks in some places, but Sol paid it not too much mind as he sat down to have a 'conversation'.
"Mom, dad, I'm home. Sorry it took me so long to return but I had a lot of things to learn. We, actually, since Raon will join me."
An old looking book was carefully taken out from an inner pocked on Sol's shirt. A notebook to be precise. It had a simple, brown leather cover and wasn't bigger than an average man's hand but to Sol, this was his greatest treasure in the whole world. His parents' diary.
"Both your sons decided to set sail for the Grand Line and find the place you always dreamed of finding. Eden, the silver city, which dad wrote about in your diary. You will probably worry a lot but don't! We aren't some idiots after all. We know how dangerous our plan is, so each of us prepared ourselves for nearly 5 years. I've already been out there, learning various skills necessary for sailing. You won't believe it, but I first started off on a pirate ship under captain Dandelion. That man managed to avoid any conflict with all navies in South Blue for almost a whole year. It allowed me to later enlist as a marine myself since no one really knew me, but I quit after 2 months. Sailing with pirates was way more fun. Not to mention a big trading company took me in afterwards and provided all materials needed to learn navigation but sadly it ended after half a year. The company head was an old hag who only wanted to get inside my pants, can you believe that? She was 30 years older than poor little me! Of course, I rejected her which got me into a fight but again, no need to worry since I remembered your teachings. Mom always said, 'if conflict is unavoidable don't leave behind any witnesses' so I finished off everyone... I miss you both and wish you were here to answer my stories."
For more than an hour, Sol talked to his parents, whom he hadn't 'visited' for so long. He only left once there was nothing more to talk about and all he wanted to say was said.
All that was left to do was returning to his family home where for the next few days or weeks he would wait for Raon to visit.
Weekly Power Status
-- Power
Ranking 
-- Power
stone