11 A forgotten past, and the path to Reverse Mountain (1/2)

The three arrived on the ship without any problems as no one dared to stop them.

”Jiutian, head to the Reverse Mountain, Grand Line is our next object…!” Izan spoke calmly while having an indifferent expression on his face as he walked towards his own bedroom.

”Will do.” Jiutian had a small smile on her face as she nodded while walking towards one of the control rooms of the ship. ”Nojiko, come with me.” Jiutian said in a low voice as she walked towards the control room.

Nojiko followed behind Jiutian with a confused expression on her face. After a few moments, they arrived in the control room which was literally a room with three black sofas forming a triangle with a table in the middle with a map over the world.

Jiutian sat on one of the sofas and traced her finger towards ”Reverse Mountain” before holding it there for a second which made the ship move by itself.

”Now that's done, we can finally speak in private.” Jiutian nodded as she glanced around the room before putting her eyes on Nojiko. ”You must have understood some things, right?”

Nojiko hesitated for a moment before nodding. ”Yes. I don't know of Izan's origin, but he must be someone with a very high position.”

A long sigh escaped Jiutian's mouth before slowly shaking her head. ”I think what you said is underestimating Izan right now.” Jiutian didn't hesitate to speak as she was closely watching Nojiko in the past few days and Jiutian felt that Nojiko is one of the few people that could stay with Izan.

”All I can say is that Izan is someone way more important than you could ever imagine. Sadly, even Izan doesn't know it yet…” Jiutian sighed while closing her eyes before continuing to speak. ”Nojiko, what did you feel when you and your 'sister' were surrounded by the marines?”

Nojiko lowered her head for a moment before answering with one word. ”Despair.”

Jiutian nodded and a forced smile appeared on her face, Jiutian's forced smile appeared to be very devastating as it could show the immense grief and sadness from the smile.

”A long time ago I lost someone… that someone went through enormous amount of torture and pain before passing away.” Jiutian's voice started cracking the more she spoke. ”Even after dying, that someone wasn't able to rest as if the whole universe was cursing him… you said that you felt despair. What he felt was despair for countless years.”

Jiutian raised her right hand and placed it over her heart as she could feel a heartache. ”The feeling of not belonging, of being lost, of not anyone could recognize you and slowly but surely, lose your mind.” Jiutian kept her eyes closed as she gritted her teeth.

”Even when facing despair, turmoil and suffering, that someone continued to walk forward even losing everything he owned. With the mindset of never stopping, he embraced the suffering as he gritted his teeth and walked forward.” Jiutian wanted to claw out her heart because of the heartache, but to no avail, she wasn't able to control her feelings.

Nojiko was seriously listening to Jiutian at the beginning, but the more Jiutian spoke, the more absent-minded Nojiko became. Jiutian didn't tell Nojiko who 'he' was, but Nojiko's thoughts were all of Izan walking forward while shouldering everything on his shoulders without complaining.

The more Nojiko heard, the tenser she became. Losing everything. Facing despair and suffering. Not even knowing who he was… The more Nojiko heard, the harder her heart would beat. Nojiko thought that she and her sister, Nami were pitiful. But, it seemed like what she had to deal with was nothing compared to what 'he' in Jiutian's story had to deal with.

”After many years, he died once again… I sacrificed very much to find him, and in the end, I managed to find him.” Jiutian smile shined for a moment before it turned gloomy. ”But, he couldn't remember me, he couldn't even remember who he was.”

Nojiko lowered her head deeply for a good while. Nojiko couldn't bear it in any longer, she raised her head and stared at Jiutian before asking. ”Izan…?” Nojiko's voice was trembling as she asked Jiutian.

Jiutian nodded slowly in return which made Nojiko release tears from her eyes.

”You might have guessed. Me and Izan aren't from this world, we are here to become stronger before leaving.” Jiutian told Nojiko the truth. Slowly but surely, Jiutian opened her eyes and stared at Nojiko. ”What will you do now after learning about the truth?”

Nojiko wasn't all too surprised by what Jiutian said as she felt that the origin of Izan and Jiutian was way too mysterious. It didn't even take Nojiko a moment before she answered in a clear voice. ”As long as Izan doesn't abandon me, I will never leave his side!”

”A great answer.” Jiutian smiled brightly as her mood was becoming better. ”I will let you know right now, Izan will not abandon you nor any of his chosen companions. All you have to think about, is how to help Izan feeling secure around us.”

Nojiko understood what Jiutian meant. ”I had the feeling of Izan only showing us what we want, but never what's behind it.” Nojiko spoke while slowly raising her eyebrows.