(-At that time, In an unknown part of the forest-)

"Hey kid, At this rate, we'll be there in three days." Hiroshi said, as he was trying to see behind the tree in front of us.

"We need to speed up." I replied, knowing that it will and can take longer for us to reach there.

"There's a small-town place nearby. People out there don't know much about what's going on, so we can buy horses from there. That can speed us up a lot."

"Yeah, I think so too. But I hope that we don't go there for nothing. I hope witches can open the seal of the map. We have no other person to talk this about and don't know how this works either. So it is would be the best if they knew."

"Don't you know any person in the village of witches who you can ask for help?"

"Not much, but I'm sure we can trust them. The last time I talked with Pelena, she was very kind and talked about how much she can help. If we even can find her, maybe we can do something about it."

Hiroshi gave me an unsure look at that moment. Not being able to tell him even certain information, was untrustworthy. But he still kept walking and stopped me after some time.

"Let's camp here for today. We'll continue early tomorrow."

"All right, I'll handle the fire." I said going inside the woods a little bit to collect some branches.

And Hiroshi let out every type of tiredness in his body, stretched a little, and did the same too.

"I'll look around too. See if there is any danger or not."

I gathered bushes for the fire, wandered around the forest a little bit, and finally came back to lit the campfire properly. I almost burned my hand from the flames, but I managed to get it in control until Hiroshi came back. After that, we sat around the fire and kept talking.

"Hiroshi, it might be a bit off, but why aren't you taking your hat off? I saw you countless times jumping around and falling, but every time you manage to keep your hat off on your head and don't hold it in your hand. Why would you care so much about the hat?"

"It is not that I'm trying to save the hat, Kid. It is not something that can save my life or anything, it is just a habit from the past and will probably stay that way."

"What do you mean?"

"My father always said that a man only takes off his hat when he dies, or either he dies with it. Like some kind of symbol or a ritual that cowboys do on their deaths. I never understood the thing that my father was talking about, nor the weight he was carrying on his shoulders. But I do finally understand that it is no such easy thing to do. So in short, that hat is as valuable to me as the gun we bought back."

"That is fairly understandable. But are you doing this for a family heirloom?"

"No. Actually, a person I admire gave it to me. His name was Claw. He was the fastest shooter in the town, even people called him "The Nightmare of the West". Bad people would look for holes to run away from when they saw him. It would be just so fun to see them run away or piss their pants in fear."

"Was he that strong?"

"Strong? Kid, strong isn't the definition for this man. He had enough power and energy to fight an army, alone. Maybe this makes no sense to you, which it still doesn't for me on some points, but it was the truth. I do see him a lot greater since he was my childhood hero, but I do not think that my adult mind can fool me on what he did."

"What kind of person "Claw" was anyway?"

"It's a topic I don't like to talk about."

"Oh...."

"But I'll tell you for this time."

-----------------------------

A group of people once caused chaos in our city for no reason. At the time, I was trying to be someone like him, I was just fooling around to show how much I can do, so I wanted to stop them, but I just got in the way. Claw jumped in front of the bullets to protect me. And I was very much so sure of him that he would and can protect me. But it was no use since I was the one who caused him to do this. Even when he was dying, he was kind to me in his last moments, saying it wasn't my fault that he died, but I was the one completely to blame.

Taking his hat into his hand, he said to me, with little breaths falling from his lips,

"Hiroshi, as long as you want to save people, you don't have to be like me, just be yourself."

He then put a smile on his face, and added,

"Take care of this hat. I'm sure It'll look better on you."

-----------------------------

Hiroshi smiled and looked at the campfire.

"I've never taken this hat away from me since."

Everything that Hiroshi told me about that moment was so deeply wounding, I couldn't help but remember the other people around me doing such great things. Hiroshi was just like me when I was a child, but seeing that he came out with another outcome, I now understand the value of some things that annoyed me the first time with my uncle.

I did many things and learned many lessons from them, but Hiroshi was left all alone. To do, to enjoy, to even live. Everything that he was going to do, was all alone.

And that part that I hated the most.

"A man that I respected, just like you did to me, told me that no matter how a person dies when death comes, a person cannot escape it. It is something we can't come in front of it. So don't blame yourself for that. He saved many people, knowing the outcome, and I'm sure he would have done it again without thinking about it."

"Yeah. It is just the process of understanding the concept of what he did. But I'm grateful for your words regardless."

I smiled, getting happy with the warm words Hiroshi said.

"I would do the same too. Carrying a legends hat with you, must be something heavy, but something special."

Hiroshi chuckled,

"Yeah, something like that."

After our conversation, we went to sleep shortly and set off again early in the morning. And after two hours of walking, we finally managed to reach the village. But since we hadn't eaten since yesterday, we went into the restaurant and ate before looking at the horses.

We then left the restaurant, and Hiroshi lit his cigar at the very entrance stepping outside,

"Looks like we spent our last money on food. How are we going to pay for the horses?"

"I'll find a way. There has to be someone around here that can help us."

"They are not that friendly, Kid. We are two strangers walking around looking for ways to carry ourselves. That wouldn't make any sense to them in any situation. You should even start hoping that they wouldn't kick you out their door or even the village. As long we don't hit something like a lottery, we are off here." 

A strong sound rose from the crowd, as Hiroshi was left out watching it after he said that,

"Come! Come! Come! Whoever defeats this man, will be given two healthy horses! Come put your money down and take your chances!"

"Here. The lottery." I said pointing out the fact we found something.

The whole expression on Hiroshi's face changed, and he talked putting out his cigar,

"I take it back, let's go get these horses."

Hiroshi and I went to the middle of town to pick up the horses and almost everyone in town was there. Everyone wanted the horses like crazy, and I didn't think we could get through the crowd. But after struggling for minutes, we managed to squeeze through, and finally saw who the announcer was talking about.

The guy who was undefeated, was actually a pretty big guy in size. He had muscles showing up, right from his shoulder to the tip of his fingers. He was showing his muscles, his sweat going into the air with his shining body, and he was taking down everyone who came into the ring one by one. He was just fighting, with such ego growing his chest out.

And after every challenger was defeated and no one wanted to enter the ring, the man in the ring shouted at the audience,

"Doesn't anyone have the courage? Come on! You coward chickens!" Everyone shook with fear after hearing his strong voice on their faces.

But it wasn't that scary for me. Just like the time my uncle had defeated the bully that was kicking an innocent man, and the other memories I had of my uncle beating up such "buffed" men like this, I know exactly that they were the weakest ones among the others.

So after that phrase, he yelled out loudly, I jumped to ring and stood in front of him,

"I think this ring is empty, and enough for us to move around. I'll be your opponent."

"You? What can a boy like you do?" The man replied laughing,

"I don't know? You have to get closer to find out."

An excitement covered my body quickly, and I was more than ready to put my skills to the test. After Ronk's trainings, I was getting excited almost at every fight. Using this to my advantage was a great breakpoint too. After all my want to keep pushing forward in that training was the most entertaining part.

And I had to do the same here.

For a short period of time, we stood there looking at each other, sure of ourselves. Deeply trying to create the feeling of greatness in each other. But not getting too caught up, and after the announcer hit the bell, the man went crazy and fully charged up to me.

That fully surprised me. Because it was the worst move that someone could have done in a battle and there were nevertheless endless options for me to hit him.

So I got back, fully concentrated on my move, and did a strong blow.

When he got the chance to attack me, I punched him in the stomach, twisting and pushing my fist further to deal more pain to his guts and inner bones. He got in the air, painfully trying to get back. But realizing that it was no use, the guy couldn't get up from the ground after my first punch and just stood there laying down.

Everyone was now looking at us again in surprise. But Hiroshi didn't care and simply went to get the horses.

"Congratulations, kid, good job."