The day after the funeral, Perros went looking for the key.
He woke up in the morning at home and thought.
"Was it a nightmare? Is Darren alright?" He began to breathe heavily.
He looked around the room and then at his hands. They were still a little bloodstained.
"So it's true...." Perros looked really sad.
"Damnit" He thought and clinched his fist.
He almost started crying again, but he took a deep breath and got out of bed.
After breakfast he began to work. He took his fishing rod and went to the sea.
When he got there, he boarded his little wooden boat he had made with Frank from the town. He paddled into deep water where the fish were tastier.
"Today is sunny, a good day for fishing." Perros smiled.
"I got bait!" He said determinedly.
The fish fought bravely, but Perros was stronger and pulled her out of the water.
"Nice, tuna. But I need more." He said and went back to fishing.
"Ah, it's noon. Time for lunch." He looked up and licked his lips, hungry.
After some time he finished and returned to land. On his way back he came across a school of whales, they were pretty close to the water surface.
He looked around and saw even more of them. He saw one jumping above the sea surface.
"Wow, a school of whales!" Perros said in amazement.
One of the whales swam under him. But it was rising to the surface of the sea. Later, the whale and Perros's ship collided, but his ship was in a strange dent.
"Don't tell me it's....." Perros frowned.
He didn't even finish his sentence before a stream of water bursted out of the dent. It was the whale's nose.
Perros screamed and flew with the stream of water to the sky. When he was in a point where the stream stopped rising, he looked around and saw a beautiful vast sea.
"What a nice view." He said, sighing.
However, immediately afterwards, the stream stopped flowing.
"Oh no." He said when the stream stopped.
Perros started screaming again as he was falling back to the sea. He hit the sea hard, but his catch was fine. And Perros started laughing.
After a few hours he returned to land. He got off the boat and went into town with his catch.
"I'm back!" He said as he entered the harbor.
"Ah, Perros." Paul greeted him.
"How was the trip?" Frank asked.
Perros held up his hand with the catch and smiled.
"Good, thanks for asking." He said.
"Wow, that's a lot. Ok, now come with me." Paul said.
Perros went with Paul for his reward.
"And I also ran into a school of whales!" Perros said.
"Really? How many were there?" Paul asked.
"I don't know... a lot?" Perros scratched his head.
Paul laughed. He rewarded Perros and then they parted again.
"See you tomorrow, Paul." Perros waved his hand and left for town.
As soon as Perros reached the front of the saloon, he remembered what had happened yesterday. He looked at the saloon and smiled.
"Well, let's do it." He said and entered the saloon.
The saloon was empty, it was depressing. The only one there was Willie, polishing glasses.
Once he reached the bar he looked for a cash register.
"So you're going to look into it?" Asked Willie.
"Yeah, I wonder what the key opens." Perros smiled thoughtfully.
So he looked under the cash register and there it was - the key. It was a little dirty, so Perros had to clean it, but after that it looked brand new.
"But what it opens? Well, I'm going to start here in the saloon." Perros thought.
"Hey Willie, are here any chests or cabinets that are locked?" He said.
"No, I don't know of any, but try the first floor." Willie said and started cleaning up the tables.
Perros went upstairs to second floor. He looked down the hallway, there were four rooms.
"So, lets get to work" He said and opened the first door.
It was an ordinary room with bed, cabinet, table and chair. Perros looked inside the bed, cabinet even the table. But he found nothing.
"Ok.... nothing here." He said, annoyed.
Perros left the room and closed the door behind him. He looked at the next door.
"No." He said lazily and made his way to the last door.
The door squeaked and Perros stepped inside.
The room was the same as the first one, but there was a picture on the wall. The picture was tilted. Perros thought it was suspicious. He walked in front of the picture and looked at it.
"Wh...What is that picture." He laughed and took the picture off the wall.
Perros turned it over, something was on that side of the picture. It was used chewing gum.
"This is stupid, don't get my hopes up." He said and threw the picture on the bed.
He was about to go to the door when suddenly he tripped over a piece of broken floorboard and fell to the floor.
"WHO PUT THAT THERE!?" He shouted angrily.
Perros looked on the broken plank and there was a space underneath. He pulled a wooden plank from the floor. There was a little wooden chest.
"So this is what Darren meant." He looked at the chest.
Perros tried to see if the key fit into the keyhole on the chest, It did. He took a deep breath, inserted the key into the keyhole and turned. The chest was now unlocked, all that was left was to open it.
"Here it goes." Perros said, unsure of what was inside.
He opened the chest and there was a picture of some middle-aged man and pocket watches.
"Who's this?" Perros wondered.
He took the chest and went back downstairs. Perros wanted to ask Willie who that guy was.
"Hey Willie, who's this old fart?" Perros asked.
"Huh? Show me." Willie responded.
Willie froze. He looked frightened.
"Do you know him?" Perros asked again.
"Old fart? Old fart? This man once ruled the world! He was the most fearsome and knowned cowboy at his time. A Bandazai." He said in a shaky voice.
"Why was his picture in the chest?" Perros asked.
"He was.... Darren's brother." Willie said while looking at the picture.
"And the watch was his gift to Darren." He added.
"That's nice, where's he now?" Perros asked.
"Some say he's dead, others say he went missing." Willie stopped polishing glasses.
"In honor of Darren, I'll repeat what his brother did... I'll become a Bandazai, like he did!" Perros said determinedly.
"Well, you know how dangerous it is, and yet you want to become one?" He said in surprise.
"As I said, it's in honor of Darren. And my lifelong dream." Perros said.
"You know, it's going to be..." Willie didn't even finish his sentence.
"I'm going to be a Bandazai, Darren would be so proud." Perros thought to himself as he headed out of the salon.
"Hey, I didn't finish." Willie said angrily.
Perros stopped and turned around.
"At least wait until you're of age. This dream of yours... won't be easy to fulfill." Willie said it carefully.
"Don't worry, Willie, I still have a lot of practicing to do." Perros smiled and walked out of the saloon.
So Perros started practicing every day. He thought eight years was a long time, but it wasn't.