"You want to be a pirate? Why?" The red-haired man crossed his arm and turned towards a boy with dirty blonde hair, of about 12 years old.
Shanks had been observing the new era from a distance, yet he hadn't found what he was looking for in its young. So every time he heard such dreams his curiosity would be peaked, hoping they wouldn't say something like what uttered from yet another young one's mouth-
"Pirates get tons of treasure, and if you're a captain, you get to be the big boss and everyone obeys you!" The boy smirked, and Shanks turned and kept walking.
It was the same thing, over and over. He had enough of this "Great Pirate Era." His hand found its way to the straw hat resting on his head.
Is this really the age of dreams you were hoping to create…Captain?
"PIRATES!" The screams of a fisherman echoed across the town. The man had been working on repairing his small fishing boat, and now he found himself face-to-face with none other than that ship's captain.
The fisherman shook in fear and scrambled away in shock.
"Oi, oi. Don't get so worked up! We're not here to hurt you!" The captain raised his palms in and attempted to show the man that he had no weapons on him to prove his point.
It was as if the man had not heard him whatsoever, as he continued to cover his face with his arms.
Shanks sighed and turned towards his vice-captain when the man spoke. "See what I mean, Captain? We're in East Blue; it being Garp's hometown, if anything, makes them LESS accustomed to pirates…"
"I'm sure you'd prefer it if Garp were here, you haven't had a good battle in a while, Captain! You're gonna get rusty!" One of Shanks' crew members teased from the ship behind him.
"If you're looking for adventure, we probably should look outside the East Blue!" Another called down from the dock.
"Ah… I suppose you're right. This town is just a bit too meek for my tastes." Shanks pouted.
"T-that's right, nothing but peace here in Fuusha, no treasure or anything, a real boring town, really!" The fisherman trembled from behind a crate. Shanks turned towards him and started walking towards him.
"Do you at least have a ba-"He bent over suddenly as a relatively big rock flew right where his head had been moments before.
Shanks turned, his haki slightly ablaze as he looked towards the thrower. "Now what's the big idea-" He stopped short, his eyes going down further… and further… until finally, he met the eyes of a wide-eyed raven-haired boy that only came up to just above his knees.
"Stay away from Mr. Fisherman, you dumb ape!" The boy pulled on his lower eyelid and stuck his tongue out in a very- well, childish way. Shanks looked at the boy with very little curiosity, and decided to have fun with him. He pulled his hat down over his eyes, and drew his sword part of the way out of the sheath.
"Kid… you shouldn't go around throwing rocks at people," His crew caught on and made their most intimidating faces. "Especially…if they're pirates!" Shanks gave the boy a scary grin, hoping to get a good laugh about the kid running like his life depended on it- though, if they had been any other pirates, it would- only to see that the boy's eyes had widened but he made no movement to run.
The boy's eyes widened further, and his fists raised up towards his face in what seemed like, yes, that was…excitement. His face broke into a wide, mischievous kind of smile, and he was right in front of Shanks in a matter of seconds.
"You're pirates?!" The boy's eyes sparkled in joy, and Shanks looked at the boy in shock. After a long silence, Shanks smirked, and then chuckled, relaxing his posture, and his crew followed suit.
"You aren't scared?" Shanks chuckled. "Most pirates would've killed you." He looked more serious as he looked at the boy.
"I'm not gonna die before becoming a pirate!" The boy stuck his tongue out again. Shanks stared at the kid silently.
After another long pause, he decided to temporarily ignore what the kid said. It had piqued his curiosity, but so had many others, only to disappoint him. He sighed.
"Hey, brat, does this town have a bar?"
The boy turned towards him and smiled.
"Yeah, I know just the place!"
"Hey Makino! I brought people!" Luffy burst in the door, and Makino dropped the glass she was holding.
"Luffy?! What are you doing with a group of pirates?!" She yelled across the bar, disregarding the broken glass.
"Everyone in this town is so lively! My crewmates and I just want some drinks, nothing more!" Shanks felt a bead of sweat on his forehead as he felt the woman's gaze bore into him. He really hoped she'd let them get some drinks, they hadn't had any good sake for days.
Makino's shoulders relaxed and though she still looked at them with slight suspicion, she turned towards the bar.
"Alright, what would you like?" The woman said, opening some cabinets. "You're lucky Garp-san just left, he hates pirates."
"Why's he always so mean to me?" Luffy pouted as he struggled to get onto the stool, but eventually maneuvered his way onto one. Shanks took a seat next to the boy, a few unasked questions on his lips.
"Garp-san has good intentions, but he could afford to be a little less strict on you, Luffy. That last training session he gave you left you bed-ridden for a week." Luffy rubbed his arms and shuddered as if remembering something terrifying. Makino sighed, setting down a plate heaping with food in front of the boy.
"Thanks!" Luffy stuck his fork into a piece of meat and chewed.
"Garp? What's Garp doing training some kid?" Shanks asked, half to himself, leaning on his palm.
Don't tell me…
"He's my gramps." Luffy said bluntly.
"Your what?!" Shanks almost spat out the sake he'd just been handed. His crew didn't seem to have heard from the tables behind them as they continued on with no reaction. "Then, you're-"
"Monkey D. Luffy"
Shanks' eyes widened for a moment.
A D?
Now that's something new…
He found himself beginning to wonder more about this kid. There was a long pause as Shanks mulled over what he had been told, as Luffy continued eating. Finally, he spoke.
"So…what's this about training sessions? Why's he doing that?" Shanks looked at the kid with a new sort of interest.
"He wants me to be a Marine."
"Ah. " Shanks says, looking away for a moment. "Why don't you want to be a Marine? You don't have to worry about them tracking you down, and your Grandpa would probably stop bothering you." He braced himself a little.
Luffy made a sour face, scrunching his nose up as if smelling something bad.
"Marines are so boring, "he said. "You have to get places on time, go where they tell you and get up early."
Shanks turned towards the boy and blinked.
"So…what do you want to be?" Shanks asked, but he already knew the answer. Luffy turned towards him and looked him straight in the eye, and said with a fervor Shanks hadn't seen for about ten years-
"A pirate."
The world seemed to stand still for a moment, as if the boy had proclaimed something of great importance. He eyed the glint in the boy's eyes- the honest smile, and the unruly black hair, the simple plainness about him that made what he said so much more extraordinary.
"Why do you want to be a pirate?" The phrase sat on the tip of his tongue, but he couldn't bring himself to ask it. His doubts were in the way, and he said nothing, sipping his sake. It tasted bitter.
Red Haired Shanks never had been the type to like peace and quiet. When he found himself alone on a hill in Fuusha Village, he sat there, staring at the sea, and wondered why he stayed in such a lackluster little town when the whole sea waited for him.
That kid.
He thought to himself, and seemed oddly contented with the answer. He wanted to tell himself the boy was nothing special. He had thought about leaving later that night, but something compelled him to stay. He knew what it was.
It's because he still hadn't given him an answer, because Shanks hadn't given him the question. Despite the repetitive pattern in all the promising kids he'd seen, he still wanted the answer to that question. He wanted to prove to himself that his Captain was not the last truly great man, not the last Pirate King.
"Oi! Piiiiirattteeee guyyyy!" The boy called out from behind him. Shanks turned begrudgingly, not sure if he wanted to face the kid right now. Luffy was in front of him in a matter of seconds, his face bright.
"I've decided." His smile grew wider. "You're going to have me join your crew!"
"Ehhh?" Shanks looked at the boy, surprised. "Who said I was bringing you anywhere?" He turned away from the boy.
"AWW! C'mon! I want to be a pirate like you!" The boy tugged on his cloak. Shanks rolled his eyes.
"I said no, kid!"
The boy pouted and sat down next to Shanks. He followed the older man's gaze to the coast.
"The sea sure is pretty," the boy said dazedly. "Hey, -"
"Shanks."
"Hey… Shanks, is it true that the sea is endless?" The boy stared intensely at the horizon, as if trying to see the answer for himself. The question caught the man off-guard, but he recovered quickly, staring back at the ocean past the village.
"…It depends on what you do with it." Shanks said off-handedly.
Luffy made a face as if confused, but didn't say anything, still looking fixedly at the water in the distance.
Shanks found himself saying it out of impulse.
"Why do you want to be a pirate?" the words echoed in his head after he said them, and he regretted saying them at all when the boy looked at him confusedly after a long, intense silence.
However, Shanks noticed that it was a stare that said something else-
What do you mean, why?
"Pirates get to be free, and go on adventures all the time! If I can't do what I want, there would be no point in being a pirate!" Luffy said, his voice full of the conviction that Shanks had been waiting for. The same conviction Roger had, all those years ago, when he said almost the same words.
It was enough to leave Shanks speechless.
Finally, after what seemed like decades, he began to process what the boy had said, and he smiled.
Correct.
Red-haired Shanks ran a hand through the hair that gave him his epithet, now vacant of the hat that had sat upon it just hours before; Roger's hat.
Man, he still couldn't believe he'd stayed that long in such a plain village.
For a moment, he missed the familiar weight resting on his head as he patted his hair, but looked back in the opposite direction of where they were sailing. He contemplated the emptiness silently.
No, He thought.
That was definitely the right choice. You would have done the same, isn't that right, Captain?
He smirked, going back to his crewmates on the main deck, the boy's words rebounding inside his skull, the declaration's pure determination making him believe with utter certainty that the words Luffy had said would become the future.
I'm going to be the King of the Pirates!