Her beauty made eyes turn towards her, her large smile made other want to grin along, her honest face made people believe that she wasn't a cruel person, it fool people into thinking that she never went through hard ship, even with a scar under one of her eyes, and the large one on her chest that she loves showing off.
The people the same age as her watched her walk by with grace, something that she didn't have when they were all going to high school together, her trouble making friends all rushed up to her and hugged like they had never been apart, the fight between the blond cook and the green haired judo champion started like normal, the tears running down the blue haired male that now makes robotic limbs for people missing theirs was normal along with the young doctors tears.
The long orange haired female beating the crap out of the tall skinning radio man was normal, even the calm scholars was listening to the stories of the compulsive liar with amusement.
It was like that trouble making group never grew up, sure they look older but on the inside it was like they had never grown up from high schooler, even if all of them have high rank jobs and or have become rather famous…
One teacher watching the group felt a clench in his gut at the sight of his ex-student, the beautiful cute one…Luffy; the one that he had dated while she was in high school and a little after she had graduated…the red haired man had never forgotten her.
"Did you just get back?" Nobody noticed that everyone was doing the same thing, all of them had shut up to listen to the group, they wanted to know what the most trouble making student in the school had been up too.
"Yeah I got back yesterday and wanted to surprise you all today." Luffy laughed eyes alight with glee, Shanks smiled softly at that look, he had forgotten what that smile looked like…
"Still can't believe you did that." Luffy laughed louder looking at the dejected Sanji.
"So when do we get to meet tall dark and handsome?" Nami asked egger shining in her eyes; Luffy looked over at the gates then shrugged.
"He said he would be coming but…he might be lost, this is his first time in Raftel after all…"
"You just left him?" Nami screeched, Luffy laughed but Shanks didn't feel the joy in it any more…she was with another…someone that wasn't him, and the illusion that Shanks had that Luffy might come back to him vanished.
"Eh, his smart, and what other school is called one piece in the city anyways?" This got her a bump on the head before Nami looked amused.
"What's he do?"
"Model." A few girls listening widened their eyes, all of them thinking that they might be able to steal the man from the dumb tomb boy women.
"And his okay with you doing what you do?"
"Yep, in fact he showed interest in it, even asked…"
"LUFFIA!" A male screamed from the gate, panting, his shirt unbutton because of the heat showing off his well looked after body, a bright orange cowboy hat sat on top of his head and black cargo shorts that had a belt done around it hugging his hips.
Luffy's head spun around making her hair fly out like ribbons in the wind, Shanks felt his heart ache from the look of love that shot up to her face, how her smile went wider just a bit more.
"YOU JUST TOOK OFF AND LEFT ME THERE!"
"Hahahaha, sorry." She said clearly not sorry at all, by now the whole reunion class was watching from the side lines, the hot male a few years older than Luffy marched up to her, they could see the men from Luffy's group all tense up just a little and look like that if the model hurt Luffy he would become dog chow.
As the man got closer they saw that he had freckles as his eyes held more worry then anger, his arms wrapped around her and he drew her into a kiss, when they pulled away Luffy was laughing for a whole other reason.
"Your friends?"
"Oh everyone this is Ace, Ace this is everyone." Luffy said dragging Ace closer, the group looked him over and Robin looked amused.
"Luffy…you didn't tell us that he was a model for the Whitebeard Company." Luffy laughed at the stunned looks that were sent their way.
"You never asked." As they were about to say more one of the teachers shouted that everything would be moved inside the hall, Luffy's group moved first, and they noticed that Luffy and Ace were not the only ones that held hands with other people, Usopp was holding Kaya's hand, rings on their fingers, Vivi and Nami were holding hands while Robin was being gently led by Franky, they didn't know about the others but it kind of looked like Sanji and Zoro were just a tad too close to each other to be considered friendly.
When they got to the hall it was decked out with tables on the sides with food, an open space to dance or just mingle, a DJ played in the back, a large screen had a slide show going of the school years activities…it was amusing that in most of the photos was Luffy grinning at the camera.
"Your schedules must be busy, how do you find time to see each other?" Brook asked, the group still ignoring how people ears dropped on them.
"Well…we worked it out that we have the weekends free and to ourselves."
"Does that mean you have a house?"
"More of a hotel room that we share." Ace answered pulling Luffy onto his lap causing her to giggle.
"How did the two of you meet?" The couple shared amused looks as Luffy leaned on the table, Ace's hand running through her hair.
"I was working at a shoot; pirate themed outfits for the Halloween special clothe addition, when this young female walks in on me getting changed…" Ace looked highly humoured by this while Luffy just kept on smiling.
One of the students ended up aiming a camera over the group and a microphone so that it was on all the speakers and the large screen…
"So what happened?"
"I was naked, being a model gets rid of a person's shame about being naked in front of others but other people would have turned red in the face and left, but Luffy stood and stared making me feel uncomfortable, her eyes looked me up and down then she grinned, my temper flared up at this and I screamed at her to get out." Ace shook his head and Luffy giggled. "She listened, turned around and left, however…she was at the shoot itself, her dark eyes watching us as we posed for the camera…I have never had so many crappy shots taken of me in my life."
"Shishishi, then Ace came up to me and demanded me to leave but Marco, the partner he was modelling with for the pirate clothes at the time halted him, I was there on a job, Newgate had invited me and I ended up getting lost…he wanted me to see his boys."
"You saw us alright." Ace grumbled hands going around her hips and drawing her back into his lap fully. "After the shoot was done, Marco, Thatch and a few others with me all went to the showers; Luffy here walks in on us…naked herself and starts to shower along, eyes staring at everything."
The crew chuckled at this, while Shanks imagined her sun kissed skin under the shower head…how he missed the times that they shower together.
"Well I wanted to look at you all fully."
"I know that now, but back then…it was like you were some pervert." Luffy laughed and leaned back into Ace's chest.
"I wasn't the one that drooled and got…" Ace placed a hand over her mouth, but he was grinning down at her, Luffy laughed into his hand, those that were listening didn't need any further words to explain what happened to Ace.
"Anyways, we ended up dragging her to Pop's office to get her in trouble, but he just laughed and said that she could do anything that she wanted." Ace sighed shaking his head… "Imagine our surprise when we find out that Luffy here is an actress that's wrote a whole bunch of novels and she is co-directing a film…she was their scouting for candidates for the movie."
"Enough about us, Robin when are you having your first child?" Luffy asked turning to the other black haired female on the table, sounds of shock were made from those that didn't know and Luffy laughed letting Ace kiss along her neck as they listened to the stories that the rest of Luffy's crew had been up too.
Ace then got up, leaving Luffy in the chair, he headed towards the toilet and Shanks followed him, the two stood next to each other as they pissed then washed their hands next to each other, when nobody else was in the wash room Ace turned to Shanks.
"What do you want?" He asked rising an eyebrow, Shanks just stared long and hard at him.
"I'm Shanks, Luffy's old homeroom teacher." The way that Ace's eyes widened told the teacher that he didn't need to say any more.
"Luffy told me about you, how you started dating her when she was sixteen, how she lost her virginity, how you both made it public after she graduated…then how you cheated on her and abused her emotionally…not that she noticed the abuse, I picked up on it when she talked about what happened between the two of you."
"Yes that's right…my biggest regret…no that's my second biggest regret." Shanks sighed eyes going to the mirror for a second before they turned back to Ace. "My biggest regret is that I didn't hold onto her tighter…so don't let her go when you only have a few inches dug into her."
"What are you saying old man?" Ace looked amused and series, leaning on the wall with his arms cross over his chest.
"I'm saying that you don't have the hooks in her far enough, and that you better hold on tightly to Luffy." Ace snorted, and he walked to the door, pausing to look back at Shanks.
"Don't worry, my hooks go all the way through…and my hands hold onto her as tightly as they can." With that Ace left the bathroom and sat down on the ground next to Luffy, his hand reaching up as her reached down, both of them grabbing tightly onto the others hand, holding on tightly.
At the end of the party, Shanks runs up to Ace and Luffy, panting deeply, the girl looks at him with a smile.
"Shanks." She cheered, but the way her voice sounded when she said it brought an ugly feeling inside Shanks up.
"Luffy…listen…" Shanks paused and looked down at only her Luffy's head tilted towards the side. "I, I want to apologize for everything that I did to you."
Her eyes widen up and she stares at Shanks, the red haired man never says sorry so seriously unless he knows he has done something wrong.
"I treated you horribly, I cheated on you and I hurt you, I didn't hold on to you tightly enough and I regret that." Luffy's eyes narrowed into slits the more Shanks talked, but he didn't see it. "I wanted you to know that I never stopped thinking about you and I have always lo…"
Luffy's fist shot out and struck Shanks in the nose, she glared down upon him.
"Your still full of shit Shanks, you don't love me, you never have, I was young and willing, and Shanks, you don't love me right now, I can see it in your eyes, you are in pain yes, but it's not because I'm taken, it's because of something else in your heart telling you that it's wrong what your brain is trying to create. You have a ring on your finger, married, don't you dare use me for a realise of your marriageable problems, talk to your wife or husband about it and get it fix." Then they were gone and Shanks had a broken nose, when he was allowed to leave the hospital he found his black haired swords man sleeping on a waiting room chair, Shanks stared at Mihawk for a long time before he went up to his love and wrapped his arms around him, waking the man up, they kissed, and Shanks knew that he wouldn't let this one go, he'll hold onto this one with his life.
