The ship was quiet. Nothing on it stirred as it gently drifted through the ocean and neared a secluded island. The only person awake of course was the only female on the pirates ship. Ariana Blake. She was the captains second in command. Strong, influential, fun and serious when she needed to be. She was fit to be second in command and he knew it well. So with a look to the horizon where the nearing island was she went to wake the captain. "Shanks..." she yawned as she knocked on his bedroom door. No answer. She opened the door and found him sleeping with half of himself off the bed and the other half buried under a pillow and a blanket. "Shanks wake up...the ship will crash into the island if you don't." She said almost sleepily. She, in order to watch over the crew as they sailed off although drunk, had stayed up for three days while they slept peacefully in their drunk induced sleep. "No..." he groaned in his sleep. "If you say no again you won't be able to call yourself a captain if you have no ship." She said sitting down on his chair at the desk. He sat up quickly. "Fine Ari...geeze you-" he stopped when he saw that she had fallen asleep at his desk. The dark shadows under her eyes showing to him that she had indeed stayed up longer than she could handle. He draped the blanket over her and left to do his job. Letting her sleep in the comfort of his room.
Ariana's pov~
I woke to a quiet ship. A quiet ship was never a good thing. So I looked around and found we were restocked. That was a good thing. But everyone else was gone which most likely meant they were both laughing and drinking it up at a bar. With a sigh I left to make sure they didn't get into trouble. But there were many bars on this island. I'd need to ask around. So I found a quaint corner store that had smell of the strong booze that Shanks drank. "Excuse me?" The little old man at the counter looked up. "Yes miss? How can I help you today?" He asked kindly. "Not to bother you for directions or anything but did you happen to see a group of party hearty pirates pass by?" I asked with a nervous laugh. "Ah, the red haired pirates correct?" I nodded. "They're down the block at the nearest bar. They're a lively bunch aren't they?" He laughed. I gave a nervous nodded. "Yeah...they love to party...thanks." I smiled as I left to the bar. Of course they were there making a loud racket. But everyone inside seemed to be partying and it didn't seem to matter to them. "Y*hiccup*o Ari!" Yasopp called draping an arm over my shoulder the moment I walked in. "Why can't you guys stay sober for one night?" I asked over the noise. "B-but- Party On!" He whined. Suddenly he was out cold. "One down for the count." I sighed. I dragged him by the nose to the bar. Through out the entire bar there didn't see to be any sign of Shanks. "What can I getcha?" The bartender asked with a drunken smile. Oh god even she was drunk. "The strongest Tequila you have." I said starting to get a headache from the noise. "Got it." She gave me the strongest she had and slid it to me from across the bar. "Wat*hiccup*cha got there A*hiccup*ri?" Oh the smell. It wafted over me and invaded my senses. "Geeze Shanks. Second party in a row." I said thanking the lady before raising the glass to my lips. Only Shanks didn't like the idea of not knowing. He took it from me and chugged it down in seconds. He let out a sound of content. "Whoo! Another!" He called over to the bartender. She sent two over and I pushed Shanks to the other chair. "Mine." I said sticking my tongue out at him. Lucky got them cheering for a contest. "Drinking Contest! C'mon!" They yelled in excitement. "Party Hearty Ari!" Shanks smirked challenging. "I've never seen you drink Ari. Let's test how well you can hold it!" He challenged. I smirked. "Miss, we'll be needing tankards of this." I called. She changed them from shot glasses to the big cups they usually used for rum. "Wait to make it fair you need to drink the first one." I shrugged and drank it down like water. "On you're marks," Lucky called. "Get set!" We reached for our tankards. "GO!" Yasopp, who at some time awoke, called. We began to drink. In moments we were at seven. The dusty pink tint that showed his drunkenness level began to get darker. Ten. The others who had joined in dropped to the floor in a booze induced sleep. Fifteen. Yassop was out cold once more. Followed by Lucky Roo. Shanks was laughing like an idiot. I was still holding it. "Damn! Ana can hold her liquor like it's water!" The crew called as those who hadn't been in the contest watched. Twenty-five. Shanks hit the floor hard. Eyes spiraling as he passed out. "And twenty eight for the lady in blue!" The bartender laughed in a drunken manor. "You guys have two hours to party then we have to get going!" I called over my shoulder as I dragged the passed out pirates to the ship. I took each to there room and then turned to face the passed out on the floor Shanks. He'd be hell to carry. "Shanks wake up." I said poking him with my toe. "Hmm..." he smiled a drunk smile in his sleep. "Shanks!" I snapped. He opened an eye. "Ari-chan!~" he pulled me down to him. Holding me tightly. You're like a soft teddy bear!" He hummed contently as he held me with his one arm in a vice grip. The smell of pure booze was sickening. What's worse is that it was only the cloak and his shirt that smelled of it. "And you smell like strawberries and vanilla..." He said inhaling the smell of her hair. "Oh lord..." she sighed. She got him a bit too drunk. "You smell like booze...let go of me and go to bed." I said sternly. "But that's no fun!" He whined. "Now Shanks!" I snapped. I felt queasy from just the smell. "Sorry, fine...I'll go to sleep." He said in a slurred discontent. "Thank you." I sighed as he let me go and went to his room. I pinched the bridge of my nose in order to stop the queasy feeling but found that because he had held me so close it made my clothes and my hair smell just as bad. I decided to take a bath and closed my room to do so.
After shower~no pov~
She stepped out of the shower and changed into her pajamas. It consisted of pale purple colored shorts and a long loose fitting top. She dried her hair as she looked in the mirror. She had changed so much since her last day on her home island. She and Shanks had traveled so far from it and had seen so much on the way. "Ariana! Let's promise each other that together we'll see the world and we'll live the life we want with no regrets!" He had told her as a child. "No matter what obstacle we will see the world and live our dream! Do you promise!?" She had nodded to him and pinkie promised that they would. "No matter what Shanks!" She said. The next day they had joined a pirate crew and meet Buggy. From that day on they had seen the world and procured their own ship and met new crew members on the way. Now here she was. Second in command and seeing the world with no regrets. Their promise was still holding true and she had absolutely no regrets whatsoever. So she smiled at her reflection and combed her long Sunkist orange hair down. But when she opened the door she found her bed a mess. A mess and broken with Yasopp laying in it's ruins. Then the door burst open. "I heard a noise!" It was Shanks and he was still drunk. "Yasopp broke my bed while I was showering..." she sighed. Shanks took note. "Then use my bed. I'm gonna party more!" He smiled as he pulled her to his room placed her on the bed. "Shanks I think you should-" he was walking out the door in seconds. "Jaa ne!" With that he closed the door. She fell back on his bed. Letting out a groan of annoyance. "That man would die of alcohol poisoning one day..." she sighed defeated. But either way took the offer in attempt to relieve her stress.
Next day~
Ariana shifted in the warm bed sleepily. Feeling something warm holding her close to a bare chest. She could feel an outline of the persons abs against the small of her back. Not to mention the feel of fingers on her left side rubbing circles into her side over a rib with their thumb. She stifled a giggle from the action. "Hehheh...stop..." she said still half asleep. She felt a slight intake of air as the person doing this action stopped. "Oh?" Her eyes opened wide at the voice. "So you're ticklish there Ari?" Suddenly she was getting tickled by Shanks. She couldn't hold it in. She let out a loud giggle that to him was contagious. Their laughter woke the crew who went to investigate. Only to snicker at the fact that their suspicion of Ariana and Shanks was true. The two were almost too inseparable. "Alright love birds break it up!" Yasopp said as they continued to laugh. "Yeah! Aren't we supposed to be setting course to go further into the Grand Line?" Shanks stopped as Ariana lay underneath him in a laughing daze. "He-he...I set the course an hour ago while you guys were busy sleeping." Shanks said with a smile before attempting to tickle her once more. Only she had flipped him around and began to tickle him ruthlessly. He was at a loss. "Revenge!" She laughed maniacally. "We'll be out in a minute!" Shanks laughed. The crew left and she continued her revenge. Then he flipped her over once more. Only he took a more serious look. "Ne, Ari..." she let go of her side at the tone of his voice. "Out of all the friends you had as a child that had people who owned a ship..." he stopped. As if choosing the right words for the question. "Why did you pick the one person who didn't?" She looked up at Shanks with curious eyes. "Because," she said sitting up. "You're my best friend Shanks! We both wanted to see the world and live without regret and here we are right?" She smiled brightly. "Yeah but we can't go to the cities with ma-" she shook her head. "Never mind those places. Those were never on my map of places to see...now come on." She said pulling him off his bed and tossing him his clean non-booze smelling shirt. "We have to manage a pirate crew." She said with a cheeky grin. She left to get changed and then they were off.