Title: Peace like Bubbles
Author: AppleL0V3R
Beta-reader: N/A
Fandom: Naruto and One Piece
Pairing: Akagami no Shanks and Haruno Sakura
Other Characters: (mentions of) Benn Beckman, Silvers Rayleigh, "Shakky" Shakuyaku
Summary: Barely mid-twenties and Sakura's sure she's had a full life—shinobi, marine, shopkeeper—but apparently, she hasn't really lived until she runs across the Red-Hair Rookie.
Word Count: 2,700
Rating: T
Type: One-shot – Complete
Genre: Canon Divergent (Naruto), Canon Compliant (One Piece), general, pre-relationship
Warnings: Possible spoilers (One Piece: Sabaody Archipelago)
Disclaimer: If you've heard of it before, then it's obviously not mine.
Started: December 4, 2016
Completed: December 15, 2016
Notes: According to OP's wiki, Shanks is 27 when we first met him (i.e. when Luffy is 7) and by the Ennies Lobby Arc, he's 37 and Whitebeard refers to him as 'the new kid on the block' in terms of being a Yonko. So if my math is right early 30's would mean Shanks has his own crew, is definitely a rookie—as in one of the ones with a 100M+ beri bounty by the New World—but may or may not be one of the Yonko, yet. Or at least, I wouldn't be incorrect at this point in assuming so. Therefore, I think, on grounds of artistic license, I can totally get away with this idea. Also, I've picked Sakura—again—not just because she's my favorite character and I ship her with essentially everybody, but also because she's one of the only female Naruto characters that I see as possibly being in these circumstances (and being shippable with Shanks). Admittedly this kind of grew legs and a brain and, like, ran away with itself. Oops. Enjoy.
Sabaody Archipelago was a curious place to call home. But of all the places to choose to settle down after the chaos that had been her entire life, Sakura could think of nowhere better.
Especially with the World Nobles so close at hand.
But that was beside the point and hardly her reason for choosing to take up residence in the world's largest mangrove. No, Sakura had chosen the Archipelago for an amalgam of other reasons—the first of which being that it was near navy headquarters. It was also where all the rookies of Paradise funneled through as the last island before crossing into the New World. Not to mention it came with the bonus of being literally on the other side of the world from Konohagakure no Sato and the Shinobi Nations at large.
Didn't hurt that her first ever friend outside the Calm Belt waters surrounding her home, Shakky, had also put down long term roots on this very makeshift island.
It was an easy enough place to get by in. Well, she supposed it was easy as anywhere else on the Grand Line.
In that respect, every island had its own hardships in terms of living conditions. Sabaody's happened to be that it was ground zero for the tyranny that was the tenryuubito.
While they had been a nasty surprise the first time she'd learned of them, Sakura now took borderline perverse pleasure and subtly sabotaging them. And really, doing so was almost too easy—a simple genjutsu here, a word there. But her favorite thing had to be screwing with the Auction House.
Sakura had come to accept that the entire world at large was nearly too damaged to stomach, every detail somehow smudging the already grainy picture. Sabaody Archipelago just happened to be the one place where she could truly make a difference without make a name.
She would be the first to admit that joining the marines had not been quite the way to go in pursuance of that particular endeavor. No name grunts had no clout and big name admirals were too tied up in politics and diplomacy due to a system too corrupt to make any real headway in without a complete breakdown and rebuild the likes of which would not be possible any time in the next few dozen years barring something truly momentous. So, she had gotten out pretty quick, barely reaching Vice Admiral in her quest. Being a flat out doctor had not helped. She doubted attempting piracy would—and it was not something she could come back from if things did not pan out.
That left, well, this.
Which was to say, keeping the casualties of the narcissistic World Nobles to a minimum in a way that even being a marine had not allowed for. Rules. Authority. Why, exactly had joining the Navy seemed like a good idea after the horror of Danzo's reign? Frowning at the thought, Sakura shook her head.
Ruminations were best left for times when she did not have work to do. Granted, tuning a piano was a long and tedious affair no matter the circumstances; she could still be using the think time on other more pertinent matters. Like the fact that another up-and-coming Rookie was in their midst. According to Shakky, the brat—not so much a brat given the fact that he was probably at least a few years her senior—used to be a cabin boy aboard the Oro Jackson along with Rayleigh. The Dark King had snorted, but admitted that this Rookie had potential. High praise from a man like him, she knew.
There was also the matter of the festival coming up that she was nowhere near ready for. How many instruments did she have to ready? Five? Six? Not to mention the fact that she had not practiced any of the pieces with the exception of a couple run-throughs. Sighing, she refused to even contemplate all the menial work that went into prepping the shop and readying for the post-festivities matters. None of which even touched on the day-to-day…
Swearing under her breath, she felt like she finally understood why Kakashi was perpetually late and Tsunade had been squirrelly as all get out about paperwork. Being an adult was tough. Responsibilities were a hell of a load. But mostly? She just felt like she was getting to old to have five thousand projects going at once. Maybe she should ease off? This was meant to be her retirement. It was supposed to be fun, not wearying busywork.
Even as she considered the merits of downsizing, she heard the wind chimes she'd placed just outside the front door of her shop on the floor beneath her apartment. The vast majority of visitors didn't account for the fact that the moment of the door caused the air to move just enough to stir the wind chimes. In most cases, she found the subtle warning it to be an unnecessary precaution. But after growing up under the daily dangers of the shinobi lifestyle and then compounding it with the knowledge of the Grand Line that the marines had gained her, she figured that as the saying went: better safe, than sorry.
A single set of footsteps pattered lightly across the recently varnished wood of the floor below and she half considered playing a game with herself that she had learned in her first year of the academy. Guess the guest. But even as she parceled out the information on hand she knew that it would both rude and remiss of her to keep her customer waiting for longer than needed. So she hummed to herself and put down the tools she'd been using on her baby grand—the first instrument she'd bought when she'd settled in this place, though not the first one she'd learned to play—before heading for the stairway that connected her living room to the shop's backroom.
Rather than calling to the man below—judging by the weight of his steps and the gait he walked at, as well as the lack of perfume or other feminine scents—she merely made for the stairs on silent bare feet. She may not be willing to leave someone unattended in her shop but she hardly saw the harm in playing the game while she could. Halfway down the staircase she heard the susurration of fabric the kind sturdy but worn cloth made when it rubbed against itself and the soft thunks of leather boots against her floorboards. She could feel the presence of him, one she was familiar with though she had not felt it in a while—unassuming yet commanding. Somewhere between potentially infectious and potentially frightening. By the bottom of the stairs and few paces from the closed door that lead to her shop, she heard soft humming from a deep voice and the occasional note from one of the instruments decorating the galley.
Even before she got to the door, she noticed the brief pause and by the engrained use of chakra sensing, she knew her guest had gone still and she would wager he had turned towards the door she'd just laid her hand on. Sakura breezed into the back portion of her cozy shop, eyes adjusting almost immediately to the contrast of going from the dark backroom to the light pastels and sun shining through large bay windows. She'd down her shop in a palette of dove greys and petal pinks and seafoam green to go with the lovely red oak hardwood.
Speaking of contrast. The man looked almost out of place in the middle of her shop; from his stark cherry red hair to the deep black of his coat. There was no mistaking the identity of her customer, but she postponed the implications of that in favor of taking in the sight before her. Red-Haired Shanks of the Red Hair Pirates was a sight to see and he stuck out like a sore thumb in her homey little music shop.
*.*.*
The Red Hair Pirates docked on Sabaody Archipelago sometime around midday and from there it was fairly easy to find Shakky's Rip-Off Bar—the first place Shanks knew to start looking for Silvers Rayleigh, former first mate of the Roger Pirates and one of the few crewmates Shanks never fell out of touch with. Rayleigh had been the one to encourage Shanks to build his own crew and sail for the New World all over again—this time on his own steam and without the attachment of Gol D. Roger or any of the fantastical people he had met aboard the Oro Jackson.
And given his current Rookie status and the strength of his own crew, Shanks would always be some level of grateful for the role Rayleigh had played in getting Shanks from untrained cabin boy to feared pirate captain.
Naturally meeting up with his former crewmate and his wife made for a round of fun introductions, a few shared of drinks, and most importantly the promise of a party upon the completion of the coating of the Red Force for making it through the first half of the Grand Line and for the adventures ahead in the New World. Granted, he was half-sure that his first mate was more concerned about the fact that they were indeed getting their ship coated by someone who knew what they were doing than he was that the crew would be invited to helping themselves to Shakky's alcohol and establishment. There was a reason Benn Beckman was the first mate, though Shanks was of the opinion that the gunslinger was a bit of a stick in the mud.
But with all the essentials squared away, there was no reason not to venture further across the gigantic mangrove—especially since they would be docked for the next three days and would have to find ways to entertain themselves in the interim.
There was an amusement park that took up the space of about ten groves and everything in the vicinity seemed worth at least taking a look at. There was also a grouping of about ten groves to the south and another group to the east were not specifically for tourists and would be rife of mercenaries, pirates, pirate hunters and the occasional shop the might also be worth a looksee. Shakky had specifically mentioned a cozy little music shop run by a musician who was relatively new to the area but definitely worth his time.
Shakky was a fairly good judge of such things, so he figured that would be the first thing on his to-do list. Who knew, he could probably even get himself a musician out of the deal—he certainly did not have one of those yet.
The shop was located almost halfway between the groves designated for tourists and the ones occupied by the marine base. And right in the heart of trouble.
Despite that, the two story building gave off the sense of serenity and home. Shanks could not help but smile. Rare was the place in this world that could make a complete stranger feel a sense of home and hearth, could inspire calm and ease just by existing. As a man who enjoyed drinking and partying and all around good cheer, it was almost a novelty. And it said a lot about the proprietor.
He absently noted the glass wind chimes hanging along both side of the simple portico, they were neither extravagant nor boring. But they were hardly for decoration—he would bet that the store owner used them like door bells. A theory that proved true when the act of opening the door caused a few of them to jingle a little. Not a particularly loud sound, no alarm by any means, but audible enough to be caught by a trained ear. His smile grew.
Was the musician the prepared type, then? Or paranoid? It was a subtle early warning system, so he would bet it was the former.
The inside of the shop, given the presence of it from the outside, was unsurprisingly pleasing. Done up in soft tones, it emphasized the instruments hanging on the walls or strategically placed around the debatably small room. He found himself gravitating towards the area where it looked like a piano had been but no longer stood. Along the way he could not help but reach out and touch the strings of a well taken care of violin and hum the notes of a common pirate song he never heard the name of.
As he reached the spot of the missing piano, he unconsciously turned in the direction of the back door when his Kenbunshoku Haki picked up the presence of another person coming from that direction. A second later, the door opened to reveal a young woman with long pink hair and green eyes that widened slightly when they landed on him. She recovered quickly with a smile and eyes that warmed as they returned to normal; and then she finished crossing the threshold and closed the door behind her.
He tipped his head towards the empty space and smiled back at her, "What happened to the piano?"
Her eyes followed the movement to the indicated spot before flicking back to him, "Tuning. Lot easier to do that when I don't have people underfoot and such."
Shanks faked a pout, "Aw, and I was told you're an excellent pianist."
Sakura chuckled and ducked her head, clearly not accustomed to praise. "Yes well, not even the world's best pianist can play well with an out-of-tune instrument. I'm sure it would be something like sword fighting with a broken blade."
Feeling his amusement grow at the casual relation to the favored saber at his waist. Given that Shakky and by extension Rayleigh had been the ones to vouch for her, Shanks supposed he should not be surprised that she was comfortable around swordsmen, and probably fighters in general. She walked towards the back counter, not quite slipping behind it, but leaning against it as she continued to regard him. "I should have it tuned by twilight though—I'm sure whoever recommended my musical skill mentioned that I play right around that time."
He nodded, half distracted with the pose she had struck: slim waist emphasized in a black skirt that revealed her long lean legs from thigh to toe, and a skin tight red shirt that left her arms bear but emphasized her slim body rather than the fact that she did not have a large bust. He recognized the direction of his thoughts and considered it for a moment. If he really wanted her to join his crew, then he should probably avoid making it awkward. Did not mean he could not look, he was only human after all and she was certainly a looker.
"She did, she also mentioned that you'll be in the festival a few days from now."
Another smile, this one caught somewhere between anxious and exasperated. "I am. Assuming I get everything done by then." The last part came out more mumbled, like it was directed at herself. Then she shrugged, "With any luck, the pieces I have planned live up to expectation."
The redhead watched as she pushed away from the desk and crossed the few steps in between them. Her intelligent green eyes watching him curiously as she approached. When she was within arm's reach she held out her hand, "Forgive me, I've forgotten to introduce myself. I'm Haruno Sakura."
He froze in the action of reaching out to complete the handshake as soon as he heard her name. "Haruno Sakura, former Vice Admiral of the Navy, Haruno Sakura?"
She blinked, shrugged again, and finally nodded. "Key word there would be former, Akagami no Shanks, captain of the Red Hair Pirates and former member of the Roger Pirates."
Tension broken, he let out a laugh and clasped her hand. "I suppose it would Miss Haruno." Shanks decided right then that she would be a great addition to the crew.
The smile returned, easy and lazy, "Just Sakura, please. I'm tired of titles."