With a sigh I rested my head in my palm, staring out the windows of the store that I worked in, tapping my pencil against my clipboard.
The waves were gentle as they rolled in, crashing on the shore, before being pulled back out to the ocean. The sun was high in the sky, which was a perfect shade of blue only occasionally disrupted by puffy white clouds.
It was an absolutely gorgeous day. It was such a shame that it was going to waste. The people of Aurora were all currently tucked away in their homes and shops, on edge after word had arrived that a pirate ship had been spotted off shore.
While they fretted, I couldn't have been more bored.
Once word has reached Gene, the owner of the general store (and the only other person that worked there), he had pulled me from the stock room, where I was rearranging our inventory for what was probably the thousandth time and put me on the counter, which was fine except there was nothing to do. There were no customers to wait on, pirate or otherwise, and I had already cleaned and straightened up the displays. I'd wiped the counter down so many times I was fairly certain that I could see my reflection in it.
Normally, I preferred to stay away from the public, hence why I spent so much time rearranging the store room.
At a glance, I was rather unassuming. Sure, I was big for a woman, standing at over six feet tall and weighing over 200 pounds, but aside from that there was nothing physically to set me off from anyone else on the island.
It was only once people got close did things go awry. My very presence instilled fear into the hearts of most people, even the biggest and bad that Aurora Village had to offer.
As a teenager, I had been forced to eat a devil fruit, the Oni-Oni no Mi: Model Balor. It was mythical zoan. It granted me the ability to turn into the demon king, Balor. The fruit was powerful, so much so that even in my full human form, the aura of beast I turned into was enough to scare people away.
It was vexing to say the least. It made village life impossible.
Most people avoided me. Devil fruits were scary enough in these parts, but a demon fruit was next level. I had to make alternate arrangement with shops to purchase goods, because the owners didn't want me in their stores, and I was almost always the first to be suspected of any violence or destruction that came about.
The unofficial protectors of the village persecuted me. Tel and his cronies, a group of idiots that had tormented me, since I arrived in the village 18 years prior. With the exception of some sharp words, I had been nothing, but a model villager, despite them trying to provoke me into behaving otherwise. Their fear was just as unfounded as it was persistent.
Gene and Rayne, a vicious old bat who owned the apartment I rented and sometimes made me work in her tavern below it, were the only people unfazed by the fruit. At least they acted it.
Gene and Rayne, my landlord, were the only people in the village, who treated me as if I was normal. It wasn't so much that the treated me as if I was normal, as much as they treated my ability as if it was normal.
I couldn't deny that the fruit came in handy. My very presence was enough to deter would be thugs from coming after the store or the tavern. I had successfully fended off countless crews and groups of bandits.
If I didn't scare them off, I got to kick their asses, which was usually a fun time. I didn't my devil fruit for that, but I wasn't one to deny myself the pleasure of watching them freak out as I transformed.
The door opened, ringing the bell above it. I perked up, eyeing the group of three that walked in, recognizing a few of the faces from their wanted posters. 'My oh my,' I thought to myself.
"Hello. Welcome to Gene's General Supply," I greeted, my voice sweet. "Is there anything I can help you with?"
"Just looking for now. Our captain and the first mate will be here soon, and they're gonna want to fill out an order."
I nodded, noting that they were surprisingly respectful and that only one looked to be uncomfortable. "If you need help with anything just let me know."
I returned to my previous position, watching the men as they looked at the goods on the shelves. They weren't causing any trouble, but it wasn't because of me it seemed, which was honestly kind of refreshing.
The door opened once more, and two more men entered, appearances undeniable.
I smiled at them, welcoming them to the store and telling them where I could be found if I was needed. They gave me their thanks, both grinning at me, one a small smirk around his cigarette, the other a wide toothy thing.
It was strange, not the smile itself. That in fact was actually nice, especially for a pirate. Straight white teeth all lined up in a row without any holes or spaces. It was a miracle. No. It was that fact that they had smiled. Sure, my brothers smiled at me, Gene too, especially, when her was busting my chops, but that was different. They were close to me. They knew me. (Plus, I was sure that if any of my brothers gave me any shit Dear Old Dad would give them hell.)
The crew conversed for a few minutes, eyeing different items. After about fifteen or twenty minutes they finally approached me, the latter two at the front.
"Excuse me, miss?"
I perked up, my attention now on the man standing at the end of the counter, none other than Benn Beckman. "Yes?"
"Would it be possible for us to place an order?" he asked.
I lifted the clip board in my hand. "I was waiting for it," I said, walking down to stand in front of him.
"Finally, someone a step ahead of you, Benn."
My eyes shifted to Red Haired Shanks.
"Be careful, or I'm gonna have her remove all the booze you order, Captain."
"No you won't. There'd be a riot," Red Hair said, sounding horrified.
"And at the center of it would be you," Beckman shot back.
"No respect." Red Hair shook his head in exaggerated disappointment. "You know a less generous captain would have you killed for such mutinous words."
Beckman rolled his eyes. "Less generous," he said in a deadpan.
I smirked. "Generous huh? I guess I should be expecting a generous tip, once I get your order all put together, Captain Shanks."
That caused Red Hair to shoot me a cheeky grin. "So you've heard of me?"
"What can I say? You've created quite a stir. First pirate captain I've heard of with such a ridiculous hair color," I teased.
"I like her," Beckman said.
"Which doesn't bode well for me," Red Hair grumbled, grin not faltering at all.
"Don't worry," I assured him. "I still want a tip, so I won't be too hard on you."
Taking their order was easy. It wasn't obviously forced or awkward, like most of the interactions I had. It flowed naturally with quite a bit of ribbing mixed in.
"So Miss…" Shanks trailed of, seeming to just now realize that he didn't know my name.
"Elizabeth," I supplied.
"Miss Elizabeth," he repeated. "Pretty name for a pretty girl."
"Sweet talkin' me ain't going to lower this tab none," I said, not stopping my calculations as I added up their total.
"But will it get you to tell me, where we can get a drink around here?"
I chuckled. "There's a tavern in the village, but I wouldn't get my hopes up about getting a drink. Owner's not too fond of pirates. Thinks that they're all no good bastards out to rob her blind and leave her with their burdens."
Rayne hated pirates. They came in, drank her tavern dry, rarely ever paid without me having to threaten or beat them.
"I think we'll be fine. I can be very disarming."
"Looks like you've been disarmed," I jabbed, not looking up at him.
Benn let out a loud laugh at that.
Shanks grinned. "You wound me."
"Clearly, I'm not the only one."
I turned my clipboard around and, the totally at the bottom circled in red. Shanks took the clipboard, eyes trailing over it, before handing it off to Benn.
Shanks pulled out a bag of belis. "Hit my pride and then my wallet."
I chuckled. "A job well done if I do say so myself."
Author's Note:
So if you've read Stillwater, then you know that I've been talking about this Shanks fic for a while now. It's got a different name than what I originally said, but this is it. Enjoy and let me know what you think. Also forgive me, because the first few chapters are going to feel a bit repetitive, until I really get the dynamics and everything down.