CH 1

Through the glass and over the wooden sill of a window on the side of the inn, the sun's early beams shone and met with silky, shimmering red hair and soft, lightly tanned skin. A wide hand reached up from under soft cotton sheets to rub once sleeping eyes, and the other reached out to the small table beside the bed and felt around, searching blindly for something. "Red haired" Shanks sat upright in his current bed and looked around the room with half-lidded eyes. "That's right," he cleared his throat before continuing, "I gave my hat to anchor before we left..." he said to himself. He closed his eyes tightly and smiled, raising his arms to greet the morning with a waking stretch. Flopping his arms back down, he scratched his bare chest and pushed the covers off of him, flipping his legs over the side of the bed and struggling a bit to get up. He flinched a little at the cold floor on his bare feet and then walked over to a near by chair to grab his shirt. Pulling it over his head, he sat down and put on his socks and boots and then walked out of the room and down a set of stairs that led to the bar at the bottom of the inn. He gave a nod to the bar keep and ignored the loud greetings from his crew, who were already up and drinking more than their fill. He headed straight for the door.

Closing the door behind him, he stood there for a moment, squinting into the sun with his usual fairly large grin plastered on his face. He took in the sent of the salty breeze and looked across the sea, admiring it greatly. After being satisfied with the intake of his surroundings he turned the corner and walked to the nearest restaurant with outdoor seating. This town was small, but very nice, rich looking. He took a chair at the end of a long row of tables, trying his best to be away from the other people who were being rather loud, they seemed to be celebrating something. Shanks wasn't exactly in the mood for celebration at the moment, he felt one quiet morning to himself once in a while wouldn't be such a bad thing. He turned his gaze once again to the sea that sparkled with the light of the morning sun. The sounds of mugs clashing together, hardy laughter and drunken shouts of joy behind him were not taken for granted as they actually rather comforted him, just a little.

His hypnotized gaze at the sea was broken as something else caught his eye. A girl, just a little younger than him, stood at the edge of one of the docks, staring out into the vast blue meeting of water and sky. Her long brown, wavy hair, pulled back into a ponytail with only two strands left dangling in front of her face, blew gracefully in the sea breeze. She wore a simple dress, long, not tight, but flattering her curvish form, in the color of forest green. Her pale skin seemed to glow with the meeting of the shining sun. She was a classic beauty, but even so, she had a look of sorrow to her. Shanks contemplated going over and asking her if anything was wrong, but he felt that she was better left alone, and admired from afar.

Just then a group of men walked up to her and gave her a little shove on the shoulder. She turned to face them and gave a nervous, yet kind smile. They began talking, but Shanks could not hear what was being said. The girls expression seemed to get sadder and he noticed that she looked as if she were about to cry. One of the taller men gave her another shove back and laughed. Shanks, wide-eyed and angry, bolted out of his chair and stomped over to the scene. "What is the meaning of this?" He questioned, standing in front of the girl to keep the tall man away from her. The tall man pushed him out of the way, knocking him to the ground. He then walked up to the girl and grabbed her by the arm.

"He's not coming back! You hear me?! Give it up!" And with that he pushed her into the side of a docked ship. She hit her head and fell into the water. Shanks got to his feet and ran to the edge of the dock only to be pulled back by the tall man. "Where do you think you're going?" He asked Shanks with a smile on his face. Shanks frowned.

"I'm going to save that poor girl before she drowns. As for you," He smiled a little, "I would get out of my friends way." Shanks looked behind the tall man to see Ben pointing his gun towards the group. The tall man looked back and suddenly let go of Shanks, who then ran as fast as he could

to the edge of the dock and dove into the water.

Shanks' eyes widened as he noticed that the girl had been sinking slowly to the bottom. She must have been knocked out after bumping her head on the boat. He swam down to her as fast as he could and grabbed her around the waist. While swimming back up with her, he noticed a very peculiar yet beautiful necklace slide itself off of her neck.

Breaking the surface of the water he saw that Ben had waited at the dock after the cowards ran off from him. He pushed the girl up next to the dock. "Take her!" He said. After Ben took the girl into his arms, Shanks dove back down into the water and squinted into the darkness until he saw a faint shimmer not too far down from him. He swam quickly to it to find that it was what he was looking for; her necklace. He grabbed it and quickly brought himself back up to the surface.

The tall and muscular Ben cradled the sleeping girl in one arm and bent down to pull Shanks up onto the dock by the back of his shirt with the other. Shanks sat on the sun heated dock and ran his hand through his dripping wet hair. Ben smiled. "It's not everyday this spectacle comes along, when your own captain looks like a wet cat."

Shanks looked up at him and smiled. "I can push you in. Then we would be equal." He gave a laugh before dropping his gaze to the girl in Ben's arms. Ben raised an eyebrow. "Do you know her captain?" He asked, looking down at her as well. Shanks shook his head and then opened his hand to look at the necklace. It really was a very nice piece of jewelry. It was two snakes entwined together, one of them just smooth metal, and one of them dotted with small jewels. Closing his hand on it once again, he shook his hair to attempt to get a little more water out of it and got to his feet. "Let's get back to the inn! I wouldn't mind changing right now and I'm sure we can get this beauty a room." He spoke cheerfully and then headed back in the direction of the nearby inn. Ben smiled and shook his head at the captain, following him from not too far behind.

Entering the bar, Shanks' crew cheered and laughed at the sight of their soaked captain. When Ben entered with the sleeping girl being just as soaked as the captain, all the men laughed even more. "Find yourself a water angel, Shanks?" "Didn't think you'd have to knock her out to get her here!" they all joked. Shanks smiled and rolled his eyes at them all. He walked passed all the commotion with Ben close behind and leaned over the bar to speak with the bar keep.

"'Ey!" He shouted, "Get yer wet self off o' me counter!" He scolded at Shanks. Shanks looked a little surprised and then moved himself off the counter. "'s better. Now, what can I get fer ya?" Asked the bar keep.

Shanks looked back to the sleeping girl. "We need a room for her." He said, getting ready to shell out some more gold for another room. The keep shook his head. "All o' yer boys are taking up every last one o' me rooms."

"Your serious?!" Shanks asked loudly, rather surprised. The keep nodded and then turned away from Shanks to continue his work.

Shanks turned to Ben and put his hand to his chin in thought. "She could stay with one of us, Captain." Suggested Ben. Shanks looked around at all of his drunk men and shook his head with a grin. "I only trust her with you, Ben."

Ben frowned. "I'm sharing a room with Charlie." One of the men from the crowd looked over from his drink and yelled, "Why not just keep your water angel with yourself, Captain?"

Shanks thought about it for a moment. "Why not..." He said to no one in particular. Ben smiled and dropped the girl down to him, giving Shanks just enough time to catch her. Shanks looked up at him and smiled before walking away to the stairs that led back up to his room.

He struggled a little bit to open the door to the small room, what with the limp body in his arms, but once he got it opened he walked straight over to the bed and placed the girl gently down onto it, pulling the cotton sheets over her. He wiped some of the water dripping down his forehead with his arm and looked down at her, smiling. I hope she wakes up soon. He thought to himself. He looked back at the small bedside table where there lay a pile of dry clothes he had pulled up from his ship before going to sleep the other day. Grabbing a pair of pants and a new shirt, he felt it was best if he changed in the bathroom incase the girl on his bed woke up at just the wrong time...

Walking down the stairs in his black pants and loose white shirt Shanks finally acknowledged the loud and drunken greetings of his crew with a cheerful greeting of his own. One of his men slid a bottle of grog across the table to him as he sat down. Shanks caught the offer and raised it in thanks, taking a swig and slamming it back down. A cheer rose from the crowd for no apparent reason at all, but Shanks did not join in. He took another drink from his grog and looked back down at the table, deep in thought.

"Captain!" Came a call from a nearby table. Shanks looked behind him to see Ben chewing on a toothpick. "Forget about her for now. She'll be all right." He said, twirling the toothpick around with his tongue. Shanks gave a smile that seemed sweeter than his usually childishly cheerful smiles and raised his bottle of grog to Ben before turning around in his seat and joining in the pointless laughter of the other men there.

Time went on and that night was just as loud as any other with his crew. Bottle after bottle of grog was drained and it was well into the morning, but still dark, when Shanks staggered up the stairs, back to his small room. He opened the door and brought himself straight to his bed. Reaching for the blankets, he squinted and remembered that the girl from earlier was still there. So he turned around and pulled up the chair, taking off his shirt and setting it on the back of it. He sat himself down and fell asleep almost instantly, which usually happened when he was mildly drunk.

And so, it was the chair he would be sleeping in tonight, as his "water angel" slept peacefully in his bed.