*accidentally adds a couple thousand words to the chapter during rewrite .
Alrighty, so as you may have noticed, I am currently 'venerating' this story, so to speak. I started this story in February of this year, it's now 8 months later, and my writing has come a LONG way in those 8 months. Not to mention I have made a few changes to the canon which require me to alter things I've already written.
Examples: Ace is Trans, adding in details to their backstory that I hadn't created yet.
Just in general I'm tidying things up. All rewritten chapters are gonna have RW at the end or start of the chapter name, or just R.
To all new readers, welcome!
I hope you enjoy your stay, however long it is. This is a mega slow burn story, the idea behind it is that I am going to turn every single anime episode into a chapter. So we're in for the long haul :P
Not every episode will be included, I am going to be cutting fillers I feel add nothing to the story, but I'm going to be adding in my own fillers, as well as a non canon arc of my own.
I'm going to state this once now, for the record, I own nothing. The only things I own is Leo, and her dialogue. Everything else belongs to their respected owners and I'm kinda perplexed I have to state this because this is fanfiction... 'fan' ficiotn
"Nii-chan I don't think this is a good idea" A tiny black haired child whispered as the knife in her hand shook,
"Of course it is!" he grinned back at her with matching ink black eyes, "All we've got to do is prove to Shanks that we're tough and he's sure to take us to sea with him!"
Leo eyed her brother for a moment, on one hand stabbing themselves in the face didn't seem like the best of ideas, but on the other hand she did see the logic in it. Shanks told them they were too young to go to sea, but if they proved that were were brave and able to handle pain...then there was no way he couldn't say no!
"You don't have to" Luffy noticed his sisters unease, "I can do it for the both of us"
"No!" Leo shook her head, before grinning at him, pushing all of her unease deep inside her, "We're gonna be captain together one day, so we're in this together" She held out her pinky finger, "Right?"
"Right!" Luffy grinned looping his pinky with hers, "Together!"
"Alright!" she nodded, taking a breath, "Then let's do this!"
Despite her earlier rush of determination, Leo couldn't help but keep her hands and knees from shaking with nervousness as she followed her brother to the very front of the ship. Luffy wrapped a free hand around her's, entwining their fingers, he squeezed them as he offered her a grin. He knew it was a really scary idea, but there was nothing to fear! One small cut was nothing in the face of being able to sail at sea. Besides, he was her big brother, he wouldn't let her do anything that would be too dangerous after all.
"Oi! What are you guys doing?" Shanks shouted up at them when he finally noticed the children hanging around on the figurehead of the ship. He smiled fondly up at them, Luffy seemed to have a strange attachment to the figurehead, and whenever they docked he could be found hanging around it with his little sister in tow. (Leo herself, Shanks noticed, seemed to be more fond of the crows nest, but was never comfortable enough straying too far from her brothers side)
Luffy puffed his cheeks out, this was it,this was their moment. One hand held Leo's hand, while in the other he held his dagger, thrusting it into the air as he shouted down at the pirates below,
"I'm not joking this time! I've had enough!"
"Y-Yeah!" Leo tried to keep the stutter out of her voice, stabbing the air in front of her with her own dagger "We're serious this time! And we're gonna prove it!"
Shanks snorted before laughing deeply, deeply amused by whatever ruse they had going on.
"Ok then, show us!" He grinned up them, playing along with their little game, not for a moment worried they would do anything serious, "I wonder what you guys are gonna do this time?" It wasn't the first time they'd done something spectacularly stupid to try and convince the pirate to let them join his crew.
"Knowing those two, it'll be something childish" Benn called back to his captain, an equally wide grin on his face
Leo's hands shook as she mentally prepared herself, Luffy's own hand had dropped hers as he took his own dagger in hand. Both of the children stared intently at their blades, Leo's shook more than her brothers. Luffy slowly raised his dagger to his cheek, holding the tip against the skin just below his eye. Shank's smile dropped when he started to clue on what it was the two children were about to do. She couldn't do it, she couldn't do it slowly like her brother. She had to do it like a band aid or not at all! She Squeezed her eyes shut, then took a quick breath and thrust the dagger at her face. She dropped the dagger immediately as she let out a howl of pain.
Unlike Luffy, who managed to keep his cut small and exactly where he had planned it, his sisters 'just stab it' technique had lead her to miss her target completely. Instead the blade sliced below her cheek bone, stretching from the corner of her lip all the way up to her ear. Blood poured from the wound, as she had cut considerably deeper than Luffy had as well,
"It hurts!" Luffy howled as blood poured from his own cut.
Leo couldn't even put her pain into words,she just fell to her knees sobbing as the pain seared through her face. She was aware of Luffy wrapping his arms around her in apology, prompting her to hug him back as they sobbed into each other, dripping blood all over each others shirts.
"You idiots! What the fuck do you think you're?!" Shanks shouted as he scrambled up the figurehead as fast as he could to pull them down, pressing a sleeve of his coat into Leo's cheek, which was bleeding a lot more than her brothers, "Fuck this is gonna need stitches you idiots realize?"
Leo just sobbed harder, pressing her face into Shank's chest, staining his white shirt. Shanks sighed, running a hand through her dark hair, his thumb stroking the star shaped birth mark behind her ear. Pulling Luffy into his chest as well he carried the two to the infirmary,
"Oi Benn, grab the doc would ya? Anchor and his little star need stitches" Shanks shouted to his first mate,
"Of course Cap'"
Shanks sighed again staring down at his two little idiots, couldn't even leave them for five minutes without disaster.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o
After the traumatizing experience that was having their face's stitched back together, which resulted in Shanks having the shit kicked out of him by both children, the red haired pirate was able to return them to Makino's tavern in relatively one piece. Makino had not been impressed with the state they were returned in,
"You were meant to be looking after them!" She scolded Shanks as she took Luffy's face into her ends, inspecting his bandaged cheek, "How could you let them get hurt like this!"
"I swear I looked way for only a minute, next thing we knew they'd scaled the figure head and stabbed themselves!" Shanks tried to defend himself,
"It's ok Makino" Leo offered the older woman a watery smile, "It doesn't even hurt!" A bold faced lie, as even speaking had agony shooting through her face, let alone talking
"Yeah it doesn't hurt one bit!" Luffy jumped in, wincing as well, "Not one bit"
"Liars" Makino sighed, "But if you insist..."
"All right! Now let's have a toast!" One of Shanks men called out, raising a mug of ale, "To Luffy and Leo's bravery and our voyage!"
"And our greatness!" Another called out,"Kanpai!"
Music filled the tavern as the pirates drank and ate their fills worth, joking and gambling, filling the normally quiet tavern with life and energy.
Luffy took his seat on a stool next to Shanks, while Leo sat on top the bar between them,swinging her feet back and forth as she tried to put on a brave face like her brother,
"It didn't hurt at all" Luffy tried to laugh off the pain, not really succeeding with tears filling his eyes, "Right imouto?"
"Nope" Leo squeaked, "Not at all" she couldn't get her voice back down to a normal pitch, it remained high in pain.
"Liars!" Shanks huffed before turning to scold them "Don't you ever do anything stupid like that again!" he turned his glare to Leo, "That goes for you too! My heart nearly gave out!"
Luffy swallowed the pain, grinning widely at Shanks, not even listening to what was being said to him, his mind focused on one thing.
"We're not afraid of pain at all! Now you gotta take us to sea with you next time!" He informed Shanks,
"Y-yeah! We're totally ready! We can take on anything the world can throw at us!" Leo declared bouncing on the counter.
Their words just drew laughter from the pirate, he had to put his glass of grog down just to stop himself from spilling it on himself.
"How could a couple of kids like you become pirates?" he laughed, "You can't even swim!" he pointed at Luffy, "And you're barely the size of an ant!"
"Well then I'll just do the swimming for the both of us" Leo shot back, before glaring at the pirate, "And I'm still growing, just you wait! One day I'll be bigger than everyone on the planet!"
"Even giants?" Shanks grinned, poking her in the belly,
"Especially giants!"
"And I can fight too!" Luffy cut in, "My punches are like pistols!" he thrust his fist out to demonstrate.
"Eh really?" Shanks mumbled,turning away in disinterest, his food had become so much more interesting.
His disinterest sparked a frustrated fire in the bellies of the children,
"What do you mean by that?!" Luffy demanded, standing on his seat,
"You're still just a little kid!" one of Shanks crew members piped up, "You're about the same age as my kid" another added, "And the little lass is even younger still"
"I'm not a kid! I'm a man!" Luffy shouted back irritated,
"I'm not a little kid either!" Leo glared at them, "I'm a man as well!"
"Oi oi don't get so angry" Shanks tried to soothe them,they'd had this exact same argument so many times before. To the point where they didn't bother to try and correct Leo when she stated she was a man as well, pointing out she couldn't be a man (but her brother could) did not end well for anyone involved.
"Here have some juice" he added pushing two glasses of orange juice towards them,
"Ah thank you!" the siblings chimed calming instantly, Luffy handed his sister a glass first, before taking his own and together they started downing the delicious orange goodness
Shanks burst into laughter, slapping the table as he did so,
"See! Still kids!" he joked, "Real pirates don't drink juice!"
"Damn you Shanks!" Luffy shouted,
"That was a dirty trick!" his sister added, "And how do you know! Maybe some pirates like juice!"
Everyone laughed at the prank played on the children, they were just so easy to rile up!
"Shut up!" Luffy snapped at the room full of people,
"I hate you all!" Leo declared as she spun around, crossing her legs as she sat on the bar with her back to the room, "We're not friends any more!"
The laughter in the room was cut off by the front door flying across the room, a tall thin man standing in the open doorway, lowering his leg as attention was turned to him.
"Sorry for the interruption" he spoke.
The entire tavern fell silent, the only sound being that of Shank's spoon scarping against his plate as he continued to shovel food into his mouth.
"So these are the so called pirates" the man started as he walked into the tavern "They look like idiots to me" he scoffed.
When he finally reached the bar, Makino nervously stepped around it to greet him,
"Welcome" she offered with an uneasy smile
"We are bandits" the man finally announced, "We're not here to destroy your bar, all we need ten barrels of sake"
Leo inched off the bar and onto the ground,unease filled her as she stared up at the bandits, leaving a thick tar in the bottom of her stomach. She stood between Luffy and Shank's chairs, one hand grabbing her brothers pant leg, the other reaching over to loop through Shanks belt sash. Shanks paused his chewing for a moment to offer her a confident grin, but otherwise let her be.
"I'm sorry we're out of sake at the moment" Makino sounded geninuely apologetic,
"What about Ale then? or Whiskey? how about Beer? This is a tavern isn't it?" The Bandit sneered,
"We're all out off all alcohol at the moment" Makino tried again, managing to keep the shake out of her voice.
"Well that's strange" The bandit mocked, "The pirates are drinking something...is it water?"
"All the alcohol we have is out there" she insisted, "They bought the last of it"
"That's no good at all!" Shanks declared, jumping into the conversation, "We drank everything! Sorry bout that!"
He turned to address the bandit, holding out his unopened bottle of sake, offering it with a smile
"If you want you can have this, I haven't opened it yet" he grinned
The bandit reached out, as if to grab it, but instead smashed it with his fist, shattering the bottle, sending glass and sake spraying across the red haired pirate. Leo let out a shriek of panic, immediately letting go of Shanks, ducking beneath her brothers chair, hiding herself from sight.
"I'm a wanted man. I'm worth 8 million Berri, one bottle won't be nearly enough" the bandit growled, "Don't take me lightly"
Shanks tutted as he looked down at the ground, shaking his soaked arms,
"Now the floors all wet. Sorry about that Makino-san" Crouching down he started to pick up the broken bits of bottle, "Do you have a mop?" he asked,
"Ah! I'll take care of it!" Makino rushed around from behind the bar with a cloth, ready to help Shanks.
The bandit then drew his sword, slicing down along the bar breaking more plates and bottles, sending them crashing to the ground, leaving a deep scar in the wood. Leo let out another yelp, shaking now, clinging to her brothers chair, protected by the edge of the bar and his legs. If she hadn't moved she would have been in the swords path! and this bandit didn't seem like the kind of guy who cared if someone got hurt
"Looks like you enjoy cleaning up" the bandit mocked, "You'll enjoy this even more"
"No point in wasting our time here if you don't have any sake" he sneered,sheathing his sword, "Let's go" he called out to his men.
Relief flooded through Leo as the men left, she tried to stop her shaking, it wasn't easy. She could feel her brother shaking through his leg, still clutched in her death grip. He was shaking for a completely different to her, he was absolutely fuming.
Makino knelt down besides Shanks, pulling a cloth from her apron as she began to put dry the pirates shirt,
"Are you alright?" she asked worried, "Are you hurt anywhere Captain?"
"I'm fine!" he brushed her off, "No problem" he added before grinning, "No harm done." He quickly turned to scan the room, spotting Leo beneath her brothers chair, "Are you alright little star? The glass didn't catch you?" the little raven haired girl shook her head, "That's good, can't be patching you up twice in one day"
After a few moments room was once more filled with laughter as the pirates laughed at their captains misfortune.
"They really got you!" "That's funny!" "How shameful!"
Shanks joined them in laughing, as if it were the funniest thing to ever happen to him, like it was all just some big joke!
Leo was so confused, why were they laughing?! Shanks just had his honor spat on! Did he have no pride! This up himself bandit walks in, spills drink all over him, then walks out and they just laugh about it! Shouldn't they be angry?! If she wasn't so freaked out she'd be angry!
"Why are you laughing?!" Luffy shouted, voicing the question that ran through both his and Leo's minds "That wasn't cool! Why didn't you fight back?! No matter how many of them there was or how strong they look, if you don't fight back you're not a man!"
"You didn't even try!" Leo added, still rather distressed, "You just gave up!" How could this man, the man she looked up to just give up!
Shanks stared at them for a few moments, trying to figure out what was going through their minds. He opened his mouth, before closing it, trying to think of the best way to explain it to the children
"It's not that I don't understand your feelings, of both of you, because I do understand...but they only spilled some sake...it's nothing to get angry over"
"How is it not something to get angry over?!" Leo shouted, sounding so confused and distressed. Why were adults so damn confusing?!
"I don't care!" Luffy shouted, turning his back on Shanks, unable to face the pirate right now. He was just so frustrated! Why couldn't Shanks understand?!
It was in his sulking that he noticed a strange fruit just sitting in the middle of a chest sitting on the counter...it was brought in by Shanks earlier, one of the 'treasures' they had found during their travels . As if on cue his stomach growled, the morning had been so full of action it left him starving! and with Makino so busy serving the pirates, and now cleaning up, their food was going to be ages away! His curiosity drew Leo's attention. Pulling herself up she scaled back up the bar with amazing monkey ability, sitting cross legged next to the chest
"Do you think it's ok to eat?" she asked poking it, "I don't think fruit is meant to be purple...or be covered is swirls"
Luffy didn't answer immediately, instead just taking a bite out of it, instantly sticking his tongue out when the sour bitterness filled every corner of his mouth. He couldn't escape the horrid taste. He then held the fruit out, offering it to his sister. As much as he loved food, he loved his sister was more. And it was his duty as a big brother to make sure she was always fed, happy and healthy,
"No thank you" she scrunched her nose up, like hell was she going to eat something that drew that kind of reaction out of her brother, "You can have it all"
"It's not so bad once you get used to it" He lied as he continued to bite off chunks. It was the grossest thing he'd ever eaten, but it was still food. And you didn't waste food.
After giving the children a couple minutes to cool off Shanks leaned against his arm, chuckling when he noticed Luffy was once again stuffing his face. The kid was an endless hole.
"Stuffing it down Luffy?" He teased, "You're not even sharing with Leo! What kinda brother are you?"
"Shut up!" he shot back
It took a few moments for the red haired pirate to fully take notice of what it was Luffy was eating,
"What are you eating?!" he demanded, scrambling to his feet suddenly, stomping over, "That box...did you eat what was in that box?"
Before Luffy had a chance to reply the pirate grabbed him by the arm, heaving him up. Flipping him over Shanks grabbed him by the legs, turning him upside down and began to shake him frantically,
"Spit it out!" he ordered
Leo jumped down from the bar after a moment of shock, kicking at Shanks leg's confused by his sudden behavior,
"Leave him alone!" she shouted at him, "Stop shaking him you bastard!"
"Wha-what are you doing Shanks?!" Luffy shouted.
Before anyone else could shout anything more, or offer some sort of explanation Luffy's legs stretched, and stretched as his torso dropped down to the ground, face smushing against the the wood, before springing back up like a spring.
The entire room was dead silent, you could practically hear Shank's panic attack as it was happening.
"What was that?" Luffy asked dazed,
"What just happened to Nii-chan's legs?!" Leo demanded suddenly, sounding very panicked
Shanks lifted the boy so he could stare into his eyes, trying to impress just how serious the situation was.
"What you ate was the Gomu Gomu fruit!" Shanks shouted, "The gomu gomu fruit is also known as the devils fruit!After eating it you become a rubber man,and you won't ever be able to swim!"
Both Leo and Luffy froze, staring at Shanks in absolute shock. Gomu gomu...Devil fruit?...never being able to swim? The words weren't sinking it, they couldn't comprehend what it was Shanks was telling them...it didn't feel real,
"Did you eat any of it?!" Shanks dropped Luffy to the ground as he rounded on Leo, causing her to shrink back, "Did you?!"
"No I didn't! I promise I didn't! Please don't hate us!" She burst into tears, covering her face trying to hide her sobs,
"No way!" Luffy's brain finally caught up with his words, "That can't be true! No way! It can't!
"Morons" Shanks fell into his seat, rubbing his hand across his face. Oh Gods it'd been a stressful day,
"I don't hate you Leo" he assured the young girl, "I'm just...frustrated"
"P-promise?" the young girl hiccuped,
"I promise" he sighed, "Let's...let's just calm down so we can...figure this out" He wasn't even sure what there was to figure out. All he knew was that he really needed another drink.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o0
It had only been a couple of months since Luffy gained his rubber powers, he and Leo seemed to have adapted rather well. The sudden stretching of limbs had taken some used to, they also learned that most blunt force hits seemed to have no affect on Luffy. They tested it be Leo swinging sticks at her brother has hard as possible, or throwing rocks at him. What they learned was that being hit didn't hurt, Luffy's body just absorbed the hits, although anything sharp, like rocks, did in fact this hurt and he could be still be cut. It had been a fun afternoon.
Another thing he had learned, was that while it didn't hurt, having his head crushed under a bandit's boot wasn't a comfortable experience. The same bandits who had spilled drink over Shanks had returned. And the bastard had started to bad mouth Shanks, and pirates in general while harassing Makino. And as pissed off at Shanks Luffy had been, he wasn't about to let this bastard just sit there and bad mouth him when the man had no chance to defend himself! And Leo wasn't about to stand by and let the bandits get away with harassing Makino. (And she wasn't about to let her brother rush into a fight without someone watching his back)
Turns out that she should have had someone watching her own back, because bandits did not play fair. Not did they give a flying fuck if the ones shouting insults at them were children.
"Damnit! Apologize!" Luffy glared as he struggled from beneath the bandits boot, "Leave my sister alone and apologize!"
The leader pressed down harder against Luffy's head, earning a growl of frustration from the boy. He glanced desperately at his sister, who had a larger bandit sitting on her back, crushing the air out of her. She wheezed for air as her poor lungs were pressed against her ribs, stuck between the bandits weight and the hard ground.
"You've made a poor choice of words kid" the leader mocked, "I've never let anyone who pisses me off live"
"Get for filthy foot off my brother you low life worm!" Leo shouted as best as she could, only to have her head shoved into the dirt
"Oh don't worry I haven't forgotten about you" the bandit leered, "I'll get to you in a moment" he went to draw his sword when the mayor of the town called out,
"You leave her alone you dirty mountain monkey!" Luffy's own shout earned him a kick to the head,
"Wait please! Let the children go! Please I beg of you!" Woop Slap, the elderly mayor begged the bandits,
The Bandit stopped and stared at the mayor, taking this as encouragement, he continued to beg.
"I don't know what Luffy or Leo did, but I have no intention of fighting you! We'll even give you money!" he fell to his knees, pressing his head to the ground in a bow, "I beg you, please let the children go"
The bandit grinned nastily,
"Old people always know what to say, but it's too late. These kids have pissed me off. I'll have to kill them" He redrew his sword, but Luffy couldn't let him have the last words, if he was going to die, the least he could do is go down fighting.
"You're the bad guy Mountain Monkey" he spat up at him
"What a hopeless kid. Think about your actions in the after world. Don't worry you're sister will be joining you soon!" The bandit shouted as he raised his sword above his head
"Luffy! Leo!" Makino cried out, covering his mouth
"Please I beg you!" The Mayor tried again.
"I wondered why no one was in the bar" Shanks sudden appearance had Makino spinning in surprise, only the pirates arm wrapping around her waist kept her from falling to the ground "and look,if it isn't the bandit from before" he observed
"Captain!" Makino nearly wept in relief,
The bandit stared in disbelief, where on earth did this man just appear from? He shook his head, it didn't matter where he came from, or where. The end result was going to be the same
"Pirate are you still here?" the leader called out mockingly, trying to get a rise out of him "Are you cleaning the entire village?"
"Luffy" Shanks ignored the bandit, addressing the boy, "Isn't your punch as strong as a pistol? What what happened to protecting your little sister from the world? Not doing the best of jobs" he teased
"Shut up!" Luffy shouted, still trying to remove the bandits foot from his face,
"I don't need protecting!" Leo tried to growl, she couldn't quite draw in enough air,
"Oh yes I can see that" Shanks grinned at her, "You're doing a fantastic job at looking after yourself"
"Fuck off" She wheezed.
"I don't know what you're here for, but you better run before you get hurt" the leader warned, "If you come any closer I'll blow your head off, coward"
At his leaders nod, one of the bandits immediately stood by Shank's side, lifting the pistol to his head, holding it against his temple.
"He said not to come any closer, or you'll get your head blown off!" The bandit growled
The bandits started to laugh among themselves, but Shanks only grinned from under his hat
"Do you stake your life on it?" he asked, pushing the barrel of the gun to the side slightly
"Huh?" The bandit blinked dumbly
"With that pistol you're risking your life...do you stake you life on it?" Shanks repeated himself
"What the hell are you talking about?" The bandit spat
"This isn't a child's game" Shanks turned his head to stare directly into the guns barrel.
A shriek left someone's mouth as a gun shot echoed through the village. Lucky Roo took a bite of his meat as the bandit at the end of his own pistol fell forward, collapsing into the dirt, blood pouring from the bullet hole in his head.
"You killed him!" the bandits brother cried out "You unfair cheating bastards!"
"Unfair?"Yassop chuckled darkly "Don't be Naive, You're not fighting against Holy men"
"The ones before you are pirates" Shanks informed him, "We don't play 'fair'"
"Shut up! We don't have any business with you!" The bandit leader spat, turning to point his sword at Shanks
"Listen Bandits" Shanks started, "Because I'm only going to say this once.I can have food or drink spilled on me, hell I can be spat at and I'll laugh it off. However, if for any reason you hurt a friend of mine...I will not forgive you!"
Leo had never seen this side of Shanks before, the seriousness in his tone...it brought her to tears, the gravity of the situation was beginning to settle on her...then again that may also be because she was being crushed under this heavy bastards arse.
The Bandit leader just laughed off Shanks warning, what he, a low life no name pirate going to do to him? A man worth 8 million!
"You won't forgive me? Fucking pirates! Men Kill them all!" he ordered
On his command his men drew their swords and rushed towards the pirates. Much to Leo's relief, the man sitting on her seemed to be included, once the crushing weight was lifted from her back she scrambled forward, crawling towards her brother, only to be kicked aside.
Beckman stepped forward, removing his long barreled gun from his waistband,
"I'm enough to take care of all of them" the first mate stepped in front of his captain
And then using his rifle as a club proceeded to bash in the brains of every bandit that rushed towards them, not even bothering to waste his precious ammunition on dirt like them. After knocking down every single bandit that dared try take them done he flipped his rifle, pointing it towards their leader, who now stood alone.
"You've got to be dreaming Bandit. If you want to fight us you should bring a war ship" Beckman informed him with a lazy grin
"Woh! Wait a minute!" The bandit was rather nervous now,raising his hands as he tried to defend himself "It was those kids who started it!"
"Say isn't there a price on your head?" Shanks commented offhandedly
Fuck, this wasn't good. Backed into a corner the bandit knew he had only one option left. Escape. Unclipping a smoke bomb from he tossed it to the ground, filling the town square with blinding, choking smoke.
"Shit a smoke bomb!" Shanks cursed as he coughed, trying to wave the smoke away.
Once the smoke cleared the bandit was long gone...as were Leo and Luffy.
"Luffy..Leo...SHIT! He took Luffy and Leo!" Shanks cried out, panicking "What should we do?!"
"This isn't the time to be panicking!" Beckman snapped at his captain, "We'll find them! We just have to look!"
The pirates wasted no time in splitting apart, searching frantically for the bandit. He couldn't have gotten too far, especially not with two struggling children.
They didn't have very long, as the Bandit had already manged to get his hands on a boat and had already rowed out half way out of the harbor, taking the children as his hostages. And with the open ocean in front of him, he wouldn't be needing them for long.
"I escaped easily" he taunted, "They're never think a bandit would flee to sea" he smugly stated, he'd once again bested the same scum of a pirate.
"Damn let me go you mountain monkey!" Luffy cried as he struggled against the bandit's grip
"Put us down you stupid slimy worm!" Leo was doing her best to struggle away as well, "Just jump over the edge of the boat and die!"
"Idiots, the only one's dying are you. You really pissed me off" Finally at his ropes end, he threw Leo into the water, throwing Luffy in after her. It took her a moment to surface, gasping for breath, struggling to keep her feet beneath her as the ocean waves tossed her around, determined to sink her. Luffy was in an even worse position than her, his devil fruit kicking in the moment he entered the water, sapping his strength making it nearly impossible for him to keep his head above the water,
"Nii-chan hold on to me!" she waded closer, so Luffy could wrap his arms around her neck. She gasped as her brother's dead weight dragged her under momentarily, she kicked furiously, as good a swimmer as she was, there was no way in hell she would be able to keep both of them above the water for too long. They needed help, and fast.
The bandit just laughed as he watched the children struggled to stay afloat, taking a sick enjoyment in watching them drown
"Sorry, you're of no use to me now" He mocked, "And I told you. I never let those who piss me off live."
And as things do, they got even worse. Drawn by the small row boat and the children's flashing the lord of the coast, a massive Sea King, rose from the water, growling down at his potential lunch.
"What the hell is that?!" The bandit shrieked.
Then with a single snap of his massive jaws the sea king swallowed the bandit and half his boat whole. His hunger barely satisfied he then turned his eye onto the other splashing humans. They were small, but they'd made the wooden boat go down easier at least. Leo and Luffy were frozen with fear, then the reality kicked in, Leo began to scream for someone, anyone, to help, fuck she'd take a mountain bandit at this point!
"Someone help!" both she and Luffy screamed, tears running down their faces. They didn't want to die!
As it surged forward, about to snap them up, something grabbed the two of them, yanking them out of the way just in time. It was Shanks. Leo buried her head in his chest, sobbing in relief. The sea monster rose out of the water once more,only to be met with Shanks death glare. Leo felt something then, a pressure, pressing down on her heart full on them, she froze in Shanks arms, every instinct in her body screaming at her to not move, to hide from the pressure, to submit to it's will. "Get Lost" Shanks spat at the Sea King.
And he listened. The mighty beast turned tail, swimming as far and as fast as he could. The pressure lifted, allow Leo's poor heart to continue its attempts at returning to it's normal pace. Shock was starting to take over, slowly shutting her body and mind down.
"I really owe you guys one. Mikano-san told me everything, you fought them because of us" Shank's voice pulled her her shut down, she glanced to the his side, and regretted it immediately.
Luffy grasped Shanks shirt tightly, trying his hardest not to sob, but the tears still flowed, seeing her brother in such a distressed state...Leo couldn't keep herself together, grabbing at Shank's sash she started to sob grossly, her throat felt like it was being torn apart, but she couldn't stop.
"Hey don't cry, I thought you two were men?" Shanks smiled down at them, teasing them as he fought off the blackness around the edges of his vision
"But...But" Leo choked on her words
"Your arm!" Luffy finished for her, finally giving in as he began to sob.
While Shanks had been able to pull the two children out of the Sea King's path, he wasn't quite fast enough to get his own arm out of the way. It was a clean lose, snapped off in a single bite
"It isn't worth much, it's just one arm. I'm just glad your safe" he assured them.
They continued to sob loudly, Shanks murmuring to them, trying to soothe them. One they had calmed down enough he started to swim back to shore with them. Not an easy task with one arm, and he refused to let Leo swim on her own, ordering her onto his back next to her brother, who wrapped his own arm around her pulling her close. It took him nearly an hour to swim back with one arm, his precious load on his back.
What happened next was blur to everyone as Shanks was rushed onto their ship, their doctor immediately preparing to close to wound and keep his captain from bleeding out. As for Leo and Luffy, Makino immediately bundled them together, getting them into dry clothes and holding them close as they cried themselves to sleep.
o0o0o0o0o0o0o0o
The red haired pirates remained on the island for a couple weeks, the longest they'd ever stayed, giving their captain time to recover from his loss of limb. He really should have rested for much longer, but the call of the ocean was far too strong to ignore any more. He had taken to wearing his captains coat so it covered his stump...he was rather pleased at how bad ass and cool it made him look.
The day finally came, when they where finishing their restocking, and were preparing to set off once once.
"Leaving huh?" Luffy pipped up as Shanks walked past, Leo sat on a box next to her brother watching as the pirates worked
"We've stayed here for a long time,probably longer than we should have, but it's time for us to leave. Will you miss us?" Shanks asked the children
"Of course we will!" Leo spoke up, jumping down standing next to her brother, "Your our friends!"
"We will miss you guys" Luffy agreed "But we're not going to ask you to take us with you this time" Leo shook her head,
"Oh?" Shanks raised an eyebrow at them"
"Uhuh, we've decided, screw you guys, we're gonna become pirates all by ourselves" Leo stuck her tongue out at the pirate.
Shanks did the entirely mature thing and stuck his tongue out in response
"Either way I wouldn't have taken you with me" he teased, "Like you guys could be pirates"
Luffy grit his teeth, his sister puffed her cheeks out, oh Shanks was going to miss this, they were just so easy to get a raise out of!
"We will! We will gather our own crew that will beat yours! And find the worlds greatest treasure! No matter what we will become the Pirate King!" Luffy shouted at them
"That's right! Then we're gonna find you and kick your arse! And you're going to have to admit that we're better pirates than you!" Leo added on
"Oh you're going to beat us!" Shanks said, "Then..." he took off his hat, placing it on Luffy's head, "I'll let you take care of this hat. It's very important to me. Take good care of it" He paused then, tapping his chin. "And I know!" With his one arm he reached down to his waist, tugging his red sash free from his waist, before wrapping it around Leo's neck, "This is equally precious to me, but it's practically useless now that I have one arm."
He took a step back, smiling down at the whimpering children,
"There, now you guys do me a favor, look after those for me will ya? Then when you become great pirates, return them me. Do you think you can do that for me?"
The brother and sister nodded their heads violently, trying hard to keep their tears in. They were men, and men didn't cry. They clutched their new treasures, linking their hands together, trying to squeeze comfort into the others fingers.
"Goodbye Shanks!" Leo called after them, "Next time you see us we're going to be ruling the seas!" She promised
And that's how it all started, through the gifting of a straw hat and a red sash, the entire course of history wasn't just changed, but shoved of the rails, demolised beneath the dreams of two wayward stars.