Of Friendships and Sakura Trees, an one piece fanfic

Title: Of Friendships and Sakura trees

Rating: T for swearing and violence

Summary: It was supposed to be a normal day, but then again- anything involving the Roger Pirates is never normal.

A/N: Mah, just an idea. There's not much known about the Roger Pirates and I only know a few of the crew member's actual names, so a few things will be me just filling in gaps with my own imagination. Hopefully things stay as in character as possible. Read, Review, Enjoy, and criticize.

••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••

The spring island that the Roger Pirates had docked on was known for being a loud and bustling trading area. Merchants from many different places gathered on the island to sell anything that would make them money.

Shanks smiled as the wind danced with the strands of his hair that peeked out from underneath his straw hat. A few pink petals flew into his hand and he grinned. Somewhere on this island there had to be sakura trees. He would definitely have to go see them later.

"Hey red-head wonder! Are you even listening to me?!" The unmistakable voice of Buggy snapped him out of his peaceful trance.

"That depends tomato nose, were you saying anything important?" Buggy glared at him and Shanks could only smirk. Oh yes, today was going to be a good day. He tuned out Buggy's insults and read the list that Master Rayleigh had left them. With the amount of things they had to purchase, Shanks would never get to see the sakura trees!

"Hey Buggy, c'mon lets go. Master Rayleigh will have our heads if we don't buy all of this! Plus I want to go see the Sakura trees later so you better not piss anyone off like last time." The clown followed closely behind, stuffing his hands into his pockets.

"It wasn't my fault that bastard didn't know how to keep his mouth shut!" Shanks walked through the path, it was crowded with people either buying or selling goods. He stopped at a small tent, and eyed the products. Soon enough, he and Buggy were outside of the tent with bags full of food ingredients. Well, that took care of one third of the list. "Good job at not picking a fight with the store merchant, I was sure you were about to have a fit when you saw the lettuce price."

Buggy was almost tempted to throw a tomato at that stupid flashy idiot. However, he decided against it. Master Rayleigh would make him scrub the bathrooms for a week if he started a fight, and the cook would sauté him alive for wasting food. "Yeah well, I would have punched him had he finished that sentence about my nose!"

Shanks gave his friend a disapproving look and shook his head. "Oh Buggy, words don't hurt you. Not even if they spit on you. You should only punch them if they hurt the people you care about." Buggy stopped and casually pointed at the tent next to him. "Hey red-head wonder, you just walked past the tent that's selling medical supply." Shanks slapped a hand on his forehead, how did he miss that! He thought about what Crocus would have done, had they returned to the ship without the medical supplies he had asked for.

He quickly followed Buggy in and his nose was immediately assaulted by the smell of chemicals. The clown was already paying for the things Crocus had requested. "Hey Shanks, you said not to punch people if they name-call right?" Shanks raised a brow as he followed Buggy outside; the sun was starting to go down. "What if someone insulted Captain Rogers, would you still not do anything?

Shanks actually pondered the question. He wouldn't hesitate to punch anyone who insulted his captain…but it was just words. The again, he wouldn't have any problems slicing anyone up with his saber if they dared say a bad thing about his captain. However, both the captain and Rayleigh just laughed when people would insult them. "Ah stop asking me question like that! I'm getting a headache!" True to his words, Shanks' face had turned a slight shade of red from all his thinking.

Buggy gave a triumphant smirk. "So you would punch them!" Shanks turned to his friend, looking insulted. "I wouldn't punch them! If Captain Rogers can laugh it off, then so can I! Now stop asking weird things! We still have to buy Leo's cartography pens and the sun is already setting!" Shanks puffed his cheeks out and kept walking.

The blue-haired clown rolled his eyes. "Who cares if the sun is setting, I'd rather go to the local bar then go look at a bunch of trees." Shanks snorted as he tried covering up a laugh. "What's so funny you flashy idiot!?

"You actually think they'll let you in the bar? Buggy you look like a twelve year old!" At that statement the clown grabbed the front of Shanks shirt. "I'm fourteen you jerk! Plus you're fourteen too, so like hell they'll let you in!" Shanks' eyebrow twitched, so what if he couldn't go in with his crew! He grabbed Buggy's nose and squeezed, hard. "Let go of me you big nose!"

"Huh what was that red-head wonder!"

"Tomato nose!"

"Straw hat bastard!"

Shanks proceeded to pull on Buggy's hair. "Blue haired freak!"

They threw insults back and forth. Their fight went from hair pulling to scratching, they would have ended up on the ground in full brawl had it not been for the elderly man that interrupted. "Come now boys, young lads like you shouldn't fight. You two have so much to experience. Believe me, there are so many things in the world that can bring pleasure. You two should instead be best friends."

Shanks grinned at the man and walked up to his stand. He wasn't selling anything that the crew would need, but it wouldn't hurt to buy anything. "Oh no pops! That's how Buggy and I talk; we're best friends of course!"

Buggy crossed his arms and huffed. He eyed the elderly man suspiciously. No doubt he was going to try and sell them something. "We don't have time to talk to a grandpa Shanks. Plus we only have money to buy the things on the list. Stop wasting time here." Shanks frowned, the old man really did seem like a nice guys. He sighed.

"Oh no don't worry about money issues, it's been a while since I've come across such charismatic young men. I'll give you anything you'd like. You can just pay me back later."

Shanks gave a wide smile and started looking at items the old man was offering. Buggy however stood to the side, his body turned away from the old man's stand. That stupid Shanks. After a couple minutes of waiting, Buggy felt a nudge at his side. "Look what I got us Buggy!"

The red-head was dangling a pair of necklace, it had a black cord and both were sporting a small seashell. "I got us friendship necklace!" Like hell he was going to wear that! What would the crew say; they'd tease him for the rest of his life.

Shanks didn't notice Buggy's internal conflict. He instead put the necklace on and grinned. The seashell dangled innocently. Buggy looked at the necklace in his hand and gulped. Should he put it on? No way, he didn't consider that flashy idiot a friend! Instead he stuffed the necklace in his pocket.

"Aw man we already wasted so much time! C'mon Buggy, we still have to buy Leo's things."

They walked around the merchant area until they reached the end of the path, any further and they would be going into the forest. Thankfully though, there was a stand selling pens right where that path ended. Buggy examined each pen closely; Leo was the best cartographer in all the seas. He deserved only the best pens and nothing less.

Shanks however fidgeted. He placed the groceries on the ground and looked towards the woods. They were technically done with the list, and he was sure Buggy could carry the supplies back to the ship. The sakura trees were probably somewhere past the forest. He looked over at Buggy and bit the bottom of his lip. He'll take Rayleigh's scolding after he got back to the ship. Shanks smiled, he'll be back before midnight.

Satisfied with his purchase, Buggy turned to find the groceries on the ground and Shanks was nowhere in sight. "Oh hell no!" The little jerk went to go see his dumb trees no doubt.

The clown picked up the rest of the groceries and made his way towards the forest. There was no way in hell he was going to let Shanks run off, leaving him with all this crap to carry. He was going to find that straw hat bastard!

Shanks blocked the sword that was about to slice his side with his saber. The sun had already set, leaving him in a dark forest. The forest was quiet, to quiet. It was when he had decided to turn back and go get scolded by Rayleigh when he had noticed the four men surrounding him.

He admitted, it was a careless mistake. He kept blocking attacks, but the men simply kept advancing. "What, you need four grown men to catch a kid. Man you guys must be weak." He smirked as he was able to stab a man in the shoulder. The guy howled in pain.

Suddenly the world seemed to go in slow motion. Something ripped through his side and the smell of gunpowder reached his nose. Oh…he'd been shot. "What a cheap trick…" He clutched his side and fell to his knees. One of the men kicked him the back. He fell forward into the ground. His straw hat was knocked off. Vibrant red strand of hair fell into place. He was going to feel that one in the morning.

He clutched his saber and glared up at the four men. They kicked his saber out of his hand and smothered his face into the ground with their feet. "That the kid the old merchant mas was talking 'bout." The merchant was in on this? "Yup, he's even got the necklace and everything."

The young cabin boy wanted to yell in anger. Damn him, damn him! How could he fall for something like this! "I thought there was another one?" He heard one of them ask.

His heart almost popped out of his chest, Buggy. Please God no, don't let them find Buggy. His surroundings started get hazy. Was he dying?

"Did ya make sure to pay the merchant, can't have him opening his mouth."

"Yeah. I swear these kids he finds keep getting younger."

Shanks frowned. There were more incidents like this?

"Forget the other kid, this one should be enough."

"Guess this one could sell at a pretty high price at the next island. He's young enough."

Shanks gave a small smile. Oh- so that's what it was. Rayleigh had told him about human trafficking. Rayleigh even said that there were places on the grand line that sold people like slaves.

Shanks felt the world go dark around him.

"He'll probably get bought by some pirate crew."

"Alright let's take him to safe house. We set sail tomorrow morning."

Oh no, he already belonged to a pirate crew…well guess he didn't anymore. "Sorry Captain Rogers" He murmured as he fell into unconsciousness.

Buggy had his cheeks angrily puffed out. He was sure he had been in the forest for at least an hour, looking for Shanks. When he found that idiot he was going to- his thoughts were cut off when he heard a gunshot.

He quickly took out one of his knives and held it filmy in his hand. Buggy hid behind a tree hoping that whatever that was, stayed as far away from him. After a couple minutes he decided to venture further. He needed to find Shanks and get out of this forest. It was freaking creepy.

He approached the area cautiously and suddenly he saw a straw hat on the floor. Forgetting everything about 'not letting your guard down' and dropping the groceries on the ground, he ran towards the straw hat. He kneeled in front of it. Gently he picked it up and inspected it. He willed himself to calm down. There was no blood; no blood meant that no one was hurt. Though Shanks would never leave his precious hat on the ground…

Buggy turned around to take in his surrounding, when he noticed something shining. The saber! That was Shanks saber, he ran up to it and- oh god. There was blood on it. He looked at his hand- that was most definitely blood. He took a few calming breaths. Obviously Shanks had used this to fight of enemies. It wasn't his. Or at least he tried telling himself that. Buggy carefully walked around the area when he suddenly tripped.

On the ground in front of him laid a necklace with a small seashell. Buggy picked up with shaking hands. It was Shanks' necklace. Had Shanks been laying here? He covered his mouth to muffle a terrified scream when he noticed that he had tripped into a pool of blood. Shanks had been lying where he'd tripped! There was no doubt in his mind that it was Shanks' blood.

He quickly got up, tying the straw hat around his neck. He held the necklace in one hand and the saber in the other. Then, he ran. He ran, forgetting the groceries and simply ran as fast as his legs would carry him.

"Captain Rogers! Master Rayleigh!"

On the Oro Jackson Gol D. Rogers whined about not being allowed to explore the island. "Rayleigh when can we go explore!? I'm going to die on here!"

The first mate placed his hands on his hips and gave his captain a disapproving look. "The first day of docking on an island is to restock supplies. Not to go and cause trouble Roger. Knowing you, we'd get kicked off this island before ever getting a chance to restock."

The captain pouted. "Fine, but I thought you sent Buggy and Shanks to restock hours ago."

Rayleigh was about to comment back when he heard a desperate cry. A cry that he hoped he'd never hear. It was Buggy, but he sounded like he was on the verge of tears.

"Captain Rogers! Master Rayleigh!" All the crew members had turned to see how Buggy jumped onto the Oro Jackson. He didn't stop running until he reached the captain.

Roger was taken aback at how the little clown looked. However, three things told him that something bad had happened. A saber in his hand that he knew belonged to Shanks. Yet the other cabin boy was nowhere to be seen. Shanks' precious hat, he never took the thing off after he'd given it to him. Lastly, the blood. There was a fresh blood stain on his shirt. He couldn't tell if it was Buggy's or Shanks'.

Crocus was trying to gently remove the shirt but Buggy would have none of it. "No stop that! It's not my blood, it's not my blood!" Buggy dropped the Saber and grabbed Roger's hand, trying to pull him. "Captain you have to come quick. Something happened to Shanks'!"

Roger was indeed about to let himself be dragged when Rayleigh tapped his shoulder. "Buggy! You calm yourself this instant!" It was firm command, and Buggy let go of his Captain's hand. He looked up at Rayleigh, trying to pull himself together. "Now tell us what happened."

Buggy told them everything; from how'd they almost had a fight to Shanks ditching him at the pen stand to the moment where he found Shank's stuff in the forest.

Rayleigh had a thinking look on his face. "I heard from the locals about one particular stand that happens to come back every year. This stand is also the one that you and Shanks also happened to visit. So if I had to guess, I'd say that there is some connection between what happened to Shanks and that stand."

Buggy clutched the necklace his hand tighter. How stupid of him! He knew there was something weird about that old man. "Dammit, if only I had dragged Shanks away from that stupid stand. If only I-…"

His self-hate speech was cut off when Captain Rogers wrapped him into a tight hug. "You did your best. You did more than most of us could have. Had you not come back here to tell us what happened, we would have never known what happened to Shanks."

After telling himself not to look weak, telling himself that now wasn't the time, Buggy finally cried. He cried silently in his captain's arms.

Roger however looked anything but happy. His once cheerful expression turned serious and his eyes held a burring hatred for anyone who hurts his nakama. "Rayleigh. We're going."

The first mate smirked at his captain. "Aye, captain. One group search for Shanks in the forest, the other stay here and protect the Oro Jackson. Crocus you're coming with Roger and I, incase Shanks needs immediate medical attention. "

Buggy pulled away from Roger and looked at Rayleigh, his eyes burning with determination. "Please let me go too Master Rayleigh. Let me help find that stupid idiot. I still have to yell at him for disappearing on me."

Rayleigh smiled, "Fine you brat, but don't get in the way."

The old man grinned as he leaned back in a chair. Everything went as planned. He held the bag of money in his hand; those brats were a good deal. Both of them should be on a ship to be sold in a couple of hours.

Suddenly a harpoon was sent flying at him, tearing the bag of money in the process and leaving a cut on his cheek. He quickly stood up to look at the person who dared throw something at him. His eyes almost shot out of his eyes when he saw the familiar red nose and blue hair.

"That's the shitty old man." Seems like the brat wasn't just a mere kid like he'd first thought. The kid was a pirate. A man with strawberry blond hair walked up to him.

"You see, the thing is you've taken something pretty important away from us. We'd like it back." The man was smiling; however you knew that he was beyond pissed.

"And if I don't tell you anything." Rayleigh quickly lost his smile as he slammed the old man into his own stand. The wooden stand broke at the sheer strength that Rayleigh possessed.

The elderly man groaned as he looked up to see the red-nosed kid in front of him. The kid was shanking from pure anger and he suddenly held up both the necklace. "Why did you give us these then you shitty old man!"

The elderly man smirked, "So that my buyers could easily identify the merchandise of course."

Buggy threw both necklaces at him in disgust and pounced on him, punching him repeatedly. He was furious; this old man was going to pay. He was going to- "Now Buggy, don't kill the man. He still needs to tell us where Shanks is." Rayleigh tapped the clown on the shoulder.

Roger walked up to the man and kneeled in front of him. "There are two things that you've done. You took one of my nakama. Then you made another one of my nakama cry." Roger, unlike Rayleigh, wasn't giving the elderly man a fake smile. His face was full of anger and hate. His eyes are what unnerved the old man. He had never seen a person looked so pissed off. Roger placed a hand on the elders shoulder. "Nobody hurts my nakama." He squeezed hard. "So let's try this again, where is Shanks."

The elderly man gulped, not even paying attention to the pain in his shoulder. 'This man must be the devil himself' he thought as he gulped and nodded.

Shanks was slapped awake. He noticed that he was still in pain and his hands were cuffed behind his back. "C'mon seriously. I'm not going anywhere. Was it really that necessary to handcuff me? Don't tell me you're scared of a fourteen year old kid."

The man in the room grabbed him by the hair, and slammed him into a wall. Shanks groaned as he slid down the wall, into a sitting position. "Are you an ogre? You need to control that brute force of yours. You could have ripped my hair out. Do you how much the ladies love my hair. Then again, you're practically bald, so you wouldn't know anything about hair care or ladies."

He received a swift kick in the gut. Shanks refused to scream; instead he curled up in a ball and groaned. He wasn't purposely trying to get hit, but he was just attacking these jerks with the only thing he could. Words.

"Noriko, stop injuring the merchandise. Just ask the brat what we need to know already." A man from outside the room called.

Shanks grinned up at the man. "Yeah Noriko, stop injuring me." The man glared down at Shanks. Grabbing him by the hair, he forced Shanks to stand up and look at him. "Listen here you little shit. The only reason I haven't killed you or cut off your tongue is because you're pretty little face is going to make us good money. No doubt that a kid like you is going to be sold as some captain's whore."

Shanks stiffened at that comment. "Now brat, are you a member of the Roger Pirates." Shanks grinned. "So what if I am. Not afraid of my captain are you. He's a real monster you know."

Instead of that comment scaring the man, he only seemed to smile. Shanks gave the man a confused look. "Then he'll be trying to come save you. That captain of yours has a pretty large bounty." Shanks spat at the man. "If you lay a finger on my captain I'll kill you!"

Noriko only grinned. "Kujitara, I'm going to beat the shit out of this kid." A frustrated groan could be heard from behind the door. "Noriko, that's the seventh kid you've beaten. The buyers aren't going to be happy. Just don't kill the brat."

Shanks glared at the man. However, the next thing he felt pain. It wasn't a 'I just scraped my knee' kind of pain either. It was a 'ow, I'm dying' kind of pain.

Shanks did let a few silent cries out. Those weren't tears he told himself. He won't cry, no he won't. No screaming either. If he screamed they won.

He wasn't sure if he imagined screaming out his captain's name out or not.

The red head awoke with a jolt, and he hissed in pain. At least his hand weren't cuffed behind his back anymore, but he was sure that he could barely get up. He felt underneath his shirt- yeah those were definitely broken ribs. His hand brushed over the gunshot wound. That was probably infected.

He leaned up against the wall; he really must have been beaten badly. There's was a lot of blood on the floor. Shanks sighed. Was he going to be sold? He really hoped that guy was joking about becoming some captain's whore. What did that even mean…was he going to have to- he shivered. No he didn't want to think about that.

He missed his nakama. Did they know he was gone? Maybe he would die before they managed to sell him. Suddenly he felt something watery on his face. Tears? Yeah, probably tears. He really missed Captain Rogers.

Shanks flinched when he hear desperate yells and gunshots outside his door. He could hear the clashing of swords and the pained screams of people. He laughed. They were here.

Outside, Roger and his crew had gathered outside the safe house. "Alright men, find Shanks and don't anybody die!" After giving out his command, Roger and his crew fanned out. Following their captains orders, instead of being killed- they killed. They killed anyone who got in their way.

Buggy of course searched for everywhere for Shanks. He even knocked a few people out, his devil fruit powers proved to be useful in battle of course.

Shanks could hear footsteps running by his room, do doubt more of those jerks trying to hurt his nakama. His door was kicked open and the same man that had beaten him hauled him up. "Time to go brat." Noriko shoved him forward, probably using him as a shield. He was getting farther away from his nakama.

Somewhere inside the safe house Rayleigh sliced through a man. "Where's Buggy he asked one of his comrades."

The man, named Shujo shot an arrow at a man who had aimed a gun at their cartographer, Leo. "He ran down the hallway a couple minutes ago." Rayleigh shook his head. That little clown better stay alive. Roger kicked a man through a wall and he walked up to Rayleigh. "I'm guessing that using your kenbunshoku haki here won't work."

Rayleigh smirked. "You're only asking me that because you already tried didn't you." The captain nodded. "Well of course, though it seems that the number of enemies is making it hard to get a proper read on Shanks' good will." The two looked at each other and smiled.

"Let's kick some ass partner."

"Aye, captain."

Buggy however kept running. He had no idea where he was going, but he had to try finding Shanks. He found himself in a room that had blood stains on the floor. Silently he cursed, Shanks was probably here just a few minutes ago. He kept running. Then, in some he actually collided with Shanks. The impact sent him stumbling backwards. While Shanks was sent back into some man.

"Buggy! Boy am I glad to see you." The red nosed cabin boy scowled. "Well I'm not happy to see you! You jerk! Disappearing like that!"

Shanks just laughed, but his mouth quickly shut when he felt a gun aimed at his head. Buggy looked up to see the man, and glared at him. He was balding and if he didn't know any better he'd think the man was an ogre. Placing one of his arms behind his back, Buggy silently had his hand sneak up behind the man.

"Pathetic, a child saving another child. You Roger pirates are nothing but a bunch of weaklings."

Buggy raised a brow. "I'm not the one using a kid as a shield scardy cat." The man aimed his gun at Buggy but the clown just smiled. His detached hand immediately swooped in, stabbing the man in the arm and slashing him across the face. Shanks quickly kicked the gun away and made a mad dash towards Buggy. However, his body suddenly decided to give up him. He was about to fall but Buggy caught him.

"Shanks you bastard. Don't worry, I got you."

He grinned at Buggy and they both started making their way back. As they walked along the halls, they could see the bodies of the enemies on the floor. Shanks could have sworn that he heard both Master Rayleigh and Captain Roger's battle cry. That probably meant that they were nearing an exit.

Though it seemed that fate was against them, because the next thing he knows, there is a very angry Noriko blocking their way. His face bloodied and gun in his hand.

Shanks felt Buggy shift in front of him. "Buggy what the hell are you doing!?" Shanks wanted to pull Buggy back, but he was too injured to do anything.

"I'm giving you a chance to run you flashy idiot."

"Buggy what- have you lost your mind!" Shanks tried pulling his friend, but the clown wouldn't budge.

"I'm going to charge at him, and you're going to run as fast as you can. You're going to go find Master Rayleigh and Captain Rogers, and you sure as hell won't look back."

Shanks paled at the idea. Was Buggy really saying what he think he was? His friend was going to sacrifice himself! "I'm not going to leave you hear you idiot."

Noriko cocked the gun. "It doesn't matter if you try to distract me clown boy. You friend will still die once I kill you." Buggy ignored the crazed man and smiled at Shanks. He turned to him and untied the straw hat from his neck. He gently placed it on Shanks' head.

"Now go you stupid jerk" He shoved Shanks away from him as he charged at the man. Shanks stood paralyzed. Buggy was going to die. Guns can still hurt him, and yet Buggy was running towards the man.

"Stop screwing around! Buggy!" He yelled louder than he's ever yelled. However when he looked up, Noriko was out cold, he was foaming from the mouth. It didn't really matter what happened, because Buggy was standing. He looked perfectly fine. He smiled and finally he felt like he could pass out without worrying.

Buggy of course was very confused. What the hell just happened? He turned to ask Shanks if he had done anything, but the red head was knocked out. Buggy quickly ran over to him.

A few rooms away, both Roger and Rayleigh sensed the haoshoku haki. "Was that what I think it was?" Rayleigh looked over at Roger and nodded. "Seems like someone has the Kings disposition."

Roger smiled. "I wonder which one it was. Shanks or Buggy." Rayleigh however frowned. "Right now it doesn't matter. What matters is that one of them was desperate enough to awaken it. We have to find then."

Roger nodded. "Alright then, let's finish this."

In only a couple of minutes all the enemies were either dead or knocked out. Roger and Rayleigh at last made it to a room where they found Buggy kneeling in the middle of it. Shanks cradled in his arms.

"Hurry, save Shanks. "He pleaded

Shanks awoke with a groan. Everything freaking hurt! He felt like shit. However, he felt the gentle rocking of the waves and he knew exactly where he was. He slowly opened his eyes and to his surprise found Buggy staring down at him.

"What are you looking at tomato nose?"

"Oh just the biggest idiot on the face of the Earth, red-hair wonder."

Shanks smiled. "I missed you Buggy! Where is everybody though?" Buggy shook his head and told him to lower his voice. "It like dawn you idiot. Everyone's asleep."

Shanks actually felt a little sad about that. He wanted to see them and thank them. They must have fought really hard for him. Buggy simply rolled his eyes, idiot it blaming himself no doubt.

The clown simply tapped Shanks' shoulder and told him not to make any noise. Shanks looked at his friend, slightly confused. What was Buggy doing? Buggy then carefully pulled out Shank's IV and gently sat him up.

At the sudden movement, Shanks' hissed in pain. "Buggy what are you doing!" He whispered.

"Shut up idiot, now get on my back." The red head gave his friend a perplexed look. Is Buggy offering a piggy back ride? "Buggy I do-…"

"Listen it's either my back or I'm going to carry you bridal style." Shanks slowly got onto Buggy's back, because like hell he'll ever let anyone carry him like some damsel. Buggy pulled the sheets off the medical bed and threw them over Shanks.

Buggy grabbed both of Shanks' legs and slowly walked out of the infirmary room.

The pair stepped off the ship.

"Seems like those two only cause trouble."

"Now Rayleigh, just let them have some fun."

"Should I send someone with them?"

"And ruin the fun! No way, they'll be back, don't you worry partner!"

"I never said I was worried about them you trouble-making captain!"

"Aw Rayleigh, I didn't even start the trouble this time!"

"Crocus is so going to kill you when he finds out what you just did."

Buggy simply kept walking forward, ignoring the arms that were choking he neck. Buggy stepped into the forest and Shanks tightened his grip. "Buggy what are you doing! What if one of those guys attacks-…"

"They're not, trust me. Now relax, plus the super awesome Buggy is here." Shanks relaxed his grip and smiled. "Ok fine! But where are we going, the sun has barely even come out yet."

Buggy ignored that question but instead replied with, "So I hear you developed a new skill." The other cabin boy frowned. "No I don't think so." However Buggy shook his head. "I heard Master Rayleigh and Captain Rogers talking about it. I think they called it Haki."

Shanks pondered it for a second. He'd never heard of anything called haki. "It's fine if you don't know about it. I heard Master Rayleigh saying that most people don't usually know that they have it. Though I don't even know what it is, so I can't tell you much more.

"Well whatever it is, it must be pretty cool. I managed to save you, so if I have haki then that's fine by me!" Buggy rolled his eyes.

They walked in a comfortable silence and Shanks felt himself dozing off. The next time he opened his eyes, Buggy and stopped walking. "Ok, we're here."

Shanks was about to ask where, but when he raised his head he saw dozens of sakura trees. They were lined together, making a path in the middle. Buggy continued walking as the gentle winds blew the petals around them. Shanks could only stare in awe, they were beautiful. The trees slowly shook, dancing with the wind. It was almost enough to lull him asleep.

"Buggy you-…"

"Shut up, I just didn't want to hear you complaining about your trees."

As they reached the end of the path, there stood a gigantic sakura tree. Its branches hung down slightly, making the petals look like a pink curtain. Buggy walked through the branches and he slowly took off sheet. He laid it gently on the grass and kneeled down so Shanks could get off.

Shanks sat on the white bed sheet, looking at the petals that fluttered in sunrise. He could hear the ocean splash against the rocks. So the trees were on the other side of the island. Unreachable because they're leveled above the ocean. Yet Buggy walked across the entire island, just so he could see them.

He heard the gentle snores of his friend next to him. Slowly, he laid down, looking up and only finding pink. The sakura tree had them completely surrounded by pink flowers.

He smiled. It hadn't been such a bad day after all.

A/N: I hope that ending didn't seem to yaoi-ish? Still hoped you guys enjoyed. Thank you.