He closed his eyes.
He knew of the vice-captain and his sister's adventure.After all, only a blind idiot couldn't sense the flirting behind every word, though it was nothing serious.Because those two weren't madly in love, not they stare at each other like the other one was his or her sun in this twisted up world.
Because sometimes they ended hating each other's gut and not looking at one another for months.And their personalities clashed, Rayleigh was a calm, collected man and a man of the seas and his sister, Maria, was a hot tempered woman, reckless who threw cautious to the wind, just like Shanks.
That why Shanks didn't care about their back and forth (questionable) relationship.
No, there was nothing to worry about.
Nothing bad would come from Maria's and Rayleigh.
Nope.Nopity, no.
But now he wanted to pump his head on the nearby brick wall.To crack his skull or pull his hair out.The nerves were getting the best of him.
Shanks was anxious and worried.
In the next room, his older sister was laying in the bed getting birth to a little infant.When Shanks had been informed of that, he choked on his booze and fainted right there and there in the party where his men and he were celebrating.For all the thinks he thought his sister would tell him being pregnant with the Dark King's child wasn't one of them.
When that registered in his mind, he completely froze.Dark King's child, Silver Rayleigh's son, vice captain of the Oro Jackson.
Shanks could recall, could recall the slaughters, the terror, the murders of mothers and newborn child alike because of the rumor of Gol D Roger having a lover.If the World Government found out, they would kill his sister and his nephew or niece.
Never in his life he felt that type of cold fear, not even when he fought against an Admiral, and he grew protective of his sister, dropping
every once in a while in Sabaody, taking every snap and hit from her, protecting her...
But now he was useless, his sister was having a hard battle and the only think he could do was cross his arms and wait patiently.
Shanks ranked his hands through his red hair.He couldn't, he really couldn't stay there unmoving, he was a man of action not stood and wait for what will come.
"You shouldn't worry."
His head snapped to te approaching figure.Shanks wasn't surprised to see Rayleigh looking ahead without blinking, unnerved and collected.With that image, Shanks remembered why this man was captain's second hand.
"Your sister is strong." A faint smile made its way in the man's face.
"I know." But that didn't mean he couldn't worry about her.
It was odd to worry about his older sister and to be the one to look after her and not the other way around.Since Shanks could recall, his sister had been the one to raise him and to care for him.If Shanks made the effort to remember his parents, he only get hazy images and faceless persons.
"Never thought I would become a father to someone." Rayleigh chuckled leaning on the wall. "You and Buggy were a brats and I told myself that I would never procreate with any woman, let alone your sister."
Shanks send him a hurt look.
"Me and Buggy weren't that bad." He pouted childishly.
"Crocus' medicines?" Rayleigh pointed out arching his eyebrow.
"It was an accident." Shanks defended himself and his fellow cabin boy.
"When you set the kitchen in fire?"
"We were angry?"
"My books?"
Shanks winced slightly, he didn't want to remember when he and Buggy feed a Sea King the Dark King's books.
"Flora Island? Or should I say Dust Island? " Shanks scratched his head, sheepishly. "The time when you blown up all the supplies?"
"Okay, okay." He threw his hands in the air dramatically. "Geez, always spoiling the good moments."
It seemed Rayleigh would never forget those epic event when they had sailed in the Oro Jackson.Shanks's mind casted to Buggy, the clown, who had been his friend and was still his friends.He wondered who the man was doing.
A cry ringed in the air.
Shanks' observation Haki flared instinctively, there were two presences , one significantly smaller than the other.But there was something off, his sister one was shutting down. Shanks didn't know who it happened and when he kicked the door open.
With long quick strides he crossed the room and stood at Maria's side.He was a aware of Rayleigh being behind him but he could only focus on his sister's sweating face, a small smile gracing her lips as she gazed at the bundle clutched in her arms.
"Rileigh. Silver Rileigh." With that whisper, he watched as his sister's eyelids closed to never see her green eyes, to never see the mischievous glint in them, severing Maria from touching the living world.The arms that had been stroking the child's head fall to the bed, lifeless, the same hand that so many times nurtured him.
And quickly her aura disappeared forever.That strong, tough character would never be among them.Shanks felt like a child as his knees gave up and felt at the side of the bed, droplets of tears streaming down his cheeks, his chest rumbled with the containing sobs.
It hurts.
It fucking hurt.It was like a crushing weight on his chest.Though, her childish personalities, Maria has been the warm mother he needed, the older sister who have weird tips and the best friend he could ask for.He pushed his straw hat further shadowing his teary face.
The last time he felt like this was when Captain was executed.
A heavy hand fall on his head, he peered up to meet Rayleigh, his eyes were suspiciously shiny but his cheeks reminded dry.Shanks knew that Rayleigh wasn't a sentimental man that why he didn't sugar coat this and the red-haired man was grateful for this.Rayleigh's presence was enough to calm his wrecking nerves and emotions that were going up and down.
His eyes zeroed in on the offspring; chubby rosy cheeks, hazy grey eyes and a toppling red hair, covered by a blanket fleece.
His sister's daughter, a half of her.The poor child was surrounded by the death, the essence of blood lingered in the air.The room was was lit by worn candles that were almost down to its last breath.
His heart melted to the child, softly like the girl was made of glass he took her from his sister's embrace.He took her smalls hands with his much larger hand.They were so small, he noticed, the appendage was so fragile that could break at any pressure.She now was his, his to look after his sister.
"I'll look after you, Little Red." Shanks vowed smiling softly at the little infant.
"We will." The old fox whispered, reminding Shanks that he wasn't alone that Rayleigh would pull his weight in the rearing too.
They had agreed that the girl should stay in Sabaody, as wicked at it sounded, the Archipelago was the safest place.For the life of Shanks, he couldn't take on a child in the Red Force that would only be suicidal and Shakky was adamant to help raise the girl and Rayleigh was there to protect her.
So they were standing at Shakky's bar for Shanks to say goodbye, temporally.
"I'll visit when I've got the chance." Shanks said , lips stretching widely into a smile.
"Don't cause too much trouble, brat." Rayleigh narrowed his eyes at him in a warning.
"Such a worrywart." And Rayleigh was, the man was always thinking of the worst case scenario and planning thinks ahead before charging.So opposite of Gold Roger.
Sometimes he understood why the two of them were best friends and almost brothers, sharing everything but blood 'cause Benn Beckman, his first mate, and him were like that.
Averting his eyes he focused on the little infant in Rayleigh's arms, a blanket was wrapped around the little girl, only her red hair visible.Her eyes were closed and she looked quite content in the arms of The Dark King.He felt a little down that he would have to leave after four days but the marines might grew quite suspicious if the sensed him in this area.
They may get too close; too close to his niece and her father.
He had to leave now.
"See ya around Little Red, Old man, Shakky." He bobbed his head up and down, and turned around.
A strong wind passed by and he pushed his hat forward , hiding his face from the enemies' eyes.Though anyone could see the grin in his face.
He was sure this era would be full of surprises.His niece being one of them.
Raising a kid wasn't easy and he never claimed it to be.
But there were always exceptions for every rule and his daughter was surely one of them, Silver Rayleigh concluded.He has never planned to procreate but shit happened and he ended being seduced by Maria, the hot tempered woman. Rayleigh didn't complain because Maria was a lovely woman and easy at eye, everyone could distinguish her by her red hair or by the way she held herself so tall and proud and without an iota of weakness.
But Maria was no longer among the living being but in the dead world.Even with her death, the woman had left her stamp in the world, her mark in a form of a girl.
"Papa?" Rileigh high pitched voice brought him to the real word.
He casted a side long look at his daughter, his daughter was two years old but she was an impressive daughter, she was too intelligent for her own good and as curious.When she had been a toddler Rayleigh had wondered if she would pick after her mother's exuberant ways and her uncle's recklessness or his sensible, calm demeanor.
Let's just say he won the bet.
"What is it?" He picked her up, placing her on his lap.A small smile pulled on her lips as she gazed at him beneath that fringe of hair.
He and Rileigh might not get moments like this but he tended to treasure them as much as he could.She was , after all, his daughter, a piece of himself and he had never been in denial when she was placed in his arms.
"You didn't finish the story when you visited Sky Island." She told him looking at him with disapproving eyes.
He chuckled softly. "Didn't I?" He teased her flicking her nose with his finger.
"You left it when you landed on the island."
Rayleigh hummed thoughtfully, he could still recall Sky Island and how Roger turned it up side down, like many time he had done.He had been frustrated with his captain,
had called him an idiot and Rayleigh had wanted more than toss himself to the sea and forget about Gol D Roger and the storm he brought down.
Roger was an exceptional man, a true D who had known how to make the most meaningless think in an unforgettable memory.
And Rileigh liked to hear stories about his dead captain, always demanding an adventurous story and his nakama. And when he refused to entertain her she would go bother Shakky or Shanks, but mostly she was stuck with him.He didn't say it out loud so much, but he liked that sparkling admiration in her eyes as he waved stories about conquered seas, about mysterious islands and unforgettable battles.
His little girl thought of him as an invencible man as if he was the most interesting being alive out there.He didn't want to crush that idealization she had for him so he didn't correct her, someday she would understand that the strongest can be defeated, even him.
But for now he would enjoy her shining eyes.
"Yeah, so Roger decided that..."
The bell ringed announcing a newcomer and Rileigh was leaping, her foot touching the wooden floor soundless, and running towards the board figure standing in the doorway.
Big hands picked her up and whirled her around, it had her laughing cheerfully.
"Dwahahaha you sure missed me Little Red."
Rileigh nodded quietly, a happy smile tugging on her lips. She wrapped her hands around his neck to steady herself, nuzzling contently in his collarbone. She inhaled his sent a mixture of the sea and the wind and of warmth alongside booze.
"She sure missed you." An amused voiced drawled lazily and Shakky emerged from the kitchen, looking amused a cigarette in her hands.
A soft blush covered her cheeks and she smiled sheepishly at her Uncle. Rileigh had missed the man, it had been month since he visited her or Sabaody. But she had right to long for him, he was her family on the side of her mother.Thinking about the mother made Rileigh uncomfortable, after all the woman should have a different ending if she weren't born, or in this case reborn.
Silver Rileigh had long since stopped searching for an answer of her landing in a world were logic didn't exist.It wasn't only her being thrown into a different whole world but her being related to not only one but two dangerous persons, a Vice-Captain and a future Yonko.Yeah, just her luck.
Though she made herself comfortable in this life, she fit just nicely. So much different of her scattered old life, where she was an orphan and had to fight to get food for her and her siblings, where she had cheated death so many times.But it seems that she couldn't outrun death anymore so she ended dead, dead.
Imagine her surprise when she found herself trapped in a body, her sight blurry and her ear muffled.In that time, it had been a cycle of eating and sleeping, nothing more.Every think was put up in place when she recognized her father, Silver Rayleigh, vice-captain of The Roger Pirates, the Dark King and she meet Red Hair Shanks, her Uncle Red.
She hadn't been in that state of shock for a long time, she had recovered quickly and , begrudgingly, accepted her new life.Which in some point would get dangerous, because she had to learn to survive, a skill she already mastered in her old life but in this she had to sharpen it.
Because she didn't have only to deceive and lie, Rileigh had to fight back.So she started to exercise her muscles from running and picking up weight, she even started to think of a good fighting style that would fit her.She had a knack with sharp thinks, like daggers and swords so it wouldn't be surprising if she ended wielding a sword, after all the blood of two strong swordsmen thrummed in her veins.
But for now, she wanted to enjoy her Uncle's short visit.
"How much will you stay?" She asked him peering at him curiously.
A frown set on his face. "I don't know maybe for some days."
She chewed her lips thoughtfully, some days meant two, maximum three.
They wouldn't have much time before, he would be gone and she would miss his birthday.
"Wait here." Rileigh leaped off her Uncle's arms and she sprinted to her room, leaving her Uncle confused and Shakky amused.
She went off the hall, when she spotted her black wooded door, Rileigh tiptoed to reach for the knop, she twisted it and pushed the door open.
She began to rummage quickly between her thinks, she was a scatterbrained so she tended to forget where she put her thinks. She chews her lower lip thoughtfully, where she had put it.
"Oh my." Rileigh murmured looking beneath her bed . She run up and down searching for her uncle presente .
Her eyes gleamed pleased when her hands touched the rough structure of a panel. Rileigh tilted her head to the side, in the board anyone could appreciate the image of her Uncle, a carefree grin on his lips, hands on his straw hat to keep it in place , as he gazed at the sea in front of him. He looked like a men of the sea, like the true pirate he was.
Rileigh was relieved that her paintings skills were still on their place, this was nothing like she could do in her old life but she blamed her sloppy fingers, it would take time before she could paint like did in her past life.
Grinning happily, she turned on her heel and headed to her Uncle. She spotted him sitting on the bar's stool leaning in the table as he talked with Shakky. His head snapped in her direction when he sensed her.
She stood in front of him and showed him her present. "Here you go, Uncle Red."
Shanks' eyes swept from her to the present, carefully, he took the painting in his hands and turned it over. She felt giddy when his jaw hung open, surprise in his eyes. She knew that her Uncle liked her present.
Shaking his surprise off, he grinned down at her and with his other hand ruffled her hair. "It is beautiful Little Red."
"Of course it is, I made it." She smiled cheekily at him.
"Cheeky brat." A deep voice drawled with fondness.
Rileigh didn't have to turn around to know who entered the room. She had been so used to his presence that she could pin point where her father was or when he to close to her.
"She takes after her Uncle." Shanks guffawed good naturally patting her head.
Rileigh's smiles widened, she knew that later in her life she wouldn't get this peaceful moments with her father and Uncle, by she treasured them nonetheless because sooner or later her life would turn upside down. But for now she wanted to enjoy her childhood.
