Shanks snored softly and rolled over, yawning. He hadn't been getting that much sleep lately.
He sensed a presence outside his door. He propped himself up on his elbow and looked at the doorway. Luffy was standing there, like he had been every night for the past week.
"What is it, little dude?" Shanks asked, although he had a feeling he already knew.
"Shanks…" Luffy ran in and climbed up on the bed next to him, staring at the spot where his left arm used to be.
Shanks sighed internally. Luffy was still hyping over his arm. "Luffy," he began. "It's nothing. I'm still just as strong as I was before. The only difference is that I can't swim anymore."
Luffy sniffled. Shanks could see in the dim light that he had been crying.
He sighed, out loud this time, before lying down and wrapping his arm around Luffy's shoulders, forcing him to lay down as well.
Luffy automatically curled into Shanks' side.
Shanks smiled. "Hey Luffy," he said.
"Yeah?" Luffy's voice was muffled by the fabric of his shirt.
"I heard there's a carnival tomorrow at Pecha Park," he said. "Wanna go?"
Luffy perked up a little at the mention of a carnival. "Really? But…your arm."
"I'll be fine, Luffy, really. Now go to sleep." Shanks rubbed Luffy's back methodically until he felt the boy's muscles relax and his breathing regulate.
A minute later, Shanks fell asleep himself.
-x-x-x-
"SHANKS!" Luffy's voice, loud enough to wake the dead as usual, brought Shanks from his deep sleep.
"Mmm?" Shanks rubbed his eyes.
"The carnival starts soon! Get up!" Luffy was bouncing on the bed next to him.
Shanks propped himself up on his elbow and turned to Luffy. He had to see if Luffy had forgotten about his arm.
He faked a yawn. "I'm still kinda tired…maybe we won't go today."
Luffy's jaw dropped. "But SHANKS! You promised!"
Shanks chuckled. "I was just teasing, Anchor. Of course we'll go." He pushed the blankets to the side and stood.
Luffy pouted. "That's not very nice."
Shanks smiled. Luffy really had forgotten about his arm, at least for now. He ran his fingers through his hair, getting out the few tangles that remained from sleeping.
"Let's get some breakfast, and then we'll head out," he said.
Luffy perked up at the mention of food. "What kind of food?"
"Something simple," Shanks said, walking out of the room, Luffy on his heels. "We can get more food at the carnival."
"Okay!"
-x-x-x-
Shanks leaned back, full. Luffy was still gobbling away, as usual.
"Luffy, you're going to run out of room for the carnival food!" he said.
That made Luffy push his plate away and stand, with only one last cursory glance at the food. "Let's go, then!"
Shanks stretched and stood. "Alright." He grabbed his sword and attached it to his belt.
Luffy was already at the front door, waiting, when Shanks came around the corner. "Let's go!" he said.
Shanks smiled and opened the door to a beautiful morning.
-x-x-x-
Luffy stood at the carnival gate, slack jawed. "It's so huge!"
Shanks grinned. "What do you want to do first?"
Luffy spotted a Ferris Wheel in the distance. "I want to ride that!" he pointed.
"We'll ride that later, Luffy. The line's too long right now, probably." He bought two tickets and handed one to Luffy. "Don't lose that."
"I won't!" He put it in his shirt pocket. After looking around for another minute, he said, "Let's get some food and wait for the line to go down."
"Okay," Shanks said, even though he wasn't hungry at all, having just eaten breakfast ten minutes before.
Luffy ran ahead and got in line at a funnel cake stand.
Shanks joined him in line, attracting the stares of civilians who were probably wondering what had happened to his arm. But he pretended not to notice.
They got to the front of the line and Shanks managed to convince Luffy to only order one funnel cake, because he would be hungrier later and you could only get a certain amount of food with one ticket.
"Okay…" he sighed.
Shanks smiled and passed his ticket to the lady. He decided to use his ticket because he needed less food than Luffy.
He got his funnel cake and handed it to Luffy. After that, they walked around for a while, waiting for the Ferris Wheel line to go down.
About an hour later, the line was only about ten people long, so Shanks and Luffy walked over and got their tickets punched.
Luffy was excited. "I can't wait! I've never been on a roller coaster before!"
"It's a Ferris Wheel, Luffy," Shanks explained.
"Oh."
Eventually, the line thinned and Shanks and Luffy were locked in a cage. Then the ride started.
For the first three revolutions, Luffy sat next to Shanks on the bench when their cage was at the bottom and went right over to the bars when it was at the top.
On the fourth revolution, however, right when the Ferris Wheel reached the top and Luffy was at the bars, a sharp gust of wind blew, and Luffy's ticket flew out of his pocket and spiraled down to the ground. Shanks witnessed the whole scene, but pretended not to notice.
"NO!" Luffy reached his hand through the bars after it, but it was already out of reach.
Luffy swallowed as a tear rolled down his cheek. Now he wouldn't be able to ride anything else or get any more food.
He sighed and sat next to Shanks on the bench, laying his head on Shanks' shoulder.
"What's the matter, Anchor?" Shanks turned to look at Luffy.
"My ticket…" he sniffled.
"Listen, buddy," Shanks pulled Luffy onto his lap. "Life is like a Ferris Wheel."
"How?" Luffy looked up into his eyes.
"It's full of ups and downs. When the Ferris Wheel is at the top, you feel a thrilling exhilaration. That's like the good moments in life, you know? And then there are other moments that make you feel horrible and sad and angry. Those are like the bottom of a Ferris Wheel, the boring part."
Luffy bit his lip, trying to process all of that. A minute later, his face lit up. "You're right! Me losing my ticket was one of those 'bottom of the Ferris Wheel' moments. Just like…." His gaze strayed to Shanks' left side, and he began crying.
Shanks took a deep breath. "Just remember that, Luffy," he said. "Life is like a Ferris Wheel. Things'll get better soon."
This idea came out of the blue...so...here it is! What'ya think? Hm...I'm taking requests for one-shots...