Another chapter made! This time featuring Shanks. Whoo! Wow, I'm really shooting out ideas recently. They just keep popping into my mind. Like a pea-shooter! Pu pu pu! Erm... Disclaimer's in chapter one and... fine...
Disclaimer: Don't own One Piece but you know that already
Summary: Shanks, Luffy, and Ace goes on a small family outing.
"Hey Shanks! Where are we going?" Luffy asked a red-haired man as he led Ace and him down the street. It was curious that the pirate captain wasn't at Makino's bar, where he practically lived. At least, that was mostly where Luffy sees him.
Shanks just grinned widely at them as they stopped at the edge of town. He knelt down to eyelevel to the brothers.
"Can you keep a secret?" Shanks whispered.
Luffy nodded enthusiastically while Ace replied with a yes.
"Well, while I was searching my ship for some maps, I came across something. I must have found it somewhere along my voyage and forgot all about it but among my maps, I found this."
Shanks took out a rolled up piece of paper, torn at some points and yellowed. He carefully unrolled it and showed it to them. Luffy looked absolutely ecstatic.
"Wow Shanks! This is a-"
"Shh! You were going to keep this a secret remember?" Shanks said in a low voice.
Luffy nodded. "Oh yeah."
"A treasure map for our island?" Ace asked, looking at the paper.
Shanks nodded. "Yep. We're going to find it too. I'm sure you two didn't want to miss out so I brought you along."
"Yeah! You're the best Shanks!" Luffy cried happily.
Ace nodded. "Thanks," he said politely.
"Now," Shanks stood up. "Let's head out! Here Luffy, you can help us by telling us where to go next from landmark to landmark." He handed the map to the younger of the two boys.
"Alright!"
"So, what does it say?"
"Well, it shows our town, which is where it starts then there's a dotted line that goes from there to three rocks."
"Yosh! Let's go find then!" And the three trouped down from the neat, cobbled road to a wide dirt path all the while with Luffy exclaiming how great this is.
Soon enough, they spotted three large rocks standing in a circle.
"What next?" Shanks asked, looking down at Luffy.
"Uh… After that, we find a pond near the forest."
And they proceeded to follow the illustrated pictures into the forest to get to the 'X' and with each passing step, Luffy was getting more and more excited.
"I can't wait!" he would cry everyone once in a while.
They chatted while they walked about small things and laughed often, enjoying each other's company. Their journey had a light-hearted atmosphere hanging over them.
Ace had a narcoleptic fit halfway through and so Shanks had to carry him. After the boy woke up, the two laughed at him and Luffy imitated Ace falling face-first into the grass and snoring loudly.
Luffy's punishment for mocking his big brother was a noogie to the head, which had the younger boy begging for mercy.
Finally, after a while, they came upon a small clearing with a few flowers dotting the tall grass that came up to about Luffy's waist. The bright afternoon sun shone down directly into the clearing, giving it an almost ethereal glow.
"Wow! This place is amazing! It's like a secret hideout!" Luffy said in amazement.
"Yeah." Ace said, equally awed at the sight.
Shanks grinned widely at them. "Let's explore here for a while."
Both brothers looked up at him confused. "What's there to explore?" Ace asked.
"Watch," was the answer.
So they stood in silence, Luffy fidgeting slightly until they heard a small rustle that wasn't from the wind. It was rather rhythmic.
"Let's go see what it is." Shanks said, pointing at the patch of rustling grass.
When they finally got to the spot, they looked down and saw a snail. But not just any snail but a Baby Den Den Mushi.
It was sleeping apparently, the wind from its snores making the grass rustle slightly.
The snail was yellow and the shell was a light blue with white sporadic dots, making it look like the sky blemished by clouds.
"Wow! I didn't know Den Den Mushis even lived here," said Luffy.
"Well now you do," Shanks said. He picked it up and it awoke, looking at them curiously. "How's about we find another one so you guys could each have one."
"Yeah!"
"Okay."
After a brief search, Ace found another one. This Den Den Mushi seemed to be chewing on something. Probably food. It had a sky blue shell with sea-foam green wave pattern. The snail itself was cyan.
The small snail gazed at them but didn't make a move to escape.
"Heh. Den Den Mushis usually don't mind humans using them as communication devices because they get free, good food. It's a great bargain really." Shanks said, looking at the snail Ace held up.
"This is so cool Ace! Now we both have one." Luffy said excitedly.
Ace grinned happily and chuckled. "At least now I have a way to find where you are if you ever get stuck under a rock… again."
"Hey! That was only once and it was by accident." Luffy defended and pouted.
Shanks chuckled at the mock fight. "No need to fight right now. We're close to treasure. Keep your Den Den Mushis close. Don't want them crawling away on us."
They continued on, conversations continuing, teasing one another and spending time together.
At last, they made it to the last landmark on the map, which was a tree with a swirl carved into it.
"This is it! That's where the treasure is buried!" Luffy cried.
"All right then. Since I didn't bring any shovels, I guess we'll just have to use our hands to dig for it," said Shanks.
They hadn't even dug a foot before something red began to peek through the brown soil. The three quickly brushed off the remaining dirt and pulled it out of its hole.
The chest wasn't too large but wasn't too small either. It was also quite plain looking.
"Now, let's open it and see what's inside," said Shanks dramatically.
And with deliberate slowness that got Luffy bouncing in excitement, he opened up the chest.
The first thing that happened when the chest was opened was the smell of sugar. The second thing that happened was that they realized the treasure was candy.
Inside the chest were gold chocolate coins and jewels made of candy.
"Candy!" Luffy exclaimed.
"Wow. What sorta pirate would bury candy though?" Ace said, watching his brother tear open the wrapper of a chocolate coin and pop it into his mouth.
Shanks shrugged. "I don't know but this isn't the kind of treasure a pirate like me would want so you guys could have it all."
"Really? Thanks Shanks! You're the best!" Luffy said through a mouthful of candy.
Ace had also opened a wrapper from a coin and took a bite out of the chocolate. It was so sweet and delicious.
Just then, something clicked into Ace and he looked at the chest with wide eyes.
"Oh no," he groaned, slapping himself.
Luffy plus candy. Self-explanatory.
He swore that the red head had done it on purpose just to annoy him so he glared at the pirate.
Shanks just let out a laugh and ruffled Ace's hair. "C'mon. It's candy. Don't tell me you don't like this stuff as much as your brother."
"No one could like food more than Luffy." Ace mumbled but he had to say, this candy tasted good.
After their little adventure and had gotten back into town, the sun was already starting to dip down into the horizon, golden orange rays slipped across rooftops and windows from the sleepy sun.
Shanks carried the chest for them as he walked the two home with their new snail transmitters.
"So you two had fun?" Shanks asked with a merry smile.
"Yeah! It was great! I'm glad you found that map Shanks," said Luffy.
"Yeah. Today was a lot of fun." Ace agreed.
"Then we'll do this more sometime," said Shanks loudly which the two brothers readily agreed upon.
That night, after he made sure Luffy and Ace were both asleep, Shanks smiled happily, satisfied how the day ended up.
He headed back to the ship to see his first mate, Ben, sitting on the railings.
"The boys still at the bar?" Shanks asked.
"Yep. So how was your family outing?" Ben joked.
Shanks punched him lightly on his arm. "It was great. Ace and Luffy loved the treasure hunting and they both got a Baby Den Den Mushi."
"Did they find out you were the one who planned the whole thing?"
"I don't think Luffy did but Ace probably knows," said Shanks, chuckling and sat down beside his first mate.
Shanks planted this from the start. He had taken some candy and filled a chest then buried it somewhere, making a mark on a tree. He then drenched a piece of paper with tea and proceeded to rip and crinkle it a bit to make it look old. Afterwards, he drew the map. The pirate captain did all this just last night to make sure Ace and Luffy didn't see him do this.
Ben grinned. "If I didn't know any better, I'd say that they were your sons more than anything."
"Well if they aren't my sons, who are they?" Shanks asked jokingly.
A/N: STOOOOOP! Before you start coming onto me about how Den Den Mushis don't live on the island well... I don't care so ha! I'm not listeninnnnng! (stuffing fingers into my ears and sings to random tunes off-key)
Seriously though according to a SBS (It's like a Q and A for One Piece manga but it's more like an area for monkeying around than anything else) Oda says that a Den Den Mushi isn't always used as a telephone and they lived in natural habitats so I thought ah why not? It's not like he specified where they could be found anyway.
I also don't know if the colors on the shells are painted or they naturally come in different colors but looking back at the anime where Robin holds a Den Den Mushi with a white shell and red polka dots, I kinda doubt that the members of Baroque Works would spend their time coloring the shell of a snail. Oh well I guess Luffy and Ace could paint the shells if they don't like the colors of the snails :P