.
.
21.
Shanks doesn't quite remember what happened when he started panicking after he discovered that his sister wasn't in their usual hideout – or the other thirty they frequented.
He does remember Mihawk slapping him out of it.
"If she's taken," he had snapped. "Then she's still alive. As you are, you can't do anything about it, as weak as you are."
That was an exaggeration and both of them know it. Shanks's body is tempered by strength and lean muscle. He just needs more experience and he'd be a more troublesome opponent. Still, it is enough of a challenge to make his eyes narrow.
"I am not weak!" he had snarled. "Take that back."
They end up sparring and as both boys lay panting on the ground, bleeding and bruised, Shanks finds that his mind is clearer and he had a more secure goal.
22.
It had been Namika that dissuaded him from picking fights. In her absence, Shanks goes back to his goal of fighting his way to superiority.
The boys in the island respected strength and that is why they left Mihawk alone. Shanks was strong but never picked fights. He changes that by tackling one of the strongest boys.
He smiles grimly as they square off.
23.
Mihawk comes when they are half-way to beating him to a pulp. Shanks doesn't quite know what he did or said because he couldn't hear anything over the throbbing pain in his ears where someone had gotten a lucky hit.
The yellow-eyed brat then drags him away for a more severe beating, after treating his injuries of course.
"You're not getting anywhere," he says, not even breaking a sweat. "Learn some bloody tactics."
Shanks is half-willing to bet that Mihawk doesn't actually know what that word means, but it just sounded cool.
He nods to appease the fussy boy and wonders what that word means.
24.
There is a man who breaks up Shanks's latest scuffle. (It is a scuffle, no matter what Mihawk says, not a beating.)
He takes one look at Shanks's puffy face and scoffs.
"You look terrible, brat," he says. "If you fight, at least learn to dodge."
Shanks considers that, remembering the way the man had moved fluidly, dodging a stray punch and following that movement with a quick uppercut. He thinks of his sister and swallows his pride enough to ask.
"If I dodge," he asks. "How will I be able to follow it up as quickly for a punch?"
The man smirks. "Practice, kid. I've got time. Wanna try and hit me?"
Shanks smiles and throws himself at the man with a yell.
25.
It is exhilarating but also painful. Mihawk is one thing but he had lacked experience.
On closer inspection, the man had not been a man at all but a very tall teenager with a rather muscled build.
Shanks smiles through the pain because he had lesser bruises. After a while, his hits had started to get stronger and the teenager's eyes had gone wide with surprise.
"Haki," he commented. "You've got Armament Haki."
Shanks has one eyelid almost closed and he has a hard time breathing. The teenager takes one look at him and shakes his head.
"I'll tell you later then," he mutters.
26.
Mihawk finds the errant red-head and feels a large fission of worry climb up his spine when he finds a tall figure lounging beside Shanks's prone self.
"Who are you?" he demands. If it is rude, no one he likes too much is around to hear it.
The boy smiles crookedly. "Benn Beckman," he answers. He is unbothered by Mihawk's rudeness. Though, if he had spent enough time with the red-head, rudeness is the least of his problems.
"Did you do that to him?" he asks.
Benn sighs. "I'm not looking for trouble. He attacked me, looking for experience, so I obliged him." He glances back at Shanks snoring away like a bear. "Did you know your friend is capable of Armament Haki?"
Haki? He had heard of it but the idea…
"What is that?" Mihawk asks. He really doesn't like asking questions. It made him feel stupid, which he was not.
Benn looks incredulous. "You don't know?!" he gapes. "And here I thought you did, since you're using a weak Observation Haki."
Mihawk glares at him and Benn sighs again.
27.
Benn, both boys quickly find out, is the wandering sort of merchant that wants to meet the pirate king. What for, they don't know. What they do know is that he wields haki absently, almost like a second skin so as not to get pickpocketed.
He is staying in the island for a short while so he agrees to teach the boys everything he knows on the subject.
"I'm on an errand for my uncle anyway," he says easily. "If you help me out here, I can even pay you."
They set up a system of sorts that has Mihawk frowning fiercely. He is still peeking into the dojo window to learn swordsmanship and it interfered with his schedule.
28.
It takes a while, but they eventually learn. It gives them bruises and cuts and Mihawk scowls even more fiercely. Shanks laughs and says, "You'll learn twenty different ways on how to frown at a person before we finish this." Mihawk is not amused.
Benn finds them amusing and says so.
29.
The first time Shanks comes out of a brawl uninjured, he looks at his hands with some measure of shock.
Then he throws himself at Benn with a hug and a dramatic laugh. "Yes! I can see the light at the end of the tunnel!"
Benn had also been teaching them more words to expand their vocabulary, you see.
30.
Shanks sleeps alone since the boys separate once the lessons are over. None of the others know that he cannot dream peacefully. It's easy to hide sleepiness with laughter. Benn often works him to exhaustion anyway and it is a good excuse to fall unconscious.
But he is getting better and it is harder to hide the bags under his eyes.
He dreams of his sister and wonders if she is still alive.
31.
Benn eventually leaves and Shanks contemplates leaving as well since there was no more competition for him to beat, except Mihawk. But fighting the same person really didn't give much experience except knowledge of one fighting style.
And the island, however inhospitable it is to homeless orphans, is home. If Namika ever manages to escape or leave, she would look for him here.
So he dithers and worries.
32.
Mihawk decides for him by pushing him in a boat and watching smugly as Shanks squawks indignantly, flailing as he fell over his head.
By the time Shanks gets his bearings, the small boat is too far away, but it isn't too far away to yell at Mihawk.
"You bastard!" he yells, though the effect is slightly ruined by the laughter in his voice. "Don't you dare stop looking for her!"
Mihawk just arches one eyebrow. It is already a given, that he would look for her as he trained with various masters all over the world.
After all, she was his first friend.
33.
Shanks meets a boy named Buggy.
To elucidate, the boy named Buggy is the leader of one of the gangs that litter the island that Shanks docks in. He summarily meets Shanks's fist and they devolve in a flurry of fists and feet.
Shanks is better off, having been taught by Benn for a while but Buggy had been fighting for a longer time.
He keeps at it though, for longer than usual with his stubbornness.
A group of pirates find them going at it and stop to watch like it is a show.
34.
It is a draw and that annoys both boys so much that when they wake up, after having been knocked unconscious, they immediately turn their backs on each other with a childish 'humph!'.
It makes the pirates attending to them laugh.
"My name is Roger," the captain introduces himself. "Captain of the Roger Pirates."
Shanks made a face at the same time Buggy said, "You named it after yourself?"
Buggy finds a fist thunked into his skull and Shanks laughs loudly.
"Idiot!" he says gleefully. "Don't insult pirate crews."
Roger snorts. "Pirate crews. Brats, I'm in need of cabin boys. Join my crew."
This time, it is Shanks that opens his mouth. "You watched us hit each other and you just suddenly ask us that. I dunno, it seems creepy to me."
A fist is thunked into his skull this time and he whines quietly, unheard under Buggy's boisterous laughter.
35.
Nighttime is always when the urgency to find his sister grows.
Morning is for training and looking for sparring partners. Nighttime is for questions. Night is also when his nightmares overtake him.
"Captain," he asks the large man. "Where do slaves go?"
The captain stills, as does the first mate. They look at him solemnly.
"To the Grand Line, brat," Rayleigh answers. "What of it?"
Shanks eyes burn with fire and steel. It is also dark with memory and desperation.
"My sister," he says to them. "I'm looking for my sister. I won't rest until I find her."
"You'll have to look fairly hard," Roger says. "If it's been a while, then she's already been auctioned."
Shanks clenches his fists and doesn't answer.
36.
It is troublesome, but Rayleigh had to take care of in-boat fighting.
Roger would just laugh and say something about nakama beating each other up with love.
"What's it this time?" he asks loudly to the crew member beside him as they watch Buggy and Shanks scuffle on the deck.
The man shrugs. "Dunno. They were suddenly at it."
It becomes obvious that it is Shanks that look for fights. Rayleigh turns to Roger because there was a glint of something in Roger's eyes as he'd looked at the red-headed boy.
"The brat is looking for fights," the captain answers readily enough. "Because he looks to be stronger. I think he was there when his sister was taken."
It gives insight, certainly, but it is still annoying.
Damn brats.
37.
The offer of training actually curbs the incessant fighting but this time, it is because the injuries are more severe, more serious.
Rayleigh sighs and looks to his captain for more insight.
Roger just chuckles, though there is a hint of worry in his eyes. "He's exhausting himself," the man answers. "I soothed two nightmares already."
Bugger it. Damn brats, but he is starting to care too. The boys had a way of growing on you, particularly Shanks. And that's only because of the worry.
38.
A devil fruit is found and the younger ones crowd near it, especially Shanks and Buggy.
Shanks, after hearing the side-effects, hesitates only for a moment and then shakes his head. He loves the sea too much to not swim in it. It is his greatest love, the ocean. It is a love nearly as great as his love for his sister.
Buggy accepts it and they found out the effects of the fruit at the same time Shanks is handed a training sword.
Everybody just stares as the decapitated hand just hovers in mid-air, not falling or bleeding.
Buggy squeals and then faints.
Shanks grins and then promises to himself not to let his fellow cabin-boy ever forget it.
39.
Sparring with Buggy becomes more challenging, until Shanks starts using his haki.
Immediately, all the pirates around him stop what they're doing and just looks at him.
Shanks doesn't notice and continues to use Observation Haki on creeping limbs and sneak attacks behind his back.
Roger stops the spar and asks Shanks to try and hit him.
Considering that he'd been asking to spar with the captain as soon as he stepped foot on the boat, he yelled and just threw himself at the man.
40.
This is true training, Shanks thinks as he is nearly unconscious on the ground.
Roger is a stern, slightly sadistic taskmaster. Mihawk had nothing on him. Shanks cannot count the number of times that he went to bed and woke up in the morning with bloodied sheets.
He doesn't complain, not once. He thinks of small Namika and her preciously few years, of how she would cling to him when the market crowd grew many and crushing.
He bears the strain of muscles and the strain of training and grits his teeth.
He thinks of the hell his sister must be going through and says nothing.
More ideas pls...
Please R & R
~Hallen