A/N: Yeah, I'm back, kinda...

Chapter 38

Leaving Luffy

The events that transpired after the sea monster's awakening rattled Harry. He, Spaz and Cantora caught up to Shanks just as he drove the creature off with his Haki. The bandit was nowhere to be seen, his boat nothing more than debris floating in the water around the red-haired pirate. Luffy was wailing in Shanks' arms. No, not arms, arm.

At the view of Shanks' shoulder ending in a ragged stump from which blood was freely flowing, Harry quickly started snapping orders. Spaz was sent to help bring Shanks and Luffy aboard their rowboat, and once Harry magically expanded the boat to twice its original size, Cantora was shuffled to one end. Luffy was put to sleep with a quick spell and given to Cantora to look over for injuries once Spaz returned and Shanks was laid out onto the bottom of the boat.

"Hold still," Harry ordered the pirate, as he stripped the soaking shirt off before spelling a bandage to serve as a temporary tourniquet around Shanks' upper arm. The pirate merely chuckled lightly, clearly growing woozy as the blood loss was finally hitting him.

"Shanks, stay with me," Harry snapped, using his left hand to grasp the pirate captain's chin firmly to look at him. "Where's your arm, Shanks? Stay awake and tell me where your arm is."

"Sea monster ate it," he slurred, before his head fell back with a wet thump.

Harry cursed. There wasn't anything he could do if the arm had been eaten. He cast a warming charm to counter the chill of blood loss and early summer seawater before taking a closer look at the raw stump. It was bleeding out slightly slower now thanks to the tourniquet, but now that Harry knew there was no hope of reattaching the arm, he cast a blood-clotting spell, and then stunned the pirate. A cutting charm sliced the jagged bone protrusion even, and an overpowered healing spell encouraged enough skin growth to seal the stump closed.

It was just a patch fix, though. Harry was no expert when it came to limb amputation, but perhaps the ship's doctor would know more, though come to think of it, Harry had no idea who that was.

"Let's get back to shore," Harry finally announced, casting a cleaning charm on the blood. Spaz merely nodded before grabbing a paddle to start rowing them back.

"How's Luffy?" Harry asked Cantora, who had stripped the boy of his soaking clothes and wrapped him in her sweater.

"He's fine, no injuries that I could see."

Harry nodded, recast the warming charm, and then grabbed the other paddle to help Spaz row. There were a lot of worried pirates and villagers on the island waiting for them.

"What do you mean there's no ship doctor?"

Beckman shrugged, looking a little helpless as he took a drag from his cigarette. Harry crossed his arms and sighed in frustration. "No chef, no doctor – what, do you not have a carpenter or navigator either?"

Beckman stamped out his cigarette nervously, only to light a fresh one immediately after. "You know already that we used to just cycle cook duty. The majority of the crew knows first aid – at least half of us can stitch a sword wound and dig out a bullet before patching the wound. Todd and I generally do the navigating when the captain doesn't want to just drift wherever, and we all can use a hammer and nails."

"It's a miracle you all haven't sunk yet. Or died of some disease or unbalanced nutrition or infection."

Beckman chuckled. "That's our captain. Luck of the devil."

Harry snorted. "Well the devil's come to collect. Our next destination better be to a proper doctor, maybe even Doctor Crocus, and then we're going to stay there until some of us learn more than just basic first aid. Then we're going to have our ship checked out, do maintenance if necessary, and maybe visit a bookstore. Any looting can wait until after when Shanks is back to full strength."

Beckman raised an eyebrow. "Aye, aye," he replied with a touch of sarcasm.

Harry flushed. He'd fallen back into the leader role he had known so well during the war when everyone's well-being was his responsibility. "Sorry, Beckman, you are the first mate."

"No, no," Beckman waved his hand. "The captain would be pleased if he heard. You're finally acting like you plan on sticking around and becoming one of us. Sure you don't want to be our ship's official chef?"

Harry blinked in surprise. It was true that he was worried about Shanks and the condition of the crew, and he had made a few friends of the pirates, but to be one of them? Did he really want to call Shanks his captain?

In the end, he didn't have to answer, as Beckman merely patted him on the shoulder and left the room to check on the crew's preparations to leave.

Harry followed him out, but turned the other direction to check on Shanks who was resting in the back room of Partys' bar. Spaz was sitting on the roof above the bar's back door and jumped down as he saw Harry approach.

"Luffy's in there with him right now," Spaz informed him. Harry nodded his thanks and opened the door. Luffy visiting was sure to cheer the pirate captain up, though the wizard was quite certain that Shanks would try to put up a strong front for the kid and possibly push himself too hard. Harry would have to keep a careful eye out and send Luffy away if necessary.

"Wow!" came an excited exclamation through the open door. "You go on the best adventures, Shanks!"

Harry smiled as he saw Shanks sitting on the bed with a bottle of sake in his remaining hand as Luffy sat on the edge of a bar stool nearby, eagerly listening to Shanks' storytelling.

"That's nothing," Shanks grinned. "The Grand Line is filled with adventures."

"The Grand Line sounds awesome! I can't wait to be a pirate and have my own adventures. I bet that's your favorite part about pirating, yeah Shanks?"

"Naw," Shanks shook his head, still grinning as he gulped from his sake bottle. "The best part is collecting crew. Now don't tell anyone, but I'm looking forward to finally getting – "

Harry's eyes narrowed as he realized what Shanks was about to say and quickly interrupted.

"a m-"

"Shanks!"

"-ician!"

"A musician?" Luffy asked, having not heard the entire word.

"Yes," Harry quickly confirmed. "But you will certainly first need a navigator, and probable a chef, a doctor, a carpenter, and some good fighters to watch your back."

"I'd like a swordsman," Luffy grinned, "and definitely a chef! But a musician would be awesome, 'cause a pirate's gotta party, and parties need music!"

"Why don't you start planning your crew with Beckman, Luffy?" Harry suggested. "As Shanks' first mate, he'll probably have more ideas than this idiot here," he added, shoving Shanks' head lightly.

"Shanks is not an idiot, you meanie!" Luffy protested, but he left regardless, excited to talk about his future pirate crew.

Shanks was pouting, but Harry ignored the expression as he plucked the bottle away and shifted Shanks' coat to get a better look at the stump. The skin at the end still looked pink and shiny, but healthy enough with no sign of infection or splitting. Harry followed that up with the only diagnostic spell he learned to check for internal bleeding and found nothing worth worrying about. Satisfied, Harry sat down on the stool Luffy vacated and was soon joined by Spaz who plopped himself onto the floor.

"I was trying to tell him I was just about to get a magician. I've plenty of musicians, you know, Kid."

Harry snorted. "I know, but knowing Luffy, he'd take that as him needing to find a magician of his own for his crew and screw up his priorities. Really Shanks? You've been captain of a crew for how long and you don't at least have a doctor? And don't tell me you're waiting for Doctor Crocus. You and I both know he's not going anywhere and you've had plenty of time to search for someone else."

Shanks grinned. "Seems to me a magician's enough to cover just about everything I might need. You cook our meals, fix our ship, healed me up quite well just now too."

Harry scowled. "Just because I can do a great deal, doesn't mean I can do it all. I can only cook so many different meals, and Greg knows more than I do about non-perishable ship fare. If part of the ship rots away, I wouldn't know where to start replacing it. As for healing, I can do injuries alright, but I don't understand diseases and I'm bad with infections. I spoke with Beckman just now. If you're willing, I recommend we leave as soon as possible to get that arm of yours looked at by a professional."

"Hmm," Shanks sighed, lifted his hand up to tilt his straw hat down over his eyes as he leaned back against the wall. "Our time's about up anyway, isn't it?"

Harry nodded, even though Shanks couldn't see, but the pirate wasn't really expecting an answer anyway, so he didn't bother vocalizing it.

"Luffy's not thinking about joining us anymore," Spaz observed after a moment's pause.

"Dahaha!" Shanks burst into laughter. "No, he isn't." He swept his hat off with a wide grin. "He'll be his own captain," he declared with satisfaction, "and I can't wait to see what kind of pirate he'll be."

"You okay?"

Harry glanced over at the straw hat ghost, before shrugging listlessly.

"Just some bad memories," the wizard replied. "No nightmares yet, though."

"You haven't fallen asleep at all tonight."

"Exactly."

The next day saw the ports of Windmill Village bustling with activity. The waters were calm, and though Harry wasn't sure how wise such a decision was, Shanks had the ship run to shore for easier loading of supplies. The villagers chatted along the sidelines, watching as the pirates carried crates and large sacks of food, alcohol, nails, canvas, and other goods under Beckman's direction. Shanks was standing a little out of the way, saying his final goodbyes to Luffy, who looked distinctly displeased at the news that the pirates would be leaving for good this time.

"Are you upset?" Shanks asked.

"Yea…" Luffy admitted, "but I won't force you to take me along anymore."

Shanks stuck his tongue out at that. "I wouldn't have taken you if you begged me."

Ignoring this comment entirely, Luffy proudly declared, "I'll become a pirate by myself."

"You don't have what it takes to become a pirate!" Shanks teased with a wide grin.

"Yes I do!" Luffy shouted. "One day, I'll find myself a crew that is as strong as yours. And then I'll find the world's greatest treasure! I'll become the king of pirates!"

Shanks' crew all paused as they listened with pride to Luffy's determination.

"Oh, so you want to be bigger and better than us, huh?" Shanks concluded with a happy chuff. "Well then, this hat," he continued, looking at the young boy who was currently biting back tears. With his remaining hand, the pirate captain grabbed his straw hat by the bowl and placed it firmly on the boy's head, hiding teary eyes, "is my gift to you. This is my favorite hat, you know. When you become a great pirate in future," Shanks challenged, "return that hat to me."

Shanks didn't look back, but Harry did. As the anchor rose and the sails lowered, Harry scanned the air around Luffy, spotting the straw hat ghost before they traveled too far.

The ghost raised a hand with a large grin. "Take care of yourself!" he called out to Harry, who could only smile and wave back.

A/N: Short, and mostly canon, sorry.

Major thanks to my beta, PyromanianBlackWings, for sticking with me despite my off and on habits.

759 reviews, 2/17/13

(esama is gone, *cry*

But I highly recommend cywscross's work, if you haven't read them yet)