...
"You killed him!" Luffy yelled out, open shock showing through his face as he copied the Red-haired captain's stance. One hand held out. The other hidden away under his shirt. his facial expression changing to a thoughtful look, slowly showing more and more frustration as the rubber brain wracked itself trying to copy whatever had happened.
Shanks visibly sweat dropped, his eyes blinking rapidly. "I didn't kill him Luffy..."
"He exploded into strings!"
"Luffy..." Shanks scratched the back of his head, his gaze turning towards his first mate.
"How did you make him explode? That was so cool!"
"Mugiwara." Benn Beckman remarked, the steel tone in his voice earning shudders out of the people who knew him. Though it seemed to have no effect on the Straw Hat captain.
Shanks sighed before turning on the spot. "Come on, we don't really have much time to waste-"
"But!"
"Luffy, later!" Shanks grumbled about to take a step further in before the world suddenly twisted.
Their memories rushing back with a vengeance.
Memories of the Nobody they'd met.
Shanks sucked in a breath, his eyes widening in alarm. As he realised who had been pulling his leg.
Who had engineered the red alert that scoured over the world, the red alert no one truly understood. The red alert no one could fully remember, that had set about the Celestial Dragon's Doomsday.
Who, exactly had direct access to the Hobi Hobi No Mi.
"Doflamingo, that Nobody was Doflamingo-"
And yet just as quickly as it came, the memories disappeared. Shanks' expression twisting in a wince as his hand immediately went to his head. His eyes rapidly blinking.
Half his crew-mates, on the other hand were far worse for wear. Outright dropping to the ground as they clutched their heads.
The red-haired captain grit his teeth, his eyes snapping open, only to gaze at an indifferent Luffy. The Rubber captain gawking at the rest, wondering what was going on.
The sight, despite the circumstances, brought a smile to his face.
Shaking off the sudden strain. The Yonko found himself puzzled once again as he took a look at the empty throne room, wondering who he'd been speaking to since arriving.
"The Hobi Hobi No Mi," Beckman straightened himself up. "Don't forget what were dealing with,"
Shanks didn't need to be told twice, that much he could certainly remember.
"You mentioned something upstairs?" Beckman questioned, a raised eyebrow on his face.
Shanks nodded, his observation haki reaching out once again, his body already moving. Idly listening to Luffy ask what was happening, though on their heels none the less.
Given the surprisingly short distance, it didn't take them too long to reach the aforementioned room. The locked door, for whatever reason, looked... Almost unkempt? Uncared for? The room was more or less difficult to miss, given how it strayed against the rest of what they've seen of the castle. Everywhere else looked downright polished compared to the door before them. The visible wear and tear almost foreboding. Yet it was the only room with a visible life force on the other side...
"It's probably him, Nobody-" The word earned another wince out of him. Trying to remember whoit belonged to felt uncomfortable to say the least. "-probably ate the fruit himse-" Whatever Yassop had been mumbling to himself died down the moment Shanks pulled open the door, afterfailing to push it.
The Yonko's own expression twisting into complete anger at the sight of the barred gate hidden behind the damaged door. On the other side of the oppressively dull, empty room, chained to the wall sat a sniffling blue-haired girl clutching a toy to her chest. Her expression distraught as she stared up, blinking rapidly at the sight of them.
...
...
Shanks, shamefully enough, hesitated. His eyes glinting red but for a moment before his expression worsened as he realised it really wasn't a trap. In fact-
"Another one..?" The blue haired girl's lips seemed to tremble at the sight of them, her eyes widening as her face paled. "Another Yonko?" She whispered, almost hauntedly, her eyes narrowing as she gripped the toy in her hand tighter, her body shaking.
Shanks didn't waste a second further as he pushed the bars loose, promptly walking through towards the girl. His sword, faster then the eye could see, cutting her cuffs loose.
The girls terrified expression felt akin to a stab in his chest.
"Don't worry..." he reached a hand out.
She flinched, inching away from his touch, her eyes widening further.
"D-Don't!" She screeched, Shanks' expression wincing as he withdrew his hand back. His bemused expression clear. His thoughts bundled as he stared at her, unsure what to do. From what he'd managed to deduce so far...
It didn't look pretty.
"Jeez. Ya ugly mugs scaring her off!" Yassop, promptly pushed him aside, a serious look on his face. One that immediately turned into a smile at the sight of the girl. "Hey! My name is Yass-"
"I know who all of you are!" The venom behind the words as the girl's face twisted, took the sniper by surprise, his head leaning back the slightest. "You're Pirates is what you are! Like that monster!" She jabbed one hand out, for a moment giving the Red-haired Yonko a panic attack.
"That monster?" Benn Beckman questioned, a steel tone to his voice. His eyes not remotely believing what he was seeing.
"Kaido of the beasts!" The blue haired girl turned a finger towards the red-haired Yonko in the room. Another furious look on her face. "What are you even doing here!? Don't you think you've done enough!?"
Shanks blinked wide-eyed at the complete change in nature. The blue-haired girl crossing her arms as she promptly stood up. Her eyes glaring at all of them.
"Oi! Shanks hasn't done anything!" Luffy's voice suddenly broke through, the boy pushing himself past the others to stand face to face with the still sniffing girl.
"He killed him!" The girl snapped back, matching the rubber brains glare.
"Ah! Yes, he did do that." Luffy nodded. "But he didn't do anything else!"
"Oi..."
"Besides.." The girl grit her teeth, her gaze quickly turned down towards the toy in her hands.
"Who is that?" Benn Beckman's question went ignored, the man quickly developing a tick at being ignored.
"It's his fault Kaido came here..."
Shanks eyes widened the slightest at the accusation, the Yonko immediately straightening himself up, his expression wary. "What do you mean?"
"Your stupid hat! That's what!" She shrieked.
"Whose Kaido?" Luffy grumbled.
"The big toy in the throne room." The girl calmly answered, her expression turning somber at the sight of the Straw Hat's current owner.
"So it wasn't shredded?" Beckman questioned lazily, and noticing the girl still had no intention of answering him, Beckman immediately turned to the rest of their silent audience, handing out orders to start searching.
"The people.. They were-"
"I know." The girl cut the Yonko off. "I didn't have any other choice."
Shanks blinked. "What do you mean?"
He caught the sudden tremble in the girls lips.
"... I made a deal... And given your here..." Her head turned downcast. "Given he isn't... Kaido no longer has any reason..." The girl stopped, her shoulders trembling the slightest, her expression hidden from sight.
"He's currently a toy, if anything-" Beckman started, before, to his surprise, the girl reacted to him, cutting him off instantly.
"I can't wake up my people without waking him."
Shanks winced. "Your people..? You're not a princess or something..?"
The girl narrowed her eyes at him, sticking her nose up as she crossed her arms the slightest bit tighter.
"So what if I am... Are you going to kidnap me? I can tell you now, no one-"
"I am not going to kidnap you!" Shanks clarified, a sweat drop forming on his head.
"Oh... That means you know Vivi! Her country was in a lot of trouble too!" Luffy grinned.
"Whose the toy in your arms?" Beckman questioned, entirely indifferent to the way the conversations changed.
The girl, once again surprising him, actually answered his question. Briefly looking down towards the toy, contemplating what she should say.
"... It's someone important... Someone that... Cannot be here when everything's undone." Her lips trembled, though her eyes oddly enough to the pirates in the room, including the Rubber captain, held hate.
Beckman frowned, his mind wracking itself as it took every, small as it were, piece of information he could recall and tried to piece it together, the pieces falling scattered though the further back he went, the more convulted arcs linking randomly between each other... From the the World Government's current list of problems to the Auction- His eyes widened as he realised what the girl was insinuating. "Someone that even you, Pirate emperor-" She momentarily turned her attention to the man in question. "-wouldn't pick a fight with." The girl, barely reaching half his height, proceeded to match Beckman's disbelieving glare with her own sneer.
"An honest to god Celestial Dragon."
Funnily enough.
Benn Beckman, without a shadow of a doubt, believed that.
"Oh! I think I punched one of those!"
Once again, despite the situation itself, amusement quickly filled Shanks as he remembered reading that particular snippet in the paper. Before it started it's vendetta against him and his crew. But mostly him. Beckman incredulously stared on while Yassop simply blinked owlishly, his internal worry for his son growing by the second.
The princess on the other hand merely stared, entirely unsure, nor prepared for the comment. Her mouth opening and closing rapidly.
"Don't worry!" Luffy grinned, holding a thumbs up, his signature laugh coming out. "Your country's going to get better as well! Just like Vivi's!"
"...You can't just promise that." The girl eventually settled on, a mildly uncomfortable look on her face.
"Watch me! Shishishi!"
...
Note: The Si had Sugar untoy and retoy him so that any new information picked up by Shanks regarding his Nobody identity would automatically be connected to Doflamingo and then once again forgotten thanks to the hobi Hobi No Mi.
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