Chapter IV: Red Haired Shanks

"Be strong enough to stand alone , smart enough to know when you need help, and brave enough to ask for it; because sometimes asking for help is the bravest move you can make. You don't have to go alone."

"You seem very deep in thought," The smooth voice of a man pulled Aella out of her thoughts. She jolted into a sitting position in alarm, hand already reaching for Yorukaze while she turned around to face the person who invaded her space.

In front of her was a one-armed man in his thirties with crimson-red hair and a triple set of parallel scars over his left eye. The pirate was just under two meters tall and was wearing a white, half-buttoned up shirt, loose brown pants that stopped under his knees and a long, sleeveless black cape. He had a bottle of booze in his hand and a saber strapped to his hip.

Needless to say, Aella immediately recognized the guy- Who wouldn't, really? Any normal fangirl would; not that any of those are completely normal, mind you, but you get the image. Her mind was going crazy at the fact that Red Haired Shanks was standing in front of her, talking to her, though she kept a cool exterior without letting any emotion slip past. A perfect mask, carefully crafted to keep herself from getting hurt.

Even I gotta admit that this guy's hot, even hotter in person, but he's too old for me. Aella hummed affirmatively, letting go of her sword as she didn't feel any malicious intent from the Emperor as she turned back to face the ocean again. "I was."

She expected him to ask what she was thinking about or something along those lines, but all Shanks did was sit down beside her, an appropriate distance away as to not invade her personal space. "The view here is nice, isn't it?"

"Yeah, it's pretty calming."

"What's your name?"

Aella didn't find any harm in telling him that, but decided to tease him a bit, "Now, now. Isn't it rude to ask someone for their name before introducing yourself first?"

Shanks grinned, letting out a laugh, "You're right. I'm Shanks,"

"Aella. So what's a big shot pirate like yourself doing on this island?" A small smile appeared on the young woman's lips as she watched a seagull catch a fish and fly away with it.

"Oh~ You know I'm a pirate yet you didn't run away, screaming? Or tried to take me down? I doubt those famed swords of yours are just for show," There was a mischievous gleam in his eyes and he moved himself to face her, studying her body language.

Aella shrugged, "I can tell you don't have bad intentions, and I'm smart enough to recognize the difference in power between us; while I like to think that I'm a decent fighter, I'd still end up dead in a second if I were to fight you."

The man laughed again, "You're observant. What are you doing on this island, Aella-chan?"

Said female raised an eyebrow, "You never answered my question, but to answer yours, I'm kinda stuck here."

"Stuck?"

"I have no means of getting off; no idea how to build a boat and sail away, or how long it'd take to reach the next island."

Shanks tilted his head, looking at her in interest, "How did you even get here? The currents around these waters aren't easy to navigate, considering we're in the New World, and the island itself is somewhat hard to find."

Aella perked up at the piece of information; she finally knew which part of this crazy world she was in, before frowning. She didn't know how to answer his question, and she suspected that he would be able to see through her if she tried to lie. "I... I kinda woke up here a bit over three weeks ago."

The Yonko could tell that wasn't the whole truth, but didn't push it. The woman's caution was understandable, considering they just met. "Hmm. We can give you a lift to where you want to go."

"I appreciate the offer, but I'll have to decline." Aella responded. She knew she would most likely end up severely regretting this, but she still turned down Shanks' offer to help. While she knew this pirate from the anime and manga, back then, he was just a character. Now, however, he was very much real and dangerous, and the girl did not know him. She couldn't just trust him right off the bat.

Her answer still caught him off guard a bit, having not entirely expected it but didn't seem all that surprised. "Huh? Why not? You said you didn't have any way to leave the island, and you seem bored as hell alone here."

"Uh..." Aella rubbed the back of her neck and frowned, "While I do want to leave, I just don't have anywhere to go. And, no offense, but I don't particularly trust you; we just met."

"Understandable," he laughed. "What about your family?" Her eyes darkened, and Shanks immediately knew he shouldn't have asked that question.

"Dead."

"Losing a loved one is hard, but all I can really tell you is to learn to live in acceptance of the loss, not in spite of it." Shanks said, remembering Captain Roger's death- that man was not only his former captain but also the man that had taken him in as a child; raised him. The former Pirate King was a father figure to the redhead and he remembered how utterly devastated he felt when Roger was executed, but he'd learned to live with it and accept the fact that he was dead.

"Forget it, it's been over two years since then anyways." Aella sighed, looking back to the open ocean. Oh, how she wanted to travel across those waters, see what the world had to offer.

Shanks came to the decision that he liked the girl, and he wanted to help her. He could easily tell that she was a cautious person, like she was hurt before. She was also observant and smart, and the redhead could sense the underlying potential in her. He also noticed the longing in her eyes while she gazed out at the sea. It was a look he was all too familiar with. "You can travel with my crew. You can't stay here alone forever, after all."

She blinked at him in surprise. She didn't see that one coming. "I know that I can't stay alone, but I don't even know if I want to become a pirate. It certainly never crossed my mind,"

"I'm not telling you to become a pirate, just that you can travel with us until you decide what to do. My crew will be staying here for one week, so you have some time to think about it." He smiled softly at her before getting up, "Oh, we're having a feast, by the way. You're welcome to join if you want to."

"I'll think about it, thanks for the offer, Shanks-san." Aella replied after a couple of seconds of silence.

As it happened, Aella accidentally came across the group of partying pirates while looking for something to hunt and got dragged into their midst by a tipsy, probably even drunk, Shanks.

"Aella-chan! You came!" He cheered, shoving a mug of what she immediately identified as sake into her hands.

"More like you dragged me, I was just hunting!" The girl grumbled, staring at the beverage in her hands. And really, she could use a drink right about now, its fruity aroma making her crave it further.

"Loosen up, it's a party!"

Aella sighed, suspecting there was no way out of this, and gave in, too lazy to actually try and argue with this stubborn man. And she would be lying if she said she didn't want to join them, so Shanks dragging her here was a good excuse to have a drink and be around some people again.

She brought the mug to her lips and drank some of its contents. A satisfied sound escaped her lips as she went to a rock a bit away from the center of the party, watching in amusement as pirates danced and sang around a huge campfire. She downed the rest of the mug and set it to her left then put her elbows on her knees, propping her chin against her palm.

After a while, someone approached her with a plate of food then sat down on her right. He was pretty tall with graying hair and an X shaped scar on his left temple. "You're Aella, right?"

"Yeah," She hummed, watching him closely. "You guys seem a bit too nice to be pirates, much less a Yonko crew,"

Benn let out a snort, "One would think so, but we can be pretty damn dangerous if need be."

"I can tell, like how you look so relaxed right now but still on guard. I'm not crazy enough as to challenge a Yonko."

He chuckled, extending the plate towards her, "Here, you haven't eaten anything. I'm Benn,"

"Thanks, and nice to make your acquaintance." Aella smiled lightly, accepting the food.

She and the Red Hair Pirates' first mate made small talk, neither giving away too much information. She had to admit, his company wasn't bad, and he was someone she could actually have a smart conversation with.

The silver haired teenager found it nice to actually socialize again(shocker!), even if it were with a bunch of easy-going, yet deadly pirates.

Aella sat on the cliff, watching the sunrise again. The Red Hair Pirates were due to set sail in a few hours, and she still hadn't come to a solid decision, even though the choice was right before her eyes: Either leave the island with the Yonko crew and sail with them, or stay here alone with no visible means of leaving.

She sighed, fingering the gem in her hands as her legs dangled off the edge. She had come to like these pirates during the week they were here, and Shanks seemed to genuinely want her to come along with him, going as far as to offer to help train her after he saw her hunt down one of the bigger animals.

Benn was a great person to talk to, Yassop an awesome marksman who gave her some tips for her throwing knives, Lucky Roo's food was amazing, and Shanks, well, he was Shanks; a badass, easygoing, good hearted yet crazy strong pirate captain with an amount of charisma she hadn't come across before. The guy just had an air around him that drew you in, that it was nigh impossible to dislike him.

"I knew I'd find you here."

His voice startled her and the crystal fell from her hands, down the cliff, heading straight for the ocean.

"Shit," Common sense and logical thinking thrown right out the window, Aella jumped after it, head first, completely forgetting she was a Devil Fruit user now until she hit the water and felt her strength leave her.

I'm a damn idiot, She wanted to slap herself, but she couldn't. She barely had enough control to keep her mouth shut right now. That control soon slipped away as her lungs burned for oxygen, seawater entering her mouth in place of any leftover air.

Black spots danced within her field of vision and her eyes slid shut, her grip on reality slithering away just as a muscular arm wrapped itself around her waist while the hand attached to it grabbed the sinking crystal.

Shanks' head broke the surface of the water along with Aella's, and he quickly swam to the shore. He laid the girl on her side as she coughed up a ton of water, greedily gasping for air. The man's eyes turned to look at the crystal in his hand and couldn't help but think it was familiar.

He racked his brain as to where he had seen a crystal like this one; colorful, radiating power and so important that someone who couldn't swim would jump into the ocean after it.

He put it aside for now and turned to Aella beside him.

She opened her mouth and let out one word, "Thanks."

"No problem, but that was very reckless of you. And coming from me, that's saying something. You never told me you were a Devil Fruit user," The redhead grinned.

"You never asked,"

"Touché . Here, this is yours, right?" He threw her the gem, which she swiftly caught, looking grateful.

"Yeah, thank you for grabbing it."

He nodded at her, choosing his next words carefully. "You seemed pretty panicked when you dropped it -sorry about that, by the way- Is it important to you?"

"Very. It's, uh, a family heirloom. I'd rather die before I lose it,"

A sense of déjà vu came over Shanks and he suddenly realized where he saw that crystal before. It was about twenty two years ago, back when the Roger Pirates were still an active crew and he was sailing with them as a child. One of the crew's top officers, Cassidy Andrew, had once jumped overboard despite him being a Devil Fruit user. After Ray-san went after him and brought him back on board the Oro Jackson, he handed him a crystal -much like the one currently with Aella- and had fondly reprimanded him for his recklessness.

When Shanks had curiously asked Andrew about it, he received the very same response Aella gave him: "It's a family heirloom. As the leader of the Cassidy clan, I swore I'd die before I lose it."

Andrew had left the crew in a hurry just before they could head to Laugh Tale, saying there was some important business he had to take care of back home, and that he would come back as soon as he could.

He never did.

A few months before Captain Roger surrendered himself, he wanted to know what had happened to his friend, and after some investigation and research, he had found his answer; the World Government was so terrified by the power that the Cassidy clan supposedly held that they opted to eradicate them. It was a bloody battle -that clan were a bunch of tough fighters and could hold their own against many people- but Andrew's body was never found. They would've known if it was; the Navy would have boasted about taking down a pirate as infamous as him, after all. Rayleigh had his theories on where Andrew had gone, and why he hadn't come back.

There were no survivors found by the government, though, and the Cassidy Mystical Gem was never found, either. But he remembered hearing from his former captain that a bunch of them were away from their home island at the time of the battle, so they managed to survive. Shanks didn't know where they were right now; however, Ray-san might.

"Cassidy. That's your family, isn't it?"

Aella stilled for a second, and that was all the indication Shanks needed to know for sure. The girl slowly responded, "Why are you asking?"

"And you aren't from here," he stated, totally ignoring her question.

"I think we already agreed on that. I woke up here about a month ago,"

"No, I meant you aren't from this world."

"What's that supposed to mean? Do I look like an alien to you?"

"Aella," Shanks said seriously, looking at her, "You have to keep it a secret from the World Government. If they find out there is a surviving Cassidy with the gem, they'll no doubt try to hunt you down."

Said girl's eyes widened before she sighed, rubbing her temples. "I don't know why I'm even surprised about that." Because of course. Of course this is the world her grandparents had come from. Why had she expected anything different? "The Government sure sucks sometimes. Scratch that, most of the time."

Shanks huffed out a laugh, "You got that right- Wait, how did you get that right? Since you're not from here, you shouldn't know what the Government is like, or who I am, for that matter."

"Shit," Aella had not intended to let that particular cat out of the bag, but the red haired idiot in front of her turned out to be much smarter and more observant than she gave him credit for— which was, admittedly, a stupid thing to do on her part since one couldn't just become a Yonko for brute strength alone. There was absolutely no way for her to avoid this question, lying was out of the equation, too. She sighed, "It's a long story."

"One that you're still going to tell me. On the ship. Come on. And it's not even an option anymore, you have a lot to learn if you plan on surviving here, Aella."

Without giving her a chance to argue, Shanks threw Aella over his shoulder like a sack of potatoes. Her face heated up in embarrassment, turning completely red, and she thanked whatever deities that existed up there that Shanks couldn't see her face.

"At least let me bring my stuff!"

Author's Note:

So... got that out of the way. I went over this chapter many times, but I have no idea what else to do to make it better. Do you think Shanks is in-character? He doesn't have much screen time, and while we know he is like Luffy in some ways, he is also very much different, so I didn't know how exactly to write him, but I did my best.

I only have one more pre-written chapter after this, then I'll have to continue posting newly written (not as thoroughly edited) chapters. I've been doing my best to locate and fix any mistakes, but it's hard once you've read through a chapter at least five times. Do tell me if you find any.

Thanks for reading, please leave your thoughts on this fic so far.

See ya!