Several months later
"Shishishi, what an adventure, coming with you was the best idea I've had so far," said Luffy smiling brightly.
"Dhahaha, thanks Lu, but maybe we should pay more attention to these pirates," huffed Shanks fighting against three pirates himself.
"Heh. Now this is what I call training. These guys are on a different level than the ones found in the East Blue," said Zoro, everyone wondering how he was talking with a sword in his mouth.
Some small-time pirates thought they could take Shanks' bounty but were sadly mistaken. It was total annihilation for them.
Several Hours later
I can't believe we've traveled so far," remarked Luffy after the battle was done. Everyone was getting patched up by the doc and nurse.
"It actually hasn't been that bad, you picked a solid group to join after all, Lu," smirked Zoro
"Oi, have some respect for your captain Zoro, heh, didn't you read the news, they're calling me one of the candidates for the next emperor," said Shanks importantly
"Right, of partying maybe. And who even reads that gossip rag, they had our last battle totally wrong, making those marine bastards look good, those corrupt fools," responded Zoro
"Shishishishi, stop teasing Shanks, Zoro, you know he's strong too, just admit it," chimed Luffy. Shanks smiled widely at Luffy's defense.
"Tch, whatever, the tomato-haired bastard got some moves, I'll admit," Zoro said after a beat of silence.
"Hahahaha, Cap, he called you 'tomato-haired bastard'" yelled the surrounding crew members. Shanks blushed and turned even redder when Lu leaned over and whispered, "I like your hair."
Shanks cleared his throat, "Alright, alright, settle down ya bastards, we gotta discuss some things before we head through the North Blue. Apparently the North Blue has seen a heavy presence of Doflamingo's crew, now rumor is, he ate the string-string fruit and can control people like puppets. His officers ain't a joke either from what I hear. Now, the reason I'm even bringing him up is that apparently he's been offered a role as shichibukai. It's not confirmed but we don't want that kind of heat on us. So no engaging with him or his crew unless directly provoked. Got it?" Shanks said seriously looking at Luffy and Zoro in particular.
"Ehh, must be serious if you're warning us," Lu said flicking a booger off to the side
"Tch, you sound like a scaredy-cat, tomato-hair," growled Zoro.
"Oi, like you should be making fun of anyone, Marimo," replied Shanks (A/N: i know this is Sanji's thing but bear with me)
"Listen, the deal is Doflamingo is relatively unknown, but has managed to amass a large underground power base, he's known as the Joker in the underworld. Nothing much is known about his past except he's ruthless and all his enemies end up dead or in prison. If he has the Marines backing him now, it practically makes him untouchable. Not only that, but you guys have heard of Germa 66, right?" questioned Shanks
"Eh, isn't that just a comic," yelled someone
"Nope. Germa 66 is the real deal and they say the leader, Judge, is a real piece of work.
"Ehhh, is Sora real too? " excitedly asked someone else. "No, the Sora part is fictional," sighed Shanks, realizing the crew wasn't taking things seriously.
"If the North Blue is so dangerous, why did ya bring us through here," Luffy asked curiously.
"Heh. Well, you see, uhhh, just to take in the sights, you guys deserved this tour of the Blues," laughed Shanks nervously, rubbing the back of his head.
Benn sighed and spoke up, "What he means to say is that we ran out of his favorite stock of sake from the North Blue and he decided to stop by and re supply," he said to the dismay of the other pirates.
"Ehhhh, Captain you're risking our lives for sakeeeee," yelled the crew
"Good choice, Captain. I'm fully behind you" deadpanned Zoro.
"Shishishishi, Zoro and his sake, shishishishishi" laughed Luffy.
"Well. Now that things are cleared up, once we dock at the next island, proceed cautiously ya dumb fools" declared Shanks.
Random Island in the North Blue
"Damn, Doffy's lackeys are persistent," huffed Trafalgar Law, a rookie from the North Blue.
"Bepo, carry my sword please, I shouldn't need it anymore, not now that I've dispatched these fools.C'mon hurry up, we shouldn't linger too long" Law continued.
"Right, I'm sorry," a talking polar bear mink said.
Law sighed yet again, he seemed to do that a lot regardless of the circumstances, "No need to apologize Bepo-ya, let's get some food" he said trudging along the snow.
Elsewhere on the same island
"Damn this shitty snow, and this shitty wind that won't let me light my cigarette " stomped a swirly brow blonde haired guy.
"Oi Sanji, will ya relax lil eggplant? We escaped the worst of it, we're alive and we have some seed money for the restaurant," Chef Zeff, former Head Chef of Germa 66 said.
"Eh, you shitty bastard? You lost a foot! For Enel's sake you're way too relaxed, we're still in the Enel forsaken North Blue, my siblings could appear at any moment. You think Judge is sitting idly? He must be furious, we destroyed half his ship in our escape and I took one of those damn cans he prides himself over. I wouldn't be surprised if we bump into one of my brothers at our next stop," shouted Sanji Vinsmoke, former Prince of Germa 66.
"Ah, lil eggplant, learn to live in the moment. We're free, enjoy it Sanji" said Zeff sighing.
"Enough with the 'lil eggplant', I'm not a little kid anymore. And I'll enjoy the moment once we're out of the North Blue" Sanji retorted.
On the Red Force
"So Luffy, this is the first time in a while I've seen you so happy," began Zoro as he drank sake in their private quarters.
"Shanks and the crew think you're this happy go lucky guy 24/7, but I've known you since we were kids, you might have everyone pretty much fooled but not your two brothers and I. So, I know you can actually be very quiet at times and even have bouts of depression. You know, your brothers and I have been worried about you for years but ever since we've been sailing I haven't seen your usual signs of depression. I've been meaning to have this conversation with you for weeks but it's been so busy and you've been genuinely smiling so I didn't want to mess that up. Shanks is actually a pretty good Captain, tch, even if he can be annoying most of the time" he finished.
Luffy took a deep breathe before starting,
"Shishishi, I knew you liked him. Ah, but you're right, I have been feeling great this past year. I could never hide anything from you, Ace or Sabo. My mood has improved a lot since we set sail. I think this is exactly what I needed, the open seas and unlimited adventures.
Shanks brought such a breath of fresh air to Foosha, he's so full of life, I was immediately drawn in by him. We had so much fun, Zoro! That's a guy who knows how to live, he understands the true meaning of freedom. I didn't realize it before but I've been the one shackling myself this whole time. All this time I've been waiting for something to happen to me, something to shift me out of this apathetic state I find myself in sometimes, but meeting Shanks and now sailing with him, I realized how wrong I've been. It's up to me to chase my freedom Zoro, I've always had the keys but lacked the will until recently. Shanks woke up a part of me that I think I buried long ago. Watching Dragon bend to Dad's will all those years ago after the incident, broke me I think. I looked up to him and he just left, he left me all alone after all I went through, they both did. I thought Dragon,at least, would fight harder, especially with everything that happened, he never wanted to be a marine either, but the last thing he said to me was ' it's easier to go with the current than against it.' I think that was the day I lost my drive."
Zoro, taking another swig of the bottle, said, "hah, there's nothing you can hide from me, Luffy, funny you think you could. But I hate your brother and ya damn crazy dad too. I thought Dragon was cool, but with that whole mess back then,man, what a bastard. Good riddance to both of them, I say. Even though he acts dumb most of the time, I'm thankful for our tomato-haired Captain. I'm happy to see you in such high spirits, it seems like I'm finally seeing the real you. You know, Shanks actually reminds me of you, of how you used to act before things went to shit after the incident," he finished saying taking another swig of his drink.
"But maybe you can start being a little more honest with the Captain, huh, Lu? It doesn't have to be everything and I know I talk shit about the guy, but he's trustworthy. And he seems to care a great deal about you too. You know, you don't always have to act the role of the fool, Luffy" added Zoro,nudging Lu in a playful manner
"Ah, I know. And you're right, I can be myself here," Luffy said smiling
"Yup. And we can always ditch this place anytime, you're my best friend Luffy, you just tell me what you wanna do and we'll do it. At the rate I plan to train, Mihawk might just come looking for me instead, hahaha," smirked Zoro.
"Shishishishi, cheers to the freedom of being true to yourself and your future title as World's Greatest Swordsman," Lu said, joining Zoro for a drink.
" I'll definitely drink to that," Zoro said.
"Ah, you'd drink to anything, Zoro, shishsishi" finished Luffy. "
A/N:
I updated the first chapter to change the time-line a little so instead of Shanks staying in Foosha for several weeks like originally stated, it was more like several months so now I'd say they've know each other for about a year by this point. I also made some other minor updates to better fit with the second chapter.
As for the second chapter, that took an unexpected turn. It got surprisingly deep there at the end and somehow the plot managed to get away from me. Was anyone expecting that plot twist? because I sure wasn't lol. And what's this mysterious incident? I was trying to come up with a believable reason why Lu wouldn't join the Marines , wouldn't join Ace & Sabo and wouldn't sail out on his own and I came up with this. I'm still kinda iffy on this direction Lu is taking but I think it works, thoughts? Or did I completely fuck the story? The incident will explain his choice of joining another pirate crew/his personality and why Zoro and Lu are such close friends and Zoro's loyalty.. I know Zoro was giving major ooc vibes but I need him to talk here lol more than he usually does. We will only ever see him like this with Lu tho. I like his strong silent type depiction and his quirks. I wonder if anyone can guess what happened in Luffy's past, I kinda allude to it but I'm curious to see if you can get it with the small hints but then again even i didn't know what it was until this morning lmfao, which led to some minor edits in the 1st chapter. Ah, the pitfall of writing as you go but the brainstorming session last night led to some other future chap ideas.
I also didn't expect to see a Strawhat member so soon but with me setting the location to the North Blue because I wanted to introduce Law to the story, Sanji kinda squeezed his way into the story at this time too. I'm still deciding if I want him to stick around or come back at a later date since Lu is a Red- Hair pirate at this time and will be for a while.
Stay tuned for the next chapter, hopefully coming out later this week :) thank you for reading
