Whoo! One Piece One Shot! -dances- I do not own One Piece, that is not my rightful place in the world. I just wanted to make a play on the fact that many people portray Shanks as being hard-core Irish. Well, at least the people I know do.
Note: Moireach (MOE ruch) means "sea settlement", reference to where this bit is mostly taking place.
Moireach Memory
Seven-year-old Monkey D. Luffy burst into the small tavern, bursting with energy. He danced around the tables and chairs, humming a merry tune.
"What's going on here?" chuckled Makino, the tavern owner. She placed down the barrel of grog she was hauling from the cellar and smiled at Luffy.
"Shanks and his crew is coming today! They're coming back from treasure hunting!"
"Are you sure about it this time?"
"Of course!" Luffy pouted. "Lucky Roux said that it would take them about three weeks to come back from Kiijun Island. I believe him!"
"You would really believe a man that constantly has a stash of meat in his mouth?" Makino teased. She went behind the bar and checked the date that Shanks had given her as to when his crew would be back. Lucky for Luffy, it was that day.
"You're so mean Makino-san!"
"I'm just teasing," Makino sighed, going back to hug Luffy. He was, in a way, her little brother of sorts. She probably knew him better than his delinquent older brother did. The young child resisted the sign of affection, but gave up after a while of being squeezed and began to hang there limp. The tavern owner gave a small laugh. Life was good here in the East Blue.
Suddenly, there was a loud bang of the door and the sound of multiple pairs of boots trampling onto the oaken flooring. Luffy and Makino looked over towards the door to see Red-Haired Shanks accompanied by his boisterous nakama, ready and roaring for drinks and meat.
Oh, was life ever good there in the East Blue.
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"Come on now lad!" Shanks teased, holding a rack of meat high above the child's head. The crew had been feasting for a few hours now and things were just about getting to the point of everyone finishing their meals and being skunk-drunk.
"You are a cruel one Captain," Ben Beckmann snickered.
"Yeah, I know, aren't I?" Shanks laughed. He and his first mate shared a short laugh for a bit until Luffy stretched his neck up and caught the rack of meat with his teeth, making Shanks recoil in surprise.
"What did you forget he could do that?" Ben teased.
"... I... had my guard down," Shanks rationalized, pink accumulating on his face to join the blood already there from the alcohol. He drunkenly adverted his eyes and looked back down at the alarmingly low amount of grog in his mug. He lifted the drink to his lips and downed the remaining dregs without hesitation.
"I hope you realize that I am not giving you any more," Makino sternly told Shanks as he held out his empty mug for another round. "Any more drink in your system and you will be out for the rest of the night and no use to me."
"Please, not while there are children present," Shanks said, motioning towards Luffy. Makino just raised her eyebrow, irritated at the fact she and Luffy were the only two people in the establishment still sober.
"I think you've been denied, sir,"Yasopp chuckled, falling into the bar between Shanks and Ben.
"What have you been denied Shanks?" Luffy asked, curious as to what his idol could not get. The redheaded captain just patted the boy on the head and winced at the pain of the quickly-forming migraine he was acquiring.
"Never you mind that," he said. Shanks then briskly stood up and in a proud swagger, jumped up onto a nearby table.
"Never I mind...?"
"Attention everyone!" Shanks's voice bellowed, resonating throughout the tavern and quieting down the crew. "We come here hardy and proud, fresh off a successful voyage!" A round of cheers met him. "Now... who do we have to thank for giving us such a welcoming reception?"
"MAKINO!" cried out the crew.
"You're still not getting any!" Makino snapped at Shanks. The captain just gave her a momentary pleading look before bending down and swiping the filled mugs of one of his crewmates.
"Now then boys! I think to show our appreciation to the lovely Makino-san..." Cheers aroused once again. "...we should provide her with some entertainment!" More shouting erupted as Shanks jumped off the table and shoved it aside, creating an open area in which to move around in. He waited until his nakama were able to lead Makino away from behind the bar and was seated on one of the bar stools right in front of Shanks.
"This better be good," she said, throwing a flirtatious wink at the man across from her. Shanks just put on his best smile and threw open his arms.
"I knew you'd see it my way," he laughed. He reached into his shirt and pulled out a plain wooden fife and began to play, bouncing up and down to the time. It was a very peppy tune, easily riling his crew into drunken dance.
"Makino-san! Do you want to dance with me?"
"Why don't you dance for me?" Makino asked politely.
"Sure!" Luffy began hopping around, not like Shanks and the others were doing, but heavy, two-footed stomps that jarred his body.
"No, no, laddie," Ben laughed, stopping Luffy and pointing him towards Shanks. "Like that! See how the Captain's doing it?"
Luffy's young eyes fixated obediently on how Shanks was moving about. His steps were light and one-footed. The footwork kept along with the music and was more graceful than Luffy's stomping, hundredfold for sure.
"Okay. Let me try!" said the eager young rubber boy. He began bouncing in place, doing his best to keep in rhythm. Before long, he was prancing about the empty space that had once been reserved for Shanks and his fife of merriment. The man smiled as he watched the boy stumble slightly, forcing himself to up the jig where he had left off. Luffy was trying hard to imitate every move Shanks made, laughing and smiling the whole way. The level of ecstacy was near unmatched. The room swirled in drunken bliss before blurring away into darkness...
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It was the most peculiar noise Nami could have sworn she was hearing. Above her room, there sounded rhythmic hopping, unfit for mapmaking conditions. She stormed out of her room and over to the inner hold that was right above her room.
"What's going on in there?" she yelled, banging her fist on the door. When she got no reply, she just slammed open the door, finding something that took her rather by surprise.
Luffy... doing a jig... while humming some silly tune... and was dancing well.
"I need to lay down," she sighed, closing the door. She went back to the women's quarters unaware of Luffy's memory he was so happily revisiting.
