A/n: Hey sorry I've been MIA senior year and college prep is a terrible como tht only equals depression, but I'm here now, so please enjoy!
-Ryan Sensei
xX~OP~Xx
Hour after hour, refill after refill, most of the pirates could barely hold themselves up anymore. Luffy saw this as his one chance to reach Makino. Gathering up his courage, he moved as slow as possible, his goal seeming hopelessly far away. Navigating his way through limbs, sleeping pirates and chairs, Luffy successfully stood on top of the bar.
"Oh Luffy! I've been wondering where you w-"
"No time to talk Makino! We gotta leave while the pirates are asleep before they try to take us!"
The woman gave a quizzical look before recalling the story Garp told her about the fishmen, it was no wonder the boy was terrified.
"Luffy, I know you must be very scared, but the thing is, those pirates are very different from these guys," she lifted a hand to point at some of the smiling passed out pirates.
"I don't know Makino, maybe those guys are nice, but their captain is probably a big, mean, drunkard who likes to beat people up for fun!"
Multiple chuckles resounded through the room, and Luffy got into a defensive stance in front of Makino.
"Oi captain, did ya hear that? Man this kid's a riot!" A pirate with a blue headband reading 'YASOPP', said between gasps, while banging the table.
"Captain, you gotta stop being so mean!" A large man with goggles and a piece of meat mocked with a hearty laugh.
"Well captain, he did get the drunkard part right!" A large man with greenish black hair and a cigar in mouth chimed in.
Luffy bit his bottom lip at the sudden realization. There are too many of them that I didn't realize were awake… This is bad.
"All of you guys shut up already, geez!" The red haired man, Shanks pouted. Only managing to dim the laughter slightly.
"Now you!" Luffy froze as Shanks grabbed his wrist. The damn captain was sitting right in front of him and he didn't notice!
"I don't know what you heard about me, but yes I'm bigger than you at least, I am not mean- well I'm not a saint either 'cause hey, I'm a pirate. And I'm not a drunkard! I just like to enjoy large quantities of liquor!"
The conscious people in the room sweat dropped as they all had the same thought: that's the same thing as a drunkard…
"And I definitely do not beat up people for fun! Now that that's outta the way," he released his grip on the boy before sighing with a smile.
Luffy saw the pirate's hand raise towards him and closed his eyes in anticipation for the blow that never came. Shanks was somewhat surprised by the action, but feigned ignorance.
"I'm Shanks, and you are?"
Luffy looked between the grinning man and the smiling pirates, the only pirates he knew kidnapped and beat people. He had to rethink this and come back to it later.
"I'm outta here!" He said hopping off the counter and towards his hut.
Shanks remained frozen, hand and smile still in place as his crew laughed at him.
"I already love this kid!"
"He got you good!"
"Cheers to the kid and our drunkard captain!"
Shanks pouted for a moment, drawing invisible circles on the counter's surface.
"I didn't do anything wrong, what's his problem?" he muttered in a child like tone.
"I'm so sorry Shanks, you see Luffy hasn't had a good experience with pirates. A couple of months ago…"
xX~OP~Xx
Luffy threw his rubber ball up in the air, hitting a few tree leaves on its descent, and caught the toy with only three fingers.
Are there actually pirates who are nice? I mean, at one point I did want to be - No! No no no no! That was definitely an act! These guys are just a little more clever than the fishmen.
Gotta hand it to 'em, I almost believed them! Especially the red haired guy, he actually seemed kinda ni- Acting! Just acting! This is exactly what jii-chan was talking about! I'm still too weak!
Right now they aren't attacking, but as soon as they seem a little fishy, they have the next thing coming for em! Yosh! For now, I'll spy, but that's a job for tomorrow! Just you wait Shanks! I'll expose you for what you really are!
xX~OP~Xx
The next day, Luffy was in full-out ninja mode. Stealthily hiding under one of the bar's many tables, he had a great view of Shanks and his first mate, Benn, but he couldn't hear their conversation very well.
"Shanks, we're gonna have to pick up the fruit at some time, I don't feel comfortable just leaving it there with those guys. We could send a small party to- you sense that right?"
"It seems like the little kid came back!" Shanks's smile widened at the thought of getting to know the interesting little kid.
"Just don't scare him off like last time Captain, you heard what Makino said happened to him…"
"I know! I know! So I'm definitely going to show him that I- I mean we are not like that!"
Benn rolled his eyes at the man, already used to the antics. His Captain dusted his pants off before getting off the stool and crouching before the table, effectively scaring the shit out of the kid.
"How the heck did you discover me? I was in ninja mode!" The boy shouted while trying to hide behind the table's leg.
"Dahaha! Sorry kid, didn't mean to scare you!"
Luffy jumped out from underneath the table and leap frogged over the red haired man.
"I wasn't scared! You just startled me! That was my stomach! Yea! 'Cause right now, I'm reeeeeeallly hungry! Makino can I have some chocolate?"
The barmaid looked skeptically at the boy while wiping down a glass. "Isn't it too early for chocolate Luffy?"
"It's never too early for snacks!" Luffy pulled out an eye watering smile and puppy dog eyes. The pirates were surprised by the kid's cuteness to say the least.
"I must be a dirty old man!"
"It's moe overload!"
"It's not natural for someone to be this cute!"
Shanks had to shake the blush off his face before realizing the boy was already on his way out the door, with two bars of chocolate in tow. Realizing the kid was leaving his sight, Shanks quickly caught up with the boy.
He didn't say anything this time, just followed the child who didn't seem to realize Shanks was behind him.
Luffy roamed the market streets, oblivious to the man following him as he ate one of his bars of chocolate. Throwing away the wrapper, he approached a lady holding flowers.
"Lady chicken, I'll trade you this chocolate bar for a couple flowers!" He asked with a smile.
The lady chuckled before giving into his request and exchanging goods. With a smile and thank you he walked to a young child and asked to exchange his flowers for a paddle ball game.
Shanks couldn't help but be impressed by the kid's cleverness. He traded from a paddle ball game to a teddy bear, to a necklace, all to get a shirt that the boy really wanted. With the word 'ANCHOR' printed across it, the boy tried on the fabric with sparkles in his eyes.
Shanks chuckled at the boy's antics and smiled as he followed the raven haired boy to the docks. 'Anchor' huh?
Luffy sat on the doc's edge, and reached a hand to the lowering sun that he always seemed to long for. Letting out a sigh, he gave a small smile to the sun.
"Hmm, so you go here after all that trading huh? Nice place," Shanks said sitting next to the startled boy. Luffy jerked away at the sudden presence and ended up slipping off the dock into the water.
Shanks's laughter towards the boy morphed into concern as he realized the boy wasn't swimming, but drowning. In mere seconds, the red head dove in and fished out the now coughing boy.
"I'm sorry! I didn't realize you were drowning! I sh-"
"It's okay, it's my fault for getting startled so easily… Thank you…" the boy shyly added.
Shanks's eyes widened for a moment before he smiled and ran his fingers through the boy's wet and silky hair.
"Anchor, I think we got off on the wrong foot-"
"Who're you calling anchor?"
"Well you certainly sink like one. Plus you never actually told me your full name, so Anchor it is!"
"HUH?! Fine, my name is Monkey D. Luffy!"
"...This is just a wild guess but, are you by any chance related to War hero, Garp the fist?"
"Yup, he's my mean jii-chan," Luffy said with an indifferent look.
Shanks paused for a long moment before he chuckled at the boy again, it seemed like ages since he's laughed this much.
"Well nice to meet you Luffy, I'm Shanks," the two shook hands and watched the fleeting sun, a comfortable silence passing between them.
"Shanks? Are you actually nice, or are you just pretending?" The boy bluntly asked out of nowhere.
"I heard from Makino what happened with the fishmen a couple months back…"
Luffy suddenly froze and tensed up, looking out at the sea. The pirate knew. He knew! And now he would probably do the exact thing as the fishmen. He really couldn't win, could he.
"I'm really sorry that happened. To be honest, most pirates are similar to those guys, that's why we have marines to put a stop to them… But! That doesn't mean that all pirates are bad either. I've said this before, but we aren't saints, we do bad stuff here and there, but we aren't bad people who go around hurting innocent people. Us pirates, we have the most freedom there is!"
Luffy snapped out of his trance and looked at the man with now sparkling eyes as he heard the man speak; steadily growing more and more interested about pirates and Shanks's adventures. They continued talking even after the moon made its entrance, he wasn't sure why, but hearing this man talk only made him trust him. Even if he was a pirate.
"Ahh, it's gotten this late! Here, I'll walk you back home. Just show me where you live Luffy." The boy nodded and happily lead the way to his hut in the woods.
Shanks was shocked to say the least. As he climbed up the tree to further inspect the 'home', he could see just how bad of a state it was in.
This place is worn down to the point where it could break down at any second! This is no place for a child to be living!
Jumping off from the tree, the pirate leaned down to the six and a half year old's height.
"Ne Luffy, how would you like to sleep on my pirate ship tonight? We can get a ton of cozy pillows and warm blankets! And have a party with lots of food!"
Luffy looked unsure for a moment before asking, "will there be meat? And chocolate?"
"As much as you like!" The boy needed no further convincing before grabbing the pirate's hand.
A/n: this chapter ended on a light hearted note, but this note... not so much.
*****IMPORTANT***** I don't like giving trigger warnings, so I don't. If this was a real book, they wouldn't say "Harry is getting raped in this chp" or "cutting is coming up, dnt like dnt read" So beware that shit happens in this story, but I won't give any trigger warnings. Sorry.
-Ryan Sensei