WARNINGS: YOAI (boyXboy) Shanks X Luffy, and wide age differences between people in a relationship.
Don't like, don't read. You've been warned.
'…' what they are thinking
"…" what they are saying
Disclaimer: The amazingness, known commonly as Oda, owns One Piece.
Author's Note: Thank you to everyone who reviewed the last chapter! You guys are too nice. Not that you should be less nice.
Being a Girl
Chapter 16: Working Together
--
The sun was rising when Shanks and Luffy followed Juliet up to the gate surrounding the mansion. There were only two Marines guarding the front entrance. When Shanks and his group got closer they noticed that the guards were actually two young girls around fifteen, standing in attention and trying to look serious yet glamorous at the same time. "Like, please state your business," one of them said.
"Give us back Nami!" Luffy shouted defensively.
Juliet sweatdropped as Shanks put his hand on Luffy's shoulder to keep the younger man from plowing through the gates.
"We think our friend is in there, would you please let us pass?" Shanks asked nicely. He didn't want to fight with teenaged girls.
"Like, no," the guards rolled their eyes.
Shanks sighed before turning around to whisper to Juliet, "So how come they don't have to wear hoods?" Shanks motioned to his and Luffy's hoods which covered their own faces completely, unlike the guards' who even had their blue eyeshadow easily visible along with the rest of their face.
"It's the hats they're wearing," Juliet answered, "They look like normal Marine hats, but they were made by a scientist called Vegapunk. As long as the hats cause shade to fall over the face, it's the same as wearing a hood."
This time Luffy leaned in to whisper a question, "Are you sure Nami is in there?"
Juliet closed her eyes for a moment, trying to find Nami with her special ghost power. "...She must be inside, because I can't see her. The only time I can't find someone is when they are in a building. But, when I checked on Nami a few minutes ago the Marines carrying her were pretty much at the mansion."
Luffy nodded, "I'll definitely get her back! No one messes with my friends!" The young man turned to face the guards, planning on knocking them out and smashing through the gates. But Shanks again placed his hand on Luffy's shoulder to stop him. Luffy puffed his cheeks out at Shanks, but remained still. Something that he rarely did.
"So…" said Shanks, still hesitant on beating up adolescents, "Is there any way you can let us by?"
"Nope," The first girl said, but the second one looked hesitant. With a sparkle in her eye the second girl leaned over to whisper something into the first girl's ear.
"No way!" The first girl said looking shocked, "You seriously think they're like that?!"
"Of course," The second girl answered, self-assured, "I tell right away, because I've seen so much of that. It's like I have a radar in my mind."
The two young guards giggled before facing the three in front of them, "There is something two of you can do."
Shanks wasn't quite sure he liked the way the girls were giggling, Luffy tilted his head, and Juliet hoped it wasn't anything gruesome.
"You two," one of the girls said dramatically as the other one pointed at Shanks and Luffy, "Have got to… make out!" The guards squealed like rabid yaoi fangirls.
Shanks and Luffy looked at each other.
"Oh my," Juliet blinked.
"We can, like totally tell you two are together!" One of the girls cheekily smiled.
The other agreed, "So just a nice, hot kiss and we'll let you pass!"
The two squealed again and hopped up and down in excitement.
'Fangirls,' Shanks thought, 'The Marines sure are becoming slack on the people they're recruiting. I'd be practically shameless to kiss Luffy while other people are watch--"
"Alright!" Luffy clenched his fist, determined.
"Oi-" Shanks tried to say before he was cut off by a cheer.
"Yay!" Cheered the young guards.
"But," one of them said, "We can't see anything from under a hood so put this on," The two girls each pulled out a Marine hat, identical to the ones they were wearing, from a bag they had hanging from their shoulder.
"But you have to give it back afterwards," The other girl said sternly.
"Aren't you a little too trusting?" Juliet asked what Shanks was also wondering as he reluctantly took a hat. Luffy had already put one on and pushed his hood back without anything bad happening. The young man's straw hat hanged loosely from a string around his neck.
"Not really," One girl said.
"It's just that we don't like Tanya, so if you're against her, then we automatically like you." The other girl reasoned.
"Why don't you like Tanya?" Shanks asked calmly while he pulled his hood down after getting the hat on. Nothing strange happened, so it seemed safe to assume the guards were telling the truth.
"Are you kidding?!" Both of them fumed.
"She stole both our boyfriends," said the first girl, "One right after the other!"
"And she's evil," The second girl added.
"Now," Both of them said in unison, "Kiss!"
"Huh?" Luffy pointed at himself and Shanks, "Me and Shanks are suppose to kiss?"
Everyone nearly fell over.
"What did you think the girls were talking about?" Shanks coved his eyes with a hand.
Luffy shrugged, "Don't know, I wasn't really listining. I just wanted to put on the hat because it looked cool!"
Juliet giggled, 'Luffy's funny.'
The two guards didn't quite agree with Juliet's opinion though, "There's no backing out now!" They crossed their arms.
"Shishi. That's ok, I don't mind kissing Shanks!" Luffy ginned before leaning up and placing his lips on the stunned red-haired man standing next to him.
Shanks was surprised by Luffy's boldness in front of other people, but soon forgot that anyone else was there. He leaned down into the younger man's kiss, snaking his arm around Luffy's waist and moving his lips tenderly against the other's.
Luffy's lips shifted in response, creating sweet friction. He wrapped one hand around Shanks's neck and tangled the other one through fiery-red hair.
They parted slightly and rejoined again in a different angle, a pair of sensitive lips touching and dragging across the sweet surface of the other's lips.
The two fangirl guards and even Juliet held their breathes as they watched with blushing faces.
"Mmm," Luffy used the hand he had in Shanks's hair to push the man's head lower and deepen the kiss.
One of the guards caught sight of a pink tongue and accidentally, from the excitement, took a sharp intake of breath.
At the noise Shanks and Luffy remembered they weren't alone. They broke apart, their faces red from embarrassment.
A blush on everyone's face, things went on quickly and quietly after that. The couple put their hoods on and gave the hats back. Shanks scratched his head and tried not to look too uncomfortable when he asked, "May we go in now?"
The two guards, still in a trace from the wonderful sight that had happened before them, opened the gates without another word.
When the group had passed one of the guards hit her friend across the head, "Like, why'd you have to go and breath!"
"Sorry," The other girl sniffed.
--Inside the mansion--
The room was dimly lit. The only light came from the crack left between the thick curtains covering the window. Tanya sat in a large chair, hands clasped together on top of the oak desk in front of her. On the other side of the desk hovered a male ghost dressed in old-fashioned brown clothes. They had been talking before the door to the room opened.
It was Doctor Dracula who came in. He walked briskly across the room, whispered something to Tanya, and then left the room again.
"Romeo, love, you don't by any chance know where that horrible girl, Juliet, is?" Tanya fluttered her eyelashes at the ghost floating before her.
"No, my dearest, I only control the wind. I can't see anything on this island like she can." Romeo replied, hatefully articulating the 'she.'
"I see… Well, Doctor Dracula just informed me that she has been spotted passing the gate, and is coming here with two of my enemies," Tanya said. She pulled out a drawer in the desk and took something out of it. "Do you know what this is?" she was referring to the object she had in her hand.
"It looks like a knife," Romeo glided closer to the desk.
"It is, love, but it works like the wristband I let you use." Tanya smiled, handing it too him.
Right after Romeo took the knife he solidified. No longer was he see-through, and his feet stood firmly on the ground. "So, it's just like the wristband?" He asked, tightening his grip on the knife, loving the fact that he could actually feel it in his grip.
"Yes," said Tanya, "As long as you are touching it, you can feel and be felt. Just like when you were alive. But, this knife also serves a slightly different purpose. You see, the wristband was so that we could be together -- because I know you love me -- but this knife is to remove the obstacle between us."
"Juliet…" Romeo said, malice in his voice. He lightly pressed the edge of the knife to his finger. It made a small cut, and he watched as a few drops of blood seeped from it. "It's so great to be able to feel. Now I will make Juliet feel. So we, my dear, can be together."
"Yes," Tanya smiled darkly.
They kissed, and Romeo walked out of the room, closing the door behind him.
Once he left Tanya frowned and whispered to herself, "All men are the same, they only want girls for their looks. And Juliet will know that also, when Romeo kills her."
--
As soon as Romeo walked out of Tanya's room he was met with a group of five ghosts hovering around him. "Well?" One of the ghosts said, "Can Tanya make us real again?"
"Do you want to know the truth?" Romeo asked looking grave.
"Yes," They replied.
"...Everything is Juliet's fault," lied Romeo, "She was the first ghost, and if she is killed we will all be normal again. That is why I was given this," He held up his knife, "To kill her."
"But you know ghosts can't be killed!" A few in the crowd retorted while others whispered to each other about how they always knew Juliet was the cause of their suffering.
"This knife," Romeo explained, "Makes whoever touches it real. I'm real right now. And when the blade is inside Juliet's heart, she will be real too."
"Amazing!" The other ghosts exclaimed.
Romeo agreed, "A genius scientist called Vegapunk invented it. It will surely free us!"
The ghosts rejoiced at the thought that after so many years they will finally be able to feel, breath, and eat again. They will be spared what they thought would be their eternity of misery and isolation.
--Outside The mansion--
"It's really quiet," Shanks noted as he, Luffy, and Juliet walked down the long cobblestone path that lead from the gates to the huge stone mansion that seemed to loom over them the more they neared it. The sun rose slowly along the horizon, and on either side of them the grass grew green.
"You would think a house this big would have a lot of people in it, or at least with all the windows someone would have noticed us," Juliet considered.
"It's really big!" Luffy ginned while he bounced along the path, "Let's go inside and explore!"
"Did you forget? We're here to find Nami," Shanks reminded him.
"Oh yeah!" Luffy filled his lungs with air before shouting, "NAAAAMMMIIIII!"
"Well, I'm sure they've noticed us now." Shanks laughed.
Juliet chuckle, 'Luffy's very funny.'
"But if we go in," Shanks said seriously, "Can you follow us, Juliet? You said ghosts can't go inside houses."
Juliet nodded, "I did say that, but I wasn't being very specific. Ghosts can actualy go inside buildings that were built before me and Romeo, the first ghosts, died. Or so I've noticed."
"Then this building...?" Shanks asked.
"I can go into," answered Juliet.
Luffy shouted again, "NAAAAMIIIIII"
They were not far from the double doors that lead into the mansion when said doors suddenly swung open and dozens of Marines stampeded out and charged at the trespassers.
Shanks unsheathed his sword and Luffy put his fists up.
"Since they can't hurt me, I'll go on ahead through the front doors." Juliet said just as the Marines reached them.
One soldier tired to slice at Juliet as she glided forward, and was shocked when his sword passed right through her. The rest of the Marines, who knew about ghosts, went straight for Luffy and Shanks.
With a single punch Luffy knocked out the first soldier that came at him. "Shishishi, did you see that Shanks?" Luffy grinned and turned toward the red-haired man, only to be disappointed when all the men around Shanks were on the ground foaming at the mouth without the red-haired man having moved at all.
Luffy puffed his cheeks, "No fair."
Shanks just smiled, "Lets go."
The two ran forward, Marines falling left and right as they forced their way toward the doors Juliet had entered through only a moment before.
But right as they beat the last of the Marines and were about to pass through the opening, the doors slammed shut in front of their faces.
"Hey!" Luffy grabbed the handles and pulled, but nothing budged.
"Let me try," Shanks motioned Luffy aside.
The red-haired man lifted his sword and slashed at the doors. But his attack only left a thin mark.
"What?" Shanks touched the door, "I can cut through almost anything. This stone isn't normal."
Suddenly a scream sounded from the opposite side of the sealed doors.
"Juliet!" Luffy shouted, banging at the closed entrance.
'That's definitely her,' Shanks thought while shielding his sword, 'This must have been a trap for Juliet, because there's no way the Marines could have thought a few normal solders would defeat us. It must have been a distraction. They'd seen us coming and planned ahead to separate the ghost. They'd known she'd go on ahead because the solders couldn't hurt her. But why separate Juliet? Ghosts can't do anything, and nothing can be done to them.'
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In the next chapter: Juliet needs help! Will Shanks and Luffy be able to save her? Probably not. But we will find out for sure in Chapter 17!