"Why are we here?" asked Makena with Charles by her side. Near them were the Cullens, all protected under Bella´s shield. The vampires there looked tense, as some of them were literally dragged out of their homes by the guard and taken to Volterra.
"We have to wait until our… special guests are here to answer" said Aro from his throne. The three elders were tense as hell and stressed out of their limits.
"Let us go, you Italian scum!" yelled a voice, followed by another one cursing the Vultury to hell. The door opened and Demetri and Felix enter through it with Vladimir and Stefan over their shoulders.
"They gave such a fight" said the tracer, throwing his cargo in front of his masters.
"Then we can begin. Aro, might you please…" said Caius.
"Of course, my dear brother" answered the mind reader.
"Why do you drag us here?" said Stefan while his companion spat in the floor at Aro´s feet, but the Italian leader didn´t seem disgusted or anything else.
"Dracule Mihawk" answered Aro, like it was some kind of code word. Then the Rumanians stopped being disrespectful and starting being tense.
"He was defeated a long time ago" said Vladimir and Stefan nodded. Both of them were actually scared of the return of Hawk eyes.
"Who is these Dracule Mihawk?" asked Siobhan.
"He was our leader when we were in the power, a millennium and a half ago. Also known for being the greatest swordsman ever exist, he have a gift he combined with his sword, black Yoru, to turn it into an energy weapon of some kind" answered Vladimir.
"But we got tired of his manias and decided to make an alliance with the Italians to throw him out of power. Now Dracule Mihawk is only a corpse buried for centuries in their basement" said Stefan, signaling towards the Vultury.
"And we tough he will never be a problem again, but a few days ago a letter came to us, asking us to free Mihawk. It was signed by a person named Shanks" said Aro.
"Wait, Shanks is still alive?" asked Stefan confused.
"Do you know these person?" asked Caius, confused too.
"Yes, Red Haired Shanks was… is Dracule Mihawk´s mate" answered the Rumanian.
"Mihawk had a mate?" asked Aro in disbelieve, in his imagination he saw an image of the weird eyed male with a big breasted and long haired redhead in his knees.
"Why didn´t you kill Shanks when you assault Mihawk´s castle?" asked Vladimir.
"We didn´t know she even exist, so excuse us. But now that we know you know her ratter well, why don´t you make a description or a drawing of her so that we can identificate her" answered Caius.
"Um, it´s him" said Vladimir.
"What?" asked Aro.
"Shanks is a male, Mihawk have that kind of likings" said Stefan, blushing.
"Oh… then, what do remember of him? Have him some kind of dangerous gift or…" started Aro, but was cut by the Rumanians.
"We didn´t see him that often, only when we went to Hawk eyes castle. Mihawk have some kind of overprotective possessiveness towards his mate"
"Anything could be of help, he is about to attack us and if his mate is freed, he will chase all of us, all the vampires that live under our rule and destroy us. And you know he can" said Aro.
"Like I say, we didn´t really know him. The only time we saw him out of the castle was when Mihawk returned one day with a newborn vampire Shanks in his arms, claiming that he was his mate. And inside that place… well, one didn´t get in pretty often"
"What a drag" said Caius
-Outside Volterra-
"Can you tell us your history before the battle?" asked Rockstar to Shanks.
"Do you really want to know it? Well, it started like an ordinary day…"
-Flashback Shanks-
Shanks was with Buggy, sitting in the little merchant ship he worked on. The live of a merchant at sea was not easy, but the two apprentices were learning rater quickly, especially the redhead. The captain and his officers usually tell him how well he did his job and give the young redhead some gifts.
"So, what is the cargo now, Buggy?" asked Shanks, looking at the blue haired boy. The clown was jealous, but he hid it well.
"I think it´s food to commercialize and… what are you looking at, Shanks?" asked the other chore boy, looking at his companion, who was now staring towards the horizon.
"Is someone… watching us?" asked the redhead suddenly.
"I don´t think so, why?" answered Buggy.
"Because… for a few days I felt like I was being observed by someone"
"You mean since we are in these port, is it a girl? Is she pretty?"
"I don´t know, I just felt like I´m being stalked. It´s kinda freaky and very disturbing. I really hope it will stop now that we are leaving. What if I have brought a danger onboard? What a drag" said Shanks signing.
"Stop thinking about that and get to work, the captain is already calling us for help" said Buggy, pointing towards a man that was making signals to them. Shanks got u and hoped to forget that sensation. But by the night it have gone worst. That staring was turning him crazy. Unable to sleep, he went out of the cabin he shared with the red nosed kid and into the deck. Walking a few steps under the moonlight, he stopped near the middle.
"I know you in there, stop hiding" said him, tired of the stalking.
"I didn´t hide from you" said a person, appearing out of nowhere right behind him. The creature´s arms were around his body and his mouth near the boy´s neck.
"Who are you?" asked Shanks, now very afraid. The man let him go that moment and he ran towards the edge of the ship.
"My name is Dracule Mihawk and I am the leader of the vampires. A pleasure to meet you" said the yellow eyed man, acting like a gentleman.
"Well, mister vampire…" said Shanks, now shaking. "Are you going to eat me?! I´m too young to die! Please spare me! Help!" he started screaming.
"It´s very tempting, if I might tell. Your blood smell amazing, like a meadow in spring" said Mihawk, back at the boy´s back.
"T-t-t-t-t-thank y-y-y-you, sir" said the Redhead.
"Don´t worry, I´m not going to eat you. You have just catch my eyes and I want to know more about you" said the vampire.
"Hum, what do you want to ask?" said the sailor, trying to buy some time.
"Your name first" said the Rumanian lord.
"Shanks"
That was the first of many nights that Shanks spend talking to Mihawk, who he started to call Mihi, for the older one´s irritation. A year passed and something unexpected happened: the captain recommended him as a new captain of a merchant ship. Now Buggy was burning in jealousy.
"Why you? Why not me?" started asking the red nosed brat, knowing that if Shanks wasn´t there he was the one that was going to get that job. It was a moonless night.
"Hey, what´s the matter, Buggy? Are you going to miss me so much when I took my new position that you can´t sleep?" said Shanks.
"Something like that" said the clown and then he show his companion a bottle he was hiding. It was run, a good one. "Want some?"
"Yes, thanks" it was done and the red nosed boy know it. The redhead never refused a drink, never. Earlier in the afternoon he put into the bottle a sleeping herbs mixture, then he would throw that annoyance off the board.
"Good thing the others are not watching us now" said Buggy, trying to make time.
"Yes, the captain would have screamed at us for drinking in our work hours and the others would never let us forget that" said the redhead and they begin a conversation until Shanks started to feel a little bit dizzy. Sleepiness took over him as he yawned.
"You seem tired" said the clown, noticing that his plan was working.
"I am. I´m off to bed right now" said him, but he couldn´t take another step and was dragged by his arm towards the edge of the ship.
"No, you are not" said Buggy.
"What are you doing?" asked Shanks as he fought to stay awake.
"Getting rid of you, of course, then my life is going to get better without an annoyance like you"
"No, Buggy"
"Good bye, Shanks, say hello to the sharks for me" said the clown, dropping the other chores boy into the sea. The redhead fought to stay awake, but couldn´t. His body was not responding and a lot of water entered his mouth.
"I´m going to drown… I don´t want… Mihi!" he shouted in his mind before his lights went off. When he woke up he was at a cave with Mihawk. His body was cold and shaking.
"You have hypothermia" said the vampire, then cursed. He didn´t have the heat he need to keep his Shanks body going… wait a minute, since when he was his Shanks?
"It´s okay, Mihi. Come here, there is something I want to tell you" said the redhead, fighting to stay awake. The vampire come closer. "I love you"
"I love you too" answered Mihawk before kissing the boy. "Keep your hearth beating, okay? We are going to live together… for eternity"
"W-w-w-what?" asked Shanks, but his companion didn´t answered. Then the redhead felt teeth in his neck and a fire inside of his veins. During three days he was screaming and turning, keeping his hearth alive like he had promised Mihawk. Then the pain disappeared. The yellow eyed vampire only took him into his arms and carried him, running towards his home.
"Who is him, lord Dracule?" asked a vampire servant when they arrived at the castle.
"My mate" was the lord´s only answer.
It took Shanks some years to get used to wear elegant clothes and cope with Mihi´s overprotectiveness. He didn´t even let him get out to the gardens without his presence, for God´s sake! And let´s not talk about the battle field! They were in the middle of a fucking war against the Italians! One day his patience got to the limit and he went out alone, following his mate´s essence towards the battlefield… only to see him defeated by his enemies.
"No" said Shanks in a low voice. Then Mihawk´s eyes move towards him. They were holding only one message: Run! He escaped like he was told, away from the Italians and promising vengeance.
-End of the Flashback-
"Now I´m getting it… and I will see him again" said Shanks, finishing his narrative.
"Of course, boss" said Yassop, putting his weapon over his shoulder.
"Do I call the newborns, boss?" asked Lucky Roo.
"Yes, let´s begin now that they are talking" answered the redhead.