My eye kept twitching as he advanced though the shop. "I don't care how much it costs." He said.

I whirled around to face him, "CAPTAIN!" I screeched, then caught myself, "Oh god! I just called him captain!"

The old shop keeper stared at Shanks, then pulled out a sheet of paper, glancing between the paper and Shanks the man's eyes widened in horror. He turned to me and asked, "This man is your captain?"

"No! He's not! I'm not even a pirate! Though I have sort of been sailing with him for a few days..."

The man was now stumbling to grab a sword from the counter behind him. Shanks turned to me, "So, I heard from Benn that you got new clothes?"

"Yeah," I stared at him, "I can buy my own damn sword you know."

"I know, but Benn didn't really give you that much money," Shanks shrugged. "Plus, I just want to make sure you get a reliable blade that won't break after so many uses."

I grumbled as the shop keeper finally placed a sword on the counter. "This," He said gesturing to the sword in front of him, "Is the O Wazamono Amaterasu." I stepped up to the sword and examined it, it had an off green hilt with a soft gray sheath.

My breath was stolen by the fine blade, "Wow..." I took the blade off the counter, I drew it and looked into the blade, my reflection stared back at me. I made an experimental slash though the air, "It's lighter then my saber back home." I said as I sheathed the sword.

"What does your saber look like?"

"It's a long thin blade with a curved handle... It was a fencing sword..." my voice faded lightly as I finished that sentence. "I remember what my old saber looks like!" I said smiling.

Shanks smiled full force. "Just a little prodding."

"I have to say thanks." I sheathed Amaterasu.

"Your welcome." Shanks turned to the man, "How much?"

He seemed to be less frightened now that he'd seen Shanks smiling. "600.000.000."

"Done." Shanks said pulling out a wad of money, then paused and turned to me, "Come to think of it, you looked like you had your heart set on something else when I came in."

"Yeah... sort of..." I glanced at the kogatana, taking a step towards it.

Shanks took the hint and picked up the kogatana I'd had my eye on. He examined it, then looked at me. "You have good taste, A certain flare." he said as he placed the kogatana on the counter next to the sword, "Unlike someone else I know."

"Who?" I asked.

"Oh nobody important. Who knows, maybe you'll meet him if you keep hanging around with us." He said as he turned to the shop keeper, "How much do I owe you?"

"That would be 605.000.000 berries." Shanks placed a stack of money in the man's hand. I took my new sword and kogatana. We both waltzed out of the weapon shop together.

"You thinking what I'm thinking?" I asked Shanks as we stood in front of the bar.

"Yeah." He said, a smile evident on his face. I couldn't help but smile either, I clutched my sword and kogatana close as we entered the bar.

Benn looked at me, "Changed your mind?"

"He changed my mind." I said as I jerked my head in Shanks direction, then turned a glare on him, "You lied to me." Benn smirked and I continued, "Other than that I got a sword and a kogatana." I held out the Amaterasu and kogatana for Benn and any other member of the crew to see.

"Wow." Yasopp said staring at the Amaterasu, "That's an O Wazamono isn't it?"

"Yep. It's the Amaterasu." I said as I set the legendary sword down and held my kogatana out so they could see it better. "And this is my new kogatana, I had my eye on it before Shanks stormed the shop, then he bought it for me after the shop keeper showed us the Amaterasu."

"Dang," Yasopp said, "You've got good taste."

"Exactly what I said!" The captain declared as he sat down and ordered some drinks for the two of us.

I sat across from him, then, thinking back to the previous night said, "Hey Shanks, would you mind telling me about your arm?"

The room went silent for a moment, Shanks downed a whole glass, ordered more, then said, "It all started about 8 years ago..."

The story went on from there to talk about Luffy's hometown, then more about Luffy in general. Finally after we'd both had quite a few drinks- though thinking back, I had WAY more then just four drinks that night- Shanks got to talking about some mountain bandits, they trash talked Shanks, trashed the bar, then left.

"That shwas mean offfff them." I said, the slur evident in my voice.

Shanks shrugged downing another glass, "It didn't matter much to us, but Luffy took it really hard. He shouted at us saying that we weren't men if we were just going to take their insults like that."

I felt some of my composure come back, "What happened next?"

Shanks shrugged, "He got in a one-on-one fight with the leader- mind you, he thought he could take on anybody and win as long as his intentions were good enough." Shanks poured himself another glass. "Then we found them, they'd caused commotion all over town, Makano was worried about Luffy, and the mayor was just trying to make sure that nobody got hurt. Needless to say we took care of every mountain bandit there was except the leader who made off with Luffy. He went out to sea on a small fishing boat. Think of it, a mountain bandit at sea, he didn't know much about the area, so he didn't know about the Sea King that usually prowled though."

I stared at the floor, the scene Shanks described playing vividly in my head. A tall scruffy man stood holding a small black haired boy by the collar. The young boy- Luffy- struggles as he's thrown into the water. The man laughs, then is silenced by the monster behind him. Luffy watches in horror as the monster sets it sight on him, it jumps, mouth wide, ready for an after meal snack. Suddenly Luffy's saved from the monster by Shanks. With a glare and a word, Shanks had the monster running. Still holding Luffy close, Shanks tries to comfort the boy whom is now in tears. He tries to tell Luffy that everything is OK, but the boy protests, "Your arm! Your ARM!" He cries, his worries that it's his fault are cast aside by Shanks.

"He thought it was his fault..." I said softly, "He was scared you wouldn't talk to him anymore..." I completely forgot about being drunk.

"He wouldn't stop apologizing for days. Then when it came time to get back to my important duties, he met us by the docks as we were leaving, he said that one day he'd make his-"

"Own pirate crew that would eventually surpass yours, because he's going to be King of the Pirates." I said finishing what Shanks was saying. The room went silent, Shanks nodded taking a large drink from his glass. Mid-drink he did a spit take.

"How'd you know that?!" He demanded.

I raised my hands in defense, "I don't know! It just slipped out!" I looked at the crew, they were all staring at me, "I'm serious! Even as Shanks was telling the story I just knew how it would end! Like... Like I know that Shanks used to have a straw hat he gave to Luffy, symbolizing the promise! And... and..." I blinked, my mind was going hazy. "I know that Lucky shot the mountain bandit that had a gun to his head, then... Benn took the rest out..." All those beers were catching up to me. "I... I remember... I know I do... I know-" My stomach lurched threatening to dump its contents, I stood up and staggered to the door. "I know-" My legs buckled under me, vision clouded over, and began hearing voices.

"Damn it! How many drinks did she have?" Shanks called worryingly.

"I don't know! I thought you were keeping track!" Yasopp yelled.

"No use yelling about it," Ben said. Always the voice of reason I thought as I embraced the darkness.