Chapter 3

Hisana Interlude

And so Hisana found herself walking numbly to her boat while she tried to comprehend what had just happened. A quick glance at the big clock at the town hall showed her that she had just over fifteen minutes left before the race began. Slowly the nerves started to set in, this was not only her first official Finn Dinghy race but also a great opportunity to impress possible future employers, Hisana had seen the scouts that had arrived along with the racers and their crews. Coming out of her thoughts the black haired girl turned her head to look at her red haired companion, she knew Shanks less than an hour and it still felt like they had known each other for years. Was it the same for him?
Shoving the thought away to contemplate later Hisana started to prepare her Finn Dinghy for the race, she hoped the patched up parts of it would hold.

It took her less than a minute to go through the familiar hand motions before she affixed her sandals with a short rope on the aft so that they wouldn't fall out during a sudden maneuver. With a deep breath she turned around to the man that stood beside her boat and with a quick movement she threw her duffel bag into Shanks arms.

"Here hold on to that, it would just get wet during the race!" she yelled while she loosened the sail and pressed the boat away from the dock to join the other competitors.

She joined the long line of racers and was promptly jeered at.

"Are you lost little girl?" an arrogant blonde racer asked, he was maybe five or six years older than her and practically oozed overconfidence.

His question elicited laugher from the others around him, most of them wore the sign of a company on either their backs or their boats; they were the sponsored ones and the greatest competition in this race. Hisana grounded her teeth while she kept her mouth shut, she wouldn't rise to this blatant insult, not right now at least.

Taking another deep breath Hisana mapped out the route in her mind one more time before she turned her concentration back on her surroundings. The fisherman's daughter could hear the sounds of the sea somewhat dulled through the roar of the crowd at her back, above the docks seagulls were crying and then suddenly the starting signal rang through the air and the race began.

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Breathing in deeply Hisana tried to relax her cramped muscles and release the pressure of the abraded skin on her palms. Thanks to her intimate knowledge of the area and the different weather and wind conditions she was able to overtake the seven sponsored racers at the second turn and gain a pretty good head start. If she had calculated this right she would need every second of it in the end to make it under the top three, her boat was not the newest and lost a lot of speed during the long straight parts of the route but Hisana was determined to get the most out of this race. She would give her all and show those stuck up racers. They may have the better boats but she had home field advantage! Also Shanks had paid for her entrance fee, a boy… well man that she had met only today and she would definitely pay him back, her pride wouldn't allow anything else!

On the last miles before the finish Hisana's competition regained some of the lost time and the black haired girl was sweating buckets now while her muscles were aching continuously, she knew she would feel this tomorrow but right now she didn't care about the consequences, her blood rushed through her body and the adrenaline gave her a high, this was what she was living for.

The young reincarnation used every trick that she had ever learned to increase her speed and hold her position, the blonde racer that had asked her if she was lost was only half a boat length away now and like hell she would allow him to overtake her!

In the end her determination paid off, though Hisana knew that it was more luck then ability on the last fifty meters of the finish line. It had been a real close call but somehow she arrived as the first in the finish and was bombarded with loud cheers and screams all around her.

The moment she became consciously aware of the cheering crowd in front of her Hisana's eyes went wide and she could feel her heart beat thrice as fast while she searched the mass of people, somewhere in that crowd was Shanks waiting for her, she was sure. Remotely she noticed the blond racer beside her turn an unbecoming purple color while he stormed off, not even checking over his Finn for damages.

The black haired girl inwardly shrugged her shoulders and continued her search until she found Shanks, the red head stood on one of the empty barrels on the left side of the port with her duffel bag over his shoulder. His grin split his face and his yellow straw hat practically gleamed in the sun, the sight brought a warm smile to her lips, he was kind of cute.

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Hisana still felt somewhat dazed while a photo of her and the racers in second and third place was taken for the local paper. After that the organizer presented her with fifty thousand Beli and a new Finn Dinghy. Hisana had to swallow hard, the money was a fourth of what her parents had put aside as their life savings! And the racing boat was the newest model on the market in the East Blue, it was at least another ten thousand Beli worth! Hisana's heart started to race again, she just couldn't believe it, her dream of becoming a professional racer was suddenly so very reachable!

Still overwhelmed by all the well wishes and addresses and den den mushi numbers the scouts had pressed into her arms Hisana bound her new boat alongside her trusty old one and then went in search for Shanks.

The search was minutely interrupted by well wishers and congratulators who stopped her somewhat. After she finally fought her way to the empty barrels where she had seen Shanks before, the crowd finally started to dissolve to move the celebrations up into the village and suddenly her red haired benefactor stood before her. Both grinned at each other and without another word Hisana gave into the urge to hug the older male.

Shanks Interlude

At first he was a bit shocked about the contact she had initiated but then Shanks lifted his new acquaintance in the air and spun her around before setting her down once more and moving her under his arm. That little slip of a girl had done it! Shanks still wasn't completely sure why he had agreed to pay for her because even if he was an ex apprentice of Gol D. Rogers crew and made some money during his time on the ship, 2.500 Beli were a lot and if he wanted to sail on the Grand Line he needed a ship and under 100.000.000 Beli you didn't get a decent ship with enough room. Oh well it didn't matter now because Emeralds in front of him kept her promise and won that race. Smiling at the petite girl he started to move her in the direction of the market.

"Where are we going?" she asked confused.

Shanks couldn't help himself he patted her slightly windswept hair and laughed at her confused face, "We are going to celebrate your win! By the way how old are you fifteen, sixteen?"

Hisana grumbled at him and Shanks thought he had misheard, "Can you repeat that please?"

"I just turned fourteen!" Hisana said with a blush.

'Well crap', he hadn't expected that.

Hisana was three years younger than him; he had reckoned that she was around his age. Pouting a bit Shanks tugged carefully a loose black strand behind her ear, he would have to be careful with flirting even if she was very pretty, Emerald was still only a child and he really didn't want to frighten her!

"Okay, that means no alcohol for you! What do you like to eat?" Shanks decided.

As answer she smiled brightly and said, "Chocolate, and I know where we can get both!"

"Both?" the red haired pirate now asked confused.

"Yes, sake for you and chocolate for me, come on!" Hisana said impatiently before she dragged him in direction of the market to a small delicacy shop.

Inside the shop both chose the more expensive stuff that was in stock, they normally wouldn't buy this because the prices were absolutely ridiculous but both of them decided that to celebrate Hisana's success they would allow themselves to indulge.

After paying they spend their evening on one of the outcrops of the mountain, the two had picked up some dinner on the way and were enjoying the evening in front of a campfire Shanks had quickly made while they played twenty questions.

When their dreams became topic of the conversation Shanks was glad that his desire to be a pirate captain didn't deter Hisana from her questions or scared her away. If she had reacted poorly, he would have just cut his losses but it would have hurt because even if Shanks didn't want to admit it he had been lonely since the crew had separated and he and Buggy had decided to go their own ways. This was his first real meaningful human interaction that he had since the execution of Gol D. Roger the year before and he really kind of wanted to keep it up. Maybe even make her join him but Hisana was only a fourteen year old East Blue girl and as much as he wanted to he really couldn't ask her a question when he couldn't be a hundred percent sure that she was fully aware of all the consequences that this would entail, Shanks was a pirate, not an asshole!

Though Hisana kind of surprised him, she had smiled and only giggled slightly at his dream of becoming a pirate captain and sailing, having adventures and discovering the world, she than had petted his arm and told him about her dream of being a professional Finn Dinghy racer and about her family. The last part had been the biggest deterrent to his plans to make her join his crew. Hisana clearly had loving parents, unlike him who had escaped his alcoholic father's beating with the apprenticeship on the Oro Jackson.

Though his decision came back to haunt him when over the course of the night Shanks recognized the same deep love for the sea in Hisana that he himself felt. This was probably also the reason he had given her the money for the race, Roger had always said that he had good instincts and could recognize the true intent of a person.
Hisana was clearly fascinated by his tales of the Grand Line and the Finn Dinghy races that took place on the bigger islands annually. He had told her that last bit in hopes that she would someday set sail on the Grand Line and although he felt slightly guilty about putting a clearly normal civilian on a path filled with danger Shanks couldn't help but hope that he would meet this fascinating girl again if he couldn't make her join his crew.

Sometime after midnight Shanks realized that his younger companion had fallen asleep during their conversation. More amused than peeved he maneuvered her into a piggy back position and carried her to his inn room. There he put her down on the bed while he took the floor and then they slept undisturbed until next morning.

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The following day Shanks woke up first, Hisana continued to sleep deeply even with all the noise he made when he took a shower and then slipped on the wet tiles and banged his big toe hard against the wall.

When he was finished the red haired pirate was unsure what to do, at first he wanted to just leave without any trace left behind but it made him feel strangely guilty and so he decided against it and then promptly nearly got hit during his attempt to wake the grumpy black haired girl up.

The two ate their breakfast, two buns filled with jam while they leisurely walked through the village down to the port. They came to a stop in front of the ship that would take Shanks deeper into the Blue. Between them was a somewhat awkward silence and Shanks cursed himself for being so out of his depth, 'God damn why is this saying goodbye thing always so hard?'

"Well, that's it, uhm I mean…" Shanks couldn't finish his sentence because Hisana gave him a hug and a quick peg on the cheek; she then pressed a note with her home address into his hand.

"This is my parents' address; it would be nice if you could write me once in a while."

She asked so hopefully that Shanks could do nothing else but nod dumbly for a moment before a warm grin stole itself on his face.

"Yeah I will do that!" he said and then boldly kissed her forehead before he walked up the plank with a dorky wave at her before the ship's bustling crew caught his attention for a moment.

When he turned around again Hisana had been swallowed up by the crowd.