Chapter 6

It took another three years before Hisana saw Shanks again.

Thanks to his infrequent letters and the bounty posters Hisana had a pretty good idea what was happening in his life. Still she missed him and the feelings for him hadn't diminished one bit since the goodbye in front of her hotel. She had tried to shrug it off as a simple crush, but that was easier said than done.

Hisana had tried to forget him and move on, she had dated a few men that she met during her trips between the isles and even slept with two of them, both times she had regretted deeply.
During her first time she was completely drunk and it had hurt and had been uncomfortable until the end. At least that asshole used a condom. She had left as soon as he had fallen asleep, ashamed and disappointed. It had taken her nearly 5 months to date again and another two to finally sleep with a guy named Sam, and even though it wasn't uncomfortable or hurt it was still disappointing and she left unsatisfied. After that she simply stopped dating, none of the men she went out with had made her feel like Shanks, none of them could make her laugh so easily or feel so protected.

She was nineteen now and had decided that casual dating just wasn't for her, Hisana concentrated herself fully on her racing carrier and saving up the money so that she could settle somewhere where she could pass her passion onto others. Hisana had enjoyed lecturing in front of a group of new racers and showing them different tricks to make their boats faster during the race, she wouldn't mind running her own sailing school once she had ended her racing career, which wasn't so far off as she would have thought even two years ago. Of course she loved the thrill of the race and the rush when she arrived in the finish and was celebrated by the masses, but the constantly travelling between the islands was starting to wear her down.

As a top racer she wasn't part of a team anymore, they just sent her to the location and an already participating team would take care of her medical needs, Hisana had been feeling lonely for the last months. Depressed Hisana sighed and took in the ceiling of her cabin, the whole day she had been in a bad mood and these depressive thoughts just made it worse for her.

Her musings were interrupted by a loud crack and then the ship gave a violent jolt that nearly knocked her out when her head hit the cabin wall. Confused and anxious Hisana took her duffel bag, her only luggage and ran on deck.
Outside she could barely see because of the wind and the rain that was whipping in her face. Turning around to protect her face a bit of the wind her eyes widened as she saw the felled main mast that was lying sideways and was slowly tipping the ship over. With a last glance to the panicking crew and passengers Hisana ran to the next rescue boat, threw her duffel bag in and started to free it from the ropes, this storm would kill her if she didn't get away right now.

Nearly finished she turned around to call to the other passengers and crew members to share it with them. Standing slightly hunched over said rescue boat she was completely unprepared for the second jolt that tilted the ship completely to the side.
The small boat she was holding onto was only hanging on one last rope that released during the jolt and dragged her down into the ice cold water. Miraculously the boat hit the surface on the right side and when Hisana surfaced she could grab onto the side wall before it drifted away from her.

With her last strength she hauled herself up into the boat and tied herself down between the boat seats. It felt like she was endlessly drifting in the storm thrown up a wave and down on the other side.

Sometime in the morning hours the storm calmed down and she finally fell asleep.

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She had been drifting nearly a day since the ship she was traveling on sank. She didn't try to delude herself with the thought that the ship could have somehow not sunken, she was only praying that as much people as possible had survived the storm.

Through some unbelievable luck her duffel bag had somehow stayed inside the small rescue boat during the night and she had now two bottles of water and some power bars, which she would have had to make last until she was found, so she only took tiny sips when the thirst became unbearable. At least she hadn't swallowed salt water when she had been shipwrecked.

Hisana spent the next two days like this on the open sea.

Thankfully fate seemed to intervene for the black haired woman because on the third day she was discovered through sheer luck by a pirate in the crow's nest.

Shanks Interlude

Said pirate was relatively new to the Red Hair Pirates and was still very attentive while doing his chores. He had seen something reflecting on the sea surface and after a closer look through the spy glass and confirming that it was a rescue boat he had alerted the crew with a loud cry "Rescue boat!"

Shanks who had been bored to death on that day was suddenly awake, finally something was happening! The last two weeks they had sighted no marine ship, no island. There hadn't been even one tiny storm to interrupt his suffering! He had his crew change course into the direction of the tiny rescue boat, this was at least worth a look.

Shanks was alerted that the boat was occupied through Yasopp's loud voice, who had used one of his spy glasses to take a closer look after they had crossed half of the distance. Oh this was getting more and more exciting, even if that meant that somewhere near a ship must have sunken.

Two of his crew members climbed down when they trimmed their sails and nearly stopped besides the boat. The person inside was not clearly recognizable, upper body slumped over and the black hair fell over the face; this person was either unconscious or dead. They checked for a pulse and after a confirmation that the person was still alive and that it was a woman, extra ropes were thrown to them to heave the survivor on board. One of the two crew members took the duffel bag that was still inside the boat before climbing back on board.

Now really curious Shanks moved closer to the unconscious woman and then sharply sucked in air when he got a good look at her face. With a shuffle that was more a stumble than a step the red haired captain was kneeling beside the familiar figure.

Absolutely horrified he whispered, "Hisana!"

Shanks saw Ben and Yasopp stiffening behind him when he turned into their direction for help.

Before his brain kicked in and he shouted over the deck "Someone get the doctor!"

The panicked voice of their captain sent the rest of the crew in a worried frenzy. A good part of them knew the tiny woman in their captain's arms personally and the rest had heard about her when the senior members teased their captain about his crush.

Hisana Interlude

Hisana woke up with a splitting headache in a vaguely familiar environment. Confused because the last thing she could remember was the unforgiving sun, she sat up and took in the cabin.
Hisana's heart started to speed up until her pulse was pounding in her ears, this looked like Shanks cabin but that was impossible! Getting out of the luxurious double bed she noticed that she was clothed only in a man's white button down and her underwear. Swallowing she searched for the rest of her clothes and found them to her relief laid out over the chair beside the small table.

When she stood up to reach for them she felt nauseous and felt like everything was turning, she had to prop herself up against the wall to calm herself down a bit. After putting on her clothes she opened the door and slowly made her way up to the deck, she met nobody on her way up.
When she finally reached the deck the sun blinded her for a moment and then she saw him, yellow straw hat, red hair, white shirt, Capri's, and now with a red cloth around his hips.