Chapter 15

After the last of the building crew had left the island Shanks informed his crew about what Lucky Roo's had discovered during one of his hunts for predators.

In a moment of distraction the burly pirate had fallen into a cave system and once he had made sure that he was fine he had started to explore it a bit. He had followed the longwinded tunnels for a while and found that this labyrinth of caves and tunnels went under the mountain and pervaded nearly all of the island. After timing his walks Lucky Roo came to the conclusion that thanks to the tunnels other parts of the island could be reached much faster underground than if they had walked through the jungle and over the mountain.

With a whole crew of enthusiastic and overeager pirates running through the underground tunnels the cave system was mapped out nearly completely in a few days. They also strategically placed oil lamps to lighten the paths after one of the younger crewmembers broke his ankle in the dark. Their next task had been blocking some of the paths that ended at the open sea and could be used by possible invaders.

Once that was finished they turned their attention to a project that had Ben shake his head in amused exasperation. The crew turned one of the bigger and more well hidden side caves into a treasury. Shanks nearly crowed in delight and his big grin split his face while he and Yasopp excitedly talked about finally having a real pirate treasury in a dark cave system and what kind of traps they could install to protect it. Lucky Roo murmured under his breath to Ben that should they really set some traps it would probably them that set them off the next time they wanted to get in. Ben had to agree with Roo's assessment and wondered once more why he had agreed to be Shanks first mate slash babysitter. While his captain and their best sharp shooter were occupied with their childhood fantasies Ben had the ship's carpenter install an iron door in the cave entrance and that was that.

With that completed they finally made their way back to Fuusa. It had been nearly exactly a year now and Shanks was desperate to see Hisana and Hisoka again.

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On their way back into Paradise Shanks stopped at Fisherman's Island to pick up the very special commission that he had ordered on his last stop there. It was Hisana's engagement ring.

The delicate band was made of the clearest jade that Shanks had been able to find in the shop, and was nearly exactly the color of Hisana's eyes. It was cased with titanium in a beautiful tendriled pattern and a black pearl at the center. It cost as much as a small ship.

On a whim Shanks also bought one of the pearl hair pins with the wave design for Hisoka before he returned to the Mad Mura.

Humming he watched as the last of their supplies was loaded onto the ship and the bubble coat was reapplied. With a half an ear he heard the dock worker warning Ben about a Marine experiment that had gone wrong somewhere close to one of their bases but dismissed the news as unimportant. His thoughts kept circling about Hisana and Hisoka and he had to consciously suppress the urge to fidget in anticipation, damn it he was a grown man, even if he often didn't look like it.

An hour later the last of his crew boarded and they were off in direction of the Sabaody Archipelago.

They arrived a day later just after sundown and no one bothered to do anything but secure the ship and then search out the nearest bar. Most of the conversations centered around the marines failed experiment and the destruction of an island group somewhere close. Shanks had to snort derisively; he wasn't the least bit surprised that the marines had to fuck up like that. This close to the New World a special brand of officer scum lurked around and played around with things better left alone.

He and Ben glanced at each other, both had a somber expression on their face but didn't say anything. Within a few days the whole thing would be pushed under the rug and within a year or two no one would remember with the exception of the people who lost someone in the whole debacle. It simply happened too often nowadays to really elicit more than some gossip and pity.

"I have taken a look on my way here. The wave ripped away ninety percent of the vegetation and turned the village into rubble. And I heard that nobody survived it because it came out of nowhere. The water has receded but the only thing left are ruins and drift wood. It's going to take a long time before that island has recovered." A middle aged man with a beard said gruffly.

His equally weathered neighbor nodded in agreement "And nobody wants to move there now that they know it's in the vicinity of one of the Marines labs and could be destroyed again if they lose control over something."

"It's a pity." One of the younger sailors nearby said into his beer glass, "The Shell Islands had not a lot going for itself but damn they could make some tasty fish soup. I'm also going to miss the Inn on Fuusa, that young waitress always winked at me when I visited."

It took a moment for Shanks to register what had just been said.

Fuusa.

Hisana and Hisoka.

NO!

Shanks only snapped out of it when Ben forcefully clamped down on his arm that had wrapped itself around his sword and was a quarter out of his sheath. When had that happened? Shanks to a shaky breath and then consciously relaxed his hand again. Only then Ben let go, his eyes still wary and trained on Shanks face.

Everyone around them had gone quiet and were now looking at the red haired pirate captain.

Shanks turned in the direction of the sailors he had been listening to.

"Nobody survived?" he asked seriously.

The three men were sweating by now and quickly shook their heads.

Then the one that spoke first stuttered, "W…well not those that were on the island itself, a few fishermen who were far enough out survived…" he trailed off without meeting Shanks eyes.

Ben's hand landed on his shoulder and he murmured quietly, "Calm down. We will search and if they survived we will find them."

Shanks just nodded before he stood up and left the bar without another word. From behind him he could hear Ben questioning the sailors some more. He felt numb on the walk back to his ship.

Two days. He had two days with the love of his life and their precious little girl and now they were gone.

Shanks closed his eyes when he had finally reached his cabin, he felt his eyes burning. The pirate took another shaky breath before he closed the door behind him and stretched out on his bed and stared up at the wooden ceiling. Tomorrow they would start to search for Hisana and Hisoka… and if they didn't find them Shanks would send Ben with the crew to the New World and he would rip the Marine Base responsible for this to shreds.

That night the red haired man found no sleep or solace in the thoughts of vengeance.

Ben Interlude

The following day an uncommonly grim pirate crew set sail at the earliest moment. Ben was watching is captain with worry. Shanks face had set itself in a stony mask and the normally so cheerful and boisterous man was quietly standing behind the steering wheel and staring off into the distance.

The black haired first mate prayed to Neptune and Davy Jones that Hisana were alright and had somehow survived the catastrophe. He wasn't sure if Shanks would ever relearn to smile if they didn't.

They made good time and only three days later they arrived at what was left over of Fuusha. Ben closed his eyes in resignation at the destruction. There was simply no way the two civilian females would have survived this if they had been at home.

In the last few days Shanks had maybe said ten words, looking grim faced and staring off into distance or at the small jewel box that contained Hisana's engagement ring.

With a few quick words the black haired man gave orders to anchor the ship before two smaller boats rowed over a part of the crew to take a closer look and search for signs that Shanks family had survived. No one of the twenty pirates spoke as they walked up the cliffs to where Hisana's house had stood. There were only ruins left and her garden had been completely destroyed.

Ben's mind automatically returned to the afternoon when Shanks and Hisana had vanished into the woods and he and Yasopp had watched Hisoka roughhouse with the other members of Shanks crew. How her addicting giggles had rang through the air filled with sweet smells of the flowers and fruit trees around them. The way her red hair had glistened in the sun just like Shanks and he had marveled about how similar she was to her father.
Ben had to consciously rip himself out of these thoughts or his eyes would start to burn. Hisoka wasn't even six yet and to be extinguished like that was just cruel. A quick glance over his shoulder let him clench his fist. Shanks looked at the ruins of the house with an unreadable look. Ben really didn't want to imagine what his captain was going through right now. Shanks was a person that committed himself with heart and soul to a task and in this case a person, it was both admirable and a dangerous thing to do. Ben also slowly came to the realization that his captain would probably never recover from this blow, he may be able to fake it someday but right now it looked like Shanks had been truly broken by the death of his family.

"Captain! Ben!" Yasopp's voice echoed over the eerier silent island.

Ben's head ripped around jogged over to the sharp shooter, even Shanks had been jolted out of his dark thoughts.

"Look." The blonde man said and pointed at the half caved in kitchen wall.