A/N: Hello again guys! Welcome to the third chapter! I want to thank you guys again for reading! It really means a lot! I'm having a bunch of fun with this too!

Onward to the story!

Chapter Three:

Things Don't Always Go the Way We Want Them To.

There was heavy rain pouring down, almost enough to drown in if he opened his mouth. The wind was going strong, whipping around so fast it nearly stung. The thunder and lightning provided a sinister backdrop to his current predicament. It was a stark contrast to only an hour earlier, when it was nice and sunny. It was as though the weather soured with arrival of the marine in front of him, like her mood called forth some god of storms to make the day match her temper. She certainly seemed determined to remove his head from his shoulders.

Their swords came together with a loud clash, and Shanks had to admit that she was stronger than she looked. Her blade had hit his hard enough to make him stumble back a step. He fought back a cheeky grin when he saw the rage glittering in her eyes. "Aw, c'mon are you really that angry at me?" he asked.

"Am I angry? Am. I. Angry!?" she shoved forward, pushing the pirate back a couple of steps before reeling back to strike him with another blow. This time Shanks felt the impact in his bones. It kinda hurt. "What on earth would make you think that?!" She asked as struck out at him again, her voice dripping with sarcasm. "Why would I be angry at the man who makes me look like a fool every time I see him?!"

"So... is that a yes?" The marine let out a battle cry in response, and Shanks thought that he should probably get going before she actually did him any damage. He parried all of her attacks while a plan took form in his head. He looked down at the ground and then smirked before quickly took a step back and swinging his sword towards her legs. Predictably, she dodged by hopping away, but the mud beneath her feet was so slick that she slipped and hit the ground hard. Shanks didn't stick around long enough to get a look at her face. He darted for the trees, hearing a swearing marine behind him.

The redhead weaved through the trees and bushes, looking for some way to ditch the vengeful woman. Unfortunately it was as though there was blood in the water, and she was the great white shark on the prowl. She was dead set on not losing him this time. Shanks took a sharp turn around a natural stony wall and tried not to slip down the steep hill at one side. However, the mud was as much of an enemy as his pursuer. He misplaced a step and that was all it took to make Shanks slide down the hill. No amount of clutching at weeds or bushes could stop him; the rain had made it too easy for their roots to slip right out of the ground. It was only after finding purchase on a boulder sticking partially out of the ground that he noticed he had dropped his weapon in his panic to stop sliding. He thought it could just barely see it stuck in the mud at the bottom of the hill. Damn it...

All of a sudden, he noticed some mud and water trickling down from above and he looked up in time for the marine girl to crash into him and send them both tumbling to the bottom. "Ugh..." Shanks rubbed his head after they hit the ground. It hadn't hurt too much. The mud was kinda soft. The rain water was couple of inches deep when he stood up. He looked over at the muddy marine. She was feeling around wildly in the mud, probably looking for own sword. He turned to make a run for it, but a hand darted out and wrapped around his ankle.

"Oh no you don't!" The girl growled when he almost tripped. "You're not going anywhere!" She hustled forward and grabbed his shirt to pull him further down.

He tried to struggle, but he slipped. "Oof!" Shanks landed back in the water with a thud. The girl climbed over him to pin him down, and his hand shot out to shove her off. The next few minutes consisted of both teens trying to get the upper hand on the other while thunder and lighting crackled in the sky. They only paused briefly when the girl was seated on his waist trying to wrench her wrists free from his grip. He took a second to catch his breath, while taking in the sight of the marine. Her hair was down and plastered to her skull with water and mud. Her wet clothes were clinging to her skin, conforming to her body's shape. He couldn't help himself. "You know..." Shanks smiled. "This mud-wrestling session of ours would be more fun if you weren't trying to kill me, hot stuff."

The marine glared. "You—"

A crack of lightning interrupted her, and the creaking sound of a tree being uprooted and falling over made them look at the top of the hill. The tree in question fell against a large boulder, pushing it enough to unleash a cascade of water that only got bigger and bigger as it washed away more and more mud. And the torrent was coming right for them.

The marine sprang off of the redhead and bolted somewhere, but Shanks didn't care enough to see where she went. He leaped to his feet and tried to find higher ground right as a wave of muddy water washed over him.

Grace broke the surface of the rapid water, gasping. She looked looked around wildly for something to grab on to. She caught a glimpse of the pirate hauling himself out of the water by the branches of a fallen tree. She ignored him, a sense self preservation overshadowing her desire to catch him. She reached out and grabbed onto and exposed tree root as she passed it, only for it to snap. She swore and fought the current so she could grab onto the slippery edge of a large stone. There wasn't enough room to properly hoist herself up, so she settled for simply holding herself partially out of the water.

She looked up, towards the edge of the cliff she was under. There wasn't anything to grab onto to pull her self up. She looked around for some other way up, and was surprised when she spotted Shanks standing on the other side of the flood, still by the tree roots he climbed up. He was looking at her, with his eyebrows furrowed. He seemed hesitant, undecided, and Grace wondered what was going through his head.

"Grace!" She looked up at the sound, saw Warren standing above her on the cliff. "You alright there, lass?" There were a couple of other familiar faces with him, peering down and looking somewhat relieved.

"Yeah, I'm alright!" she called back. They stepped out of sight for a moment and then Grace saw a rope uncoil and fall beside her. She firmly grabbed a hold of it and let her comrades pull her up. They checked her over, and she waved them away. "I'm fine, really." Though she was a little sore about losing her prey again. And maybe a little chilly. She looked to where she last saw him, and sure enough, he was gone. She huffed. Nothing ever seemed to go right.

~...~

Only two weeks went by before Grace got to see that pirate's dumb face again. Unfortunately, it was out at sea where she couldn't fight him one on one. She looked through a pair of binoculars and scanned the ship ahead of her. She saw pirates bustling about, hauling cannon balls and gunpowder across the deck to the cannons. Just like the marines were doing. They didn't interest her. She kept scanning until spotted an irritatingly familiar straw hat. It's owner was doing the same thing she was; scoping out the marine fleet with a telescope. He must have noticed her, because a toothy smile spread across his face. He lowered his telescope and waved. And then stuck his tongue out with a wink.

"Grr..." Grace lowered her binoculars with a growl. She looked around until she spotted a familiar face. "Warren!" she barked.

The man jumped, nearly dropping a box of gunpowder as he passed by. "Th' hell do you want?!"

"Gimme that. And go get me some cannon balls!"

"Go get 'em yourself!" He dropped the box next to her and walked off. Grace clicked her tongue and went below deck to retrieve ammunition.

Shanks hustled back and forth between the sharpshooters and stash of cannon balls below deck. He wasn't really good at manning the cannons himself, so this was all he could really do at the moment. Every couple of trips back and forth, he would give in to his desire to pick up his telescope and see what Grace was doing. Grace. That was her name. He finally learned what it was when her friends showed up to rescue her last time. It was kind of ironic, though. If he was being honest, he couldn't say she was very, uh, graceful. He spotted her loading up a cannon, face set with determination and then she adjusted the angle of the big heavy gun with the help of another marine.

Shanks lowered his telescope, eyes wide and the dove out of the way just in time to avoid the iron sphere that hurdled passed right where he had been standing to leave a hole in the deck not too far off. Yep, she was definitely aiming for me... he thought. Despite knowing that she was aiming for him specifically, he smiled. She had grown on him, somehow. Shanks peeked through to his telescope again in time to see Grace lower her binoculars with a look of frustration. She then waved her friend over, who practically chucked some gunpowder at her face. For a second it looked like she'd beat him, but she turned her attention back to the cannon.

The redhead dropped the telescope again to get back to work handing over ammo to his own shipmates, but he was interrupted by the most unpleasant squealing roar he had ever heard. He had to cover his ears or he thought his eardrums might burst. He forced one eye open and saw one giant octopus tentacle rise out of the ocean and slap down onto the marine ship, cracking the main mast. Another tentacle followed, but this one headed for the Oro Jackson instead.

The pirate versus marine battle was put on hold in favor of getting rid of this not so little menace.

Grace was absolutely livid. How dare this hideous, oversized invertebrate interrupt her battle! Her blood was positively boiling. This thing was getting in the way of shooting giant chunks metal at that red haired imbecile! No. She would not let this chance slip by! She looked around, saw a couple of swords, and picked them up before marching over to the slimy tentacle wrapped around the mast. Somewhere in the back of her mind she was aware of crewmates' voiced shouting that it was too dangerous, that she should get away from the monster, but she hardly noticed them. She hardly noticed much of anything except her roaring pulse in her ears and the sea king threatening the ship.

She brought one arm up high, the blade pointing downwards, and then used every once of strength in her body to bury it up the hilt in the monster's flesh. It let out an ear-piercing screech. The tentacle slipped off the mast and reared back, coiling in on itself. Two more rose around the marine ship.

So that's how it's gonna be, huh?

She took a deep breath and then charged forward at the nearest tentacle with reckless abandon. She started hacking and slashing and lacerating any bit of monster flesh she could get to. Disregarding her own safety, she channeled her rage into trying to fell this foul beast. From the corners of her vision, she saw others coming in to help only to shy away because of the wild swinging of her own blade. She might think to apologize later, but now all that existed was her own frustration.

She just couldn't take it any more. Every time, every single time, Grace met that red haired bastard something came up. Either he used some clever trick to escape or the very world ended up against her whether it was the weather or this blasted see king. Sure, in between seeing him she had made other arrests, taken down more noteworthy pirates, but the fact that this one kept escaping just didn't sit well with her. She had vowed to bring every last pirate she came across to justice, and she couldn't even capture some cabin boy who didn't even seem to have any notable skills of his own that made things more difficult? All he did was run and chat and use simple tricks and luck to get away. What am I doing wrong?!

Grace didn't even realize how much damage she was actually doing. Any tentacles that had dared to come towards her had been partially severed or sliced to ribbons by her blade and hung pathetically by only portions of slimy flesh. It wasn't until after she had gotten up close enough to stab the beast in its creepy octopus eye and draw a pained screech from it that she finally started to let her anger subside. She finally backed off and let her comrades and Vice Admiral Garp take over to deal the finishing blow. They had apparently hung back enough to let her blow off some steam, figuring it would be better than dealing with her without letting her get it all out.

She sighed and glared around at all the damage done to the marine ship. She had no doubt they'd end up retreating. The ship really couldn't afford to take on any more water, and the main mast was cracked so no one wanted to risk it getting broken completely.

Grace shot a glance at the Vice Admiral, and found him giving her a stern look. Even though she had come out of it relatively unscathed, she knew she'd be getting an earful about her reckless behavior later. She sighed.

Shanks was really glad he wasn't on the same ship as Grace. He had watched in awe as she threw caution to the wind and unleashed her hellish fury on the poor sea king accosting her ship. He actually almost felt a little bad for it. Almost. That thing had attacked his ship as well, so he was glad to see it get punished, but still. He heard Buggy call her a rabid demon (a couple of his shipmates had wandered over to watch, mildly impressed by the scene) but Shanks thought of her as a vengeful goddess dishing out punishment on the beast that dared to stand in her way. Shanks definitely didn't want to be near her when she was in a mood like that.

When it was over though, he frowned. He couldn't tell for sure, but when Grace had finally stepped away from the mangled monster, she looked dejected. There didn't seem to be any trace of that inner fire he had gotten used to. He saw her turn and look towards him and his ship one last time, but even then he didn't see any determination. She just turned and helped her shipmates prepare for retreat.

That wasn't the marine Shanks had grown fond of.

A/N: Poor Gracie just can't seem to catch a break :( She also can't seem to catch Shanks, either. See you guys next time!