Chapter Five:
Island Vacation?
Shanks let out a content sigh as he watched the puffy white clouds drift along overhead. After spending about two days there so far, he decided the island was actually kind of nice. Well except for the territorial animals that roamed the forest. But it seemed Grace had done well to assert her dominance over the island's inhabitants, so they left the little campsite alone. Shanks glanced over at the girl when he started thinking of her. She was sprawled out on the furry pelt of that leopard she shot, propped up on one elbow while she picked apart an orange. She was faced away from him with her eyes on the sea, probably looking out for any ships going by.
The redhead found himself growing bored and couldn't resist the only form of entertainment he had. He rolled over onto his hands and knees quietly and shuffled over the edge of the pelt. He reached toward one of the paws.
"Don't touch."
He froze for a split second, looking at the marine who was still facing away from him. "How'd you know I was—"
"You're obvious." Grace said. She turned her head to look over her shoulder and glare at him.
Shanks wondered if she was like Rayleigh and could see everything the same way. Or maybe he just wasn't as sneaky as he thought. "C'mon sweetheart, this pelt is huge! There's room for both of us..." He flopped onto his belly on the sand and let his cheek fall against the fur. "It's so soft..."
"Go get your own."
"But I don't know how to tan a pelt..."
"Not my problem. Get lost."
Shanks puffed out his cheeks childishly and rolled onto the bed of fur. "Quit being so stingy, Gracie..." he whined. The girl sat up and frowned the redhead, but he only made a show of making himself comfortable on his back with his hands behind his head. He flashed a grin at the marine's irritated expression and she threw a segment of her orange at him. He chuckled and popped it into his mouth. It was just way too fun getting her riled up.
"Damned pirate." Grace muttered to herself and returned to her original position watching the sea. "Greasy, irritating, no-good son of a..."
"Aw, is that what you really think of me? And here I always thought you were the fluffiest ray of sunshine that ever lived..." His sarcasm was not lost on the marine.
"Get off my leopard!" Shanks felt her hands slip under his side as she tried to forcibly roll him off the pelt. "Off! Quit bugging me and get lost!"
The pirate pouted when she managed to shove him back onto the sand. "But sweetheart, I'm bored and there's no one else to talk to..."
"Go play with the wild pigs or something. I'm sure you'd fit right in." Grace replied haughtily.
Shanks took it in stride. "Yeah, but then my new friends might think it's okay to come along and trample all over our little camp here."
"Our camp? No, no, this is my camp. I found the supplies, I made the leopard bed, I build the bonfires at night, I do most of the hunting, I'm even the one who found the cave on the first day. You've just been freeloading this whole time."
"You're right, you're right. It's all yours." the redhead replied, raising his hands in mock surrender. "You're the queen. Is Her Highness gonna banish me for not pulling my weight?"
"She might sentence you to a beheading if you don't stop givin' her lip..." She muttered.
"Ah, my apologies." He tried to adopt a solemn expression. "How should I atone for my crimes, Your Graciousness?" His face split into a grin when she gave him a look.
"Why don't you go rustle up your own dinner tonight and I might let you use the pelt when I'm not on it."
"Done." That was all the motivation he needed. Shanks got up and picked up one of the spears Grace made and headed into the jungle.
Grace enjoyed the peace and quiet by weaving herself a net out of rope so that she could do a little fishing. She wasn't going to be using the net itself for catching fish, however. She wanted to try her hand at spear-fishing, and she'd need something to put her fish into when she caught them. So she was really making more of a mesh bag that would hang at her hip than a net.
When it was complete, she grabbed a spear and headed for the shallow water near some rocks that jutted out into the ocean where she knew some fish liked to hang about. Predictably, they swam away when she first entered their space, so Grace held still in the knee-deep water until they were eventually comfortable enough to come back. She held her spear at the ready and when a fish swam close enough, she thrust her weapon forward. She ended up missing, but she didn't take it too hard. It was only her first time doing this.
After a couple of tries, she got the hang of it, and after a little while she had a couple of fish in her mesh sack. She was in the middle of trying to spear another when a voice threw her aim off. "So, I caught a boar to eat later. I can go lay on the leopard now, right?" Grace picked up her spear, looking where her prey had escaped and then glared up at the redhead squatting on the big rock above her. A least he had the decency to look sheepish when he realized he made her lose a fish. "Sorry..."
"Do what you want. I don't care." She turned away from him to get back to catching her own food. When she added another fish to her bag, she noticed that Shanks hadn't left. He was laying on his side with his head propped up on his hand, eyes on her. "Do you need something, Red Hair?"
"Not that I can think of."
"Then why are you still here? All that fuss earlier about the pelt..." Grace looked back at the water, preparing to thrust her weapon at another fish.
"It's boring over there all my myself..." he replied. The marine didn't answer him. "How come you're not bored?"
"Because, unlike you, I'm actually finding ways to occupy myself." She speared another fish. "I'm sure there's something more productive you could be doing right now."
"Probably." Shanks agreed, but he made no move to actually do something better with his time. He seemed content to lay there and gaze out the sea while Grace continued doing her own thing.
When she was satisfied she had enough to feed herself for the day, she climbed up onto one of the rocks and sat down with her bag of fish beside her. She took out a knife and started gutting them. She heard Shanks scoot closer and side-eyed him as he took out a knife of his own to help.
Grace hated to admit it, but she couldn't deny the sense of camaraderie that had started to take form over the last few days. Shanks seemed to have learned exactly which buttons to push to get a rise out of her, but he also had the sense to know when she'd enough and he'd ease off and give her just enough space to relax. They bickered most of the time, but there was no real hostility. Her insults no longer had any real bite. Grace was mildly annoyed with herself because of it. Getting along with a pirate...What's wrong with me? Not for the first time, she looked within herself and felt around for her resolve as a marine, for the part of her that wanted to just shoot him and be done with it. But it just wasn't there.
"Um..." The redhead's voice snapped her out of her bout of mild self-loathing and she turned her head to glare at him. His eyes flicked to the fish in her hand and asked, "Something wrong?" Grace looked at the sliced up mess in her hand, realizing she had taken out her frustrations on the poor creature and cut it to ribbons. She sighed and just dropped the whole thing into the ocean rather than try and cook it later.
"Nothing." She murmured. It's all your fault. I'm not supposed to get along with you. Shanks was nothing like the version of a pirate that she had in her head and she didn't know how to feel about it.
With a full belly and a warm fire crackling peacefully in the quiet night, Shanks flopped face first onto the fuzzy leopard hide beside a mildly annoyed marine. "Get off." She grumbled.
"You said I could lay on it if I got my own dinner..."
"I said you could lay on it when I'm not on it."
"So stingy..." He didn't make any attempt to move, and to his delight, Grace didn't seem too keen on using any energy to make him leave.
"You're insufferable."
"Love you too, gorgeous." That earned him a swat on the back of his head. He chuckled. He flipped over and rested his hands on his his stomach as he looked at the twinkling stars in the sky. A comfortable silence fell and Shanks took the time to just lay there and think about all that had occurred over the last few days. It had been relatively uneventful save for the leopard attack in the beginning. He smiled when he thought of Grace coming to his rescue. He tried to get to know her a little bit after that, but she guarded her personal information like a deep dark secret. From what little he did manage to weasel out of her, he thought he could safely say that she rarely had any actual fun. It sounded like all she did was train and "conserve her energy," which was surely code for "sit around and wait for something to happen."
Shanks frowned thoughtfully. He knew that their time together was limited. At some point somebody would come along and find them and they'd go back to their own lives. He thought it would be a shame to leave all this behind without getting Grace to really loosen up.
He looked over at her. She was on her back with her eyes closed and one hand behind her head. Shanks propped himself up on his elbow, facing her. "Hey, sweetheart?"
He heard a deep sigh, and then, "What?"
"What do you want to do tomorrow?" he asked.
She opened her eyes and turned her head to stare at him, waiting for him to elaborate.
"I mean it's kind of boring just sitting around waiting for a ship to show up, right?"
"So?"
"So, I thought maybe we could change things up a little?"
"And do what?"
"I dunno. Maybe go explore the island a little bit?" He said hopefully.
"And what if we miss a ship going by while we're gone?"
"Wait for the next one?"
Grace let out an annoyed huff. "I don't want to spend any more time here than I need to, Shanks!" At the sound of his name, his mouth fell open slightly. That was probably the first time she had actually referred to him by it. She didn't seem to notice though. "I have a job I would like to get back to, unlike you."
The redhead could see she was getting agitated and tried to fix that. "Well we could build one of those big signal fires? If anybody sails by, then they'll see it and come looking for us, right?"
"What makes you think I even want to go exploring with you, Red Hair?"
"It'll be fun, doll! Just watch."
"I didn't say I go yet."
"Yet?"
Grace saw him grinning and rolled her eyes. "Piss off, or go to sleep or something."
"I'll just ask again tomorrow." Shanks decided.
"Oh goodie." Her words were dripping with sarcasm.
When Grace roused from her slumber the next morning, she noticed that Shanks was no where to be seen. She didn't really care where he went off to, but she thought it was kind of odd. He usually slept in a little longer. When she sat up to stretch, her eyes settled on a rather large pile of dry sticks and leaves a couple of feet away from the fire pit. That wasn't there last night...
"Hey! You're up! G'mornin' sweetheart."
Grace looked over her shoulder and saw Shanks emerge from the jungle with branches under his arm. "What are you doing?"
"Getting fuel for the signal fire." he replied. He tossed the branches onto the pile."You know, so we can go explore." When Grace rolled her eyes, he crouched down beside her. "C'mon, Gracie! I already did most of the work!"
"If you wanna explore so bad, then go."
"But I want you to come with me."
"Why?"
"It's boring by myself." Shanks sort of tilted his head head down and looked up at Grace in a way that vaguely reminded her of a sad puppy. Dark, soulful eyes and all.
She looked down her nose at him, and tried to maintain eye contact as she stared him down, but she broke first. He was just too much. She sucked in a deep breath and slowly exhaled. "Go build the stupid signal fire." She closed her eyes when his face lit up. Damn him.
Shanks busied himself with making the fire as big as possible, and a little while later he was standing over the reluctant marine, expectant. She sighed, pushed herself off the leopard pelt, and grabbed a sword and a rifle because damned if she gonna wander around the jungle unarmed. She then turned towards the trees and walked into the wilderness.
For about ten minutes, neither of them said anything. There was just the sound of bugs and birds and their footsteps as they made their way through the dense vegetation. Then Shanks apparently got fed up with the sour look on Grace' face.
"Don't look so grumpy, Gracie. This is supposed to be fun!"
"Uh-huh." She replied with a scowl. She didn't see what was so great about an aimless journey through the jungle with no goal in mind.
"C'mon, lighten up! Just think of what could be waiting for us!" Shanks started walking backwards in front of her, smiling brightly as he tried to instill wonder in the marine.
"Like what?"
"Like..." Grace watched him struggle for an answer as he climbed up onto a bumpy boulder. "Like treasure! Or maybe—" Suddenly the 'boulder' underneath him moved and a low growl permeated the air. Shanks stumbled off of his perch and landed on the ground beside Grace just as the massive moving thing unfolded and a reptilian head lifted into sight.
"...Or a giant lizard?" Grace supplied with a frown at the pirate.
The redhead offered a sheepish smile. "Yeah, or that..."
The oversized reptile in front of them unfurled its body all the way and hissed at the teens, who decided it was time to go. They took off together, deeper into the jungle, with the animal following them with heavy steps. It was a little bit slower than them, and they were able to give themselves enough distance to dive behind a tree and some thick bushes without being seen. The lizard was still on their trail though. It's forked tongue flicked in and out of it's mouth, tasting the air for it's preys' scents.
Grace clicked her tongue, irate. She was about to turn to Shanks and tell him what quote/unquote great time she was having, but her mouth snapped shut when she saw he was already looking at her. More specifically, he was looking at her irritated expression.
He bowed his head and scratched the back of his neck. "You're not havin' fun, are you?" he murmured quietly. "Sorry, sweetheart. I just wanted you to have a good time, is all."
Something about his genuinely disappointed expression and tone struck a small, traitorous, chord with Grace. Her head hung for a moment. Damn it all, damn it all, damn it all... She whacked the back of her head against the tree behind her none too softly, frustrated, and then she darted out from their hiding spot. She drew her sword from its sheath, the sound drawing the beast's attention.
"Gracie, what're you—"
The lizard cut him off with a screeching hiss. "Come get me, ya bastard!" Grace yelled back at it with a 'come hither' motion from her hand. The reptile happily obliged and the two surged forward. Much like with the sea king in the past, Grace was driven by rage and frustration. Not even the lizard's hard scales could protect it from the bite of her blade. "Why don't—" Slash."—you just—" Slash. "—go to hell?!" Slash. "Huh?!" She was only partially aware of the fact that Shanks had jumped in to help. He stayed well out of the way, probably so he wouldn't get caught in front of her sword, but he still provided some support by occasionally distracting their opponent. Grace didn't stop until she drove the blade of her sword right into the beast's skull.
She stood there panting, rage subsiding, and then suddenly whirled around to face Shanks. She saw him freeze, eyes wide as he looked at her. She could only imagine what might have looked like. Like a madwoman, probably. "Well?"
He blinked at her. "Huh?"
"You said we were gonna have fun. Are you gonna deliver on that, or what?"
Shanks blinked again and then let out a breathy chuckle. "I will, I will! I promise!" he replied with a dopey, boyish smile.
Grace inwardly cursed herself for being glad to see him smile again.
A/N: Uh-oh! Look's like Grace is actually warming up to our beloved redhead!
See you in the next one, guys!