Chapter Six:

Loosen Up

Shanks couldn't help himself. He looked over his shoulder again, at the girl trailing along behind him. Grace shot him increasingly perplexed looks every time their eyes met, especially when a smile tugged at his lips. Eventually, she broke the silence to ask, "Is there somethin' wrong with you...?"

He chuckled. "No, no, nothin's wrong." he replied. She made a face.

"Well, you're weirding me out..."

"Sorry, darlin'." he said with a grin. He was just happy. He didn't know how to convey that to the marine, seeing as how she still looked like she'd rather be elsewhere. But even so, she stuck with him. Despite that he led her into trouble, she still gave him another chance. It kinda made Shanks giddy. He wouldn't have blamed her if she had stalked off back to the beach after their run-in with the lizard. But she surprised him. Maybe there was a chance she'd warm up to him a little more. He glanced at her again with a smile.

"Would you stop that?"

"Stop what?"

"Stop looking at me like that."

"How am I supposed to resist looking at something so beautiful?" He grinned when he saw twinge of pink dusting her cheeks. It was easy getting her to blush.

"Would you stop saying shit like that?!" She snapped.

"Oh, lighten up, sweetheart...I say it 'cause I mean it."

"I don't want to hear that from a pirate." She said flatly, and the redhead's smile faded just a little.

"Fine, fine..." he replied. "Let's keep going then."

Before much longer, they were met with the distinct sound of a waterfall off in the distance. They decided to head towards it, since it was a change from the same old jungle. When Shanks pushed past some huge leaves, he was left breathless at what he saw. There was a rather large pool of water before him, right at the base of a tall cliff. The water was crystal clear except near the cliff itself, where the waterfall made it white and frothy. Shanks wondered where the water was coming from, way up there. The best part, though, was the way mist near the cliff caught the light and formed a rainbow. It looked like something out of a storybook.

Shanks looked over at Grace and saw that she had the same expression on her face that he must have had. When she noticed his eyes on her, she composed herself. "It's just a waterfall..." She muttered.

"Yeah..." The redhead bumped her shoulder with his own. "But we never would've seen it if we didn't come out here." She turned her face away, so Shanks leaned over to get in her field of vision. "C'mon, you have to admit the view is pretty worth it."

She narrowed her eyes at him for a moment and then huffed. "I guess that's true..." She admitted reluctantly.

Shanks smiled and looked back at the clear water in front of them. Then he got an idea. He placed his hat safely on the ground before he kicked off his sandals and pulled his shirt over his head.

"What are you doing?" Grace asked.

He smiled at her. "Let's go swimming!"

"Wha—" Before she could say anything, he darted off the edge of a rock and cannon-balled into the pool. It was cold. He shuddered when he surfaced. "Brr..." He pushed his hair from his eyes and looked up at the ledge he jumped from. Grace was standing there with her arms crossed, unimpressed.

"You could go swimming at the beach." she said.

"Yeah, but since we're here, we should make the most of it." Shanks replied. "Come in with me! It's nice!"

"What for?"

"You came with me 'cause I promised you fun, right? Well you're gonna have to loosen up for that to work, dearest." The redhead kept his eyes on her, hoping she'd take his word for it. He didn't know how else to convince a grumpy workaholic marine to just let everything go for a while and goof off. He watched her sigh and look off into the jungle, seemingly ignoring him. Shanks waited so long for her to change her mind, he almost gave up and carried on swimming on his own, but he heard her sigh again. His heart leaped in his chest when she placed her sword on the ground and moved to take off her boots.

The pirate heard her muttering under her breath. "If any of the others knew I was doing this..."

"I won't tell if you won't." he said. She rolled her eyes and took off the white tee-shirt she was wearing—which actually made Shanks feel a little heat rise to his face because he was a simple boy and a girl was taking off her shirt—and that left her in a navy blue tank-top that had the marine logo on the front. How many layers do marines have to wear? The random thought left his mind when Grace found some stepping stones leading into the pool. As soon as her foot enter the water she grimaced.

"The ocean's warmer..." she mumbled.

"It's also very salty and not much fun to swallow by accident. Or on purpose, I guess." he retorted. Don't get him wrong, he loved the sea. But still.

"Whatever..." She steeled herself and dived in. She tried to hide her chattering teeth when she got closer to him. "Okay, now what...?"

"Now..." Shanks pushed himself a little closer, smiling. "Now you have to stop thinking so hard about this!" He replied. "Just let out your inner child and let her decide for you!" He saw the doubtful look on her face and poked her forehead, which she smacked away. "There has to be one in there somewhere!"

My inner child, huh? Truth be told, Grace didn't know exactly why she was going along with this, but she was and at that point she thought it was too late to turn back. So she thought back to her childhood, or at least the part of it that could be considered a childhood. That was a really long time ago... She thought wistfully.

She shook her head, chasing those thoughts away. "...I don't think 'Sharks and Minnows' works very well with only two people..." She heard a light chuckle from the redhead.

"That's true." he said. He started swimming in circles around her. "Same goes for 'Marco Polo'." he added and Grace hummed in affirmation. "We could..." He trailed off for a second. "We could have a little competition?" He said with a gleam in his eyes. Grace raised an eyebrow at him. "Whoever touches the bottom of the pool and gets back to the surface wins."

"We can't even tell how deep it is." She replied.

"Then we'll find out, won't we?" They put a little distance between them so they'd have room to dive. "Ready? One...Two...Three...Go!"

Grace took a deep breath and disappeared beneath the surface. She glanced to the side to see Shanks was just a little bit ahead of her, and that woke up her competitive side. She swam faster. She'd had just about enough of losing to the redhead. She passed the pirate by and continued the journey down below. The pool was a little bit deeper than she thought, but she still made it and touched the sediment at the bottom. As she turned around to ascend back to the top, she saw Shanks was still a few feet behind her. She stuck out her tongue at him as she passed him to get back to the surface and she saw him smile in response.

She resurfaced first, and when the pirate came up after her, she said. "Ha! I won!" She felt a little silly at the childish sense of satisfaction she gleaned from a contest that had no real stakes. But still, she won!

Shanks laughed. "Yeah, you did!" He didn't seem too bothered by the loss. "Do you wanna go again?" Grace nodded and got ready to dive just like before.

Upon hearing 'Go!' the marine dove down. Nothing much changed from last time. She reached the bottom first and smirked at the redhead on the way up. Just when she was about to break the surface, she felt a hand wrap around her her ankle and yank her back down. A flash of read rocketed past her and she glowered at the pirate when she came up. "You cheated!" She splashed water at him disdainfully.

A guilty, but not at all apologetic smile was offered in response. "Well, what am I supposed to do when you're so much faster than me?" he asked. His expression became thoughtful. "It's weird, though. I could've sworn I out-swam you before..."

Grace thought back to the wet gunpowder incident, and remembered how she made Warren time her speed afterwards. She wasn't about to admit she went through all that trouble just to catch him, though. "You're imagining things." she replied. "Anyway, that's no excuse for cheating! I should've known; you're still a damned pirate in the end." She said that, but even to her own ears, her words didn't seem to have much bite.

Shanks chucked and swam a circle around her. "Aw, don't say that, sweetheart. We can go for another round, right? This time I'll play fair."

"And I'm supposed to take a cheater's word for it?" Shanks only smiled at her until she agreed. "Fine..."

They continued on challenging each other to their little race. Sometimes Shanks would actually win—fair and square, he kept his word—but for the most part Grace seemed to have him beat. She was surprised to find that she actually enjoyed herself despite everything.

Shanks covered his mouth and yawned as he laid there on the sunny rock. It was warm and quiet and he could easily take a nap there if he wanted. It was a little bit past midday. He and Grace had gotten bored with their little game a while ago and decided to dry off by sunning themselves next to the pool. He turned his head to sneak a look at the girl beside him. Her eyes were closed and there wasn't a trace of tension to be found on her face. Shanks smiled. Just like he thought, letting loose did wonders for her. Mission accomplished.

He let his thoughts wander. It seemed like it was a lifetime ago when he saved her. So much had changed between them in the span of a few days. The island was a little limbo land where pirate and marine didn't matter. They were just a couple of teens surviving in the wilderness. Disappointment washed over him when he remembered that it wouldn't last forever. Shanks wasn't really surprised by it, but it did suddenly hit him just how badly he didn't want to be Grace's enemy again. He liked her and all her prickly reactions to his ribbing. Maybe a little too much. Or maybe a lot too much... He amended.

The redhead rolled onto his side and propped his head up on his hand and just looked at the girl beside him as though trying to burn this memory into his head. He didn't know whether or not he'd ever get see her all relaxed and content like this again. The claws of lament tickled at his chest. Weird... He thought. He didn't usually dwell on sad things.

Grace must've felt his gaze because she opened her eyes and looked somewhat startled by the intensity in his gaze. "What?"

He gave her a pensive smile. "Nothin', gorgeous." he replied. "There's just nothing else as nice to look at."

She rolled her eyes and sat up. "Ugh."

Shanks' smile turned amused and he turned onto his back, using his elbows to hold him up. "What?"

Grace shifted to look at him, leaning on her arm. "You just have to go and say weird things all the time."

"You mean nice things, angel eyes."

"Hm...No no, that's definitely what I meant."

The redhead chuckled. "Why can't you just take a compliment?"

"The words of a pirate don't mean anything to me." She huffed.

"You say that, but you trusted me enough to come play with me." When she scowled at him, he stuck out his tongue.

"It's not like anyone would ever believe you." she replied.

"Yeah...Good thing I don't need anybody to believe me, because I know it's true." He flashed a disarming smile. "I'll always know, sweetheart. And it'll be one of my favorite memories." I mean it. He added in his head.

"Oh shut it."

The sound of cannon fire cut their banter short. Shanks was simultaneously ecstatic and crestfallen at the sound. He recognized the Oro Jackson's cannons, having heard them countless times before. It was a bittersweet moment when he and Grace got up to gather their things.

Grace used her hand to shield her eyes from the sun as she gazed out at the ships engaged in battle. There were three marine battleships and one pirate ship. It was almost as if things had picked up where they left off during the storm days ago. Grace knew it was the remains of Garp's fleet, because even from this distance she could see makeshift repairs to to damage caused by the storm.

"Well, I guess our vacation is over." Shanks said beside her. She thought he sounded disappointed. "Well, it was nice while it lasted, huh?"

"Hm..." is all she replied with. She couldn't deny that some parts of the experience weren't completely awful.

From the corner of her eye, she could see the redhead grinning at her, so she frowned back at him. "You're not gonna deny it?" he asked. He chuckled. "I've grown on you haven't I?"

"No, you have not!"

"Liar."

She looked away. "You're delusional!"

"Gracie's a liar! Tsk tsk, and here I thought she was one of the noble good guys!"

"You—Argh, forget it, I'm leaving!" Grace started walking down the beach towards the water where she saw a dinghy rowing towards the shore. There were a couple of men in boat wearing marine uniforms.

"Hey wait!" She turned to look at Shanks who was pointing down the beach at their camp. "What about your leopard?"

"You're the one who wanted it so bad, so just take it." She replied with a shrug. It's not like she needed it.

"Really?" Grace waved dismissively and the pirate smiled. "Alright then...See you around, sweetheart."

"Bye, Shanks." She thought she saw him brighten for some reason but she brushed it off because her comrades had gotten closer and started waving. She waved right back waded into ocean to meet them halfway.

"Why'd you go and get yourself marooned, lass? Do you know what we went through lookin' for ya?"

After Grace maneuvered herself into the dinghy, she looked at Warren flatly. "I didn't do it on purpose."

"Hey, at least she ain't fish food." said the other marine in the boat. He wasn't as big as Warren, but he was more angular. He had disheveled ashy brown hair that was long enough to reach his shoulders. His eyes were light green and there was stubble on his chin. Grace recognized him but they never talked so she forgot his name. "Hey, ah..." he pointed at the shore. "That guy's a pirate, ain't he? Shouldn't we go catch him?"

Grace felt a twinge of panic, and then a pang of guilt. It felt like a small betrayal, but she really didn't want to go chase Shanks down. How could she? "I...don't think that's in our best interest." She nodded towards the marine ships. They weren't in great condition. Meanwhile, the Pirate King's ship looked almost as good as new. Because of course it did.

"She's right." said Warren. "We hafta regroup and fix our shit." He threw his oars at Grace. "Here, it's your turn to row."

She looked at him incredulously. "I've been stranded for days. I'm exhausted." She really was, what with fighting the lizard and hiking through the jungle and racing a pirate all day.

"Yeah, well I had to row this damned boat all the way here. It's somebody else's turn."

"Then make him do it." she nodded at the other guy.

"Can't do it." The brunette lifted up his arm, and Grace finally noticed the cast wrapped around his wrist and fingers. He wouldn't be able to hold an oar with that hand. "Sorry."

"Then why the fuck are you here?"

"To help search the island for you. I guess I didn't have to though." He had the gall to laugh.

Grace grumbled under her breath and started rowing.

A/N: And that concludes their little island adventure. I hope you stick around for what's in store!