"Shakky!"

A voice rung out from outside Shakky's bar. Shakky threw open the doors to see a bedraggled Gloriosa, accompanied by 3 young girls.

"Gloriosa!" cried Shakky, beckoning them in. She closed the door behind them, and locked it tight. Darkness fell over the bar, and Shakky struck a match, touching it to the wicks of the few candles that surrounded the bar. The candles illuminated the room, and cast shadows over Gloriosa and the girl's faces.

"Here," said Shakky, tossing Gloriosa a blanket, "Slaves?"

"Former. There was a big attack on Mariejois. A fish man named Fisher Taiga released hundreds upon thousands of slave. These three are called Boa Hancock, Marigold, and Sandersonia."

"Sisters?"

"Yes."

"You bringing them home?"

"Going home with 'em."

Shakky gave Gloriosa a look.

"They're from Amazon Lily?" she asked, pouring 4 glasses of water.

"Mm," replied the other woman, "in fact this one's in line to be Empress," said Gloriosa pointing at the fair-skinned girl, with long black hair.

"Unbelievable," said Shakky, serving the girls their water. "Any idea how the Dragons got ahold of them?"

"Their ship was sunk, and they were abducted," said Gloriosa, taking a small sip of water.

"They branded yet?"

"Yeah. Unfortunately."

"We can get Hatchan to fix that."

"No!" said one of the girls, who had vibrant orange hair. "No more! Please…"

Shakky sighed, and held the girls hand.

"No more. I promise. But you have to be careful not to show your back to anybody."

The girl nodded, and Shakky pat her on the head.

"Are they Devil Fruit users?" asked Shakky.

"Yes. 2 Zoans, and this one's a Paramecia," she said, gesturing the dark-haired girl once more.

"Use it to their advantage," said Shakky, "a curse. Spread the rumour throughout your people. Make sure that the truth is never uncovered. Otherwise they won't be able to live normally ever again," she finished, with an intonation of warning in her voice.

"Right," said Gloriosa, shaking her head slowly. "I don't know how they'll—"

"Get through this?" Shakky cut her off, "They will, but it'll take time. Trust me, this isn't like all your other charity cases, Gloriosa."

"I know," said Gloriosa, twisting her fingers around the water glass.

"You can stay here until they're acclimated. But Shabaody is dangerous for them."

"Is Rayleigh around?"

"Yeah. But he's probably boozing and sleeping around. He doesn't come back for days at a time now."

"He misses his captain," said Gloriosa, smiling.

"Well he's got a funky way of showing it. In any case, when he does come back, I'll coax him into getting you three a boat. They fit for sailing?"

"They've been fit for sailing since they were 8."

"Kuja Pirates?!" exclaimed Shakky, "At that age?"

"They're prodigies."

My, my, my. What an amazing amount of power in such little packages."

"The Kuja are very proud of them."

"I can imagine."

A knock came from the door, and a shoving sound too.

"Shakuyaku?" asked a man's voice.

"Coming!" said Shakky, rushing to the door. She opened it and saw a soaking wet Rayleigh standing outside. "Goof grief! What has the Dark King been up to?"

"Coating job gone wrong. Luckily there were no fatalities."

"I should hope not! Business would plummet otherwise!"

"I think it would be safe to say that business is already plummeting," chuckled Rayleigh, hefting off his coat and tossing it aside. Shakky picked it up, wrung it out, and hooked it on the coat rack.

"Oh," said Rayleigh, noticing Gloriosa and the girls, "Hello Gloriosa. What do we have here?

"Refugees, originally from Kuja" said Shakky, pouring Rayleigh a beer. Rayleigh smiled at them warmly, and took the green-haired girls hands into his own. But she didn't flinch. Nor scream and cry like the other refugees had. Instead, she looked at him head on, her gaze steady.

"We'll get you back home soon," said Rayleigh, "so don't worry."

A.N.: I hope you don't mind, but I had to throw in a few extra characters in there to support Shakky, since we don't know too much about her yet. But I loved the idea of Shakky being the host of a safe house for escaped slaves, and I wanted to elaborate on it. Reviews, Favourites, Subscriptions, and Requests are welcomed and much appreciated! See you tomorrow for Sengoku!