Mass x Acceleration

By Dixxy Mouri

Chapter Six

"Rah, Red Haired Shanks?" Tesla stared at the red haired pirate who ruled the oceans as an emperor in fear. Of all the men to show up, RED HAIRED SHANKS had to interrupt him? Well, he supposed ANY of them showing up would be a bad thing – ALL of them were terrifyingly powerful men (and . . . woman, if she could be called that) that Tesla made a point to avoid if possible.

And now one of them was hugging his closest lead to 0543 and 0544.

Shanks returned Mac's embrace, though when he spotted Tesla he frowned. "Thomas Tesla, captain of the Science Pirates," he greeted coldly. He put his hand on his hip and stepped forward, watching the scientist and his first mate carefully. "What, exactly, are the two of your doing on my island?"

The scientists paled. "Your island?" asked Tesla, his voice squeaking like a mouse.

Mac nodded. "Several years ago the Red Hair Pirates rescued us from another group of pirates. The Marines didn't do anything to save us, and Shanks offered his protection in exchange for food and liquor stores every few months. We've been flying under his flag ever since – it's better protection than a Marine base since most pirates steer clear of us when they see it. In a sense, yes, this IS his island," said the mayor, straightening his glasses.

"Exactly as he said," said Shanks, taking the seat across from Tesla. He crossed his legs and propped his chin in his hand. "Now, Tesla, tell me exactly what it is you're doing here. If you've suddenly decided to start experimenting on civilians then I highly suggest you rethink that idea – double if you're looking at this island or any of the other islands flying my flag. I don't need to tell you that you wouldn't like what would happen to you if you tried."

"No, of course not," said Tesla. He voice was calm, but his hands were trembling.

Shanks nodded, eyeing the other pirate coolly. "Good. Now what do you want from Mac?"

Tesla swallowed. "A few days ago my most recent specimens escaped from my ship."

The emperor narrowed his eyes. "What did they look like?"
"A male and a female. Mostly bald – we did some surgery about a week or two ago. Wearing medical examination gowns. Numbers 0543 and 0544 burnt into the backs of their necks. On our way to this home we spotted one of my lifeboats washed up on the shore – since the only one I'm missing is the one they escaped on, I can only assume they're here," Tesla said quickly and precisely. He stared at Shanks with intensity and hesitation. "Have you found them? I'm willing to pay you handsomely for them."

Shanks stared at Tesla for several seconds, closed his eyes, and shook his head. "Sorry to tell you this, Tesla, but I think my men and I picked them up a few nights ago. They were barely alive when we fished them out of the water – they were mad, babbling nonsense. They were gone by the morning." He sighed shaking his head and clucking his tongue. "We gave them a burial at sea – it was the right thing to do."

"You did WHAT!" Tesla asked, temporarily forgetting who he was yelling at.

"I'm a pirate, not a monster – I did the decent thing," Shanks said.

Tesla was in disbelief. "What about my life boat? How did it end up here if you picked them up?"

"I've got enough life boats, and they're prettier. Must have washed up here on its own."

"But he was obviously stalling and avoiding the question! He must be hiding them!"

Shanks stood. "You probably scared the piss out of him! Of course he was going to panic! This isn't a Marine officer or some pirate captain or whatever else kind of hard ass is out there! This is a FARMING COMMUNITY. There are more apple tries on this island than PEOPLE. A rough day at the office for him is, I don't know, a couple of farmers bitching over who owns what cow or some shit. I do not expect him to be able to handle an interrogation from an asshole like YOU!"

Mac stayed quiet. The whole exchange was sickening. Tesla definitely wanted his guests – any doubt he might have had was gone after those numbers were mentioned. He was especially horrified that Tesla mentioned they had been burns – this horrible man had branded them like cattle. He'd even mentioned some kind of surgery. This, Mac noted, was all the scientist had spoken of – what else had he done to them?

Thank God for Shanks. Somehow, he knew something was up and was making up this fairy tale about finding them half dead to throw Tesla off the trail. With Shanks' position and infamy, Tesla wouldn't dare question him, and even if he did, he wouldn't be caught dead anywhere near Apple Island now that he knew where their little community stood in the scheme of the world.

Tesla fumed for a moment, but took a deep breath and stood. His ears were turning red and Mac wondered if he was going to rupture a vein somewhere. He was angry, but he was also scared of Shanks – especially after than last outburst that Mac wasn't entirely convinced DIDN'T have any King's Ambition thrown in for flavor.

Especially when he noticed there was a wet spot on the crotch of the science pirate's pants.

"Curie. We're leaving."

Curie, who'd been scared speechless during the entire exchange, nodded quickly and was out the door before her captain. Tesla gave one last look at the captain of the Red Hair Pirates before swallowing and making a hasty exit out the mayor's front door, mumbling a hasty "good day" before closing the door behind him.

Mac watched them leave, waiting several moments before letting out the breath he didn't even realize he had been holding. "Thank you, Shanks," he said. "I'm sorry you had to deal with that so soon after getting here." Mac rubbed his temples. "Most pirates catch a glimpse of your flag flying and turn tail and run."

Shanks shook his head. "It isn't your fault, Mac, and as long as no one got hurt – well, at least not MORE hurt – so let's not sweat it too much anymore. It's a little foggy out – he probably didn't see the flag. I'm going to have more made so Apple and the other islands have something to fly closer to the shoreline so we don't get a repeat of this incident elsewhere. I've got Ms. Elstar and Mr. Braeburn keeping an eye on their ship – once they leave they're going to report here to let me know. If so much as a rotten apple was pillaged I will not let that go unpunished." The pirate captain stood and walked towards the window, glancing outside to ensure the scientists were gone. He studied the outside for a few moments, nodded, and turned to the mayor. "So, now that Tesla and his minion think they're dead I'd like to see them. Where are they?"

"How did you know, anyways?" asked Mac. "I mean, about our guests?"

"Like I said, I spoke with Ria and Braeburn already – they were armed and on their way here and filled me in on what's going on. As soon as I heard it was Tesla, I had a suspicion and asked them to describe your guests for me," he said. He crossed his arm over his chest, hung his head, and sighed. "You know Tesla only hits pirates, right?"

"Yeah – are they yours?"

"No, Tesla's terrified of me and my peers," said Shanks. He sighed, taking a seat for a moment. "But I know who they are and I know their captain – he's a good guy and has been going crazy trying to find them. I honestly didn't think I'd encounter them, much less after I heard Tesla was the one that got to them. Poor things. Tesla's an asshole." He passed. "No. More like the asshole of another asshole."

The mayor looked forlornly at the stairs. "They don't seem like pirates. They've been very gracious since they got here – the young man has even cooked for me. If you hadn't told me I would have had no way of knowing." Shanks only smiled knowingly, and Mac laughed. "Although I suppose if their captain is a friend of yours . . ."

"Yeah, I don't think he's the type to make friends with monsters. If they're in his crew, I believe they're good people and I trust them completely while they're on this island. Besides, you're the guy who's feeding and housing them after they were tortured for a year – gratitude is the least they can give you," said Shanks. Mac nodded, urging the pirate captain on. He invited the emperor to sit back down, and the pirate obliged as he filled him in on the details. "It was a little while back I found out – maybe about two or three months ago, something like that. I ran into an old friend of mine from way back, so I decided to pay him a visit, and he told me what was going on . . ."

Maybe about two or three months ago, something like that . . .

"Aw come on, Buggy, it's been so long since we've seen each other - don't spoil the moment!"

Buggy glared daggers at Red Haired Shanks, who was grinning like a fool from his perch on the railing of his ship. The Red Hair Pirates had come across the Big Top, and when Shanks recognized its captain, well, of course decided that he simply HAD to pay his former crewmate a visit for old time's sake – they could split some booze and reminisce about the days of Roger.

But mostly split some booze.

And by split that meant mostly Buggy's booze.

Or all of Buggy's booze.

The clown disagreed. "What do you care! I STILL haven't forgiven you for-"

Shanks laughed and waved his hand at Buggy. "Yeah, yeah, I know, you lost your precious treasure map and you ate a Devil Fruit you didn't want all because of me. Got it." Shanks winked and patted Buggy on the shoulder, both gestures dripping with the sweet nectar of All Natural Grade A Sarcasm.

Buggy grumbled at Shanks - he knew better than to try and chase the emperor away by force. No matter how much he disliked Shanks or wanted to extract revenge on Shanks or wanted to make his grandmother regret she'd been born for birthing the woman who birthed Shanks . . . Shanks could destroy him with a look and Buggy was smart enough to know that was not something to mess with. "Whatever. I ran into your little rubber freak friend."

"Yeah, I heard that he busted you out of Impel Down - I didn't know you two were friends!" said Shanks. He grinned, images of Luffy and Buggy with their arms around each other's shoulder and laughing over nothing dancing through his head. "See? If you and Luffy can be buds then why can't the two of us-"

"HE'S NOT MY FRIEND! He didn't come in there to rescue me - he went in there to rescue Portgas D. Ace and try to find his missing crewmates! We formed an alliance to find the missing brats and that's all! My escape was a happy accident!" Buggy was fuming, but something cooled his temper, and Shanks realized that Buggy knew something heavy. "Maybe you should know what happened. . ."

Shanks cocked his head to the side. "About?"

"Luffy's missing crewmates. You heard about that, right?"

The emperor nodded. Of course he had heard. Luffy's ship had suddenly started going back and forth throughout the Grand Line, and rumor had it he was looking for a couple of crewmates who had vanished on him. "Yeah. The paper announced a while back that the World Government and the Marines think they'd dead."

"We know what happened to them. Enough, I guess."

The emperor sat up straight. "What happened?"

Buggy said only two words – there was no need for elaboration. "Tesla Pirates."

Shanks winced. He wouldn't wish that on his worst enemies, either. "It's almost cold comfort to know that his victims rarely live longer than a few days. At least they're at peace now-" Shanks was going to continue, but the look on Buggy's face was somber. "Buggy, exactly how did they die?" he asked quietly.

The clown swallowed, looking away. "They didn't. They're still alive."

Shanks' eyes widened. "You're shitting me."

"Unfortunately, no I'm no shitting you. The girl was alive as of three weeks ago, and it sounded like the other one was alive, too," said Buggy. "That's around nine months of living through whatever it is Tesla's doing to them. Nine months." The clown looked at the horizon. "I spent about a week in Impel Down, right? Maybe two. And it was awful. But they're going through something that might be even WORSE and they're been enduring it for a lot longer. I don't know how the hell they're doing it."

"Buggy . . ." Shanks frowned.

"I know you probably want to drink . . . and seeing as our crews are getting along that should be fine . . . but I'd like you to please leave once your men have had their fills. I'm going to be in my quarters for a bit – I need to be alone," he said absently, starting to walk away from Shanks. "I'll make sure I see you off. All right?"

Shanks dumbly nodded, suddenly finding his own urge to drink had vanished, too.

"They belong to that Luffy?" Mac asked. He had heard about Shanks' favorite rubbery pirate, Monkey D. Luffy, captain of the Straw Hat Pirates who had decided he was going to be the next Pirate King when he was only seven years old. Shanks had told him the story early on in his relationship with the island, and once the Straw Hat Pirates formed Shanks had showed off his wanted poster like a proud parent.

"Mac! Look – he's already conquered the East Blue and got himself a bounty increase for, um, I don't know what this one's for, but he's only been on the Grand Line for a few weeks! Next thing you know he's going to be burning down Marine Bases and beating up Admirals! But it still feels like it was only yesterday he was drinking juice and arguing with us about how tough he was . . ."

". . . Shanks, are you . . . are you crying?"

"*sniffle* They grow up so fast, Mac, they grow up . . . *sniffle* so fast . . ."

Shanks nodded, a fond smile sneaking onto his lips. "Yes. That Luffy."

Mac looked at the ceiling, amazed that the timid, shy creatures in his guest room were really part of the Straw Hat Pirates. Maybe they were just sailors and hadn't gotten names for themselves? That made sense. "So are they just seamen or do they hold rank?" Mac asked in wonder. "I mean, they aren't dangerous, are they?"

"Eh, not to you guys – like I said, Luffy wouldn't recruit those kind of men. Or women. But if you're asking whether or not they hold rank or have bounties, oh-ho yes they do on both accounts. Luffy doesn't have a very big crew so there really aren't any 'sailors' – everyone's got a big job and everyone helps with sailing duties. The little lady is Luffy's navigator and has an asking price of 16 million," said Shanks.

"That's fairly low for the Grand Line," said Mac.

"Yeah, but the young man's a bit more up to par – he's the cook, but according to my friend he's one of Luffy's strongest men and, as such, he has a much more impressive price tag," said Shanks. He laughed. "Luffy's 30 million first bounty was pretty good, but this guy's first bounty was a cool 77 million – I'm sure Luffy's very proud of that."

Mac paled. "Seven . . . seventy . . .seventy . . . mah. . . mah . . ."

Shanks watched as Mac swooned and collapsed on the floor. The pirate cocked his head to the side in mild bewilderment. Seriously, Mac, you know the kind of bounties running amuck amongst my boys – hell, you know what MY bounty is – and you're going to faint over a measly 77 million? Come on now, I thought I knew you better than that.

Shanks looked down at the mayor, sighed, and dragged him onto the couch. The more he thought about it, the more he realized that, well, Mac did look kind of tired, and had been probably running himself ragged trying to take care of those two AND run the island. On top of all that Tesla – not a tough pirate, but a creepy and intimidating one – shows up asking questions about people he's trying to make better . . .

"You've probably had a rough couple of days, haven't you, Mac?" He covered the mayor with a throw blanket, made sure there was a cushion under his head, patted his shoulder (Mac groaned a little in response), and went upstairs to see Luffy's crew. Buggy said that they'd been held captive for nearly nine months as of about three months or so ago, and Tesla himself said they've been gone just a few days. I might be walking into a mess.

Didn't matter. Luffy was his dear friend, and he knew that the rubber man was the kind of captain who cared deeply about his crew – after all, he'd been tearing the Grand Line upside down trying to find them. And since Luffy wasn't there to look after them while they got better, the least he should do as a man of honor was poke his head in on them to see how they were doing.

Shanks felt a pit in his stomach. What if the situation was reversed? What if something had happened to one or more of his men as bad as a stay with the Science Pirates? And what if Luffy had been the one to stumble across them in such rough shape? The pirate closed his eyes. Luffy would have made sure they were well taken care of, and would have probably camped out in the room they were recovering in to make sure they were okay.

He could almost see Luffy sitting crossed legged on a chair next to a bed with one of his men – maybe Benn or Yasopp or Lucky – nestled within. He didn't think Luffy would know much about how to care for a person that sick (he might TRY but it wouldn't do any good, Shanks guessed), but he would stay there so they wouldn't have to be alone, maybe hold their hand or try to say something encouraging, like how it was going to be okay and that they were going to make it. He'd tell them that he would find a way to get their captain to them and then it would be all right.

Shanks found the room easily. There was a pair of twin sized beds, both empty, but he could sense a pair of shivering pirates under the far bed. He closed his eyes. They must have heard everything. Shanks sat cross legged on the bed not being used as a hiding place and tried to coax them out. "I won't hurt you – I'm a friend of Luffy's. Come on, Sanji, Nami, its safe now."

. . . he just said my name.

. . . I thought I'd never hear it again.

Two cautious heads peeked out from under the other bed. Neither of them looked particularly like their wanted poster, but Shanks recognized Sanji's left eyebrow (which looked oddly thin . . . and was strangely enough not symmetrical to his other eyebrow) and Nami's eyes. They were quiet, staring at him nervously. They seemed a little happy to see him, and using their names had helped, but they had clearly been distraught over Tesla's arrival at Mac's.

Shanks smiled and pulled out their wanted posters. He'd started carrying them around, just in case, after Buggy told them what happened to them. "These are you guys, right?" he said. They took each other's posters and sat on the other bed, staring at them like they were looking at a lost friend. Shanks cocked his head to the side. "Is something wrong?"

Nami traced the name on the poster. "Sanji-kun."

Sanji held the other poster to his chest. "Nami-san."

The young woman recognized him first. "You're Shanks – you're the one who gave Luffy his hat."

Shanks smiled. "Ah, so he talks about me?"

Nami sat up and Sanji followed suit. "He never lets anything happen to that hat. If he thinks it might get hurt he always gave it to one of us for safe keeping." She paused, the thought of captain putting mist in her eyes. Shanks frowned – she probably missed Luffy and was probably shaken up and broken from whatever Tesla had done to her, not to mention terrified that she'd heard her tormentor downstairs.

Sanji put a nervous hand on her shoulder. Nami quieted, nuzzling her head into the crook of his neck as the cook absently started to talk. "Luffy would lay down his life to protect any of us. Please, don't be mad at him. We just got taken by someone he couldn't find – if he could have found us, Tesla and Curie would have been dead a long time ago."

Shanks shook his head. "It's okay – Tesla's a slippery snake. Luffy's determined and loyal to a fault but that so called 'scientist' can be tough to track," he said. He leaned back and propped one ankle over his other knee. "But it's not for his lack of trying. He's been tearing up and down the Grand Line trying to find you two. He isn't exactly sitting around twiddling his thumbs."

They exchanged a look. Memories of nightmares and hallucinations of the other Straw Hats being glad they were gone had vanished in an instant, almost as if they hadn't happened at all. "They didn't give up," said Sanji. He turned to Shanks. "Is this in the papers, or did you find out some other way? Have you talked with Luffy?"

"Not with Luffy – with Buggy the Clown."

"Buggy?" asked Nami. "What he's – there's no way Buggy is helping Luffy. He HATES Luffy."

"True," said Shanks, his lips curling into a grin before he laughed. "But, well, Luffy has something Buggy wants and the clown's smart enough to know he's not going to get it from Luffy by force. Nami, do you remember the arm band you gave Luffy?" The navigator paused to think about it, then nodded. "Turns out it's got something to do with a treasure Buggy's been trying to hunt down. Luffy doesn't want to give it up because you gave it to him, so I guess someone got the idea to give Buggy the armband. . . IF he can bring the two of you to Luffy alive and well."

"That thing was a treasure map?" asked Sanji.

The old me would have never let Luffy have it if I knew THAT – but I don't care about that anymore, and I guess I should be glad I didn't keep it after all, Nami thought to herself. She didn't want to think of what she would have done with it, but she was glad it was such a precious thing to Luffy. "That explains why Buggy's helping Luffy. Because there's no way he'd help out of the kindness of his heart of something."

"He did mention a couple of things that had come up during talks between the crews," said Shanks. "But before we get into that are you guys hungry? I can go make us some sandwiches – Mac's usually got a well stocked fridge and I'll pay him back for it later. I'm sure he's been feeding you but I don't think extra food is going to do any harm, right?"

"You want to make us sandwiches?" asked Sanji.

"I'm not a very good cook, Mac's passed out downstairs – don't worry, he'll be fine, I think he just had a little too much excitement for one night – and sandwiches are SIMPLE," Shanks said with a laugh. "The two of you are a bit too skinny, so let's get some meat back on your bones and we'll come up with a plan of attack once I get back, all right?" Sanji and Nami dumbly nodded. Shanks smiled, winked, and headed out of the room.

"We're not high right now, right?" Sanji said dryly.

"Why would you ask that?" Nami asked.

"Because one of the Four Emperors is making us sandwiches."

Author's Notes

I enjoyed your reviews last time! Looks like everyone enjoyed Shanks' appearance, and I hope you enjoyed the explanation for why he was there in the first place.

Dixxy