SPOILER WARNING: This plot is set after the war at Marineford. Please be aware of possible spoilers.

CONTENT WARNING: This is a Luffy x Shanks story in terms of a sexual pairing. If this isn't your jam, feel free to check out my Luffy x Nami stories instead.

A delicate request

Chapter 1: Someone is waiting

Where am I?

Faint beeping sounds were ringing into Luffy's ears, coming from all around him. His surroundings seemed blurry as he began making out the wooden ceiling above. Drowsily, he reached up, staring at the obscure sight of a bandaged arm.

Where is this? it went through his head again. Slowly, sluggishly, gathering his thoughts...

...Then he shot up, throwing several objects around as he tore at cables and tubes with his upthrusting body.

"ACE!" the disoriented boy cried out, deaf to the clattering sound of machines and medical equipment falling to the ground. Instantly, he threw himself off the bed, tearing away everything attached to his beaten and broken body in the process. Luffy couldn't feel the pain, nor the fatigue. There was only one thought racing through his mind, consuming everything inside and around him.

"ACE! WHERE IS ACE?!"

For a moment he spun around, his eyes searching, and yet there was nothing there! Just walls and furniture and whatever it was, that was making that goddamn beeping sound! Luffy clasped his bandaged hands over his ears, desperately trying to stop that steady noise, that was seeping into his mind like the unwavering trickling of a broken tap.

Faintly, memories began flashing through his head...

Scorching heat...

Red beads toppling to the ground...

Luffy struck out his arm, smashing the closet by the wall into bits.

There is nothing here! Walls... furniture... Where is this!... WHERE IS ACE?!

He grabbed onto the desk a few feet away from him, slinging it over his head and smashing it into the ground. The dark wood splintered into countless pieces.

The feeling of another body collapsing against his...

...The smell of burned flesh...

Luffy's stomach clenched as he felt sick for a moment. Crying out, he threw back his leg, then thrust it upwards through the crackling wooden ceiling. Light came falling through the opening, blinding his unaccostumed eyes, just before he could make out the sky.

Luffy's features contorted again.

Warm blood, streaming down his hands...

o-o-o

Shanks sat by his little oasis on the aft deck, feeling the fierce tremors that went through the ship and listening to the distraught shouts of his crew.

"He's gone mad!"

"He's destroying the Red Force!"

"I guess he's woken up," Ben commented calmly from where he was seated next to his captain. "Think you can handle 'im?"

"Handling him is not the problem. What really matters is if I can get through to him," Shanks answered while looking up at the leaves of the palm trees, that were peacefully wafting in the breeze. He took a deep breath when the ship's front mast came crashing down and began sliding over the rail and into the sea. Then the pirate captain lifted himself up without haste.

On any other occasion, Shanks would have probably jumped up excitedly like kid at the prospect of finally seeing Luffy again. Today, he was not looking forward to their reunion. In his heart he knew that it was not the right time for them to meet again; It was against their promise and against everything Luffy had strived for during those past ten years. And yet, the circumstances had driven him to act on his love for the boy, following the submarine after ending the war and persuading everyone that Luffy would best be hidden in his care.

"ACE, WHERE IS ACE?!" the distraught screams continued to ring out. Mindlessly, Luffy began rampaging his way from the front mast to the ship's fore, straight through the crowd of pirates, who didn't dare touch the injured guest. He flung his arms around the red dragon head, that protruded proudly from the front of the Red Force, and pulled back with raging might. The figurine began cracking audibly where it met the ship.

"That's as far as you'll go!"

The voice from behind him, made Luffy snap his head at the person who dared giving him commands. Then his arms grew weak. Gradually, they began slipping off their target, to eventually snap back to their normal length. Slowly, Luffy turned around, beginning to walk towards the strong figure before him, almost as if he was seeing a ghost.

"We can handle a missing mast or two, but don't you touch a pirate ship's head. It's the pirates' pride, equal to their flag," the red-haired man declared.

"Shanks?" Luffy questioned weakly as he stumbled closer. He hazily reached out, only to sink to the ground before he could touch the presence before him.

"So it's really all a dream?!" Luffy exclaimed while beginning to sob freely. "It's just a dream!"

Shanks eyes shot open, cursing himself for creating this delusion inside Luffy. Quickly, he went to kneel in front of the boy and grasped his shoulder. "You mustn't say this, Luffy! Don't lose yourself in denial," he told the hurting boy with a stern but calm voice. Shanks took a hold of his hand and pressed it against his own chest. "Do you feel this? I'm real."

Luffy instantly tore away his hand at the touch.

"No! It has to be a dream! Please!" he pleaded. "Why would you even be here?!"

"We, too went to Marineford," Shanks answered gently, „to put an end to the war."

"Ending... the war?"

Luffy repeated the words slowly, while looking at Shanks with increasingly crazed eyes. He shook for a moment before, finally, he shot to his feet, anrily raising his voice.

"You ended the war?! Then why didn't you end it sooner?! Why did you wait, until...?!"

Shanks looked at the boy with a pained expression. The only reason he has had that kind of leverage was, because Firefist had no longer been alive. Yet, how could he tell that to a grieving kid?

Carefully, he stood up and reached out again as he tried to explain. "Luffy, you have to understand. It was not my place-"

"NO!" the young man shouted. Desperate, he threw a punch at Shanks, who did not try and evade him. The angry fist retracted from a reddened, yet unfazed cheek. "Ace could have been... Ace could have..." Luffy cried, throwing himself at Shanks and grasping his shirt. "Ace was my only brother! He died and he left me all alone!"

o-o-o

Instantly, Luffy was overwhealmed with tears again, trembling hands still fisting white cloth, long astray from all reason. He wanted to hit Shanks, relieve his anger and desperation and every overwhealming emotion that was crashing down on him, crushing him.

He wanted to cry and scream...

...he wanted to curl up and hide from everything that was harsh reality...

And then Luffy felt one strong arm wrap around him, pressing him close to the other man's chest. He no longer struggled, as he felt the pressure calm his elevated pulse, causing tension to fade and slightly relieving his frightful despair.

"You're not alone," he heard Shanks tell him gently while he continued to be held against the soothing feel of another heartbeat. "You're not alone and somewhere inside you know that. Right now you are blind with grief, but if you can open your mind, you will see those who remain. I am here for you right now and I know that somewhere out there are other people, waiting for you to come back from this."

...people waiting for him?

Slowly, Luffy felt the fog in his mind begin to clear up, little by little bringing him back a grasp on what was present. He wasn't a kid anymore, with no one in the world but his older brothers. This wasn't like back then with what happened to Sabo.

He was a pirate now with a crew. His crew!

Zoro, Nami, Usopp...

One by one Luffy thought of his all his Nakama, waiting, no... probably searching for him somewhere out there.

Sanji, Chopper, Robin...

He had lost his only live brother and yet...

Franky, Brook...

...he still had a family!

Tears rolled down Luffy's cheeks and fell in puddles to the floor as he answered Shanks in a broken voice, all the while desperately clinging onto the man that was holding him.

"My Nakama are out there! I still have my Nakama!" he wailed. "Zoro, Nami, Sanji, Usopp, Chopper, Robin, Franky, Brook... they're the best crew in the world! Shanks... you'd be so proud if you met them...!"

Shanks let go of Luffy a little, running his hand up his back to lay it down on his head comfortingly. "I'm sure of it," he gently encouraged, smiling at the boy affectionately.

"Shanks...," Luffy sniffled, "I want to see them!"

Author's Note:

This little story has in fact been sitting in my files for close to 10 years now. I'm not quite sure why I never published it. Maybe, because I had never fully finished it or because I didn't want to disrupt my rep as a LuNa author. This is going to be a short, smutty story, aimed at roughly 4-5 chapters, 3 and a half of which have already been written. I have decided to post them as a little break while I'm working on The Bell's Chime. Comments are always welcome! After sitting on this story for all these years, I am quite curious as to how it will be received.