A Rose in the Ocean

Disclaimer: Don't know, don't own, don't sue. Shanks and his crew are Eiichiro Oda's. Not mine (unfortunately).

Chapter 2 [UPDATED - 6/28/14]

So the day has finally come. Kerika reflected on the many years she spent fixated on today. With only the thought of merely seeing Shanks again in her mind, she hadn't even thought once about what she would do or say when they finally met. For a moment, she felt herself begin to panic. She clenched her fists in order to keep them from trembling. She hoped the sea hadn't hardened him, more so she hoped that he remembered her.

Azukina clambered down the rigging, and strode up to Kerika, ready for action. Speaking her name, she leaned in and cocked an eyebrow when she was met with no response. Kerika's eyes stared off into the distance, unfocused and lost in introspection. Azu tapped her gently on the shoulder, shocking Kerika back into the real world. She turned to the lookout and smiled.

"My apologies, Azu. You were saying?" her green eyes glittered as she gave the lookout her full attention.

"Is there going to be a fight?" Azu asked hopefully. "The Underline hasn't seen much excitement lately." A group of her battle-ready crew surrounded them, eager for instructions.

"We certainly won't be needing those..." Kerika said as she pointed at their weapons. Then she thought aloud, "Unless they've been drinking... They can get pretty rowdy when the've been drinking. But.. they won't intentionally do any harm."

"You know them?" Azu looked shocked. The rest of the crew slumped back to their chores, disappointed in the lack of a break from the mundane.

"Of course I do!" Kerika added with a laugh, as if it were common sense that she did. "Well, I know their captain," she corrected. "When they arrive, do make preparations for me to board their ship."

As she made her way to the starboard side, chatter from the crew began. Cupping their hands to their mouths, they murmured to each other.

"A lover?", "I doubt it... Kerika's never been with a man.", "What business might she have with them?", "Secretly, could she be a whore... and her 'boss' is on that ship."

Shiteru slapped the one who had made the last comment. "How dare you say that of your cap'n! You should receive a lashing for that tongue of yours!"

"Dahahaha!" Kerika laughed. "He's a childhood friend." she said, waving her hand in dismissal at her gossiping crew.

When The Red Force came abreast of The Underline, Kerika called out to the crew on the former ship, requesting conference with the captain.

A man stepped up to the railing, his features hidden in the shade of a straw hat.

"I'm the Captain. What is it that you want?" he sounded tired. Or hungover. Either they had an awesome party last night, or they had just weathered the storm Nathan had been speaking of. Kerika opened her mouth to reply, but the man on the other ship raised his hand to his temple, massaging it with his index and middle fingers. He sighed and shook his head. He turned around and walked away, Kerika was infuriated at the gesture.

"HEY! Where are you going? I haven't even said anything to you yet! How dare you!"

In response to her shouting, he came back carrying a length of rope that had a hook attached to the end. The other end had been anchored to some part of the ship. Raising the hook above his head, he tossed it with a flick of his wrist. It slid and snapped into place on the railing of The Underline. She looked at him questioningly.

"I can barely hear you, even with your shouting. No offense, but I don't fancy having a stranger pirate on my ship. I'm coming over there so that we can have a decent conversation."

The first man to crossover onto their ship was a tall man with long black hair, it was tied back into a low hanging ponytail. He wielded a large pistol.

Kerika stepped aside to allow him on board.

"What might your name be?" she asked him.

"Well, it might be Ben Beckman, and I might be the firstmate." he replied smartly. Kerika heard a few of her crewmen snicker.

Ignoring the first mate's quick wit, she focused her attention to the other man, who was now boarding. He was tall as well, though shorter than his first mate. His features beneath the straw hat could be seen clearly now. His hair was a flaming red, and he had three scars running across his left eye. His skin was tanned, and he had facial hair around his chin and upper lip.

Kerika squealed like a high school girl, at the surprise and dismay of her crew, and jumped into his arms and hugged him. (Ben looked at her like she was a madwoman, then turned to Kerika's crew, a questioning look on his face. They all shrugged. They'd never seen her act like that before.)

"SHANKS! It's REALLY you!" she cried. Her fingers grasped his sleeves as she buried her face into his chest, finally breathing in his scent of saltwater, gunpowder, and faintly, sweat.

The red-haired man held his arms out, not touching her yet as his brain raced to figure out who she was. Blond hair, green eyes. A mole on her right cheek, about an inch below her eye. His memory was jogged and he embraced her back warmly.

"Hey, Kerika... long time no see." Shanks grinned, peering down at her.

The man, now known to all as Captain Shanks, smiled and draped an arm over Kerika's shoulder. "It's been a while. And you've grown quite a bit. What a strange coincidence that we should run into each other out here on the sea. I didn't know you had aspirations to become a pirate..."

"I set out to find you.." Kerika murmured, an ashamed blush appearing on her cheeks. Her fingers clutched the skull and crossed swords that hung at her neck, fiddling with its edges.

Shanks frowned. "That's no reason to become a pirate, is it?"

"I do have other motivations.." Kerika said, pouting. "As if I'd tell them to you." she stuck her tongue out at him.

"Dahahaha!" he laughed, "So, tell me, why on earth did you come out here to find me?" Shanks asked, oblivious.

"Well," Kerika started. She was unsure of this being the time or place to confess her undying feelings. She floundered for words, but they got tangled around her tongue and she couldn't help but stutter. "W-well... um, I-"

"EH! Captain!" someone from The Red Force shouted, alarmed, "There's another ship coming from the aft! They must have been following us! They've raised their colors- blue and white! It's a marine ship!"

"Fools or amateurs, they must be, to think they can us on." Shanks said, a flash of mischief twinkling in his eyes. He and Ben made their way back to The Red Force to prepare for battle.

Kerika frowned, disappointed their reunion had been cut short. Not at all how she had pictured this would happen. She turned to her own crew- "Well you heard the man. Our allies are being attacked, possibly us as well! If there is to be any bloodshed, let it be that of our enemies! Not a single man left standing, and allow none of our friends to be harmed!"

At least my crew gets their fight that they'd wished for, she added mentally as an afterthought.

The crew scattered to prepare the cannons, arms flailing this way and that to snatch up weaponry and ammunition, readying themselves for the battle. Several men dashed below deck to station themselves at The Underline's ten cannons.

Kerika grabbed a loose rope from the rigging of The Underline, hoisted up onto the railing, and swung herself onto the deck of The Red Force.

Shanks spun around, glaring at her when he heard her land behind him. "What do you think you're doing?!"

Kerika smirked. "Well, those idiots thought they'd be taking on one ship- now they've bit off more than they can chew, as now they are taking on two!"

"The battlefield is no place for you! If you get hurt because of this-"

"I'll be fine." Kerika reassured him. "As you said yourself- I'm a big girl now." She strutted past him, flipping her hair back and whacking him with it.

Shanks' shoulders slumped and he sighed, knowing Kerika, any further arguments would go unheeded. "When did you turn into such a primadonna?" he muttered to himself before verbally responding to her. "Alright, then. But try to stay close to me. I can't have you disappearing, or worse."

The marines boarded The Red Force, their shouts echoed through the air as they raised their weapons. And Shanks' men rushed toward them with the same fervor.

Kerika's men boarded the marines' ship, distracting their cannon operators and preventing more from joining their brethren on Shanks' ship. Azu raised her bow, taking deep breaths and holding to take steady aim, and shot her arrows at them as Lyson flew into their faces, beating his wings fiercely to confuse them.

Shiteru joined Kerika and Shanks, catching an advancing marine from behind in the mid of his back with her staff. Kerika unsheathed her twin swords and advanced into a duel with a burly marine who wielded a scimitar. She parried, then riposted with her right, he sword digging into the marine's abdomen. He sunk down to his knees, Kerika kicking him off of her blade and onto his back.

Shanks was dueling a slender marine with lavender hair nearby. A squat marine with a mustache sneaked up from behind him. Kerika crossed her swords, slicing both blades across the man's back, then pivoted herself, pressing her own back up against Shanks'.

They battled the circle of marines that were closing in. It was a chess match, and the marines thought they had the king and queen checkmated. Shiteru, Azukina, Ben, and Yasopp were quickly at hand, thinning out the advancing group. Each of them picked the marines off one by one with bullets, pellets, arrows, and steel.

A cry came from The Underline. In their haste to advance onto the marine vessel and to jump to the aid of the red haired crew, Kerika's men made the rookie mistake of leaving their own ship unattended. Shirori and Zexx defended fiercely, Shiori knocking men unconscious with her wok and parrying with a chef knife, and Zexx defending her with his over sized claymore.

Kerika, touching Shanks' shoulder in a nonverbal cue that she was vacating to help her own crew, soared over to her own ship, blades drawn back at the ready, ready to strike.

What she didn't know, was it was a trap by the marines. And it worked. A low-ranker was perched above in her own ship's rigging, an arrow well trained on her as she raced to her crew mate's rescue.

With a hiss it went whizzing straightforward, striking her in the back- her left shoulder began to leak red as she sunk to one knee on the wooden floorboard. She dropped the sword in her right hand to grasp at her shoulder. She paused only for a moment, then hoisted herself back up to lunge at the men still attacking Shiori and Zexx. She ran her sword through one, her vision became foggy, but she blinked and glared through it, slicing the sword arm off of another, and Zexx was able to cleave across the front side of him in time for Kerika to fall face-first to the planks.