Chapter Text
Whatever kind of scene I was hoping to wake up to, this definitely wasn’t it.
For once, I took this opportunity to take in my surroundings. It looked like I landed in your run of the mill bar in some small-time village, but clearly, the tensions were high. There was one guy on the ground, soaked to the brim in beer, one guy looming over him followed by a small posse, and a bunch of scattered people watching the scene from their tables. Glancing to my side, I found the barmaid standing in shock, and a little kid sitting at the counter with a half-eaten fruit in his hands.
Huh. This’ll be… interesting, to say the least.
I barely noticed the group making their way out the door, too focused on taking every detail of the poor bastard that was stuck with me for the rest of their life. All in all, I didn’t see much: he was a squatty little kid with messy black hair and big, black eyes (if I didn’t already know he was human, I’d say he could be a bug). He was sporting a white T-shirt and some blue shorts, along with the ugliest pair of sandals I think I’d ever seen. Seriously, who thought it was a good idea to give a kid anything but closed-toed shoes? I’ve seen fingers and toes get severed on grown men faster than you can say “sandals”.
But I digress; whoever this brat was, I could already tell he lived his life without a lick common sense or rational thought.
All the more fun, I guess.
I finally noticed the sound of laughter when the kid screamed right in my ear goddamnit kid that hurt. Slapping my hands over my ears, I made to holler at the brat when I took in exactly what he said.
“HE MADE YOU LOOK LIKE A WEAKLING! WHY DIDN’T YOU FIGHT HIM!?” The kid yelled, effectively halting the laughter in the bar. The red-haired guy looked at him and laughed some more.
“Maybe you’ll understand when you’re older, Anchor. He just dumped some beer on me, no need to do any needless killing. That doesn’t make you any more of a man, you know.” He said.
The brat crossed his arms and huffed. “I’m gonna go find a real role model!” He said. Before he could get far, the red-haired guy grabbed one of his arms, asking him to wait, before promptly shutting up as soon as he saw the limb stretch a good five feet.
The silence only lasted about three seconds before the bar broke out into various shouts and screams.
“OI, WHAT THE HELL??”
“WHAT HAPPENED??”
“CAPTAIN, THE FRUIT’S GONE!”
“WHAT!?” The red-haired guy yelled, and immediately whipped his head around to face the kid, who was sweating bullets at this point.
“Did you eat the fruit, yes or no?” The captain barked, grabbing the brat’s face and yanking him towards himself. Obviously, I thought to myself. Or else I wouldn’t be here, now would I?
Not that anyone in the room would know that, of course.
I didn’t need to see the show; at this point, I’ve seen way too many soon to be devil fruit users freak out in a similar manner, especially if there are witnesses. I decided to take this time to look around outside of the bar, since this village was soon to be my new stomping grounds. I just hope this brat was a fast enough learn so I didn’t have to stick to him all the time.
Regardless, the village itself was rather quaint; something I definitely didn’t expect from a place with a bar where a bunch of pirates and what looked to be bandits of some sorts can readily collide. That barmaid either has hidden nerves of steel or a shotgun hidden under her counter to make her feel secure.
My guess is the latter. That’s what the smart ones do, at least.
The houses dotting the path were unusually straight and built well, and they looked livable enough. The personality in this town was somewhat lacking, but I’m not one to complain; I didn’t live here, after all. I could see a few windmills off in the distance, which probably give this town their name; no backwater village has creative names, I would know.
The town was actually much bigger than I’d imagined. Standing at the edge of the docks and looking back, the number of houses dotting the hills was surprising. Maybe it’s the shock of not getting out the fruit for way too long, but it was… a nice sight to see. Just as I was taking it all in, I felt the familiar tug at my chest telling me the kid was getting out of range, which was actually a lot further than I’d expected from a kid like that. The hard headed ones either never figured anything out or lived short lives, and this kid looked like he was going to walk the same path.
I let myself be yanked sharply back to my user, who was now prancing around the town with a big, dopey smile on his face. He was currently doing this half-jog half-skip thing down the path that I didn’t even want to try and describe, and was content on just following him in silence. Every now and then he’d yell a hello to a random passerby, or jump in on someone’s conversation, and the whole time I could only think how well this kid and I would probably get along.
When he graduated from ‘brat’ status, of course. In all honesty, though, I should’ve expected someone like him would stumble on my fruit, of all things.
What I didn’t expect, however, was for him to show off his powers to every single person he could find on his way. At one point the kid grabbed the bottom of his mouth and stepped inside it with one foot, just to prove he could for a group of brats. I nearly burst a lung laughing watching the lip snap back at his face and knock him over, and the other kids followed suit.
Once those shenanigans were good and done, the kid finally seemed content on going somewhere instead of just wandering around aimlessly. My first thought is that we were going to end up wherever he lived, and I was going to take the time to thoroughly enjoy watching this bumbling idiot try and explain whatever the hell kind of day he just had to his parents.
Instead, I found myself at a stretch of beach further away from the docks. In the distance I could see some forest-ridden mountains, but that was probably for another day; this brat would definitely be the kind to wander up there.
Hearing a soft thud, I looked down to find the kid plopped down in the sand, facing the water. I, despite not knowing why he was even here, decided to join him. He started to run his hands through the sand and toss around small handfuls, and while I couldn’t actually touch any of the sand, I was there in spirit.
(…puns are great, but the way. One of the best forms of humor.)
This went on for some time, and I really don’t know how long (I’ve never been good with time, that was for other people to think about. Thinking was for other people to think about). At this point, we could see the sun sinking down into the horizon, the ocean waves lapping at the shore. For all that I’d seen it millions of times, it was a pretty sight; the sky was various shades of orange and pink, not a cloud in sight.
Glancing to my side, I noticed the kid had stopped playing with the sand, his gaze fixed on the setting sun. He looked… content, somehow, and wise, in the way a kid his age doesn’t have the right to look. Despite his mostly relaxed features, his eyes were bright and distant, as if seeing more than I could ever hope to.
“You really got your sights on something, don’t cha, kid? Hell if I’ll ever be able to see what you do.” I said aloud, sighing to myself.
The kid hummed quietly to himself, standing and brushing the sand off the front of his pants. With one last look at the sea, he nodded his head, and started to run back to town.
…Huh.
…Well, I’ve seen weirder.
I got up, fixed my jacket, and ran right after him. God knows I needed some action after my time away from the world.
Let’s see what kind of trouble this kid can get into.
---
Something’s been following Anchor for a while now, and he’s not in the mood to ignore it, seeing how nothing really interesting has happened since they came to the East Blue.
After Roux had stolen that devil fruit from the marine ship, they’d been intent to leave it lying in the cargo hold for a long time, seeing how nobody on the crew wanted it right now. But some stupid bastard must have gotten that chest confused with some of the others, because the fruit somehow made it into the hands of a little kid in some backwater village who promptly scarfed the whole thing down and called it “dessert”.
Seeing the kid almost stab his eye out was one thing, permanently changing the course of his biology was another.
Both were incidents that served to both curb the man’s boredom and pique his interest simultaneously, which was rare, even by Grandline standards. Even the appearance of the bandits couldn’t bring him down, watching Anchor do anything was leagues more entertaining than it had any right to be. The kid could eat four times his body weight in one sitting, had a knack for antagonizing pretty much anyone in the village, and was slowly developing an encyclopedic knowledge of bugs, of all things.
Shanks really didn’t want to give up his only consistent source of entertainment while they were still going to be hopping around the East Blue for another few weeks, so he decided to figure out what the hell was going on.
It was like the kid had a second shadow, except this one flickered in and out of existence whenever it felt like it. Shanks could feel that something else was there, but he just couldn’t quite put his finger on it. Every time he tried to reach out for it when Anchor wasn’t looking, it moved out of his reach.
The one time he’d managed to stick a hand in the tall, greyish figure shadowing the kid, it felt freezing cold. As if silk was running through his fingers, the smoke whirled and moved, almost as if it were alive. The thing quickly jumped out of reach, which only told Shanks that whatever it was had intelligence, and, more importantly, a purpose.
And like hell would he let anything bad happen to Luffy.
Once his crew had left Anchor’s village to do some exploring, they found themselves on an unnamed island a few days later. After another great day of getting drunk and calling it a party, Shanks gathered his closest crewmembers (namely Benn, Roux, and Yasopp) that night and shared his concerns.
“Isn’t that just a devil fruit thing?” Roux asked. The others turned to look at him in confusion when Benn spoke up.
“You may be right… have you ever experienced this with other devil fruit users, Captain?” he asked, eyeing Shanks.
“Well yeah, the spirit of the fruit usually… hangs around… them…” Shanks trailed off.
Three palms hitting foreheads could be heard at that moment. Shanks gave a weak chuckle, rubbing the back of his head.
“Honestly, Boss, you’d think you’re stupid or something.” Yasopp said, shaking his head.
“Oi, I forgot, okay? We all forget things!”
“Boss, you basically forgot you had Conqueror’s Haki. What does this say about the future of our crew? Of our livelihoods?”
“Don’t be dramatic, it’s fine! Anchor’s new little friend can do what they want, it’s not like anybody got hurt!”
“However, the fact that we remembered before you is an issue, and next time this level of stupidity happens I’m taking away your drinking privileges at the next party.”
“YOU CAN’T DO THAT TO ME, BENN!”
“I already did.”
“Well I’ll just- “
“I think you’ve lost this fight, Boss.” Roux said, walking away. “It’s high time we get some shut eye, anyway.” He continued, finishing with a loud yawn.
“Agreed” Yasopp said, also walking away. Shanks made a shout of protest, which was quickly ignored by both Roux and Yasopp as they walked back towards their camp. Beside him, Benn sighed, slapping his hand onto Shanks’ shoulder.
“You might as well give me the details, since the other two are mostly done with your antics for the night.” Benn said. Shanks sighed loudly beside him.
“That’s the thing; Anchor’s only had the fruit for what, a few weeks now? And the most solid spirit I’ve ever seen is Big Mom’s, but she forced it out, from what I’ve heard. Point being, I don’t see Anchor getting anything from his fruit except this wispy shadow thing for at least a year.” Shanks said, pacing back and forth.
“Well, you never know. We’ve already seen Luffy surpass any kind of expectation for a normal village kid, so maybe he’ll make something out of this.” Benn said, walking slowly. “Now, are you going to stand here and mope about something you can’t change, or knock back some hard liquor and think about it the next time you see him?”
“Yeah, yeah, I’m coming. A drink does sound good right now.”
“Well too bad, because the word is, we’ve just run out.”
“GODDAMNIT!!”
---
For all the times that Shanks wasn’t here, this by far had to be the worst.
I was sitting on a barrel outside the bar, my foot tapping against the ground in an even rhythm. I had my gaze set on the ocean, scanning the horizon for any sign of the pirate and his crew. I winced as I felt another blow come to the brat’s chest; the bandit bastards must be taking their sweet-ass time with the kid, because this was getting unbearable.
The whole mess had begun this morning when the kid and the barmaid (Makino. She’s cool, you could at least do her the courtesy of calling her by her name in your thoughts.) were relaxing at the bar when the bandits from a while ago came in demanding drinks. They’d all sat down around the table when the brat had taken it upon himself to start shouting at them.
This kid needs to learn some common sense or else I’m going to beat it into him the first chance I get.
Regardless, the leader of the bastards didn’t take it too kindly and carted the boy off to a street a few minutes away from the bar. The last time I went back over to check on him, he was still yelling about wanting them to apologize for disrespecting Shanks.
Damn this kid and his respect for Shanks.
Still, I can’t deny the boy’s got something going for him. Shanks won’t take too kindly to anybody going after a friend of his, I can already tell, but I’m just glad the brat got on his good side so quickly. Ever since the pirate noticed me floating around, he’s taken personal offense on behalf of the kid. He probably thinks I’m a threat.
Hopefully his crewmates can get his head back on his shoulders. Honestly, you’d think somebody with the Conqueror’s Will would have a bit more situational awareness, but I guess not. Maybe Shanks is just an airhead.
Maybe that’s why he likes the kid so much. Sees himself in him.
I finally heard the telltale changing of the waves, signaling that someone was close to pulling into the docks. Lo and behold, Shanks’ ship was at the docks, and people were hustling to get everything together. I saw Shanks and his closer crewmates hopping off the ship and decided to get off my ass and do something when I felt it.
Somebody had just stepped on the kid.
I sprinted towards the docks and thanked whatever kind of vitality the brat had for the range to be this big and I got right in Shanks’s face. He definitely noticed me, seeing how he abruptly stopped in his tracks and stared right into my eyes.
“Hi, nice to meet you and whatever, but we’ve got a bigger problem; get your ass over to the kid, he’s about three minutes down the road from here, one of you run. I can’t do shit, which meant I had to kindly wait for your ass to get back here. I KNOW YOU CAN HEAR ME YOU BASTARD, SO GO!” I yelled in his face, stepping to the side and sharply pointing in the direction he had to go.
He stood wide-eyed for a second, probably taking in the sight of my mostly corporeal form, nodded in my direction, and made off running. His crewmates gave each other a look and ran right after him.
I turned to watch their backs as they ran, and nodded to myself. It was nice to know that despite the captain being an idiot sometimes, he had some good people to back him up.
Hell knows I could use some backup sometimes.
I made to follow them after a few moments, giving them a head start to beat the shit out of the bandits while I wasn’t there. But, seeing how Shanks has the Conqueror’s Will, I doubt there’ll be much of a fight. I bet even one of those guys would be enough to take out the whole bunch.
Suddenly I felt a sharp tug at my chest and knew the kid was about to whisk me somewhere very quickly. My feet lifted off the ground and I was yanked through buildings towards the other edge of town, away from the docks and the bar and away from Shanks, the one who was supposed to be helping the kid.
You had one job, Shanks; one job.
When I finally stopped moving, I found myself next to the kid on a small rowboat that the supposed leader of the bandits was slowly rowing out into the water. After sending the bastard a nasty glare, I went and took a seat over by the kid, who was looking decent, for all that he probably just got beat up by bandits for minutes on end.
Ah what the hell, the kid looked horrible.
Missing at least two teeth, the kid had blood running down the corners of his mouth and scratches all over his face and arms. I noticed one particularly large gash on his left arm, but decided that was an issue for later. The more important thing I noticed, though, was the fire still lingering in the kid’s eyes. Which, unfortunately, can only really mean one thing: He was going to try and fight.
Stupid brat.
We’d gotten pretty far out just by drifting, seeing how the bastard bandit got bored of the oars a few minutes in and ditched them in favor of just riding the waves. I was ignoring his monologuing, instead just staying close to the kid in case the worst happens (more like the inevitable).
Sure enough, by the time he was done talking, the kid was kicked over the edge and straight into the water, sinking like… well, like an anchor.
I hopped in straight after him, the familiar feeling of panic clutching my heart. I didn’t really have to swim, seeing how I could just glide through the water like it wasn’t there, but I waved my arms in a rhythmic motion and kicked my feet, hoping to feel like it was doing something.
I refused to let another good one go.
I found the kid a few dozen feet below the surface and grabbed onto his body underneath his arms. I willed all the strength I could into my body and threw the kid up, as far up towards the surface as I could manage. The kid’s body almost made it to the top, and I would’ve just kept pulling up if I didn’t see Shanks at the surface, looking down into the water.
He grabbed the kid quicker than I could see, cradling him to his chest. I drifted up to the surface, my heartbeat finally slowing and my limbs no longer shaking. Unfortunately, though, it looked like they weren’t out of danger yet.
The thing was hardly the biggest sea king I’d ever seen, but it definitely wasn’t the smallest. I rolled my eyes, wondering why the thing even chose to hang around some dinky little village in the East Blue. If I was a sea king, I would’ve found a better place to live. I’d at least find some friends, for one.
…Is now really the time for this, Gomu?
…Right. I focused back in on the action, taking notice of the sea king’s menacing growl and eel-like appearance. I prepared myself for a bloodbath, seeing how the remains of the boat were scattered about the water and the bastard bandit was nowhere to be seen. (Serves him right, I guess.) But, as one sure-fire wave of the Conqueror’s Will harmlessly washed over me, I realized there wasn’t going to be a problem.
If not for the fact that the kid was still crying over Shanks’s now missing arm, I’d say the pseudo-rescue went off without a hitch.
---
The day that Shanks and his crew left was a climactic affair, to say the least. His crew had been milling about, packing everything up for the journey over the course of the morning while the kid watched on. His eyes held no trace of emotion, but his eyebrows were furrowed and his mouth held a frown.
I, for one, was choosing to only stand by today. I had a feeling something big was going to happen, seeing how this was probably the last time the kid was ever going to see the pirate.
It all went down right in the middle of the pirates getting ready to go; the kid walked over to Shanks and started talking, and the captain finally told him it was their last day here.
“So you won’t be coming back to the village after this voyage?” The kid asked, looking up at Shanks.
“That’s right. We’ve been using this harbor as a base of operations for a bit too long. Are you sad?” Shanks asked. I decided to walk over from my place at the edge of the action, where the brat was sitting scanning the scene moments before.
“Yeah, I’m sad, but I won’t ask you to take me with you. I’ve decided to become a pirate on my own!” The kid said.
“Ha! That wouldn’t do you any good, you’re still too little. There’s no. way you’ll ever become a pirate!” Shanks said, laughing. I glanced back over at the kid and knew he wasn’t going to take that lying down. Damn Shanks and his stupid personality.
“OH YES I WILL! ONE DAY I’M GONNA HAVE A SHIP AND A CREW THAT’S EVEN BETTER THAN YOURS, AND WE’LL HAVE THE MOST TREASURE IN THE WORLD! I’M GONNA BE KING OF THE PIRATES!!” He cried. The docks were silent at this point, and I smiled.
The many men had started to move around the port again, and I stood with a grin on my face as I watched Shanks hand the kid his hat and tell him to find him when he was a great pirate. As much as the guy was an idiot sometimes, he really knew how to pick ‘em.
All it took was that one passing of the worn straw hat, and the kid had himself a dream and a promise for life. Now all he had to do was live it.