Chapter Text
"- your fault that we're stuck here, it's so boring and you're super dumb! Why the hell did you pull something like that, you're so impossible, and on top of that you got caught! And I got stuck here with you! Hey, you're not listening to a thing I say, aren't you?"
Shanks looked away from the cloud that vaguely looked like a lion. "What's that, Buggy?"
His companion, Buggy, groaned. "You absolute moron."
He shrugged and shook the little flask. "That may be so, but I did get some of Captain's special stash."
Buggy gaped at him. "How do you - how do you even have that right now?"
He grinned. "I snuck it up here. You don't think Captain'll miss it, will you?"
Buggy ran a hand over his face. "You're such an - Captain won't miss it, but Rayleigh? You'll land both of us in hot water!"
Shanks nodded - Rayleigh was very astute. He'd been the one to send the two of them to the crow's nest to keep watch under the account of "making a ruckus". Captain had just laughed. "It still tastes good, so I'd say it was worth it. You sure you don't want some?"
Buggy glared at him. "And incriminate myself further? Are you out of your mind?" the clown paused. "Don't answer that, I already know."
Shanks laughed. "Suit yourself, more for me!"
Buggy grumbled some more, but Shanks basked in the sunlight and open air. Nothing beat being on the sea surrounded by friends and drinking good liquor. He took a gulp of the alcohol and gazed out to the water as it went down his throat.
Then he frowned.
"Hey, Buggy," he said casually, interrupting his friend's tirade. "Do you see that over there?"
Buggy looked at him, scowling. "See what?" The clown squinted in the direction that Shanks was looking. "I think I see it....Wait, is that a person?"
Shanks was already up. He swung himself over the crow's nest and shimmied down the ropes. He knew them like he knew the back of his hand - he was one of the fastest on the ropes, after all.
Meanwhile, he could still hear Buggy yelling. "Why would a person be in the middle of the ocean? Are they stupid, they'll drown! Hey, where are you going?"
That last question was directed at Shanks. Without bothering to look up to his friend, Shanks called out to him. "I'm going to go save him, what else?"
"You're too weak to be a pirate if you save every drowning guy you come across, you know!" Buggy shouted at him, yet from the vibrations of the rope Shanks knew Buggy was following him down.
His feet touched down on deck, and some of the crew looked at him curiously.
"Has it been an hour already?" one crew member asked. "Time sure flies!"
Another crew member slapped the other on the back of the head. "It has not been an hour. What's up, kid? See something?"
"Man overboard!" Shanks told them, already running . He leaped off the ship and into the ocean - Devil Fruits were cool and all, but he didn't think he'd ever want to lose his ability to swim for it.
Luckily, the seas were relatively calm for the Grand Line, so Shanks was able to reach the drowning man fairly quickly (He was rather impressed that the man had managed to stay afloat, to be honest). Awkwardly swimming in place, he grabbed the other man's arm and putting it around his shoulder, he began to paddle back. Very, very slowly.
(Captain always teased him for being short, but dammit, everyone is short when you're nine feet tall.)
A tube was thrown to them with a line attached, and Shanks grabbed at it, shifting the man so he was grabbed onto that instead of wrenching Shanks' shoulder out. The crew pulled them back onto the decks of the Oro Jackson - just about the whole crew had gathered. Including Rayleigh.
He was screwed.
Crocus was already at the man's side, methodically pushing on the man's chest. Rayleigh's glasses glinted as the man looked down at him. "Made a new friend, did you."
Shanks got up, ignoring that he was dripping wet. "You put me on watch, so I watched. I don't know how he ended up in the ocean though - maybe he's a pirate?"
"Or part of the navy," someone else snorted.
Rayleigh nodded - that guy had an excellent poker face. Shanks didn't want to think about how much he owed the first mate.... "Good job -"
A choking sound revealed the man coughing up a ton of sea water, and Crocus sat back, relieved. "He's alright now," the doctor said. "He's just unconscious now, and needs rest."
"What's this?" Captain asked, emerging from below decks. "I heard lots of yelling. You guys alright? Did Buggy fall into the ocean again?"
"I didn't fall!" Buggy protested.
"No," Rayleigh answered. "Shanks here spotted a man overboard, so we brought him on deck."
Captain peered at the unconscious man, frowning. "Does he look familiar to you, Rayleigh?"
Rayleigh frowned and stepped next to Captain, surveying the man. "Perhaps....we'll have to wait until he wakes up to know more, however."
Captain still stared at the young man, which made Shanks do the same. The guy didn't look like anything special, except for maybe the giant scar on his chest. He had freckles dusting his face, and had wavy black hair. He narrowed his eye sat the man - he seemed almost familiar to Shanks, but he couldn't place it....
"Crocus, take him to the medical wards," Captain ordered. "We'll take care of the man until he wakes up - maybe this will take us on our next adventure!"
Crocus nodded, and snapped at Buggy to go and get a stretcher. The crew began to disperse again, back to partying (which Shanks sorely wished he was apart of) but Shanks crouched next to Crocus. "How do you think he got the scar?"
The doctor looked at the man, eyes dark. "I don't know, but the way it looks like a burn, this man shouldn't be alive, let alone as healthy as he is."
Shanks blinked in surprise - Crocus was a medical genius, and was never wrong. So if he said that this guy was supposed to be dead, then what the hell happened?
Buggy returned with the stretcher, and Crocus had the two of them carry the man into the ship. After that and after Shanks changed into dry clothes, Rayleigh made the two of them go back into the crow's nest.
"But why?" Buggy complained. "It's so boring up there, and it's even worse with him."
Shanks grinned at his friend as Buggy glared at him.
"But you're so good at it," Rayleigh smiled. The boys sighed and turned back to the ropes when Rayleigh called his name. "The flask?"
Shanks gave a rueful smile and tossed Rayleigh the flask. "And I almost got away with it too."
Rayleigh snorted. "Yeah, right. Now get up there, you two still have an hour left of watch duty."
So to the sound of his crew-mates partying, Shanks and Buggy climbed back up to the crow's nest.