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Buggy had been on the Grand Line for a few weeks already and he still wasn’t sure whether it was a good idea or not. He wasn’t sure if defeating the Strawhat boy was reallyworth the risk. He had been comfortably established in East Blue for years, after all. And had left everything behind just for the sake of chasing that stupid boy. He was pissed off at himself for having left on an impulse, but there wasn’t much he could do now that he was in the Grand Line, waiting for the barman on a random pub on some small island.
Despite being the captain, he had been the one designated to go and buy the booze’s restocking in the local bar for their next journey, and that was how he had ended up here, sitting on a stool, leaning against the counter, unknown pirates noisily drinking behind him. But he wasn’t Buggy the captain pirate here, he was just a random man buying booze, incognito.
Which was the reason why, when the door of the establishment opened again with a crack and the ruckus of the clients stopped, he decided to mind his own business and to look at his glass, and his glass only. He was here for the booze, and once the casks were ready, he would simply pay and leave with it. It was as simple as that.
He heard several footsteps and the scraping of chairs against the floor. The seat at his right side wasn’t empty anymore as the unknown man let himself drop on the wobbly stool. The silence was starting to be heavy and Buggy was relieved at first when the newcomer broke it by raising his voice.
However, he couldn’t help but choke on his drink when he heard the voice. ‘Oi boss, can my friends and I get something to drink?’. His choking didn’t go unnoticed as the man immediately placed a hand on his back and tilted his head to look at him. ‘Hey hey don’t choke, mate, looks like your drink went down the wrong way’, the man said, punctuating his words with a pat on Buggy’s back. This was bad, he really had to leave quickly.
Someone might’ve heard his prayers because the barman finally decided to show up, asking timidly what the man wanted. Turning his attention back on him, the latter turned on his stool, facing the counter again. Buggy sighed deeply before some movement caught his attention. Standing against the doorway frame, one of the employees was waving at him, silently asking him to come to the storage room.
Buggy got up, silently following the other man into the room. The latter closed the door behind them and sighed heavily, excitedly saying‘Oh my god can you believe that? What does a freaking Yonko is doing here? That’s crazy, man!’. The sentence in itself was enough to make Buggy’s blood boil. This stupid red hair always ended up stealing his limelight, even in such a one-horse town, huh? He might be cursed, after all. He wasn’t really sure why he had avoided Shanks, but now that he was here, he wasn’t going to back off, he would leave with his booze incognito and would return to his ship quickly. Buggy handed the money over to the employee and gripped the sack truck filled with the precious alcohol.
Steadily, he stepped back into the main room, a hand behind his face just as if he was holding up his hat. Everything was actually going well until someone spoke up with a mocking tone. ‘Oi why is your nose so big and red? You’re some kind of stupid clown or what?’. Infuriated, Buggy let go of the hand trolley and grabbed the man by the collar, hissing angrily. ‘The fuck did you just say about my nose, asshole?!’
A breaking glass was heard crashing down. It was too late, Shanks had heard him. But the asshole had talked about his nose and this was his breaking point. Everything but the nose. He waited for a violent shove or something, but after what felt like an eternity - but probably was less than 15 seconds - he realised that nothing was coming. He pushed the man in front of him away and noticed how silent the bar was. He was about to grab his sack truck again as if nothing had happened when he heard his voice again.
‘Buggy…?’. The latter grit his teeth, sighing deeply. It was strange to hear his name pronounced by that voice after years without hearing it. He turned slowly towards the other man, a fake smile on his face and his left arm waving slowly. ‘Oh, Shanks, you there? What a surprise, I wasn’t expecting it’, he answered fakely. What was wrong with him? He should’ve felt happy and relieved to finally see his friend after all this time, but instead all he could feel was anxiousness and a slight sense of panic.
His thoughts were stopped when Shanks jumped from his stool and hugged him tightly, his bright laugh echoing in the still silent room. ‘I can’t believe you’re here, in such a place, us meeting, ain’t that a sign!’, the red hair shouted excitedly, whacking him on the back. His heart missed a beat when he felt shanks’ nose nuzzling against his neck, bringing back old memories he had decided to bury in his mind years ago. Weirdly enough, the knot in his chest loosened slightly at the sound of Shanks’ familiar laugh. The other man pulled away, a big and genuine smile on his face. Buggy couldn’t help but smile a little at the sight. If not for the big scar crossing his face out and the stubble, his friend hadn’t changed at all. Maybe he had gained some wrinkles on the corner of his eyes, too. Wait a minute. What the fuck was that giant scar doing on his friend’s face? And why there had only been one arm around his shoulders?
Buggy took a step back, taking his time to watch more precisely the missing and new details on his old friend. ‘How do I look? Not so bad heh?!’, Shanks exclaimed with a smug smirk and a proud tone. Not so bad? Yeah you could say that. ‘Lost the Strawhat on your way, red-hair?’, Buggy finally asked, because that was the only thing he could ask in front of so many people. The red hair looked at him in disbelief, and then burst into laughter, his lone hand holding his stomach. Some things never changed.
‘I’m missing an arm and almost lost an eye, and yet the only thing you ask about is the strawhat? I can’t believe it. That’s so you’, Shanks said, wiping a tear on the corner of one eye. Buggy tried to look as cool and relaxed as possible, answering bluntly, ‘I mean, the missing arm is pretty obvious, and not that surprising considering how reckless you are. But you never pulled away from that damn hat, you even slept with it, so that’s definitely the most surprising thing about you’. Shanks raised his hand, placing it on his head, just where the Straw Hat would have been if he’d still owned it. A laconic and nostalgic smile crossed his face before he talked again, ‘I lost my arm by wagering on the new generation, let’s say the straw hat was a bonus’.
Buggy couldn’t believe what he was hearing. Shanks had just confirmed that the damn hat on the rubber boy used to be his, and that this was the same brat that made him lose an arm? Bloody hell. ‘You lost your arm because of that Luffy kid??’.That actually made sense, after all. He wasn’t sure someone was strong enough to literally cut off Shanks’ arm like that. If someone had done that, he would have probably heard about it.
‘You know Luffy?!’. Buggy genuinely didn’t want to answer that. He didn’t want the rubber boy to be the centre of their first discussion after years of having been apart. The kid had been a fucking pain in the arse from their first meeting to now and Buggy sure felt like it wouldn’t be the end of his misfortune linked to the boy anytime soon. He sighed heavily, suddenly aware of all the pairs of eyes fixed on them and the heavy hand truck he was still holding.
‘Yeah, I met him a few times’, he answered, and Shanks’ eyes widened in disbelief. Buggy started moving again, his eyes locking on the door. The silence of the others patrons was still deafening and the squealing of the wheels didn’t make it any better. Slowly, he made his way to the wooden doorway, Shanks hadn’t moved an inch so he just pushed it. It wasn’t cold outside, but a cool breeze came blowing the few strands of hair that were hanging up on his forehead, the rest tied and hidden under his hat.
He heard hasty footsteps behind him, followed quickly by an interrogative ‘Captain?’ and then a man went out after him, the door closing shut behind them. It wasn’t that he had hoped that Shanks would let him go. Of course it wouldn’t happen, but he had planned on having a quiet evening. He wasn’t ready for the emotional discussion that would follow their reunion.
‘Is that how you react to seeing me after all this time? Rude!’, Shanks said in a falsely disappointed tone. ‘As a captain I have things to do as well, I have to bring the booze on the boat quickly otherwise the party will be spoiled’, Buggy answered, as if it was a normal answer. As if it would be enough. ‘Bullshit! You’re the captain, if you make a detour no one will have anything to say! I don’t care, I’m going with you, I want to meet your crew!’ Oh no. It was even worse than Buggy had thought.
He wasn’t ashamed of his crew mates, far from that, but the idea of Shanks meeting them wasn’t really pleasant. He had quickly glanced at Shanks’ companions, and let’s say that they weren’t the same kind of men. He looked up, really looking into Shanks’ eyes for the first time that night. For the first night in around 25 years, actually. The lights shinning from inside the bar were reflecting in his eyes and he could see a hint of happiness and curiosity he hadn’t seen in quite some time. Actually, it looked just like Luffy’s gleaming eyes. Or rather Luffy’s eyes looked just like Shanks’. Fucking hell.
‘Fine, you can come, but no encounter, not now, I drop the barrels and we find a quiet spot’, Buggy finally complied, and Shanks beamed, visibly pleased. His chest tightened at the sight. It had been so long since they had seen each other and he was glad to see that Shanks hadn’t changed a bit. At least on this point. He let out a chuckle when he realised that he himself hadn’t changed either. He was still just as grumpy and hesitant as his younger self.
They walked at their own pace, Shanks venting about way too many things at once, making it nearly impossible for Buggy to follow. But he listened intently, storing up all the information his friend dropped, noting here and there the more important ones. Apparently his first mate’s name was Beckman and their boat was called the Red Force. It was a huge and langskip-like boat, unsurprisingly red. Rayleigh was still a coating mechanic in Sabaody and being a Yonko created definitely more duty than Shanks would have liked. It was good to know. Not that he would ever know what being a Yonko would be like.
Lost in his thoughts, Buggy didn’t instantly notice that the redhead had both stopped talking and walking. Turning his head back to look at the man, Buggy raised a questioning brow in the other’s direction. ‘What? I was listening, if that’s what bothers you’, he said. Shanks looked more serious than he had been minutes before. ‘You’ve been awfully quiet since we’ve met, I know it’s been a long time but still, is everything okay?’, Shanks simply asked.
To be honest, the question caught Buggy off guard. Something was off? No, why that? Yeah he was a little bit pissed by Shanks’ sudden appearance but had put it down on the circumstances of their impromptu meeting and his tiredness. Nothing more or less, right? He shrugged, a fake laugh raising from his throat, ‘Me? Alright? Of course I am, I am the great Buggy, Captain of the Buggy Pirates and fierce pirate on those seas! Surely I’m doing just fine!’.
Slowly, Shanks raised a circumspect brow, but laughed as well – a true one – and clapped a hand on his back. ‘Tell me then, how has it been going for you? You got yourself a crew, right? Tell me, I’m tired of talking!’. Buggy huffed, ‘You could talk alone for hours if you even felt like it, dumbass, don’t lie.’. Still, he went on explaining how he had met his now-friends, gotten quite a good crew and a solid ship. And for once, his friend listened intently, only interrupting to ask some questions and gasping at Buggy’s fighting stories. Quickly enough, an oddly familiar and warm feeling swept in Buggy’s chest and he blamed it on the alcohol they had started to drink on their way back.
Finally, after some 20 minutes of walking, they reached Buggy’s ship. They could see the swarming on the deck from where they were standing, his crew mates chanting some stupid songs and eating noisily. He smiled discreetly before stepping towards the ship, his head tearing itself off his body to levitate to the deck in order to tell his crew to help him get the load aboard.
Even after having been used to it for many years, it was still surprising for Shanks to see it happen. Buggy’s devil fruit was now a total part of himself and its use was as normal as breathing and walking for the man. When the head came back, Buggy was frowning. ‘What?’, Shanks asked. Buggy seemed to think, before he raised his head again, seemingly having an idea. His left hand lifted his hat, and the second one grabbed it, raising it to finally put it on Shanks’ head. He adjusted it briefly before quickly saying ‘Don’t want them to recognise you, it’ll be better if you wear my hat’. But Shanks didn’t listen. He was absorbed by Buggy’s hair cascading down his shoulders, blue waves looking like silk.
‘What?’ Buggy inquired. ‘Nothing, it’s just.. I wasn’t used to the long hair, it suits you well’, Shanks answered bluntly. Buggy didn’t say a thing, but the red-haired man could’ve swear he’d seen a small blush spreading on his cheeks. It probably was because of the alcohol.
They both stepped onto the ship and were quickly met by a man with dark green hair and a long blue and white scarf. He matched with the description of Cabaji so Shanks swiftly assumed it was the man. It was confirmed when Buggy talked to him, saying his name. The latter enquired about ‘what had taken him so long’ and ‘who was that weirdo that was wearing his captain’s hat’. Buggy simply answered that he had met an old acquaintance and that they were going to drink on the other end of the ship, and that it would be great if no one came disturbing them. It seemed to surprise the man but he accepted it and went back to the party which had finally freshly gotten booze. Shanks would have liked to join the party but Buggy apparently had other plans. So be it.
With a last glance, they both turned towards the end of the ship where no one was to be seen. Shanks followed the other man quietly, letting himself be led into a maze of corridors. They climbed some stairs and ended up on the upper part of the boat, on a sort of balcony directly attached to the captain’s room, facing the sea. Shanks had to admit that it was a nice settlement.
Buggy had brought a crate full of bottles with them, he let it down as he sat besides it, his back against the wall. Shanks did the same and sat next to him. They found themselves in silence, and as it could’ve been nice, something in the air made it feel like something lingering had to be addressed.
Shanks was the one to break the silence. ‘So you met Luffy, then?’ That boy again. Buggy sighed, really not wanting to make the night about him. ‘Yes I did, twice actually’. He could see Shanks’ eyes shinning as he was listening to him, eagerly wanting to hear more. ‘The first time I almost beat him but he won over a miscalculation I did’, he said. Shanks raised a brow at that, a smug smile on his face, ‘He beat you? How surprising’. Buggy grit his teeth. He hid his reaction under a fake anger and a small blow in the other’s arm, but the ironic tone in his friend’s voice quite hurt. He tried not to think about it too much and let it slide. Just like he always did.
‘The second one was in Loguetown, but let’s say that the meeting was interrupted by both the elements and the marines’. Shanks stilled when he heard the town’s name. ‘You’ve been to Loguetown..?’, he asked, voice suddenly low. Buggy turned to look at him, square in the eyes, ‘Yeah I’ve been to that shithole, and let me tell you that it’s not worth the trouble getting there’. Buggy knew he was avoiding the point, the burning question on Shanks’ tongue. But if the redhead wanted to know more, then he would have to ask.
Just as if he was reading his mind, Shanks asked again – it seemed like it was all he was doing tonight, asking – ‘And then, was there anything interesting about our old man?’. Buggy shrugged, taking a swing from a rum bottle. He knew where this was going, and it would be better to be drunk. At least if he was drunk he would have a little chance to not remember the discussion in the morning.
‘Actually there was a bar with his name, the owner was nice but spilled lies after lies, and the execution scaffold’ – he paused – ‘well, it was there when I arrived, but got destroyed in between’. He looked up at Shanks, studying his features while he was thinking. ‘I remember reading it in the journal, the platform has been struck by lightning or something like that’, the redhead finally said. Buggy nodded. ‘Yep, lighting, and what a timing’, he said, voice laced with sarcasm.
He stilled, realising too late what kind of question this sentence would prompt. ‘Timing?’ the red-haired man didn’t miss toinquire. Buggy looked away, letting Shanks connect the dots. ‘Wait a minute, I remember now, it was an execution. Something to do with Luffy getting caught in a shitty plan, as usual’. His voice had risen and he had gotten up, walking in round. ‘I remember it because it had felt so odd, reading about Luffy being on Roger’s execution platform, almost killed...’
He stopped walking and faced Buggy, his face scrunched up by his furrowed brows. ‘Buggy…?’ The latter bit his lip, he had drank way much more than the other, the situation wasn’t going to get any better and he already felt his self control and composure slipping away from him. He stood up as well, bottle still in his hand.
‘You were the executioner?’. Buggy only shrugged. Shanks’ shoulders slacked, and he whispered, ‘You tried to behead Luffy on Roger’s scaffold?’. He could hear the disbelief in his voice. He could feel the anger seeping through him. Shanks face showed his lack of understanding and it upset Buggy, upset him so much.
‘So what? Go on, I'm waiting. Get all angry and annoyed at how I touched your protégé’, Buggy said with a mocking tone. He knew he pushed his luck too far, he could already see Shanks’ eyes darkening. ‘What the fuck is wrong with you Buggy? He beat you and what? You decide to kill a fucking kid because you can’t stand to fucking lose?’, Shanks retorted, voice a tone higher than before. Buggy turned his head, huffing, ‘As if I would have killed him. He’s all fine and alive for all I know’. Shanks eyes widened even more -they couldn’t get bigger even if he wanted them to-, Buggy thought. ‘As if it fucking mattered, Buggy! Don’t fucking turn it that way, why would you try to kill him? It doesn’t look like you to do something like that, what happened to you?’.
Buggy got up, facing Shanks fully, – he was still shorter than him, only for a few centimetres, but it was still annoying – his breathing laboured due to his growing anger. ‘What happened to me? You want to know what happened to me? You have the nerve to ask me that after not even trying to fucking get in touch? It has been 24 years, Shanks, TWENTY FUCKING FOUR YEARS, AND YOU ONLY ASK ME WHAT HAPPENED NOW?’
He stopped, catching his breath, only to keep going again. Shanks seemed dumbfounded, silent, letting him resume. ‘I heard news from you. Of course I did, your face’s always on the newspaper. Akagami did this, Akagami did that, great! But my face has never been on that damn paper, and yet you’ve never wondered what I was doing, right? Wasn’t worth the time, huh?’
Shanks tried to protest but Buggy didn’t even let him the time to. ‘And the first fucking real contact I get with you in 24 years is the apparition of that kid who appears to wear just the same hat as you. And who sports the same stupid smile. I knew it was yours, I knew right away before he even confirmed it.’, his voice wavered and he paused, catching his breath.
He bit his lower lip again, enough to draw blood from it. ‘But who do you think you are? Giving your fucking hat to a random kid? You think you have the monopoly of Roger’s legacy?’. His sentence was followed by silence, a deadly one. It was finally out. ‘What makes you believe that you have the right to go around the seas and get a successor to Roger just because you feel like it?’
He stepped closer and Shanks was back up against the railing, now the only barrier between him and the sea. ‘HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT WHEN I SAW OUR CAPTAIN’S HAT ON THE HEAD OF A RANDOM BRAT? ONE OF THE ONLY TANGIBLE OBJECT PROVING THAT ROGER TRULY EXISTED? HOW DO YOU THINK I FELT WHEN I HEARD THAT YOU HAD BEEN AROUND EAST BLUE DOING FUCKING BABYSITTING WITHOUT EVEN PAYING ME A VISIT?’
He grabbed the red-haired man by the collar, eyes boring into his, but he wasn’t looking at him anymore, he was lost in his anger, mixing things up. ‘WHERE THE FUCK WERE YOU WHEN I NEEDED YOU?’. He hadn’t realised how much pent-up frustration he had stored up. It felt just as if a bolt had just broken in him and all he could do was screaming to finally clear it out. ‘Tell me, Shanks, what were you doing when I was being ridiculed by small fry who laughed at my face when I said that I was your friend and had been in Roger’s crew?’, his voice was low now, just a quivering murmur just loud enough to be heard over the sea’s whisper.
His knuckles were white from how tight he was holding Shanks’ shirt, and his screams had probably been heard by his men on the boat, but he didn’t care. His eyes were blurry and he realised that he was crying. There was a lump in his throat preventing him from saying anything else.
Strangely, Shank’s eyes hadn’t left his, and he saw no pity in them. There was only sorrow and helplessness. Slowly, the other man let his forehead rest on Buggy’s, and his lone hand came around Buggy’s tightened one, slowly easing the fingers into a more lax and normal posture.
Shanks knew too well what Buggy was feeling right now. He’d gone through it before. That irrepressible need to empty your heart by screaming at the top of your lungs until you felt empty, no tears left to cry, and out of breath. That need to be left alone and yet the utter terror of ending up alone on an empty boat.
His arm came around Buggy’s back, flushing him against his own body, and he never wished more to have his other arm than in this moment. Buggy didn’t return the gesture but it was okay, at least he had stopped shaking, only tears and sobs coming out now.
Buggy heard footsteps before he saw anything and he stepped out of Shanks’ grip, wiping his face with his left sleeve. He recognised the sound easily, steps this stealth could only belong to one person on this ship. The Captain spoke up quietly, ‘It’s alright Mohji, I’ve got everything under control, you just go back to the party and tell everyone everything’s alright, yeah?’. He knew his voice sounded different, joyless, raspy from the crying and screaming, and sadder than usual, but he trusted his man and knew it would be enough. And it was. Mohji answered with a simple ‘Yes, captain’, voice hesitant, and turned back from where he came.
Buggy was now standing away from the red-haired man, back towards him, the latter still leaning against the railing. He felt quite ashamed after what had happened. Of course he was known for losing his temper, but it was never really serious. This time had been different. Slowly, he grabbed a still sealed bottle from the crate on the ground and popped it open with his teeth. He took a sip from it and dropped to the ground, back against the wooden wall, knees up and his head resting on them.
He couldn’t look at Shanks after what he’d just said. Everything had been mixed and now he wasn’t even sure what he’d been upset at. ‘In resume, it’s been a pretty rough couple of years’, he simply stated. Shanks snorted at that, ‘You don’t say’. The red-haired man let his head fall back, eyes looking at the stars displayed in the cloudless sky. There was a small pause before Shanks spoke up again, ‘I couldn’t tell you why I chose Luffy and not someone else even if I wanted to, I just… felt it’. He paused, thinking. ‘You’ve seen that small scar under his eye?’, Shanks asked and Buggy answered with a small grunt, not really understanding where the discussion was heading. He didn’t want to think about the boy again. ‘I was there when he got it, hell I’m even the cause of it. He wanted to come with us so bad, which I obviously refused, I remembered how annoying we’d been on the boat and, well, I didn’t want to end up with some annoying brat underfoot.’ He paused again.
Shanks looked up, looking at Buggy right in the eye as he started again, and even though Buggy wanted anything but to look away, he couldn’t move. ‘He found a knife and stabbed himself in the face to prove his strength. A 7 years old boy, can you imagine that? I couldn’t describe to you what I felt that day, but I felt in my guts that if someone had to take our Captain’s title, then it had to be him. I still don’t know to this day if what I did was the good choice, but Luffy has yet to prove me that I was wrong’.
And even though Buggy hated to admit it, Shanks was right, he’d felt it too, at Loguetown. The way the boy had smiled when facing his death, his demeanour, everything screamed Roger and he hated to see it.
Lost in his thoughts, Buggy didn’t immediately realise Shanks had moved until the man crouched in front of him, snatching the sake bottle from his hands and taking a sip from it. Even with the full moon as sole light source, Buggy could have a clear sight on the man’s face. The scar was taking a huge part of one side, the small goatee on his chin, all were traces testifying of the growing age of the man.
Shanks pushed the bottle away from his face and Buggy couldn’t help but notice droplets of alcohol on the corner of his mouth. Without thinking, he leaned in, his lips pressing against Shanks’, licking the liquid away. The blue-haired man froze as he realised what he had just done. He tried to back up but remembered that he couldn’t as his back touched the wall right behind him, he couldn’t step back. In front of him Shanks hadn’t moved an inch, a small smirk on his lips.
‘Well, then, Buggy, what was that?’. But the latter couldn’t answer, his mind was racing as a forgotten warmth filled his chest at the same time as shame was colouring his cheeks. ‘You had sake dripping from your mouth, slob, I don’t want you to waste my fucking stock, that’s all’, Buggy answered, flustered and looking anywhere but the man. He felt fingertips on his chin and a firm grip forcing him to turn his head towards the man. He furiously wanted to resist, he opened his mouth to do so but lips were pressed against his instead and he was left in shock, wide eyes looking at the man in front him. Shanks had his eyes closed and tried to deepen the kiss. Buggy wasn’t really sure why the man had kissed him back, but his mind was too foggy for him to try to find an answer to it so he simply stopped thinking and kissed him back instead.
Still pressed against the wooden wall, Buggy let himself slide more on the deck, Shanks literally climbing on him as they were kissing, only stopping to get their breath back. The hand in his hair brought back flashing flashbacks in his mind and he saw himself, at 15 years old, being caged between Shanks and the wall on the deck, hiding in the shadow of the moon as the Roger’s pirates feasted on the same deck not so far from the couple. Troubled by the memory, Buggy put his hands onto Shank’s shoulders, pushing the man away slowly. ‘Shanks, hey, stop’, he whispered.
The man looked at him with big eyes, panting and lips parted. Buggy wanted to kiss him again. He chuckled, instead, saying, ‘I feel like a teenager again, hiding from Rayleigh on the stern during a party’. Shanks looked at him before bursting into laughter, getting off Buggy’s laps. ‘These memories sure date back’, he raised an eyebrow, ‘I don’t think hiding is really necessary here, I’m pretty sure Rayleigh’s not around right now’, Shanks said. It felt like Buggy had to make a choice now. He didn’t want to think about it because if he did, he would choose the rational option.
Standing up, he offered his hand to Shanks who was still on the floor. ‘There’s no reason to hide anymore, but I’d rather take the suite in my cabin instead of on an uncomfortable floor’, Buggy finally said, a smirk on his lips. Raising an eyebrow at him, Shanks pushed the blue-haired man’s hand away as he grabbed his hips instead, pushing himself up as he brought the other man closer to him. His head came next to his and he felt lips against his ear, “Lead the way, then, Captain Buggy’.
Buggy wasn’t one to take rational choices.
‘I think we definitely upgraded our nightly getaway, hum?’. They were both laying in Buggy’s bed, Shanks next to the wall and Buggy sat on the edge of the bed, hair dishevelled and breath still uneven. ‘You can say that..’, Buggy answered, biting his lower lip.
Shanks could see that something was still bothering the other man so he straightened up, enough so that he would be propped up against the wall, his arm free to bring Buggy closer to him. Losing his balance, Buggy fell onto his chest, groaning against him. ‘What the fuck, red-hair?’, Buggy grumbled. Smirking, Shanks answered, ‘I was starting to feel lonely here’. ‘We were literally 10 centimetres apart, red-hair’, Buggy retorted again. ‘I don’t care, I want to hug you, make up for lost time, yeah?’, Shanks’ smile was so bright that Buggy didn’t feel like giving a wry remark.
Uncomfortable, Shanks slid from the wall onto the bed, taking Buggy with him. The man wasn’t that heavy on him and Shanks felt his heart burst as the scene brought familiar memories back.
Nights where Buggy’s head would be a grounding anchor onto the pitching ship. Blue hair lightened by the moonlight filtering through the lone porthole of their small room. The silence of the night only broken by the constant buzzing of dozens of snoring men in the rooms around theirs, and the small crashing sound of the waves hitting the hull. ‘You don’t realise how much I fucking missed you’, Buggy whispered, so low that he wasn’t sure that Shanks had heard him. Not that it would have bothered him.
But it seemed that he did, as Shanks’s arm tightened around him, his head falling on top of Buggy’s. Raising his head, Buggy looked at Shanks again. He had physically changed, but the man seemed to be the same carefree persona as he had been when they were younger. He’d probably seen horrors and went through tough shit in the New World, but the way he looked at Buggy was just the same as 24 years ago.
Shanks felt fingertips on his skin and he smiled as Buggy was frowning, looking at each scar attentively as if he tried to identify the culprit. Slowly, the blue-haired man’s fingers brushed past his cheek, coming to rest against the scar on his eye. He closed it as the fingers became more adventurous. Shanks felt the question hanging in the air and knew that Buggy wouldn’t dare to ask, so he answered it directly, ‘Teach’. Buggy stopped, frowning even more than before. Of course he would be surprised, the Yonko himself had been when he had received the scar from the man, after all.
Buggy picked up his trip on Shank’s skin, not even asking to know more about it. It wasn’t surprising, it was a story he didn’t want to tell and Buggy probably felt that. His hand came to a rest on the bed where Shanks’ arm would have been. This one made the red-haired man smile as he said, a smile in his voice, ‘Luffy’. ‘Why?’, his companion exclaimed, pushing himself off his chest and looking at him, as if he’d just remembered that he could, indeed, move. Shanks chuckled, ‘The hat didn’t feel enough so I thought I’d give up something else for him, you know, an arm is always more useful than a straw hat, after all’. Buggy groaned, rubbing his face with his right hand. ‘I can’t believe you’ve done that’, he finally said, slumping back against Shanks’ torso. ‘The D. seem to really love to scar you, hum?’, the blue-haired man said in a mocking tone.
He couldn’t have been more right.
Marshall D. Teach had scarred Shanks’ face. The mark didn’t anger the owner as much as it used to, but there was an ache in his chest as it reminded Shanks that a man as dangerous and nasty as Teach was still running free on the sea, in search of their captain’s legacy. Shanks had lost his arm to Monkey D. Luffy of his own volition, for the future, and he’d never regretted it once, but the scar was there as well. And as for Gol D. Roger, the man had taken a little piece of Shanks’ soul to the grave with him, and even though the red-hair was fine now, the missing bit was still painful on some nights when sleep refused to come. So yeah, Shanks could definitely have a grudge against the damn D if he wanted to, they had damaged him enough in his lifetime.
‘I’ll deal with them once in hell, I’m sure I’ll get my deserved payback in good time!’, Shanks guffawed, but he was only half joking. ‘Don’t cry victory too early, it’ll be one of them who’ll send you down there’, Buggy grumbled, turning on his back to look at the ceiling. Shanks didn’t answer, but he felt that Buggy’s words held more meaning that the man had really meant. He sighed, talking again.
‘Say, Buggy, you’re really angry at me because I gave the hat to Luffy?’. The blue-haired man froze, not expecting the subject of his earlier outburst to come up again. Sighing, he asked, ‘You’ve read the newspaper about Loguetown, right?’. Shanks agreed before he shifted slightly under Buggy, the man talking way too loudly for his liking, ‘Yeah I sure do. I remember reading how the scaffold had been destroyed by lighting, a weird way to see it go’. His tone was too joyful for the discussion they were having and Buggy felt his face flush with shame as he recalled his fiasco of that day.
‘Yeah, okay. Well, when we were on the scaffold, only the two of us, Luffy and I, with my sword hovering over his neck.. the kid didn’t cry. He didn’t scream. Hell, he didn’t even call his friends. He just said something like “oops I’m dead” and smiled’. Buggy was clenching his jaw as he was talking, full of spite. ‘He was going to die, no way to escape, nothing to save him, and all he did was accept it all and smile. Just like Captain Roger, on the very same scaffold his life ended’.
Shanks looked at the top of Buggy’s head in disbelief, silence falling into the room. Then he burst into laughter, tears forming at the corner of his eyes. ‘So you were pissed off at me because I guessed right about the boy, huh?’, he said after his outburst stopped. Buggy got off of him, sitting on the edge of the bed, silent.
Sensing that the blue-haired man wasn’t simply sulking like a kid, Shanks straightened up, his arm sneaking around Buggy’s collar bone, pushing the man against his chest, Shanks’ head resting on the crook of the other’s neck. ‘I won’t say anything about that choice of yours to behead someone on Roger’s scaffold because I had my fair share of shitty ideas. I won’t even talk about how you avoided me in the bar even though I bet you’d recognised me before I recognised you’, Shanks’ voice was only a whisper now, ‘But I won’t let you think that I didn’t try to contact you’.
Buggy stiffened at the words, not sure if he wanted to hear what was coming next. ‘I was lucky enough to meet my actual crew mates pretty quickly and easily, manoeuvring into the piracy’s world faster than I would have expected. It was great. Until I decided to visit Rayleigh one day. Fifteen years ago, maybe. I remember vividly how he threw me a newspaper on the face as I entered the bar, and your face on the wanted notice. I must say that he’d taken me by surprise. He told me that you were established in East Blue. That’s where we decided to set sail.’
Not once did Shanks stop to make a joke, and it was so weird for Buggy who was used to the man’s constant cheekiness. ‘I tried to reach you. It wasn’t that hard to find the island you were settled on when everyone talked about a crazy clown destroying towns. But.. I never dared to take the plunge.’ He paused again, head not resting on Buggy’s shoulder anymore, as if he tried to make eye contact with the man. It wasn’t the best position, but Buggy liked to feel the warmth of the man’s body against his back. ‘I thought you’d push me away, that you’d refuse to talk to me for some reason. So we instead passed your island and set sail deeper into East Blue, where we found that boy and settled there for a few months’. Shanks paused again, frowning as he looked at Buggy’s face attentively. He leaned closer and brushed some strands of hair away for the blue-haired man’s face, making Buggy blush even though Shanks’ eyes were already looking away, lost in his memories again.
‘After I lost my arm everyone insisted on going back to Grand Line and the New World to show that I wasn’t less strong with one less arm. And once you’re in the New World, it’s hard to leave again. But here I am again, and I would be lying if I hadn’t came back partly because of you’. It was infuriating to hear for Buggy, and he couldn’t even understand why. He just knew that he hated every word that spilled out of Shanks’ mouth. ‘Though I’m glad we’ve met here, because I’m not sure I would’ve come this time neither’, Shanks added quietly.
‘The great Buggy the clown scaring Akagami no Shanks, a literal Yonko, huh? I wonder what they would have thought, these new friends of yours, there in the New World’, Buggy finally said, sensing that the man didn’t have anything else to say. ‘Well...I would say that they’d be just as scared of you as me, if not even more! Who wouldn’t be scared in front of the Pirate’s King son, after all?’, Shanks said as he gently nudged his nose in the crook of Buggy’s neck. His tone was still playful, but his words did something to Buggy’s guts he hadn’t felt in a long time. So long since someone had acknowledged his link to Roger. Not that he needed anyone to know it to feel his childhood validated, but it was good to hear. A pleasant title for someone whose sole claim had constantly been mocked.
Buggy didn’t say a word, silently diving back into old memories, where his hair was still short and Roger’s smile still brightly lightened the nights on the Oro Jackson’s deck. Shanks put his head back in the crook of his neck and Buggy could feel his breath against his skin. ‘I missed you, Buggy, very much. And I’m sorry I’ve never contacted you. No matter how strong I am, or by what title people call me, I’m still helpless when it comes to you. I’m 13 years old again, stupid and impotent’, Shanks whispered. Buggy couldn’t agree more to the last part. ‘I’m sorry, and...’
‘Shut up, I don’t want to hear you’, Buggy finally said before Shanks said a word too many. There was a thin line Buggy refused to see being crossed, because he wasn’t sure he would know how to react if Shanks voiced out loud these words. Instead, he stood up, detaching himself from the red-haired man. He climbed over him, falling back onto the bed, face looking at the window. Shanks sighed as he laid at his side, hand messing with Buggy’s hair as the latter grunted, without much conviction. They didn’t say a word as one of Buggy’s arms came resting around Shank’s waist, the other one loosening Shanks’ hand around his hair, intertwining their fingers instead.
Even though they’d been in the room for quite some time and that the evening was well underway, the night was still dark. And it was fine. As long as the night would still be here, then Shanks would be too, and right now, it was all Buggy wanted.