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Bobo has only been on the Red Force for three days and yet he felt oddly comfortable on the ship and with the Red Hair Pirates.
Three days ago, the blacksmith would have never guessed that he would end up on the ship of one of the Four Emperors, sleeping in a guest cabin and eating with the crew.
No, three days ago, Bobo had guessed he had only a few hours to live.
In retrospect, he could admit that trying to travel to Schnaps Island by canoe was a stupid idea. But all the people in his little town Grappa had talked about how the royal family of Schnaps Island was looking for the best jewelry that they could use for the coronation of the princess, and Bobo couldn’t miss the chance; not when he had endless rings, necklaces and bracelets – the things he liked to forge much more than knives and hatchets.
Plus, the man didn’t really have much to lose- he had no wife begging him not to leave, no children that could have lost their father. He only had a sister that had always chided him for never practicing a ‘proper’ profession. She would cry if he went missing, sure, but she had enough men in her life; men that probably loved her more than Bobo did.
Howsoever, one Tuesday afternoon, Bobo headed off - on his canoe - to Schnaps Island.
Nobody could have known that on the way there, he would encounter a group of little pirate ships, full of ruffians and idiots. All the ships carried the same Jolly Roger - a skull with an eyepatch and the bones behind it a hammer crossing a pick - but for some reason, they still fought each other.
There were guns, swords, and a whole lot of yelling men.
Now, Bobo had never really cared about pirates, but still, when that enormous ship with the red figurehead representing a dragon with two horns pulled up among the chaos, even the blacksmith knew whose crew she belonged to.
The same apparently couldn’t have been said for the Hammer and Pick Pirates, as they suddenly had seemed to get along again and promptly teamed up to attack the Red Force.
The Red Hair Pirates had quickly counter-attacked - not needing more than three cannonballs to have the other ships backtrack.
They left without much fight, and they left without Bobo.
Which was fine, because Bobo had landed in all that chaos by accident, and it was just such an accident that had punched a humongous hole in Bobo’s not so humongous canoe.
Being noticed by a crewmate of the Red Hair Pirates came as a surprise to the blacksmith, and even more so when the crew got him onboard the Red Force, apologized profusely for breaking his canoe, and promised to build him a new one as soon as possible.
Bobo had been under shock and had only nodded to whatever the men had offered, not really aware that he had agreed to spend a few days with the crew of one of the mightiest men in the entire sea.
But, to get back to the beginning: Bobo felt comfortable.
In his short time here, he had talked to almost all the pirates on the ship and not one of them had left a bad impression on him.
And despite being a mere blacksmith that got lost on sea, Bobo had talked not only to the regular subordinates but also to Senior Officers like Lucky Roux, Yasopp and Limejuice. And, even more impressive- Bobo had even been part of conversations with the captain Akagami no Shanks himself and his First Mate Benn Beckmann.
If Bobo hadn’t known that they were one of the strongest pirate crew worldwide, he would have guessed that they were just a bunch of rowdy, fearless men, looking for an adventure in the seas.
And because they were rowdy, it was odd when the captain suddenly ran all over the ship, urging everyone to clean up.
“What are all these bottles doing here? Put them away! It’s so easy to slip and fall if they roll around everywhere! And is that still blood from last week on the deck? Why does no one ever clean up? Come on, guys! This is a ship, not a pigsty!”
The pirates that didn’t have anything to do at the moment plus Bobo were all hanging out on the rear deck of the Red Force, where the palm trees were granting a little shade and creating the perfect atmosphere for light chatting and enjoying some alcohol.
The sudden, frantic appearance of their captain made everyone stop their chatter for a moment, made bottles stop at men’s lips, waiting to let the drinks flow and instead listen to Akagami no Shanks.
“And why is everyone drinking, anyway? It’s-” the red-haired man lifted his arm and glanced at his wrist as if there was a watch that could tell him the time. There wasn’t, but he still looked back up at his men. “-probably not even four yet! Don’t you have things to do? Like scrubbing the deck, for example!”
The chats didn’t arise again but the men that had temporarily stopped drinking, did continue to toss down beer, rum, wine, or whatever else they were drinking. Bobo had never met another pirate crew but he had the feeling that maybe in other crews, the subordinates would indeed stop drinking right after their captain scolded them for it.
But as it was on the Red Force, Bobo wasn’t too surprised that the men disobeyed Shanks for such a ridiculous order as to stop drinking and relaxing.
Shanks was a funny guy; a man that seemed constantly relaxed and up for a joke, never taking anything, much less himself, too seriously. He could always be seen with a drink in his hand and a big grin on his lips, and even that one time two days ago when the crew had discussed a strategy for the island they were traveling to, Bobo could constantly hear the red-haired man laugh and joke around.
But the Red Hair Pirates wouldn’t have become so strong and so notorious if their captain wasn’t also an exceptional leader, so Bobo didn’t doubt that Shanks could in fact be serious and could make wise decisions, taking on the responsibility of changing the lives of endless people with his actions.
The decision to stop drinking and clean up instead? Not so life-changing. Much more surprising, instead.
“Oli, come on! Finish that beer and then I want you to collect all the bottles on this deck and dispose of them,” Shanks pointed at the tall pirate with small glasses before turning to a group of guys sitting near the stern of the ship. “And you guys pick up the other trash and throw it away.”
There were raised eyebrows, frowns, and a few pouts from the guys near the stern. Bobo was one of the raised eyebrows.
Shanks stepped over the deck, muttering a quiet ‘excuse me’ when he had to pass by Bobo, making the smith take a step back. His eyebrow raised a little higher when Shanks basically ignored him other than that little apology.
Usually, the captain would ask Bobo how he was doing, if he liked the ship and the crew, if he needed anything.
“We still need somebody to clean the blood,” Shanks had his own eyebrows raised, pointing his hand behind himself to where the wooden planks were stained with a dark-red that almost seemed brown. “Who was responsible for that? Hongo, that was when your leg was cut, right? You clean it, then.”
The addressed pirate lifted his arms in exasperation, confused as to why he should clean the blood when he was the one that had been wounded.
He didn’t even have the chance to ask his boss why he should do it though, because as quickly as Shanks had appeared on the rear deck, he was gone again. Just some more mutters about dirt and trash could be heard as the man retreated.
The pirates were left with confused expressions, looking at each others in wonder as to why their captain, who was usually so relaxed and didn’t seem to care too much about the cleanliness on the ship, suddenly needed every surface to be polished and for not a thing to be out of its place.
Bobo was wondering, too.
It was Yasopp who held the answer in his hand.
“It’s because of this,” the man with dreadlocks said, holding up a rolled piece of paper and snickering at it.
All the heads turned to the Senior Officer, questioning looks now focused on the paper in the man’s hand.
Bobo stared at it, too, gasping when he remembered that he had just seen the paper somewhere else… Right! Just moments earlier, the rolled up piece of paper had been stuck into the red cotton belt around Shanks’ hips! The one that usually had Gryphon sheathed in it!
Bobo wondered in awe how Yasopp had apparently managed to pull the paper from Shanks’ belt without him noticing, or maybe just without him caring.
The blacksmith didn’t think about it too long because then the pirate with the dreadlocks stood up on one of the benches on the rear deck, waving the piece of paper around.
“What is that?” one of the pirates asked.
“A letter?” another one asked.
“What does it say?” others wanted to know.
Yasopp grinned, “This is indeed a letter to our dearest captain.” A few pirates ooh-ed and many asked the man on the bench to read the letter out loud, so Yasopp unrolled the paper, and cleared his throat. Bobo was excited as the man started reading, “‘Red Hair. I have business in the New World and I know that is where you are right now. On my way, I will make a stop. Do not stray too far. Signed, Dracule Mihawk.’”
When Yasopp was done reading those few lines, there was a collective ‘ah’ going through all the men, excluding Bobo who had no clue what was going on.
“Oh, so it’s a love letter.”
“No wonder the captain’s so fussy.”
“Why should we be the ones to clean when it’s his Takanome visiting?”
It seemed like that letter had truly revealed everything to the other pirates; explaining why their boss was behaving in such an unusual way but to Bobo it did nothing but confuse him even more.
How should those few, almost indifferent sounding lines sound like a love letter? And why did it warrant the sudden cleaning obsession?
And first and foremost, “Um, who’s Dracule Mihawk?”
All heads turned to him and Bobo would have probably quivered in fear if he hadn’t talked to all of these men before. He blushed, still.
“You’re new! Of course you don’t know!” Lucky Roux exclaimed, loud as always even with his mouth full of meat.
“Oh my, we have to tell him about Akagami and Takanome!” another pirate said, clapping his hands excitedly.
“Yeah! Anything that’ll keep us from cleaning up!” Hongo agreed quickly. It seemed as if the man truly wasn’t in the mood to do any scrubbing even if his leg looked healed, not making it difficult for the man to kneel on the floor to clean it.
Bobo didn’t really know what was happening but suddenly all the men were sitting on the floor in a big circle, Lucky Roux to his left and another pirate whose name Bobo had forgotten to his right.
“Where should we start?” Yasopp mused, having rolled the letter up again. It now laid on the floor before him, and Bobo wondered how long it was going to take until Shanks noticed it missing.
“Maybe start at who this guy is, again? This Taka- something,” Bobo spoke up, scared that the men would start telling him the story about people he didn’t even know.
“Yeah, alright,” a man named Fugar spoke up. “Dracule Mihawk, or Takanome, is the World’s Strongest Swordsman.”
“He’s a Shichibukai, so he works for the government.”
“And he lives on Kuraigana, somewhere in the Grand Line. It’s a really gloomy place. We once had to go there with the captain. But it suits Takanome, I guess,” A pirate with blond hair said, shuddering at the memory of the dark island.
“Yes, he’s a little weird,” Oli said with a nod. “But he and Shanks have been “friends” for a long time.”
Bobo nodded, unsure if he had imagined the verbal quotation marks around the word ‘friend’ or not.
“Yeah, they met when they were teenagers. I don’t know the exact story, you’d have to ask Benn for that but he doesn’t like to gossip so much. But apparently when they were younger, they didn’t really get along and got into many fights. Which developed into a “rivalry”.”
Again, there was this weird intonation around the word ‘rivalry’ that made Bobo question his ears.
“We don’t know how exactly they got into their first fights, but you’ve met Shanks. He’s a funny guy. Mihawk is not. The man is always serious and looks at everyone as if he wants to kill them. Probably does. Well, most people, anyway.”
The pirates all nodded in agreement, some rolling their eyes, some looking almost a little scared. Some just huffed.
Lucky Roux continued the story, “The rivalry went on for a long time. They kept challenging each other to duels, as they both trained more and more to get stronger. But they were always equally strong. There has never been a winner nor a loser.”
Bobo hummed, thinking about it. “So, when this Mihawk is coming here soon, he will challenge Shanks? To see who’s stronger?”
The pirates shook their heads, Yasopp answered, “No. They don’t fight anymore. You see, when Shanks lost his arm - for Monkey D. Luffy, surely you’ve heard of the kid - Mihawk saw him as weak.”
“Oh, more than that,” Hongo interjected with a huff. “He seemed to hate Shanks suddenly. They fought again, but not with their weapons. We all heard Mihawk yell at the captain, asking how he could be so stupid to lose his dominant arm, all for a kid that he barely knew. It was brutal, and there wasn’t even blood.”
“They didn’t see each other for years after that. Shanks had tried to contact Mihawk, but the guy never answered his calls or his letters. We all thought they would never see each other again.”
“But they did,” Bobo said, surprising himself with the lack of question in his voice.
“They did,” Yasopp confirmed, his tone sounding a little wistful, as if the two men meeting again was just the beginning of something else, something bigger, entirely.
They were quiet for a moment, only the moving waves of the ocean serving as noise while the men were all lost in their thoughts.
Bobo imagined the pirates thinking about Mihawk and Shanks and how they perceived them, how they knew the swordsman. Bobo couldn’t do that, but he could wonder about why this former rival caused Shanks to want to polish the entire Red Force.
Just when he was about to ask, another pirate spoke up loudly.
“They’re boyfriends.”
Bobo choked as Yasopp quickly lifted his hands, waving them while shaking his head no.
“No, they’re not,” he said with his eyes narrowed at the man who had just declared Shanks and Mihawk as a couple. Yasopp paused before adding in a smaller voice, “Probably.”
“How- What-” Bobo couldn’t formulate a proper sentence after that statement and because he was still coughing a little he just managed a dumb, “Huh?”
Lucky Roux waved his greasy hand as he explained, “When they got back together after not talking for years, they finally figured out that their fights were just a way to get close to each other, and that they didn’t need to fight anymore if they could just make love instead!” The man stared at the nearly fully eaten chicken leg in his hand with love but Bobo thought he could maybe see some fondness in that expression, too. Not only fondness for the meat, maybe.
Another man scoffed, “The amount of times we had to take detours so the two could meet. We’ve been to so many useless islands all over the Grand Line because they can only have their dates where no people live in case the government finds out. They’d have Mihawk’s head.”
“Wait,” Bobo held up a hand, realizing only now, “They’re actually lovers? I thought you were joking!”
A few of the men chuckled. “No, no, they’re actually… something.”
“We were surprised, too. Imagine our shock when Shanks somehow found out that Mihawk had been hurt during one of his government assignments and without consulting any of us we suddenly headed for Kuraigana, where Takanome lives.”
“Oh, remember how we first thought it was to fight him?” A pirate with purple hair remembered with a little laugh.
“Yes, we all armed ourselves only for the captain to give us a bollocking like never before,” another man seemed to remember as well, shivering a little at the memory.
“When Shanks yelled at us like that, with true fear in his eyes - fear for Takanome - and didn’t even allow Benn to follow him onto the island, we knew it was serious.”
“We knew our captain was in love,” Fugar sighed dreamily with a smile that was so genuine that Bobo found himself smiling along.
“So you all like this Takanome guy?” Bobo asked, thinking it was a pretty obvious answer. He was surprised to see many of the men shrugging or shaking their heads lightly.
“Ah, well, he’s a little peculiar.”
“You should see the island he lives on! It’s like a huge graveyard!”
“Yeah, he has a really gloomy vibe around him.”
As the men described this lover of their captain, Bobo couldn’t really manage to imagine the man.
Instead, he just thought about Shanks.
The man that always seemed to wear a big smile on his lips and was almost always accompanied by a loud laugh coming from his mouth. The man with such bright hair and an even brighter aura around him.
That’s the man who’s loving a ‘peculiar’ man with a ‘gloomy vibe’ who’s living in a ‘huge graveyard’? No wonder it was hard for Bobo to imagine.
A thought hit the blacksmith.
“Oh, so that’s why Shanks wants to clean the ship? Because he wants to impress Mihawk?”
A groan went through the circle of pirates.
“Yep. Mihawk thinks the Red Force is disgusting,” Yasopp said, sounding very indifferent for somebody apparently thinking so crassly about their home.
“He thinks we are disgusting,” Lucky corrects his crewmate, sucking the meanwhile clean bone before sucking his fingers.
“He sounds a little weird,” Bobo had to admit after all the men had told him.
Yasopp hummed, “Well, he’s a loner. He kind of hates everyone but Shanks. And maybe this kid who he’s training right now. But apart from that,” the sniper shrugged. At the sound of footsteps, he turned his head, a grin quickly tugging at his lips, “Oh, he especially hates Benn.”
Shanks and Benn just appeared, the latter with a questioning look on his face.
“Who hates me?”
“Takanome.”
Bobo didn’t catch the First Mate’s reaction to it as Lucky Roux leaned down to the blacksmith and whispered to him, “We think it’s because Mihawk’s jealous. We think he sees him as a threat or so, because Benn spends so much time with Shanks. But who knows.”
“What are you talking about?” Shanks’ loud voice suddenly boomed, his arm akimbo. “Hawkeyes hates no one!” He smiled brightly, a little too brightly. The man looked around their discussion circle and his too bright smile wavered before the corners of his mouth finally dropped down. “But he will hate us, and destroy the Red Force if it looks like this!”
If Benn Beckman had been offended by Mihawk’s alleged hate on him, he wasn’t showing any of it anymore. Instead, he stood with a smile behind his captain as the red-haired man waved his arm frantically.
“Come on, guys! Let’s get to cleaning finally!”
And if Bobo had to guess what exactly it was that made the pirates finally take their captain seriously and get up with groans to fetch cleaning supplies, he would have guessed it was the mixture of nervousness and anticipation in those bright eyes.
Bobo didn’t know this Mihawk and he wasn’t Shanks’ subordinate but even he found himself with a mop in his hands, mopping away at the deck.
~
The ship was squeaky clean: There was not a single bottle in sight, not even the bottles of cleanser, as well as not a drop of blood on any surfaces.
If the sun had still been out and shining, it would have reflected so much that keeping your eyes open would have been a feat.
But as it was, only the endless stars and the moon lit up the night sky, serving boundless opportunities for imagining portraits and symbols between all those bright dots.
Bobo found himself sitting on the front deck this time, near the figurehead, and staring up into that beautiful sky. His eyes fixed on an especially bright star and he wondered if maybe sometime in the future it would be possible to catch starlight and put it into a ring to wear and always be guided by it.
The thought seemed silly to Bobo but it was still strong enough in his mind that he startled when there was shuffling right beside him and a voice spoke up.
“Do you mind if I sit here?”
Bobo was more surprised by the soft smile instead of the exaggerated grin on Shanks’ face instead of the man’s appearance at all.
On his first day, the blacksmith probably would have scrambled to get away from the deck, assuming that the captain wanted it all for himself and would maybe kill him if he didn’t make room.
Now, Bobo just made a gesture with his hand, meaning ‘be my guest’, and he didn’t even flinch when Shanks’ loose pants briefly brushed his leg.
“Why are you still awake?” The red-haired man inquired after a moment of silence, turning his big, questioning eyes at him. It wasn’t hard to see the worry in those eyes and it made Bobo squirm internally; imagining that this man who was worth so much more than him, held any worry for him- a mere merchant who he barely knew. “Do you not feel comfortable here? Are you scared of anything? We do have night guards, they’re just up on the masts. Or is it because of your canoe? We’re working on the new one, it’s looking great so far! You don’t have to worry about anything!”
Bobo’s lips pulled up into a smile.
“I’m not worried about anything,” he said, holding back to not tell the Yonko that he didn’t have to worry about anything. Bobo shrugged, “I’m just awake.”
“Oh.” Shanks' mouth stayed open for a second after the little sound escaped him. Bobo pulled his legs up to his chest, wrapping his arms around them. He could feel Shanks’ eyes on him and when he briefly glanced at the man, he saw the frown between his eyebrows.
“Why are you awake?” Bobo asked then. It was late but Bobo always figured that a rambunctious group like the Red Hair Pirates would party throughout the entire night, going to sleep only when the sun dared to rise again. Maybe they were exhausted from cleaning the entire ship. Maybe they were getting old.
Shanks let out a soft sigh, finally facing away from Bobo and looking into the sky instead. “I guess I’m just awake, too.”
With the emperor looking away, Bobo took his time observing the man after humming softly.
The corners of his mouth were lined with small but deep laughter lines that were barely hidden by the dark stubble tracing around the man’s mouth, down to his chin. It looked freshly trimmed and Bobo could even see a tiny cut right above the middle of the man’s left jawline.
Bobo’s eyes trailed down to where he expected the red-head’s left arm to be before he remembered. He huffed internally- he had wanted to check if Shanks’ hand was trembling, because how else would a man worth so many berries cut himself while shaving? Then again, why would a man worth so many berries be trembling on his own ship, surrounded by no enemy but the relentless ocean?
Going back up to the man’s face, Bobo marveled at the straight nose, bemoaning his own, bumpy nasal bridge.
With the lack of sunlight, the three parallel scars over the captain’s left eye almost looked black. Bobo shuddered when he imagined the wound freshly appended, dripping with blood as dark as the ocean water at night.
Shanks could probably count himself lucky that his eye hadn’t been damaged along with his skin and he could still have depth perception as he looked out into the sky.
Bobo looked at Shanks looking at the sky and he found himself wondering what the mighty man was thinking about.
Maybe he was thinking about the stars too, pondering what he’d do with their light if he could ever catch it.
More minutes passed in silence with both men dwelling on their own thoughts before Bobo got bored.
“Your crewmates told me about Mihawk.”
Shanks didn’t look surprised, and Bobo didn’t wonder about it. It wasn’t very hard to guess what the Yonko had been thinking about if it wasn’t the stars.
“Mhm,” the man hummed, a smile slipping onto his lips while still facing the sky. “What did they tell you?”
“They told me about your fights. You really never won?” Bobo had wondered before. Shanks was no devil-fruit user and had only one arm. Yet, he had somehow made it to be one of the great emperors of the sea. And Bobo had never even heard of this Dracule Mihawk even if he was the World’s Greatest Swordsman. It was hard to imagine that they were really equals in strength.
“No,” Shanks scoffed softly, his smile getting wider. “It was funny. Sometimes we wouldn’t see each other for months but when we did, we both improved in the exact same way. We were still both as strong. All the time.” There was a short pause before Shanks shrugged, “Sometimes it was close but the other one would always get back up again. Sometimes we’d fight for hours. God, we almost fought for days only to collapse at the exact same moment.” Another pause, this one feeling more pregnant. “I loved it.”
Just Shanks’ voice alone was enough to make Bobo not doubt any of what he said, especially the last part.
“Aren’t you mad at him? For calling you weak and not fighting you again when you lost your arm?” Bobo asked what he first thought of when the pirates told that particular story.
“No.” Shanks shook his head slowly. “At first I was. Because he wouldn’t even give me a chance to show him that I was still as strong, even with one arm less. But I figured him out.”
The emperor shot Bobo a quick look, one full of pride and smugness.
It made the blacksmith hum inquisitively with a tilt of his head.
“Hawkeyes wasn’t mad at me for losing the arm. He wasn’t angry because he lost his playmate, his equal. He was scared because I’ve gotten hurt. He was scared because he thought I was reckless when I never really was.” There was no undertone in Shanks’ voice, fondness at most. “It hurt when he wouldn’t talk to me for years but now I think it was the time we both needed. I needed it to process- well,” Shanks moved his stump, making the cloak shift over it, “this, and he needed it to process his feelings.”
Bobo wanted to know what feelings the red-head was talking about but despite the man seeming like an open, kind book, Bobo didn’t want to overstep. He didn’t want to tread on territory that concerned feelings of people who weren’t even present.
So, instead, Bobo asked, “Do you miss it? The fights, I mean. Would you challenge him again?”
Shanks hummed again, needing a little longer to formulate his answer this time.
“I wouldn’t. I know that if I did challenge him, he’d say no. Of course I miss it, but it’s okay, too. We’ve both gotten older. I fight other people now, and I can’t really afford to fight for fun anymore. Mihawk and I fight in other ways now. Without our swords,” he explained with a little shrug and a little smile.
It reminded Bobo of the pirates saying that Mihawk and Shanks now fought with words but Bobo had the feeling that maybe Shanks meant something else, as well.
Bobo surprised himself with his curiosity but he couldn’t hold back, maybe because of the lack of fear or just the concern and care he had developed over the last three days.
“Why are you so nervous about him coming here, Akagami? It sounds like you have a long history. It sounds like you two are close now. So I don’t understand.”
A guffawing laugh broke the serene atmosphere as Shanks shook with his laughter.
The red-haired man doubled over lightly before turning to look straight at Bobo and laugh some more.
For a moment it felt as if the man was laughing at Bobo and the merchant wanted to feel a little offended but then Akagami no Shanks explained with a voice that clearly revealed his bright smile.
“It’s how Hawkeyes makes me feel! I can’t explain it. He calms me down and when I’m with him I know that everything’s okay because he’s all I need to be okay. But he makes me so giddy. I want to give him everything and only the best of it. I want to give him my best self and the best ship, the best food, the best everything. Because that’s what he deserves. And sometimes I get nervous that I can’t offer him all that.”
Bobo looked at Shanks, eyes focused on the man’s lips that were still stretched into a wide smile even as he was baring his insecurities to someone akin to a stranger. Bobo wondered if a big part of Shanks’ strength stemmed from his mentality rather than his body and power.
“He sounds so important to you.”
Shanks’ smile seemed to falter but only for it to get even bigger.
“He is. The most important, I fear. It makes me nervous, too, the way I would put him above anything else. I’m scared of thinking too much about it because I’m not that old yet. And I have this crew, this ship, these responsibilities. But sometimes I can’t help but think about the New Generation and be even more excited because I know they’re going to be the ones that will make it possible for me to stay with what’s most important to me. They will adopt those responsibilities and one day, I hope, I can settle down.”
“With him?”
Shanks laughed again. “Silly question, Bobo.”
Bobo laughed along. He didn’t know if his next question would be silly, too.
“He likes you, too, right?” If spoken any quicker, Bobo was sure the captain beside him would have caught the frantic overtone.
There couldn’t be a way that Shanks was so obviously in love with this man and he didn’t love him back. Depending on the answer, Bobo would have to have a word with this great swordsman soon.
This time the laugh wasn’t an ear-deafening squawk but a soft huff.
“He does,” Shanks said with certitude that dissolved again right when he kept speaking, “I don’t know if my men told you we’re boyfriends. We’re not really. Mihawk’s not a very straightforward person when it comes to words. So we’ve never really put a label on us. Sometimes, that makes me nervous,too. It makes me feel as if I don’t really- As if he’s not really mine.”
The advantage of having a stranger spill their feelings to one, is the ability to be fully honest without.
“You should ask him,” Bobo said outright without thinking much about whatever he was saying. “I understand that you want the best for him but you should want the best for yourself, too. You deserve it just the same. So ask him what you are even if he’s uncomfortable talking about it.”
Shanks suddenly stared at Bobo as if he was looking for answers in the smith’s eyes. It felt a little overwhelming but Bobo didn’t dare look away. He was relieved when Shanks’ lips broke out into a big smile again and the man looked away into the sky that could surely grant him many more answers than Bobo ever could.
“I want to ask him to marry me.”
This time it was Bobo who let out a soft ‘oh’, feeling as if Shanks had taken his advice seriously and then some.
Bobo nodded firmly, “I like it. You should do it.”
Shanks laughed out loud again, slapping his hand down on his thigh, his eyes glinting like the stars were still reflecting in them even when the red-head was looking at the man beside him.
“You’re funny, Bobo,” the man said with laughter impairing his speech. “Do you want to join my crew?”
It nearly made Bobo fall off the deck right into the water. His eyes widened as big as the sails on the ship as he quickly raised his hands.
“I- Uh- Ahh- You’re great, Shanks, really, but- uh- I think I’m good.”
Shanks laughed again, louder than all the moments before, and Bobo worried for the other pirates, wondering if anyone could ever sleep through those noises. He slowly worried for Shanks, too, not sure if the man was going insane with the way he wouldn’t stop laughing.
He was still laughing loudly when he got up, a small grunt slipping out between his cheerful sounds when his legs straightened.
“That’s alright,” the man said, smiling so brightly at Bobo that one could have guessed that the blacksmith agreed to join the Red Hair Pirates. “Good night, Bobo. We have a big day ahead of us tomorrow, you should go to sleep soon, too.”
A wink and of course still that big smile later, Bobo was left alone on the deck of the Red Force.
There was silence again, no enormous presence right beside him, but Bobo still didn’t feel alone; didn’t feel deserted.
The stars were still there to keep him company, and for their light to give Bobo ideas.
~
Dracule Mihawk didn’t actually arrive until later in the day, giving the Red Hair Pirates some more time to dust the ship and then prepare for a big banquet.
When the man finally arrived, it was much less celebratory than Bobo had expected.
He probably would have barely noticed if it wasn’t for the way that Mihawk stood out.
The atmosphere wasn’t changing like it sometimes did when Shanks stepped up on the deck, but it was still obvious that something in the air had shifted, causing Bobo to look at the front side of the deck. That was where he spotted him, sticking out like a sore thumb.
The man was as tall as most of the men on the ship, around 2 meters, but his impeccable posture made him seem even taller, with the dark hat he was wearing only adding on to that.
He was enveloped in a dark coat, a few subtle floral patterns on its sleeves, with an upturned collar that Bobo would have usually found a little too much, but it looked fitting on the man.
The smith could immediately relate to the other pirates when they talked about Dracule Mihawk’s gloomy vibe. It was right there, just a couple of meters away from him, surrounding the man with the dark hair that was mostly hidden underneath the hat, unlike the unique facial hair he sported. Bobo brought a hand to his own chin, wondering if such a beard would look good on him. He couldn’t imagine it.
The entire appearance of the man was striking, but yet- despite the contrast of his fair skin and the dark hair, the exceptional facial hair and the overall aura- still, the man’s eyes immediately shone out.
The man wasn’t even looking directly at Bobo - Bobo feared that he wouldn’t be able to hold eye-contact, so he was glad about it - and yet the smith could see the golden irises with dark circles around them. The big hat was casting a shadow over the man’s eyes but even in the dim light, one could see how those eyes were glimmering just like the cross that hung around the man’s neck.
Bobo only noticed how captivating Dracule Mihawk was when his attention was abruptly pulled away again, by a loud voice that he’d gotten used to, by this time.
"Hawkeyes!"
Shanks stood on the opposite side of the deck, his right arm stretched out widely, with a jug of beer in his hand, legs spread lightly in the most welcoming stance that was only completed with the man’s bright eyes and brighter smile.
The red-haired captain was as attention-demanding as always, yet Bobo only looked at him for a split second before looking back to the swordsman on the other side. Bobo was used to the Yonko’s behavior and his reactions.
Mihawk was new and interesting because he was so different, and Bobo wanted to know how he would greet the other man.
At first, the raven-haired man’s eyes flickered to where Shanks’ left arm would be stretched out if he still had it. There was no emotion to be seen on the man’s face and Bobo wondered if he was still a little mad at Shanks for losing the arm.
But then Mihawk looked up at the redhead’s face, and just stared. That was when Bobo knew that he wanted to avoid eye contact with the man. He was sure that Shanks could only take it because of his great powers.
It wasn’t really quiet on the ship, not with so many men drinking and talking, but Bobo noticed how some pirates stopped their chatting to look at the man who had just arrived. He also noticed that some of them seemed uncomfortable, tensing up with frowns on their faces. There was even one younger man whose hand subtly slipped to the sword sheathed at his hip, as if he were expecting a fight to break out between the two men at any second.
From the corner of his eye, Bobo could see how that pirate’s hand curled around the hilt of his sword when Mihawk suddenly moved, walking towards Shanks with no muscle of his face moving, surely making it impossible to know if the man’s mission was to hug or cut the redhead.
But then Shanks took the last steps so that the two were toe to toe and then it was clear that Mihawk wasn’t going to cut the other man.
Some of the pirates turned away, returning to their conversations and drinking their drinks, and even the young man let go of his sword, turning his back to the two men entirely.
Bobo couldn’t look away.
He observed how Shanks threw his arm around the swordsman, pulling him close with not a lot of delicacy and spilling some of the beer in his jug in the process.
To anyone else it would have probably seemed as if Mihawk was in this situation against his will, but Bobo had always had good sight, courtesy of him creating rings with the finest of details. It enabled him to see the slight flutter of Mihawk’s nostrils as if he was breathing in the redhead’s scent, enjoying the embrace.
Bobo also noticed how tightly the pale man’s fingers were digging into Shanks’ cloak, holding him as tight as the captain was holding him.
They were hugging for more than was probably common for normal friends and at some point, Bobo turned away, too, feeling as if he was intruding on their private moment on the filled deck of the Red Force.
He only knew their moment was over when Shanks yelled out, “Our special guest is here! Let’s drink!”
Yasopp suddenly appeared beside Bobo, nudging him with a grin. “We scrubbed this ship for twelve hours straight and weren’t allowed a single drop of alcohol but now the captain’s encouraging us to drink as much as we can, spilling his own beer on the planks. Great captain we’ve got ourselves, right?”
“Yeah,” Bobo had to laugh. “A great captain.”
It was about an hour later when Bobo saw Shanks and Mihawk again.
He would have observed them much more if he had seen them before that, but that past hour Bobo spent in the ship’s kitchens, helping Lucky Roux with all the food that they had prepared.
Bobo swore himself to never ever complain about having to cook for himself, knowing how many ovens and stoves were running with the amount of food Lucky was preparing for the entire crew.
Despite all the effort and sweat, Bobo had lots of fun in the kitchen but he wasn’t adverse to going back out onto the deck when they were done with the main dishes, Lucky claiming that the other pirates could take care of the desserts.
The fresh air was perfect, cooling down the sheen of sweat all over Bobo’s body and the smith let out a big sigh when he dropped down on one of the benches on the back deck where the banquet was in full swing.
And that was where he spotted them again: Sitting at the big table that was positioned in the middle of the deck. Shanks and Mihawk were sitting side by side, both with big beer mugs in front of them. Bobo couldn’t hear much, with all the music and other voices, but he saw how Shanks’ lips were constantly moving, his mouth never closing. If he wasn’t speaking, he was laughing, and if he wasn’t laughing, he was drinking.
Mihawk didn’t seem to say a lot, just like the other pirates had said earlier. But still, it didn’t really look as if he felt uncomfortable or didn’t want to be there. He was sipping on his beer now and then, but not in a forlorn or bored way. No, the way Bobo was seeing it, the swordsman wasn’t bored at all because he seemed to be pretty busy.
Bobo could clearly see the man outright staring at Shanks.
Those intense eyes were on the red-haired captain whenever the man spoke, and as already established, that was all the time.
But instead of getting annoyed by it, Mihawk seemed to have all his attention on Shanks and whatever he was saying. Bobo didn’t sit close enough to be entirely sure but sometimes it did look like Mihawk‘s eyes were glued to the Yonko‘s lips for a few moments before snapping back up to the man’s eyes.
Bobo was a little engrossed in his own, lazy thoughts, that he startled a little when Shanks suddenly got up and turned around, walking away from Mihawk and the others in a walk that wasn’t quite as straight as a sober person would have performed it.
After only a few steps, Shanks noticed Bobo on the bench and immediately adjusted his course, stumbling over to the blacksmith with a bright grin.
“Hey, Bo!” he greeted loudly, slapping his hand down on Bobo’s shoulder. “Are you having fun?”
Bobo wanted to pout. Shanks was drunk and there was a huge party going on on the ship, there were so many people everywhere. And yet, he had spotted Bobo and had asked him if he was having fun. Bobo still didn’t want to join the crew, but if he had to, he was sure he could have ended up with a way worse captain. Maybe not with a better one, though.
“Yeah, I’m enjoying the party.”
“That’s good! You can drink as much as you want, you know?” Shanks looked at Bobo’s hands, a crease between his brows appearing when he saw them empty. “Why aren’t you drinking anything? Hey!” Shanks yelled at the nearest pirate who turned around in surprise. When the captain motioned him closer and the man was close enough, Shanks quickly grabbed the pirate’s beer, thrusting it in Bobo’s hand instead. “You get yourself a new one, this is for our dear guest! Cheers, Bo!”
Then, the red-haired man raised his fist as if he were holding a mug of beer, too. He frowned when he noticed that he didn’t but still bumped his fist against the new beer in Bobo’s hand.
The smith had to laugh out loud.
“Thank you, captain,” he said when his laugh had softened down into a big smile. He wasn’t as good at smiling as Shanks was, but Bobo thought that if Shanks always felt even a little like he did when doing it, then he really must be a lucky man.
“Captain?” The older man gasped, a playful glint in his eyes. “Oh, so you do want to join my crew after all?”
Bobo had to laugh again. If the man made him laugh that much, maybe he should reconsider. But he shook his head.
“Nope. Sorry.”
“Aw,” Shanks pouted exaggeratedly. Then, he frowned, cocking his head to the side. He turned his head, looking back to where Mihawk and the others were sitting. “Wait, why did I get up again?”
Shanks was obviously drunk and it made it so much funnier to observe the man trying to figure out why he had gotten up in the first place. The frown only deepened the longer Shanks was staring back to where he was earlier, and Bobo had to smile at the thought of Shanks desperately trying to figure out what could be important enough to leave Mihawk.
After some more quiet moments, Shanks gasped as he remembered.
“Right! I needed to take a piss! See ya, Bo!”
With that and a lazy wave, Shanks stumbled his way over the deck, to the bathrooms, leaving behind an amused Bobo who now focused back on the left behind man still sitting there.
It was painful to say the least.
Mihawk’s eyes looked a little lost without Shanks to look at. He was taking more sips of his beer now, like he didn’t know what else to do, and Bobo had to chuckle.
He remembered whenever his sister celebrated her birthday and Bobo had no better place to be so he would hang out with all the girls that were a couple of years older than him and didn’t care for him at all.
They always drank those sickly sweet drinks and how many parties Bobo had with cocktail glasses, feeling pathetic as he was sipping one drink after the other, dreading every time he finished one and had to hear ‘oh, Booboo, you must really looove our love potions!’. He shivered just thinking back, but even now, he would rather get cavities from the sugary stuff rather than talk to those tattletales.
Looking at the scene right in front of him, Bobo felt as if the beer could be one of those love potions, and the Red Hair Pirates were like those girls, and Mihawk was right in the middle of it all, looking just as Bobo had felt every thirteenth February for a couple of years.
In other words, Mihawk looked uncomfortable.
So uncomfortable that Bobo nearly decided to intervene. Shanks was a great host, the least Bobo could do was to make his guest feel comfortable by keeping him company.
However, just as Bobo wanted to get up, Lucky Roux appeared out of thin air.
“Hey, Bobo! Why are you sitting here all a-” Lucky looked at Bobo and then in the same direction as the smith had just been looking. Then, the chef smiled knowingly. With a realizing ‘oh’ the man sat down next to Bobo, forcing the man all the way to the edge of the bench. Lucky threw a heavy arm around Bobo’s shoulders before nodding his head in the direction of where Mihawk was sitting. “It’s like watching TV, right?”
Bobo looked at Lucky, needing to confirm that they were both observing the same scenes.
“Yeah. It’s really interesting. Even though I feel a little bad for Mihawk,” Bobo pouted, watching as the swordsman took yet another sip. But he knew he couldn’t just leave Lucky now that the pirate had sat down next to him. “He looks a little uncomfortable.”
“Ah,” Lucky waved his hand dismissively. “Don’t you worry about him. On the Red Force no one gets to have much time alone. I’m sure he’s happy that he has a moment without the captain chewing his ear off.”
Bobo hummed, thinking that Lucky wasn’t quite right about that – with the way that Mihawk had seemed to hang onto Shanks’ every word earlier. Then again, maybe Mihawk liked the silence. But maybe just not enough to compensate for Shanks not being there…
Bobo was about to say something, when Lucky raised his hand, signaling him to be quiet.
“Told you, not much time alone,” the chef whispered with a grin slowly pulling at his lips. Bobo watched closely and gasped when he saw Benn Beckman sliding a little closer to Mihawk. Lucky’s teeth showed in an excited grin, “This is going to be fun.”
It was too loud to hear what they were saying, or, well, what Benn was saying. Because Mihawk surely didn’t answer.
At first, when Benn scooted over, all Mihawk did was side-eye him only to focus on his drink again as if there was no one sitting next to him.
Then, Benn said something. It looked like a question, considering the inquiring look on the pirate’s face. A question that sadly didn’t get an answer, but Benn didn’t look offended or anything.
Instead, he said something else.
Mihawk seemed to take pity and, not without an eye-roll, turned to at least look at the gray-haired man. He nodded once and Benn kept talking.
“God, he looks even more miserable now,” Bobo remarked, wincing a little. Maybe he should still intervene?
Lucky only laughed. “I know right! It’s so funny. I think I love Mihawk-and-Benn interactions more than those of Mihawk and Shanks.”
Bobo had to snort at what could be called sadism coming from the chef beside him. But even he had to agree that it was pretty entertaining to see.
“But why does Benn still talk to him? Isn’t he irritated at how Mihawk treats him? Or a little mad at him, maybe?”
“No,” Lucky drawled, shaking his head softly. He looked at Bobo with a glint in his eyes that every Red Hair Pirate seemed to have. “He can’t be mad at him. There was this thing, when we were all a little younger.”
“What thing?”
Lucky removed his arm from Bobo’s shoulders and instead turned a little on the bench, shifting his focus from Mihawk and Benn to the guest on the ship. He still smiled, obviously feeling joy at whatever he was remembering.
“There was this one night, some years ago. Many years ago, when Shanks and Mihawk had only known each other for a couple of years. Mind you, they were still deeply in love even back then. We had some really dangerous fights and had lost some of our men. Mihawk came to visit not long after that and he was shocked at the state of our crew. Shanks mollified him with alcohol. A lot of alcohol…”
Bobo nodded, moving his hand a little to bring Lucky to continue. He was invested in the story but took a short moment to look at the man the story was about. Mihawk still didn’t look very pleased but Bobo could see him open his mouth every once in a while, as if he was giving some very short answers.
Lucky continued, “And then somebody told him about how Benn had saved Shanks from being killed by a marine. He was so drunk, he started crying. He cried and hugged Shanks before nearly hugging Benn to death, thanking him for saving Shanks.” Lucky looked back to the two men. “And then he threw up on him. Anyway. I think that’s why Benn’s not mad at him. He knows that Mihawk is a softie on the inside, and he probably can’t really take his stoic façade seriously.”
“Oh…” Bobo imagined all of what Lucky had just told him. He didn’t know what any of these men looked like when they were younger; maybe less facial hair, maybe more extremities. Still, Bobo could see - although blurrily - how Mihawk was crying, with rivers of tears flowing from those intense eyes. He imagined Shanks just standing there, laughing, or maybe feeling sorry for his lover. Benn probably had laughed, too, before he had been thrown up on. “That’s sweet.”
“Yeah, that’s what they’re like. Oh, look, there comes Mihawk’s hero, saving him from Big Bad Benn.”
Shanks strolled over the deck, coming back from the restrooms. He got some pats on the shoulder from some other pirates, and he himself patted some of his men, smiling at them, and nodding whenever one raised their cups in his direction.
But he didn’t get too distracted, walking straight back to where he had left earlier.
Bobo was glad that Shanks was back, and Mihawk looked even gladder.
It was remarkable how the swordsman’s eyes lit up just at spotting the red-haired man approaching. Bobo wondered if Mihawk’s eyes had some sort of genetic defect, causing them to glimmer like that.
With a loud grunt, Shanks plopped down right next to the raven-haired man in what was obviously some miscalculation. He nearly sat down on half of Mihawk’s lap but slipped off after all and just ended up pressed right to his side. Which apparently wasn’t close enough as the man then moved his head closer, pressing a kiss to Mihawk’s cheek before nuzzling his face into the man’s shoulder and then just resting his head there.
It was so miniscule but Bobo had always prided himself on his good eye-sight and so he of course caught the way that Mihawk’s lips twitched for a second, as if they were fighting to smile.
Even if you didn’t see that, it was obvious that Mihawk didn’t mind the man next to him, considering how he barely moved, not shoving Shanks’ head off or shifting away from him.
And if even that wasn’t enough proof, then the man’s adoration for the Yonko became obvious with the way he suddenly talked to Benn as if they were acquaintances. Not yet friends, but at least not enemies.
It wasn’t that Mihawk wanted to please Shanks by getting along with his friends - Bobo didn’t take the World‘s Greatest Swordsman for a people pleaser. Instead it was that Mihawk‘s mood - like his eyes - brightened in presence of Shanks, made him happier, opener, more sociable. Even when it came to Benn Beckman.
“They’re fun to watch for a bit, but after a little while I get sick from their sweetness,” Lucky said with a fond shake of his head as he got up from the bench. He turned to Bobo, “I’m going to check the kitchens, make sure nothing’s not burning down.”
“Do you need any help?” Bobo offered, having seen earlier how hectic it could be between all the ovens and stoves.
“No, don’t worry,” Lucky immediately waved his hands. A grin slowly spread on his lips as if he remembered something. He took a step backward, in the direction of the kitchens but still looking at Bobo. “If we don’t see each other again tonight; good night. I hope you don’t mind a little noise when trying to fall asleep.”
The man winked as if he had told Bobo a secret before finally turning around and walking away to the place he felt most at home on the ship.
Bobo wished the man a good night as well, looking after him before his eyes went back once again to where Mihawk, Shanks, and Benn were talking, now with some more pirates around them.
What immediately caught Bobo’s eye was that Shanks wasn’t holding a mug. His hand was otherwise occupied– holding on to Mihawk’s thigh, in an almost possessive way.
The way that Bobo didn’t take Mihawk for a people pleaser, he also didn’t really take him for somebody who enjoyed public displays of affection like this. Then again, Bobo didn’t know the man at all. And the way that the raven took on the task of raising Shanks’ mug to the captain’s lips maybe spoke volumes, too.
It truly was like a movie, the blacksmith realized. He breathed in deeply, taking in the light breeze of the ocean air, the mixture of music, voices, yelling, and somewhere the gentle splashing of waves.
The lights all around the ship and the constantly changing shadows of everyone moving all the time. Everything seemed to change every second- the voices changed and rose in volume, the wind seemed to change its direction every now and then, and even the waves calmed down a few seconds before surging up again.
The only thing that stayed was Shanks' hand on his lover’s thigh.
Bobo could have spent the entire evening watching the two men and not gotten bored of it, but there were still hundreds of other men all around him and it didn’t take long until he was engrossed in conversation with a shipwright telling him about how his canoe was nearly finished and could surely put to sea the next day.
~
To his own surprise, Bobo had barely looked at Shanks and Mihawk for the rest of the party.
With the knowledge of his canoe being almost ready for use, Bobo felt the party as a goodbye party and he wanted to treat it like one.
He ended up drinking more alcohol than he was used to, accepting a drink from every new partner of conversation he had and in the end, it felt as if he had talked to every single member of the Red Hair Pirates excluding the captain himself.
When some of the younger crewmates started to pass out from alcohol, and some of the older crewmates from tiredness, Bobo decided that he would do well going to bed.
The alcohol in his own system had been processed enough that Bobo didn’t take longer than 10 minutes to find his room and only one tenth of that time to take off his clothes and get into his bed.
A deep, long-drawn sigh escaped his lips when his body hit the bed, feeling all the exhaustion of a day on the sea and a magnificent party weighing him down in a comfortable way.
A smile pulled at his lips at the relieved feeling and the moment of serenity was only disturbed a second later, when Bobo’s ears had adjusted to the new silence of his little cabin.
The almost-silence of his new cabin.
Bobo turned to the side, getting somewhat closer to the noise. He strained his ears and squinted his eyes in the dark, and- Yes! There were noises!
The man concentrated earnestly and-
"Oh, oh, oh! Shanks!"
Bobo’s eyes widened. Oh.
"Mhm… Baby…"
Bobo sat up abruptly, thinking, or at least certainly hoping, that he was just imagining noises from the party. Or creaks of the wooden floor. Anything but this.
"Shanks, please…”
“I got you, baby.”
I hope you don’t mind a little noise when trying to fall asleep.
Of course! Bobo let himself fall back onto the bed with another sigh.
That explained the wink that Lucky shot him before leaving for the kitchens! Bobo thought only that had been weird, but in retrospect the entire statement had been weird. Why would the chef explicitly mention noise when they were at a loud party like that? A party like that but also sleeping cabins that were hidden deep inside the ship, nowhere close to the party happening on the deck.
It was quiet.
Bobo’s heart was beating fast, his ears still strained as hope slowly spread through him. Maybe they had been at it for a while and were done now?
To his relief - and simultaneously horror - that suspicion was confirmed just a moment later, when the noise levels rose drastically again.
There was a litany of moans, grunts, whines and whimpers.
At the climax - Bobo cringed deeply as the word popped up in his mind - there was a long-drawn moan an octave higher than the original voice of the person. Bobo really didn’t want to know who had moaned like that; he could do perfectly well without knowing who took on what position, but he wasn’t really given the choice of not knowing.
Because at the same time that loud moan slowly quieted down, Bobo could clearly hear Shanks’ voice firmly say, “I missed you”, underlined with a couple of strained grunts.
There was quiet once again, and this time Bobo even dared to enjoy it. It was not a traitorous quiet like the one before; not the calm before the storm.
It was a very weird thought, but Bobo thoroughly hoped that both Shanks and Mihawk were too old to go for a second round.
Thankfully it seemed like it was over. Bobo figured that they had fallen asleep, which made sense considering how late it was and how passionate and energetic they had sounded just a few moments earlier.
The smith finally allowed himself to relax again, pulling the blanket up to his chin.
Before he could even start thinking about the eventful day and fall asleep to those thoughts, he heard Shanks and Mihawk once again.
Their voices weren’t distorted with noises of pleasure this time, and Bobo found that in this way, it wasn’t so bad to hear the two men.
It was Shanks who started a new conversation, asking, “How’s Roronoa?”
Bobo pouted a little. He didn’t know who that was but his first thought that it was maybe a dog. Or a cat? Mihawk seemed to be a cat person.
“He left a couple of weeks ago.”
Oh. Maybe not a pet.
“Ah, really?”
“Yes. He’s meeting up with your boy again.”
Bobo gasped. He knew exactly who Shanks’ boy was! Oh, how many lunches and dinners had been spent with Shanks not eating but talking about this young rubber boy who was one day going to take the world by storm.
To Bobo’s surprise, Shanks now didn’t go on a tirade about how amazing this young boy was.
“Ah,” Shanks hummed and even from a room across the hall, Bobo could hear the smile in his voice; the specially big one which he always smiled when he talked about his boy. “Did you manage to teach Roronoa a thing or two?”
“I believe so. He was quite skilled when he left,” Mihawk sounded proud and Bobo figured that he had trained this non-cat Roronoa. The smith had to chuckle at his own silly idea of the man training a cat. Maybe there was still some alcohol in his system. “I had fun fighting with him. You know, since I don’t really have any worthy enemies. I wouldn’t necessarily call him worthy, but interesting, for sure.”
A pregnant pause and even Bobo grimaced. Shanks’ tone when he replied was as snippy as one would have expected.
“You know, you could have worthy enemies. One, at least. It’s just you who declared him as unworthy. Maybe you’re a little too conceited.”
“You’re adorable,” Mihawk answered and Bobo had to laugh.There was a short break of conversation in which Bobo imagined Mihawk pressing a kiss to Shanks’ pouting lips.
“Do you miss him?” Shanks’ tone sounded suspiciously serious.
Bobo and Mihawk had both detected the reason why.
“Are you jealous?”
“You didn’t answer my question.”
“Shanks.” Mihawk sounded as serious. “Whose bed am I lying in right now?”
“Oh, well, it would be pretty concerning if you were lying in his bed! He’s, like, half your age!”
Some of the usual playfulness was back in Shanks’ tone but there was still this hint of something else; this hint of displeasure.
Bobo found it fascinating how these two men could bring out completely opposite sides of each other- the usual so happy Shanks all serious, and the seemingly always serious Mihawk with an amused lilt to his voice.
“Right,” the raven-haired man agreed. Then, “And whose cum is dripping out of me right now?”
Bobo slapped his hand in front of his mouth dramatically just as Shanks exclaimed, “You said you didn’t want to clean up! I offered to do it for you!”
“I know, I know!” Mihawk was quickly soothing the man, then adding in a quieter voice, “I like it.”
“Oh my god,” Bobo groaned, not able to take it any longer. He slapped his hand on his mouth again.
That had been way too loud and considering how there was a sudden silence, the two men in the other room had heard it, too. Bobo wanted to vanish. Maybe he should quickly run back to the party and tell everyone about a groaning ghost walking the halls of the ship?
He shook his head. No. It was good if the two men heard! Maybe that way they would be a little more careful about what they were saying. And doing! Yeah!
Indeed, they were speaking much quieter when they continued talking. Still loud enough for Bobo to hear, the man happily determined.
“I don’t miss him,” Mihawk said and Bobo just knew that Shanks grinned. At least until Mihawk continued talking, “Also, Perona is still around.”
“The pink-haired girl from Gecko Moria?” No answer sounded but Shanks hummed so Bobo figured that Mihawk had nodded in answer. “Wow, you really have a thing for people with bright hair colors.”
Bobo had to laugh at that, making sure he wasn’t too loud this time by pulling the blanket over his mouth. But seriously, how could a person sound as jealous of hair colors as Shanks?
Mihawk seemed to find it funny, too, considering the audible amusement in his voice.
“You’re one of those people with vibrant hair colors.”
Shanks whined loudly. “Yeah, but my hair’s not as vibrant. Don’t you know one of Hawkeye’s laws: The brighter the hair, the bigger your love!”
“God, you’re insufferable.“
That was the last thing Bobo heard before the two men next door erupted in giggles and some chaos. Bobo of course didn’t know what exactly he was hearing but at some point Shanks yelled ‘ow’ and then there was a loud clunk as if something had dropped to the floor. Bobo imagined there to be pillows involved.
The sounds of harmonious laughter and low murmurs were what finally pushed Bobo to sleep.
He fell asleep earlier than the two mighty pirates in the other room, and it was probably for the better because that way he didn’t hear when Mihawk asked Shanks, “What about that new guy? How long have you known him to be offering him to become a part of your crew?”
~
The next morning started for Bobo just the way the night before had ended for Shanks: With a pillow thrown in his face.
The blacksmith roused from a deep sleep, mentally still in the dreamlands along with some sugary drinks and a hawk on his shoulder.
If it hadn’t been Shanks but Mihawk waking Bobo up, the man would have surely thought his dream to be reality first. But as it was, Shanks was very close to Bobo’s face, grinning brightly so early in the morning.
“Hngh?” Bobo rubbed his eyes, not able to process what Shanks had just said to him just yet.
The captain was so kind to repeat himself, “We’re at Schnaps island!”
“Ha-“ Bobo’s brain worked slowly, but it worked. “What? Schnaps island?“
“Yes!” Shanks’ smile broadened. “That’s where you needed to go, right?”
“I- Yes. But didn’t you guys build me an entire canoe so I could go there myself?”
“Yeah,” Shanks shrugged and then stretched out his hand for Bobo to take and get up. “But Mihawk said he needed something from a shop here so I thought why not make a quick stop. You can keep the canoe anyway, of course.”
Breakfast was traversed by an arguing Bobo, trying to get Shanks to keep the canoe and Shanks just waving his one hand relentlessly.
Breakfast was also traversed by a lot of alcohol, as the Red Hair pirates treated it just like another party - celebrating Bobo’s departure.
It hurt a little and Bobo wasn’t too fragile in his masculinity that he would deny the tears in his eyes as all the men on the ship hugged him and patted him on the back, telling him how much fun they had in his short presence.
It hurt most when it was Shanks pulling him into a one-armed hug.
“This is your last chance to join, you know?” The redhead whispered in his ear and Bobo chuckled wetly.
He took a step back from the man and looked all around the pirates, seeing how all of them seemed so content and happy where they were. Shanks looked happiest and that was enough for Bobo. He patted the man on the shoulder for one last time and then grabbed his stuff.
The other pirates started cheering and waving as he took a step towards the dock and as Bobo saw that glint in Shanks’ eyes, he suddenly remembered an idea that had come to him in the presence of some thousand stars.
“Wait, I forgot something!” the blacksmith exclaimed before running back to the cabins.
~
While Bobo was out on Schnaps island, asking people for directions on how to get to the castle, the Red Force was getting ready to cast off again.
Mihawk wasn’t back from the island yet and Shanks thought he should probably use the time to tidy up a little, lest Mihawk would complain and threaten to go back to his island because of the mess. Silly excuses Mihawk liked to use when he had no other reason and no desire at all to leave.
The captain of the Red Hair Pirates decided to start with his bedroom, which had been left in a mess of blankets and pillows from their nightly activities. He had to grin, thinking both about the sexy and silly things they had done there.
Shanks stumbled into the room, tripping on a pillow on the floor and falling onto the bed.
That little tumble brought Shanks to an eye-level with something that he hadn’t noticed before. Had Mihawk accidentally left something before he went on the island?
Shanks grabbed the object - a little box, it turned out.
He opened it and a beautiful ring gleamed at him, successfully making the man’s mouth drop open.
It was a golden ring, delicately forged with a smooth arch. In the middle of the ring was a tiny ruby, glittering forcefully even in the dim light of the room. Shanks touched the ring with his finger, feeling nearly shocked when his skin touched the cool metal. He didn’t take the ring out of the velvety filling of the box.
Only then he spotted the little piece of paper on the bed, the spot where the box had been.
He closed the box, not his mouth, and then grabbed the note.
In a neat, handwritten script it said:
[ for whenever you ask him ]