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Shanks panted heavily, shoulders rising and falling rapidly as he turned down another path, wine red eyes turning to look behind him once more, only to flinch and snap his gaze forward again.
He was alone.
The Roger Pirates split before they left to Loguetown, Roger was executed on his home island and Buggy left him that same day.
Shanks had no one by his side in this moment and his enemies were closing in.
He could hear the sounds of people yelling behind him, metal guns clacking against one another as they split up and reconvened, before he ducked into another alleyway and hid in a barrel, body still just small enough to fit into one of the empty containers.
The redheaded teen pressed his back as tightly against the barrel as possible, one hand clamping over his mouth as his other hand landed on the handle of Gryphon, gripping it tightly and prepared to pull his beloved saber out to defend himself.
He was running out of time and energy.
One…two…three…
He heard feet run by, a group of them searching the area of the alley, before rushing off once more.
Four…five…six…
Wine red eyes squeezed tightly shut as he waited, praying that no one else would come by.
Seven…eight…nine…ten.
A sigh of relief gushed past Shanks’ lips as he took the lid off and clambered out, looking back and forth in order to make sure the area was truly clear. Once the teen deemed it safe enough, he took a running start back towards the area he’d just come from.
Shanks didn’t know how long he ran, but it was long enough that someone caught sight of him and the young pirate was being chased by the marines of the island again, their calls for him to surrender in the name of the World Government, Obviously, the teen didn’t, but he didn’t know how long he’d be able to keep avoiding them.
The young pirate didn’t know the layout of the island, he had been running for some time already and he didn’t know how much longer he could keep escaping them as it continued.
He was so tired. Shanks hadn’t even been able to fully relax, even though he had just watched his Captain (father) die only the day before.
It was as if the moment all the people had flooded away from the execution platform and left nothing but a few people milling about, Shanks having been stuck watching Buggy’s back as the long haired male ran off into the rain, they sniffed him out and he’d been on the run since.
He hadn’t slept and only managed to snag an apple and a piece of bread from places if he was lucky, managing to get some water through some people who felt bad for the teen and hid him for a couple of hours, before the marines would sniff them out as well.
His back was against the wall and the teen knew this would be his end.
His dream of sailing the seas like Roger was never going to happen. Reuniting with anyone else was gone. Buggy had left him and he had no way of contacting Mihawk in this situation.
Shanks was going to die to the same people who had taken his captain and father from him.
Licking his dry lips, Shanks banked down another alleyway, looking around wearily for a moment, before slumping against the wall and sliding to the floor.
He was done for.
“I saw him go down this way!” He heard a voice and before the redhead could even gain his bearings and try to find a way out, the sound of pounding footsteps quickly came towards his hiding spot, his enemies blocking every space and leaving no room for escape.
There was no escape.
A mirthless laugh slipped out of Shanks’ lips and he looked down at Gryphon on his hip. “Well, we had a good run.”
With those words, the teen threw himself into battle. Dodging bullets, ducking under swings and slashing into marines, dying white and blue uniforms with red, his own shirt blooming with the same color, both from his enemies and himself.
Every marine he cut down, two more popped in front of him. Every bullet he dodged, another scraped him somewhere on his body. Every inhale left shakier and shakier than the last.
His vision tunneled as he and Gryphon moved, his saber one of the deadliest weapons out in the world in his hand.
But, even if he knew it was going to happen, eventually he fell.
Shanks gasped as he fell to his knees, marines on their backs around him, either dead or alive, he didn’t know.
“G-Get him!” The leader of the force screamed and the marines turned to take him down, only they were stopped by the sound of a gunshot, loud and commanding.
One body fell and everyone, Shanks included, turned to find the shooter.
A long haired man stood at the entrance of the alleyway, a shot gun held strongly in his hand as he pointed it right at the marines, smoke still billowing out of the muzzle and mixing with the smoke from the hand rolled cigarette in his mouth.
“W-Who do you think you are?!” The commander screeched, face flushed an angry red as he glared at the stranger. “You’re directly interfering with official marine business as we try to-!”
“Apprehend a criminal, is that what you’re going to say?” The man took a long drag of his cigarette, blowing the smoke out to the side. “Because all I see are a bunch of grown ass men jumping a teen and beating him without mercy.”
After those words, the man fired three more rounds, killing three more marines as their bodies fell with dull thumps, Shanks gasping heavily and sitting up without their added weight pinning him to the floor.
“You’re that Bounty Hunter, aren’t you?” A sneer came to the commander’s face as he turned to face the unknown man. “Benn Beckman, right? Listen, if you leave now, we’ll let you go and even cut some of the profit-!”
The man was cut off by another shot and a wet gurgling noise as he fell, a bullet wound showing in his throat. The man, Benn, looked around at the remaining marines and glared darkly their way.
The men in white didn’t waste another second, turning tail and running for the hills as they screamed empty threats and promises to leave at the same time.
It was all silent as Shanks panted to try and catch his breath as Benn approached him. “You okay, kid?”
The teen opened his mouth to speak, but then his vision flickered and he fell over, the sound of the older man calling out for him once more being the last thing he heard as Gryphon slipped out of his hold.
He only hoped he would be okay when he came around once more. Shanks only wanted to be okay.