Chapter Text
Bright red hair catches Roux's attention amongst the throng of people at the port, draws his eyes. A fellow teenager, about his own age. Roux grins when the guy looks up and they lock eyes, gets a friendly smile and a wave in turn. Seems like a nice fellow. Would that he were part of the crew. Roux really misses having people his own age around, all the sailors on the ship are old as dirt, as far as he's concerned. It's so boring.
A bucket hits the back of his head and clatters noisily across the deck, steals his attention to one of those old sailors.
"If you got nuthin but starin' to do then mop the floors, dish boy!"
Asshole old sailors, Roux thinks to himself, rubbing his aching head. He sighs, throws another look over his shoulder but the red head is already gone, lost in the mass of people hurrying to and forth across the harbour. So much for that then. Back to only spending his time with boring old sailors and even more boring dish duty.
Sailing sure isn't as exciting as Grandpa made it out to be. Roux was promised lots n lots of adventures, siren maidens singing sweet melodies and exciting sights every turn he takes, but it's been nothing but chores, chores and even more chores instead. Only broken by drunken dice throwing late at night where no one allows him more than half a beer because of his age. As if seventeen is that young. Assholes aren't even teaching him to handle sails properly, nor letting him cook. Even though he got hired on as an assistant cook, all he ever does is mop the kitchen floors and wash the dishes and clean the mess hall once everyone is done with their meal.
Roux likes helping out in the kitchen just fine, but only ever getting to clean after those doing the actual cooking is so boooring. It really makes him question his decision to become a sailor. At least he gets to watch the line cooks work, and they don't mind answering a question or two if they're in a good mood. All he knows right now is how to prepare food for a small family of four, not a whole ship full of people, so he isn't complaining too much about getting to learn that at least, but still. Observing only gets you so far and he misses actually working with knives. But so far no dice.
With a sigh he grabs for the mop once again. Got work to do and all that. And it's not like there is anything more interesting than scrubbing deck, now that the red head has disappeared. If only there were someone else his own age on the ship to talk to, would make this all so much better.
"Hello," a voice cheers from right behind him as he's throwing out dirty water and he whirls around in surprise at the sudden noise so close to him.
He only realises he's still holding onto the half full bucket when he hears the noise of water splashing onto wood. Ah shite, now there's water everywhere again and he'll have to clean that up too. At least he narrowly missed splashing both the would be ninja and himself, small mercies. When he looks up from the mess to grouse at said would be ninja he finds himself blinking wildly as red hair once again catching his attention. Oh, the guy from before! On the ship!
The red head laughs, shuffles back a step to get out of the way of the water dribbling all over the wood. "Ahaha, that was lucky we didn't both get soaked there!"
Roux blinks again, then grins back just as wildly. Gotta be a cool guy who doesn't mind a near accident like that. And even better, that he is on the ship now means he gotta be part of the crew now. That's so awesome, he can finally have a proper friend again. "Sure was lucky, yep! Are you a new chore boy?"
"Something like that, yeah." The red head grins even brighter, tilts his head curiously. "I'm Shanks, and you?"
"Roux, nice to meetcha!"
"Nice to meet you too! So"—he toes at a rivulet of water with his sandal, then looks back up—"you want any help mopping?"
Roux has a really good feeling about this Shanks fellow. Seems like a really cool sort.
—
After the last port they head further up north, towards Reverse Mountain. Or at least that's what they get told while they assemble on deck, all neatly lined up like they're the marines or something and not a pirate crew. That's also the first time Roux's ever even heard the Captain's voice, even if only over snail from the flag ship of the fleet further ahead. Roux doesn't think that's a good way to lead a crew, but head cook Fletch—who hired Roux on as an assistant cook despite the fact that he only does dishes now—says that's how it's done on the high seas, and it's not like Roux knows enough to think he's wrong. Sucks, though, if this is really all there is to this whole crew business. Grandpa made it sound way better.
None of the old sailors Roux asks know what exactly Reverse Mountain is either, but Shanks grins widely when he mentions it, and says it's the entrance to the Grand Line and that it's awesome. Definitely heard that from one of the officers, Roux thinks. His new friend seems to be quite the eavesdropper, considering all the things he tells Roux. Roux certainly doesn't mind a little bit of eavesdropping, if it nets him so many stories in turn. Nor does he mind the coins that Shanks keeps giving him, that are definitely stolen from the people he eavesdrops from. Shanks says that it's to make up for the lack of proper pay he gets for his work and that the fleet captain shouldn't be short-changing his sailors so much. He also says that Roux has a trustworthy face and won't be accused of stealing if they get caught, so it's fine. Shanks really is so cool, Roux likes him a lot.
On the day they're supposed to hit the Red Line the crew is noticeably excited, until even the cooks do more gossiping than working and head cook Fletch tells them all to get out of his kitchen if they insist on being so useless. Roux grins in excitement, scrambling out of the galley with everyone else. The mountain is supposed to be taller than any house or three! Roux can't even imagine it.
It's surprisingly windy out and he has to take a moment to keep his footing on the wet deck while he tries to catch sight of the familiar red hair or yellow strawhat. Didn't Shanks say something about that too? That there is always a storm around Reverse Mountain? That it's one of the challenges to get into the Grand Line, getting past the Mountain? Well, Shanks said getting over the Mountain, not past it, but Roux is sceptical about that part. Shanks probably just heard that wrong. How would a ship get over a mountain, after all?
Maybe Shanks could do it? Roux has watched the red head reset the lines and sails when no one else was around to see, and it always made the ship calmer when he did. Shanks just laughed when he asked about it, and offered to teach him how to steer a ship while only using three lines. He was clearly bluffing, but it's all so very fun, Roux doesn't mind at all. He was so right, Shanks is indeed an awesome kind of guy. He really wants to keep sailing with him. Now if only he could find him in the sudden downpour—
"Here," a voice says from right behind and Roux startles around to find Shanks standing there again, grinning just as wide as the last hundred times he has done this to Roux now. "Tie this around your waist. It's going to get rocky."
Roux takes a second to calm his heart—Shanks is too damn good at sneaking around a ship it's amazing—then grabs for the rope Shanks is holding out. "Rocky?"
"Yup. So tie it. See, like this," he gestures down at his own middle where the other end of the line is tightly bound while the part between them is wound around the railing a few times. "You'll want to be secured for what's to come, dahaha!"
The wind howls, sudden and loud, like to underline the words. The sails arch and groan under the heavy force of it, the deck jerks abruptly. A few of the veteran sailors shout orders while the rest scramble around after too loose knots. Shanks' grin is blinding even in the dim light of the downpour. Roux ties the rope around his waist, settling in beside his friend at the railing to watch the chaos. No one else is knotting themselves in, but Roux thinks he would rather follow Shanks' lead than any of the other's here.
"Wouldn't it be better down there?" he asks curiously, gesturing towards the lower deck where most of the crew has gathered by now. That's way more sheltered than they are up here, nearly at the bow of the ship. Though this gives them a great view of where they're heading. Theoretically at least, not like he can actually see much though, what with the little bit of light filtering past the clouds and heavy rain hiding everything past a few arm lengths from sight.
"Don't worry. Here is savest," Shanks promises and Roux believes him without even thinking about it. "Also, we got luck on our side, right? It's going to be just fine."
"Luck?" he repeats, feeling a bit like a parrot but game enough.
"Yup!" Shanks pops the p with relish and Roux snorts a laugh at the antics.
Slowly a dark shape grows out of the dim light, as tall as it's wide and so high it takes over everything in front of them all of a sudden. It's dark and foreboding and Roux finds himself gaping at it as it just continues to grow even more massive. "Is that…?"
"The Red Line," Shanks cheers. The wind is getting even worse, howling through the sails. Roux can only barely hear the rest of the crew shouting over the heavy thrum of the rain, but somehow Shanks' voice is still as clear as if it's any sunny day. "We're nearly there."
Some of the other sailors are following their lead now, binding themselves to the railings or grabbing hold of lines. The deck shudders noisily again, the main mast bowing under the weight of the howling storm. A strong gust nearly slams them into one of the other ships that's a bit too close, and both crews scream uselessly at each other, inaudible to anyone but themselves. Roux catches a few scraps of prayers fly past. Beside him Shanks is still grinning, wide and cheerful and maybe a little bit crazy when he looks too close, but Roux can't help but join. His heart is beating so fast with excitement despite the tall waves trying to capsize them. This is so fun.
"Look, over there!"
Roux follows the pointed finger and doesn't see much of anything for a moment. Then, slowly, a small faint shape materialises, a slightly brighter line than the rest of the gray mass of rock, flickering until it shapes itself into a… canal? Coming down from the mountain?
"That's the entry way," Shanks laughs. "We're gonna get up that."
Roux gawks at the thin thing, wondering how it was even built into the steep cliff-side. Then the words register and he turns to stare at Shanks. "Up?!"
"Yep, up!" Shanks nods with a carelessly excited grin. "It's great fun!"
Oh. Reverse Mountain. Reverse Mountain. "They mean that literally? How?" he cries with a disbelieving grin of his own, excitement bubbling in his gut. Up? Really, up? Shanks was right on that one? That's so awesome, Roux can't wait to find out how a ship gets up a mountain!
"Sailing, obviously!" Shanks laughs and like he called for it the winds howl and howl and howl.
They aren't the first ship ahead, nor even the second. When Roux whips his head around to watch the canal again the first ship, just barely visible, just approaches the mouth and—narrowly misses the pathway and rams itself right into the cliff beside it. The waves swallow it immediately, towering waves dragging it behind them, until only the wildly swinging mast marks their place.
"Don't worry," Shanks shouts over the wind, "they're gonna make it back alright. A Blue won't hurt them too badly even if they shell against the Red Line. It's those of us going over that are in way more danger, dahahaha!"
Over it. To the Grand Line. Oh seas, this is so cool. Roux has heard so many horror stories about that place and he abruptly realises that he never really believed any of them. It's sure easier to imagine monsters that eat ships for breakfast now that they're sailing straight into a mountain so tall he probably wouldn't see the top even in nice weather. A mountain they're going to pass over, with nothing more than the wind. He doesn't know what it says about him that the only thing he feels at that thought is gleeful excitement. Especially with that wreck happening right before his eyes. But Shanks is still grinning like a loon and Roux can't help but think that everything will be fine if he looks like that. Just fine and so so fun.
The next ship reaches the canal. This one just barely hits the column and rapidly picks up speed when it does, somehow disappearing up the long line in the blink of an eye. Roux swears he hears wood scraping against the stone archways he can barely make out as it passes them.
The next ship manages it too, and then it's their turn and they thread the needle and the deck heaves under his feet and then they're ascending like they're drawn by an invisible hand. Roux was only ever been to one fair in his life, a small one back on his home island. There was a single swing. He remembers the swooping feeling in his belly when it swung to the highest point, so exciting it made him laugh out loud. This is so much better.
"Hold on!" Shanks shouts over the din, voice still so clear in Roux's ears despite the cacophony all around them. A hand finds his wrist, clasps tight and he feels himself pressed back into the railing with enough force it feels like he's going to be pressed through like so much mashed potatoes as the gray walls of the canal fly past him at impossible speeds. Up up, even further, until his ears pop painfully with pressure and for eternally long seconds it becomes hard to breath and then—
Weightlessness as they abruptly reach the top.
Sun, sudden and bright.
Shanks' elated laughter.
Gravity grasping for them with unrelenting force, pulling them back down.
Roux screams in excitement and fear and too many other things, clings to Shanks' wrist with one hand and the railing with the other as the ship tilts forward, the wood protesting loudly like it's about to break. And then they're plummeting right back down towards a second canal going down again. The clash when they land in the water is charring enough Roux feels it rattle all the way through his bones and even Shanks' cheering goes wheezy for a moment but he doesn't ever stop and Roux wants to join despite his aching lungs because, because.
This is so fun. It's utterly terrifying, but so so fun.
He wants to go again.
Which is about the moment he throws a look backwards and realises—with the clarity of sudden panic—that there is another ship right behind them. Close. Too close. Far too close, right behind them, they're nearly touching, shit.
"Dahaha, they're gonna ram right into us when we get down to the Line!" Shanks cheers and he definitely sounds too excited for what he's saying.
Roux throws his head back around forward, sees the bottom of the mountain rapidly approaching in the sunny weather, the two ships before them abruptly loosing speed once they get out of the canal, and shit, they're going too fast and the one behind them is coming too close. The foremast is already crashing into their stern, the splintering of wood sounds far too loud despite the air whistling past from how fast they're going—
"Aaaaand, now we dip."
With a flick of his wrist Shanks somehow loosens both his and Roux's knots and Roux abruptly realises how much the rope helped keep him in place because he staggers from the force of their speed and his feet are immediately slipping on the wet wood. It's okay, though, because Shanks somehow not only keeps his footing but manoeuvres them both into one of the life boats secured right beside them. Oh, that's a good idea, Roux tries to help loosen the ropes binding them in, but mostly he's just clinging, and a few more sailors dive in after them, holding desperately onto the sides, but Roux doesn't pay attention because there is a big crash behind them as the other ship rams into their aft. Shanks cuts the last rope, gives them a single push that somehow brings them all the way over the railing and they fall away right as they hit the end of the canal. Everything descends into chaos and screaming and Roux can't tell where is up and down anymore, just knows that Shanks is right beside him.
—
"All good?"
Roux makes some kind of noise that sounds like wheezing laughter, takes a few deep breathes, shakily pats himself down, and only then stares at Shanks, wide eyed and a bit too shocked to take it all in. Abruptly he realises he's actually still grinning. "Aaaah?"
"Cool, all good. Come on, lets paddle out of the way before more of those galleys come a crashing," Shanks nods over his shoulder but Roux is not going to look. "We'll want to be gone before that, there's still about ten more ships that're gonna make it. Amazing really, considering how little they were prepared."
"Ahhhh!" Roux takes the paddle he's handed, puts it to water and then paddles as fast and as hard as he can. He firmly doesn't look back to the ships behind them, and tries to equally as firmly not listen to the continued crashing and screaming and shouting.
Shanks gives him an encouraging smile from the side. It helps, genuinely. Now that Roux is able to think past the continued screaming in his head he notices that their lifeboat is actually chock-full of sailors, most of them reaching for anything they can to use as makeshift paddles seeing as Roux and Shanks have the only two proper ones. There are quite a few other boats around them too, and many more sailors in the water swimming away, trying to get out of the way of the next ship already coming down. Ten, Shanks said. The fleet held sixteen, if Roux remembers correctly. Okay.
"You know, the Grand Line is being quite nice to us," Shanks muses cheerily, easily able to keep up with Roux's frantic pace so they don't turn in a circle, which is very good. Roux doesn't want to go in a circle right now.
"What the fuck are you talking about," one of the sailors asks. A grizzled fellow, old even among the already old crew, and also paddling with the frenzied power of someone having a mighty need to be away from the place he's at. He's using a piece of drift wood.
"No storm!" Shanks hums. "She generally greets you with an even worse one than on the other side. But it's quite nice today." He throws a grin at Roux, like they're sharing a joke at the universe's expense. "Lucky us!"
Roux laughs even though he doesn't really understand what they're laughing about. Life maybe. Being alive sounds like a really great thing to laugh about right now.
"Oh seas," someone mutters. Someone else starts praying again, though Roux doesn't know who they're praying to. Another is reaching into the water to lift a guy up while they pass. Most of them are still paddling madly.
"Where we going?" Roux finally asks, when the need to be away away away has died down a little bit.
"The lighthouse. See, over there. The keeper will help us out, that's why he's here."
All of them follow Shanks' finger and Roux is pretty sure every one of them is equally shocked as he is to see a cheerily bright strip of land appear like out of nowhere, with a pristine white and red lighthouse towering above it. A man is standing in front of it, arms crossed and scowling enough to be seen from all the way over. There's something strange going on with his hair, Roux is pretty sure.
"Since when's that been there," the grizzled sailor asks incredulously, voicing what they're all thinking right now.
"Always has been as far as anyone has records," Shanks answers with the same glib cheer as before, not even a little bit ruffled by the shipwreck they've just survived. "The lighthouse and the lighthouse keeper are an integral part of the Grand Line welcome."
No one else says anything more until they reach shore and their little group more or less falls onto the land with the single minded focus of the deepest of relief. Roux is surprised to realise head cook Flint is with them. He hadn't noticed before. When he turns to look out over the sea there are still more ships coming down the slope, more than half of them crashing just like they did. The captain's flagship, miraculously having survived the trip intact, is turning to anchor, their own rowboats taking way to the little strip of land. It's about to get crowded here, but that's good. Means most if not all of the sailors survived, even if their ships didn't. Really lucky, after a ride like that.
Shanks pulls their rowboat up on the beach after them, waves wildly at the man standing before the lighthouse, and then turns to survey the catastrophic wreck with hands stemmed into his hips and a faintly chiding look on his face. Like he's marking a performance and finding it lacking, but didn't expect anything better anyway.
Roux thinks that Shanks isn't really an eavesdropper after all.
Roux thinks that maybe Shanks is the only one here that really knows anything about what's going on.
Roux also thinks that he really really wants to continue sailing with Shanks.
He eagerly takes the hand Shanks holds out to him to help him back up onto his feet.
—
"Heya, Crocus!" Shanks cheers as he drags Roux all the way to where the fleet captain is shouting at the man in front of the lighthouse. Roux didn't even know what the fleet captain looked like until now. The guy's not really all that impressive, he has to say.
"What is this—" the captain starts, but is promptly ignored by both Shanks and the lighthouse keeper.
Crocus, presumably, turns and the stern glower transforms into a small grin. "Shanks. It's good to see you again. How have you been?"
Shanks goes easy into a hug, still not letting go of Roux. Considering the glaring form all the officers glowering about this all, Roux certainly doesn't mind.
"Good! Got over the Mountain no worse for wear, see!" Shanks holds his free hand out wide as if to be inspected, and laughs again.
Crocus eyes him from head to tow, then nods firmly. "You got lucky, if you came over with this lot."
"Yup! That's because I had Roux with me, though. He's a good luck charm, see," Shanks cheers and tugs at Roux until he steps closer.
Crocus eyes him closely too, then smiles and clasps him on the shoulder. "Good lad! Lucky indeed. That was very good fortune, Shanks."
"Sure was," Shanks agrees and loops his arm around Roux's own. "He is a very lucky Roux indeed."
"Do you not know who I am—" the captain tries to intercept, but much to Roux's amusement Shanks and Crocus just talk right over him with no sign of even having heard. He tamps down a giggle and then doesn't, because Shanks is grinning and Crocus is smiling and really, that's all that matters, isn't it.
"Anyway, you got a boat for me?" Shanks asks, using their linked arms to tip them both side to side like he's too excited not to move and wants Roux to share it with him. "I wanna go explore even more. The Blues are fun."
"Hm. I'm not a boat loaning business, Shanks," Crocus frowns, but there's amusement still on his face so Roux doesn't think he means it too seriously.
Shanks just grins more, making a big handful of bellies appear with a simple flick of the wrist. "Come on old man, I know you got one just last week. Cough it up, yeah? For Laboon if nothing else."
Roux is fully certain those bellies are stolen too. Possibly form the captain. Probably while they passed by just now.
"Old man? I'm barely fifty" —"see, ancient!"—"What a rude brat you are. Fine, fine." The notes disappear into Crocus' pocket despite his grumping and he gives a jerk of his head. "But only because it's you. I swear Ray raised you better than this."
"Dahaha, Ray stole his first ship right from under someone's nose and taught me to always bribe the harbourmaster first and foremost, he has no leg to stand on."
"Oho? Am I a harbourmaster now—"
"Enough!" The captain roars suddenly, clearly long out of patiences in being so ignored. "You will tell me what I want, or I will use all my men to attack you!"
Crocus frowns deeply, glaring at the man before he looks back to Shanks and tosses something over. "Here's the key to the boathouse. You already know which one you get, so off with you. Come have a drink with me after you get yourself a crew and sail the Grand Line again."
Shanks catches the key out of the air, and pulls Roux along while he waves behind them. "Thanks, doc! You're the best!"
"Shoo shoo." Crocus doesn't watch them go, just turns towards the red faced captain. "And now for you."
Roux nearly stumbles on uneven ground and turns to look where they're goin while the voices behind grow loud like a fever pitch. "Should we help with that?"
Shanks throws him a laugh over his shoulder but doesn't slow down. "Don't worry, Crocus deals with idiots like that all the time. He's going to be just fine."
—
"Hey, Shanks?" Roux asks as they sail away over treacherously calm waters slowly making their way away from the lighthouse.
To North Blue, Shanks said. Roux doesn't really care about going back to a Blue instead of remaining in the Grand Line. He just wants to have fun and Shanks certainly promises that. Roux isn't quite certain how they're going to make their way back out of the Grand Line though, but he trusts Shanks to find them a way just fine. The little sloop they got from Crocus is quite nice and comfy too, Roux likes it a lot better than the ostentatious ships of the fleet. Shanks also raided the kitchen of the lighthouse while they were there, so they're set with enough provisions to last a while too. Roux isn't certain Crocus agreed to that, but they'll be long gone before the man finds out, so he doesn't complain.
Shanks hums distractedly, staring out over the sea with a weirdly absent look in his eyes before he abruptly blinks and turns a grin at Roux. "Yeah?"
"You weren't actually a chore boy on that crew, were you?" Roux gestures behind him, where they can still faintly hear the fleet captain shouting.
He adjusts one of the sails like Shanks taught him to and receives a pleased smile that makes his own cheeks tight with an answering grin.
"Dahaha, nope! Wouldn't swear allegiance to someone that incompetent." Shanks waves the very possibility away with a careless shrug. "I just walked on board because it looked interesting and no one minded."
Roux kind of doubts the no one minded part—seems more that no one but Roux noticed, which does speak to the incompetent part—and also thinks that this fits Shanks pretty well, actually.
"I did, though. When I got hired I mean," he says, thoughtful. "I swore to go to the Grand Line with them and all. Does this make me an oath breaker, you think?"
"Nah, you got onto the Grand Line just fine, didn't you? Also, you swore to the ship. The ship sunk. There, oath fulfilled." Again Shanks shrugs again, leaning back against the side of the boat and letting a hand trail in the water. Something big and dark comes up to take notice of his fingers, but Shanks still looks relaxed so Roux doesn't worry about it either, and it disappears as fast as it appeared.
He also doesn't worry about the fact that Shanks knows what he swore when he got hired onto the ship. He's pretty sure that's just who Shanks is, and Roux likes him far too much to ever mind that.
"Hey Shanks?"
"Hm?"
"You knew we would crash, didn't you?"
"Dahahaha!"