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Captain is sick, that is a well known fact. A fact that nearly everyone on the crew, including the Captain, has done their absolute best to ignore. The addition of a doctor to the crew is a little harder to ignore. Even when Shanks was a baby, he knows there was not a doctor. He has heard the numerous stories and mishaps of his early childhood, of how the mystery of his age at the beginning was a subject of infamy, of how his body would reject breast milk when it was offered, of the fevers that would rack him at odd times.
The Roger pirates had never once considered onboarding a doctor, not when it was simpler to take him to an island and have him treated there, not when their adventurous nature would have any doctor who was educated enough to handle the care of a perpetually ailing baby jump ship at the first sign of trouble. But this sickness that is ravaging their Captain's body, that has broken him down faster in a matter of weeks than any enemy of Roger's ever could, is something that cannot be handled the same way that Shanks had. They needed a doctor on the Oro Jackson, if only to prolong their Captain's life, to see them off to the very end.
And so Crocus was brought onboard when they had gone over Reverse Mountain from the end of the New World, to carry their crew as they embarked on their very last journey together, to explore all that the Grand Line had to offer.
Laboon had cried and followed the Oro Jackson for one knot before returning to the safety of the cove, back to waiting for a crew that would likely never cross that mountain top.
Oden joins their crew not long after.
They sail the Grand Line again. It is a new adventure. He meets new people, sees new lands, learns first hand the cultures he's only heard about in stories. Through it all, he and Buggy grow stronger, closer, more inseparable.
Its on a night that the crew is partying a little harder than usual, desperately drowning their sorrows to ignore that the end is creeping closer and closer, faster than they had thought before, that their bond is shaken to its core.
Buggy had been acting odd all day, ever since their raid on the Fog Pirates - the names of the Rookies they encountered nowadays were becoming lackluster, no one on board had even turned into fog. He had nearly jumped out of his skin early in the night when Shanks had climbed onto the top of the Oro Jackson's cabin to join Buggy as he looked up at the night sky, bringing with him a bottle of something sweet and rich with liquor to share with the teen.
Buggy had tried to run him off but Shanks insisted on sitting with him and so they passed the bottle between them and leaned into each other more and more as the liquor worked through them. The moon has shifted almost a quarter when Shanks has become more Buggy than himself and the bottle has been emptied.
"I don't want you boys staying up too late," Rayleigh calls up, startling them out of their stupor. Buggy bumps the bottle and two sets of eyes follow as it rolls away and off the cabin, clinking and falling into the ocean.
"'Kay!" Shanks calls back, pushing his face into Buggy's shoulder. He wished it was possible to be closer to Buggy, that they could be in this moment forever.
They climb down, Shanks catching Buggy when the teen stumbles his landing. They slowly make their way to their bunk, shoulder to shoulder and mumbling mindlessly to each other.
Taro stops them for a few seconds, reminding Shanks that he was due on second watch.
Shanks assures the man that he would wake up in time.
The look that crosses the older man's face tells him that what Shanks had thought of saying and what he had actually said were not the same. Still, the man claps both of their shoulders and wishes them a good sleep.
.
.
Shanks groans awake. He blanches at the residual taste on his tongue. He would have to wash out his mouth before heading up to the deck.
He sits up and reaches out to his side, bringing his hand down on an empty space. Shanks blinks and turns to look over where his bedmate was meant to be. Had Buggy gone to the head?
Shanks pulses out his haki, searching. He receives a pulse back. He slips his boots on and gets up. He can feel that Taro is beginning to cross the deck from where he lingered during his watch.
He passes Taro in the halls and receives a pat to his back. It was as close to a good morning as he was going to get, seeing as how the man's haki was beginning to flag.
The night air is cool and it hits his face as he comes onto the deck. He would have to go down and get a coat eventually before the cold completely seeped into his bones, but first, Shanks goes to where the boats are, where the returnal pulse of haki pinpointed that Buggy was.
"What are you doing up, Bugs?"
Buggy flails but does not answer. He doesn't even turn around.
"Buggy?" Shanks places a hand on the teen's shoulder, jumping back when Buggy swings wide but abruptly stops. His haki was flaring and Shanks' ears twitch as a muted choking noise reaches them.
"Buggy!" Shanks pounds at the teen's back, flaring his own haki to reach out to Crocus. The man wasn't as proficient as the rest of the crew but he had grown used to being called to in this way. It was much quicker than leaving Buggy and running to the small cabin that doubled as a sick bay and quarters.
The choking sound stops and Shanks goes to look at Buggy's face, to ask him if he was okay and what exactly he was choking on but he is stopped with a croaked, "..I fucking hate you.. Shanks.."
The other teen whips around, his face flushed. Buggy swings at Shanks, growling when the teen catches his fist with an, "Are you okay, Buggy?"
The flush slowly leaves Buggy's face but it is short lived as Buggy realizes something that Shanks cannot even begin to understand, frantically patting his body before crawling around the dinghy, hands grasping in the dark for something unseen, "Where is it? This isn't funny, where the hell is it!?"
Shanks had very little time to react when Buggy leaps out of the dinghy and into the ocean. He dashes to a clear part of the railing and squints into the dark water as he hears frantic splashing. What was making that noise? It couldn't have been Buggy. He was one of the best swimmers on the crew.
The splashing stops and Shanks dives into the ocean without a second thought. His heart pounding.
The space in his soul that was reserved for his friend, for Buggy, had grown quiet just as his ears could no longer hear something struggling in the calm sea.
.
.
Crocus grunts as he sits back in his chair, rubbing at his eyes. It was the early morning and although he would have woken up not long after Shanks had zapped him with haki to check on Roger, he was still a bit ticked. That hour of sleep would have done wonders for his mood.
"He's eaten a devil fruit." Crocus informs the First Mate and Captain, the latter doing his best to fret over the passed out cabin boy from his own cot.
The man was also meant to be resting, to allow his body to store as much energy as it could to tackle on the long and strenuous days that Roger was sure to put it through, especially now that his disease was progressing nearly as fast as Crocus was slowing it down.
It seemed that the closer they grew to that mysterious location that the poneglyphs were leading them to so did the disease increase in intensity, as if fate itself were trying to stop the man from discovering lay at the end of their journey.
Rayleigh groans, probing Shanks who was determined to stay wrapped around Buggy even in sleep. If anyone knew when Buggy had eaten a devil fruit, it would be their other cabin boy. They did everything together, which now included smuggling a devil fruit out of the loot from their last raid.
None of the crew wanted a devil fruit, half suffering from severe superstitions of being blown up if they were to even look at a devil fruit and the other half not wanting to lose their ability to swim, convinced that they would spend the end of their days floating in the ocean once their stint of piracy was put behind them.
It was the principal of the matter. There was a hierarchy to be followed and those two had circumvented the entire thing.
"Shanks," Rayleigh shakes the boy again.
Red eyes flutter open, "What."
Rayleigh flicks a finger on the boy's forehead, "None of that."
"Why did you steal a devil fruit?"
Shanks pushes his cheek into his fellow cabin boy's chest, "What are you talking about, we didn't steal anything."
The 'nothing more than usual' is left unsaid.
Another flick to the head, "Then explain to me how Buggy is a devil fruit eater now, huh?"
The redhead scoffs, "How am I supposed to know something like that?"
He would not be getting anything out of the boy now that he was on the defensive. However, it did give Rayleigh the knowledge that Shanks himself had little to no idea that Buggy had stolen a devil fruit, but it meant very little when the primary suspect had yet to wake up and Shanks was sure to say the exact same thing as Buggy once he did wake up - they were creepily in sync, even more so when they needed to work off the other with little prior communication.
"Let them sleep, Ray," Roger lightly scolds. "Davy Jones knows we all could use some of that."
Rayleigh crosses his arms and exits the small (tiny) medical bay.
What the hell were they going to do now? They were down a capable swimmer, one that could have rivaled Rayleigh in terms of stamina had they but a few more years. Those hopes were gone and with it, they received a hammer in the form of a cabin boy as the result of a theft that even his status as their son could do very little to lessen the punishment.
Sometimes, Rayleigh wishes that there wasn't such a strict hierarchy in piracy, even their family had yet to find a way to escape it.
Would they find it at the end of the map, their ultimate freedom?
Only time would tell them something like that.
.
.
Buggy falls ill when they reach Lodestar, the final island on the map.
"It's useless of me to ask, but are you sure, it could be ages before you or Buggy reach this point again." Gaban sits at the bedside of Buggy.
Shanks wrings out the excess water from a rag and places it back on Buggy's burning forehead.
"I want to see it with Buggy, what the end of the world holds," Shanks is firm, climbing onto the bed, sitting cross legged at the teen's feet.
"We don't know when we'll be back, so Mr. Momoro has left you with most of our Beri and a bit of the treasure if you run out of the first." Gaban stands up, stroking a finger along Buggy's cheek, hissing.
"You both take care of each other, okay?" Gaban ruffles Shanks' hair before taking his leave.
The Oro Jackson departs in the early morning, leaving behind her two cabin boys, for the location without a name and whose discovery will turn the world on its head.
Buggy's fever grows worse on their third day on Lodestar and the second day of the Roger Pirates voyage.
Shanks spends more hours awake tending to his friend than he does seeing to his own needs, flagging as the third day stretches into the fourth.
He has barely replaced the wet rag when he loses himself, falling to his knees and slumping forward.
Shanks knows no more
Buggy wakes up, groggy and sticky and like he was steamrolled by half of the crew before being tossed into the ocean.
He feels better than he has since the night they docked on Lodestar.
There is something heavy laying on him, radiating a heat so intense that it burns even through the blanket that covers him.
Buggy sits up and finds that what is laying on him is Shanks and that the older teen is groaning with fever. He runs a hand through his friend's disheveled hair, wondering where his straw hat has gone, how long the teen has been at his side.
Why he cannot pinpoint the haki signatures of any of the crew on the island, not even his Captain's whose haki stretches farther than anyone that Buggy and Shanks have met throughout their entire lives.
When he tries to speak, his throat is so dry he wonders if the warmth in his throat that blooms is blood.
He looks around and spots a mostly empty glass on the side table. He picks it up and drinks the very little water that is left. It tastes like dust.
"..Sh'nks.." Buggy nudges his friend's shoulder.
"Sh'nks," he says a little louder causing him to cough, bringing with it pain.
Shanks groans, sluggishly lifting his head and blinking his eyes painfully slow, "Bu..ggy?"
The older boy struggles to his feet, "You're okay.."
They end up curled together underneath the blanket with Shanks' back pressed to Buggy's chest, the younger teen's left arm wrapped around the older's waist while Shanks' hands desperately hold onto it, trembling.
"Where's Captain?" Buggy murmurs, tightening his hold when the other teen begins to tremble harder.
"He went to the end," Shanks answers. "and so did everyone else."
"You stayed." Buggy nuzzles into the red head's neck, placing a soft kiss there.
It draws a different sort of shiver from Shanks.
.
.
The Oro Jackson sails back into the port of Lodestar after a month out at sea.
Shanks and Buggy are pushed and pulled between the men, squeezed and swung about. The cabin boys had been dearly missed, perhaps more than seemed possible.
It was as if the men were afraid that the teens would bubble into foam at any second; that they would disappear without a trace.
The men are rather tight lipped about what they found at the end of the map and only had one thing to say:
"It was a tale of laughter!"
It works just fine for Buggy. He wants to see for himself what that last island holds, to have his own adventure filled with laughter.
Their captain's health has more up and downs after that.
There are days when the only way to see the older man is for Shanks and Buggy to enter his cabin, to join him in his bed as the man struggles to keep on breathing; Crocus rarely leaves his side on those days.
It happens suddenly, to Shanks and Buggy at least, the crew being disbanded.
Several of the men disappear that night, together or seperate one has to wonder.
Rayleigh is one of the last to go, staying with Roger and the cabin boys until Gaban says his farewells in Elbaph.
Their Vice Captain shares one final hug with their captain, whispering something in the shorter man's ear before he departs.
Shanks and Buggy stay with the Captain until the bitter end.
They watch as the Oro Jackson is given a proper burial at sea, clutching to the older man's coat as they cry for her and the adventures they could have had. They cry for the family they have lost and the family they would continue to lose.
They return to Reverse Mountain in a smaller ship where Crocus re-takes his post as lighthouse keeper.
Laboon is a balm on their souls, the whale splashing and singing along as they do their rendition of Bink's Sake.
They eventually make their way to the South Blue where their Captain takes them to a cottage and introduces them to a woman named Portgaz D. Rouge.
Her strawberry blonde hair was beautiful and was framed with a hibiscus.
She was also pregnant, and it did not take very long for Buggy to put together the pieces.
Shanks was a little slower.
"She's going to be short, just like Captain." Shanks places his ear to the woman's belly, jumping back when he feels a kick.
Buggy shakes his head, handing Rouge a bowl of cut-up pineapple , "No way, he'll definitely get Miss Rouge's height."
The teens had been doing this since they had found out that their Captain and Miss Rouge were having a baby. They each had their own vision of who the baby would take after most.
Shanks was convinced that it would be a girl and Buggy was firm on it being a boy.
The Captain said he knew it would be a boy and Miss Rouge seemed to be happy either way.
"Well," Shanks steps into the kitchen, picking at the remnants of pineapple. "if she does get Miss Rouge's height, at least that will make her a better swordsman."
Buggy slaps Shanks' hand away from the pineapple scraps. These were meant for the birds that were always watching over the cottage.
It was true that those extra inches would vastly increase anyone's ability to wield a sword, particularly their Captain who was rather short for a swordsman especially for the blade that he wield. Ace was nearly more than half the length of Roger and it was only thanks to his skill that he was not a laughing stock among pirates and swordsmen alike.
The man had to loop it around his stomach so the scabbard would not drag along the ground.
"Why are you both so convinced that our child will be a pirate and swordsman?," Miss Rouge asks through a mouthfu of fruit.
Shanks and Buggy share a look, "Why wouldn't they be?"
While Miss Rouge was not a pirate nor a swordsman, she had all the same qualities as one. She had a healthy appetite, was entranced by the sea and had the eyes of an eagle, not to mention that her strength was immeasurable and if she were handed the tools to properly wield a sword, she would rank amongst the strongest, they were sure of that.
It made perfect sense to the two teens that the child of Gol D. Roger and Portgaz D. Rouge would be a pirate and swordsman; it was in their blood.
.
.
Rouge goes into labor in the evening and gives birth to a son just as the sun rises. She holds him close as Shanks rearranges the pillows so that she can be more comfortable.
Roger holds her close, tears in his eyes as he takes in the tiny baby. He presses a kiss to Rouge's temple.
Shanks subtly pushes a few bills of beri into Buggy's pocket. He had lost the bet on what the baby would be.
"Ann would have been a perfect name."
"Ace is just stupid," Buggy agrees.
There were still a handful of wagers that they would have to see out, the most important being who would be the baby's favorite, although. That might be a lifetime of warring between them to one up the other.
"Boys, come here," Roger calls.
Shanks and Buggy go, curious eyes peeking at the pink chubby face of the baby.
"This is your little brother," Roger pulls them closer, the teens nearly tripping over the other's feet, "and I want you to watch over him, okay?"
"Yes, Captain."
"Whatever you say, Captain."
It isn't long after Ace's birth that the Captain's health takes another dip and the medicine that Crocus had prepared in what they at the time thought was excess is almost gone.
Shanks is handed Ace one early morning and along with Buggy is shooed from the cottage.
They walk to the beach and stroll along the sand, talking to each other and Ace.
"Captain is planning something," Shanks says.
Buggy takes Ace from the red head, disconnecting his arms to lift the babe, smiling as the freckled babe shrieks with laughter.
"Of course he is," Buggy replies, "and I'll know what in a minute."
"Captain is being awfully squirrelly and Miss Rouge is about to tear into him, I can hear her feet stomping up a storm."
"You left an ear?" Shanks reaches out to brush away his friend's long blue hair and sure enough, the area is smooth.
Buggy shifts Ace into the crook of his arm before slapping away the hand, "Shh, Captain is finally talking."
Shanks sits down into the sand, taking the babe from his friend and placing him between his legs, his tiny form held up by his big brother's front.
The blue haired teen settles beside him, leaning into the red head as he closes his eyes, focusing on the conversation being held between the Captain and Miss Rouge.
Shanks rests his cheek on the top of Buggy's head and waits.
.
.
Rouge and Ace see Shanks and Buggy off when they depart to begin the journey from Baterilla in the South Blue to Loguetown in the East Blue, hoping to make it in time to the scheduled execution of their Captain.
Their Captain had surrendered himself to the Marines a number of weeks ago after making his own trip to the East Blue.
The headlines had said that it was the Vice Admiral who had 'captured' the so-called Pirate King - it was a completely fabricated story, one that was obvious to anyone who knew the two men involved.
The Vice Admiral was a persistent dog but he was a man that enjoyed the chase more than anything and likely had spent the last several months that their Captain was laying low going stir crazy without the man he called a rival to keep himself occupied when the man was not busy terrorizing other, less powerful pirate crews.
Buggy and Shanks knew the truth, they had known that everything had been planned since that day on the beach.
The day of the execution, there is very little room to move in the square.
Buggy and Shanks are pressed close, struggling to maintain their position. It was the clearest view they could have had of the platform while keeping themselves out of the line of sight of the Marines and the Vice Admiral who was standing on the platform.
There are several faces that Buggy has only seen on wanted posters in the crowd, rookies who have traveled from the various Blues and Paradise to witness the execution.
Their Captain is brought forward and to Buggy and Shanks, he looks like a shadow of his former self.
The two men share some final words, nothing that either of them can make out but they can feel the slight shift in the air, of already agitated haki being poked.
It brings a weak smirk to their faces. Only their Captain would continue to bicker with the Vice Admiral even at the hour of his death.
Several voices call out to their captain, to the Pirate King, demanding to know if the man had a hidden treasure and where exactly it was kept.
"You want to know, where my treasure is?"
The crowd begins to rumble, eager.
"Wealth. Fame. Power."
Their Captain's voice reverberates through the square, putting a spell on the crowd, quieting them.
"I found everything this world has to offer."
"Free yourselves."
"Take to the seas!'
"My treasure is yours to find."
The crowd explodes into cheers and they let out a unanimous gasp when the Pirate King is ran through with the executioner blades.
They are just as quick to scatter, to begin the race to the location of the ultimate treasure, but Buggy and Shanks, they remain frozen as their Captain's laugh echoes and fades, as he passes on from this life and into the next.
'My treasure is yours to find.' His Captain's last words run verbatim through Buggy's head, to him it is clear. They are meant to find this treasure, to complete the journey they had started on board the Oro Jackson - and the next man to be crowned King, the choice is obvious.
It begins to rain.
The square has a few stragglers and the marines that are on duty. The Vice Admiral is gone from the platform along with the corpse of their Captain but his presence can still be felt.
"There's not a real rush, is there?," Shanks asks.
"Of course there is," Buggy answers.
"I won't allow someone else to take my treasure, my throne, and the more time we waste here, the more likely someone is to find it before us."
Shanks shakes his head, "I don't want it."
"Not right now, Buggy.."
Buggy stiffens, "What do you mean, not right now? This is our best shot - we would be the biggest stars on the seas."
"I don't want that, Buggy.." Shanks turns to his friend, his eyes dark and wet with tears.
"Fine then, I'll do it alone." Buggy turns to walk away but is stopped when the red head grabs his wrist, his grip tight and desperate.
Shanks tries to pull him back, to get the teen to face him again but Buggy refuses to budge.
"You can't, Buggy, not on your own!," Shanks cries out.
The rain begins to pick up. It would be no time at all before it completely drowned out their voices, cutting them off from the other.
"Why not, huh?! All I've ever wanted was to be a star and now, I have the perfect opportunity to make that dream come true!"
"Captain did this for us, and I won't let his last actions be for nothing!"
"I will be a star and you will be King, Shanks! It's everything we ever wanted!"
"All for us!!"
"I don't want to be King, Buggy! I've never wanted that..!"
"You don't.. want to.." Buggy wrenches his arm away.
"If you don't want to be King then I can't be a star, and that's what this is really about, isn't it!?" Buggy whips around, a vicious twist to his lips. His eyes narrowed in hatred and filled with heartbreak.
Shanks' mouth hangs open in shock, tears flowing down his cheeks. His lips are bitten bloody and his hands are fisted at his side.
"You don't think I deserve to be a star, just like everyone else!"
"I knew you were too good to be true, Shanks, but I really thought you would be different, I really did!"
"Buggy!"
He runs away, hot tears spilling and whipping away with the rain.
'I thought the world of you, Shanks. I just wish you had done the same of me. That's all I ever wanted of anyone. But it seems, that it is not possible for the likes me.'
'How could a God ever love a mortal such as I?'