Chapter Text
The fist cries of the baby girl had made the Oro Jackson mood feel a sense of familiarity to when they first found Shanks. Crocus finally after spending hours caring for Shakky’s pregnancy. Roger had been wailing for ages with Gaban that Rayleigh ended up marrying the woman they had an obsession with for years. But their jealousy instantly faded away when Shakky and Rayeligh walked out from the captain’s quarters (which Crocus cleared out for a makeshift hospital bed) with a laughing buddle in Shakky’s arms. The infant had sparkling lapis blue eyes giggling towards her father.
“Why aren’t you such an adorable little one.” Roger patted the infant, feeling proud of Rayleigh. When he first heard that his first mate had gotten Shakky pregnant the crew thought he’d gone mad. Gaban wanted to chop Rayleigh into pieces from jealousy. Yet after some time to accept the situation they congested the man. They’ve handled raising Shanks so taking in another kid didn’t seem too hard.
“So, have you two thought of a name?” Crocus asked. Rayleigh seemed more happy than in his entire life.
“Well it took some time to think of something. Shakky insisted on naming her after a folktale creature from the Kuja tribe and we think this would fit her perfectly. Meet our princess, Boa Hancock.
Those were similar times back then. Before they had to worry about CP0 or the navy hunting them down. A time where Rayleigh could be a parent with Shakky watching their girls grow up. He wished it would last forever. He wished he didn’t have to send them off. It was the worst day of his life sending them off to Amazon Lilly after Roger disbanded the crew. He wanted to punch Crocus for the suggestion back then but the old doctor made perfect sense when explaining what needed to happen. The world government was deploying all their cipher pole agents on hunting down anyone connected to Roger. If the navy discovered his girls, they would never be safe.
Rayleigh sat in Shakky’s bar trying to drink away those painful memories of Hancock pleading for him not to go.Rayleigh had never cried so much that night being forced to walk away from his daughter for their own protection. He had spent countless nights wondering if he did the right thing back then when he could have just gone to a quiet peaceful life to live out their days in peace. But the thought of someone taking them hostage or using them to get to him terrified Rayleigh beyond anything that he saw in God Valley.
Since Roger’s execution the Dark King had let his hair grow out a bit and had tried growing a small beard. He still had the fade of blond just a more relaxed face, showing signs of his retirement with Shakky. They would get letters from Glorosia telling them how Hancock and her sisters were doing back in the Kuja tribe. The one thing Rayleigh kept was a locket with Shaky and his daughters pictures in it, with the most recent photo sent by Gloriosa in her letters to the couple.
It had been about 5 years since Roger’s execution and Rayleigh had been living in Sabaody ever since the crew was disbanded.
“Well I’m off to getting some new bubble coating materials. See you in, I'd say…” Rayleigh mumbling thinks of the best time. In truth he was out to gamble at the Sabaody casinos (probably will lose all his money). He could see Shakky give him a cold stare for a good minute doubting his actual intentions.
“Leave at least half of the money on the bar Rayleigh.” she demanded of her husband. Rayleigh flinched, feeling he got caught doing something bad.
“Ah come one honey, I promise to win double the profits in the tables.” he nervously promised trying not to make his wife mad at him.
“The last 10 times you said that, I found you were chased by that mob don and his goons after the gambling debt of gambling you owed him.” She scoffed, snagging the majority of Rayleigh money before he left. “This will be more than enough to cover the coating materials. I expect you to return with all the materials.” She gave a final stern look that got Rayleigh to sigh.
“Yes ma’m.” He bowed as he walked out.
“Okay.” Rayleigh chuckled a bit seeing the remaining money in his pockets. “I ordered the supplies and even paid a delivery boy to drop the goods back home by tomorrow and I still have some cash left.” He looked around for a bar to get some drinks before heading back to the casino district. When he got down he instantly ordered some whiskey and bought the whole bottle. Beside him sat a gang of thugs. Thugs weren’t rare in Sabaody and Rayleigh could handle himself in a fight so he didn’t really care where he sat.
“Careful where you sit, old man.” The thug pulled out a dagger from his belt.
“I can handle myself, and I’m not that old. Just here to have some drink, go home and sleep off the hangover.” He started chugging down the bottle. “So what’s your story? Some Paradise crew looking to make it big in the New World?”
“Haha. Nah, we’re more than comfortable on this side of the grandline. Plus the loot we score is less of a risk. Just last week we raided….” Rayleigh’s attention to the thug’s ramblings slowly faded away, focusing on the drink, only snippets of the treasures they stoke got to retired man’s attention, seeing if it was worth searching for the loot himself.
“And I found myself a pair of golden earrings.” The words got his ear. “Shapped like dangling snakes.” The bottle crashed open, Rayleigh’s grip crushing it feeling his whole world sink. Terrors plague his mind in seconds, recognizing the exact description of said earrings. They were a gift he gave to Hancock a week before sending her to Amazon Lilly. A promise that no matter how far apart they were, he would always be by her side. Now he saw the thug toss the stolen earrings in his hands, showing them off arrogant as the slavers.
The laugh of the thug became unbearable, releasing just what this man had done. Rayleigh’s eyes twitch with pure rage, the dark king that sailed with the Roger pirate reawakened in full fury of a demon. Conquerors haki roared across the bar, shattering every bottle and window, knocking everyone but the thug out. Rayleigh grabbed the man’s hair, smashing the thug’s head hard against the bar. Fear and confusion filling the man.
“What the fuck man?” Rayleigh pointed the shards of the broken bottle at the thug’s neck, grabbing a twisting the thug’s right arm tightly.
“Where did you get the goddamn earring from!!!” Rayleigh punched the thug's skull, tossing him across the bar, breaking a table in the fall.
“Your crazy old man. Just who do you think you-aaararrarrhhhh!!” The thug yelled,the glass shard of the bottle stabbed deep into his right hand.
“That earring belonged to my DAUGHTER!! AND YOU ARE GOING TO TELL ME HOW YOU GOT THESE AND WHAT YOU DID YOU HER!!!!” The glasses on Rayleigh's face barely covered the look in his eyes that would have most men running away. The thug tried to cry out to his crew but Rayleigh forced his jaw open, making the thug bite hard on the table.
“You want to keep those teeth. I WANT ANSWERS!!” He drove the glass shard down the thug arm hearing his muffled scream, it made some small relief from the shock and near heart attack Rayleigh suffered in the moment he saw Hancock’s earrings being tossed around like stolen loot.
“Okay! Okay! I snatched it off a boat heading to the calm belt. My crew found a few girls working as caban workers on the ship and figured it would be an easy target for merchandise in the slave auction houses. The earrings were just a bonus on the side from those 3 girls we took.” After hearing the thug Rayleigh's heart plummeted for a moment, understanding what this man had done to his daughters. The mention of 3 girls fit perfectly and with the earrings. He had enough.
“How many more of you slaver parasites are on SABADOY!!!” Rayleigh drew his sword, stabbing the thug in the leg, hearing him scream for his life begging Rayleigh to stop.
“STOP!!! They’re hauling a new cattle to the auction house. The bid starts tomorrow morning. I swear that’s all I know. PLEASE HAVE MERCY!!” The thug begged for his life stumbling to his knees trying to crawl away with immense haki pushing him down, he tried to grab his pistol but before he even could load it, Rayleigh severed his head in a split second,watching the lifeless head roll to his feet before crush it ti a bloody pulp with a strong stomp. The retired pirate burst out of the bar and finally for a brief moment took in the information without someone to kill. He had been shaking uncontrollably and several people were now watching him in the town after the mess he left in the bar. He wasn’t one to swear so easily, even in his time in the Oro Jackson he had controlled himself but hearing that his kids were sold to the slave auction houses broke open the storm of the dark king.
“FFFFFFUUUUUUUCCCCCKKKKKKKKK!!!!!” His conqueror's haki burst out knocking everyone, he hadn’t felt so afraid since he heard Shakky was captured by the world government and the possibility feared of, the reason of caution he sent his daughters to Amazon lily for, the nightmare that plagued his mind was becoming reality. He didn't want to think about what would happen next.
The smell of the basement of the auction house was sinking in pain and suffering. When Rayleigh sneaked into the basement he saw several faces devoid of life. He had taken out the guards and proceeded to use his advanced armament haki to bust open the cell door and destroy the shackles. He saw the dread in their eyes of the worst be put to rest by a faint flicker of hope of his arrival. Some recognized him from old bounty posters when he started to bring everyone together with a sketch of 3 girls.
“I’m looking for my daughters. Has anyone here seen these faces.” Rayleigh looked through the captives but no one recognized the faces. His heart ached every minute with the dread filling his mind. Hancock was the oldest of her sisters at 12 and he knew what the customers at the slave auction do, especially the celestial dragons. That thought of them taking his daughters was the worst outcome.
“Excuse me.” A deep voice called out to Rayleigh. The figure calling out was a tall, muscular built fishman with red skin and a raggy green vest. He seemed to be the only one who had some recognition of the girls' faces. “If the ones you're looking for aren't here then it might be too late to save them.”
“I don’t give a fuck who took them. And yes you're welcome for everything so please don’t think you owe me anything but what you might know, so where are they?” Rayleigh was swift, a bit impatient, the fear of his daughter missing was driving him mad.
“Very well. The headmaster of the auction house keeps a ledger of all purchases in his office. But I should warn, you might not like where they ended up.” The fishman gave a cautious warning. Rayleigh, leading the captives out of the auction house before making a call.
“Ca-Click, Rayleigh, you're not….” Shakky's voice was cut off by the dark king’s heavy breath and haki leaking out through the end of the line.
“They took Hancock and the girls Shakky.” Rayleigh said bluntly. He hated the implications and sense of distress on the other end of the line. He tried his best to remain calm but the situation was dire already. “I need you to call everyone off old contacts from back and the day to see if they can bring help. I’ll take whatever aid we can get at the moment.”
Shakky froze, dropped the cup of wine in her hands the second Rayleigh told her about Hancock. Her baby girls had been taken by slavers, possibly sold to the celestial dragon. She dropped the radio, throwing a stool through her bar's window. Her chest tightening, feeling unmeasurable terror at the news. Her mind went in a haze while her body collapsed onto the floor.
Damnit! Why did I send you to Amazon Lilly?! I’m such an idiot. We were safer together and I was too scared of someone taking her. Why didn’t I stop this?! Where was Glorisa!!
She screamed and smashed the wooden floor breaking down into tears thinking of Hancock and the girls being tormented by celestial dragons like she was years ago in God Valley. She barely managed to hear Rayleigh’s voice asking her to call their old contacts before the signal broke.
Scrolling through ledgers was more disturbing than Rayeligh imagined. Reading the soulless descriptions of those sold off into slavery like cattle. His grip flinched, barely holding on to find any clues to where Hancock was sent off to. Then after what felt like eternity he found a sale whose description matched Hancock and her sisters.
3 girls from Amazon Lilly sold to a -saint Shepard Sommers. The worst came. This was the worst possible situation that could be and it was possibly the most deranged celestial dragon Rayleigh could think of.
From what he heard and saw on God Valley and the several attempts the holy knights made to take away Shanks. Shepard Sommers was a psychopath that took pleasure in making people suffer in whatever ways he could think of. He without a doubt had a long history of rape and made tourture a hobby. Rayleigh had everything stolen from him, saw that man almost kill Shakky and now that monster had his daughters doing Nika knows what to them. He didn’t want to even imagine the possibilities. He ran back to Shakky’s bar, trying to think of a plan.
The holylands of Mariejois had the finest foods, architecture, riches, treasures, sculptures and heavenly tribute could buy. Hundreds of world nobles lived careless of the concerns of the 6 seas. But for Shanks he could feel less depressed by the view. This place was a cage both figuratively and literally. The city housed the biggest amount of slaves anywhere else in the world, was filled with petty nobles and corrupt government officials. He spent most of his time in the holy knight temple training to distract himself from the screams he heard outside. Whenever someone would try to invite him to shop at the Sabaody auction houses or see the slave fight in the coliseum, he would make up a thousand different excuses. Shanks had been mapping out the holy city looking for a way to save some of the slaves being tormented but it would take time for anything big to happen.
Suddenly his transponder snail started ringing. The redhead was shocked to hear someone calling him this late at night. When he opened the channel the 20 year old didn’t expect to hear Rayeligh’s voice on the other end.
“Hey Shanks, I heard from Buggy that you decided you ran up to the redline. What’s up with that shit?” Rayleigh sounded exhausted but heard his mentor sounded generally puzzled on why Shanks went to Mariejois. The reasoning still confused the redhead.
“Unfortunatly yes.I’m looking for something in Panage castle and getting a connection with the holy knights was the best method to get into the castle.” He purposefully avoided telling the actual reason for his time in Mariejois. The secrecy of his goal was important for the long game. Still he was interested in why Rayleigh was calling.
“Shanks, if you're up there, do you know how many guards are up there and their rotations?” The question came out of nowhere. It sounded almost insane. The only reason someone would ask for that intel would be suicude. But then it hit Shanks in the head to what Rayeligh was thinking. “Before you say anything, no I’m not crazy. Do you remember Hancock and the girls?”
“Yeah, Shakky said something about sending them to Amazon Lilly.” Shanks hadn’t heard much of the Boa sisters since the crew disbanded. Last he heard they were living with the Kuja.
“The girls were taken by slavers. I tracked their last known location to a Sabaody auction house but after some digging, found she was sold off to a world noble named Saint Sommers. Do you know which castle he lives in?” Rayleigh sounded horrified and desperate. Shanks could only imagine the pain his mentor was going through the moment it clicked to the dark reality of the situation. The redhead had the unfortunate opportunity to see Saint Sommers on multiple occasions. He was sadistic, lazy, obsessive ego and enjoyed torturing small animals in the holyland woods.
“Shit. Rayleigh, that man he’s….”
“The worst thing imaginable, I’ve fought him in God Valley when he tried to bash in Shakky’s skull. I don’t think he knows their relation to me. But from the ledger I stole from the auction house, he bought them a little less than a month ago. Every day they remain in that wretched city the worse it will get for them.” The dark king asked for some maps and weak points in the holy city to exploit. Shanks listened carefully, telling whatever info that he could give.
“Listen Rayleigh, we can’t just plan this on a call. Meet me at Shakky’s bar with whatever contacts you can bring. I think I can hook up a plan in a week.” The redhead could hear Rayleigh’s displeasure at how long they now had to wait. “Look I’m sorry but the only reason to save those girls is to gather allies and discuss and strategize a plan that will take time. I’ll try to stall Summer and get his attention away from the city and try to create openings in the city just please trust me.” Shanks pleaded to Rayleigh to trust him. He could hear the dark king’s conquerors leak through the line in his panic and discomfort mumbling.
“Goddamnit alright, just get my girls back Shanks. Whatever it takes.” the line cut leaving Shanks to process everything he had. Hancock and the girls were captured by Summers and possibly he had to burn down Mariejosi to save them. He felt overwhelmed by everything.
“You seem like shit.” A voice echoed from the shadows of the holy k night temple. Shanks drew Gryphon, his observation haki scanning the large halls of the temple trying to find who was there. “Woah. Easy there Shanks. Can’t we just act like civilized people for once.” Behind him a tall woman over 6 feet tall with long beautiful white hair, holy knight armor she had purple eyes and a longsword strapped to her belt sat on the railing of the balcony.
“SERA!” Shanks shouted out in surprised shock, feeling his heart rate rise from the panic. He quickly lowered his voice, trying to make sure no one else overheard him and dragged Sera down the halls and into an empty training room. “How much did you hear?”
Saintess Sera of house Blackfire was part of the celestial defence force consisting of those with Gods Steel titles and the holy knights. Sera held the same ranking as Shanks with Gods Steel and had a reputation of being a free spirit, running away from the luxuries of the city and refusing to take any slaves. It was one of the reasons Shanks viewed her as the only one in the city that wasn’t mad with power. But still her overhearing his call would be disastrous if she told anyone. He would like to consider her a friend but the little she gave off by herself was too much of a wildcard to be trusted.
“That you were talking about rescuing some girls that the fat fuck Sommers had bought in a slave market.I always found it weird to how distant you were with the other celestial dragons, only trying to make small talk with shamrock and having that sense of disgust everytime you were walking through the city.” Sera smirked seeing Shanks curse under his breath. Unlike most of the knights, she had worked hard in training her haki instead of relying on the powers the covenants sealed into them by the Gorosei. “So you can either invite me for a drink in Garling’s office or….”
“Okay, Okay.” Shanks panicky whispered a bit louder to understand the point and to get Sera to make a deal. The two easily got into Garling’s office seeing that most of the holy knights had returned to their castles for the night. Sera popped open a bottle of red wine, chugged the whole bottle as he sat down on Garling’s desk. She didn’t give a damn what others thought about her.
“So who are you really?” Sera asked. Shanks gave in explaining everything he remembered about his time being raised by the Roger pirates, their travels across the world, his love of seeing the world and why he really returned to Mariejois.
“There, now you have it. Just tell me what you want already.” Shanks moaned feeling everything fall apart. Sera looked at the redhead for a few minutes, finishing the bottle of wine.
“Simple. I want in with your break out plan.” Sera seemed genuine and Shanks saw that she also despised Summers but he still couldn;t understand why Sera would offer this. Sure she seemed decent but when it came to the celestial dragons. “What, surprised that I’m not trying to stab you in the back? You know I hate this city and the pricks here.”
“Okay I get that but help. If you wanted to run away, why not do it earlier?" The redhead asked.
“Cause it will piss off Summer’s. That and I need to leave soon.” Sera sighed, putting the empty bottle down. “My family is marrying me off to your brother. I need them to be too busy to even think about me.” The look in those purple eyes was one of desperation and fear.
“Why are you afraid of being with….”
“Don’t defend him!” Sear shouted at him. “I get he’s your brother and you want to see the best in him but that man is more deranged than you think. Before you came around, Shamrock was the first holy knight in 600 years to unlock conquerors haki and quickly became a prodigy. Worse is that nothing can satisfy him. His craving for power. You didn’t see him grow up. He had no problem beating celestial dragon children and didn't care that he got caught because his family controlled the holy knights.” While Shanks wanted to deny this, he couldn’t argue about his brother's troubling actions he’d seen.
“Okay fine I’ll bring you into the circle. But we need to get Shamrock away from Mariejois.” Shanks caved into the pressure. Sera agreed to that plan and started laying out some of the noteworthy locations on where to strike. She also started writing a letter to Summer’s trying to delay his attention from the girls while Shanks looked for opportunities in the CP0 files to distract Shamrock.
The next morning in Shakky’s bar, Rayleigh had gotten contact from the red fishman he saved from the auction house who told his name was FisherTyger. He had rallied a large number of strong fishmen and merefolk who had grudges against the celestial dragons and wanted to fight back. Rayleigh was able to get Sunbell and Spencer near the area when Rayleigh sent out a distress signal which would be helpful for infiltrating the most guarded place in the world. He hoped for more people but with most of the Roger pirates retired to distant lands or in hiding, this was the nest he could muster.
“Heres what we know from the intel given. These are the guard roasts and numbers in the night watch.” Rayleigh laid out plans for troop movements in Mariejois. “Whatever happens don’t attack the holy knights. I’ve fought them in God Valley and the only thing that seemed to even damage them was advanced conquerors haki so leave them to me. Just focus on taking out any guards and free as many slaves as you can before meeting back at the elevators. Any merfolk will guard a ship from the navy to ensure we have a means of escape while the rest sneak up to the holylands. Spencer, I need you to cut all communications from Marienford to Mariejois. We can’t have the navy sending reinforcements or the whole operation will be done for. Additionally we need to destroy every elevator to Mariejois except the one we’ll be using for the escape route. Once we retrieve what we came for we’ll hide in Fishman island until the heat dies down.”
Everyone brought up some pointers for weak points , such as the armory location Shanks gave which they could use to resupply and devil fruit intel of the holy knights.
“Doesn’t this feel nostalgic Rayleigh?” Spencer tried to lighten the mood but Rayleigh wasn’t having it, giving the former intelligence officer of the Roger pirates a cold glare. “Okay I’m sorry, just trying to help you. I want to save those girls too.”
With everything in play there were just the important factors of who had advanced armament to make freeing the slaves they could find easier. A few fishman stepped forward which gave Rayleigh and Shakky some sense of relief. The last part would be the worst thing the dark king could imagine. Waiting.
Years back
“Oh no this is terrible.” Roger gasped, calling Rayleigh and the crew to his side. They looked worried about what was spooking the captain. “They keep on getting my name wrong.” He pointed to his updated bounty poster showing the name Gold Roger.
“Who cares about that.” Hancock pouted to Roger. “It makes you sound cooler plus the navy is constantly lying to save their own skins so don’t put effort into moaning over it” Several of the crew smirked hearing the little girl roast the captain.
A CP0 ship was housing 4 members of the celestial defence force on route to an isolated island in the Florian Triangle. It was mostly rocky terrain and mountains with a giant cave deep in the middle of the island. A strong presence was sensed in that area. At the main deck, Shamrock stood at the railing gazing off to the mysterious island. Shanks had given him intel from CP0 that Gecko Moria was last seen in this land. The thought of fighting the beats that held his own against Kaido interested the redhead who approved of the hunt of the shadow fruit user. He had gotten calls to return back to Mariejois but Shamrock could care less about the nobles. He hated patrolling the city and desired to conquer his own chunk of the world without answering to anyone but himself. He would kill Moria and claim the shadow fruit for himself. Then he would face whatever powerful presence he sensed on this island.
TO BE CONTINUED!!!!