The Admirals Daughter

Shifting World

I stared at the sleeping man, Benn and waged out my chances of stealing a life boat from them. I can't get to anywhere without a log post, I could fend of the sea kings if I had a decend weapon, but if I manage to get both then I'm going to need food, water, and my treasure, which I won't have enough room for! No matter how many ideas I rack my brain for, they're all too risky for me. It doesn't help that I'm hungry as well so I can't think right. The food beside me smelled so wonderful and mouth watering that I almost gave in. I looked at it and stared in longing. What if it had been tampered with? Could they have poisoned it? I am the daughter of a Fleet Admiral. Pirates hate the marines so it would make since if they hated the family of a marine.
"Are you going to stare at it or eat it, kid?" I glared behind me but he was unfazed.
"How do I know none of you poisoned it? I am a marine's kid after all so you might be trying to kill me then parade my dead body!" Benn laughed hardily and even slapped his knee. My blood began to boil as my anger flared.
"What the hell is so damned funny you old gorilla!" He immediately stopped laughing and looked at me.
"Old, you say?" In a flash he had me by my crop top and yanked me close to his face but I held my ground, no matter how scared I was.
"I ain't that old, you little pixie brat," he yelled.
"Pixie brat? I'm not that short you two thousand ton sea king!"
"Gah, you piss me off you little insect!" He let me go and turned away from me.
"Anyways, we wouldn't poison your food." He sat down and gave me a cold smirk. "If we wanted to kill you, we would have done so before you got on this ship." I froze and looked at Benn with fear. He had a point though, from all of the stories I heard, they didn't have to save me at all.
"So why save me?" I spoke low but it was low enough for him to hear me.
"Huh?"
"Why save me at all? I would have been fine falling! You didn't need to help me!"
"Yeah well the captain is just that kind of man."
"Just that kind of man? Your all pirates! There was no reason for you to help me at all!"
"Thats true." I looked over to the door and saw Shanks standing there with a smile.
"We are pirates and I didn't have to help you. I wanted to help you."
"Why," I asked, almost desperately.
"I wouldn't be much of a person, let alone a man, if I ingored someone in need of my help, now would I." For some reason I believed his words to be truth. His honest smile and friendly demenor disarmed me, rattling my resolve.
"Also, I don't like unnecessary blood shed so I wouldn't kill you." Once again I sensed nothing but honesty from the man.
I took the platter and began eating it. I noticed the smile that played on both men's faces but said nothing at all.
"Now that thats settled, make sure your out on deck later," Shanks said.
"Why," I asked with a full mouth.
"We're going to throw a party for your arrival on the ship."
I paused and looked at Shanks dumbfounded.
"Hica," I said in confusion and pointed at myself.
"Mmmhmm!"
"We just had a party two days ago," Benn said.
"Well we can have another. Don't be such a sour wart!" I watched the two interact with each other and couldn't miss the light atmosphere they, no, that Shanks carried with him. It was as if a cloud of compassion and joy was hugging him and everyone close to him.
I snapped out of it all when I felt something was off. My instincts were sharp, due to my father's training, so I wasn't wrong with my assumptions. With my speed, I jumped on Shanks, just in time to save him from a few bullets. I don't know why I saved him at all. Its as if my body moved on its own. I opened my eyes and saw the suprised look on his face.
"Are you okay," He asked me.
"Am I okay," I exclaimed, "your the one that was being shot at and your asking me if I'm okay!" I punched him in the head and glared.
"Don't be such a moron, okay?" Shanks ignored me and just stared at my arm. I followed his gaze and saw the bullet had grazed me.
"Oh look, I've been grazed." I then noticed Shanks had a blush on his face and took in our position. I was straddling him with my hands on his chest. My whole face turned red when he scratched the back of his head and smiled nervously.
"Not to interrupt, you two, but there's a fight on deck," Benn said. Shanks sat up, with me still straddling him, and I blushed at our new position. I quickly got up and moved aside when he stood.
"Stay in here," He said, "this is going to be quick." He and Benn left out of the room to join the fight. Suddenly I felt a pressure I've only ever felt with my father. I recognized it as haoshoku haki, something I've always hated since I used to pass out all the time. I went to peak out the door and saw I was right when men started passing out, left and right, all men but one.
"Now usually, Fallok I'm a calm guy," Shanks said as he confronted the only man standing. I saw his crew members stand around him like a small army.
"But you've hurt a friend of mine, so I don't take that likely."
Did he mean me? Of course he didn't! He can't mean me...can he?
I watched the other man laugh off his current demeanor and point a gun.
"This is why I've always hated you, Shanks. Your always so soft and bave your idiotic morals and principles. It makes me sick. Your not a pirate, your not even a man!"
"You can say all you want, Fallok. You still hurt my friend, so your going down." Before I could blink, a chubby guy in a green and white shirt was behind the man, Fallok, with meat in one hand and a gun pointing at the side of his head. He pulled the triggar and the man instantly went down. My heart beat was the only thing I heard as Fallok fell, it was like slow motion. I quickly closed the door when I saw Shanks turning back this way and pretended to be tending to my arm. After a few moments Shanks came inside the room.
"I asked you to stay in here," he said.
"I was in here," I said trying to clean the graze I got.
"Oh really? Then tell me what you saw."
"I- I saw nothing."
"Your stuttering says otherwise." In one swift movement I was placed on the dresser.
"What the-" Shanks stood between my legs, probably thinking I would kick him away, and took my arm.
"Hold still," he told me and put some ointment on my arm.
"I could have done it myself you know."
"Yeah, but you got this saving me from it. Its not enough to repay you but its something." I looked away in embarrassment but noticed that his left arm was gone. I stared at it hard and wondered what happened to it.
"It happened years ago when I was saving a friend."
"I'm sorry, I didn't mean to stare," I said quickly.
"It's fine. I don't mind at all." He tied the bandage around my arm and smiled.
"There, you'll be healed up in no time." I stared at the man in awe, wondering how someone descibed as a cruel man, be this gentle towards me. I took in every feature on his face. From his three scars over his eyes, to his soft looking facial hair. I wanted to feel it to see if it was as soft as it looked. I noticed him looking at me as well. Taking in my face, as if trying to remember every detail. I looked away from him and pushed him back some so that I could get down. When I did, I looked up at him and smiled genuinely, something I've only done for my mother and that was before I turned ten.
"Thank you." I moved away from him and went out the cabin for the first time since my arrival on this ship. There was still light outside but the sun was setting. I looked around and saw all of the crew looking at me with friendly smiles on their faces.
"Well, everyone," Shanks sakd and he draped his arms over my shoulders, "let the party began!" The crew cheered and began singing and dancing and laughing. It lasted the entire night until they all went to sleep anywhere. Shanks was passed out beside my room door and I couldn't help but giggle.
In this short amount of time, this crew made me rethink my thoughts of pirates. Maybe all of them weren't as bad as my father depicts.
I put a blanket on Shanks and just stared at him for a moment. He's a man that had a gentle heart and an steel resolve. He seemed honourable enough, also. I stood and looked around at the mess created by the guys and chuckled before getting to work cleaning it up.
In the middle of cleaning I shivered at the sudden drop in temperature but it wasn't really cold, just nippy. I was going to ignore it but felt a blanket being placed on my arms.
"You don't have to do this, they usually do it once they're awake," Shanks said.
"It's fine. I don't mind really." I yawned a bit then tried to clean again but was stopped.
"You need to rest. Like I said, they usually do it whenever they wake up." I was going to rebuttal but he took my hand and began walking back to the room. I smiled at him while he wasn't looking then pretened to yawn when he looked back.
When we got to my room I felt utterly exhausted. I barely kept my eyes open walking to the bed. Shanks stopped to let me get in bed and get comfortable. He was going to leave but I grabbed his cloak.
"Wait!" He stopped and looked back at me. "Tell me about your friend. The one you helped years back." He smiled and turned to face me.
"Ah, you wanna know about Luffy."
"Wait, Strawhat Luffy? That same guy that destroyed Impel Down and declared war on the world government?"
"That very one. Although he was just a knucklehead when I helped him back then. He's grown into a fine pirate." I noticed the genuine respect he held for that boy and couldn't help but want to meet him myself. If Shanks approved of him then he couldn't have been the bad guy, could he?" I closed my eyes and imagined the kid he described as I drifted into sleep.