The Wild Rover. (A One Piece Ace x OC x Shanks Love Story)

Chapter 3: Devlin's Mistake

By the end of Shanks' story, Dev's shyness is gone and she is bouncing on his lap, begging to hear another story and talking a mile a minute. "That was SO cool! It must be awesome to be a pirate! I want to be a pirate when I get older and so do Ace, Luffy, and Sabo. Sabo is the fourth member of our crew. He has blonde hair and a missing front tooth and he always wears a top hat. Ace and Sabo want to form their own crew and become known throughout the world!"

Dev's energy is apparently infectious because now Luffy is bouncing up and down on his bar stool beside Shanks. "Yeah! And I'm gonna be the Pirate King!"

"Oh? Are ye now?" Luffy nods energetically. "And how do ye expect ta be a pirate, much less King o' the Pirates, when ye can't even swim?"

"I'd just stay on the boat."

Shanks turns his attention back to the yellow-haired girl on his lap. "What 'bout ye, lass? Why do ye want ta be a pirate?"

Dev grins at Shanks, "For the adventures of course! I want to travel all over the world; meet new people, explore islands, and discover new things." She gets off of Shanks' lap and stands on the counter. "Maybe even cross swords with some of the world's greatest swordsmen." She pretends to be fighting an invisible foe with a sword. "Or even make incredible escapes from the clutches of the Marines and other pirates."

Shanks grins at her, his eyes gleaming in amusement. "Those are the same reasons why I became a pirate. And in my opinion, they're the best parts of bein' a pirate."

Dev blushes a little. Ace rolls his eyes at her reaction before saying, "It'll be kind of hard to be a pirate while wearing one of those fancy dresses that ladies always wear, Devlin."

Dev's face falls as she remembers that Garp wants to send her to a fancy all-girls school. She flops down on her butt on top of the counter and begins to pout. Shanks' smile fades as well and he puts a finger under her chin and then lifts her head to look at him. "What's wrong, Luv? What could be so bad that it'd put such a huge frown on such an adorable face?"

Dev blushes, "I just remembered that Garp wants to take me to a stupid all-girls school in a few years. But I don't want to go! I don't want to be some prissy girl who's afraid to get dirty or do anything fun." Suddenly, her face lights up with a huge grin as an idea occurs to her. "Let me join your crew! I'm going to be a pirate anyway, so why not join the greatest pirate crew in the world!"

Luffy jumps to his feet standing on his bar stool, "Hey! I want to join too!"

Shanks chuckles and the other pirates grin in amusement. "We're honored that ye think we're the greatest crew in the world, but I'm afraid that yer both too young ta sail on the open ocean."

"Aww," both Devlin and Luffy pout. Dev stands up again, "But I have experience sailing! I sailed to this island with my family...."

"WHAT?!" Ace and Luffy shout then climb on top of the bar with Dev and begin to crowd her, rapidly asking questions. "WHY DIDN'T YOU TELL US BEFORE?!" Ace asks. "DID YOU REALLY SAIL HERE?! FROM WHERE?!" Luffy asks this time. "WHAT HAPPENED TO YOUR FAMILY? IF YOU WERE WITH THEM WHEN YOU ARRIVED, WHERE ARE THEY NOW?!" Ace again.

Dev frowns, her face darkening and she says in a voice that's barely above a whisper, "I don't want to talk about it."

Shanks frowns as Dev shoves past the two boys and climbs onto his lap, burying her head into his chest. "It's alright, lass. Ye don't have ta tell us anythin' if ye don't want ta."

Luffy sits back down on his chair and Ace jumps down from the counter, "Luffy, Dev. It's time to go. Sabo is probably waiting for us."

Dev looks at Ace with twin wet trails running down her face, "I want to stay."