I like it. It is very wellwritten, and you really captured that feeling a best friend gives you, that trust, calmness of not having to be anything but yourself and not having to pretend to be feeling better than you are (and even if you do pretend, your best friend doesn't fall for that trick, not really). Well done.

I was expecting Luffy and Zoro, but this was a fun surprise! I don't remember ever seeing a fic that focused on these two before. S'quite nice. :)

We don't get many Shanks and Ben fics but you did an absolutely wonderful job on this one. Their relationship really reminds me of Luffy and Zoro, how Zoro always keeps an eye on Luffy, being the common sense that Luffy needs, being the listener when he needs to be, just being himself really. It was interesting to see a more serious side of Shanks than the usual, happy-go-lucky guy we normally see. Which you have done amazingly well. Not to mention that Ben's last line got me all teary.

/“Besides,” His best friend smiled. “I want to.”/

What a first mate. *sniff* I'm glad that Luffy has his own Ben Beckmann to keep an eye on him.

How sweet...thank you for being one of the only people to write a NON-Yaoi Shanks and Benn story. You don't know how sick I am of seeing those.

I'd tip my strawhat to you, were I wearing one. Very well done, right down the the grammar and punctuation.

Ben! Shanks! my two fav non-nakama people in the series (despite the lack of face time for them both) i loved the way you showed their obviously deep friendship. :)

Aww, It's nice to find a Ben and Shanks fic when there are so few of them. This one was really good.

Very, very nice. Realistic, well written, and in character. Great job.

Cute! I don't see many things about Shanks and his crew, but even if I did, that was by far the best. Good job!

Ah, now this is lovely. I always love it when people portray Shanks' more serious side, and you've done this wonderfully. ...well actually, I love it whenever anyone writes about Shanks, but that's not the point.

Shanks' thoughts over losing his arm are nicely done and having Ben there to comfort him makes me squee with happiness.

There's not enough Shanks and Ben fics in this world.

Lovely job~!

~*Digitaldreamer*~

Really liked this one.

It's so sincere and shows Shank's serious side which can be considered a bit neglected in the manga. His thoughts after having rescued Luffy on the cost of his arm - you describe them pretty realistic, I think. Also his strong trust in Ben is clearly communicated. Nice story about some awesome characters - that you kept plausible the whole time.

Very nice. That's all I can say to this. I think you captured the shock of loosing a limb nicely, as well as the first mate's undying devotion.

I give it a big fat A

This is absolutely beautiful. Bravo.

(I had no idea good OP fic existed here. .