Disclaimer: I do not own One Piece. All credit for the best wit, humor, and adventure that I have ever bore witness to goes to the amazing Eiichiro Oda.

"Shanks!" The eyes of the younger man were threatening to overflow with tears. The rest of him was already soaking wet, with his bright red vest clinging tightly to his body and beads of water dripping from his messy black hair. "Gomen, gomen, gomen!"

"Luffy, you idiot! Why would you jump into the water like that? There's a reason we call you anchor after all!" The older, red-haired man was also soaked to the bone. He didn't mean to get angry with the boy, but he just didn't understand what was going through the rubber boy's mind sometimes (if there was anything going on in there at all). "What would you have done if Ben hadn't happened to spot your flag as we were sailing by and miraculously spotted your rubbery arms waving around?" And what would I have done if something had happened to you? I don't even want to think about it… I really owe Ben this time, I'll make sure to get him the best rum at the next party.

"Gee, you're right Shanks, I sure was lucky this time!" Luffy cocked his head and started tapping his chin. "Zoro has always been there to save me in the past though… I wonder if he's sleeping…"

At this, Shanks felt partially gracious towards Zoro for keeping an eye on Luffy and partially jealous, knowing that the bond between the Captain and the first mate was unusually strong.

"…Although he did warn me that he would cut me into pieces the next time I fell into the ocean! And Nami told me I would owe her 1,000,000 beli if I did it again! Hahaha!" Luffy laughed carefreely as he thought of his nakama.

Shanks felt his mouth twitch as he tried to suppress a smile. It was just so Luffy to completely forget about the near-death experience he had just moments ago and get distracted by something else. But then Shanks remembered again why he was so upset and decided that if he was going to play the role of the angry parent, he might as well do it right. "Luffy, if you've already been told not to do it countless times, why did you end up in the water again? Seriously, I know you're not that dumb, even if you do act like it sometimes!"

His comment seemed to bring the teen back to reality because something snapped in Luffy's eyes and he got frantically got up and looked around before looking despairingly back at Shanks.

"Shanks I'm so sorry! Your treasure, your treasure… I lost it! I was on lookout duty in the crow's nest when this mystery bird came by and I was curious so I got closer to it and then… it bit onto your hat and flew away! I tried to follow it and I almost reached it but then I fell into the ocean." The look in his eyes then changed from despair to determination, in true Luffy style. "Don't worry, if I try again I'm sure I'll find that mystery bird and kick its ass and get your treasure back!" He made an urgent move towards the door before the older man grabbed onto him.

"Luffy, calm down! Is this the treasure you're talking about?" Shanks motioned towards the trademark straw hat lying on the table nearby. It was a little wet, but otherwise unharmed. "Ben managed to scavenge it after seeing it floating around a few yards from the ship." Luffy's face lit up like a little kid's on Christmas as he made it over to the table in one step and hugged the straw hat to his soaked chest. Yeah, I really owe that Ben…

He was grinning that dumb, adorable, too-big-for-his-face smile again and exclaimed, "Oh, thank god! I was so worried that I had lost your precious treasure and that you would be upset with me… I'm so glad it's safe!"

Shanks strode over to where the boy was standing and gave him a stern look. "Yes, it's safe, so don't worry about it anymore! I can't believe you would go and jump off a boat to get this hat! I know I told you to take care of it but still, use your head!" Don't you know how I would feel if something happened to you and it was because of me?

Luffy looked straight back him, completely unfazed by his words. "What are you talking about? If all I had to do is risk my life to try and get back someone's treasure, especially yours, it would totally be worth it!" His words were simple and straightforward, but powerful nonetheless.

Even in his angered state, Shanks couldn't help but admire the boy's dedication and values. But then he remembered what almost happened and whacked him over the head. "You dummy! It's that attitude of yours that is always getting you almost killed! I don't want you ever doing anything like that again!"

Luffy rubbed the back of his head ruefully. Oops, I wonder if I accidentally used haki on him. Well, it serves him right for going around and acting so foolishly all the time. Luffy then started to speak defensively, "But Shanks, I couldn't imagine losing the thing that's most important to you and that you told me to take care of! So what else was I supposed to do-"

Shanks had had it at this point. The boy seemed to have no sense of self-preservation at all! He gripped him roughly on the shoulders and looked him right in the eyes. "Listen, Luffy, no more jumping in or accidentally falling into the water! From now on, I want you to promise to protect the thing that is most important to me, my treasure-"

"-that's exactly what I was trying to do!" Luffy interjected, holding onto the straw hat tightly again.

"Let me finish, Luffy! I want you to promise to protect the thing that's most important to me Luffy, your life! That's way more important to me than the straw hat!" At this point, Shanks had to lower his head to cover up the blush that was making its way onto his cheeks. Why was he blushing? He was a pirate for god's sake, and a damn good one at that! The conversation was cheesy, yes, but nothing Shanks had said had ever been more heartfelt.

Luffy blinked a couple of times and cocked his head to the side. "But this hat is your treasure right?"

Shanks exasperatedly said, "Luffy, do I have to spell it out for you?" The look on the boy's face plainly said yes. "You are a much greater treasure to me than anything else in this world. And I don't want anything to happen to you."

A couple of moments passed and realization finally dawned on the teen and he broke into another ear splitting grin and gave the older man a bear hug. Against Shanks' neck, Luffy laughed and said, "Shanks is the most important to me too! And okay, I promise! I promise to protect your treasure!"

Shanks laughed with Luffy's contagious laughing and affectionately ruffled the other's hair. It was, after all, completely impossible to feel awkward around someone like Luffy. He was feeling very warm all of a sudden, despite the coldness of their wet clothes against each other. You told us that we would know it when we found real treasure, right Captain Roger? Treasure that we wouldn't be able to live without and that no amount of gold or rum could replace? Yes, this kid is definitely my treasure.

Back on the ship, a couple months later…

All of the crew, minus the captain, were huddled around the kitchen table having a serious discussion.

"How long has it been?" Sanji asked in wonderment to the rest of the group.

"64 days, 35 hours, 23 minutes and counting." Nami swiftly answered, looking at her watch in awe.

"That bro never fails to surprise me. Anyone wanna make bets on how much longer he'll last?" Franky commented.

"Maybe that's not really our captain! Maybe aliens came and switched out his body with a clone or something!" Usopp stated seriously.

"Really? Things like that happen?" exclaimed Chopper.

"Yeah, I've seen it happen many a time…" Usopp began.

Zoro didn't bother to finish listening to the rest of Usopp's story and got up from the table with a sense of finality. "I don't know what got into our Captain, but I can say that I'm certainly happy for whatever miracle happened so that I'm not getting my shirt and swords soaked every couple hours diving in after him! I say we just leave it at that."

The rest of the crew agreed solemnly and stared off in the direction of their precious captain who had taken up his usual spot on the Sunny's lion head.

"Still," Robin wondered with her curious little smile. "It must have been something really important that happened for Mr. Captain for him to go this long without falling into the ocean."

:DD So, that was my first fanfic ever! I never thought it would happen. Anyway, reviews are greatly appreciated, so I can decide whether or not I should actually pursue every random one piece idea that pops into my head while I'm zoning out in boring classes. (yes, I wrote most of this in an extremely boring bio class)