Chapter 16

Shanks Interlude

We are alive, come find us in Water Seven. – H&H

Stood there scratched into the waterlogged surface.

Shanks felt like he had been punched for the second time in so many days and something wet slid down his face. Confused he lifted his hand to his cheeks to realize that he was crying. Fuck.

He felt Ben coming up beside him and then how his first mate put a hand on his shoulder in reassurance.

"They are okay." The older man said unnecessarily and stared up into the sky, taking care to not stare at Shanks wet face.

"Yeah…" Shanks said with a small smile before wiped away his tears and turned around grinning at his stunned looking crew.

"Looks like we are going to Water Seven."

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It took them ten days until Water Seven came into view. Only then Shanks felt the last of the tension leave his body. They would reach the city on the next morning and then… then he would see Hisana and Hisoka again.

That night he indulged for the first time in nearly two weeks in sake again. Since the night he had learned of Fuusa's destruction he hadn't tasted even a drop of alcohol, not trusting himself being even slightly drunk around the weaker members of his crew.

With a content sigh the red head settled against the front most mast and looked at the clear night sky while behind him his crew was celebrating like they hadn't for weeks. A fond smile stole itself on his face and Shanks let his head thumb against the wood behind him. Now that the mist of pain and loss had been lifted he felt guilty for ignoring the pirates that had been accompanying him for more than ten years in some cases. He was their captain and he couldn't just drown in his own sorrow when he had the responsibility of over fifty pirates. Thankfully he had Ben for a first mate, the older man had taken care of everything while he had mentally been in the seven circles of hell.

Said man slumped down beside him and sat down another ten bottles of sake between them, good man.

"Want to be captain?" Shanks asked idly while his eyes returned to the stars.

Beside him Ben choked on his sake, "Hell no." after a short pause in which he finally could breath in some air he continued, "If you asshole think about retiring and leaving me with that bunch of morons you have another thing coming!"

Shanks had to grin before he took another swig of his sake. Somehow he had known that this would be Ben's answer.

"Nah… I have the feeling that I would drive Hisana nuts before the first month was over." He admitted with a quiet smile.

"Damn right you would." Ben murmured with a grumble before taking another swing from the bottle, probably to recover from the shock Shanks had just given him.

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The next day the Mad Mura entered the cities port at Dock 4. Shanks also took the opportunity to have one of the shipwrights look over the Mad Mura. Their old lady had been in quite a few storms in the last two years and while he trusted his own shipwrights, the ones in Water Seven were just a class for themselves. Additionally he wanted to get a feel for the people around because he probably would commission his next one here. As much as he loved their old lady he knew that he wanted to captain a ship made out of Adam Wood someday and where better to commission it then at the same port his own captain had received his.

Once that was out of the way the red haired captain turned around and made a beeline for the city, Lucky Roo hot on his heels. Shanks could practically feel Ben's exasperated sigh from beside the Water Seven shipwright but ignored it with practiced ease.

Once the two pirates finally came across an empty side street Shanks opened his senses and let his Kenbunshoku Haki flood his surroundings and then sent out a nearly intangible shockwave that rushed through all of Water Seven.

There.

Shanks would have known the feeling of Hisana's and Hisoka's aura everywhere. He had spent the better part of their last meeting ingraining them into his memory so that he would always be able to find them again if they were in close vicinity.

"Got them." He said with a grin and promptly started in their direction.

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Shanks took a deep breath and closed his eyes for a moment before he stepped around the corner behind which he had felt Hisana's and Hisoka's aura. His heart pounded in anticipation and then he saw it.

The familiar blood red hair of his daughter nearly glowed with the fountain as its backdrop; she was splashing around with one hand in the round basin. And she had grown.

Dear god. Instead of the nearly grown toddler that he had left behind with her mother he now saw a young child that was nearly half a head taller with slightly less baby fat. Her face though, her face was just as sweet.

It took him a moment or three to rip himself away from the picture but then his eyes wandered over to where Hisana was sitting with three other people in the shade of an old building discussing something.

He had found them.

The first step he took in direction of his lover nearly landed him flat on his nose but the next one was more secure and than he was only a few steps away from the dark haired woman that he had thought to have lost.

Hisana's companions stopped talking when they saw him come closer. And then Hisana turned her head. There was a moment of silence before he could see the sheer relief that brightened up her whole face. In the next moment Hisana was on her feet and in his arm and Shanks buried his head into her hair with a relieved sigh.

"I found you." He whispered hoarsely.

"That you did." Hisana said with a shaky chuckle at the end.

"I thought you were dead." Shanks continued, his eyes were shadowed at that.

"It was close but Neptune and the sea itself watched over us." Hisana said with a wry smile before the conversation was interrupted by an excited "DADDY!"

The nearly seven year old girl bowled into his legs and clung to him as if she would never let go again. Well until the moment Shanks reached down and hauled her into his arm. He pressed a desperate kiss against the baby soft skin of her cheek and then buried his head into the crook of her neck to breathe in deeply. Hisoka's arms closed around his neck like steel bands and then she was silent while she cuddled closer to him.

From his other side Hisana's hand came up and gently stroked over their daughter's soft hair before the hand wandered down to stroke her now shaking back in comfort. Her other arm curled around his waist before she let the bulk of her weight sack against him. Not that Shanks had any problems with keeping the three upright.

They stood like this for a time, ignoring the three other people on this small hidden away plaza in Water Seven.

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It felt like eternity until Hisoka spoke again, "It was so scary dad. The wave was so big and we couldn't sail around it." Hisoka murmured into his ear with her eyes still closed.

"I am so glad that you and your mum are fine, baby." He whispered back and held her even closer, his heart pounding at an uncomfortable fast pace, they had been out on the water when the wave had hit Fuusa, dear god.

At her daughter's account Hisana's hand tightened in his shirt and she shuddered before she reluctantly moved a bit away and looked over to where their companions stood.

Lucky Roo was talking to the eldest of the trio, a woman that was maybe around his own age and two teenagers on the cusps of adulthood. Hisana saw his gaze and tugged him along to join the conversation.

"Shanks these are Kaluah and her apprentices Maya and Takao, Kaluah is… was a doctor on Fuusa and helped me give birth to Hisoka. She is also her godmother." Hisana said with a small smile before turning her head and continued, "Kaluah this is Shanks, and you have already met Lucky Roo."

Kaluah looked considering at Shanks before she nodded, "Nice to meet you, captain Shanks. Any chance you would take us three with you wherever you are bringing Hisana and Hisoka?"

Shanks grinned at that, the woman was blunt and up front. He liked people like her. Additionally having someone with medical knowledge in Hisana's and Hisoka's vicinity was a good idea, just in case.

"Sure, it's actually not a bad idea for Hisana to have a doctor on hand, the island is pretty isolated." He agreed easily.

Hisoka hummed happy into his ear but didn't make any move to let go of him.

"Where are you staying?" Lucky Roo asked friendly.

"In a hotel close to Dock 5," the female apprentice, Maya answered with a listless smile.

She looked tired and as if she had cried a lot in the last few days and as if she would start again any moment now. Her light brown eyes were dull and slightly pink while her long brown hair was sloppily bound out of her face with a long colorful scarf; its end was intertwined with the hair that was piled up on top of her head in a messy bun. Maya's hands trembled a bit until the other apprentice put an arm around her shoulder and pulled her closer, then she relaxed somewhat and let herself be held. Takao was maybe a year older and had black hair and dark grey almost black eyes. There was a sad frown around his lips that didn't seem to go away and his shoulders were slightly slumped and only the girl beside him seemed to stop him from breaking down himself.

"Well then let's get your things and settle you on the ship. We will be leaving tomorrow at first light." Shanks said as tactfully as he could, he may have found his family but the three in front of him and clearly lost their whole world, "That is, if you don't have anything to finish up here?"

"I want to stock up on medical equipment before we leave. Water Seven has the best quality on the Grand Line… I know the suppliers here and my order could be finished today if we hurry." Kaluah answered. She too had dark rings around her eyes but she didn't seem to be on the verge of a break down like her two apprentices.

Nodding at that Shanks eyes glided to Takao and Maya who just shook their heads and Hisana who was once again leaning against him just sighed tiredly before answering.

"The wave ripped nearly everything with it… and from what was left only a small part has been salvageable, the rest was waterlogged. I used the last few days to replenish our clothes and some of Hisoka's toys with some of the money I put into the bank here for emergency situations."

Shanks grimaced and nodded, "I saw the house. Your books and your photo albums…" at that he trailed off because Hisana's eyes became bitter.

"Yeah… nothing survived, I'm just glad that I gave you the one about Hisoka when you left. My pictures from my parents and brother are all gone."

Shanks knew that those were the last mementos Hisana had left of her birth family. Wordlessly he kissed her on the temple and wished for the first time in a long while that he had his second arm back so that he could hug the black haired woman.

"Your pearls?" Shanks asked after a few minutes of silence. Hisana wasn't wearing them right now and he had an inkling of how important her self-made jewelry was for her.

At that Hisana's eyes became a bit more cheerful, "Actually those are all accounted for. They were in my jewelry box on the second floor when the wave hit and I found them still inside in the backyard."

Shanks lips quirked at that before he kissed her on the temple, "I would have gotten you new ones otherwise."