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Oneshot number 30! I won't say much here, but do read the Author's Note at the end!

Enjoy! Warning: Take the content as you will, haha.

Forever and Ever

29 - proposal

Summary: Well, this was definitely a situation they had not expected when deciding to become a pirate.

"Please, marry me!"

Silence. Stunned stares from all around. A cricket chirps.

"What the hell!?"

"Once upon a time, there was a brave pirate who sailed the seas along with his strong crew. They travelled far and wide, encountering adventures in the most unlike places. But one day, the crew arrived at an island, where a lady fell hopelessly in love with that dashing pirate and immediately proposed to him! Now it turned out that the lady holds considerable influence in the island, and thus the locals are extremely reluctant to let the pirate leave, not wanting their beloved lady to be sad. The situation soon escalated into a battle of wits between the lady and her reluctant intended husband. Now who will win, you may be wondering? No one knows yet! Place bets here on who you think will triumph in the end! My dear round friend over here will be collecting your-"

"You're not helping matters, Yasopp!" the subject of the story ground out as he passed the storyteller and his crowd of enraptured listeners.

The sniper just laughed, not in the least intimidated by his old friend's irritated tone. He winked at his audience, who were mostly made up of the crew and the odd townsfolk. As promised, Lucky Roo went around collecting the bets.

The aggravated man muttered something and chose to ignore them, heading up the stairs of the inn to the rooms. Reaching the first one, he knocked and entered. The single occupant of the room pointedly ignored his entrance.

"I told you, captain, I have no idea who that woman is."

At this, Shanks turned to glare at him balefully. Still, no reply was given, a sure sign of the captain's annoyance.

"You're being childish, Shanks. And you know it."

The captain pouted a little before sighing. "Fine, I believe you. But that still doesn't solve the problem. I'm not leaving my first mate behind. And the townspeople won't let us leave with you."

Benn ran a hand through his dark hair (which he was aware was greying rapidly, thank you very much) in frustration. "It's a real muddle, isn't it?"

Shanks rolled his eyes. "That's putting it lightly. And for the record, I'm completely innocent this time."

"Rare as it is, I'll have to give you that," a new voice piped out from the door as Yasopp poked his head into the room. "So, any solutions yet? If it helps, all of the crew placed bets on you."

Benn was about to say no to both cases, but out of the corner of his eye, he saw Shanks' face light up in sudden inspiration.

"As a matter of fact, I think I have just the thing. Yasopp, come in, we're gonna need your help in this."

"I really, really hope you know what you're doing."

"Come on, trust me. You do, don't you?"

"I would trust you with my life, but not my dignity," was the dry reply.

"…I'm not sure whether I should be flattered or insulted. Anyway, Yasopp is already putting the first part of the plan into motion, so we can't stop it even if we wanted to."

From the top of the staircase where the two were hiding in a less than elegant manner, they could faintly hear their sniper weaving another elaborate tale that was astonishingly believable. The master was at work, indeed.

Yet as he listened, Benn felt like banging his head against the wall. Or better yet, strangling his captain for cooking up this idea. "Why did I even agree to this?"

"Because you love me," was the cheeky reply.

The homicidal feeling doubled. He had used that phrasing on purpose, Benn knew. A glare. "You're awfully cheerful about this."

Shanks winked. "Anything for you, Benn."

"Stop it. Just… stop."

"But we haven't even started yet!" Shanks complained, but his dancing eyes belied the unhappy tone.

"…Then… at least save it for later."

A feminine voice cried out angrily. "You're a liar!"

Shanks' grin widened. "That's our cue! Let's get this show on the road. Get out there, Benn, I'll join you soon enough."

Benn grumbled something unsavory under his breath but allowed the captain to push him towards the staircase. Schooling his expression to a more neutral one, he walked down the staircase, trying not to look like a man about to meet his doom.

The moment he stepped into the taproom, he was assaulted by an enemy that he was helpless against. "Bennie! Tell me that it isn't true!" Snickers were heard all around as 'Bennie' fidgeted uncomfortably with the woman hanging off his arm.

Benn sighed and sat down at the bar without replying. The woman immediately sat beside him, pulling the barstool closer. A short way down the bar, Yasopp bit his lip to keep from laughing and gave Benn a thumbs-up as encouragement.

"One black coffee, Innkeeper," Benn called, ignoring the persistent woman for the moment. But he knew it was only a moment of time before he had to deal with her, especially since she was sticking to him like a leech. He sighed. Might as well have it over and done with. "What is it, Gloria?"

"This man," a finger was pointed at disdainfully at Yasopp's nose, "was spreading horrible rumors about you, dear. (Benn winced a little at the endearment, but she didn't seem to notice) But I don't believe anything that he said, of course."

"What type of rumors?" he asked, though he already knew the gist of it. Shanks had given Yasopp the basic structure and allowed the man free reign of his story-telling. Benn hoped that the sniper hadn't been too outlandish with his elaborations. But then, this was Yasopp they were talking about. Benn decided that he didn't want to know what the blond had said. He wished that Shanks would hurry up and execute his (self-proclaimed) great plan.

As if summoned, the red head appeared. Shanks always did have impeccable timing.

"Benn…" Shanks murmured sleepily as he stumbled into the taproom and promptly draped his arms over Benn's shoulders, hanging there like a limp ragdoll.

Gloria bristled at the sight of the captain, but kept silent. When Shanks didn't seem inclined to let go of her man, her expression grew more murderous by the second. Her heated glares would have cowed a lesser man, but Shanks was… well, he was the master of obliviousness and being thick-skinned. Thus, as it was, Shanks just smirked inwardly as he let out a yawn.

"Just woke up?" Benn's face was a picture of fond exasperation.

Shanks nodded in answer to the first mate's question, yawning again. Dazedly, he buried his face in the crook of Benn's neck. Benn jumped a little as Shanks' hair tickled his skin.

Gloria's glare multiplied tenfold.

Behind her, Yasopp had his lips pressed tightly together, his face going slightly red and his shoulders shaking. To his credit, he didn't make a sound.

Hidden by a curtain of hair, Shanks smirked, satisfied with his success in riling up the woman who dared to even think of stealing his first mate from him. Lifting his head, he propped his chin on Benn's shoulder. Casually, an arm reached over to the bar to grab Benn's cup of coffee. Taking a sip, he made a face. "I've never understood why you drink your coffee black."

"It's healthier than the sugary monstrosity that you drink."

"Mine tastes better," was the childish reply.

Benn just smiled. "Innkeeper, bring us another cup of coffee, will you? With milk and sugar. And whatever you have for breakfast today."

Shanks finally let go of Benn, slumping into the empty seat beside the first mate. He pouted. "I want rum."

Benn rolled his eyes. "You're not drinking alcohol this early, Shanks."

"Drunkard," Gloria muttered venomously. The sound of her voice made Shanks 'realize' that she was at the bar. He tilted his head to get a view of her, his face full of innocent surprise.

"Huh? Oh, you were there. What was your name again? Gory?"

Yasopp's face was turning purple.

Gloria's face matched his, though obviously for a different reason. "It's Gloria," she ground out between gritted teeth, glaring venomously at the captain.

"Oh, yeah! That was it." Shanks had mastered the air of supreme nonchalance, it would seem. (Modern language would call him the ultimate troll.)

Breakfast arrived, and Shanks bit into a piece of buttered toast. He tore off a bite-sized piece. "Have some, Benn, it's good. Say Ah~"

Benn shot Shanks a long-suffering look that told volumes about his thoughts of this whole charade. Shanks pouted and a silent conversation seemed to occur between captain and first mate that ended with Shanks successfully popping the piece of toast into the older man's mouth.

Gloria fumed, unhappy at being ignored. She leaned forward to attract Benn's attention again, but the dark-haired man didn't even spare her a glance.

"You have food on your face." Benn reached out a hand to wipe away a crumb from the red head's cheek. "For goodness sake, what am I going to do with you?"

"Oh come on, Benn, you know you love me," Shanks repeated his previous statement with no less audacity. This time, besides just exasperating Benn, it made Gloria gnash her teeth in obvious frustration.

Yasopp made a strangled sound that made all three of them look in his direction. He immediately burst into a fit of coughing. "J-Just swallowed the w-wrong way, don't mind me." He waved them off. Gloria returned her attention to Benn, but the captain's fake concerned expression almost ruined the sniper's already paper-thin control. Yasopp glared at the red-haired man reproachfully. The corners of Shanks' mouth twitched as he returned to the show that must go on.

Benn seemed to have matters well in hand, though.

"I'm not staying, Gloria."

"B-But…"

"Gloria, be mature about this."

"But…" she whined.

"Gloria."

The woman spared a hate-filled glare at Shanks. "Why would you want to stay with this… this boorish imbecile!?" she spat.

The moment that left her lips, she knew that she had said the wrong thing.

The temperature of the room seemed to drop several degrees. "I don't appreciate you insulting my captain, Gloria," Benn said in a chilling tone that surprised even Shanks. "I have tolerated a lot from you for the past few days. But this went one step too far. I will say it one last time. I will not leave him."

The woman's face was pale, shaking slightly at his uncharacteristic coldness. Her face scrunched up. "I… I hate you!" Gloria ran out of the inn in tears.

The rest of the crew, the only ones left in the inn besides the innkeeper, gaped at the door that slammed shut behind her. No one moved – or even dared breathe, really – for a long moment.

Yasopp broke the silence with slow meaningful applause, grinning at Shanks and Benn. "Well, you two… What I can say? Good show."

"Wait, what's going on?" The majority of the crew's attention swiveled to the sniper, still perplexed about what had just happened.

"What's going on, you ask?" Yasopp laughed. "My dear friends, I'm afraid that I'm going to have to relinquish my position as World's Greatest Actor to our dear captain and first mate." He let the information sink in.

The crew gaped for a while before erupting with laughter and cheers. "Nicely played, Okashira!"

"You had me fooled for a while there!" someone called out from the crowd with a whistle. Choruses of agreement rose.

"You know, the best part of it that none of the actions looked out of place. It was just like a normal morning aboard the Force," Yasopp teased. "I hardly had to embellish the tale at all."

"Are you trying to imply something, Yasopp?"

"Why, not at all, captain," the sniper feigned innocence.

Shanks rolled his eyes before turning to the rest of the crew. His face broke into a grin. "Well, what are you still waiting for? We're getting out of here!"

"Hey, Benn…"

"What is it, Shanks?" the dark-haired man asked as his captain came to lean against the railing with him. The redhead looked pensive as he gazed out at the rapidly shrinking outline of the island they had just left.

"You'll never leave me, right? You'll always stay by my side?"

Benn grinned and playfully tousled the other man's hair as if he were still the teen that he had been when they first met. Shanks pouted at the treatment. Benn's eyes were warm. "I'll never leave you, idiot. After all," Benn couldn't help but tease a bit, "what would you do without me?"

Shanks smiled at the reassurance and started to retort in kind but was cut off by a commotion in the middle of the deck.

"The boss proposed and Benn accepted!" a voice that was unmistakably Yasopp's yelled.

"Oi, Yasopp!" Shanks squawked out indignantly as the men hooted.

Leaning against the railing, Benn just laughed. It didn't matter what others said, or what obstacles came their way. All the mattered was that he was standing beside his captain, as he always had been since their fateful meeting almost ten years ago. He was standing there… As he always would be.

Five words describe my feelings now: What did I just write? XD Is it shonen-ai, or is it not? Well… You can decide.

On happy (or unhappy) news, this officially ends my 30_onepiece challenge! (feels very proud of self) I hope that you all enjoyed the journey. I know I did!

Since this is that last chapter, may I request that you lurkers out there (I know you're there) leave a review this time? A simple one will do, I just want to know which chapter you liked best! Anonymous reviews are fine too! Looking forward to hearing from you!

To my regular reviewers, thank you so much for supporting me all the way, and I am looking forward to reading your reviews this time as well! Love you all! Do also include which chapter you liked best!

Till next time! You haven't seen the last of me yet! See you around!