I give you: The Navigatorās Map of Shanties for the Weary Voyager!
So my husband got the idea to make a timeline map of my Shanks x Makino series ("Shanties" for short), so that readers could better see how the different fics are connected, and while I should have been prepared, knowing full well how brilliant he is, I was not prepared for the end result. I mean look at it!!!
Some descriptions of key fics and planned updates below! The fics are listed in the recommended reading order on AO3, but feel free to chart your own course! Beware rogue whirlpools and dangerous straits, and remember that however dark and treacherous the sea, at the end of the voyage is always a safe harbour ā„
Hoist the colours! š“āā ļø
Heed the Sirenās Call // Shanks and Makinoās origin story, and the starting point of Shanties. Setting is pre-series to the timeskip.
Sailor's Folly // Siren's Call from Shanks' perspective. Includes the origins of Makino's sword, Siren.
Sea Songs // Sequel to Sirenās Call, set during the canon timeskip and after.
Scylla // Pirate!Makino AU, where Makino leaves East Blue with the Red-Hair Pirates at the start of One Piece.
Charybdis // Sea Songs AU, where Blackbeard destroys Fuschia and Makino goes on a trek across the Grand Line looking for Shanks, who thinks she's dead.
Mnemosyne // Kuja!Makino AU, where after Siren's Call, a pregnant Makino ends up on Amazon Lily.
Andromeda Unbound // Reverie Arc AU, where Makino, the Revolutionary Army, the Red-Hair Pirates, Straw-Hats and the Warlords join forces to crash Shanksā execution.
On the Water // Pirate!Makino AU, where Makino and her child leave East Blue with the Red-Hair Pirates after the timeskip. Includes Shanks and Makino's floating bar, Siren's Call.
Salt Vows // Arrested!Makino AU, set during the current Egghead arc.
Tethered to Kinder Shores // Makino and the Red-Hair Pirates. Includes the origin of Makino's shanty, "Moored to Her Port".
Moon and Her Maiden // Selkie AU. Canon OP verse but Makino is a selkie.
Tideswept // Royal/Arranged Marriage AU.
Bind Me to the Tide // Soulmate AU, where soulmates feel each other's pain. Canon OP verse but with soulmates.
Love In Good Liquor // One-Shot collection set during the different Shanties verses.
Planned updates
This list is not comprehensive (meaning I have more fics that I plan to continue than the ones listed here), but it's the stories I'm focusing on right now:
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
If she hadn't known it was him, she would have thought it was an impostor, or someone wearing his faceāa shapeshifter whose glamour might have fooled those who didn't know him, because beyond his appearance, there was no trace of the captain she loved, who laughed and sang and filled the room like the horizon, and who was many things but indifferent had never been one of them.
But it couldn't be someone else. Not with those scars; the ones she'd traced so often, Makino knew them in her fingertips. It couldn't be someone else, wearing her favour around the hilt of his sword.
Except right then, Makino wished it was an impostor, because if it was him, it meant that she was the one who'd been fooled by his glamour: the rugged and charming captain who'd swept into her life, forever altering the shoreline of her quiet existence; who'd become her lover, and her husband, and the father of her child, and who'd known her as intimately as one person could know another, body and soul.
In the maelstrom of her feelings, a single word resurfaced, flotsam from the sinking wreck of her realisation, spoken in his voice, and that cold, unfeeling cadence.
How are you feeling with all the recent reveals with Shanks bio fam?
There's parts I like, parts I'm indifferent towards, and parts I don't like! Overall, I think it's an interesting part of his backstory. I love that we're finally getting more info about this part of the One Piece world, and having a character as important to Luffy as Shanks featuring in it gives it an emotional anchor that might have been difficult to achieve with a different and lesser known (and beloved) character.
As for his family, I've already talked a bit about this, but I find Garling fascinating as a villain. He's such a deliciously different villain compared to Blackbeard and Akainu (by which I mean worse, in the best way), who are normally the main antagonists in my fics, and I'm having a blast writing him in Salt Vows. I think my only issue is that hairstyle. Just...why?
About Shamrock I'm...still undecided. I don't really see what he adds to the story, beyond illustrating how different two brothers can become depending on their upbringing/role models (although didn't we already cover this with Doflamingo and Corazon, Oda?), but I'll give him a chance before I pass my final judgement. He's also featuring in Salt Vows, so maybe getting into his head and writing him will help get me fully on board. If nothing else, he'll add some comedy to Buggy's scenes, who's going to be even more furious that he's not Shanks' only brother than he is about being considered Shanks' brother (I love Buggy. So much.). Between Makino and Buggy, I'm going to give the poor guy so much grief<3
My main beef with Shanks' backstory is that his mother doesn't have a face OR a name. I'd like to say I expected more from Oda, but the truth is that this is exactly what I expected (no, wait - the fact that she appears at all is more than I expected, so I'll give him that, I guess). It's a shame, because I had such a blast creating an OC mother for Shanks in Mnemosyne, and I still have such a vivid image of her in my mind (the sea incarnate with her terrible singing voice, lion mom Muir how I loved you), that what we got in canon was just disappointing. Predictable, but disappointing.
What I am really interested in is the time Shanks apparently spent in the Holy Land, and I'm currently working on not one but two new fics about that! There's a lot I'm curious about regarding his reasons for going (and staying??) there, and while I have my interpretation (see upcoming fic), at least insofar as Shanties Shanks is concerned, I'm fully prepared for it not being the characterisation we'll get in canon, but that won't stop me from sailing my own sea ;)
So to answer your question, I guess I'll say that I'm feeling inspired!
Been on a writing roll, so have a snippet from a longer fic I'm currently working on! This is the answer to a request about Makino's reaction to Shanks' Celestial Dragon origins, and while my personal headcanon is that he just told her, then I thought 'what if he didn't and instead she found out in the worst way? :D'
Spoilers for manga chapter 1138 and onwards, and specifically chapter 1152!
Each-uisge (āwater horseā): a shapeshifter usually found in deep lochs and oceans; will sometimes take the form of a handsome man to lure young maidens into a watery grave.
āWhat does this symbol mean?ā
The gentle query was accompanied by a touch, drawing him out of the lethargic daze that had seen him drifting off to sleep, and slitting his eyes found Makino's fixed on his left arm, and the tattoo inked on his bicep.
A slender fingertip traced the symbol, the featherlight caress leaving a pebbling of goosebumps in its wake despite the warm steam from the bath. Her head was resting on his chest, her small frame seated astride his hips, but then the bath barely fit him as it was.
He watched her tracing the tattoo, following the intersecting lines between the four outer points, and the circle enclosing them. And it wasnāt the first time sheād seen itāgiven how many times sheād seen him naked in the frankly horny week that had followed that first time behind the counter of her bar, Shanks would have been surprised if sheād missed itābut it was the first time sheād brought it up.
Those bottomless eyes lifted from the tattoo to his, the thick fan of her lashes swept upwards in a questioning look, and he realised belatedly that he hadnāt answered.
āNothing specific,ā he lied, his smile easing its path along his voice, not so much as a shiver in it to betray the blatant untruth for what it was. āSaw it in the tattoo parlor and thought it looked cool. Ben doesn't agree, but then itās not like his tattoo is any cooler.ā
The teasing purse of that soft mouth said she wasnāt fully convinced thatās all there was to it, but she didnāt pry, her lashes fanning down as she touched her fingertip to the centre point of the tattoo, and he felt a clenching in his gut,Ā but then even if there was a lot he hadnāt told her about his life before coming here, omitting parts of the truth and lying to her face were two completely different things, and this was the first time Shanks had done the latter.
He was glad she was focused on the tattoo then, because the shame rising in his throat was so great that for a brief second, he'd lost control of his expression, before he reined it back in, his usual ease falling into place, like a second skin.
āHow old were you when you got it?ā Makino asked then. She was still tracing the tattoo, her touch lingering, and in a way that made him acutely aware of its presence.
He resisted the urge to shrug off the sensation, clenching his fingers until it passed, before spreading his palm over the top of her head where it lay on his chest, her short hair damp from the bath. The setting sun reaching into his cabin compelled the sea glass to the surface, glimpsed between the sable tresses slipping through his fingers where he played with it.
āEarly twenties,ā Shanks said, which was true, but then he added, āMy memory of the event is a little blurry. There was a lot of sake involved.ā
Another lie, and another truth, entwined like a sailor's knot until even he struggled to tell them apart. ButĀ he had gotten stupidly drunk that day, although it had been after getting the tattoo, not before, as though if he just poured enough sake down his throat, he could forget what he was doing. What heād had to do.
Of course, he'd never forgotten, not that day, or any of the days that had followed, that time in his life remembered with excruciating clarity, but then he'd brought back more reminders than the one inked on his arm.
āOne of my many youthful indiscretions,ā he continued, although didnāt know if it was a lie or a truth this time, but then it might be years until he knew the answer, and whether or not he'd made the right decisions.
That little smile wanted to know the whole story. And he wished then that it could have been as simple as a foolish young captain in a tattoo parlor, sailing three sheets to the wind and with a whole crew cheering him on.
āThe first time I saw it, I thought it might be a kind of compass,ā Makino said, tracing the circular pattern.
Shanks didnāt answer, playing with her hair, although had to curl his fingers to keep them from shaking, and was glad she was focused on the tattoo.
And if only it had been a compassāa sailor's symbol of good luck, pointing the way home, but if his tattoo pointed to anything, it was a place that had never been home, and a time he'd much rather forget.
He was suddenly grateful that she didnāt understand its significance, but then outside the Holy Land, there were few who'd recognise it for what it was, and what it made himāor had made him, anyway, although he could run as far as he wanted, but it didnāt change what he was, at least in the eyes of his old man.
āShanks?ā
He felt her sit up a bit, the water sloshing against the sides of the bath, andĀ watched the paths it took down her body, silver rivulets where it ran from the horizon of her collarbones, between the pert mounds of her breasts to the dip of her waist, cupped in his hands now, wrapped loosely around it, so tiny he could span it with his fingers.
Her eyes sought his, trapping his roving gaze, and in the direct trajectory of that look, he felt suddenly exposed, and not just because he was naked beneath her.
The knit of her brows made him wonder if he'd let something slip, watching as her eyes searched his face, and suddenly terrified of what sheād find on it, evidence more damning than the one written on his skin, āIf you were to get a tattoo, what would you get?ā Shanks asked her.
If she heard that he was trying to change the subject, her startled smile didn't mind. āI donāt know,ā Makino mused. She was playing with the hair on his chest now, her eyes lowered under her lashes. āSomething pretty. I like flowers.ā
His grin had momentarily forgotten about his own tattoo, distracted by the thought of what she'd look like with one, and the bare canvas of her body where he held it. āA compass rose?ā
She stuck her tongue out, but pulled it back when he tried to catch it in a kiss, the water sloshing wildly around them, and laughing, āIām not a sailor,ā Makino reminded him pertly. She had her hands pressed to his mouth, although it did little to contain his grin, stretching behind her fingers. āAnd Iām pretty sure itās frowned upon for a landlubber to get a sailor tattoo.ā
Nipping at her fingers, āIf thatās your worry, you could always become a pirate," Shanks rumbled. "Problem solved.ā
Her laugh was soft, as her hands moved to cup his face, her thumbs brushing the corners of his eyes. The last dregs of sunlight danced in hers, the look in them soft where she held his face. āIs piracy the solution to all your problems?ā
His smile tilting, āYouād be surprised,ā Shanks said, but held his tongue before he could say that piracy had solved one of his lifeās biggest obstacles, which was directly related to the tattoo on his arm. Instead, what he told her was, āPiracy was freedom. That alone solves a number of problems.ā
Makino hummed, brushing her thumb over the edges of his scars. āAnd what were you seeking freedom from, Captain? This isnāt where you tell me you have a wife somewhere, is it?ā
His grin kept his secrets, but then heād had years of practice guarding his expressions, the ones heād spent in Mariejois a greater education than any other part of his life. āNo wife,ā he said honestly, although stopped himself before he could say not yet.
He blinked, but didnāt know what surprised him moreāthe sudden impulse to speak the words to her, or that it didnāt horrify him to realise that he meant them.
Makino was watching him, her eyes soft, and he wondered suddenly what she would have said if he had spoken them out loud. Theyād barely known each other a few months, and more than that, he was leaving soon. Heād renounced the life that would have seen him settled with a wife, walled in from the rest of the world and miles from the sea he loved, and more than anything.
But watching her where she sat, the petite frame of her body cradled between his, the loveliest being the sea had made, he couldnāt shake the feeling within him; as though it had been imprinted, and in something more permanent than ink.
Even sea-longing didn't feel like thisāa yearning so fierce that it left him short of breath, even now.
Cocking her head, her eyes searched his face,Ā as though if she only looked hard enough, she might find the answers she sought there, about his past, and his life before her. But then her own life was an open map, hiding no more secrets than her face did. In comparison, Shanks had so many secrets, if he were to tell her, he didnāt even know where to begin.
No, that wasnāt true. He knew exactly where he should begin; the only thing he didnāt know was how sheād react to learning the truth.
Her hands released his face to trace the width of his shoulders, her eyes following the paths of her fingers, charting his body as sheād come to know it, a curious boldness that was different from her usual shyness when it came to touching him.
Shanks watched her, transfixed, but then her face wore all her thoughts openly, not a single secret to be found in it, but while her helpless attraction usually made him feel stupidly gratified, this time all he felt was soft.
In his whole life, no one had ever touched him like that, or looked at him like thatānot just with attraction or desire, but with a gentle sort of wonder that made him want to be the person she saw, and admired.
Her fingertips brushed the tattoo again, and he had to stop himself from tensing up, but before he could, the palm of her hand covered it. It was so tiny the full spread of her fingers didn't even span the width of his bicep, and wasnāt enough to hide the whole tattoo, but the significance of the gesture wasnāt lost on him. And he didnāt know how sheād deduced that it wasnāt just the drunken evidence of a questionable decision in his youth, but when her eyes met his, the look in them understood, even if she didnāt know half of it.
He felt exposed again, all of him stripped bare under that look, only this time, Shanks didnāt try to escape it, allowing her instead to see, his second skin shucked, and leaving him more vulnerable than he'd allowed himself to be around anyone, even his crew.
And he wanted to tell her then, about all of it. Held by that trusting look, Shanks thought he could have told her anything.
But it would mean bringing that world here, to her gentle shores, and into the peace that existed here, untouched by the concerns and the corruption of the greater world. The Holy Land might as well be a fairy story to the people here, but if he told her who he was, and the things heād done, the things that tattoo was a living reminder of, it would make it real. And if he could spare her from that, he would, even if it meant withholding that part of himself from her.
Of course, if he was completely honest, it wasn't just for her sake that he wanted to keep his disguise; the shape he'd grown dangerously comfortable in here, with her. Her captain, who could inspire both wonder and exasperation; who could make her laugh and blush and moan, butĀ more than anything, who had her trust.
But he was good at keeping secrets. Mariejois had taught him that, after all, changing his shape to be what his surroundings required him to be, a steel-faced noble or a rakish pirate captain, they were all just second skins, neither more true or false than the other.
She wasnāt touching the tattoo now, playing instead with the hair on his chest. And holding her, he wondered idly if he could find a tattoo artist to change it. It wouldnāt need much work to turn it into a compass rose; something that invoked fairer winds and following seas, and her, who embodied both. Even if it wouldnāt change what it had been, or what it had meant once, it didnāt mean it couldnāt become something new. A pirateās symbol of freedom, to choose his own course, not a reminder of what heād been, but who he wanted to be.
And if his course should one day lead him back to herā¦
He was drifting off to sleep, lulled by the tracing on his skin, when her voice rose into the quiet,
Every time someone comments on my old fic, i feel like I'm an old actor getting paid residuals. Appreciate you, old-fic-commenters. Key source of emotional income, tbh.
the latest chapter of one piece (1156) just revealed some more important shakky lore which i think youād love (rayleigh n roger make their appearances) n made me think of Peony and Silver n so ofc i had go n reread it again š btw your shakky backstory is amazing and i think it still works even with her being a former kuja empress reveal <3 despite the differences in origin story theyāre both made of grit n tough to the bone !! plus i love ur shakky n rayleigh to pieces u dont even know ā¤ļøā¤ļø whenever they appear in shanties i have to stop giggling n kicking my feet bcs thatās MY favorite badass old married couple
I saw!! She's so beautiful, and her long hair is just like I'd imagined it in Peony and Silver, although I wish her outfit was a bit more unique (and a bit...well, more, but then anyone who's read Mnemosyne know the beef I have with the Kuja tribe's outfits).
But ahhh please know how happy this message made me! I will admit, while I loved the Kuja Empress reveal, it took the wind out of my sails for Peony and Silver, because her canon backstory deviates so much from what I'd imagined for her in that fic. Of course, canon has never stopped me from writing my own takes on these characters (see: Shanks), but it did feel a bit daunting to finish P&S as I'd imagined it while we were getting new information in canon. But hearing that you think my backstory for Shakky still works actually made me wonder how I might include a nod to her Kuja background in P&S without changing the whole story (which I don't want to do, because it's very close to my heart as it is). Given Shakky's generally enigmatic character, I don't feel it's too far-fetched to imagine that she did come from Amazon Lily before she left to be a pirate in Peony and Silver; it's just not something she's revealed to the reader, or at least not in so many words, because I just remembered that P&S Shakky has never met her father, which would actually fit perfectly with a Kuja background...hmm.
I'm going over my old notes for the last two chapters and feeling that tell-tale itch in my fingers, and while I don't want to promise anything, I'm...tentatively optimistic?
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
So fierce was her joy that she didnāt even think to question how heād found her, but right then, all that mattered was that he had, and before he could even step fully inside the room, Makino had covered the distance between them, throwing her arms around him as she buried her nose in his chest with a shattering howl.
Sheād expected her nose to press against hair and warm, bare skin, his shirt as rakishly unbuttoned as always, and so was surprised when what met her instead was the buttoned-up front of a doublet, but then he might be in disguise, if he'd made it this far into Mariejois undetected.
Shanks hadn't spoken, not even to chuckle at her reaction, and she was so overcome, it wasnāt until several beats had passed that Makino realised he wasnāt hugging her back.
She started when a broad hand wrapped around her shoulder, the firm grip just on the edge of hurting, and drawing a strangled gasp from her lips. And that alone should have been confirmation enough, but it wasn't the way he touched her that had her going still against him, as she turned her head towards the hand gripping her shoulder.
An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
They stood together for a spell, observing the rescue taking place on the shore. The sea had swallowed what remained of the wreck, and she felt a flicker of regret, watching the figurehead disappear beneath the water.
āI canāt believe Yasopp,ā Makino said. āAnd after what their captain did for Luffy.ā
Shanks didn't disagree, only said, āWeāre pirates. They knew what they were doing, coming here. Or at least they should have known. It's why we can't just let stuff like this slide. If the islands under my flag can't count on it to deter other pirates, it's nothing more than decoration. It's about optics more than anything else.ā
Makino looked at him, then at the button pinned to the front of his cloak, bearing Luffyās grinning face. āYouāre wearing another Emperorās merchandise.ā
Shanks beamed. āIsnāt it cool? Look, it spins!ā
He demonstrated this, delighted.
She stared at the spinning button, before lifting her eyes to his. āAnd this you see no problem with?ā
āNo. Why?ā Shanks asked, distracted by playing with the button.
Are you going to add a segment for the latest appearance of Shanks in your Love in Good Liquor? Somehow I can just imagine Bartholomew(?) squirming under Makino's upset look. Just like every member of her husband's crew.
So I jotted down the notes for this shortly after chapter 1126 came out, but didn't get the chance to finish it before my daughter arrived, but as I'm trying to get back into the writing groove again, this felt like the perfect thing to shake off some of the rust, so have a little snippet of the next installment of Love in Good Liquor, set during the same storyline as chapters 12-15, this time detailing the Red-Hair Piratesā encounter with the Barto Club:
After theyād finished vomiting up all the seawater in their lungs, they were directed inside the galley of Red-Hairās ship, still dragging half of the sea with them, and disoriented from his beating and subsequent near-drowning, it took Kidd a moment to catch up.
He stared down the length of the compartment, arranged with several long tables, alongside which Red-Hairās crew were taking their seats, talking cheerfully among themselves, as though they hadnāt just sunk his whole ship and crew.
It looked closer to a bar than a traditional galley. Across the compartment, a wide counter had been built, with rows of kegs and barrels stacked behind it, and shelves carrying a veritable library of liquor. A potted tree stretched its winding branches over the long counter, dripping with blue wisteria blossoms.
He'd gravitated towards the counter without realising, just as the figure seated on one of the barstools lifted his head to look at him, only for Kidd to realise with a start that he recognised him.
The feeling was mutual, as Bartolomeo looked him over, taking in his dripping coat, and the seawater pooling on the planks beneath him. āShoulda wiped your boots before you came inside.ā
Kidd blinked. āWhat?ā
On the other side of the galley-bar-whatever the fuck it was supposed to be, the strange woman from before had approached the table where his crew were sitting. From the look of it, she was taking their orders.
Kidd stared at her, and unsure of what else to do, took a seat next to Bartolomeo.
Something was slid towards him across the bartop, and looking down found a coaster, although it took Kidd another second to realise that he recognised the face printed on it, but then there was no mistaking that annoying grin.
Looking up at his companion, all Bartolomeo said was, āThe lady of the shipās rules.ā
Kidd held up the coaster with Straw-Hatās face. Then he asked hoarsely, āIs this hell?ā
Bartolomeo laughed, his lips pulling back from his tusks in a grin. āNah. Donāt think the devil would make ya use coasters.ā
Hi!! I hope you and your baby stowaway are doing well! <3 ā¤ļø
I realise this is the first sign of life in almost seven (??) months, but time has ceased to make sense and I swear February was just a few weeks ago but HELLO!!
Stowaway and erstwhile captain are both doing well! My once-tidy ship has been usurped by a tiny and adorable menace, who keeps chucking things overboard and sailing at the whim of her own heart (this must be how Ben feels, and I have renewed respect for his patience). Motherhood is hectic and wonderful and constantly full of new challenges and surprises, but I love it, and I can't believe I got the best kid?? Just, the happiest, cheekiest little girl, who's not walking yet but who's gonna hit the ground running when she figures it out, she's so eager to get places. Also, ever since she discovered her voice she hasn't stopped using it. As both my husband and I are calm, introverted people, it would figure we'd get a chatty ball of energy.
I wish I could show you a picture because she's so freakin' cute, but I want to keep her life private and off the web, so you'll just have to take my word for it. But painting pictures with words is (or at least used to be) my thing, so imagine a pair of enormous blue eyes, and a cheek-splitting, dimpled grin showing off two tiny shark teeth. The eyes she got from me, but she's got her dad's goofy ears, and I love every inch of her.
She also loves being in the water, like a little seal :') Learning to know her, it feels like I wrote about her years before she arrived.
...I still can't believe it's been seven months. I have an enormous backlog of unanswered asks and messages, and haven't written a single sentence since December. I recently opened the update I was working on before I went into labour (a nearly finished chapter to boot!!) and this was my reaction:
I kid, but also not, but I've gone through the chapter and my notes for the story (Salt Vows, for those interested) and the cobwebs have cleared and I even felt the half-forgotten itch to write that's been so elusive these past few months, I could have wept with joy. I just really miss writing, and Shanties.
So I'm trying to ease my way back into it. Emphasis on trying, because I have a very active little girl, so I can't just sit and write for hours straight like I could once. I'm thinking Salt Vows first, and then possibly Bind Me to the Tide, which I'm currently rereading to clear out some more cobwebs, because there are many. For those waiting for updates, I hope you can be patient a little longer<3
On that note, I have fiercely appreciated the kind messages some of you have sent me despite my complete radio silence, and the comments on my fics. Especially the latter, because it's reminded me that someone is still reading these stories, even though I haven't felt like much of a writer lately.
On a final related note, because I've had a few asks about it: I have not kept up with canon so I am in the dark about most developments that have happened this year. That being said, I know about āļø, but haven't made up my mind about him, or about whether he's going to show up in my writing any time soon (probably, although in what capacity remains to be seen). I'll come back once I've caught up and formulated an opinion that's more than my initial knee-jerk reaction, which included a guffaw (the braided hair - I have so many jokes for Shanks, Ben is finally going to get a break from hearing about his).
Tiny life update! My stowaway was born on December 30th, apparently in too much of a hurry to wait for the new year, but oh, what an incredible way to round off 2024<3
Drawing back to look up at him, her trembling hands gripped his face, her brown eyes wide with a feeling he couldn't immediately place, and it took Shanks a second to recognise the look in them, before it hit him, watching as they moved over his face, as though seeing him anew, and a rough breath left him as he realised that what he was seeing was recognition.
āI remember,ā Makino breathed, holding his face, and the memory seized him without kindness, but unlike his vision, the trembling grin that broke across her face held none of the things heād fearedāthat she would look at him and see how much heād changed, and that it wouldnāt be the captain sheād loved. Because she sawāall his changes, and all the things heād done, measured now against the man sheād knownābut it wasnāt disgust that had fresh tears spilling over her cheeks but joy, as Makino sobbed, āI remember.ā
Then, her voice softened to a shiver as she cupped his face, āI remember you,ā she murmured, and with such aching familiarity, if he had lost himself, she found him now as she breathed, āShanks.ā
Shanks and Makino, in "Ask me again", chapter 27 of @missmungoe absolute tour-de-force Mnemosyne, and dare I say, one of the scenes of all time.
In the home stretch of this pregnancy and haven't had much time (or mind) for anything else lately, but this is just to say that I read all the messages I get, and if you've written me one, or left a kind comment on any of my fics, know that you've made me very happy, even if I haven't gotten around to answering<3
One of my favorite scenes from one of my favorite fanfics, Sea Songs by @missmungoe. Iāve read almost all of her works multiple times and they have given me a lot of inspiration over the years. Her fics are some the greatest Iāve ever read and canāt thank her enough for all the hours of romance, drama, and feels. I can only offer this little token of appreciation and well wishes on her next grand life adventure!
Another one from Salt Vows, since I'm currently working on it!
It took her a few wrong turns to locate the tent she sought, but then there were so many, it really did feel like a city, the maze of colourful fabric leaving her disoriented. Thankfully, Buggyās operation was anything but subtle, and had marked their prison accordinglyāwith a big sign out front, cheerfully painted with the word āJAIL!ā in bold capital letters, exclamation point included.
Staring up at it, Makino spared a passing thought to the fearsome organisation sheād heard rumours about all the way in Fuschia, although elected not to question them too closely. Appearances deceived, after all, and Cross Guild had proved itself more than capable. An operation of this scale didn't run on luck.
Well. Not only luck.
Peering through the tent flap, she looked around for guards, prepared to enact the blatantly transparent plan she'd come up with, to say their chairman had requested their presence in the main tent, and hope their loyalty to Buggy was greater than her ability to sell a convincing lie.
As it turned out, there werenāt any guards to lie to, as stepping into the prison tent found it empty.
Blinking, she looked around, but aside from herself, there was only one other person present, seated on a cot in the tent's only occupied cell.
Smoker lifted his head at her approach, and having no doubt read her surprise from her face, āThey left to join the party,ā he said, with a snort, and a glance at the bars surrounding him, made of sea-stone, Makino suspected, even before he added wryly, āIād call them idiots, but itās not like I can break myself out, so I guess the joke's on me.ā
His gaze paused on her then, as though heād only now gotten a proper look at what she was wearing.
A long beat passed where all he did was stare at her, his expression as unreadable as ever, before Smoker met her eyes and said, āI'm glad they just put me in cuffs.ā
Puffing her cheeks, Makino demurely sidestepped his cheek, although it was harder to ignore the merry chiming of the bells in her hat as she approached the bars.
She saw Smoker look at it. This time, he didn't bother hiding his amusement.
āDonāt,ā she said.
āAt least you werenāt wearing that when the WENP announced your arrest to the world.ā
She paused, momentarily distracted from her embarrassment by this horrifying thought, and a very different photo of her on the front page, before she conceded, āA small mercy.ā
Smoker looked like he was about to add something when he looked down, only to pause.
This fic ended up on the back burner as I've focused on other stories, but I really want to finish it, so from the next chapter of On the Water:
Watching him, her eyes softened. He hadnāt been sleeping well since sheād gotten hurt, at least if his new morning schedule was any indication, although she didnāt know what it suggested that he should seek rest here and not in their cabin, and felt a pang of hurt, followed by the feeling that had been gnawing at her for a while nowāthe nagging sense that he was keeping something from her.
Shanks hadnāt stirred; he didnāt even snore, which said something about how tired he must be. His head was tipped forward; his hair had fallen into his brow, slacked with sleep, like his scars. One of his knees were raised, his arm resting across it, Gryphon tucked against his opposite shoulder. His cloak draped from his shoulders onto the planks, the front of his shirt rakishly unbuttoned as usual, a gentle sort of rumpledness to the visual that found purchase deep in her chest.
He looked peaceful. Not the Emperor now, with all his burdens, or even the captain of the ship. Like that, he just looked like Shanks.
Her lips quirked, spurred by a gently mischievous thought, and a teasing remark perched on the tip of her tongue about him shirking his duties as her teacher to nap.
Well. Maybe it was time for her to demonstrate the results of his teaching.
Sheād seized the idea without questioning it, or the wisdom of sneaking up on a pirate like that when he was asleep.
Shutting the door gently behind her, she drew on her haki, the way heād taught her, concealing her presence the best she could, like water where she floated across the planks. Her hand curled around Sirenās hilt, drawing it from where it lay across the small of her back, the unsheathing so soft the blade didnāt even sing, as she angled the flat tip to tilt his chin.
The sword hadnāt even touched him when his eyes suddenly opened, not in surprise but with intent, the flash of steel in them seizing hers, and she wasnāt given the chance to react before heād moved.
Her back collided with the door, and so hard it knocked her breath loose, her eyes wide-sprung where they flew up to his, furrowed under his scars where he loomed above her, a look so terrifying it seized her whole body, even before she felt the deadly edge of his sword pressing into the skin of her throat. She hadnāt even seen him unsheathe it.
She couldnāt move, too stunned to even breathe, her small frame pinned against the door by his. It felt as though the very air had solidified, shackling her limbs, although it took her a terrified second to understand that it wasn't shock holding her in place but his haki.
Just then, his eyes cleared, the fearsome look lifting like a haze from them, seeing her properly, before his brow smoothed, the taut grooves of his scars going slack as his whole expression changed, revealing shock.
