ONLY | Monkey D. Luffy

I THINK WE'RE LIKE FIRE AND WATER

"He wasn't supposed to come with me, but he snuck on to the boat when we weren't lookin'. He didn't stay quiet for long though, he can't go an hour without eating something. He was supposed to stay on the boat while we got what we needed, but he left when I wasn't paying attention. Damn kid."

Yorei spoke before she could stop herself. "He saved me."

She couldn't explain it, but the air around Shanks was nothing but trust worthy. When she was around Aishi, her instincts were on high alert and her fingers fiddled nervously. She was always tense and ready to run when she was dismissed from his presence.

But being around Shanks was completely different. She didn't feel the need to dash off when he came close, her mind didn't scream danger at her when he spoke. They hadn't even known each other for a day, yet she felt safer by him than she ever had around anyone else.

The look in his eye was sharp, yet the truth it held had her losing tension before she even realized.

Shanks seemed to perk up at her words. "Luffy saved you?" He asked and then rubbed his chin. "Speaking of that, I've been meaning to ask. What happened to you?"

When Yorei tilted her head, he continued. "Luffy told me a guard was chasing you. It's what led him to bring you to me. But why were you being chased?"

That was when Yorei hesitated. She had been running on adrenaline the whole night, and only now had it hit her what she did, what she escaped. Not only had she attacked Aishi, but she then proceeded to burn his whole house down. She realized she was basically a criminal.

Slowly, she explained what had happened. The man in front of her eagerly listened, which she found amusing. The sparkle in his eye seemed to grow at each event she explained. She skipped any involvement with Kuina, that was a story she decided to keep to herself.

When she finished, she had expected him to whistle and tell his crew to throw her off his boat at the next port to avoid the trouble.

But he surprised her by barking out a loud laugh.

"Talk about giving him something to remember!" He let out a chuckle of amusement. "I wish I saw the look on his face. Never liked that bloke. And fire as a distraction? You're a smart one, Kid."

Yorei didn't expect praise of all things from her actions and played with a strand of her hair. "Don't you want me off your boat? I mean, it's safe to assume Aishi will send people after me. I'll just bring trouble to everyone here."

Shanks waved away her worries. "Ahhh, don't worry about that. You think you're the only trouble maker here? I'm the captain of a pirate ship!" He seemed to boast, it didn't exactly make her feel better, but she was glad she wasn't being tossed away immediately.

"So, where are we going now?" Yorei asked the question that has been bugging her since she stepped on the boat. Escaping Aishi's island was the biggest problem she faced, but with that out of the way she now had her next problem. Where she would go next.

"Windmill village. It's where Luffy lives, and where we normally stop there after we find some loot. That, and the liquor there is--" He paused at her unimpressed stare and cleared his throat, "I mean, the people are nice."

Yorei looked down at the bandages on her knee. Since it was taken care of so quickly, it wouldn't leave a scar at the thought. If only her hand had been taken care of just as quickly, it'd would be void of its story. She fought the urge to scratch her hand at the reminder, and looked at Shanks hesitantly. "Is it ... really alright for me to stay?" She couldn't help but ask again.

Shanks must have seen her worries, and just smiled warmly. "We'll take you in. Troubles and all. Like it or not, you're one of us now, kid."

She didn't have a problem with that.