As Konan finally stepped out of her room, she was welcomed by careful glances and mindful silence.
"I'm not going to bite you, come out," she raised her hands up in peace, a strained smile on.
Shanks glared at them from behind her, warning them silently to behave.
"I'm hungry?" she voiced out, glancing up at Shanks who immediately smiled warmly, she felt a bit awkward faced with such overwhelming kindness from him. She was more used to his carefree and uncaring attitude, not this sudden gentleness that made her feel like she was a precious porcelain doll.
"Of course, follow me," he led the way, moving through the crowd of curious crew members staring as discreetly as they could, which was to say not at all.
Since she had appeared a week ago, she hadn't gone out of her room, almost like she wasn't here. They were surprised at first to see a grown-up Konan as the last time they had seen her she was an icy teenager with deep strength and a soft spot for Luffy. However, she was now a woman with unfathomable strength that had made a name for herself in the pirate world. Still, one thing remained unchanged, she wasn't in any crew. And that made their eyes shine, they would always welcome a strong addition to their crew.
Konan sat at the stool and started eating the food presented to her. "Thank you for the food."
"Does Ace know you're here?" After all, the two had been seen traveling together for the past few months, as Ace grew into a pirate of his own right and formed his own crew.
"I sent him a letter, he'll be fine on his own," she confirmed with ease, she had personally trained him for a long time, she knew he could manage alone. Even if she were to disappear, he would still survive, she made sure of it. Same with Sabo and Luffy.
The letter contained a short sentence: 'I left on a vacation, take care.' Even if Ace knew it was a lie, there was nothing he could do, he was used to Konan vanishing for some periods of time for her work but even he knew this time was different. Ultimately, there was nothing he could do but give her space.
After finishing her meal, she went out on the deck to interact with the people she hadn't seen in around 7 years. Surprisingly, they were as kind as she remembered them to be, they talked about the adventures they went on the past years, the monsters they faced, the people they beat, the feats they achieved. All were eager to boast in front of the younger woman. It had been a while since they last got an attentive listener. For Konan, it provided a lively distraction she was happy to have.
On the side, Shanks was smiling while watching the ridiculous extent they went to, to brighten her mood, though they usually goofed around, his crew had quickly noticed her unusual state of mind and went to the extreme to try and make her laugh.
Benn settled by his captain's side, a cigarette in hand. "What happened to her?" he asked, with a hint of concern. He remembered distinctly the young teenager who would never let her emotions show on her face, yet when he looked at the woman before him, she was vastly different, he could easily notice the weariness, the kind no one could fake.
Shanks sighed heavily, remembering everything he had seen, "too much for anyone to bear."
They were interrupted by loud voices, "Idiot! Go fetch it quickly, before it sinks," someone bumped the head of another crew member while pointing at the sea where a katana was slowly sinking. While recreating a battle, they clashed their swords too hard and one flew away in the ocean.
Konan chuckled before getting up and jumping overboard. She landed gracefully on the surface of the water and grabbed the sword that was already beginning to sink. She then proceeded to walk vertically against the boat before handing back the katana. "Be more careful," she advised, before noticing their dumbfounded looks.
"How- how did you do that?" someone asked, gesticulating with his arms and reproducing with his fingers, her walking against his straight hand.
She found amusing their child-like curiosity, as the last time that had happened was with Luffy and his brothers.
"Want to learn?" Teaching was something she found enjoyable, and if it meant extending her vacation, she was all for it. She wasn't sure if she wanted to come back into the world yet, and a change of pace wouldn't be bad for her.
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Garp had seen a lot of things in his long life. Pirates fighting on the sea like it was solid ground wasn't one.
That morning, his subordinates caught wind of the Red-Hair pirates' presence nearby, so he decided to drop by and have a little chat with those who put bad thoughts into his grandson's head.
When he approached, he certainly didn't expect to see a field of people walking on the water with an angel flying over and sending flying projectiles once in a while. He even managed to spot the redhead walking around with a bottle of sake in hand.
"Oh, if that isn't Garp!" Shanks shouted from his position, waving at the old man observing them in wonder. He held back a laugh as Garp jumped down in the water, perhaps expecting solid ground, only to fall deep in the sea, provoking a mini-wave that perturbed some of his crewmates that lost balance and fell in too.
From where she was flying, Konan smiled, she hadn't seen the old man in a while, and he hadn't changed an ounce.
Once Garp swam up, he glared at Shanks who walked up to him with an infuriating smirk. He too wanted to walk on the water, and he knew it wasn't from the use of a Devil Fruit but from some sort of trick that was learnable by anyone. "How is that possible?" he asked while climbing up into his boat.
When he turned back, he saw Shanks' smirk deepen before he walked at a 90° against the boat and arrived in front of him. He made sure to thoroughly exploit the powers Konan gave them.
Behind him, his crew cheered him on and did the same to climb back into their boat. It made for quite the sight to see a dozen bulky men concentrating hard as they carefully made their way against the wooden hull. When they arrived on top, they burst out in joy, and looked up at Konan who was staring at them unimpressed, her arms crossed in despair. They were clearly using what she taught them for boasting rights.
But at the end of the day, she didn't mind. In the past month, she had a lot of fun watching them miserably fail before managing to stand on still water, and their smiles when they finally succeeded made it worth it.
And if it caused huge troubles later on when one of the strongest crew in the world showed up with these kinds of unheard-of skills, it wasn't really her problem.
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I don't think I'll be able to update for the next two days, might manage to but I'm not sure, so no guarantee. (There is a nation-wide celebration which I'll participate in with a friend of mine ☺️)