"So tell me about yourself, Y/n. Who am I marrying?" Daiki smiled at me kindly as he moved another chess piece.
I looked at the board in thought before moving my knight to collect his, "I am simply a princess who cares for her kingdom. You'd do well to remember that, Daiki."
The prince shook his head with disapproval at my answer, "With all due respect, I could care less about the princess right now. I want to get to know my soon-to-be wife."
My eyes shifted to the side as I fiddled with a piece of my dress, not really knowing where to start.
He chuckled at this, seemingly noticing my reluctance as he moved his chess piece and grinned slightly at me, "Alright, I'll go first. Ask me a question, anything at all."
I bit my lip in thought, not paying attention to the chess pieces as much as I was before and moving my pawn mindlessly, "What is your dream?"
The prince seemed taken back at the question. I assumed he was expecting a simple question like what his favorite color was, but by the widening of his grin and light laugh he seemed pleasantly surprised, "My dream..." He managed to capture my queen as his dark blue hair fell slightly in his face before he pushed it back against his ear. "My dream is to become King of Jigao and utilize this brain of mine to help our kingdom truly thrive."
Ah.
His words seemed to strike a cord with me. That royal pride that I had felt in myself was beaming off the handsome Prince as light shined on his smooth light caramel skin, complimenting his complexion.
If there was one thing me and the man had in common it was our love for our kingdoms and the pride we held for it. It was something that made me feel a lot more comfortable with the man as I realized he wasn't like his father at all.
"My turn," He shook himself out of his daydream of achieving the ambitious goal and looked towards me with curiosity glazing his obsidian eyes. "What's your dream?"
My eyes fell to the chess board as I though long and hard about the question, but still not being able to come up with an answer, "I don't know."
"You don't know?"
I failed to look the man in his eyes, feeling quite vulnerable, "I've never been able to dream before. I was always chained down to this island so I don't even know how to begin having such big ambitions."
Daiki listened intensively before humming and nodding his head understandingly.
Not wanting the attention to stay on me, I asked him what was stopping him from achieving his dream as I moved another one of my corner pawns, "I mean can't a Prince become a King as long as the current King steps down? Only Princesses are the ones who have to marry to become Queen."
Daiki sighed at this before chuckling dryly and moving his Queen to capture one of my bishops, "Well yes, but my father doesn't agree with the way I do things. He thinks I 'think too much'."
I roll my eyes at the King's words, "I think he thinks too little."
Daiki perked up and sprawled out his arms towards me with an exasperated expression to which I jumped back a little in shock, "Right?! He doesn't think! We cant win every battle with just power! There's always going to be someone stronger!"
He seemed to notice my shock as he froze before clearing his throat and straightening out his suit, sitting up straighter, "My apologies."
My lips pursed together before a stifled laugh bursted out as I laughed at the man's enthusiasm, "No problem, you're just passionate is all!"
He stared at me for a little with a small blush resting on his cheek before he scratched his cheek with his pointer finger and smiled bashfully, "Yeah...anyways! My turn! What memory reminds you of the color blue?"
I tilted my head at the peculiar question, having never been asked it before, till an image popped up in my head. I could feel myself light up as my posture straightened and my body felt lighter, "When I set out to sea, I got to see a beautiful scene. The moon and the sea complimenting each other and the waves crashing against the ship. That would be the memory that reminds me of blue."
Daiki smiled softly at my explanation as he moved his knight forward to capture my other bishop, "I see. You really love to be out there, in the world I mean."
I nodded with a smile, feeling stars in my eyes as I moved my King to avoid being checkmated, "There's so much to see and so much to explore, Daiki! All my life I've been chained down to this island so I never saw anything outside of it."
Daiki watched me, his eyes no longer paying glued on the chess board in front of him as his full attention was on me.
"But I was traveling for barley a month and I've already seen so many islands and I've met so many new people!" I smiled at the man, any part of me that was suspicious or irritated towards the prince was gone now. "So much in a month, imagine two months or four! Or even a year!"
"You know..." I watched Daiki speak carefully as he moved one of his chess pieces and leaned back in his chair, "You speak about your travels like you speak about your kingdom. You must really love both of them."
My eyes widened slightly at the observation before realizing how accurate it was. I really did feel that same pride, the only difference is that I hadn't even explored 1% of the earth, but I've been in every crook and canny of Sinthaya.
"The only thing is, one suits you more."
I raise an eyebrow at Daiki's words as he smiled at me knowingly, "And which one would that be?"
"I think you already know," Daiki pointed at me before his finger moved to the chess board. "Also, checkmate."
"Huh?!"
~•~
I look back to see Daiki peacefully sleeping in my bed, hugging a pillow as he gently breathed in and out.
The two kings had decided that he would be sleeping in the same bed as me since we had to get used to it as 'king and queen', but even if I was supposed to sleep in the same bed, I couldn't.
And I quietly thanked myself for not being able to sleep at a time like this. My room felt nostalgic, it felt safe and comfortable, but boring. I walked out to the balcony and leaned over the railings, looking at the sky before looking disappointingly seeing a small portion of the sea.
I guess being back here made me realize how much I would miss pirating if I did stay here for the rest of my life.
My eyes narrow at a big wooden ship in the distance, catching my attention. It seemed to be landing at the shore so I threw on a jacket and shoes before heading out to see who it was, secretly hoping it was my happy go lucky captain.
But alas, it wasn't.
I stepped out the back door of the castle to see some men on the deck of the ship shouting commands to each other and helping unload. One specific man saw me approaching and walked over to me with a grin.
"Hello there, beautiful! My crew and I seem to be lost and our ship needs to be repaired, do you mind telling us where we are? And if we'd be able to stay here for a little?"
As the man got closer to me I could see three distinct scars running down his face as he wore a coat on his shoulders and a visible sword was on his hip.
I looked up at the tall man as he finally was right in front of me before snapping out of my daze and ignoring how attractive he was, "This is the Kingdom of Sinthaya and you can stay here for a little—usually my father would've thrown a fit, but since we're having that marriage it shouldn't be a problem anymore."
"Marriage?" The man tilted his head with a questioning look as I brushed his question off.
"Don't worry about it," I pointed towards the boat as I hugged myself tighter, shivering slightly at the night's cold air. "You should probably try and dock somewhere else though, this is the back of the island along with the back of the castle so it'll cause trouble if the Kings sees you here."
"Kings?" The man tilted his head once more and I swore I could see a visible question mark over his head. A lightbulb seemed to go off in his head as he grinned at me reassuringly, "Ah! Don't worry I'm an ally! That stuff doesn't bother me!"
"That's..." I burst out into a laugh at the man's foolish assumption, waving one of my hands in the air as the other covers my mouth. "That's not what I mean, but that's good to know!"
What is wrong with strange men and washing up on this exact shore...
A warm, big jacket was placed on my shoulders, snapping me out of my daze as I looked up at him questionably.
He just grinned in response as he motioned towards the jacket, "You seemed cold. You can keep it."
"Are you sure?" I asked blankly, already used to the warmth the jacket was providing me with.
His grin widened as his hair bounced up and down with his nodding head, "I have to repay you for your kindness in some way!"
I smiled softly, cozying up to the coat more and allowing it to hug me, not feeling as cold anymore, "Thank you...?"
"Shanks!" He smiled at me and finished my sentence seeing as we didn't introduce ourselves. "And you, beautiful woman?"
I brushed my hair behind my ear with a bashful smile and a small laugh, "Y/n. It's nice to meet you, Shanks."
Before he could respond a voice calls out to me from behind. Shanks and I look back to see Daiki with a black tank top and sweats looking at us, his mid length hair now tied up in a messy ponytail.
"Daiki?" I asked, confused as to why he was here, but most importantly why he was equipped with a sword.
Shanks stepped in front of me with an arm out protectively as he started at Daiki.
"What are you doing with my fiancé, Yonko."
"Fiancé?" Shanks muttered to himself with a visible look of confusion on my face.
"Yonko?!" I looked up at Shanks who looked down at me. "You didn't tell me you were a Yonko!"
"You didn't tell me you were married!" Shanks whisper yelled at me as he bent down closer to my face.
Daiki drew his sword, pointing it at Shanks with a determined look, "That is the Princess of this kingdom. Any harm towards her is treason and we will have mine and her guards after you. I've already alerted one of my generals to be on stand by."
"Princess?!" Shanks seemed to yell this, catching the attention of his crew who was still at their ship. The tall man whipped his whole body to face me as he grabbed my shoulders firmly, but gently, "You didn't tell me you were a princess?!"
Daiki had tried to attack Shanks, assuming that the pirate had turned to hurt me or kidnap me, but he stopped when a bullet almost hit him straight in the heart.
"Careful now, if you kill him we'll have to drag his ass back on the ship!" A nasally voice calls out from the ship as I look back to see a man with dreads and a headband with the name 'Yasopp' on it.
He reminds me of Usopp...
Daiki clicked his tongue and before he could attack Shanks out his hands in the air defensively.
"Woah there buddy, calm down! We aren't here to hurt her! We were just gonna ask directions and then leave!" Shanks turned to me with a grin and a wink before walking off towards his crew and redirecting their ship to the other side of the island.
I watched as they departed before turning to Daiki who was sheathing his sword, "Jesus Daiki what was all that about?"
"Sorry, I just got scared," He looked down in shame as he couldn't look me in the eyes. "After getting to know you, I care about you. I thought they were going to do something bad to you. I guess my fathers aggressiveness just took over."
I smiled softly at the man as I walked towards him and placed a hand on his back, pushing him forward gently, "Come on, let's get some rest."