#and i hate brainstorming replies in discord itself

[rosefictoqueer]

dont do that

[stereden]

I don't know if you're still doing the Fun Author Ask thing...but the scene in "We still stand proud" where you tell how Shanks (and Buggy) got the claim on Shiki, the proper way in front of Davy Jones, that was a great piracy scene. And I just know their feelings in that moment are a whripool I would love to explore. (I also might have left an essay-long comment on your ao3? Which I intended to be a friendly praise and just got carried away? Sorry 'bout that, I just truly adore your writing.)

First of all, never appologise for essay-length comments, because I love them and they always make my day - if I haven’t replied yet, expect an essay-lenght reply shortly before the next chapter is posted!

I am indeed still doing the Fun Author Ask thing, and will probably be doing it until this weekend, so anyone reading this, feel free to send an ask!

Now onto the Shiki claiming scene. As some people in my Discord will be able to tell you, while I do have a general direction and plan for my stories, some of the things are just... spur of the moment things, a sudden burst of inspiration that needs to be written right now. That was the case with the Shiki thing.

The entire Shiki thing.

As in, while I may have had the whole ‘would you rather drown or be burned alive’ thing as a reccurring motive since nearly the very beginning, I only decided who exactly was behind that a lot later into the story. As in, shortly before Shiki is first mentioned. Until then, I just had this vague idea of one of Rogers enemies capturing Buggy, but I didn’t exactly know who, especially as I hadn’t watched Strong World yet and my entire knowledge of Shiki came from the Edd War chapters of the manga. Then the awesome fic This bites! by Xomniac and the Crossbrain reached the Strong World arc and I finally got around watching the movie and I decided there and then that a. I hated Shiki and b. that he was therefore going to be the asshole that captured Buggy and would consequently, at some point, die a horrible and painful death at Shanks’ hand. Combined with the fact that he attacked Luffy as well, it just fit perfectly.

Now, as anyone who has read any of my one piece stories knows, I absolutely adore worldbuilding, and I’m having a lot of fun coming up with pirate traditions and a pirate code, so I really wanted to do something kind of ceremonial and official for Shanks declaring revenge on Shiki. 

This particular ritual was brainstormed with help from the awesome people on my discord as well: the message in blood put in a bottle and the black spot on the hand of the claimed person came from one person; the black seagull cawing to announce that the claim had taken came from another; Davy Jones’ involvment and the ritual words itself are stuff I came up with specifically for that scene. We also theorised a lot about what would happen if multiple people tried to claim the same life, what you would do if you decided to give up on your claim (another complicated ceremony) and what actually happens once the life is claimed (which I won’t reveal here as it would be a spoiler for the sequel ;) )

Here’s an excerpt of something I wrote from that particular discord conversation:

And yes, as the person wronged Buggy does have first dibs

But back then he was in no state to claim it and, honestly, at the time the very mention of Shiki was enough to send him into a panic attack it still is 

And Shanks, Shanks was so fucking furious that he decided to call onto Davy Jones to hear his claim 

And it's a risk, always a risk, to claim a life like that: doing it without a valid reason will see Davy Jones taking your own soul right there and then, but Shanks doesn't care, doesn't care that he's just an apprentice without a master, a boy without a father, a pirate without a captain. 

He is the storm the tempest the rage of the sea and of the wind and when he hurls his bottle into the sea the blood on the paper is his own, but it's Buggy's as well, because he's just spent hours tending to his best friend injuries as best as he could and Buggy's blood is still on his hands. Shanks is the one who makes the claim but he does it for Buggy and with Buggy's blood mixed with his own, and Davy Jones takes notices

Because they are children of the seas, children of Davy Jones, apprentices without masters and pirates without captain. They are not yet captain's of their own crews, and only captains and first mates usually dare to state their claim, but they have potential, so much potential that Davy Jones does not doubt that they will be sooner rather than later 

 And more than that, they have cause Because Shiki broke the code, because he attacked an injured and unarmed and unmastered apprentice that had not attacked him first 

 Because Shiki had tormented and tortured a child because his true target had already boarded the Flying Dutchman Because Shanks and Buggy are children of the seas, children of Davy Jones and they have sworn to the code and believe in it and in each other, and Davy Jones smiles as he nudges the black seagull in the right direction 

 Your claim is granted, young one, he thinks. And I look forward to the day you bring me his soul