#and yes the crew are protective over sails

[myymi]

“So, how's it feel to be the errand boy for once, Dread?” The echidna rolled his eyes before turning to give the bat an unimpressed frown.

“Shut yer mouth, Batten.” He grumbled, turning his attention back to the tree he was climbing. The woman snorted but ended up flying away to look for the little fox that came with them to the small island.

Once he collected the three coconuts this tree held, he looked around the island to try and get a glimpse of yellow or white fur.

He stiffened when something smacked into the back of his head, quickly turning to look behind him. He could see Batten waving him over, a certain glint in her eyes he wasn't used to seeing.

With a frown, Dread jumped down from the tree and ran over to where his fri– crewmate was. Batten pulled him behind a rock when he was close enough, motioning to keep his voice down.

“What's wrong with ye?” He whispered, raising a brow when the bat carefully peeked around the rock they were crouched behind.

“Look.” She nodded her head to tell Dread to take a peek himself. When he did, he figured he was seeing things.

He was pretty sure Sonic went back to his home.

“Who is that?” He asked as he ducked back behind the rock. It couldn't be Sonic, could it?

“Not sure.” Batten mumbled as she turned to face Dread. “I saw Sails with him.”

Dread felt even more confused now. Sails didn't go up to strangers without the crew with him. Was he fooled by this landlubber’s disguise?

The surge of anger that passed through his nerves at the thought of the youngest crewmate being hurt by this landlubber was a strange feeling, but he welcomed it.

He found he actually enjoyed protecting the crew. For once, it seemed to be more important than any treasure in the sea.

Dread drew his sword as he peeked out from the rock once again, surprised to see that the hedgehog was gone.

He slowly rose to his full height, eyes darting all around the surrounding area to try and locate the stranger. Batten stood up with him, carefully wrapping a hand around her own sword.

Dread nearly jumped out of his skin when a finger tapped his shoulder. He quickly whipped around, making sure to keep Batten behind him as he aimed his sword at whoever touched him.

Sails raised a brow at the echidna's actions, his head tilted to the side in confusion.

“Sails?” Batten asked, equally as confused as the little fox. Her eyes carefully scanned over the fox, looking for any injuries as his mechanical arm slowly lowered the sword pointed at his face.

“Aye, lad.” Dread sighed heavily, resheathing his sword, “Where'd ye go?”

“Just over there,” The kit jabbed his thumb to the right, exactly where that landlubber was standing moments ago.

Just as the echidna was about to ask the fox about the hedgehog, the stranger appeared at the youngest’s side. He had a lazy grin on his muzzle as he threw an arm around the other's shoulder.

“Get yer paws off Sails, ye landlubber!” Batten growled, pulling out her sword but refraining from pointing it at the hedgehog just yet.

Sails and the hedgehog seemed to exchange a glance at that, “Uh, it's alright, Batten.”

“What’d ye mean is alright?” Dread asked, glaring at the hedgehog. He was very quiet, “That ain't Sonic, Sails.”

“I know he ain't Sonic, Dread.” The fox rolled his eyes, gesturing to the mobian leaning against him, “His name's Tonic.”

“Tonic?” Batten questioned, the grip on her sword tightening.

Sails nodded, a paw resting on his hip as the hedgehog gave them a two finger salute. “He ain't sure how he washed up here, but he has no way to find his crew. Figured we could go ask Captain Rose if there's anything we can do for ‘em.”

“Are ye sure, Sails?” Batten looked down to the fox, her pose relaxing slightly when she saw how calm he was.

“He ain't gonna hurt us.” The kit argued, ending the conversation by walking away. Tonic was behind the fox immediately, not caring to stick around the bat and echidna without him.

“We're gonna keep an eye on tha’ one, right?” Batten crossed her arms as she looked over to Dread. The echidna nodded with a frown, not taking his eyes away from the hedgehog.

He didn't trust him. But Sails did, and he knows that kid has a harder time trusting people than anyone else abroad Angel's Voyage 2.0.

Black Rose might give him a chance for Sails, but he's absolutely done for if he does anything to hurt the fox.

It had become an unspoken rule between the crew after they had finally learned the full extent of the kit’s past.

Sails was their number one priority now.

[hylianane]

Reading Zoro’s character description for the LA really hit me hard with the fact that Zoro’s probably happier now than he’s ever been in his life. “Meeting Luffy is the biggest thing that ever happened to Zoro”. And yes yes yes that’s true for most Strawhats, but thats usually because Luffy freed them from villains who were actively making their lives miserable. Zoro was in trouble when he met Luffy, yes, but it was because of a deal he willingly made with Helmeppo, a punishment he decided to endure against someone who wasn't a real threat to him. Zoro was always free to do as he pleased. But, much like Luffy was before setting sail himself, he was also terribly alone.

Unable to build connections because once he set sail from each island his sense of direction made it so he could never return. Having to fight and kill to afford each meal, while maintaining a very demanding lifestyle. Facing each battle knowing that even if he wins, it could still be game over, as he couldn’t afford to sit back and let himself recover, and there was no one he could trust to help him dress wounds and stand up again.

By giving him a navigator, a cook, a doctor, a crew, Luffy has given him the world. People to love and protect and fall back on, people to help him follow his dream and enjoy every second of the chase. And I’m sure he tells himself that if he were to quit the crew at any time, he’d survive on his own just fine, but that’s such an empty fucking threat because these people have made him happier than he’s ever been, just as free as before but now finally living. I love him sm.

[comicaurora]

What other mythological creatures would be fun in space? If the answer is "most of them?", Then limit the scope of the question to what becomes *more* fun in space?

Still "most of them," unfortunately.

Deep in the bowels of a derelict, drifting hulk, so battered with cosmic rays and space debris all sign of its original function have eroded away, something that could have been human roams the labyrinthine halls. Who knows what terrible crime or tragedy spawned it? It is huge, and hungry, and terribly, terribly alone. All anyone knows is that the drifting hulk that screams to the void in a hundred looping distress calls is to be avoided at all costs, for the maze is deadly and its lone prisoner even deadlier.

An enchanting woman knocks on the porthole with a broad smile, hair flowing in beautiful curls and mouth moving soundlessly in the boiling vacuum. She seems unaware of the inch-thick tempered plasteel, or perhaps unaware of its necessity for the mortal and the fragile within. As she stares unblinking, whispers begin to crackle over the ship radio, half-parseable snatches in many voices - surnames, stardates, coordinates. The knowledge is so, so tempting.

The astronaut is standing just outside the airlock. The sun is starting to sink behind the lunar horizon, cutting razor-sharp shadows across the silvery dust. He's been standing, patiently, for over four hours. The crew in the lander are huddled as far away from the door as possible, unconacipusly avoiding the astronaut's cold and vacant bunk. They had buried him, after all, three rotations ago, the special kind of dead you only get after decompression-induced exsanguination. And yet here he stands, looking better than ever, a healthy blush in his cheeks clearly visible without that bulky reflective helmet in the way. His eyes catch the setting sun strangely, almost red.

Space is an ocean, they say; the analogy is imperfect, and yet persistent in its poetry. The seafarers of old coasted along the surface of a vast and unknowable deep and called it sailing, and the spacefarers of the new frontier do the same. They speed between the stars or cut through wormhole gates for the occasional shortcut, skimming the three-dimensional surface of the vast four-dimensional space that wormholes can only tentatively pierce, and they are satisfied. But there are strange shadows in the stars, twisting and slow - distortions that ripple out from the hyperdepth and mostly pass without incident, barring the sensitive instruments left screaming in their wake. Nobody has ever seen the four-dimensional leviathans that cast these three-dimensional shadows. At least, nobody who's come back.

They call it a dragon because it flies and it's the scariest thing they've ever seen. It doesn't do it justice. If anything, trying to give it a familiar name only highlights its horrible uncategorizability. It flies, yes - or at least it undulates through atmosphere, seemingly irrelevant to its own mass. It has a golden hoard and breathes poison and fire, or rather the nuclear furnace that boils in its sinuous belly vomits out great gouts of poison fire that leaves stone and flesh as glassy slag and metals fused into radioactive gold. The land all around its lair is blackened and sick, a vile caldera of strange-colored swampland and twisted, fungal trees. In the absolute terror and devastation of its wake, the colonists fall back on old, bad superstitions and offer it a girl…

The sorcerer took out his heart long ago, they say. This is true, but inadequate. His true body is shattered in closely guarded pieces to protect himself from a total death; the form he presents is only a projection of his will onto and through the nanite colony his machinations spawned, a body crafted by the immortal mind and will of one who sacrificed everything to be deathless. His heart is concealed in a small life support capsule in a long-forgotten laboratory in a satellite orbiting the moon of a quarantined colony world; his nervous system wires itself through the vast, organic computer that has taken the place of the planet's core. Backups of backups of backups, redundancies laced through every stolen system. He knows there was a purpose to this, once; a goal to all this sacrifice beyond a simple extension of life. He will never remember who he wanted this for. To be truly deathless, one cannot have a heart.

It's retroviral, they think. No other form of infection could've rewired her cells this fundamentally. It's irreversible without gene therapy, but at least she isn't deteriorating, they say. At least she's holding together while they look for a treatment. She can feel it, though, no matter what the medic says; sub-cellular or not, she can feel it boiling under her skin, sharpening her teeth, burning out from the site of the bite on her arm. And she can feel, with absolute certainty, the planet's two satellites slowly shifting into opposition with the sun, right through the windowless walls of the quarantine pod. She doesn't know what she'll become when the moons are full, but she doesn't speak her suspicions. A part of her - perhaps even a part that's always been there - is very, very eager to find out.

A colony was here once, a long, long time ago. Terraformed and everything, but those were the early days, before they realized you needed a magnetosphere to keep all that air and water from being wicked away by the solar wind. The loss was so gradual it didn't make sense until over a century later, and there wasn't anything they could do for them long-term - wrong kind of core for a polarization op. They did evac, of course, but the priority was low - and it was centuries deep into social development. Everybody on that world had been born there, and some of them didn't want to leave. Way I hear it, some of them insisted on staying - strongly and violently - and the folks in charge eventually got tired of losing troops in a dessicating backwater that was gonna solve itself in less than a century, so they just fudged the paperwork and washed their hands of the whole thing. It's near airless now - stopped being a viable colony world nigh on thirty years back when the last of the ice vanished. But that's not why we steer clear. We don't land there because the locals didn't have the decency to die right, and it can be damn unsettling to catch their shadows sneaking across the sand. They're drawn to ships, you know? Poor bastards still think they can leave.

[lettersfromaphrodite]

«it's high tide, baby.»

― pairing : Minho x fem!Reader ― content warnings : fantasy au, pirate au, angst with a happy ending, enemies to friends to lovers, soulmates (I know you saw it coming), isekai, LOTS of pop culture references (two aldo giovanni and giacomo’s references italian readers this is for you), magic au,  mention of murder, mention of drowning, unprotected sex (wrap it up y’all), fantasy au  ― word count : 24k ― notes : I sure do hope you’ve read Chris’ merman fic because I’m feeding on my own lore // Ananke is meant as the greek goddess of fate // extra kudos to Black Desert for having an amazing map and kudos to me for using the videogame aesthetic because I don’t have enough creativity in me to come up with a fantasy world // I have one (1) fear and that's I'll keep adding more and more everytime I read this story because it's just so dear and precious to me // yes, yes "The Bitter Dahlia" is exactly the one mentioned in «Protect Me, My Aurora.»

― notes : this fic looks familiar?it is! I’m reposting ALL my works on this brand new blog and therefore please, bear with me! as always, askbox is always open and feedbacks are always welcome 💌

― summary : 

«I think I’ve never missed Cleo so much.» you quietly sniffled. «Your lover?» Minho questioned immediately. «My cat.» you clarified without hesitation.

“«Everything is over, now.» the Captain spoke in a confident voice, «I won’t let anyone else hurt you.» he added, before capturing his lover’s lip in a gentle kiss.” «Oh, holy fuck,» you blurted out as soon as you read that sentence, closing the book out of instinct, «holy shit, finally!» you added to yourself, almost closing the book out of excitement, completely aware about the fact that you were smiling like an idiot at no one but the now finished book in your lap but well, you couldn’t help yourself.

It was a book you’ve randomly found in the book-store next to your workplace, its cover had nothing special that immediately jumped to the eye: it was relegated in leather, some golden details that recalled the title written in beautiful handwriting. Actually, if you had to be completely honest, the detail that convinced you to buy it was the small golden stone embedded right under the title, instead of the actual plot – plot that in the end you came to adore.

«You are really lucky, this is the only copy that has been sent to us.» had said the old lady working there, making you furtherly curious and giving you another reason to buy it.

It was a love story, but it contained just the right amount of adventure as well. Christopher, a young, handsome and fearless pirate, was not only the Captain of the Golden Fleece – who was capable of intimidating anyone who saw its sails in the distance, but he had become the head of the entire commercial network that passed through all the known seas. Chris had at least 200 fleets under his command, each of them committing various raids in the name of their Captain - or some might say "the King of Pirates", and now was able to sail wherever he wanted without getting his hands dirty as he had done in the past.

During his adventures, he eventually fell in love with a girl – Leana, who was originally engaged with a navy’s soldier; after an awful lot of vicissitudes and obstacles in the path of their happiness, Christopher eventually stole her away – he’s a pirate after all, making her a member of his crew and finally allowing each other to live their so craved love story.

Of course, the Captain would have never made it alone; his seven long time friends had always been more than ready to help him and support him in every case of need.

Among his crew, you definitely had a personal favourite: Lee Minho, a young former bounty hunter enamoured with the feeling of freedom he felt while sailing that definitely made your heart race more than once. Not only he was described as handsome, with black raven hair that would almost always be tied up because he "hated the feeling of having hair in his face while being on deck" - but also not wanting to cut it short, a captivating and hypnotic gaze that let you wonder if you could reach the bottom of the sea if you ever took a dive into them, but he was also straightforward and sarcastic, a reason why Christopher found himself asking for Minho’s advice the most; despite his strong personality, he truly cared for his friends, and he considered them like a family. Chapter by chapter, you found yourself admiring his character so much that you anticipated every one of his appearances, eager to read more about him.

«Oh, Cleo, can you imagine a love like this?» you sighed dreamily, absently running your fingers through your cat’s thick fur, Cleo simply mewled at you, a faint noise that you interpreted as a proper answer, «or a life like this.» you added, your voice suddenly turning a little more hesitant, a little more lonelier. During the last few months, your life had fallen into an incredibly boring and obnoxious loop: go to work, finish your shift with an incredible amount of stress spreading through your body just to stop in order to buy groceries on your way home, see some friends once in a while, take care of your cat and repeat, repeat, repeat.

Of course, you would have felt a lot lonelier if it weren’t for Cleo: you found her sitting in front of your apartment complex on a random day two years ago and since then she started living with you, as if she had been expressively been waiting for you to find her that day.

«You always look angry, don’t you?» you cooed at her, hoisting her into your lap as to cuddle her a little closer. «Just like your mom.» you referred to yourself, shortly drowning your face in her soft fur, loudly smooching her a few times while adding some incomprehensible praises; Cleo mewled, as if she was exasperated at your behaviour and you quietly giggled, your soft laughter shifting into a sigh as your eyes fell on the book once again.

“I was really lucky to get the only copy of this,” you definitely had loved everything about the story, to the point to start fantasizing and wondering what could their next adventure be now that the crew gained a new very special member. Did Chris and Leana got married in an actual chapel or did they ask someone in their crew to randomly marry them just like Elizabeth Swann and Will Turner did? At the same time, what if they ended up recruiting more women? The thought of a stereotypical girls night on a pirate ship made you snort, but at least, Leana wouldn't have felt lonely, since living among men must have been boring at some point.

Engrossed in your thoughts, you didn’t realize that you ended up drifting off on your couch – still uncomfortably wearing your jeans, and therefore, you definitely could not notice about the strange events occurring as soon as sleep overcame your senses.

The book you were holding in your hand seemed to be woken up by a curious kind of magic, as the golden stone began to glow in a faint light; the book opened by itself just as if it possessed personal will, and its pages quickly turned back and forth by themselves, as if it was deciding which page to read first.

The book’s golden glow gradually seemed to shine brighter and brighter, and it eventually woke you up.

«What the-» you mumbled, confused, when you felt as if someone or something was harshly tugging at your soul and all of a sudden, you felt like you couldn’t breathe anymore.

The book had closed once again, politely placing itself on your coffee table; the glowing had completely disappeared, and the golden stone returned to its original plain looking appearance.

However, in what has always been your home, all traces of your presence seemed to have vanished altogether.

Suddenly drowning was definitely not something you expected to happen on a Thursday evening, moreover, how could you be drowning when you’ve been reading on your couch until few seconds ago?

At first you thought of it as an extremely vivid dream, but as soon as you tried to breathe and water started to fill your lungs, you realized that your only priority was to get to the surface as soon as you could; thankfully, you were barely beneath the surface, so you managed to get your head out of the water soon enough, while finally breathing and coughing due to the salt water you had unintentionally swallowed.

«What the fuck?!» you shouted in disbelief, quickly glancing around yourself; first of all, judging by the sun burning up in the sky, it was the middle of the day, and moreover,  everywhere you turned, you couldn’t see anything but water, except for an enormous galleon blocking part of your sight.

«Man at sea!» you heard many voices shout from its deck, and soon enough, a rope was thrown in your direction.

“What kind of rescue is this, where is the coast guard?” you thought to yourself as you swam towards the rope which was peacefully floating above the surface, unsure about how you were supposed to climb up there in the first place.

However, the answer to your thoughts came pretty fast, in the form of a boy dressed in typical piratesque clothes, urging you to grab his hand; you quickly pondered your options, and between dying from hypothermia caused by the cold water or probably being abducted and eventually killed by a boy with a strange taste in clothing, you considered the latter to be the safest.

«Everything’s fine now, don’t worry.» the boy reassured you with an unexpected friendly tone, and as soon as you locked eyes with him, your heart seemed to stop; his eyes were a deep shade of blue, while his hair, eyebrows and his eyelashes were as white as fresh snow.

Although you were completely certain that you’ve never met him before, you couldn’t help but wonder why his appearance was extremely familiar to you.

«Are you okay?» «How did you end up so far from land?» «She’s trembling like a leaf, poor soul.» «Let’s just throw her back in.» «Shut up, Minho, go fetch a blanket before she freezes to death.» «Can’t you see she looks shocked? Let her breathe!» «What in the bloody hell is she wearing?» The various voices overlapped in the exact moment in which you and the snow white boy had safely climbed on deck; however, everything you could do was to look around yourself in complete astonishment.

A large group of men was working on the ship, while only seven of them and a young girl were paying attention to your arrival; your eyes quickly took in both the strangers and your surroundings, and you definitely noticed that not only they were all dressed like pirates, but the ship seemed to be built exactly like one of those you generally saw in movies, historical re-enactments or museums.

«Oh no, roleplayers.» you whined in complete deject; they exchanged a confused glance among themselves, but eventually, only one of them spoke.

«I believe you’re confused, we’re pirates.» he clarified, and once again, his features seemed to be incredibly familiar, «I’m Chris, the Captain. She is Leana, my wife, and these are my friends.» you watched with dismay as Chris ended up naming his friends just like the characters of the novel you have been reading all afternoon.

«Oh holy shit, it’s even worse, cosplayers.» you nervously rubbed your eyes, shivering every now and then because of the wind mercilessly blowing on your soaked clothes.

«Poor thing, look at her!» Leana suddenly cooed, immediately rushing at your side and taking her jacket off in order to place it on your shoulders, «She’s freezing, let’s save the introductions for later, huh?»

«What if she’s a spy?» Jisung questioned, but his option was immediately silenced by Leana’s glare.

«In the middle of the ocean, Han?» she quickly retorted with sarcasm dripping from her tone, «What if it was mutiny?» she scoffed, gently pushing you to what seemed to be the Captain’s quarter, just to quickly make you sit in front of the small wood burning stove.

The following events seemed to happen in a confusing haze, you vividly remembered Leana commenting about her unfamiliarity with both the style and the fabric of your clothes as you allowed her both to undress you and to dress you up in fresh, warm clothes that belonged to her. Of course, now you were dressed like a pirate as well.

«What do you mean, you’re from Europe?» Chris had calmly repeated your words, «What kind of place is that?» you felt like crying out of frustration at his words. Under the Captain’s request Leanahad brought you into the ship’s interrogation room, and now you were sitting there, the whole room definitely smelling like blood – the strong scent more than enough to give you a headache, with nine pairs of eyes studying every single one of your moves.

«I don’t really feel like joking right now, I really want to go back home.» you repeated with a tired voice, not really understanding what was happening; it was like you had casually walked in the set of a movie, however, a terrifying feeling of dread creeping in your soul was suggesting you that there was definitely more to it. What if these people were real, and you had managed to shift inside the book you loved so much? No, that definitely couldn’t be the case, right?

«I don’t really feel like joking either, little lady,» in an impatient tone, Minho spoke out of the blue and quickly walked next to Chris, who was sitting in front of you at the other side of the table. If your heart picked up pace in happiness at the sight of your favourite character, it started hammering in your chest in pure dread as soon as Minho harshly planted his dagger in the wooden table, right in front of your folded hands. «next up is your tongue.»

«Nice work on terrifying her, Min Min.» Felix sarcastically commented his friend’s action, noticing how you started trembling once again, but this time everyone could easily figure out that it wasn’t because of the cold any longer.

«You cut her tongue, she can't talk, it's not that hard,» someone added, and if you weren't mistaken, he must have been Hyunjin, «see why I'm the one that usually handles the interrogation part?» he added with a sinister yet smug smile, and you had to force yourself to swallow that little bit of saliva you felt in your mouth, trying to avoid eye contact with both the pirates who were so casually talking about torture and interrogations.

«What if she drank too much sea water?» Seungmin chimed in, after he had been studying your behaviour with concern, «You know, in my medical books there are plenty of examples of people suffering from amnesia due to a huge amount of shock.» he suggested, and everyone seemed to consider that it could have been your case, with the only exception for Minho, who was staring at you with a look that you could swear that had probably killed someone at some point.

«We are currently sailing the Margoria Sea,» Chris spoke again, his voice a little kinder now that he had considered Seungmin’s suggestion, «and you’re on our pirate ship, the Golden Fleece.»

“Margoria,” you thought, “of course, in this universe, she's the goddess of the waves” you bit the inside of your cheek in frustration as you tried to convince yourself not to cry, recalling the exact moment the same goddess had been mentioned in the novel.

The more you thought about it, the more the surreal possibility of you shifting inside a book seemed to be the only possible answer to your list of infinite questions, especially because if those people really were cosplayers or actors, they would have eventually broken their act due to seeing you in the verge of having a panic attack. Moreover, the author had always been extremely descriptive in every single detail of the story,  and therefore you found it a little bit too much of a strange coincidence for these people to naturally have the same somatic traits as the characters you had just finished reading about. It was undeniable that the people standing in front of you were the stark copy of the ones described in the book.

Few hours later, Chris’ authoritative voice filled the Captain’s quarters, and your eyes eagerly wandered through the room; you’ve read about this moment a lot of times, Chris would summon his long time friends in his quarters and they’d discuss what to do because he valued their opinion as if it was his own.

«Just, what is she doing there?» Minho spoke suddenly, clearly referring to your presence in the quarters; due to your first meeting, you were extremely wary about meeting his gaze, let alone the possibility of crossing his path by accident.

Actually, it’s not like destiny was working in your favour, since you were nervously standing in front of the wooden wall and next to Minho. Everything about your body language exposed how nervous you were about it: your arms were crossed in front of your chest, and you kept your legs spread just a tiny bit – enough to have a slight chance to attempt to sprint away if he randomly started to chase you in order to throw you off the deck.

«I swear Chris entrusted her to me literally two seconds ago,» Felix replied, eagerly waving his hand as if it could make his point even clearer, «pay attention when the Captain is speaking!» he snapped his fingers, admonished his friend, and you found yourself exhale the faintest trace of the hint of a brief laughter through your nose.

However, much to your dismay, you quickly realized that Minho’s hearing must have been otherworldly, since the barely audible noise you made did not go unnoticed by his ears, consequently making your face turn blank as soon as you felt his gaze burning into the side of your head. Hesitantly, you slowly turned your head to your right, confirming that Minho was most definitely staring at you; out of reflex, you immediately looked away, just to glance back at him for a short second.

Minho, who had been staring at you, secretly pleased about the fact that you seemed scared enough not to try some stupid tricks on them, shortly uncrossed his arms from the front of his chest, just to slightly lean towards you: he quickly mimicked the gesture of grabbing something with his hands, while mimicking a bite with his mouth at the same time. Instinctively, you rapidly tilted your head back as you followed your survival instinct, but you heavily slammed your head against the wooden wall behind you.

«Ow!» you winced in pain, grabbing the back of your head with both hands; you were certain that the impact you just felt was more than enough to give you a headache for days, and still, despite Leana immediately rushed at your side to see if you were okay, and despite the fact that you were crouching on the floor massaging your head, Minho kept his original position, staring in front of him as if nothing had happened.  

Seungmin was right behind Leana, attentively cradling your head to see if you actually managed to hurt yourself; unbeknownst to you, Seungmin was actually holding back an amused laughter, since it has definitely been a while since he met someone as clumsy as you.

A couple of days later almost everyone seemed to have accepted you as a new entry of the crew; actually, you considered yourself lucky since most of the pirates on board seemed to not even notice your presence. Of course, you ended up going along with the amnesia excuse because the whole “you look like you all popped up from a book I’ve been reading and I’m trying to understand if I’m having a very vivid dream or I ended up shifting on accident but I actually didn’t really mean it and now I want to go back.” would have been definitely too troublesome to explain. Most importantly, you didn’t feel ready to process what could have happened to you but also, you didn’t want to face the realization that you had suddenly appeared in the middle of nowhere, without a real possibility to get back home safely.

Honestly you were pretty much useless on a pirate ship, and therefore you ended up in the kitchen, either helping Felix and the other cooks in their task of preparing the food or just cleaning and preparing the room where the pirates formed small groups and took turns to have their meals.

If the truth was that you really ended up in a novel, you had to admit that everyone beside Minho acted accordingly to their character. Chris and Leana acted as two lovebirds, completely smitten with each other; you rarely saw them – let’s guess why, but they overall seemed to act friendly towards you. Leana had eagerly helped you decorate the room that had been assigned to you, it was a little small and right next to the storage room – the window was wide enough for you to escape just in case, but it was perfectly okay to you, since you were hoping that you wouldn’t have to remain on the ship for too long.

Since Leana seemed to trust you, so did Chris; despite the fact that you’ve interacted only a handful of times, he seemed as reliable as he had been portrayed in the novel.

Felix and Seungmin were definitely the ones you’ve seen the most. Felix was literally acting as your keeper, paying attention to you as if he was a concerned older brother and not someone who you had met few days earlier. Still, you could expect this from him, since he had always been described as the kindest one out of their group – beside Jeongin.

Seungmin had examined your head a concerning amount of times by now, if you were to ask him; actually, he had quickly realized that you were pretending to have headaches only when Minho was around, and he simply got along with it. He treated you with respect, even if he seemed to be a little wary of your presence. «Let’s hope you can get your memories back soon,» he would say, «so that you can return home safely.» you never answered, his words always making your heart tighten as a reflexive answer.

Changbin, Jisung and Hyunjin were almost always nowhere to be seen; thanks to the author you knew that they had a gambling addiction, however, the only times you saw them they were joined by the hips, always joking around with each other – and Minho, always looking too busy to pay too much attention to you.

Jeongin was basically the miniature version of Chris: you knew that the Captain had saved him when he was still a little kid, and since then Jeongin had always followed Chris’ lead. He was the one that seemed to respect you the most, he was also absolutely certain that you must have been a Princess of a faraway land. «I’m really no one.» you would answer every time with an apologetic smile, earning a sad pout from the younger boy.

Minho, however, was openly against the idea of keeping you on board, and often suggested to throw you off the deck as soon as you started being too annoying. You couldn’t understand why he was so mean to you, and you weren’t definitely the only one to notice; more than once, the others had admonished his behaviour, reiterating the fact that he should have been a little bit nicer to you, especially after what you have been through.

«That’s exactly the point, Chris, we don’t know! She could be a siren or just a lunatic witch,» you overheard him argue with the Captain one day, «face it, if that were the case, no one would be immune to her spells, not even your beloved wife.» your hands instinctively clenched on the broomstick you were holding to sweep the floor of the corridors, and your gaze was lost somewhere in the wooden floor.

«She might as well be telling the truth,» you heard Chris answer in his usual calm tone, «I don’t want to deny her a shelter just because she lost her memories, because that sure wasn’t her fault.»

«What are we listening to?» Changbin’s voice right next to your ear almost made you jump out of your skin due to the sudden fright; his eyes widened in stupor as you almost dropped your hold on your broomstick – thing which would have definitely expose the fact that you were overhearing a very secret conversation. Luckily, Changbin’s reflexes were drastically quicker than yours, and so he collected the broomstick just in time, before handing it to you once again with an amused smirk. He placed his ear against the door, quickly connecting the animated argument to your sad expression and he gently smiled to you in an unexpected friendly manner.

«Don't worry too much about it, Ace, he’ll come around.» Changbin briefly stated before walking away, heading back towards the deck at the end of the corridor without uttering another word; you shortly stood there, speechless, staring at his withering shoulders as his silhouette gradually disappeared in the light coming from outside.

“What the hell?” you thought, incredulous: Changbin had barely spoken to you and now he decided to give you a random and most definitely sarcastic nickname and offer you words of comfort, all of a sudden?

“Something bad is definitely gonna happen,” you quickly deduced, going back to your original task; you were about to start sweeping the floor once again, before an ominous aura seemed to fill the packed space of the corridor.

“There it is,” you announced to yourself, refusing to turn around to confirm the suspicion that Minho had left Chris’ chambers, “oh, divine Xena, mighty princess forged in the heat of battle,please help me with this one,” you instinctively moved out of inertia, backing towards the nearest wall as Minho was walking towards your frame.

“Here we go, it’s him!” you dramatically thought, hugging the broomstick to your chest as if your life depended on it, the only shield between you and Minho, who was standing in front of you with his usual furious stare that magically seemed to disappear as soon as his eyes diverted from your general direction.

«I don’t know what you did to have everyone wrapped around your little finger, but that’s not gonna work with me, princess.» Minho spoke with a harsh tone, cornering you against the wall by placing his left hand next to your head; silence fell between the two of you, and you instinctively clenched your fists around the broomstick, just to be able to attempt to defend yourself in some kind of way.

Could you do self defence while using a broom? Of course. Could you defend yourself against Minho, judging the sheer force he used to plant a dagger in a thick wooden table? Of course not.

Minho spent few seconds studying your face with incredible attention, as if, if he stared hard enough, you would transform into a whole different creature, confirming his theories about you. However, Minho momentarily seemed to have forgotten the concept of personal space, because his nose brushed against yours at least twice as you were doing your best to avoid his piercing gaze.

«Now that I take a closer look, you’re definitely not as pretty as a siren.» he suddenly stated with a sly grin while raising his eyebrow, before detaching from you altogether, just to walk towards the deck’s direction.

«And you had to almost kiss me to find out?» you yelled back a little louder than intended as soon as he was at a reasonable distance; to say that you were outraged was an understatement, you were furious.

To think Minho was your favourite character when you were reading the novel, what were you, crazy?

Despite the fact that you were genuinely doing your best to avoid meeting Minho, the pirate was clearly doing the opposite, neutralizing every single one of your good purposes as the two of you seemed to keep running into each other. It didn’t matter whether you were simply doing your assigned chores or you were peacefully chatting with one of the pirates, he always seemed to find something to do in order to get on your nerves; sometimes he would just accidentally knock random things off the table so that you had to pick them up and clean them again, other times he would interrupt a conversation just to be mean at you.

Minho was definitely getting on your nerves, but you did your best not to pay too much attention to him, since you definitely had more important things to think about. Inside your heart, the growing feeling of homesickness was constantly calling for your attention; you often found yourself on the verge of tears, but it was a side of you that you were determined not to show to anyone, thing that lead you to cry yourself to sleep more than once.

The part of the crew assigned to the kitchen, of course, always had their meal before the others did, and more than once it led to your small group of friend to join, and today was not exception. Walking out of the kitchen, you saw Minho, Jeongin, Chris, Jisung and Seungmin sitting at one of the long tables in the room while eating and loudly chatting, and now that Jeongin was hastily and eagerly waving his arm to let you know that you should have sat next to him to have your quick lunch, you realized that yet another time, you couldn’t escape your fate of avoiding Minho as if he was the plague.

«May I, uh...» you walked next to Leana, who was walking towards their table as well; she immediately tilted her head towards you, listening, «May I approach the bitch?» she bursted out laughing really loudly, immediately understanding that you were talking about Minho; however, that happy and hilarious bubble of joy disappeared the same moment you heard Hyunjin’s voice right behind the both of you.

«What did you say?» never did the simple request to repeat something seem more dangerous; you swallowed, feeling your blood turn cold in the same moment the flashback of him mentioning his “interrogation habits” popped into your mind. However, the few weeks you spent living among pirates were teaching you how to build up your courage – or more like “fake it until you make it”, as someone would say.

«I said “may I approach the bench”,» you answered, pretending to be annoyed with the useless repetition of your sentence, nodding towards the long benches that you were using instead of chairs, «what did you think I said?»

The crew was incredibly hungry that day, you could easily tell from the speed at which they ate and the various groups took turns, thing that didn’t give you much occasion to chat with them as you often did; instead, you were frantically walking back and forth from the kitchen, helping two other pirates to deliver food to everyone.

“Maybe if I find a similar book I can get home,” you thought as you absently piled the dirty and empty plates on top of each other before carrying them to the kitchen, just to come back with clean ones, “where am I supposed to find a book in the open sea?” you sighed in deject, not liking the direction of your thoughts.

«I think you missed a spot, princess.» Minho’s arrogant tone caught your attention, and you watched with total unbewildrement the pirate hit the side of one of the wooden jugs placed on the tables, knocking it to the ground and spilling the water on the floor.

As if you were under a magic spell, all the traces of sadness seemed to vanish from your soul, just to be replaced by sheer anger; you were beyond furious, how dare he? He didn’t trust you, and you could understand his point of view; it pained you to admit to yourself that if you were in his shoes, you would have probably done the same. However, you could endure the teasing, you could endure everything he was putting you through but you definitely drew the line at this kind of disrespect. You closed your fist so tightly that you were absolutely sure that your fingertips would feel momentarily numb as soon as you tried to open your hands, and you were certain that your nails were digging a half crescent moon shape in your skin.

However, you and Minho were not the only one left in the room; Hyunjin, Changbin, Chris and few other crew members were not finished eating and therefore, they saw all the scene unfolding.

«Hey, fuck face!» you loudly called out, claiming both Minho and the other’s attention, «I get you feel powerful because you can swing a fucking sword, but you should learn to respect people who are working!» you stood your grounds, ignoring your heart wildly hammering in your chest and the nervousness you felt as soon as Minho stopped walking, just to turn towards you.

«You’re that interested in losing your head, huh?» Minho replied with an undecipherable gaze, quickly walking back towards you.

If there was a god out there, you were certain that they must have glanced towards your direction in that same moment, because right before Minho could close the distance between the two of you, Changbin’s shoulders appeared in your field of view.

«Calm down, buddy,» Changbin was still peacefully chewing on his food as he stopped him, placing a hand on the pirate’s chest, who tilted his head just enough to keep furiously glance at you.

«If we were still home, I would have get you arrested!» you spat, your chest tightening at the thought of your home town but also incredibly thankful to Changbin.

«Again with those stories? You sure do have flowers growing in your head, princess!» Minho immediately answered, trying to walk around Changbin, who was still pushing against his chest.

However, what no one actually expected was for you to actually try to confront Minho from up close, attempting to walk around Changbin as well; honestly, you were too furious to notice that you were about to face a pirate while completely unarmed and not knowing how to fight.

«Easy there,» Hyunjin suddenly spoke with amusement from behind your shoulders, placing his arms under your armpits just to stop you and hold you back.

«Say that to him, not to me!» you tried to free yourself without success; Hyunjin was very strong despite his slim figure and therefore, even when you kicked both your legs in the air while urging him to let you go, he didn’t move the slightest.

«Don’t you think this is the kind of energy we need on board, Binnie?» Hyunjin laughed, eagerly chatting as he had no trouble holding you back; Changbin scoffed a laugh as well, since it’s been a while since he saw Minho getting riled up that easily.

«That’s enough,» Chris’ authoritative voice seemed to be the only thing that could calm the atmosphere; «you, go back to your room.» he told you in a scolding tone.

«What?!» you whined, «I didn’t do anything!» you added, trying to wiggle out of Hyunjin’s hold once again.

«Don’t challenge my authority,» Chris shortly admonished you, his stern gaze not leaving any room to debate his decision, before turning his attention towards Minho, «you’re going to your room as well.»

«What?!» Minho asked in astonishment, not believing his Captain’s orders.

«I don’t want to see the two of you on deck until at least tomorrow morning.» Chris added, and that was your call to understand that the argument was officially over.

Hyunjin had offered to accompany you to your room, and as soon as you were about to walk out the door, you slightly turned towards Minho: you placed your index finger on your lower eyelid, tugging on the skin as you shortly sticked out your tongue as well. Still, you immediately turned around, so that you couldn’t see Changbin struggling not to laugh, reaching out to stop Minho once again, who was glancing at him with a murderous look.

“I want to go home,” you whined to yourself as soon as you were sitting on your bed once again; you laid down on your back, missing the sensation of Cleo immediately walking up and cuddle at your side. You wondered what happened back home, even though you were certain that your cat had found a way out of your apartment, since the window was still open when you had fallen asleep, however, what about your friends? Was someone worried about your sudden disappearance? Moreover, judging by the amount of days that had passed, you had most definitely lost your job.

«Ah, I hope they choose a nice pic of me if I made it to the news as a missing person.» you mumbled to yourself, your gaze lost in the wooden tiles of your ceiling.

“I could draw tiny lines on the wall to count the days I’m spending on here,” the sudden idea popped up in your mind, only for you to abandon it as quickly as it came. First of all, you didn’t have a knife – let alone a dagger or a sword, and therefore it would be impossible for you to engrave marks in the wall, most importantly, what if they found out and you had to repay for the things you’ve damaged? Those were the basic things happening back home, and although you were unsure about various dynamics of the world you were in, you didn’t want to try your luck. Chris looked scary while pissed off, and you read about how cruel he could be, you definitely needed him on your side.

“I could try to run away as soon as we reach the first port,” you wondered, but that option was discarded as well; although touching land was the only thing to confirm the shifting theory, you didn’t know what could have happened if it was the truth. Abduction and prostitution were sadly pretty much real in that world as well, and once again, you decided that the safest option was to stick around Chris and his crew; after all, what could harm you if he was in charge of basically everything and everyone sailing above the water’s surface?

Minho’s menacious glare appeared in your mind, and you reached out to grab the pillow from under your neck just to slam it against your face, “it’s not like I can throw a meteor at him, I’m not Zhongli,”, you thought, before suddenly sitting up in bed. «Who’s going to do my daily commissions in Genshin Impact now?!» you mumbled to yourself, thinking about all the time you’ve spent playing – time that of course had been wasted due to what happened.

Someone knocked on your door, and you genuinely wondered about pretending to be asleep in order to avoid giving explanation about what happened at dinner; nevertheless, you allowed the person in.

«Hi there,» Felix greeted with his usual cheerful tone, «I heard you caused quite a riot today.» he added, placing a small tray with a glass of water and a plate of stew on the small table next to your bed; you sighed, falling back to the bed and hoping that those blankets could swallow your frame and teleport you back home.

«I didn’t do anything, Felix,» you clarified, «Minho just hates me for no reason.» «Well..» «Please, don’t tell me this is the part where you say things like “he hasn’t always been like this”, or something.» you immediately added, preventing him from talking any further.

«Nah, he’s always been like this.» Felix quickly shook his head, sitting on the small mattress and next to your knees; he tapped your thigh twice, telling you to sit up so that you could eat dinner. «Keep up that attitude though, it’s funny to watch.» he chuckled, his face quietly shifting into a concerned frown as he noticed how you kept playing with your food instead of actually eating it.

Maybe from the outside your interactions with Minho were unusual enough to be considered funny, but to you they were incredibly stressful.

First of all, Minho had always been your favourite character, and you would have never imagined that he could despise your presence so much; most importantly, he had always been described as a whole different person, and you found yourself wondering why you wanted to be accepted by him so much. You were aware that late at night the dining room became the meeting point where some pirates gathered to drink and gamble, both because you had read it in the novel and because some sleepless nights you had passed in front of its door as you were walking towards the deck, hearing the echo of thunderous laughter or the loud chatter of the ones who lost and were unhappy with the rules. Sometimes the door wasn’t even completely close, and as you peeked inside on your way through the corridor, you could see Minho joke around and laugh with the others, thing that always made you feel sad and somehow, lonely.

«Aren’t you hungry?» Felix gently asked, noticing how you went silent all of a sudden. «It’s not that funny, though: he acts like I’m going to annihilate everyone while you sleep and well – he basically adores you.» you ignored his question, instead referring to the fact that he was the only one he didn’t threaten to kill anytime Lix called him “Min Min”.

«I’ll tell you a super secret secret,» Felix started to whisper, and you shifted your gaze on his lips, making sure that you could effectively understand what he was about to say, «me and Minho are half brothers.»

«What?!» you immediately shrieked out of disbelief, that was never mentioned in the novel! You clearly recalled their background stories: Minho was a bounty hunter, while Felix was… Felix… Well, he was…

“Now that I think of it, Felix’s past hasn’t been mentioned, not even once.” your questioning gaze met Felix, who eagerly nodded at the silent questions in your eyes.

«Our mother remarried,» he explained, before interrupting himself, «now that I think of it, mom and Minho’s father weren’t married – well, that’s not important.» Felix dismissively waved his hand in front of himself, and for the next hour, you had eventually started eating as you listened to his stories about him and Minho; despite all the times you wanted to clarify that “yes, I already know this part,” you kept silent, smiling at Felix’s eagerness and at the affection towards his brother that you could feel through his words.

«He’s really amazing,» he praised, «he’s always protected me since we were kids – you know, my… hair colour is a bit unusual.» he admitted, recalling the times when Minho would come home covered in bruises because he had protected Felix from being bullied.

«It’s beautiful, though,» you immediately replied, making Felix widen his eyes in sudden surprise, «you look like you've walked out of a fairy tale... and really, it suits you.» you added, making the pirate smile with a sad smile.

«I often said I could dye it, but Minho was always against the idea.» he said, but your attention was focused elsewhere.

“So, hair dye exist in this world as well?” the gears in your brain started to spin and twirl as you thought; once again, it had never been mentioned in the novel, but you thought that the author didn’t need to, since the story revolved around Chris’ point of view.

«Get some rest, princess,» Felix excused himself, collecting the now empty tray as he stood up; you nodded, the side of your lips curling into a small smile at how different the nickname sounded as it was spoken by the two brothers, «I’ll try to talk to him.» he reassured, and for a second, you decided to believe him.

Much to your dismay, nothing had changed after a week, leaving you to your usual routine; however, you had to admit that you barely saw Minho around, and when you did, you adverted your gaze before he could meet yours. It was as if, unlike the first days, he was keeping his distance as well, and you were grateful to Felix for it. “If you can’t defeat them, become their friend, some said!” you thought, “well, I failed miserably.”

Felix was now basically what you could call your best friend, as he had declared more than once; he always insisted for you to sit next to him when you were eating, and once you were finished with your daily chores, he would explain the most random things to you. Actually, you were incredibly grateful to him because you were finally able to tie a knot on a rope, thing which would have come handy if you ever decided to escape.

Most importantly, you and Felix had something really particular in common, and that was your admiration towards Chris’ and Leana’s relationship. The poor couple could have been simply standing in front of each other talking about the most random things and you would say something like «they’re so pretty I could punch myself in the face,» immediately echoed by Felix that would reply «wait for it, he’s gonna move a strand of hair behind her ear because of the wind,» and the both of you would dreamily coo at them as Chris did exactly what Felix had predicted.

Seungmin was still visiting you every now and then – mostly when you pretended that your head hurt because you saw Minho appearing out of nowhere and he was definitely too close for comfort, but nonetheless he spent most of his days in his study.

Jeongin was mostly spending his time with Seungmin, now, the older pirate insisting that he needed an assistant because he was tired to everything on his own, and Jeongin eagerly following his orders.

Jisung, Changbin and Hyunjin were now seeing you in a whole different light: the day you fearlessly challenged Minho seemed to have made you earn their respect, and they often tried to lure you into joining a gamble match with them. «Thanks, but I don’t know the rules,» you dismissively answered every time, and as soon as one of them suggested they could teach you, you immediately added that you didn’t have anything valuable you could gamble on.

Leana was more or less, an addiction to the piece of furniture in your small room; anytime she wasn’t with Chris, she would keep you company, telling you about the most various and dangerous adventures they have lived while sailing. You eagerly listened to her, often interrupting her to ask for more details, thing that she never seemed to mind, answering your question with the same eagerness. Leana’s stories were a perfect indicator for you to deduce that between what happened in the book and your arrival on the ship, at least three years seemed to have passed; years in which Chris’ domain on the sea had become even more clear.

«It’s like being on of those cruise ships; no one dares attacking us and we can do whatever we want to, I love it.» she confessed, voicing her hopes about you liking being on board as well; you didn’t trust yourself, and therefore you simply nodded.

«Come on, girls night,» Leana had announced one day as she sat on your bed, and you furrowed your eyebrows in obvious reluctance, familiar with the concept of her words; «has anyone caught your eye?» Leana’s eyes seemed to glimmer in curiosity, and you found yourself sigh in deject.

«Yes, I mean, no.» you spoke, unclear, confusing yourself as well. What were you supposed to say? You’ve never looked at anyone under that particular light, after all!

“Well, actually…” you immediately stopped the train of your thoughts: Minho was undoubtedly charming and handsome, but he was behaving like a complete jerk towards you, and therefore you sighed, resigning yourself to your fate as you met Leana’s curious gaze.

«Minho is cute, but don’t tell him I said so, I particularly like my head attached to my neck.» you confessed, panicking as you saw her eyes widen in disbelief.

«I would have bet money on Felix!» she yelled, just to lower her voice mid-sentence, staring at you in complete astonishment.

«Felix is really cute, but everything’s really very… platonic.» you explained, avoiding saying something she would have found too weird and incomprehensible like “he’s always nice andhe gives me really good vibes!”

However, Leana seemed to ponder your words about Minho, confessing that one morning, she saw Felix and Minho talking very animately, as if they were arguing about something. «Now that I think about it, it was the morning after you’ve been both confined to your room.» she added, and she confirmed as well the fact that the pirate seemed to been avoiding your presence as well.

Leana had soon returned to the Captain’s quarters, leaving you in the loneliness of your room; once again, you couldn’t sleep and therefore, you found yourself headed towards the deck of the Golden Fleece.

The night sky was clear, the stars seemed a bright blanket that made you feel a tiny bit less lonelier; you tried to smile at the thought that in your life, you had never seen so many stars due to the industrialization and the fact that there was always a source of light around the city. On your way to the deck you ended up both carrying one of the blankets in your room and stealing an apple from the storage room, and in the end you were sitting alone in a dark corner of the ship, completely hidden from the helmsman’s eyes and from the few pirates who were awake and in charge of taking care of the ship as long as the others were asleep – or gambling.

As your gaze lost itself in the darkness ahead of you, your thoughts inevitably wandered to dangerous places, and you found yourself silently crying because you missed home. Although in the past days you have done your best to avoid even the faintest traces of intrusive thoughts, it was probably time to face the truth; even though it seemed impossible, you ended up in a fantasy novel, and of course the historical period was completely different from the one you were living in, to the point of not having the comforts you were used to have in your everyday life. A phone, internet, a hairdryer, heating, a microwave… Despite the fact that you were slowly getting used to this kind of life, you madly wanted to go back home, and the thing that completely broke your heart was the fact that you highly doubted it would even be remotely possible. After all, the lady at the bookshop had clearly said that you bought the only copy of the novel, copy which was currently still on your coffee table in another dimension.

Completely engrossed in your crying session, you didn’t notice that someone had approached your trembling figure.

«See? I didn’t lie when I said you were probably a thief.» Minho’s voice shook you out of your train of thoughts, but you weren’t in the right mind to answer to his constant teasing; you stared both at him and the apple in your hand – apple that you ended up biting only once, just to wordlessly focus your gaze once again on the darkness in front of the ship.

The moon was high up in the sky, and Minho could definitely see the fact that you were crying, especially because you weren’t doing a good job to hide your occasional hiccups; he has never seen you so vulnerable, after all you’ve been arguing like dog and cat since the day they had saved you, but yet, he breathed a long sigh, before eventually walking closer to you, crouching down so that you were more or less at the same eye-level.

«Are you okay?» Minho questioned, every trace of hostility suddenly disappearing from his voice, and he saw you simply shook your head because no, you were definitely not okay. «Can I sit next to you?» he asked again, and waited for you to answer before he dared to move.

«Why, so you can throw me off deck as soon as I cry too loudly?» you spat with annoyance, and Minho scoffed as a silent answer. If he were to be honest, he wasn’t doing it for you, but for Felix; his brother had constantly told him to give you a chance, but the pirate kept ignoring him; however, for some weird reason he didn’t want to think about, the sight of you curled up against the wall just to cry your eyes out didn’t please him as he originally thought. «Yeah, something like that.» Minho shrugged, before sitting next to you. A somewhat comfortable silence fell on the corner you had been secretly occupying, a silence made of you occasionally hiccuping trying to hide a sob just to wipe your tears with part of your blanket and Minho completely silence as his brain tried to come up with a reasonable question about why you seemed so unconsolable.

«Has something happened in the kitchen? Did Felix say something bad?» Minho gently tried, even if he doubted that was the case, since Felix was the first among the people who seemed to be completely smitten with your presence; confirming his thoughts, he saw you shook your head without voicing an actual answer.

«Have you been having nightmares?» he questioned again, his left hand hesitantly scratching his left thigh; «it happens a lot, especially the first times you sail.» again, you wordlessly shook your head, and silence fell once again.

It went on for minutes, Minho coming up with the most various questions and you simply shaking your head because he never got it right.

«I miss my hairdryer.» you admitted, your voice barely above a whisper.

«Your… your what?» Minho quietly echoed, confusion dripping from his voice.

«My hairdryer,» you repeated, moving your right hand in the air just to mimic a general shape of one, «it’s made like this, and we use it to blow hot hair on our hair to make it dry faster, it works with electric – oh, never mind, you already think I’m a lunatic witch.» your voice trembled at the end of the sentence, and you ended up wiping more tears escaping the corner of your eyes, as Minho was staring at you with an indecipherable gaze.

«Tell me more,» he gently spoke – almost in a hesitant way, urging you to go on, «about your crazy stories, I want to hear more.»

«And give you extra reasons to make fun of me on a daily basis? No, thank you.» you bitterly answered, and Minho’s gentle smile slowly vanished from his lips. The pirate kept studying your features, pensive, and few seconds later his right hand was hovering in front of your face, his pinky finger outstretched.

«I won’t, I promise. I call truce.» he said, and for the first time you turned your head to glance at him, unconsciously smiling at the sight of a pirate using pinky promises as a way to seal official promises; it was as if you could feel your heart tremble, the sight of the Minho you used to adore while reading your favourite book was suddenly not that unreachable anymore, and something in his determined gaze illuminated by the moon made you trust him.

Unbeknownst to you, while intertwining your pinky finger with his, a little part of your fate had changed forever.

«I think I’ve never missed Cleo so much.» you quietly sniffled. «Your lover?» Minho questioned immediately. «My cat.» you clarified without hesitation.

Eventually, you and Minho shortly ended up bonding over your mutual love for cats. You described her to him, explaining that to you, she was indeed unique and beautiful; her black fur was occasionally painted with ginger spots, and her eyes were a light shade of green.

«She always looked incredibly pissed off, just like me.» you scoffed a laugh, and you heard Minho chuckle softly at your words.

«To think you were going to face me without a weapon, you sure do have some guts,» he commented, and you answered with an exasperated sigh, «you could ask Jisung to teach you a trick or two.» your head immediately turned towards him at the unexpected suggestion. Minho simply shrugged, explaining that you would be more useful on deck if something were to happen.

«I used to have three cats before I choose to sail with Chris.» he admitted then, changing the topic of your conversation, smiling to himself.

«I know.» you answered without thinking about it too much; only when you felt Minho’s inquisitive stare on your face, you panicked. Clearly you couldn’t tell him that you knew a lot of details about his life before he started being a pirate because you read it in a novel, and therefore you simply settled for a simple white lie known as: «Felix told me about it.»

«I miss my hair conditioner as well,» you admitted, «I even got the special edition with keratin – you know with the golden plastic jar and everything, and never got to use it more than twice.» for at least half of the night, you ended up explaining Minho every detail of what life was like where you were living; skyscrapers, air conditioning, electricity, supermarkets, videogames and malls, along with every kind of food you ended up craving, Minho had patiently listened to your rambles, occasionally asking about few clarifications every now and then.

«You know, princess, I still think you have flowers growing in your head.» Minho spoke after the two of you eventually managed to finish conversation topics; your heart sank to your stomach at his words, and of course, you felt like crying again.

«However…» Minho spoke again, his tone a little more firmer than before, as if he understood that his words hurt you, «your stories are a bit too much filled with details to be completely made up.»

«So?» you questioned him, glancing at him while leaning your head against the wooden surface behind your shoulders.

«So,» Minho echoed, mirroring your actions, so that you were staring at each other, «I think that somewhere in that flower field, there’s a little bit of truth.» a relieved smile erupted on your features, and you felt genuinely happy about the fact that finally Minho decided to take you seriously.

Despite the fact that you had managed to calm down, neither of you dared to move, and as you kept talking about your life, you ended up sharing your blanket with the pirate, whose hands were now as cold as ice.

Somewhere during the few hours remaining before dawn, you ended up falling asleep, unconsciously leaning against Minho’s shoulders, who didn’t move in order not to wake you up. However, as soon as the pirate saw a small glimpse of light starting to illuminate the sky as a signal of a new day, he gently picked you up just to carry you to your bedroom.

«Fucking finally, Min Min,» Felix’s groggy whisper called out from Minho’s shoulders; the younger had just woken up, and to be honest, he was convinced about being still asleep as the first thing he saw were his brother – who claimed to hate you, carrying you – who claimed to hate him, bridal style and soundly asleep towards your room. «Not a word, Lix.» Minho had simply answered, not bothering to stop.

Few days later, everyone was aware about the drastic change of Minho’s behaviour towards you, since the pirate went to completely ignore your presence to greet you occasionally. You found yourself smiling anytime it happened, your smile vanishing as soon as you could feel two different set of piercing gazes on your face; on one side, Leana was looking at you with pure excitement in her eyes, as to say «did you see it?» while on the other side, Felix was following the scene with a knowing smile, happy about his brother’s eventual change of heart.

Moreover, you had to admit to yourself that your mood was significantly better since you didn’t have to constantly watch your back, to the point where you found yourself thinking that if things kept going like this, you could have definitely got used to this new life. To be completely honest, you could already picture yourself trying to introduce some of your modern technology into this world, becoming the cliché mad scientist holed up in her laboratory, shouting a loud «it could work!» followed by a manic laughter as soon as you managed to create something useful.

Taking a small break from your daily chores, you decided to take a stroll on deck, enjoying what seemed to be the last days of summer; the days had already begun to shorten and in the back of your mind, you wondered how cold could it get on a pirate ship during winter, but you weren’t sure you wanted to know an actual answer, when out the corner of you eye, you saw them.

At first, you thought that either your mind was playing tricks on you or you were hallucinating, but once you turned your complete attention to the sea, you distinctly saw that there was a small group formed by seven girls not too far from where you were, casually sitting on some random pieces of wood – most definitely what remained of a sunken ship, while brushing their luscious hair; you narrowed your eyes as if trying to get a better view, because you could swear that all of them had a long fish tail.

“Mermaids?” you wondered; after all, you didn’t know how this world worked in the first place, and based on Minho’s accusations to you, for all you knew, they could be more than a superstition.

«Sirens!» the loud shout from the crow’s nest seemed to alert everyone, confirming that you weren’t hallucinating, but you weren’t sure what you were supposed to do in this situation; you saw some pirates running back to their quarters, as if it was a desperate attempt not to be lured by their voices.

Few minutes later, the situation was definitely taking a drastic and terrifying turn: some pirates were throwing themselves off deck just to try their luck swimming towards the sirens and therefore swimming towards their death, while the others kept soundlessly walking toward the railing as if they were possessed, their eyes void of any emotion.

Quirking a brow you stared at the group of sirens once again, silently admiring their beauty and their pretty tail. However something wasn’t adding up: you could clearly see their lips move, but you seemed to be the only one who couldn’t hear their chant.

Leana’s shoulder harshly bumping against yours was what made you wake up from your silent daze; like anyone else, her eyes were unfocused, and she had already thrown one leg over the railing.

«Wait, no!» yelling at her to stop, you covered her ears with your hands out of instinct, when the unthinkable happened: the fog that seemed to cloud Leana’s gaze had vanished as soon as you touched her, and she looked at both herself and you with a puzzled expression.

«What’s happening?» she questioned, confused, «why can’t I hear them?» at her question, it was as if your thoughts began to align, quickly forming a more or less clever answer; could it be that it was because you were from another dimension? You immediately tested your wild guess, wrapping around her wrist the hair tie you always kept on your wrist.

«Still nothing?» you asked, helping her safely climb back on deck, so that no one else could drag her in the water out of accident.

«I can see them singing, but I can’t hear them,» she confirmed with astonishment, glancing at the small elastic band now adorning her wrist, «is this some sort of talisman?» she questioned again but you kept silent, not sure about what you should have answered.

“Wait, if this managed to help her, this means that…”

«Leana, where are my clothes,? You know, the ones I was wearing when you found me in the sea?» you immediately questioned her: if things really were what they seemed, maybe you has a chance to save everyone.

«Come with me.» Leana immediately replied, and shortly after you both raced to the Captain’s quarters as if you were running against time.

«I have an idea, but that will make me sound like a lunatic witch» you quoted Minho, before explaining yourself, «we need to shred them in as many pieces we can and stick them inside the other’s clothes.» you kept your jeans in your hands, handing her both the cotton t-shirts you were wearing at home; however, there was no sign of mock in her eyes.

«You already saved my life, I trust you, witch or not.» she encouraged, and after nodding and each other Leana grabbed two of Chris’ daggers, and after handing one to you as well, you both ran back on deck.

“This is so wrong,” you thought, “I’m about to act like a typical heroine and I don’t have a catchphrase to say!” adrenaline was running trough your veins to the point of making you delirious, and you mentally tried to come up with an outstanding idea as fast as you could?

“How about “for Frodo”?… No, that would be plagiarism,” you kept thinking as you and Leana closed the Captain’s quarters room behind your shoulders, “I got it, “Geronimo!”… Nah, too corny.”

«I’ll take the right side and you take the left side?» Leana urged, already cutting some fabric out of your t-shirt with her dagger; she snapped you out of your thoughts, and your eyes immediately went back on the scenery in front of you.

No more than thirty pirates were left – a quarter of the crew, and much to your dismay, you noticed from the corner of your eye how Chris, Seungmin and Changbin were already in the water.

«Hey Leana, you know what we say in Europe before doing things like this?» your heart was hammering in your chest to the point you were certain it was trying to escape your body.

«Uh... May Margoria have mercy on us?» she tried, as the both of you started walking in opposite directions.

«No, no, it’s even better,» you chuckled at your own thoughts, before encouraging the both of you with a short and simple: «it’s Britney, bitch.»

From that moment, you and Leana were running like two desperate women on a mission, and you tried to ignore the pain that your heart was feeling as you were repeatedly cutting your pair of favourite jeans.

“It’s for a fucking good cause,” you thought motivating yourself, urging your legs to move faster.

Actually, if you and Leana were feeling like two heroes out of an adventure novel, the sight from the outside looked really bizarre: the deck was completely silent as the pirates were walking like zombies, and the only noise was the one made from your heels as you frantically ran back and fort, not to mention that you were occasionally screaming «tag, you’re it!» before running towards the next pirate.

Moreover, as soon as someone of the crew managed to wake up, nor you nor Leana ever stopped to explain what was going on; you just pushed a few pieces of uncommon fabric against their chest just to shout an order for them to follow.   You could feel your lungs burn, and although you desperately wanted to stop and catch your breath, you saw that Minho was in the same position Leana had been in few minutes earlier and you quickly urged your legs to run faster, somehow.

“Why the fuck I never did jogging while I was home?” you internally cursed yourself, but the most important thing was that you managed to stop Minho by a harsh grip on his strong bicep. Minho’s eyes increasingly focused, and he looked at you with bewilderment; you didn’t give him time to ask anything, because you thrusted the only piece of fabric you had left in his hand.

«See this? This was my favourite pair of jeans,» you spoke, your breath ragged due to the fact that you had been running without stopping for more time than you were used to, Minho was about to question why he couldn’t hear the sirens anymore, when you interrupted him again, «let go of this damn denim fabric, and I’ll kill you.»

«What’s going on?» Minho finally questioned, swooning his leg over the railing so that he was once again safely on deck, but before you could answer, Leana had quickly walked towards you with Felix, Jisung, Hyunjin and few of the pirates who had managed to wake up, still clutching the piece of fabric as instructed.

By now, you had managed to save everyone who was still on deck, however, you still had a big problem: the majority of your crew – including the Captain, was still swimming towards the sirens.

«What now?» Leana questioned, her concerned eyes locked on her husband.

«I don’t know.» your shoulders fell as you admitted disheartened, your trembling hands still desperately holding Minho’s hands over what was left of your favourite pair of jeans. «Aren’t you still wearing that thing underneath your shirt?» Leana questioned, and your right hand reflexively touched your bra over your linen shirt. “Not my Victoria’s Secret…” you thought, but Leana quickly dismissed her own idea. «It’s not like we can throw ourselves down there, we’ll never reach them in time.» she added, and a nervous silence fell once again. The pirates kept silent, not daring to interrupt your conversation with Leana; no one knew what was happening but for all they knew, they owed their life to the both of you. However, the sirens have been focusing their attention on your presence for a while, and as you were considering some stupid and wild idea out of panic, the sirens had stopped singing; the pirates in the water woke up immediately from their daze, immediately yelling to each other to swim back to the Golden Fleece, and your head started to spin with confusion.

Apparently, for whatever reason, the sirens decided they weren’t hungry anymore, and therefore decided to leave, disappearing under the surface of water. Unbeknownst to you, those sirens knew about travelers like you, for it was not the first time that someone immune to their alluring voices had defeated them.

The pirates were now climbing on deck, and if it weren’t for Minho’s arms quickly wrapping around your waist, you would have fallen on your knees as the rush of adrenaline left your body altogether.

«What a week, huh?» you joked, your voice low enough only for the pirate to hear.

«It’s monday morning, princess.» Minho absently replied, studying your exhausted features and actually concerned about the state you were in.

Needless to say, less than an hour later – as soon as everyone had changed out of their soaked clothes, you found yourself in the Captain’s quarters with nine pair of eyes studying you once again; however, this time, the atmosphere was completely different.

«Although we are grateful to you, I believe we need an explanation.» Chris simply questioned; even though his voice remained polite, you could easily notice that he was demanding the truth.

«Are you really a witch?» Hyunjin suggested curiously and without hostility; you shook your head no, and your gaze briefly locked with Minho, who gave you a short nod, as to encourage you to tell them what you had told him as well.

«I’m not a witch, I.. » you sighed, what were you supposed to say? You definitely couldn’t break out the news that they were characters from a novel, but you could definitely tell them part of the truth, «I’m from another world. Or just another dimension, I don’t know. The thing is, at home everything works very different from here and… I really don’t know what to say. I ended up falling asleep in my house and waking up in the sea, right before you saved me.»

The room was silent for some seconds, before they eventually started discussing your explanation, but overall, everyone seemed to believe you.

«We are in your debt.» Chris announced, standing up from his chair, and you felt nervous all of a sudden; you loved his character and how reliable he was despite being a pirate, however, you always thought that he was a little bit too dramatic, especially in these kind of situations.

«No, no. We’re good buddy, really.» you anxiously waved your hands in front of you, as if to shake away the thought of having a whole crew of pirates indebted to you, «besides, you saved me first, I returned the favor, we’re even.»

«At least, allow us to help you!» Leana insisted, reiterating the fact that if they were alive was exclusively because of you.

«Do you remember how you ended up here?» Seungmin added, agreeing with Leana.

«I bought a book – a very specific one, and somehow I ended up shifting.»you had shortly explained; the information sent them into another brief discussion among themselves.

«Maybe fate is really on your side,» Chris commented, «we’ll be arriving to O’dyllita in few days; the capital – O’draxxia is known for having the biggest and best-stocked library of all known land.» the Captain explained that you could try visit there, to see if you could find anything regarding shifting dimension.

«Of course, if you don’t, you’ll be welcome to stay with us!» Jeongin had quickly added, and you found yourself nodding at his eagerness, thanking everyone else as well.

«Another thing,» Leana suddenly spoke, as if a thought had suddenly came to her mind, «who is that “Britney” you mentioned earlier? Is she a goddess from your world?» she innocently questioned, but you couldn’t help but find yourself laughing at the absurdity of the situation you got yourself in.

«More or less.» you admitted, and she seemed content with the answer.

The day had eventually fallen back into the same routine rather quickly, making you realize that this kind of situations weren’t that uncommon; however, every now and then some of the pirates would greet you, thanking you for saving their life before going on with their day.

«Excuse me, princess,» an unfamiliar voice called out, and you immediately turned your head. One of the pirates was standing not so far from you; he was definitely older than you, even if despite his youthful appearance his beard and his hair was almost completely grey. He hesitantly outstretched his hand towards you, and you curiously examined the small necklace in the palm of his hand. It was definitely plain looking, a thin looking chord with a too much familiar charm attached to it; without thinking, you took a step forward to take a better look.

Turns out – for the second time that day, that you weren’t hallucinating things: the small charm was indeed a piece of fabric from your clothes, now neatly braided together as to form a tiny charm.

«My old man was a tailor, so I learned a thing or two from him,» you patiently glanced at him, waiting for him to explain himself further as you glanced back and forth from his face to his hand, «I ended up making a talisman for everyone out of the fabric you gave us, since the Captain and Leana explained to us what you did fpr us,» you kept silent, not understanding why he was handing one to you as well, «I know you don’t need one, but we want you to have one as well.»

«“We”?» you echoed; glancing around, you noticed that few other pirates were definitely pretending to do their chores just to curiously overlook the situation, wondering what your reaction might have been.

«It’s a way to tell you that you’re in the crew,» Leana excitedly spoke, appearing out of nowhere and hugging your shoulder, «you saved a whole lot of pirates, you know what it means? You’re a pirate, love.»

«What?» you questioned, hesitantly reaching out to grab the necklace from the pirate’s outstretched hand, who thanked you for accepting his humble gift.

“Holy shit, I’m the hero of the day,” you thought, trying to process the fact that a pirate had just thanked you for accepting a necklace made out of clothes from another dimension.

«For your information,» Felix’s sudden deep voice made you turn around in surprise, since the new information had made your head spin, «it was a unanimous decision.» he clarified; as you happened to lock gaze with Minho, he simply winked at you with a mischievous smile, and you could swear that for the first time, you felt the butterflies in your stomach do somersaults.

The secret escapades you occasionally had with Minho during the night ended up being a habit, and as the weather started to become colder, you eventually decided to move things to your room; more than once, you and Minho ended up falling asleep after nights spent talking about the most various topics and every time, Minho would wake up before dawn just to sneak back to his room.

«Do you still think I’m a lunatic siren?» you quietly mumbled one night, quite scared of the possible affirmative answer. Minho was sitting opposite of you on your bed, your knees almost brushing against each other’s.

«I don’t.» Minho honestly answered after what seemed to be an eternal silence; he was still staring at you with an indecipherable gaze that made you feel extremely small, but it was significantly softer now. You were certain that something in your relationship with Minho had drastically changed since the night he found you crying alone, and somehow, even if you didn’t want to be seen in such a vulnerable state, you were happy he was the one who found you nonetheless.

Above all – most importantly, since Minho’s behaviour towards you had changed and gradually started to become softer, you could swear you felt your feelings drift towards him at a slow but steady speed. To state the obvious, he was handsome, and you often found yourself looking at him as he was talking with the others on deck, the wind blowing through his hair and his clothes making him look like a runaway Prince from a fairytale; he was also funny and an extremely good listener, and the more you spent time together, the more your heart would fill with feelings for him, just like a slow tide at noon.

«Do you believe me, then?» you mumbled, as if you were trying your luck; despite you told everyone that you came from another dimension, the topic of your conversations with Minho were a secret, and he was completely aware about that. Even though you desperately wanted him to believe your words, you couldn’t help but trying to imagine how you would react if you were in Minho’s shoes and of course, you had to admit that you would have your good doses of suspicions as well.

«I’m not really sure I can understand everything you tell me,» he admitted, «but I really want to try.» you found yourself genuinely smiling at his words.

A comfortable silence fell once again, and you searched for Minho’s eyes in the partial darkness of the place; three small candles were lightning up the room, creating an intimate atmosphere while allowing you to see each other just enough. «Thank you, Min Min.» you quietly mumbled, now definitely trying your luck; you knew that the only person allowed to call him like that was Felix, and although your relationship was completely different from how it started, you were certain that he would admonish you, telling you not to call him like that.

However, Minho’s reaction was definitely unexpected; his eyes met yours in less than a second, and despite the little lighting in the room, you could clearly see a sudden blush adorning both his cheeks and the tip of his ears.

«Wait, did you just…? No, nevermind,» Minho quickly dismissed, his unexpected flustered state was more than enough to make your cheeks flare up as well, «let’s suppose you ended up coming here from another dimension, why do you think it happened?» the conversation took another bittersweet turn, and you went back staring at your knees.

«I have no idea.» you confessed, disheartened, since you had wondered about that a concerning amount of times as well.

«Do you want to go back?» Minho questioned out of curiosity; he had immediately noticed how you eventually managed to find your place among the crew, and how you got along with everyone.

«I can’t even explain how much I want to.» you admitted, and before you could actually realize it, tears had started to escape your eyes.

«Hey, don’t cry, I’m sorry I brought that up,» Minho seemed to move towards you as if he had been hurt by a sudden static, «I didn’t want to make you cry.» he mumbled again, wiping your tears away as gently as he could, touching you as if you were made of frail glass despite his usual roughness. Eventually, he placed your pillow over his lap and you let him adjust your position enough that you could lay your head over it.

Minho kept gently stroking your hair with clumsy yet gentle movements – clearly unfamiliar with intimacy, lulling you to sleep while mumbling that «it’s okay, I’ll help you find a way,» or even «don’t cry, pretty princess, you’re safe now.»

That night was the first time that you and Minho willingly got so close physically, and you never expected for his touch to feel as comforting as it did; although you had stopped crying few minutes after you were laying on his lap, you didn’t want for that interaction to stop, and therefore you laid there, greedily taking all the unexpected affection Minho was showering you with.

Two days later, you were officially touching land; two days later, you were completely certain about the fact that you had shifted dimension – since there was a tiny part of your heart that still hoped you were having a really weird dream.

The port was large and full of people busy working; you looked around in amazement admiring everything: the small stalls of the market a little further on, people’s clothes, the type of architecture of the houses… However, something didn’t add up once again. There were various wooden signs hanging on the stalls, price indicators or more simply indicators of what could be found in each one of them, and despite the fact that the alphabet was a strange combination o weird symbols you’ve never seen in your life, you could understand them; fabrics, groceries, swords, you could read everything, was it another special ability you gained while shifting? “This is crazy,” you thought as you kept looking around yourself, “it’s like I chosen a default language in a videogame.”

Minho seemed to have noticed the puzzled expression on your face as you were glancing around, and quickly got to your side. «Not like it’s important for us, but can you read and write?» he questioned, watching as you hesitantly nodded at him.

«I’m not sure about the writing part,» you answered, looking around and not quite believing your eyes, «but it turns out I can read!»

«That’s good,» Minho’s sudden gentle smile made you feel incredibly flustered, and you shortly played with your fingertips since you didn’t know what you were supposed to answer, «I’ll see you tonight, then.» he added, making you furrow your eyebrows.

Before you could question his words, Leana and Chris had joined you, the latter informing you that he had already booked a carriage for both you and Leana.

“That’s it? They’re going to leave me here?” you met Minho’s gaze, just to switch it quickly towards Leana, who had reached out to hold your hand, gently tugging you towards her.

«I believe someone forgot to tell you,» she said, admonishing Minho with a stern gaze, «O’draxxia, the Capital, is a city in which men cannot enter, meaning that we have all the day for ourselves!»

The carriage ride lasted a little more than an hour, and both you and Leana kept staring out of the window, amazed by the scenery surrounding the two of you; it was the first time for Leana as well to venture into O’dyllita, and just like you, she was overly excited to finally visit O’draxxia, since she had often heard about it.

«From what I know, almost everyone in the city is a priestess,» she had explained, the two of you never looking at each other since your attention was completely engrossed towards opposite directions, «and they say the library is so huge that there are pillars as big as towers that are used as bookshelves!»

Despite the dense and rich vegetation, the landscape seemed to have a tremendously lonely air; in the distance you could see ruins of old structures that looked like castles or fortresses, clearly uninhabited and reclaimed by vegetation. Overall, the landscape almost seemed fiabesque, even if you couldn’t glimpse a trace of a living soul for kilometres. Just as Leana had said, O’draxxia was entirely populated by women, and all of them looked mesmerizing and stunning; some of them greeted you and Leana with a court nod, just like they did with the other women that were visiting the city. Despite the fact that the city was populated and animated by the priestesses and occasional tourists, the city gave you a serene yet lonely feeling. The houses were simple and elegant, made of grey bricks with bright green plants growing along the walls, covering some parts with elegant red and orange flowers. Both you and Leana followed one of the priestess’ indications to reach the library, as the two of you kept glancing around in utter wonder as you were walking.

«I’m really glad we get along,» Leana spoke out of the blue as you were strolling around town, headed towards the library, interlocking her arm with yours; you sent her a glance, only to start once again to focus on the unfamiliar scenery in front of your eyes, «we tried to let other girls on our ship, but it didn’t end well.»

«Why not?» you questioned out of curiosity, your gaze still focused on the unfamiliar flowers decorating the streets; the novel you’ve read ended as soon as Chris and Leana got their happy ending, so her words were definitely something you didn’t know about.

«They ended up liking Chris a little bit too much, and you know…» the innocent smile on Leana’s lips was a stark contrast to the gesture she made: she ran her index finger over her neck horizontally, and you suddenly widened your eyes, gulping nervously.

«You… did you kill them?» you whispered, only for her ears to hear, not quite knowing how to feel about it.

«And threw them in the sea,» she proudly clarified with a wink, «for all I know, they could be the sirens that attacked us.» her tone was as nonchalant as if she was talking about the weather, and you furrowed your eyebrows, familiar with what she was implying, since you clearly recalled the author mentioning it once.

Apparently, mermaids – or mostly known as sirens, were the women thrown off ships because of the common belief about “having a woman on boat brings bad luck”, and therefore, as those poor women sank to the bottom of the sea, they committed themselves to their rage and their desire of revenge. You clearly remember how that paragraph made you quite uncomfortable, empathizing with those women as they rightfully wanted to take revenge on the people that killed them without reason. Moreover, the author described how they started to change underwater, their lungs adapting to the water until they could breathe and their tied legs eventually became a tail over time. They drowned sailors and pirates in revenge, but especially, they seem to target the crew that did them wrong, until they could see the remaining of their ships at the bottom of the sea.

All of a sudden, one of your first conversations with Leana came to your mind. «So, what do you think about Chris?» she had questioned with an earnest smile, the both of you sitting on deck as you watched him ordering the others around.

«He’s awesome,» you immediately answered, excitedly, «Felix told me he’s in charge of each route of the whole sea, and he’s basically around my age. He’s really awesome for that!» you had excitedly explained, avoiding to mention too intricate details you read in the novel.

«He really is, don’t steal him from me though!» she had laughed back then, gently nudging your shoulders with hers in an almost friendly gesture.

«I wouldn’t dare,» you immediately scoffed, «you’re basically the perfect match! moreover, he’s not really my type.»

Only now you realized all the things that could have gone so incredibly wrong if your interaction had gone wrong back then, and you glanced at her once again. Leana was now gazing around the town in amazement, since you knew that she had never been here as well; you instinctively scoffed a laugh, to thing that you believed Minho was the biggest threat among the crew.

Not to mention that the surprises were definitely not over; shortly after, Leana asked you if you believed in soulmates. 

«I think I do,» you confessed; it was definitely one of your favourite genres to read about, but you couldn’t admit that to her, «why?»

«I’ve been thinking about it lately, but I never had anyone to talk about it…» she admitted.

“I wonder why,” you silently commented, but kept silent.

«Sometimes I have the feeling that me and Chris were meant to be, you know?» she fondly smiled, her gaze lost somewhere in the scenery around the two of you as she was probably recalling one of the various memories she had created with her husband; you were about to answer something encouraging and motivational, when her next words definitely made your voice die in your throat. «I mean, I didn’t even like Chris when he brought me on the ship, let alone if I could imagine myself falling in love with him or even marrying him.» she admitted, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

“Wait a fucking minute now,”

«What?» you asked in complete disbelief. Once again, you perfectly recalled you read that Chris and Leana were in love before she got romantically and dramatically stolen away from him; to be precise, Leana was engaged to another man, who she didn’t love.

However, Leana was standing in front of you, telling you a completely different part of the story, making you question if the things you’ve read on your couch were correct in the first place.

«I was engaged with an officer of the navy, and I loathed pirates at first; I accepted to go with Chris because I agreed with my fiancée that I would have made Chris vulnerable in some way.» Leana hesitantly confessed, and you couldn’t bring yourself to find an actual reply, «in the end I fell for him little by little, to the point where I couldn’t imagine my life without him.»

“What the hell,” you thought; you had stopped walking altogether, and were simply standing still in silence, a whirlwind of thoughts floating around your head as you were staring at Leana. You never read something like this in the book, but if we had to be honest, the book was following Chris’ point of view, but again, by the way Leana was described, she was meant to be the typical damsel in distress that runs away from an unhappy relationship to find her love.

However, in front of you stood Leana, a damsel that was very not in distress, a damsel who had a concerning series of murders weighting on her shoulders,  whose original plan was to serve Chris’ head to the navy.

«I’m glad you married him,» you ended up blurting out, «you look really cute together.» Leana loudly laughed at your unexpected comment, and as the two of you started walking again, she hugged your arm a little closer to her side.

«Wanna know who’s cute?» her teasing tone made you sigh out of reflex, not sure whether you wanted to know the answer to her question, «You and Min Min.» she chanted, making you whine as an answer.

«I don’t like him like that, let’s just – let’s talk about it another time, okay?» you pleaded, hoping that she would fall for your suggestion so that you could keep avoiding the topic forever.

The moment you stepped in front of the library’s entrance, you couldn’t believe your eyes: it was as if a huge castle had been redecorated just to serve a new and better purpose. Leana didn’t lie when she said about the pillars being huge, and the more you ventured in, the more you felt overwhelmed; you loved books, and for a second, you thought that you could become a priestess just to have a chance to read every single book you could see, even if it would have took literally a lifetime. In the end, you ended up asking to a priestess for help, since you would have taken at least a whole day in order to find some useful information without asking for help.

«Books about teleportation?» the priestess had repeated your words, as if making sure she heard you loud and clear; you hesitantly nodded, feeling incredibly small under her gaze; she eventually nodded at the two of you, asking to follow her. Needless to say, you ended up walking your way on the stairs around one of the pillars, just to reach the highest bookshelf.

«It’s been a while since someone asked for that,» she said, trying to make conversation with the two of you, but only Leana was answering her various questions, since you were way too nervous to speak. As you reached the bookshelf, your shoulders immediately lowered in deject; there were only four books about teleportation, but no one of them were like the one you brought.

«Sadly, we only have these ones.» the priestess excused herself, quickly taking notice of your saddened expression; you immediately tried to smile, shaking your head and answering that it was okay.

«Are you sure you’re okay?» Leana whispered to you, as soon as the priestess begun to walk down the stairs on her own and was now out of sight; your gaze was still on the books, which you eventually tried to examine.

What if the cover was different because you were in a different dimension? However, as your fingers leafed through the pages, you couldn’t understand your feelings; you almost seemed happy about the fact that your task had failed, as if what you really wanted was to remain into this world.

«I am,» you nodded, seeing Leana’s concern vanish from her features, «I really am.»

The fact that your mission had failed meant only one thing: you and Leana were free to curiously look around as you pleased, and that’s exactly what you did. At the end of the day, once you were back in the carriage, you could swear you almost had a headache due to all the informations the both of you had tried to assimilate in your brain.

«What was that one again? Flat parsley and saffron?» she mumbled, massaging the side of her head.

«This planet is not flat was the first part,» you tiredly answered, mimicking her actions, «I don’t know where you got the parsley and saffron thing from.»

«It was the recipes book I wanted to steal.» she urged, trying to give you another hint, as if you hadn’t read an infinite quantitative of books within few hours.

«Oh, that one,» you hummed, recalling the moment where Leana had tried to see if the recipes book would fit under her shirt, saying that Felix would have loved it, «it was the recipe of saffron rice… There was no parsley, though.»

When you got off the carriage, Minho and Chris exchanged a quizzical glance as they saw the two of you look exhausted; both of you were dragging your feet towards them, talking with a flat tone about how amazing your day had been.

«Found anything?» Minho questioned, ignoring how his heart was beating in a silent hope that you didn’t manage to find the book you were looking for; you kept walking, silently shaking your head. Minho didn’t say anything as he walked up next to you; the pirate breathed a soft sigh, swinging his arm around your shoulders and instinctively you hugged his waist, leaning your head towards his shoulder.

«You’ll find it.» you heard Minho’s reassuring tone, and you shrugged in a silent answer.

“I think it will be okay, even if I don’t.” you secretly thought, glancing at the pirate walking next to you.

Out of your sight, Chris and Leana were glancing both at you and Minho, before looking at each other.

«Am I hallucinating?» Chris questioned his wife; he knew that things between you and the pirate had improved, but he didn’t imagine they had improved that much.

«I think we’ll be celebrating another marriage soon.» Leana sighed, fondly smiling at the two of you. «“I don’t like Minho”, my ass.» she scoffed, mumbling to herself as an amused smirk erupted on her lips, recalling the moment you denied liking the pirate.

That night, you found out that Chris not only owned every single soul sailing above the sea, he also owned few taverns scattered around the land as well.

You and the others had ended up in the courtyard of a local tavern – the Bitter Dahlia, the musicians animatedly creating a joyful atmosphere as few people had eventually started to dance. You had let yourself convince to try a whole lot different kind of drinks by Hyunjin, and now you were tipsily strolling around the courtyard with a pint of beer in your hand, and thankfully, Minho had easily noticed it; that’s why as soon as you walked past him in order to find Felix, he reached out, placing his hand on your right shoulder and tugging you close to his body, your back pressed against his chest. You didn’t realize it was Minho at first, you simply pouted because someone was stopping you all of a sudden; when you decided to find out who was attached to the arm blocking your path you giggled as soon as you saw Minho’s face, and let him pull you closer to him.

Minho didn’t say anything, and neither did you – nor did you move away in the first place.

«I think you drank too much, princess,» his hoarse voice – probably affected by the drinks he had, spoke right against your ear, and you instinctively crossed your ankles just to press your thighs together; you let him take the pint of beer from your hand, his arm eventually found his way around your waist, and he leaned his chin on your shoulder.

«Felix!» you giggled, catching a hold of the boy’s forearm as soon as you saw him walk by, tugging him towards both you and Minho, «Look at them,» you excitedly spoke, «look at them!» you urged again, giggling excitedly as you obviously forgot that Minho was right behind you and therefore he could hear everything.

Even if he was in a worse state than you were, it didn’t take a genius for Felix to understand who you were talking about, and he followed your glance towards the small group of couples that were dancing; of course Chris and Leana were there, and of course you and Felix had felt the need to talk about how wonderful and amazing they looked.

«They’re both stumbling on their feet,» Minho had stated from behind you, holding your waist a little firmer, and you suddenly reminded that he had been unconsciously made part of your secret conversations with Felix, «they’re really drunk, like – three sheets to the wind drunk.» he clarified, amused with your behaviour.

«You don’t understand,» you quickly answered, your hand flying on top of the one the pirate had placed on your hip, «look at -» your voice vanished from your throat as soon as you turned your head towards him, and instead, your heart picked up pace at a concerning speed; Minho’s face was millimetres from yours, his gaze burning into yours, «them.» you eventually finished, your voice barely above a whisper. You and Minho had already been close enough to kiss once, but to say that the situation was completely different would be an understatement.

If back then neither you nor Minho would have considered the option to kiss the other – let alone being attracted to each other, to this day things had drastically changed. Even if you blamed it on the alcohol, you were very much aware about the fact that you would have loved to kiss him; the fact that Minho’s gaze kept shifting between your eyes and your lips clearly told you that your desire was reciprocated.

“If this was a movie we would make out while Céline Dion was singing her heart out in the background,” you drunkenly thought, “and all I get is drunk bards play the tarantella”.

«Well, this is something unexpected!» Jisung’s loud voice made you and Minho immediately turn your head towards him, and much to your embarrassment, he wasn’t alone; of course Changbin and Hyunjin were with him.

«She’s tipsy, I didn’t want her to fall over.» Minho had immediately answered, his voice a little bit too defensive if you were to ask Hyunjin, who carefully – and drunkenly, studied his expression with a sly smirk.

«And the empty chair next to you was claimed by a ghost?» Jisung questioned the pirate, who rolled his eyes without answering.

However, the worst still had to happen, because in that very moment, Leana seemed to appear out of thin air, as if she had magically listened to the conversation while she was dancing with her husband.

«You didn’t hear it from me,» Leana loudly announced as if you and Minho weren’t there, «but when we returned from O’draxxia, Minho straight up hugged her.» You felt Minho bury his forehead in the crook of your neck, and you shortly met Felix’s gaze, who was looking at you with a drunk dazed smile: «We better talk about this!» he said.

«And, he also kissed her forehead.» Leana lied, getting drunk shouts of surprise from your friends, and you knew that as soon as you got back on the ship, you and Minho would become the most interesting topic among the crew.

«Want to scoot over?» Minho spoke against your ear once again, and you found your mind drifting towards unholy thoughts before you could stop yourself; his question was sincere, and as he voiced it, he started to move his arm away from your hip. However, you didn’t bother to voice an answer; since your hand was still placed above his, you pushed it more firmly against your hip, purposely intertwining your fingers together.

As you felt Minho’s lips hovering above the exposed skin of your shoulder in a barely perceptible kiss, you could swear that all the noise coming from the loud party around the two of you had been ignored from your brain.

Back on the Golden Fleece, everything seemed to have fallen back to the usual routine, with the only addiction that your friends had decided to constantly tease you and Minho about your almost kiss.

Of course, even if three days had passed since that night and Minho had visited your bedroom as always, no one dared to approach the topic, and you kept dancing on your tiptoes around each other. However, what’s a princess without a fairy godmother?

That evening, right after dinner, Felix had bursted into your room unannounced, somewhat expecting Leana’s presence as well; the two of them were casually sitting on your bed, ignoring the fact that you were curled up under the covers, refusing to get out and face them.

«Well?» Felix urged, lowering the blanket just to expose your face; you hissed like a stray cat, but you quickly understood that neither of them was going to leave without an answer to the same question.

«I don’t have anything to say,» you stubbornly said, and you heard Leana snort.

«Okay, we’ll go first:» she spoke, leaning towards you, «I was drunk but I sure do have eyes, girl.» she spoke with an alluring tone, and you tried to roll over the opposite side in order not to hear her, «and my eyes are telling me that you like Minho, and Minho likes you.» choosing to groan instead of answer, Felix saw an opportunity to chime in.

«You were still dancing when it happened, but they almost kissed – like, kissed.» Felix added, empathizing the last part of his sentence, and Leana almost shrieked in disbelief, her offended voice questioning why you didn’t tell her such an important and fundamental detail.

«Did you tell him?» Felix questioned, just to add the question you didn’t dare to ask yourself, «Oh… Do you still want to go back home?» You eventually threw the blanket off your face hearing that, meeting your friends’ eyes as your face was filled with unsure doubt; you never thought it would have happened, but you had to admit to yourself that you were happy. You had friends,  you felt accepted, and you managed to have fun thanks to your friends, who cherished you. Moreover…

«I don’t really want to hurt your feelings,» Leana suddenly spoke, interrupting your thoughts, «but when we were in O’draxxia and you didn’t find the book, you almost looked… relieved.» your gaze met, and you realized you had a problem: your heart was clearly telling that you wanted to stay there, in that absurd world you’ve read about one random afternoon.

When you met Felix’s gaze, you realized you had another problem, maybe a bigger one than the previous one: you liked Minho. Well, of course you already knew that, since he was your favourite character of the novel; however, liking the real Minho, the one daily standing in front of you, the one who went from threatening to throw you overboard to gently caress your hair until you fell asleep was a different kind of thing.

«I think I need a second.» you admitted with a sigh, staring at the wooden tiles on the ceiling,

“Let’s suppose I like him,” you thought, “I don’t think he actually likes me, he was probably tipsy,” you bit the inner part of your cheek, “what if he likes me and I like him and I find the book?” you scratched the back of your neck out of frustration, ignoring the fact that you wanted to scream, “what do I do?”

«Well, you could start with a simple “I think I have feelings for you and I don’t think I want to go back any longer”» Felix gently suggested, and as your gaze flew towards his, you realized that you had been unconsciously voicing your thoughts all along.

The same moment Felix was heading towards your room, Minho was heading towards the dining room, knowing that he would have found what he was looking for. The heavy smell of smoke and alcohol filled his nostrils, as he approached his friends’ table quietly.

«Loverboy decided to ditch his girl to embrace his old habits?» Chris glanced at him, quirking an eyebrow with a mischievous smile.

«I’m coming here in spite of myself, but I… have to.» Minho spoke in a dramatic tone that made Chris snort, waiting for his friend to tell them what was going through his mind, «I think I might like her.»

«We knew it already,» Hyunjin replied with no interest, his eyes still glued on his cards, admonishing Jisung because he was trying to sneak some of the coins off the table and inside his sleeve; Minho stared at his friend with stupor, but Hyunjin seemed too focused on their match to pay attention to his friend.

«"Like her" as in, “I want to hold your hand under the moonlight”,» Changbin – the only one beside Chris who was listening to Minho, suggested, «or “I want to ravish you until you can’t stand”?»

Minho didn’t answer immediately, choosing to think about it for a while, even if he didn’t really have to; he undoubtedly found you attractive, and over time, he found himself slowly getting incredibly soft for you, to the point where he would glance around at random moments of the day just to see what you were doing.

The more Minho’s silence went on, the more his friends had gradually stopped focusing on their match in order to look at him with curiosity and malice, enjoying how the pirate’s face gradually got flustered.

«As in… both.» Minho confessed, making his friends hum and mumble in acknowledgement.

«Ah! … Well, we knew that already.» Hyunjin replied again, his sharp gaze once again back to the table in front of them.

«What do you mean?» Minho asked quizzically, since it was the second time his friend had mentioned it.

«Yeah, well, remember when Jisung was teaching her the basic of self defence?» Seungmin – who had kept silent until then, asked making Minho immediately nod, how could he forget that day? Jisung had been trying to teach you a few simple movements for what seemed to be hours, but in the end, you kept doing stupid and predictable mistakes because you seemed to be too tense to use a dagger – let alone a sword.

«Leave it, Han, she’ll end up stabbing herself by mistake.» he had told his friend with an arrogant tone, and he clearly remembered the flustered expression on your face. As always, you tried to fight back, but this time it was a little bit different; that’s how you ended up chasing Minho through the deck while screaming «I’ll fucking kill you, I swear!» until Changbin decided to stop you by stopping you mid run.

«What about it?» Minho asked again, not understanding what his friend wanted to imply.

«Felix and few other saw you laughing,» Seungmin added, «therefore, it was just a matter of time.»

Minho placed his elbow on the table and roughly massaged the bridge of his nose, trying to analyse the situation he was in: he liked you, but what happened few nights ago was just a result of the both of you being tipsy, and moreover, he knew that you wanted to go back home. What was he supposed to do?

«I’m not an expert, but try with a simple “I like you, please stay here with me”.» Jisung had spoken as if he could read his thoughts; only then Minho realized that he had never been silent in the first place.

Minho had eventually joined you in your bedroom few hours after Felix and Leana had left, even if you had already stated that he either fell asleep or he was spending the night gambling with the others. You seemed to miss his presence more than you usually did, especially because that night you were freezing: no matter how many blankets you were laying under, you just didn’t seem to warm up.

“It wouldn’t be punk rock for me to die like this,” you thought, breathing in your joined fists as you tried to ignore the constant shivers of your body.

A familiar knock on the door caught your attention, and as soon as you recognized Minho’s voice whispering his greetings, you had to physically stop yourself from asking him to join you under the covers so that he could warm you up.

Unlike you, Minho didn’t seem to mind the cold that much, but nonetheless he quickly walked up to you, pressing the palm of his hand to your forehead just in case you had a fever.

«I’m genuinely wondering how the hell you manage to live like this.» you broke the silence, your jaw trembling because of the sheer cold; although you tried not to think to the accommodation of your original life, your mind couldn’t help but wander to your beloved electric heater, your faithful companions during winter.

«You just ... get used to it?» Minho questioned back, not really able to give you an actual answer; of course, during the first years he spent sailing he was in the same situation as you – everyone had, but he eventually got used to it. Minho sat on the edge of your bed, mindlessly running his fingertips through your hair – a simple yet intimate gesture he had come to love.

«I can hear flowers blooming in that flower field,» he smugly commented the fact that you were keeping silent, and you clicked your tongue, asking what he meant, «what did you use in your world to keep warm?» he curiously questioned, and your heart soared at the realization that he was honestly and genuinely interested in your stories.

However, you were too cold for your brain to function properly, and you ended up talking about the concept of the electric heating in a very confusing way; nonetheless, Minho didn’t seem to mind you words, for his concern had increasingly risen.

«Hey,» the pirate interrupted your explanation, «are you sure you don’t want another blanket?» despite the fact that you were doing your best, he still noticed the occasional shivers and clattering of your teeth as soon as you stopped speaking.

«It’s okay,» you reassured him, «I used all the blankets Leana gave me… I’ll warm up eventually.» you answered hopefully, but Minho didn’t answer immediately; instead, he reached out, shortly enveloping your hand with his just to comment that it was as if you had stuck your hand into ice.

«Come here,» Minho said, stretching over your legs and fully sitting on your bed with his back against the wall, widening his legs so that he could form a space for you to sit in; you kept still in amazed astonishment, not quite trusting your thoughts on the hypothesis that Minho wanted to cuddle.

«Are you gonna kill me?» you blurted out, for your frozen brain decided it was the most likely solution.

«Quit that, princess,» he clicked his tongue, urging you to come closer, «you know we’re past that.» folding all your blankets around your shape, you slowly crawled in the space he made for you, trying not to lose the small amount of warmth you had created; you immediately tensed up, sitting straight and clutching the blankets closer to your body.

Since the night you almost kissed, you had never been so close to Minho, and for some reason, it was enough for your heart to pick up pace as if it was begging you to set it free through your ribcage.

«Come here,» the pirate repeated, his voice a little gentler – a little softer, and you found yourself leaning against his torso. Unlike you, Minho wasn’t using a blanket to keep himself warm and therefore he could move his arms freely; of course he used them to loosely cage you in his hold.

Although you had to admit that the position you were in definitely looked kind of weird, it was extremely comfortable; Minho’s steady breathing was slowly calming your nerves as well, and you found yourself relaxing in his hold.

«Do you want some of my blankets?» you mumbled quietly, embarrassed about the fact that you didn’t ask sooner.

«I’m good.» Minho answered immediately, gently repeating that you should try to sleep.

Despite the fact that you were comfortable, despite Minho’s presence, despite the fact that you were slowly warming up, sleep was definitely your last priority. The pirate’s nose brushed against your forehead as he was trying to adjust his position to get more comfortable, and you quickly noticed that his skin was cold as well.

«Minho,» you called out again few minutes later; the pirate hummed, and you took it at a silent question to go on, «can we please share blankets?» 

«Why?» he chuckled at your distress, and you could feel his soft breath in the side of your face. «You look cold,» you tried to justify yourself, «I have a lot of blankets, we can share.» you insisted.

Minho eventually gave up, and the both of you ended up shifting from your original position; however, this meant that your arms were touching as you were now laying next to each other, and there wasn’t a blanket you could use as an invisible barrier anymore.

Under the sea of sheets, Minho’s right arm snaked under your neck, pulling you to his body; as if you were magnets, you followed his lead, laying on your side and hugging his waist, resting your head in the crook of his neck, nuzzling as close as you could. Your nose was right against Minho’s neck, and you could almost feel the goosebumps he had whenever you breathed; you ended up blaming it on the cold temperature, since you were fond of keeping your mental sanity and you were madly trying to distract yourself from thinking about other ways to share body heat.

«You know, once we got stuck in the middle of an iced part of the sea,» Minho mumbled, talking about one of his adventures as if he was trying to prevent his mind from wandering towards the same sinful thoughts you were trying to avoid.

«What?» you hummed, too tired to try remembering if you read about it in the novel, «How did you get out of there?»

«Ropes,» was his immediate answer, «we ended up pulling on the rope until we could break the ice.»

«Like that “Vikings” episode,» you giggled to yourself in a tired voice; Minho had immediately questioned you about it, and you tried to explain to him what movies and TV shows were.

However, you were obliviously fighting falling asleep, reason why Minho ended up gently shutting you up with a gentle and earnest: «you’ll tell me about it tomorrow.»

As always you fell asleep first, but this time, when Minho moved you so that you could lay on your bed to sleep more comfortably and he could walk back to his room, you weakly grabbed his hand in your sleep.

«I get lonely if you’re not here.» you mumbled, still lost in dreamland. Minho was thankful to the lights being completely off and to you being asleep because the expression on his face was priceless: he was incredibly flustered, his blush was flaring up both his cheeks and the tip of his ears. That night, Minho slept next to you for the first time, and as you randomly woke up in the middle of the night, you found him laying next to you under the sea of blankets; you instinctively snuggled closer to his chest, only to realize that you were partially laying on top of his firm chest. Not wanting to disturb his sleep, you tried to scoot away as quietly as you could in order not to wake him up, just to lay next to him.

However, that was your initial plan, since you soon found out that Minho was indeed a light sleeper; the arm he kept around your waist had tightened out of reflex, harshly pulling you in your original position once again.

«Where do you think you’re going, princess?» he murmured, his voice still groggy due to sleep.

«I, uhm…» you hesitated, your brain was clearly too sleepy to come up with a clever and witty answer. Minho didn’t wait for you to find your words, though; keeping you close to his body, he gently rolled you on your back, partially draping his body over yours instead.

«Go back to sleep,» he murmured again, easing his left leg between yours, and nuzzling his head in the crook of your neck.

“He’s a cuddler?” you wondered in pleased surprise; your hand eventually ended up in his hair, running your fingertips trough it and trying to lull him back to sleep.

However, Minho found it impossible to fall asleep again, judging your wild heartbeat hammering right under his ear; he glanced up towards the small window in your room, and quickly deduced that it was still the middle of the night, meaning that you didn’t get to sleep much in the first place.

If at first he had tried to lull you back to sleep while caressing your hip in a loving manner, he quickly realized that his touch had quite the opposite effect on you; he also had to admit that the sudden proximity of your body and the position that you were in was making him significantly riled up as well.

«Can’t sleep?» he asked, shortly rubbing his eyes with his fingertips in order to get rid of sleep as fast as he could, deciding that you didn’t have to stay awake on your own; you settled for humming affirmatively at his question, and Minho effortlessly pushed himself up, partially balancing his weight on his right elbow so that he his face was hovering above yours. Due to the change of position, his thigh was firmly pressed between your legs, and you forced yourself to swallow a whimper as his knee slightly dipped in the mattress.

Despite the poor lightning, you could feel his gaze on your features, as if he was trying to see through the darkness; you were clearly trying to do the same, and another silence fell as the Golden Fleece was constantly rocking your body while gently following the rhythm of the night sea.

«Do you think the flowers growing in your head are contagious?» Minho blurted out all of a sudden, his left hand mindlessly running up your side in a gentle yet firm touch, «I think I might go back on my thoughts of you not being a siren.» he quietly added; you didn’t answer – your senses about to go overdrive due to all the different kind of constant stimulation added to the comfortable warmth of his body, settling for humming yet again, silently asking him to go on.

Minho ran his left hand from your side to your neck, and eventually started to run his fingertip over your features, delicately brushing over your skin ever so lightly, touching you as if you were some precious treasure he unexpectedly found in the middle of the sea.

«You have completely driven me mad,» Minho confessed with an earnest voice, his fingertips brushing over your cheekbones, «with affection,» he added, his touch brushing over the bow on your upper lip, «with desire,» you found yourself weakly gripping at the front his shirt as soon as you heard his hoarse voice overflowing with the feelings he was talking about, «to the point where I know I should want you to be happy, but I keep wanting – I keep craving, that you could find your happiness with me.» Minho’s confession made your head spin; you wanted to answer that his feelings were completely reciprocated, answer that you didn’t found happiness with Minho – you found a home. However, your voice died in your throat as soon as the pirate had leaned in, his lips hovering barely above yours, yet almost constantly brushing together due to the ship’s movement.

«I am completely enamoured of everything about you,» Minho had whispered then, making you suddenly tighten the loose grip you had on his shirt to the point that the necklace he had been wearing since they day you saved the crew from the sirens’ had fallen out of the collar, now dangling between your bodies, «your body, your personality, the crazy flower field in your head, princess, I – I don’t want you to go back.»

Your heart was overflowing with a different mix of feelings, but the happiness of your feelings being reciprocated seemed to prevail. «I stopped wanting to go back since me and Leana returned from O'draxxia.» was what you admitted out loud, your voice trembling due to all the sudden emotions that were almost setting your soul on fire.

Only then you leaned in – trusting your body more then your words, capturing the pirate’s lips in a timid first kiss, filling it with all the love you felt for the pirate. Minho returned your gesture immediately, kissing your lips slowly, tentatively, over and over again as he was trying to savour you, shortly kissing your lips just to drift his attention elsewhere and kissing your cheek, your nose, your chin, as if he was trying not to lose himself to the lust he was feeling. The kiss had eventually started to heathen when Minho leaned in to kiss you, just for you to run your fingertips through his hair and harshly closing your hand in a fist against his nape, tugging him closer to you and preventing him from running away, so that you could delicately running your tongue on his lower lip.

Minho’s kisses started to get less cherishing and more passionate, occasionally leaving a path of open mouthed kisses on your neck, his knee digging further in the mattress anytime he moved and creating the kind of friction you were honestly about to beg for. It was as if you were a small ship adrift caught up in a sudden storm; Minho kept worshipping your body and all you could do in that moment was to take, take and take, hoping that as soon as the storm had passed you wouldn’t have completely fallen into madness, wishing to stumble right in another one because you felt addicted to the rush of adrenaline. As your kisses grew hotter, so did your bodies and eventually, the sea of blankets you were covered with was progressively being scattered either on the floor or in a corner of your bed.

On deck, the sight of the sun about to rise in the distance was in stark contrast to the light drizzle that had started to fall, the sound of rain echoing on the wooden tiles and absorbing the faint noises of the pirates waking up for the morning shift; in your bedroom, Minho’s hair felt like gentle rain falling on your body everytime the pirate leaned down to kiss your skin as he was undressing you.

“Well, fuck,” you thought, admitting to yourself that Minho was definitely both a good and experienced lover. He had patiently took his sweet time to pay extreme attention to your body, studying how reacted to his different touches as if he was making up for all the lost time, occasionally showering you with praises as his head was nestled between your legs and he was lapping at your clit, making you quicklytumble on your first orgasm of the night. It had definitely been a long time since you had sex with someone, your boring routine had never actually given you an opportunity to meet new people – let alone think about a relationship, but you weren’t expecting Minho to act so smug about it.

As your bodies were finally connected,Minho had sneaked one arm under your waist while steadily moving his hips against yours, harshly pulling it upwards so that your back would be a little more arched and your naked bodies would be pressed together even more; once again, you were greedily taking everything Minho was giving you, helplessly running your fingernails on his back deep enough you would leave marks, beaming yourself in the feeling of his low moans and the goosebumps erupting on his skin out of reflex.

«Going dumb on me for this little action, princess?» Minho’s hoarse voice was filled with desire as he spoke, his hips gradually slowing until his movements came to a stop; you immediately whimpered loudly at the lack of friction, trying to move your hips in circles because you were desperately to create it on your own. You wanted to feel more, you wanted for that moment to never end. As you kept your movements slow and rhythmic – you had to admit that Minho still hoisting you up was doing half of the job, you grabbed the necklace sill dangling between the two of you with your left hand, harshly tugging it and therefore bringing Minho’s face closer to yours.

«Do you ever shut up?» you answered instead, the nails of your right hand – still gripping at his shoulders, were most definitely digging half moon shapes in his skin, and you felt proud of yourself for not ending up whimpering with need somewhere along your sentence; even if it was probably dawn already, you couldn’t see him clearly yet, but it didn’t take a wild guess for you to know that he was smirking at your words.

«I don’t know, do I?» he challenged, shortly capturing your lips in a passionate kiss, starting once again to move his hips to meet your movements.

«Ruin me, Minho,» you urged, keeping him close to you with your grip on the necklace, «I want to be yours,» you confessed then, your body slowly about to lose itself to the momentary euphoria of another orgasm, «I don’t want you to be anybody else’s but mine.»

«Do you think we can sleep in?» you mumbled, tired; you could both clearly hear that it was raining, and you desperately wished for your alone time with Minho to continue for few more hours; you were now laying in bed, lovingly cuddling in your post orgasm bliss.

«I’m on duty this morning,» Minho replied, caressing the bare skin of your shoulder, and admitting that he would have loved to spend the day like this; eventually, you and Minho woke up, washed up and got ready for your day.

Of course, during the day, the pirate had used any excuse to drive you in a corner of the Golden Fleece and kiss you as desperately as if it was your last time. Of course, you couldn’t escape a certain pair of eyes.

“Oh no, here they come, Sauron and Sauron jr.” you thought, chuckling to yourself as you saw Felix and Leana approaching with big and quick steps; you found it hard to contain your laughter, since they were lightly pushing and pulling each other as if both of them wanted to know first.

«Congratulations on the sex!» Leana had mischievously commented, and you immediately reached out to press your hand against her lips in a vain attempt to let everyone on the Golden Fleece know about your early morning activities, «you have hickeys everywhere.» you heard her mutter against your skin.

«Are you finally official?» Felix questioned, secretly happy to have you as a sister in law; you didn’t immediately reply, since you and Minho didn’t clarify it out loud.

However, as your gaze shortly wondered to your lover, who was continuously walking around on deck while changing his destination every now and then as he was trying to avoid Hyunjin’s Jisung’s and Changbin’s teasing – they were literally tailing him and occasionally trying to widen the collar of his shirt just to see «where do these scratches on your nape come from? Is there a stray cat on board or something?», you found yourself smiling gently at the sight.

«We are.» you confirmed, a smile on your face as you finally felt happy.

A month later, you and Minho were definitely official: he moved to your bedroom, and you managed to fit in your small bed nonetheless. You both spent your days doing your chores, and your nights enjoying your affection, either making love until you were exhausted or talking until you were on the verge to fall asleep.

Minho wanted to know everything about you, every single detail that you didn’t consider important, and you felt cherished, since you knew that no one had ever loved you like that. Actually, you wanted to know everything about Minho as well; although the author of the novel had paid enough attention to his character, there were a lot of things you didn’t know, and you found yourself listening to his stories, silently wishing that you were already in his company so that you could have experienced those memories together.

«You’re a pirate,» he had chuckled at your comment, «I’m sure you’ll get to experience your dose of adventures, too.» Minho was completely smitten with your presence, and so were you; slowly, you found yourself occasionally forgetting about your life before you had shifted into this dimension, admitting to both your lover and your friends that you didn’t want to find a way to go home any longer. Needless to say, they were all more than happy with your choice.

However, a month later, your destiny gave you an unexpected choice.

The Golden Fleece was now docked to a port for your usual restock of supplies, and as everyone was busy with their commissions, you and Minho decided to wander through the nearby marketplace, since everything about that world was new to you. You ended up buying a matching necklace, since the both of you were too scared to lose a ring in the middle of the sea, and you kept playing with it as you were strolling around, your fingers loosely intertwined together.

The marketplace was filled with the most random people, but what captured your attention was a small stall that seemed to be packed with books.

«I’ll check this out for a second.» you told Minho, who had simply nodded at you, answering that he was going to check out the stall right next to yours.   As soon as you quickly approached it, a certain book seemed to catch your eye in a magnetic hold: it was relegated in leather, some golden details that recalled the title written in beautiful handwriting. Honestly, a small familiar detail was the one that caught your eye, making your heart rapidly hammer in your chest: a small golden stone embedded right under the title was quietly reflecting the sunlight.

Immediately, you found yourself fanning the pages with anxious fingers, and you couldn’t believe what you were reading; the book was talking about your life, the life you were leading before finding yourself in the novel you had been reading. What the hell was happening?

Quickly, you jumped to the end of the book to read the summary, and you felt as if you couldn’t breathe: it was a short novel about a girl – who coincidentally had both your name and worked exactly where you used to work, who spent her quiet life in a small home town, occasionally meeting her friends.

Of course, it sounded rather plain and boring, but the description was perfectly matching your life; anxiety was slowly clouding your emotions as you opened the book at a random page.

“«Cleo, don’t sit on the window sill!» the girl had yelled from the kitchen, worried about her cat’s habits.”

You closed the book immediately, recalling the scene a bit too vividly; your cat had the habit to sit on the window sill anytime it was open, therefore worrying you to death, and every time you ended up picking her up in order to give her some extra cuddles to refrain her from climbing there yet again.

A whirlwind of thoughts were occupying your head; if this book was talking about your life, that meant you could go back to your ordinary life and keep living your days as you used to.

Going back meant not having occasional nausea due to living on a ship and not risking to die of hypothermia; moreover, all of a sudden, you were definitely craving to eat some junk food.

«Are you interested in purchasing the book, young girl?» an old lady called your attention. She was probably the owner of the stall, and you squinted your eyes at the familiarity of her face; to be honest, you were almost certain that she was the same person that owned the book-store in your original time, but that couldn’t be the case, right?

«Hey princess, if you don’t hurry up, we’ll leave you here!» Minho’s voice interrupted your thoughts, and your head seemed to clear just like the wind clears the sky after a heavy storm; you turned your head to look at your lover, who was looking at you with his hands on his hips, a smug yet enamoured look on his face. The Golden Fleece was about to sail, you reminded yourself, you had simply stopped in town to get some supplies, water and enough provisions for the next trip.

Out of instinct, you hugged the book to your chest, as your eyes remained fixed on Minho; you didn’t know anything about how you managed to end up in this messed up reality, and at this point, you didn’t care.

The chance to go back was right in your hands, but as you watched Minho scoff a laughter at your indecision, every trace of doubt vanished from your heart; you and Minho definitely had a rough start, but you had to admit to yourself that you wouldn’t want to live in another dimension without the pirate who was looking at you as if you were the centre of the universe.

Going back meant not having Felix waking you up in the morning, or Leana bursting into your room looking for cuddles because «Chris is busy with stupid pirate stuff.». It meant not seeing both Seungmin and Jeongin incredibly proud about the latter’s progresses in writing and reading, or Changbin, Jisung and Hyunjin restlessly trying to lure you into their gambling circle.

Going back also meant no more Minho; no more walking up in the middle of the night just to cuddle closer to him, no more having quiet sex on deck in the middle of the night, no more laughing among yourselves because of a stupid inside joke you created, not having him gently chuckling at your unconsolable face anytime he was drying your hair with a towel as you kept whining about your limited edition conditioner.

Most importantly, it meant no more Minho telling you that he loved you, his eyes full of love and sincerity.

«Thank you, but I prefer adventure books.» you honestly answered at the lady, and with a content smile you placed the book exactly where it was; you quickly walked towards Minho, who hugged your shoulders out of instinct as the two of you walked towards the port.

«Saw anything you liked out there?» he wondered curiously; you sincerely seemed interested in the book you were holding, why didn’t you buy it?

«Yeah,» you answered honestly, «you.» the pirate scoffed a flustered breath, and you circled his waist as you kept walking.

Unbeknownst to you, the lady was looking at you and Minho with a some sort of fond smile on her lips; as soon as you were at a reasonable distance, the book seemed to vanish, as if it had completely disappeared from this world. In a blink of an eye, the old lady seemed to have disappeared as well, and in her place was standing the original owner of the stall, a man who was selling every kind of jewellery shining brightly on the table in front of him.

Few meters away, a cat with a very unique appearance – black fur randomly dotted with ginger spots and light green eyes, was quietly roaming the port, satisfied with her task. She recalled being called in a different variety of names during her immortal life, “Ananke” was probably the most used among different cultures; however, she will always cherish the memories she had made with a very special human who had randomly picked her up on a rainy day, giving her a shelter, keeping her well fed and gifting her with a brand new name: “Cleo”.

Walking towards the Golden Fleece, your attention was caught by some pirates who were carrying a dozen crates on board that looked quite heavy.

«Did we have so little supplies on board?» you questioned Chris, as soon as you and Minho joined the others on the wharf.

«We had plenty!» Leana answered instead, «Me and Felix decided to fill your wardrobe with new clothes, as a welcoming gift!»

«But… I don’t have a wardrobe in my room…» you answered, wondering how could a wardrobe fit in there now that you and Minho were sharing the bedroom.

«Not yet!» Felix answered, mirroring Leana’s euphoria; you were about to answer him, when Hyunjin had asked you whether you had decided to stay with them.

«I did, Captain said it’s not a problem.» you nodded, imperceptibly pushing your body against Minho’s side as if to look for an invisible shelter; what if the gambler trio was against the idea?

However, Hyunjin had simply nodded, while Changbin and Jisung seemed to be genuinely happy about it.

«Well, that’s great!» you said, clapping your hands once, «Chris said that I could chose the first thing to do, and so I decided we’re about to raid a merchant ship!»

«Are you sure you’re okay? Did you perhaps hit your head again?» Seungmin wondered, instinctively reaching out in order to touch your forehead, as if checking if you had a fever. However, you were already walking towards the Golden Fleece with confident steps, as if you were meant to be there.

«Come on, scallywags!» you eagerly announced in a loud voice, as if you were impersonating the Captain, «Let’s go, Min Min.» you added then, your voice definitely more softer and a smile on your lips.

«Wait!» Jeongin halted everyone, his hands hovering in the air, «Did she just call him-»

«You heard the lady!» Leana interrupted Jeongin, quickly pulling the palm of her hand on the younger’s mouth. «Let’s go!»

“Ah, I really shouldn’t have wasted the Britney quote like that,” you pouted, “now I have to figure out another iconic thing to scream as we walk on the merchants’ ship.” you sighed, instinctively leaning towards Minho as soon as you felt his arm circle your shoulders.

«You seem lost in thought,» he pointed out, noticing your eyebrows furrowed.

«Does “it’s high tide, baby!” sound scary and menacious to you?» you wondered out loud, thing that made Minho burst out laughing, «Why are you laughing? It’s not like we can crash against their ship screaming “vibe check”!» you pretended to be offended, but you found yourself laughing along with your lover.

«“Vibe” what? Where did that come from now?» he asked, already knowing that this was just another one of your weird figure of speech.

«My flower field.» you proudly answered, tapping your temple twice, Minho rolled his eyes, and leaned in, shortly kissing your temple.

Everyone was busy on deck, the Golden Fleece had sailed once again; your gaze lost itself in the vast sea in front of you, and you found yourself recalling the question Leana had asked you when you were on your trip to O’draxxia.

«Do you believe in soulmates?» she had questioned you, and back then you uncertainly answered that you thought you did.

“What if me and Minho are soulmates?” you wondered, unconsciously wrapping your fingers around your matching necklace - both the one you bought at the market and the talisman made out of your precious clothes; you found yourself recalling the unpredictable change of your relationship, and you breathed a content sigh, for the first time in your life feeling completely at peace.

«Yes, we must be.» you softly mumbled to yourself, your voice barely above a whisper losing itself in the wind.  

all works © lettersfromaphrodite

Do not modify, repost, translate or plagiarize my stories. I only publish my works on tumblr & AO3.

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[uglypastels]

Hi so I have recently become a fan of LA Mihawk, and I came up with an idea. Mihawk x Shanks sister! Reader and they're in a secret relationship and Shanks finds out about it and OVER PROTECTIVE BROTHER MODE ACTIVATES but in the most hilarious way possible. If you don't like this idea feel free to ignore it, I was just curious. Also I was thinking it mostly be fluffy but if you wanna add a little spice here and there go for it, if you do wanna do this, I mean 😁😅

no but i love this??? (and i'm going to make this in a bit of a headcanon form because it got my mind spiraling)

because Shanks, first of all, would be the kind of big brother to bully his younger siblings relentlessly yet still affectionately. Constantly teasing and poking fun. Generally, besides that, on a day-to-day basis, he would be unbothered by his family.

But at the same time, he would be the most protective big brother there is to exist. He might bully you, but he would be the only one to do so. If anyone dared touch you, they would have a bullet through their head before they even had the chance to speak.

It becomes harder to protect you once he goes off to sail the seas with his crew, but not before vowing he would always be there for you if you need him (or when he thinks you might). Because to him, you will always be his baby sister.

So it might come to him as quite the shock when he returns from his adventure to see you all grown up. And when he hears you have been going out with guys in the village... oh boy.

He tries the typical tactic of trying to scare any interested guys off, either by simple passive intimidation or straight-up threatening to cut their bits off if they as much as dared to touch you. Much to your protest, his plans had a great success rate, and it would become the topic of many a fight in your house.

But then you meet Mihawk.

Who knows how it happened? Maybe in a bar, but the two of you very quickly and easily connected. You found something in him that you had never felt with anyone else before.

And though a notorious pirate that has the skill to kill entire fleets with just a flick of the wrist, Mihawk was the utmost gentleman when it came to you.

He had a soft spot for you, and though neither of them would admit it, he was very much like your brother in the way that he would kill anyone and anything that could do you harm.

You were his most-priced possession. His heart's biggest treasure, and if he could, he would show you off to everyone, but that was just not possible when your brother was one of his rivals at sea.

But you could not deny that sneaking around didn't add to the fun.

There was something fiery in the way you met up at night and hid from the people you knew. All the kisses felt deeper, the touches even more sinful.

That did also mean, though, that once you were caught, all hell broke loose.

Someone in the village must have seen something told someone, and the news spread like wildfire. Before you could do anything about it, Shanks was storming through the streets, pistol-loaded, ready to shoot a hole through your lover's head.

Your attempts at trying to stop him would be absolutely futile. Even when you had tears in your eyes as you tried to convince him that what you felt for Mihawk was genuine and that he reciprocated those feelings, your brother was not having any of it.

It was shocking, seeing your brother be so angry. While always protective and somewhat intimidating to other young men, he had never shown such pure rage as when he finally found Mihawk.

The hawk-eyed man, in contrast, seemed quite at peace with everything. He even ignored Shanks' fury to walk up to you and kiss the back of your hand charmingly.

'Enough!' Shanks shouted. 'You stay away from my sister.'

'Or what?' Mihawk smiled. 'Will you challenge me to a duel?'

'Yes.' Shanks simply replied.

Tomorrow. At noon.

'Or I can just kill you right now.' The gun in Shanks' hand clicked as he pushed the safety back.

a/n- idk i just riffed off a vague idea i had bc i live for the drama. is this accurate? no idea, but that's not why we're here, is it people

[inoreuct]

hiii!

if youre willing could you please do (more) headcannons of (were)tiger!zoro x sanji?

or (were)tiger!zoro in general with the crew

HIIIIII YES YES ABSOLUTELY

he’s definitely very protective. if there’s one thing that can rival his tenacity for his dream, it’s his love for his crew. he knows that they can handle themselves but once the danger has passed he has to stand on his own metaphorical tail so that he doesn’t usher them all back to the ship and look them over one by one

even when he’s not a tiger he’s still vaguely cat-ish; he bristles when he feels threatened and yawns to casually put his canines on show as a subtle don’t-fuck-with-me. he just has a vaguely feline countenance to him. it’s in the way that he slinks when he walks, the head tilts when he’s focused or trying to intimidate, the way he tries to act uninterested but perks up when he’s excited 🤌🏼🤌🏼

(sanji finds it awfully endearing. he’d never admit it, though.)

the crew probably tries to keep the fact that he can shift under wraps, considering how many people would pay a pretty penny for his pelt (not that they’d succeed, but. still). HOWEVER. he’s a force to be reckoned with as a person, but if he gets mad enough even while around enemies/strangers he’ll just shift anyway and start ripping people apart with his teeth lmao, especially if his nakama need backup. the eyewitness accounts saying they saw a massive green tiger bounding across the battlefield with a sword in its mouth all sound crazy anyway 😭

i think he licks people just to fuck with them, but also to satisfy a grooming instinct. sanji definitely gets the brunt of it, since they share a bed more often than not; he’s woken up too many times to count with zoro nuzzling at his hair, or callused hands smoothing his bedhead back into place. when they’re arguing zoro will pop into tiger form and lick the hell out of sanji’s hair just to make the cook screech, but if he can tell that it’s not one of sanji’s good days he’ll cut it out because he’s a shithead, but not an asshole. come on.

DEFINITELY shifts when he’s getting yelled at. sanji or nami nagging at him? he turns into a giant tiger and flops down onto the floor to nap. sometimes he puts his paws over his ears for emphasis.

when they’re sailing through colder areas, he just watches indifferently as everybody else shivers and complains because he runs BLOODY hot and it doesn’t affect him at all. but then after dinner he shifts into his tiger form and pads around in a circle before laying down and blinks at them like …well? and they’re all scrambling curl up against him. he snaps at luffy’s fingers when luffy tries to pet his head, but luffy just goes “oop, sorry :p” and goes to sleep and, well. zoro supposes it isn’t all bad.

(he is so used to being the one pinning others down that the weight of his crew is an entirely new experience. he likes it more than he expects.)

speaking of touching. he only really welcomes sanji getting touchy-feely in his tiger form. he tolerates the occasional scratch behind the ear from luffy, because it’s luffy, but his captain knows he doesn’t really like his fur touched beyond that. enter stage right: sanji, who had the audacity to start petting zoro’s head absentmindedly while reading one of his french romance novels and using zoro as a backrest.

zoro had been purring before he even realised. then sanji had realised, and they’d both freaked out, and then zoro had scrambled up to the crow’s nest to figure out what the hell was going on. this whole incident was perhaps his biggest personal indicator that he liked sanji as more than just nakama; funny, because he hadn’t thought he’d like sanji very much at all, period.

he started paying more attention to how much he was willing to make exceptions for the cook, and sanji finally got the hint after weeks of zoro butting his head into his palm. it went something like:

sanji, scratching beneath zoro’s chin: nami, what do you mean he likes me? i do hope that he likes all of us, considering he’s— nami, about to jump overboard: you idiot. you fucking idiot. sanji, leaning against zoro’s side leisurely: nami what do you MEAN nami: HE CAUGHT YOU FISH. *pointing at the huge net full of tuna* sanji, zoro draped across his shoulders like a shawl: HE’S FEEDING THE CREW! nami, at her limit, eye twitching, so close to ripping her hair out: HE’S FEEDING YOU

mind you, throughout all of this zoro’s being absolutely useless and just sitting there incredibly amused. he hadn’t minded waiting for sanji to come around on his own, and that in itself was a sign that he’d been gone from the beginning.

sanji is the only one zoro has EVER rolled onto his back around. his belly is the most vulnerable spot on his entire body; sanji knows what a privilege it is. it’s essentially zoro’s version of puppy dog eyes.

i think he had plenty of run-ins with hunters when he was younger. his pelt is thick and vibrant and highly sought-after, and a few close shaves had left him with scars and major wariness of people in general. he used to hide the fact that he was a weretiger at all cost but now… well, now protecting his crew’s more important. s’not like they’d let anything get to him, anyway.

i see him as a wahnsien tiger, with black stripes and fur in various shades of green; he’s big, heavy too. the first time he woke up with sanji squashed beneath him he panicked a little inside but the cook was fine. his eyes are gold in his tiger form, luminous like all cats’ are, and hella unsettling.

which is interesting, because i like to think that after so many years he’s picked up a few tricks and now? he can sort of half-shift. lengthen his fangs or claws with a neat snk or make his eyes phase burning gold when he wants to scare someone; it’s a brilliant intimidation tactic but it takes a lot of concentration, so he only ever does it on home turf where they have enough territorial advantage for him to feel safe doing it.

wow okay this got LONG. i’m sure i’ll think of more but that’s all i have for now! THANK YOU FOR THE ASK ANON 🫶🏼

part 1 | part 3

[thebunnednun]

Oye Mami! I wanted to request a One-shot for Koby! He's a character that doesn't have much fanfic! Honestly I don't know why. he's sexy and cute (especially in the movie Red ^u^) so how about Koby with an pirate reader? she can be like Luffy's sister or something...

Unexpected Dinner Guests! Koby x Straw-Hat! Reader

Somebody knows I got a soft spot for being called Mami,

I thought the Live action Koby looked so cute and their lips looked so fucking cute soft. I love pouty lips.

I have never written this cutie before so please bear with me.

On with the Show!!~

______________________________________________________________

Title: An Unexpected Meeting

The sea was calm as the sun dipped below the horizon, painting the sky in hues of orange and pink. The Going Merry sailed smoothly, its crew bustling with the usual evening activities. On the deck, [Name], Luffy's sister, leaned against the railing, watching the sunset.

Her thoughts drifted to her adventures, the battles fought, and the friends made along the way. Beside her, Uta, their other sister, hummed a soft tune, her voice blending with the sounds of the sea.

"[Name]! Uta! Dinner's ready!" Luffy's voice broke through their reverie.

"Coming, Luffy!" [Name] called back, smiling at her brother's enthusiasm.

"Let's not keep him waiting," Uta added with a grin, her musical laugh echoing in the air.

As they made their way to the dining area, a sudden shout caught their attention.

"Marine ship ahead!"

Everyone sprang into action, readying themselves for whatever was to come. But as the ship drew closer, [Name] noticed a familiar pink-haired marine on deck.

"Koby?" she murmured, surprised.

The marine ship came to a halt beside the Going Merry, and sure enough, Koby stood at the helm, looking as determined as ever. He had grown since she last saw him, now a strong and confident young man.

"Permission to come aboard?" Koby called out.

Luffy grinned. "Koby! Of course, come on over!"

Koby leapt onto the deck with ease, greeted by the crew. [Name] and Uta approached him, curious smiles on their faces.

"Koby, what brings you here?" [Name] asked, her voice warm.

Koby rubbed the back of his neck, a faint blush creeping up his cheeks. "I was on a patrol mission and heard that the Straw Hat Pirates were in the area. I wanted to check in and see how everyone was doing."

Luffy laughed, clapping Koby on the back. "We're doing great! How about you? You've really grown!"

As the crew caught up with Koby, [Name] couldn't help but notice the changes in him. He was no longer the timid boy she remembered. His eyes were sharper, his stance more assured. There was an undeniable air of confidence about him now.

"Why don't you join us for dinner?" Luffy suggested, oblivious to the tension building in the air.

"Yes, stay!" Uta added enthusiastically, her eyes sparkling.

Koby hesitated for a moment, but Luffy's grin was infectious. "Alright, I'd love to."

As they made their way to the dining area, [Name] felt a sense of anticipation. It wasn't every day that a marine joined them for a meal. Ace and Sabo, who had joined the crew for a short visit, were already seated at the table. Ace's eyes narrowed as he saw Koby, his protective instincts kicking in.

"Koby, huh?" Ace said, his tone gruff. "What's a marine doing here?"

Luffy, oblivious as always, clapped his hands together. "Ace, don't be like that! Koby's a friend."

Koby offered a nervous smile. "I just wanted to catch up with everyone. No trouble, I promise."

Sabo, ever the diplomat, smiled warmly. "You're welcome here, Koby. Sit down, make yourself at home."

As they began to eat, the atmosphere gradually relaxed. The crew's usual banter and laughter filled the air, and Koby found himself feeling more at ease. [Name] and Uta sat beside him, engaging him in light conversation and making sure he felt included.

"So, Koby," Zoro said with a smirk, "what's it like being a marine and running into pirates all the time?"

Koby chuckled. "It's definitely interesting. Especially when those pirates are friends."

Sanji set a plate of food in front of Koby, giving him a once-over. "You better eat up. Can't have you getting weak on us."

Robin leaned in, her eyes twinkling with amusement. "So, Koby, do you have a special someone waiting for you back home?"

Koby's blush returned full force, and he stammered, "N-no, I don't. I'm too busy with marine duties."

Franky laughed heartily. "Well, looks like we found something Koby isn't confident about!"

[Name] and Uta couldn't help but giggle, noticing how Koby's eyes kept drifting towards [Name]. "Come on, guys, give him a break," Uta said, her voice musical.

Luffy, still oblivious, looked between Koby and [Name]. "Why is everyone teasing Koby? He's just here for dinner!"

Ace leaned back in his chair, crossing his arms. "Just making sure the marine knows his place."

Sabo elbowed Ace lightly. "Relax, Ace. Koby's not here to cause trouble."

Amid the teasing and light-hearted banter, Koby found himself feeling more at home than he ever expected. The crew's acceptance and warmth were overwhelming, and he couldn't help but steal glances at [Name], who was clearly enjoying the evening.

As the meal came to an end, everyone moved back to the deck to enjoy the night air. Koby stood beside [Name] and Uta, watching the stars reflect on the calm ocean.

"You know," Koby began, his voice soft, "I've always admired you and your brother. Your determination, your strength… it's inspiring."

A playful smile curved [Name]'s lips. "Are you saying you've got a crush on me, Koby?"

Koby's blush deepened, and he stammered, "N-no, I mean, yes, I mean—"

[Name] laughed, her eyes sparkling with amusement. "Relax, Koby. I'm just teasing you."

Koby took a deep breath, his embarrassment fading into a smile. "I guess I walked right into that one."

She leaned in a bit closer, her voice softening. "But seriously, Koby, I'm proud of you. You've come a long way."

Koby's heart swelled at her words. "Thanks, [Name]. That means a lot coming from you."

As they walked back to the crew, the rest of the Straw Hats were watching them with knowing smiles. Luffy was beaming, clearly happy to see his friend, while Ace was still pouting, arms crossed.

"You still didn't kiss her!" Ace grumbled.

Sabo chuckled, clapping Koby on the back. "Give him a break, Ace. He's doing fine."

Nami and Robin exchanged amused glances, while Zoro shook his head with a smirk. "Young love, huh?"

Sanji sighed dramatically. "Ah, to be young and in love."

Koby, flustered, tried to defend himself. "It's not like that! We're just friends."

But before he could say more, [Name] stood on her tiptoes and gave him a quick kiss on the cheek. "Thanks for a great evening, Koby."

As she ran off, the crew erupted in cheers and laughter. Sabo winked at Koby. "Better catch up with her, Koby."

Koby, heart pounding and cheeks burning, took off in pursuit of [Name], the crew's cheers ringing in his ears. As he chased after her, he couldn't help but feel grateful for the unexpected meeting that had brought him closer to her and made him feel truly at home.

They stood in comfortable silence, the bond between them growing stronger. [Name] knew that, despite their different paths, they would always be connected by the adventures and dreams they shared.

As the night grew deeper, they eventually joined pinkies, each with a smile on their face and a warmth in their heart.

For Koby, this unexpected meeting was a reminder of how far he had come and how much further he could go.

And for [Name], it was a moment of connection that she would treasure, knowing that even in the vastness of the sea, true friends were never far away.

Epilogue: A Number to Remember

The night had settled in, casting a serene glow over the ocean as the crew began to wind down. Koby and [Name] found themselves standing at the edge of the deck, the sounds of laughter and conversation fading into the background. The stars above twinkled brightly, mirroring the lights of the distant ships and the flickering torches aboard the Going Merry.

Koby glanced at [Name], his heart still racing from the excitement of the evening. He had never felt more alive, more accepted, and more at home than he did in that moment. Gathering his courage, he turned to her with a soft smile.

"[Name], I… I had a really great time tonight," Koby said, his voice a mix of shyness and determination. "I was wondering if I could maybe… get your number? So we can keep in touch?"

[Name] raised an eyebrow, a playful smile tugging at her lips. "You're just now asking for my number?"

Before Koby could respond, [Name] reached into her pocket and pulled out a tube of red lipstick. She took Koby's wrist gently and uncapped the lipstick in her lips, carefully writing a series of digits on his skin.

"There you go," she said with a wink, capping the lipstick and stepping back. "Now you won't forget it."

Koby looked down at his wrist, a grin spreading across his face. "Thank you, [Name]. I promise I won't."

As they rejoined the crew, the rest of the Straw Hats couldn't help but notice the lipstick on Koby's wrist.

"Oooh, Koby got her number!" Ussop cooed, his voice full of teasing delight.

Nami grinned, nudging Robin. "Looks like someone made an impression."

Sanji sighed dramatically, placing a hand over his heart. Uta bounced on her heels, "Put the moves on him [Name]!"

Zoro smirked, crossing his arms. "Just make sure you don't wash it off, marine."

Franky gave Koby a thumbs up, his grin wide. "Super smooth, Koby!"

Ace, still pouting, finally cracked a smile. "Alright, alright. Maybe you're not so bad after all, Koby."

Luffy, as oblivious as ever, laughed and clapped Koby on the back. "Welcome to the family, Koby! Now you've got a reason to come back and visit more often."

Koby, his face flushed with happiness, couldn't stop smiling. He looked over at [Name], who was surrounded by her family, her eyes sparkling with amusement and affection.

Sabo walked up to Koby, placing a hand on his shoulder. "Take care of her, Koby. And don't be a stranger."

"I won't," Koby replied, his voice full of sincerity.

As the night grew darker, the crew's laughter and camaraderie continued to fill the air. Koby stood amidst his new friends, his heart full of warmth and gratitude. He knew that this was just the beginning of a new chapter.

And as he looked down at the lipstick-covered digits on his wrist, he knew that he would cherish this night forever.

______________________________________________________________

Make sure you check out the a03 account by the same name. I also have more One Piece x Reader's posted in the masterlist! Give it a read if you please!

Be sure to check out my other works and leave likes and comments, they really help. Drop a follow as well if you please. Don't be shy to leave me a little reblog if you want.

I promise I bite~

Don't be shy, send me your requests, I wanna write lots this weekend!

Seen you soon my loves!!~ <<33

[ask-sister-solaris]

I read you were taking requests for One Piece LA so I wanted to leave one if you don't mind. How would Sanji react to F!Reader being transformed into a small fluffy kitten by another Devil Fruit user? What would he do to take care of her until the effects wear off?

Oh my god. Yes

“Kitty Claws”

It hadn’t been that long since Sanji had joined the Strawhat Crew as their cook. You yourself had been a baker at the Bariate and had offered to come along, mainly because you wanted to sail the sea with Sanji. There were minor threats, all of them taken onboard by Luffy even when he didn’t understand.

However, this threat seemed different, this threat shook the whole crew. The person they fought had eaten some sort of devil fruit, the power of said fruit seems to be transformation of pretty much anything kind like magic. After the fight, and Nami was checking everyone, one person was missing. You. Or they thought you were until a quiet meow was heard. They all turned to find a…kitten? On Sanjis lap. Confused Nami knelt down and picked the kitten up.

It had your [eyecolour] and its fur was the same as your hair. It clicked and Nami gasped looking at the others “She’s been turned into a kitten!” Sanji stood up and took you from Nami holding you close. You were so small and fragile…he had to protect you. Luffy whined about not being able to have sweet treats anymore which earned him a slap on the back of the head from Nami. You looked up at Sanji and he stroked your small head with his finger, maybe like this you could finally spend more time with him.

And that’s what happened. You spent most of your time in Sanjis apron pocket when he was cooking, or his suit pocket when it was mealtimes. Though if there was ever any fights he always locked you in his room. It had been a month since you’d been turned and it was getting boring. You followed the usual routine of having you food and toddling off to Sanjis bed to fall asleep with him, the rest of the crew bidding you goodnight. Sanji lifted you and laid down on his bed resting you on his chest.

Come the morning and you were back to your normal human self, but you didn’t seem to notice at first. Sanji was the one to wake up and notice, a grin spread across his face and he held you closer. Finally, he got to see your beautiful face again. He kissed your forehead and your eyes fluttered open, your bright eyes met his ocean blue ones and a blush spread across your face. He gave a mischievous smile before he kissed you gently.

You smiled and pulled away resting your forehead on his. The loverboy was head over heels for you, surprising since most of the time he would flirt with every woman that came into the Bariate. “I’m sorry my Cher, I didn’t mean to seem disinterested, I-“ you cut him off with another kiss, a knock at the door forcing you to pull away. Luffy was complaining about being hungry, which made you chuckle. After you were both dressed and ready you headed out, Sanji realized you’d stolen one of his shirts and suit trousers. A chuckle escaped his lips as he followed you and watched the rest of the crew show their relief you were back to normal.

[spinningwebsandtales]

Imagine Waiting For Shanks To Return To Tell Him Surprising News

Shanks X FemReader

Rating: T

Warnings: Suggestive themes and a dagger is involved

Word Count: 1.7k

(A/N:) Hello readers! I should finally start getting back into the swing of things now that Christmas is here! I’ve missed writing so much and I have ideas I’ve been wanting to write especially about One Piece. Back in November I had went to see Red and to made me fall in love with the story. So now I have started reading and watching One Piece and Shanks and Zoro are my faves. So I’m starting out with Shanks but I have an idea for Zoro and an idea for Sanji so just keep an eye out hopefully I can write those soon! But I am still learning about this universe so mostly these imagines are just for funsies so don’t take them too seriously! X3 But it feels good to write again and I look forward to posting more! So until next time happy reading! ~Countess

You stood upon the shore of Foosha Village’s port watching the horizon as you did every evening as the sun began to set in the sky. The salty waves crashing the shore sent droplets of water to spatter against the hem of your flowing gown as the breeze billowed your hair behind you tangling it just enough that you would have to brush it when you got home. Nobody of the village would bother you at these moments, as you were waiting and hoping for Shanks to return and soon. Usually you were on the boat with him just another piece of his large crew. But the last time he docked at Foosha you were ill and couldn’t get well in time for him and the crew to set sail. So he left you with a house upon a private cove overlooking the ocean to see when he sailed in and in the care of Makino as he knew that she would take the best of care of you until you were well again.

“You won’t be long,” you had asked him weakly.

  He gave a gentle smile with a hint of sadness, “I’ll try my best. Wait for me to return upon that far horizon.”

“Okay,” you whispered falling back to sleep to escape another bout of nausea.

That had been six months ago and now you stood upon the sand watching and waiting with a protective hand over your swollen belly. Makino had fetched the village doctor when you hadn’t improved in several days and that’s when your pregnancy was revealed. Wedded to the notorious red haired pirate and now mother to said pirate’s child. You were nervous about how Shanks would take the news when he finally returned, yes he already had an adopted daughter in Uta, but having a baby while he was so busy was something you were afraid he wouldn’t accept. You also feared he’d leave you behind once more, only to never return leaving you alone to raise the child that he helped create. 

You kicked at the sand in frustration as the familiar ship didn’t part the horizon like you hoped. As the temperature began to drop as the sun sank lower you shivered, you decided to go back home. Your older more comfortable clothes no longer fit thanks to your large stomach so you had to make do with the flowing gowns Makino dredged up for you. With soup bubbling in the pot above the fire you dished some out and ate before deciding to just go ahead and sleep. You hadn’t been able to sleep much lately as the baby was beginning to grow more restless and keeping you awake for majority of the night with their squirming and moving. It didn’t take long for you to slip into dreamless sleep as the exhaustion was starting to get too much to bear.

Shanks knew that you wouldn’t be awake at this hour but he had pushed his crew to make it back to you tonight. He had been gone a lot longer than he intended, and while he knew you would understand he couldn’t help but still feel that pang of guilt deep inside. Since getting to know each other you both hadn’t left each other’s sides in so long. So leaving you alone without anyone there at all times of the day was a horrible feeling he never wanted to repeat. His bed in his captains' quarters had never been colder since he had to leave you behind. Now as his crew were about ready to drop he had them rush through docking the ship and making preparations to stay for at least a few days. He had much catching up to do with you and preparing you and all the supplies for an extra person tagging along once more.

 With the familiar boat docked in the bay he searched for you, it was late but he was sure that you would still be up looking for his return. When you didn’t show up rushing towards him with open arms Shanks gave his men free rein to do whatever they pleased (as he knew they wouldn’t take advantage of the good people of Foosha) he made his way towards the place he had bought you to stay. Upon the top of the cove he saw your place all dark and lifeless. He couldn’t stop the panic welling in his chest as horrible thoughts came to his mind. Surely you were okay? Shanks rushed in catching the door with his one hand before it could bang against the wall, while he was losing his mind he knew that there could still be the possibility that you were just sleeping. His worries eased as he saw the freshly dirty dishes and the smoldering fire in the hearth, but he wouldn’t be satisfied until he saw you. So to the bedroom he went where the sight that he beheld made him suck in a breath. There you laid, sleeping peacefully, warm blankets pulled to your chin. Though covered he could tell the difference in your form. Gone was the shape of the woman who was used to fighting, sailing, and climbing. Now you were round and soft and Shanks knew that the feelings that were rolling under the surface wasn’t just from seeing you for the first time in forever. 

It didn’t take a genius to realize that you were pregnant and heavily so. He sat on the edge of the bed not really wanting to wake you but having a hard time controlling his self. Reaching out with a calloused hand he brushed hair from your open mouth. Your face scrunched and you mumbled something he couldn’t make out, it made him chuckle. You immediately went into action, hand rushing to underneath your pillow, you pulled a dagger out holding it to his throat in a threatening motion.

“Who are you,” you snarled ready to slit your intruder’s throat.

“Hello to you too beautiful,” Shanks chuckled again and the dagger was dropped immediately.

“Shanks??”

“Yeah,” he sighed gathering you in his arm, “it’s me sweetheart.”

“Sorry that your first greeting back was a blade to your throat.”

“Not the worst greeting I’ve ever received,” he smiled cupping your cheek. “It’s good to know that you never lost those reflexes that you honed all those years sailing with me.”

“Well,” you pinched his cheek, “I can’t spoil my husband’s good name by being weak.”

“You’ve never been mistaken for weak and never will be. I’m the idiot who left you though in this condition.”

You hung your head ashamed, “We didn’t know. I’m sorry I didn’t send word to you. I was afraid you wouldn’t be happy.”

“How could I not be happy?! This is amazing and such a surprise. Who knew your sickness was just symptoms from being pregnant?”

“I’m sure the rocking boat didn’t help with the puking and bouts of nausea.”

“Yeah we rocked the boat ourselves on several occasions that’s what got you into this state in the first place,” the mischievousness in his gaze was not lost on you.

“Shaaaaaanks,” you whined punching his shoulder.

“Kidding,” he kissed you softly. “But not really, cause it is the truth.”

Moments passed by quietly as you just held one another basking in the presence that you both missed greatly. The sound of the ocean outside your little home bringing back so many memories over the years you both had spent on the high seas together. It was just a perfect moment that Shanks knew he had to interrupt, though he didn’t want to.

“Want to go see the crew,” he asked breaking the peace. “They’ve missed you almost as much as I have.”

Though your body was exhausted and you were embarrassed about how big you have grown, you couldn’t deny your red haired pirate or his lovable crew. “I need to change into something warmer and can you help me get there? The walk has been getting more difficult in my state.”

“You don’t even need to ask.”

Shanks held your hand tightly as he helped you down some of the steep slopes to the sandy beach below. While your little cove away had seemed so cold and lonely the last few months, this was the first time in awhile you enjoyed the walk with the warm hand squeezing yours with gentle pressure. Life without Shanks around was boring but mostly it was lonely. His warming presence was something you never really thought about until it wasn’t around. And whatever fear that had been pressing upon you, keeping you from enjoying watching your baby grow within you dissipated with his contagious grin. His ship came into view and you could see the guys buzzing back and forth taking care of the ship’s needs before theirs. You glared at your sheepish husband at seeing how exhausted his men were.

“I couldn’t help it,” he defended himself. “I was desperate to see you and so were they.”

“Treat them to a good meal tomorrow and some good ale,” you elbowed him.

“Yes ma’am,” he agreed wanting to stay in your good graces. As soon as the hard working crew spotted you with their captain a roaring cheer lifted into the night sky. You could have sworn the ship rocked even harder than the waves crashing against it with the excited men. You laughed using Shanks as a sturdy crutch as you waddled across the shifting sand. They tossed themselves overboard stampeding toward you and Shanks. Shanks pulled you protectively into his side bracing you behind him just in case his rambunctious men got out of control. But as soon as they saw your condition they skidded to a stop in awe. “Surprise,” you teased sheepishly. Silence passed before a loud roar sounded out and several sharp slaps to Shanks back left him staggering and his back stinging. Some of the men softly asked if they could touch their stomach, as they were remembering pregnant wives at one point in their lives. You agreed tears pricking at the corner of your eyes as they accepted you and the little one inside. It felt so good to have your husband and friends back and you couldn’t wait to get back onto the seas sailing with your family with a new addition in tow.

[bokettochild]

Does anyone remember Violet?

Okay, how about the Nancy LU animatic? Yeah, the fic I write for that, you remember? No? Yes? It doesn't matter

I wrote a sequel >:)

The Return of "Violet"

  Wind is going to owe Four big time.

  Of all the things to ever happen, he, a pirate, has been caught stealing, and honestly it’s probably the most ashamed he’s felt since he was seven and put a hole in the roof of their house while playing with Aryll. In this instance though, he’s not going to have his sweet and understanding granny that he’s answering too. No, this time he has to answer to Four, and probably someone else after that, because with the way things are going, he’s going to need more than just Four’s help to get out of this one.

  They’re in his era, visiting one of the islands that he and Tetra had discovered after their adventures together. That almost makes it worse though because they’re here with Tetra. After finding themselves on Dragon Roost Island he’d managed to get ahold of her through the gossip stones, and although she charges worse fees than even Ravio (as Legend had made a point of complaining about) she and her crew have agreed to let the heroes sail with them until they find whatever it is that caused them to be brought to this era. So far though, they’ve had little to no luck, and for the time being, the ship is docked here while they gather supplies and allow the land-lubbers now in their company to enjoy being on land for a short bit while Tetra and the others do… pirate-y things. That was what she said they’d be doing anyway, and the heroes, in the interest of not inviting trouble for once in their lives, hadn’t asked.

  Wind knows. Usually he’d be with them, but right now he’s a hero first and a pirate second, and so he’s with the heroes instead, picking his way through the bustling market with Four while the other heroes busy themselves at stands. Currently, Legend is trying to teach Wild some form of bartering, because the champion repeatedly has been overcharged already for basic items since, apparently, in his world those prices would fly. Not in this one though, and not with Legend in their group. 

  Twilight’s following after them, an amused expression on his face as he sits back and lets the vet have his way with teaching the champion, shaking his head and chuckling every so often at the duo as he turns and glances back to wherever the nearest brother is and exchanging silent words with them about it all.

  Time is the most frequent receiver of Twilight’s laden stares, and the old man himself likewise shakes his head with a small smile before turning back to the captain’s side as Warriors picks over a display of knives that has been laid out in one of the nearby stalls.

  The market is a colourful place, beautiful too, in its own unique way. Sea-salt breezes are carried up the island cliffs to them and play around their ears and hair, sending windchimes singing and overhanging fabrics and tarps swaying. Most are tightly tied down, providing brief shade to those who step beneath their protection and into the realm of one vendor or another, who will only too happily try and cheat newcomers out of their wages and will banter and barter in loud and fast moving phrases with the more experienced buyer.

  Honestly, he’s surprised that Legend’s keeping up.

  Colour surrounds them. In visiting the other eras, he’s come to understand that his is one of the more bright, Twilight’s being near drained of colour in most places by comparison. Here in the market though, that fact makes itself most apparent, the overhangs woven in bright jewel tones and tents and stalls hung about with the same over handcrafted poles and tables. The wares are bright and eye-catching too, and Hyrule is currently eyeing them all in awe, as though he’s never seen such an amalgamation of items and beautiful things in his life. He has though, because all of them have had at least a peek inside Legend’s storage shed, and that was truly a sight to see, even if it wasn’t nearly as attractively presented as the stalls and tables here.

  As for himself, Wind’s more looking around for anything relatively useful, but more than anything, he’s keeping his ears open for the telltale sound of bombs going off, just in case he needs to create a distraction to keep the others from investigating. That would be incredibly awkward and he’s not keen on having to answer for that particular set of crimes.

  Not that he ends up having to, because by the time that the bombs do go off (because of course they do) the heroes are too busy dealing with another issue.

  It’s an artefact that catches his eye. Not one from his time either, but one he remembers seeing at the Hero’s Shrine in Warriors Hyrule at the Skyview Temple. Well, it had been the Skyview Temple, back in Sky’s time, but he’s not sure what it was being called in the captain’s era. It’d become something of a hall of history to the Hylian people, and there were shrines there for the heroes of the past, set in different alcoves, and the item in question had been one laid in the one for the veteran hero himself.

  It was probably the first time he’d ever found out anything about Legend. Ravio had taken one look at the shrine and started talking about each of the items and their abilities, and while he’s not entirely sure what this particular rod does, he does know that Ravio had seemed very nervous about it being left at a shrine where someone could steal it. He’d been even more nervous though when someone had stolen it. Wind’s not sure who it had been, and at the merchant’s warnings the captain had had them all search and investigate, but the war took the most of their attention and the search had to be abandoned when the enemy had started moving again.

  He’s still not sure what the thing really does, but he knows it’s the same one as he remembers. It’s just too similar to what he remembers, and the sight of it causes a sinking feeling to make itself known in his stomach.

  “Shit.”

  “Language,” Four murmurs to him, distracted, “cap doesn’t like that kind of talk.”

  Usually he’d snicker at something like that, he imagines he’s probably half the reason that joke is still running (because Four knows he’ll still be laughing) but this time he’s too distracted for that.

  “Four, I have to commit a crime.”

  The smithy doesn’t even startle, just turns to him with a face far too calm as green eyes search his own. “What sort?” The question is spoken as calmly and casually as if asking after a flavour of pie, but he knows, based off of the fact that Four is looking at him at all, that he’s got the smithy’s full attention.

  “I need to steal something.”

  “Not so loud about it,” the smithy snorts, setting a hand on one hip and side-eyeing him with a playful look, “I thought you were supposed to be a pirate. Isn’t announcing your pillaging against some code?”

  “No, it’s not like that,” he catches the smithy’s wrist and tugs, and while Four stumbles just a bit, he lets himself be pulled a bit closer to the stall so Wind can point out the rod sitting innocuously amidst jewellery and fabric, like some sort of stylized cane or staff instead of a Cautious Ravio level of Dangerous Item. “I need to steal that.”

  Four hums. “Okay, and you’re telling me…”

  “I need your help.”

  He expects some hesitation or thought, but all Four does is cock his head, stare at the item, one hand reaching to stroke his chin before aborting with a shrug. “Okay.”

  He really thought Four would be more against crimes than this. Still, a partner in crime is a partner in crime (in this case literally) and Four seems to take no issue with following him over to the stall in question. He’s not sure, off the top of his head, how he plans to go about stealing the thing, but he’s a pirate and he’s good at theft, he can handle this.

  As it would turn out, he does not end up needing to handle this, which turns out to be for the better, because the merchant who owns the stall watches him like a hawk. Of course theft would be a common problem in a place such as this, and apparently Wind, lanky, young, still just this side of man-hood, looks all too well the part of a troublesome youth looking to score a steal, and no matter if a customer comes to the stall or not, the man seems to keep an eye on him at all times.

  Fortunately, Four, well dressed in bright jewel tones as he is, is not regarded with such distaste. If anything, the merchant motions to the smithy while speaking to a patron and points out “the cute lil’ lass” which Wind only very nearly prevents himself from laughing at.

  Dark eyes trail back to him coldly at the coughing he makes while trying to avoid laughter though, but then the man is turning back to his patron. “Recken she’s some small thing from these merchant folk, her da’ll pay well for whatever catches her fancy, all these rich folks are that way; coughin’ up rupees fer what’er pleased their kids.”

  With an eye on his customer and one on Wind, the merchant doesn’t have enough eyes to catch the scathing glance the smithy shoots the man’s way at hearing that.

  Four would usually correct someone, but considering they’re trying to keep a low profile, the smithy blessedly keeps his mouth shut.

  Wind turns back to a pile of jewellery. Absently, he wonders if he could barter a ring out of the man to provide a window for Four to stash the rod in his pack or something.

  He doesn’t get the chance to try.

  “Hoy there! Where do you think you’re going, lass!” 

  The sailor spins about just in time to see the merchant catch Four by the back of his bright tunic, and…

  Oh Spirits, Four didn’t even bother to stash the rod. Is this the first time the smithy has stollen something? 

  In hindsight, it probably is; Four’s fame in his home era after all did start with him vanquishing pirates and dealing with thieves.

  And that’s how they end up as they are. The merchant goes from laughing and smiling at the smithy to trying to twist the small hero’s arm and demanding answers about where he’s going, and- well, what was Wind supposed to do?

  “Hey!” He squawks, and yes, he most certainly did overturn that display on purpose as he rushes over to his brother’s side. “Let go!”

  “You’re together then,” the man hisses, narrowing his eyes, “I shoulda guessed. What respectable lass goes snoopin’ about without a guard or her mam around to watch that she ain’t taken? Thieves, the both of you!”

  “We’re not thieves!” Wind protests, despite the fact that they are, in fact, thieves. Well, he is anyway. “We’re just kids!” And then, as inspiration hits, he adds, “now let my little sister go!” Oh yeah, he’s so going to owe Four one after this.

  Luckily, Four doesn’t stumble once, instead squirming in the man’s hands and, somehow, managing to muster up a stream of tears as he fights weakly (as a small child would) against the hands restraining him. “Let me go!” The smithy squeaks, “I just wanted to show Mama!”

  “‘Show mama’?” the man mocks, and shakes Four harder than is probably safe to shake a child, “and where’s your mama at, little miss snitch?”

  “Right here.”

  Wind could kiss Legend on the cheek, although he’d probably owe the vet even more if he did after the man has just stepped in to save their asses, Twilight and Wild both on his heels.

  Oh crap, this is going to become another Violet situation isn’t it?

  “Mum!” it bursts out of him as he darts to the vet’s side, hands catching on red fabric as he looks up at the vet as though pleading for help, and he is, he is so pleading. He is pleading so very much and genuinely, see? 

  No really, he really is. He really didn’t think this one through. 

  “We were just looking, I swear, and Violet wanted to show you something, but this mean man-”

  Twilight is staring. Twilight and Wild are both starring in something between shock and confusion and Wild’s brows are very quickly disappearing under his hair as they rise higher and higher with every word out of Wind’s throat.

  Oh yeah, he’s going to owe Legend big time.

  “Mama!” Four wails, quite convincingly as he kicks at his captor, “make him let me go!”

  For a brief moment, Wind can see the resignation and pain in Legend’s eyes, but then the vet is steeling himself and then, at the very top of his lungs (which only drives home how much like last time this will be) shouts “let go of my child, you horrid man!” in what is possibly the most hystericaly angry voice Wind has heard from anyone, never mind from the vet.

  Wild chokes.

  The scream, however, has what he can only assume is the intended effect, because the crowd immediately near them all whips around so fast he’s sort of shocked they don’t downright fall over, and then all eyes are on them.

  Again.

  Well, apparently if Legend’s going to cover up for your crimes and save your ass he’s going to do it by being as loud as possible. Honestly, Wind doesn’t care, as long as it works.

  It does work. The man immediately lets go of Four, and then the smithy is all but flinging himself into the veteran’s arms, where he’s immediately caught and held while Legend once more adopts the same act as the time before, fussing and murmuring with terrifyingly believable distress as he looks at the bruising on Four’s arm and then immediately pulls the smithy closer, looking up at the merchant with fury in his eyes. “How could you do this to a child! She was only looking, she wasn’t causing any harm!”

  Frosty violet eyes fix the merchant in place, and the man takes a step back at the sight of them.

  Two kids causing trouble, he was prepared for. What appears to be a finely dressed young mother who perceives her child to have been attacked, he was not prepared for at all. “She was stealing!”

  “She’s only eight!” Wind protests, wrapping an arm around Four’s shoulders and pouting up at the man accusingly, but also cutely because he needs to play up the role of a child right now, rather than even try and look at all serious and mature like he usually would try to. 

  “She’s only eight!” Legend repeats, likeways wrapping an arm around Wind. “How dare you! It’s her first time at a big market, how was she to know the rules! I’m teaching her the best I can but I can only be so many places at once!”

  Past the vet’s arm, and now that the attention is on Legend and not himself, Wind can glance out and see the crowd. Eyes are fixed on them, murmurs already rising and disapproving looks being shot at the merchant even as crystal tears in amethyst eyes begin to garner sympathy and pity from the onlookers while Legend switches out the furious mother act for the overworked and struggling one.

  Amidst it all, Wind can clearly see Time and Warriors, watching them. Time has the most confused expression on his face, neither privy to the events of last time or apparently aware of what’s happening now, but Warriors…

  Oh gods, Warriors looks so done already.

  “I don’t care how old she is, a thief is a thief!” The merchant yells, and with his words, Legend starts back, dragging Four and Wind with him and drawing the sailor’s attention back to the man before them. Said man is currently red in the face and huffing, both trying to uphold his right to punish the thieves who attempted to steal from him, but also under the judgemental stares of the whole market.

  “You can’t hold a child responsible for such a silly mistake!”

  “You’re right,” the man breathes, and while it almost sounds like he’s trying to contain and calm himself, Wind sees the flash of his eyes before the man steps closer and raises a hand, definitely and truly beyond reason at this point, “the parents are the ones to be held responsible.”

  Legend could catch that hand. Wind could, Four could. Any one of them could do something to avoid it, but that would come at the cost of dropping the act, and while unspoken, the rule remains to never drop an act, although at what cost he’s not sure.

  “Stop right there!”

  Hang on, is that-? And it is.

  Warriors is storming over, and it’s such a dramatic and poetic image; the captain stalking along the street, armour glistening and scarf billowing out behind, that if he wasn’t playing a part, Wind would definitely be grinning a bit at it. After all, it’s like something straight out of one of the stories he’d told Aryll when they were kids. Well, younger kids.

  To the merchant however, Wind knows that’s not the case. The merchant sees the blazing blue eyes and the silver sword and he stops mid-swing, face paling as the captain comes to stand beside the three younger heroes, hand settling on Legend’s shoulder and stare stone cold. As someone who's seen that stare employed before, Wind’s honestly surprised the man doesn’t piss himself.

 “Lay a hand on my family,” the captain growls, and yes, he actually growls, “and I’ll cut it off.”

  Twilight whistles lowly.

  Oh dang, add Warriors to the list of people he owes. This is really getting out of hand.

  “Who are you?” The man stammers, stepping back but not away, gaze trailing up and across the knight and taking in sparkling armour and steely stare, sweat beading across the salesman's face with each passing second.

  “Papa,” Four whimpers, and oh gosh he’s good, “I was just trying to show Mama the pretty staff…”

  “I see.” Warriors doesn’t even look down to the smithy still plastered across Legend’s front, instead staring until the merchant squirms under his gaze. “What pretty staff, precious?”

  Oh no. Oh Hylia, the endearments. Oh gods Wars is so going to sit him down about this. Endearments aren’t uncommon from the captain, but “precious”? Oh no, that one isn’t one he uses, and it’s a clear warning to the sailor at least that he’s going to be answering a lot of questions later.

  Dang it, all this over a stupid rod!

  “That one,” Four turns and points to the item lying on the ground by their feet, “I thought it looked like something Mama could use for her magic.”

  Ah, yes Four, drop the fact that Legend can do magic, that’ll definitely scare the shit out of those present and hopefully convince this guy to just let the scoot. Please? Please let that work?

  Except it doesn’t because Warriors recognizes the item too, and he’s bending to scoop up the troublesome rod in question even as the merchant protests and splutters.

  “Ah.”

  Oh yeah, someone’s screwed.

  “Is that…” Legend pauses, and the act drops for a moment, however brief, as he stares at the item. His item. His thing that Ravio never explained but said was his and which now looks very, very old.

  “Where did you get this?” Warriors demands, and now he really is mad. Someone threatening to hit his family is bad, but knowing Wars, he wasn’t really all that mad since he knows they can all defend themselves with ease. Stealing from a shrine? Yeah no, that’s territory even Wind isn’t willing to cross.

  The merchant huffs. He’s got guts, Wind will give him that. A lesser man would have caved or run away or even just tried to snivel and plead to avoid the wrath of this odd little family and the crowd watching them, but he doesn’t, and for that Wind has to give him props. He’s got guts. “Not that it’s any of your business, but I traded for it. It’s a powerful magical rod, capable of-”

  “Nothing.” Legend interjects, releasing his hold on Wind (rude) to reach for the rod in the captain’s hand, and Warriors lets him, gaze trailing down to watch the vet inspect the thing with a frown. “It’s damaged,” Legend continues, frowning as gnarled fingers trace the stone set on top, the actual source of the thing’s supposed magic. A sigh. “Violet, this was hardly worth the fuss,” the vet frowns and hands the item off, casually, to the captain.

  Warriors holds it, scowling. “Probably best if we didn't buy it then, love. Besides, it being stolen from a shrine, Hylia only knows what sort of curses the gods would have put on it.”

  Oh. Oh yes. Wind is very near smiling, but doesn’t even as he watches his older brothers play it out perfectly, not a word passed between to communicate, not even a look, but picking up the threads the other lays with all the skill of the most masterful weaver of lies, and it’s working too. While the heroes look at each other in confusion, and Twilight is sort of smirking in that utterly lost and confused but also humored way he does, the merchant is quickly paling again.

  “Cursed?”

  “Of course,” Legend scoffs, straightening up but not shaking off the arm Warriors still has about his shoulders, “anything stolen from a shrine would be cursed. The souls of the dead never take kindly to people disrespecting them so blatantly.”

  “But I didn’t steal it!” The man protests.

  The vet sniffs, tossing his head and looking down his nose at the man, even as the captain follows his lead and likewise stares the man down with all the revulsion one would assume someone married to a great mage might have. “That hardly matters, sir. Frankly, anyone who disrespects such a sacred thing, be it in sale or theft, is simply begging suffering on themselves, and I’m hardly inclined to wish that upon my children.”  Violet eyes then turn to them, and both he and Four can feel the weight and warning in them as Legend stares, not dropping the act but also not entirely acting anymore. “Which is why I’ll be sure to make sure this never happens again.”

  It won’t.

  “All the same, love,” Warriors murmurs, and there’s a step made, and they pulled along, “it’s likely best if we finish our business as soon as possible. I’d rather we head back to the ship and leave port before whatever bad fortune that thing is cursed with reveals itself.” He shakes his head, staring at the item even as the vet takes his lead and starts ushering both younger heroes away. “They say that shrine was one for a goddess’ son, so I can only imagine how that will play out.”

  The weight of their words seems to hit as the captain makes a turn, and while Wind can’t see it, he can definitely hear the feet pattering after them and the man calling out, now suddenly closer. It makes him stop and try to peek around Legend, who sighs but follows his lead to look as the man thrusts the rod in question at their captain. “Please! If you know where it’s from, send it back! Maybe the spirits will forgive me if I restore what was taken from them. Please sir!”

  “After you attacked my wife and child?” And Warriors definitely learned that haughty, contemptuous voice from all the balls and dealings with nobles he’s suffered through after the war, “I don’t think so.”

  “But you know where it came from!” The man tries, “I don’t!”

  “Darling,” and the word almost grates off of Legend’s lips, hand coming to settle in the crook of the captain’s arm.

  Wind is going to owe Legend the best freaking thing ever, although what, he’s not sure, since Legend has everything already.

  “Perhaps we should help.”

  “Someone like this?” He has no clue why Warriors is making this harder than it has to be, and with the attention of all others on the captain and vet, he and Four exchange a quick glance of confusion.

  “Think of all the innocent people this fool has endangered,” Legend continues, still glaring at the man and item in question. “We can’t let his greed and foolishness cause their demise! Such a thing would surely disrupt the spirits even further.”

  Ah yes, the warning of a mage. It sets the people about them fussing and worrying, until there are others stepping out from the crowd and begging until at last Warriors 'concedes’ and accepts the rod, which is quickly handed back to its original owner and stashed away in the vet’s bag.

  That should be the end of it, but like last time, it’s not. Because people.

  Wind really loves people most times, but right now he’d rather they just… not. He’d rather they not watch, or worry, or fuss. He’d rather not, but he’s sure that even if they didn’t, Legend would still be catching Four’s hand as they walk and Warriors would still be setting a hand on his shoulder that is heavy, oh so very heavy.

  He’d also rather they not because when he sees Tetra staring at him from within the crowd, face red with unreleased laughter, he can’t do anything about it except keep his head down and silently bemoan the loss of whatever sort of respect he may have gained among his fellow pirates.

  He botched a simple theft. He had to be rescued by a soldier and a teenage boy in a dress pretending to be his mother.

  He is never going to live this down.

  “At least,” Four murmurs, once they’ve moved to the edge of the market, finished with their shopping and with the eyes of the others all trailing after them with innumerable questions, “I got to be older this time.”

  Legend sighs, releasing the smithy’s hand to rub at his temples, figure blocked by the captain’s own and thus out of sight of the market behind them. “Oy vey, you two.”

  “We owe you guys big time,” he tries.

  Warriors snorts, grip tightening on his shoulder. “You owe us an explanation, but yeah, big time, sailor.”

  Ahead, the ship is waiting, Tetra leaning against the bulwarks and smirking down at him with danger in her eyes and laughter already touching her lips, and Wind sighs.

  This is never going to go away.

  He kind of regrets teasing Legend now for last time.

[sabo-has-my-heart]

Hi. How are you? Can you please do a Sabo x Female Reader Fluff with a little angst. The reader is Ace’s widow (and childhood sweetheart) and Sabo goes to find her and protect her but falls in love like when he was a kid again.

Hey, so... this turned out a bit angstier than I intended, but it still had a happy ending, I promise!

Warnings: angst, hurt/comfort, happy ending

Word Count: 1340

    Staring out at the water, you let your mind wander. You missed him so much, you wished he was still here, still with you. Part of you, part of you, understood why he died. He was saving his little brother. But you couldn’t help but be mad at him too. If he’d just kept running, if he’d just ignored Akainu. Tears ran down your cheeks as you continued to stare out at the water, only to be startled out of your thoughts when one gloved hand rested on your shoulder, and another began wiping away tears. 

     “I know you miss him, I do too, but he wouldn’t want you to dwell on what happened like this.” Sabo said softly, giving you a soft, comforting smile.

     “I… I know, but I just… from the moment… after you… he was always there for me. He held me as I cried, made me laugh when I was down, protected me even if I didn’t need it. Sabo, he… he was my everything.” you said, more tears beginning to stream down your face, Sabo pulling you close, one hand on the back of your head, the other around your waist as he let you cry into his chest. It reminded you so much of Ace. Ace, who would wrap one arm around your waist and one around your shoulders as you cried into his bare chest. Ace, who would say ‘hey, watch this!’ before doing something reckless, dangerous, and stupid but always helped your mood. Ace, who would beg Thatch to cook your favorite for no other reason than to make you smile. Clinging to Sabo’s clothing, you let yourself cry, let yourself mourn. Looking out at the ocean that you had just been staring at, Sabo made a silent promise to himself and his brother. He would protect you from now on. He would protect you, care for you, bring the smile back to your lips, he would never take Ace’s place, but he would be there for you like Ace had been.

     It didn’t take long for Sabo to remember his old feelings for you. Despite how you’d changed over the years, despite your grief over Ace, you were still you. You were still the same girl he and Ace fought over as kids. Not that you knew they were fighting over you, but they did. Part of him wished he could have been there, growing up with the two of you. Continuing his rivalry with Ace to win your heart, watching Luffy grow up, hunting, training, everything. He didn’t regret joining the RA, but he also wished he could have been there for his brothers, been there for you. His only solace was that he could be there for you now, that he could do something for you now. The two of you spent a lot of time talking, reminiscing, telling him stories. You told him about everything that had happened between his ‘death’ and Ace’s death. Told him about setting sail with his brother and joining Ace’s crew, about how you started dating and how you got married. It was so good to hear about Ace. Robin had told him about Luffy, but no one had told him about Ace and hearing about his brother felt so good, if not simultaneously painful. True to his silent vow, he did everything in his power to take care of you. He made you smile, gave you a shoulder to cry on, and always looked out for you. Whenever he had to leave on a mission, you were nearby; perhaps not in the direct line of fire like he was, but close enough that you wouldn’t have to spend weeks and weeks without him. 

     Sabo couldn’t help but stare at you, smiling dreamily, his head in his hand. He knew you had been his brother’s girl, that falling for you probably wasn’t the best idea in the world, but how could he help himself when you were just so… you? Okay, yes, he felt terrible for falling for his dead brother’s girl, and yes, he’d tried not to, but just like when you were kids, you’d wormed your way into his heart, seemingly without effort. Despite his attraction to you, he continued to tell himself not to do anything. No making moves, no flirting, no touching outside of comfort and friendly hugs, absolutely not! Granted, everyone saw it, or at least, everyone who wasn’t you saw it. They saw the looks, the barely restrained affection, the hidden frustration. He never let you see it though, if you saw the way he looked at you, at his brother’s girl, all he could think was that you’d be furious with him. Angry at him for loving you when his brother, the love of your life, was gone. Shaking himself out of his thoughts and daydreams, he looked away. Besides, he had other things he needed to worry about right now. He’d gotten a lead on Ace’s devil fruit, something he wouldn’t let anyone else have. Taking a deep breath, he walked over to you.

     “Hey, I uh, I’ve got a mission coming up, you’re free to come with  if you’d like, but I was gonna… I was gonna visit Ace so I thought, if you’re not ready-” “I want to come with. I… I haven’t seen him in… a while.” you said, cutting the boy off. The last time you’d been there was when he was buried, when you placed a bouquet of hibiscus flowers on his grave. 

     Looking down at Ace’s grave marker, you couldn’t help but fidget nervously. You’d asked Sabo for a moment alone. 

     “Hey Sweetheart. It’s… it’s me. I’m still here, uh, sort of. I know I’m not here a lot, but Sabo’s been taking care of me…. I miss you so much.” you took a deep breath, rubbing some tears away, “I… I feel bad, my love. When we were younger, I knew about how you both felt about me. You thought you hid it, but I knew about your rivalry…. I… I never chose because I didn’t know who to choose. You were both so great in your own ways. Both energetic, both strong, brave, and protective. Whether or not you’d admit it, you both cared a great deal and it showed. Yet so different at the same time. You were impulsive, brash, angry, and, well… a little violent. Sabo was intelligent, sweet, thoughtful, and charismatic. When we thought Sabo died, my decision was sort of made for me. I liked you both but Sabo was gone. Don’t… don’t hate me, please. Wherever you are, please don’t hate me for falling for him. All the feelings I had when we were young… I’m so sorry.” you put your hand over your mouth, muffling a small sob. You’d fallen for the blond, “I still love you so, so much, that’ll never change. But I love him too.” a warm breeze tousled your hair and caressed your cheek, making you smile, “I’ll try and visit more often, I promise and I’ll make sure Sabo takes good care of your devil fruit.” you said, kissing your fingers before pressing them against the top of the gravestone. With that, you turned around, joining Sabo as you headed back to the ship, slowly, gently taking his hand in yours. From his spot, crouched on top of the stone, Ace smiled as he watched you and Sabo walk away. Sabo would take good care of you, he’d love you just like Ace had, there was no one he trusted more with your heart than his brother. 

     “Take care of her for me, Sabo. I’m trusting you to love her just as much as I did.” the black haired boy said as he watched you look out at the sea with Sabo, your head resting on his shoulder. Sabo would take good care of you just as Ace had, because he loved you just as much as Ace had and you loved them. You loved both of them.

[abbythewritor]

'Fairness." One Piece x Saitama reader. 0

"Just a Normal girl looking for an everyday life. At least, if you call sailing across the seas with idiots with useless dreams a simple task, then you might wanna see a doctor. Seriously."

Warnings: Blood, gore, mentions of Luekimia, and heaps amount of blood and strength. It might be a little cursing, but not bad, and maybe some flirting in there, but it's mostly clean.

Other things:

-You didn't get bald due to your powers; you got bald to an extreme illness.

-You part of the straw hat crew, but others are interested in you and your power.

-Everyone that is a male is taller than you.

-Monsters from the OPM world will appear in One Piece, and I'll make some new monsters you will fight.

-I hope you enjoy my book and enjoy the prologue. :)

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The world is crazy....and boring.

Every human on this earth has advanced opportunities to grow, become successful, and be someone or something better.

Humans can go to college, date, be an actor, actresses, heck, even garbage men.

Some people, in many most eyes, are viewed as heroes, police officers, firefighters, heck, even people who are just doing a small amount of good.

When we look at the earth thoroughly and see the truth about life, anything and anyone has to start simple before they can become something more significant.

Heck, when life proceeds, and as human lives grow, excitement rolls up, the feeling of achieving something or living off of adventure.

That's what I wanted as a kid, to become firm, to have a life full of excitement, adrenaline, heck, even adventure.

But that all blew over one day when I discovered I had leukemia.

My family was devastated, as my excitement and dreams were gone in one instant.

You see, I grew up in a world where people can have incredible powers, who all fight all kinds of monsters, creatures, and even aliens that invade our earth. I was so inspired by them during my Kemo treatment that I acted like I was one of them, living in excitement and adventure; I wanted to grow and become something better.

But, at that time, I was getting worse; my hair was all gone, my bones were brittle, and the doc said I had little time to live.

Until one day, a man visited me...a tall, bald man, his suit a bright yellow color, his cap blowing like a guardian angel.

He protected me and my room from a monster, a monster giant his size.

His eyes were filled with boredom, anger as his eyes met mine, noticing I was just like him. He also noticed the stupid wires connected to me, especially a breathing tube, which caused his heart to grow weak.

The way the man looked back at the monster, killing it with a single punch, I felt surprised and scared?

His hand was near mine as he dropped some type of metal circle, which fell to the floor where his eyes met.

I sensed that something was bothering him, knowing he may have lost someone he cared about.

Without hesitation, I grasped the man's hand, which made him look at me.

He could sense my worry as my tiny feet stood on the bed, heading closer to him as he kneeled. "Mister, I'm sorry," I said as he kneeled down to me blankly. "Why are you sorry? I should be sorry for wrecking your room." My head shook. "It's just a room; you lost someone, didn't you?" His head tilted. "What do you mean-Oh." He realized what you were discussing as his hands picked up a metal ball. "He seemed important...did that monster kill him?" His eyes looked to you again, not knowing what to say as he hated to tell little ones lousy news. But, again, a hero doesn't lie, as this kind of stuff strikes the man in the heart."You're a smart one, Kid, and yes...his name was Genos; you pretty brave when that monster came; what's your name?" "Y/n. Y/n L/n, what's your name, Mister?" He smiled slightly. "Saitama, you have a nice name; we have unique styles; your hair is fabulous today, Y/n." He patted your head as you giggled with the feeling of his rubber gloves. "I don't have hair, neither do you, Mister Saitama; how did you lose your hair?" "Hmm.." He looked up to his head, then back to you, "A monster ate it." Your eyes widened. "No way, really? Was the monster you just beat up the one that ate your hair?!" Saitama chuckled slightly as his head shook. "No, let's just say the monster was friendly. Did the same thing happen to you-" He paused when your face turned sad as you looked at your hands. "Have you heard of the disease called leukemia?" His heart broke while nodding. "Yeah, it's a type of cancer...is that...how you lost your hair?" Looking up at Saitama, tears glossed over your orbs as you nodded. "It happened a year ago, just before my parents passed away. We're so poor we didn't know how my treatment would go, but after the monsters killed them, I was handed to an orphanage, and they took me here to get treated. Funny huh? Seeing a little girl going through the worse sickness in the world, alone, without family? I just wanted to be an ordinary girl with a life full of excitement and adventure. Instead, I'm hooked up to these stupid wires. Ugly, huh?" "No." You looked at him as he sat on the end of your bed. "I understand the feeling of wanting excitement and adventure, but having those in life doesn't make you a better person; excitement is what comes through you. Those wires, you being in here, still alive, excite me, and you're so brave. I mean, you just experienced something exciting; I kicked a monster's ass-" He paused what he just said as he slapped a hand over his mouth, as you giggled at his words. "Bad word, Saitama! No cursing allowed!" His hands went up with defense. "I did not say anything; you heard things Y/n. "That's a lie! You just sinned again!" "Oh no, what so ever will I do? Will though lord of this earth send me to damnation?" Standing on the bed, you smirk. "I, an Angel of God, she'll give you a chance to repent, and you will be sent to heaven like Genos is right now!" Getting up, Saitama kneeled and bowed his head.

"Oh gorgeous angel of heaven, please forgive my stupid, bald-headed self and accept my hands as I repent of the sins I committed." Heart warm and eyes sparkling, you grasped his hands easily as he looked up to your beautiful, bright smile. "You are forgiven, Hero!" Smiling, he stood up. "I'm glad; I didn't want to lose my best friend." Your eyes widened while your head tilted. "Best friend?! But, Mister, we just met-" "So? Let's call it an Instant connection-" *Boom!* An explosion was shown in the distance of your knocked-over wall, the floor rumbling from the impact as he looked at you quickly but calmly. "Duty calls, say, if I defeat this monster, ice cream is on me, okay?" His heart warmed from your excited face. "Really?!" "Of course, but in case I don't come back, here." Taking off his cape, he dropped it over your shoulders, which made your eyebrows furrow. "But, you need this-" His hand went up as destruction was still heard in the distance. "It's just a piece of clothing in my eyes; you seem to need it more than I do because what I see...." Walking closer to you, he gave one last head rub as he gave you a soft yet warm smile. "Is a hero...."

"A hero that deserves fairness in the world."

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

[queerdraws]

⚔️👒 Zolu Playlist 👒⚔️

28 songs Full tracklist, selected lyrics, n writeup below cut

(Contains: The Happy Fits, PUFFY, Illuminati Hotties, Paramore, The Shins, The Orion Experience, Best Coast, Utada Hikaru, etc) (+a couple songs absorbed from ao's zolu playlist)

1. The Shins - Simple Song Mixed POV, Zoro being recruited by Luffy. ... You sure must be strong And you feel like an ocean being warmed by the Sun // My life in an upturned boat Marooned on a cliff You brought me a great big flood And you gave me a lift // I know that things can really get rough When you go it alone Don't go thinking you gotta be tough To bleed like a stone Could be there's nothing else in our lives so critical As this little hole?

2. Slow Pulp - Cramps Zoro POV, vibing with being a pirate, actually. realizing he's a lot like Luffy / they have a lot in common. Wants to protect his crew. Part of a family now. But also specifically drawn to Luffy, drawn along with Luffy. Has a nice confident, grungy, fighty vibe. ... Be a better lover, I know that I'm a runner Oh no, I think I've become her There's nothing better than being the protector Out of a routine, the only one I've ever seen I wanna be a foolproof machine There's nothing better, wanna be like Heather I'll take anything That you wanna give But I want everything Everything

3. PUFFY - Friends Forever Mixed POV, perfectly in sync. friends forever. big adventuring vibe. facing the world together. slight nod to whiskey peak. sidenote: it's really annoying to find this song on youtube without scooby doo noises playing over it (official music videos my beloathed...) the "pokemon and their trainers" (...gijinkas) video is the best one for my region at least. ... Just when I thought I had to make it alone You were right there by my side Making a stand holding my hand the way you do There to remind me of a "me and you" When I'm with you all my fear disappears Like if I reach, I touch the sky You've got my back, pick up my slack when I can't see But nothing picks me up like knowing we'll be Friends forever Face whatever Friends forever Yay! we're never gonna be apart You and me, we are so oddly the same The way we think, the way we play Right from the start, so off the charts, about this thing But we didn't know at first that we were making Friends forever Bound together Friends forever Yeah! We'll always be there Oh yes, there also can be times that get rough And all that can be said is "sorry" That we were wrong and said some meaningless stuff And we'll go on together, through any nasty weather Yeah

4. Illuminati Hotties - Sandwich Sharer Luffy POV - flippant & happy vibe. but also visceral, grungy, fighty. kissing. sharing food. "you thought i was bleeding but that's just my spit!!". ... Restarted kissing You said "I'm dreaming" I couldn't stop from laughing Cause it's the realest thing I ever did Taking our clothes off Painting on rooftops Sit back on shingles in the shade, I bare my teeth at future fake outs we had coming Drooling tomato sauce, to make it look legit You thought i was bleeding but that's just my spit Sandwich sharer Unprepared for What comes after this Take the big half I will bite back What you won't finish Until we're finished

5. The Happy Fits - Sailing Zoro POV oops catching feelings for a friend ... My body's achin' My ship's left the shore Your eyes are waiting My knees on the floor And it's been so long Since I had a friend And it's been so long Why can't we just pretend? And I feel your laughter Your warm, open stare And I'm chasing after Somethin' that isn't there

6. The Pillow Queens - Favourite idk just vibes "tell me i'm your favorite" + "i'm being so normal" ... i’ve got no reason to be feeling like you’re mine for the next four seasons let it die, let it die i can’t help hoping that you think i’m really nice want some brief hand holding on the sly, on the sly hey you can say it, i’m your favourite hey you can say it, i’m your favourite

7. The Beths - Warm Blood Luffy POV - Zoro is warm and good feelings. Not "you make me feel protected", but "you are a raincoat". Feels very Luffy. "you really get me" ... Nothing makes me feel like this Nothing makes me feel like this Nothing but you Nothing but you My head is hanging from the roof I'm floating all about the room Because of you Because of you I wanna bask in the rays of the way I feel right now (Ooh oooh) I wanna bask in the rays of the way I feel right now (Ooh warming up my blood) You are a raincoat, you are a zeppelin flight You are a bonfire burning a three dog night You are an isle of calm on a stormy sea You really get, you really get You really get me I wanna be here when you call Pick up the phone and I would fall in love with you In love with you

8. MONKEY MAJIK - Around the World Mixed POV. During timeskip. Counting down the days until we can see eachother again. We'll change the world, make it better, we're training to make that happen. sidenote: the mixed eng/jpn version of this song is my favorite and the one i'm referring to here ... Every night I look to the skies And wonder what we did Always a naive point of view that breaks us in the end If I could find the meaning of it all I’d take the chance Maybe in time We’ll walk the mile and change it if we can It’s now and always (How did we get this far,did we get this far now) Always (We’re making a brand new start, just a brand new start now) Always (Nothing will hold me down, never hold me down now) Always (Wave goodbye to me!) Around the world 新しいことに(with the power to) Around the world 踏み出す力で(step forward to something new) Around the world 世界は変わる(I'll change the world) But don’t run away ’cause if it’s not OK! I’ll change that world Into something better honey!

9. Natalie Holmes - Hideout Zoro POV, Luffy brings light to all those around him, reawakens ppls dreams and leads his crew in to a beautiful inspiring new life :') ... Under the stars, out in the elements If there's no room, there are no elephants When you speak the waves are radiant You've got a face that softens every muscle in my body I’ve never needed all these things to feel whole Something familiar in the love that you provide (And now) I’ve got an empty hideout cause I don't need to hide now The wind can blow out the candle, cause I'm certain I can't fall You've got a face that softens All of the glass I’ve trodden Now I’ve got an empty hideout I don’t need to hide now I don’t need to Something in your love makes everything light up We don’t say a word although we want to Your heart was on the line now suddenly it’s mine There’s something in your love Something in your love Something in your love, in you love

10. Daft Punk - Digital Love just vibes. dreaming. dancing together. having fun. ... Last night I had a dream about you In this dream I'm dancing right beside you And it looked like everyone was having fun The kind of feeling I've waited so long Don't stop, come a little closer As we jam the rhythm gets stronger There's nothing wrong with just a little little fun We were dancing all night long The time is right to put my arms around you You're feeling right, you wrap your arms around too But suddenly I feel the shining sun Before I knew it this dream was all gone Ooh, I don't know what to do About this dream and you I wish this dream comes true Ooh, I don't know what to do About this dream and you We'll make this dream come true Why don't you play the game? Why don't you play the game?

11. Mitski - Stay Soft Mostly just like the bridge "open up your heart like the gates of helllll". But feels more like Zoro POV (thirsty). And touches a little the communication issues these two have ... Fury, pure and silver You grip it tight inside Like a knife, it glints in your eye It's why I've arrived, your sex god Here to take you where You need to go, to where the dark remembers you Open up your heart Like the gates of Hell // I am facedown on my bed Still not quite awake yet Thinking of you, I tuck my hand under my weight Just tell me what you want to do Tell me what you want to burn away 'Cause I could be your stoker

12. Air Traffic Controller - You Know Me Mixed POV. You know me! Perfectly in tune. ... You know me You know everything about me now My heart is in your hands, and you know you could break it But wouldn't you rather make me sing like this? You know me I try to find some good in everything Since you came along, somehow this got easy 'Cause all you wanna do is please me, my love This could be a roller coaster But we're gonna make the most of it Whether on top, or we're going down, you know me You know me (I know you) And how I get when I'm uncomfortable If I'm too hot, or cold Tired, bored, or hungry I'm fine when you're around me, boy And you know me I've never been on time for anything I do apologize, I know it's such a bother I promise to try harder for you, girl, oh I will

13. The Orion Experience - Honeysuckle Kisses Luffy POV. Desires filed away in a very Luffy way "All I want is all my wishes, and I've love to have your honeysuckle kisses". Romance as an afterthought to the great big adventure. ... They say we're crazy, completely insane I don't give a damn, I think we're fascinating We keep it moving and riding this train They can stop and stare But I don't care Oh, they just can't see who we are You and I, yeah We belong to the stars No matter how they try They won't tear us apart All I want is all my wishes And I'd love to have your honeysuckle kisses All I need to fulfill my bliss is Is your honeysuckle, honeysuckle kisses That's what I want

14. The Happy Fits - Around and Around Zoro POV, Pre-relationship, unsure about what's happening due to poor communication. Things are coming to a boiling point. And also "I could see the world with you" - be by your side forever, go on adventures. Do you want that? Do I? Will you have me? ... I don't know what I'm seeing, when the world keeps spinning around my eyes I think I lost my meaning Just another day to survive And I can't keep thinking about it, keep thinking about it Can't be still anymore No, there's nothing so simple about it, nothing simple about it Can't be still anymore I can't be still anymore I can't be still anymore I'll go 'round and around Go 'round and around with you No, don't slow me down No, don't slow me down, will you? And I could see the world with you And I could see the world with you

15. Paramore - Proof Mixed POV, during timeskip. They're apart. Missing eachother. Believe in you, ride or die. So strong! They'll meet up again, even stronger than before. ... It's really hard I can't cry in your arms 'cause you're not here It's not your fault, and if it was, I wouldn't care My heart is bigger than the distance in between us I know it 'cause I feel it beating So strong, it'll knock you down So strong, so strong Over here I can count the miles away from where I wanna be I bet your skin is warm and that you're smiling Yeah, that's what I always loved the most about you So strong, come and knock me down Hey! Baby, if I'm half the man I say I am If I'm a woman with no fear just like I claim I am Then I'll believe in what you say There's nothing left for you to do The only proof that I need is you

16. Utada Hikaru - Chikai (aka zolu "wedding" song. Primarily Zoro POV, making oaths, matching rings, liking someone so much it makes you feel uncool, waaaaaaauughhhhghgh😭) ... I don’t know about fate But this time I have to accept that it exists // Today is a day without lies It's a perfect day for making an eternal vow Don't need pretty flowers or witnesses Let’s wear rings of the same color // What I say now isn't borrowed words It’s not a promise, it’s an oath I can’t go back to being a liar Let’s wear rings the color of the morning sun Let’s dance with our hearts pounding Let’s celebrate being alive in this moment // Kiss me once, kiss me twice Give yourself to me Let’s listen to sound of the sun rising, side by side Let’s swear to live our lives together

17. Best Coast - When I'm with You Mixed POV ... The world is lazy But you and me We're just crazy So, when I'm with you, I have fun Yeah, when I'm with you, I have fun // I hate sleeping alone

18. Gerard Way - No Shows Pre-relationship. Not wanting to be tied down, but also being drawn in to it anyway, idk. ... Been weeks I been living And your smiles are giving me All types of treble Weak knees I been given And those nights are making me Star-struck and metal Stay free, don't go 'Cause we don't need no Try to be living as your vice And can you be my type? 'Cause we need to be given a good life And can I be your type of metal? Stay free, don't go 'Cause we don't need no shows

19. VUKOVI - Colour Me In Mixed POV - Follow you anywhere, die for you, we're one together (you're mine you're mine you're mine!) ... All I am And even more I'll give it to you Couldn't count All the ways That I'd die for you We are one We are whole And I'll go with you Breathing out, breathing in And I loved you again // Where you go, oh, I'll follow Through our bodies in the dark We want it and it's perfect With you in my arms Where you go, oh, I'll follow Through our bodies in the dark You're mine You're mine You're mine Mine

20. Opus Orange - It's What I Do Mixed POV - just vibes. I feel like it describes them but can't explain it ... every time you look for me you know i think i might disappear every time i look for you i know the bright lights interfere ‘cause i’m not the kind that’s so easy to find when you’re looking for me you’re not the kind with the salt water eyes at the bottom of the sea so take my hand we are the blind leading the blind no i don’t have a plan so let’s go where the sea meets the sky now we're gonna float away everything i want to say to you gets washed away downstream everything i want to give to you is a shade of blue or green i’m not the kind to draw straight lines in the desert sand you’re not the kind with peace of mind and a gun in your hand

21. Illuminati Hotties - Toasting Primarily Luffy POV. Just vibes. Short and sweet, flippant and reckless. They cause descruction and just laugh it off, and move on. ... Toasting a Pop-Tart And thinking of you There's a lot I'd rather do Instead I'm biting my lip And I'm biting yours too 'Til the blood tastes like chocolate goo Our bodies Are twirling The kitchen is burning When we both choke down the ashes You mention you're bored I guess I could've toasted more

22. The Happy Fits - Sweet Things Mixed POV after the end of their journey, pirate king and worlds greatests swordsman continue sailing together forever ... So tell me three things, three words that you know about me I'll say, I'll say "won't you come with me, baby?" Nothing lasts forever It's only now or never Tell me sweet things, sweet things that you know about me I'll say, I'll say "won't you bury me, baby? Underneath our loving forever" Don't you take me, take me all the way and then erase me I could be the one if you stay here Underneath our loving forever So take me home Well you say that nothing matters Well you said that nothing mattered except when I'm here with you Does it feel right? (Does it feel right?)

23. The Black Keys - Go Narrator POV - The two boys growing old sailing together ... There comes a time, two hearts of gold Leave together, run forever on the open road They gotta go oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh They gotta go oh-oh-oh, oh-oh-oh In the winter time, when the day is long You're halfway there, the field is bare And the fire is gone Are you all alone? Are you feeling cold? Find your flame, call her name, and hit the road

24. PUFFY - Love so Pure Mixed POV - love so sure. two people perfectly suited for eachother from the start. mutual trust. soulmates. :) ... I was his from the momentthe we first met From our solo to duet, it took no time Call it fate Or just two hearts magnetized But I never felt so high Since he's been all mine We've got a love so pure, yes a love so sure The kind of love you hold so tight We've got a love so pure, yes a Love so sure The kind of love that lasts a girl for life! With a kiss I can't resist on turn away All I want is him to stay, it's paradise With out a word Nothing heard me say so much With a look or silent touch I know we'll bе all right

25. Tegan and Sara - BWU Mixed POV - don't need to follow conventions to prove their love. ... I love you I don't need a ring to Prove that you're worthy You're under my skin It's easy I don't need a lock to Prove that you trust me I walk the walk To be with you Just to be with you Oh, to be with you Just to be with you Save your first and last dance for me I don't need a white wedding Save your first and last born for me We don't need a white wedding All the girls I loved before Told me they signed up for more Save your first and last chance for me 'Cause I don't want a white wedding

26. IRONTOM - Partners Just what it says on the tin. They're partners. lol ... Partners, we're partners We're partners, we're partners

27. Ashley Eriksson - Arguably Mixed POV - idk, vibes ... Sometimes I wish I was talkin' to you 'Cause you know everybody that I do You would hear my story, and you would agree We are always right on, you and me And you can always count on my company On and on and on, endlessly We're all loving creatures of the same decree But we've got one up on them don't we? Don't we? Arguably, don't we?

28. Animal Collective - The Purple Bottle Luffy POV. Frantic. Explosive big feelings. Can't stop talking --about Zoro to other people, and to Zoro about anything (sometimes i'm talkitive and you're not talkitive, I know...). And idk, the vibes. "purple" as a metaphor for sensuality, feels playful and lovely. But the end of this song really drags on so it's at the end of the playlist lol. ... I've gotta big big big heart beat, yeah! I think you are the sweetest thing I wear a coat of feelings and they are loud I've been having good days Think we are the right age to start our own peculiar ways? With good friendly homes // Sometimes you're quiet and sometimes I'm quiet, (Hallelujah!) Sometimes I'm talkative and sometimes you're not talkative, I know // And my dear dear dear Khalana I talk too much about you Their ears are getting tired of me singing all the night through Lets just talk together You and me and me and you And if there's nothing much to say Well, silence is a bore. // Can I tell you that you are the purple in me? Can I call you just to hear you would you care? When I saw you put your purple finger on me There's a feeling in your bottle Found your bottle, found your heart Gives a feeling from your bottled little part

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Aaaand that's all of it! Thanks for reading :)

[youfreakinturltle]

Protect You Pt. 2

(A/N): I went ahead and made a little outfit for the reader so we can have a visual for her! This is part 2 in the Protect You series! Part 3 will be dropping here shortly! Hope y’all enjoy 😊

Pairing: Colby Brock x ghost!fem!reader

Warnings: death, superstition, language, fighting, demons, paranormal activities, the usual ghost/pirate themes

A couple of hours passed as they spoke with some of the other people in the house, ones you had grown close with in your time here. You made sure to stay close to the guys and let them know if the spirit they were speaking with was good or not. If they encountered an angry spirit they would heed your frantic warnings and leave the room. They were beginning to get ready to leave when you were needed most. They were back in the parlor, you standing guard over them all, but particularly Colby. You had taken quite the liking to him specifically and realized that he was unaware of the abilities he possessed, leaving him the most susceptible.

They were talking amongst themselves, you standing behind Colby with your arms crossed over your chest, your stare set on the door in front of you. All of the sudden, you see movement on the floor coming towards the room. Quickly realizing what it was, you send the rempod into a wild fritz. The guys jump and realize you want to speak with them. Sam quickly turns on the spirit box and asks you if everything is okay.

“Crawler coming. Go stand in corner. I protect.”

They look around at each other, clearly trying to decide whether to do as you say or just book it out of the house.

“Please.”

“Okay, (Y/N). We’re going to the corner. Please be safe,” Colby says quickly, ushering the guy to the corner of the room.

Everything happened so fast. One second you’re directing the guys where to go, and the next, the Crawler is lunging itself at them. Throwing yourself in front of them you tackle it to the ground with a loud thump, causing them to jump behind you and grab onto each other, looking wildly around the room. The Crawler throws you off of it and tries to advance forward. Grabbing one of its creepy ass legs, you throw it across the room behind you, causing the glasses on the table behind you to shatter and the table to give out and crush under its weight.

“OH MY GOD OH MY GOD HOLY SHIT SHES FIGHTING SOMETHING,” screams Nate all in one breath.

Ignoring their yells, you continue your attack. Launching yourself at it, you pull the daggers on your back from their holster for the first time in centuries. Daggers made of pure silver, something your first, highly superstitious, captain insisted on before you went to the Walrus. At the time you only held onto them because they were nice daggers, but now you’re eternally grateful to your first captain and his bewildering fears. Because you came to learn that pure silver is the only thing that can hurt the Crawler and Shadow Man. Taking a swing at the beast before you, you land a blow, sinking the dagger into its shoulder. Letting out a grotesque wail, it flings you across the room where you skid to a stop right in front of the guys.

Jumping to your feet, you see that Shadow Man has decided to join in.

You sigh and let out a quiet, “…fuck.” Which the guys behind you seemed to have heard given the frantic yelling behind you asking if you’re okay. Not having time to let them know, you quickly deflect the Shadow Man’s attack while the Crawler recovers. For some reason, you have a flashback to your life aboard your first ship.

The waves crash against the side of the ship as you sail back to Nassau after your latest hunt. Captain Hornigold appears behind you, clapping a hand onto your shoulder.

“Yes, Captain?”

“(Y/N), there’s something you should know if we ever encounter another being like that again.”

He still seemed quite shaken up after he and the entire crew witnessed a spirit floating above the water after your catch. She didn’t really do anything to scare you, but when she lifted her hand to point at the Captain, he started shouting this word that you couldn’t quite understand. But after shouting it at her a couple of times, she dissipated completely.

“If you ever see anything like that, just shout the word ‘Exire’ until it leaves.”

“Uh… alright, Captain. May I ask what it means?”

“It’s Latin for be gone. If you do this, they will leave and not bother you again unless you invite it back.”

Coming back to the present, you’re confused for a split second as to why you would remember that now, but quickly realize why when the Crawler starts at you again.

“Exire!”

Both entities jolted slightly, but still advanced.

“Exire!!”

Again, they paused for a second before advancing once again.

“EXIRE!!”

That seemed to do the trick, as they began to shout angrily at you before disappearing.

Once they left a deafening silence fell over the room. You look around to take in the damage you had done to the room and heard behind you, “(Y/N)… are you still there…?”

You turn around to see the guys still huddled in the corner, clinging onto each other for dear life, all except Colby. He was standing a little ahead of them, wide eyed, and frantically looking around the room. You sigh a little, sad that they were so scared, but infinitely grateful that they were alright. You smile softly at Colby, even though he can’t see it, and walk over to the only lamp left that hadn’t been absolutely obliterated and tap it to turn it on. The guys let out a collective sigh of relief and you hear Colby murmur, “thank god you’re okay.”

“That was insane, (Y/N)! Kinda wish we could take you on all of our adventures,” said Sam while chuckling with the rest of them. After a second their laughter dies down and you see them glancing at each other like they’re actually considering it. While they take a moment to collect themselves you make your way back to the smaller mirror that was still intact and write, “you okay?”

They smile at each other, realizing you’re concerned about their well-being past simply making sure they survived the night. Colby somehow knows exactly where to look, almost like he’s looking directly at you when he says, “we’re okay, thank you so much for protecting us. That was amazing, (Y/N).”

Looking at him you realize you don’t want him to leave. You want him to stay and protect him and keep his company. But deep down you know that you couldn’t possibly ask that of him. So instead, you think about if you were to go with them. You desperately wanted out of this place, you deeply missed the open ocean and constantly seeing new things. It wouldn’t exactly be the same, but it would be better than staying here any longer. While you desperately wanted to leave with Colby, you weren’t sure if he would be okay with having an attachment. You decide it can’t hurt to at least ask, so you walk to the mirror again and write, “Come with you?”

They look at each other, understandably hesitant, and seem to be getting ready to deny you before, “Yes. You can attach to me.”

You turn to see Colby had stepped forward and was looking in your direction earnestly. You could sense that he understood how desperately you wished to leave and that you would never do anything to harm them. You smile and let out a sigh of relief and write, “Thank you.”

[cosmicmagicgirl]

Do you trust me? - Comfort/Hurt/Fluff - Luffy x F/Reader.

@littleblueeyedmoon request: Hi! I saw that your request are open, and i thought I’d give it a try. Could i request some comfort/hurt ending with fluff with an insecure reader about her value with Luffy?

First he found her on that island, and obviously protected her from the Cidre Guild's attacks. It wouldn't be enough to just fall in during Empress Hancock's bath, Luffy also had to be oblivious to all the woman's advances. Not that you could get too mad at him, his laid back and innocent personality is what won you over in the first place.

Loving Luffy is not hard, in fact, it is the easiest thing. It's like breathing, you just do it. He was the sun itself, which is slightly ironic since his ship is the Thousand Sunny, but it's the truth, Luffy was easy to love and warmed the heart of anyone who was in his presence. However, being in the presence of someone like that makes you question your own worth, not that this is your captain's fault, but it is because he was an amazing human being in every sense of the word, it is true when we say that everyone is capable of loving Luffy to some level. That included all kinds of people, especially women.

This intensified after the two years you were apart, you trained hard, but not being by Luffy's side when he lost Ace made you feel terrible, you didn't want to imagine the extent of his pain...

And it only got worse when you learned that during this whole process the famous Empress Boa Hancock was present, and had a crush on your captain. You wish you could have been there, hugged Luffy and dried all the tears that might have run down your face during the nightmares of every night, but you weren't. You just buried it in your chest and moved on knowing that Luffy wouldn't take any of it from you, it seemed such a petty thing to feel jealous of the Empress at that point, and it was his order even that you all get stronger and get back together again two years later.

Would you be something after that time? Not that you had labeled your relationship, but before it was obvious to everyone in the crew that you were together. Was it a normal relationship? Definitely not, because nothing with Luffy could be normal. However, you knew he was with you and you were happy, but now what?

When you met again you decided to keep deep down that little insecurity that had settled in your mind during the period when you were apart.

But it has been a bit hard for you...

Luffy was never one to flirt with anyone, so that was never something you would worry about. The problem is that he was too oblivious and too kind for his own good....

You wanted to have been happy that Luffy had found the invitation to the Pirate Festival, but the interaction with Hancock looped through your mind, so nothing the crew talked about made you feel excited. However, you knew how to fake it well, you were always good at hiding your feelings, you just didn't know how far you could mask your insecurities.

So when Luffy smiled and announced "Let's set sail, our destination is Delta Island" you put your best smile on your face and agreed.

Well, the Festival couldn't have been worse for you, I mean, you even tried to have fun with the girls and Chopper while shopping, but your mind was away. However, nothing is bad enough that it can't get worse, that's what you thought when you were thrown to the other side of Delta Island by Douglas Bullet when you tried to protect Usopp and the treasure that would be Luffy's. You fell straight into the sea, and blacked out.

You woke up with Nami calling you and putting pressure on your chest.

- Thank God you're awake! - she sighed with relief. - What a fright you gave me!

You got up quickly and let all the water out of your lungs.

- I'm sorry - you forced a smile. - Is everyone all right?

Nami smiled and handed you a towel.

- Yes, I mean... Luffy is still fighting that thing - she pointed to the other side of the island.

You got to your feet with some difficulty and tried to hand the towel back to Nami.

- I should get back? - you said.

- Look! It's Shichibukai Empress Boa Hancock! - you heard Bartolomeo shout.

Nami and you looked in her direction from a considerable distance.

- Listen up! No matter what I do, the whole world will be at my feet. Do you know why? - said the woman. - Because I'm too beautiful!

Nami rolled her eyes.

A Navy captain shouted some order, but received a nervous response from the Empress.

- Shut up! - she shouted. - Where is Luffy?

Your body tensed, and you gripped the towel in your hands tighter when you saw Hancock heading toward where Luffy was supposed to be fighting.

Nami looked back at you and grabbed your hand.

- Hey... are you okay? - she asked worriedly.

When your friend touched your hand you automatically made a mental note to hide your reactions better, so you blinked at her and gave her a big smile.

- Yes, thank you for saving me, Nami - you shook her hand back. - I'll help with the Navy ships.

She frowned.

- I thought you were going back to help Luffy.

You forced a laugh from your lips.

- I'd only be in the way, the Captain doesn't need my help. - you tried to soften your voice as much as possible. - I'm going now.

- Hey, wait! - Nami shouted, but to no avail.

You were already gone.

It was no surprise to you when they said that Luffy had destroyed the Eternal Pose for Laugh Tale, it was just his style to do that. Everyone went back to the ship, Usopp was still sleeping because of his injuries, but in the end everyone was safe and sound.

It was quite an adventure.

And just when you thought you could finally calm your mind since the events with Boa Hancock and the Cidre's Guild, you couldn't be more wrong. The Empress decided to sail her ship side by side with Sunny for a few days, that meant she would be by Luffy's side the whole time and her dear captain wouldn't do anything about it, of course he wouldn't, why would he? Were you really something? Did you compare in beauty and strength to the great Shichibukai? God, you were sure you didn't.

Having to see all the moments when she declared herself and showed her affection for your boyfriend, while he just smiled and continued to play with Usopp only dug an even deeper hole in your chest.

It was here that you realized that your mask was about to come off, and it would be awful to have someone ask about it, you felt like such an idiot for letting your feelings get the worst of you. But gosh, it was so painful to think that you would never be enough for him, it would be easier to just feel an emptiness inside - like you felt before you met Luffy.

Looking at your pictures together in your little notebook reminded you of when you first met the straw hat. Meeting Luffy was like spending years in the desert searching for water and finding an oasis, it was like receiving a warm, cozy lap after spending years in a snowstorm alone, and most of all it was hope. Thinking about losing Luffy to someone who would probably be much better than you only made the shame of yourself increase - you were pathetic.

So you did what you thought would be best, you isolated yourself. As long as the Empress remained, you would avoid leaving the room and take any task that would get you away from everyone. Your insecurities took over your mind, and the last thing you needed was for any of your companions to feel sorry for you or just try to comfort you. You loved them, but you couldn't handle it now?

That's what you thought at least.

You walked up to the crow's nest and spotted the one you were looking for - Zoro was sleeping as usual. You kicked his feet gently to wake him up.

He opened one of his eyes.

- I was awake, you know.

You rolled your eyes and laughed.

- I just wanted to make sure - you said as you crossed your arms. - You can go to sleep, I'll pick up your shift.

Zoro raised one eyebrow.

- Again? - he said, getting up.

- Yes -  you answered bluntly. - Don't you want to go to sleep?

This time the green-haired man crossed his arms.

- You've been taking all night shifts for three days now, and I ask you, don't you want to go to sleep?

You sat down with your back to him and stared at the Empress ship through the window.

- No, I'm fine -  you stretched and picked up the new book Robin had given you as a present at the Festival.

Zoro stared at you, and scratched the back of his neck.

- You want to talk-

You interrupted him.

- Good night, Zoro -  and began to read the book.

The swordsman sighed and walked away, leaving you in the company of silence and your newest book.

-Y/n! - called Luffy, smiling. - Come here!

You smiled and went toward Sunny's head, Luffy's favorite spot.

He stretched out his arms and wrapped them around your waist, and pulled you up.

- Luffy! - you exclaimed. - Careful, we might fall!

He laughed with a toothy grin.

- Shishishi - he hugged you tight. - I'll never let you fall, y/n! Don't you trust me?

You were surprised at his words, but then you smiled at him with all the affection your heart could muster.

- Of course I trust you, Captain. - you took his hand in yours. - The future King of Pirates would never let me fall!

And he smiled even wider as you watched the sunset.

You could already see the sun rising over the horizon, so you knew that Sanji would be waking up to prepare breakfast. Knowing this you dispelled the memories that hit you, went downstairs and straight to the kitchen to have your coffee before everyone else, and then stay in your room for the rest of the day.

As soon as you entered the kitchen Sanji welcomed you with a gentle smile.

- I see you've picked up the watch again -  he said, handing you a cup of tea. - May I ask how long you will be doing this, sweetie?

You smiled at your friend thanking him for the tea.

- How long will I be taking shifts? - you played dumb.

Sanji went back to the stove and had his back to you.

- He can be pretty stupid most of the time - you smiled. - But he's not stupid, you know...

You picked up one of the muffins he had put on the table.

- Thanks for breakfast, Sanji -  you finished drinking your tea and eating, and got up to put them in the sink since Sanji would never allow you to wash them.

And so you made your way to the girls' room.

Nami had probably already got up to take her shower, so she was not in the room, but Robin was.

- Picked up the watch again I suppose? - she said in her soft voice.

You put your things on the table, got into bed and covered yourself up.

- I wanted to read that book, so this is the best time - you replied. Robin agreed.

- Luffy asked about you all day yesterday - she reported. - But I told him you were asleep, because you spent the night on watch.

  Your body froze.

- Right... - you curled up even closer under the covers. - Thank you, Robin.

  Robin walked over to the table and picked up the book you were reading, you had read fewer pages than usual, she concluded by marking it.

- Perhaps you would like to know that the Empress will be leaving with her ship soon? - she stared at you, but you didn't move. - Perhaps tomorrow.

You sat up in bed.

- God, this is so ridiculous. - you rubbed your face. - It's so obvious to all of you, isn't it?

- Well, isolating yourself might not have been very subtle. - Nami's voice came, she had just entered the room.

- Maybe I'm just tired of being subtle - you muttered.

- It's about time, finally then! - she exploded.

Robin laughed.

You threw yourself back on the bed.

- You have to tell him. - Nami said.

You snorted.

- That's pretty obvious, Nami, thanks -  you said ironically. - It hadn't even crossed my mind.

- Apparently it didn't even cross your mind since you're avoiding him like a plague! - she said nervously. - Consequently driving us all away together.

You sighed.

- I know, I'm sorry...

- Just get rid of whatever's bothering you - Nami ordered. - You always keep everything to yourself, if you don't want to talk to Luffy about it yet, at least talk to us. We're your friends.

Robin agreed.

- I feel so stupid about this. - you admitted. - I hate feeling this way, it's frustrating - you started to feel your eyes sting. - I just don't feel that I'm worthless to Luffy, not as someone special...

- Like a girlfriend -  Nami concluded.

You agreed.

And it was a good few minutes of you pouring out your insecurities about how you felt compared to the famous Empress, and it didn't help that Luffy didn't seem to show any romantic feelings about you. Nami and Robin were kind enough to wipe away your tears and hug you to stifle the sobs that insisted on coming from your lips.

They stayed there until you fell asleep.

Nami looked at Robin and sighed in annoyance as they both left the room.

  - How long do you think she has been feeling like this? I mean, it's a long time if it's been on her mind since our separation.

Robin paused for a moment to think.

- If it came up because of the Empress, then yes, it is since our separation. I'm not surprised she's like this - they approached the kitchen. - It's a long time feeding these insecurities.

- It's understandable that she doesn't want to see them - said Nami.

- Who doesn't want to see who? - a voice behind them asked.

Nami and Robin were startled.

- Luffy!

The boy let out a laugh.

- So, what were you two talking about? - he turned his head to the side in confusion, his typical confused expression.

Nami stammered.

- I was talking about a new book I bought at the Festival - Robin answered. - It's a novel.

Luffy stared at them for a moment and then agreed indifferently.

- SANJI!!! FOOD!!! - shouted the captain.

Everyone was already in the kitchen, ready to attack the food Sanji had prepared.

However, as soon as Luffy went to take the cookies to his mouth, he stopped for a moment staring at all his companions as if looking for something.

- Where is y/n? - he asked confused.

Everyone was silent.

Luffy blinked a few times in confusion, then Sanji spoke.

- Our dear y/n-swan has already had breakfast - he brought the cigarette to his lips. - She was watching last night. 

Again silence reigned in the room.

- Again? - asked the captain. - Wasn't it Zoro's turn?

Everyone was surprised.

- She asked to take my place - said the swordsman, taking another piece of cake.

Luffy frowned and his face became serious.

- Is she having trouble sleeping? - asked Chopper. - She needs rest....

The poor reindeer seemed to be the only one besides her captain who didn't know what was going on.

- Y/n-san asked me yesterday to take my next shift - said Brook. - And my shift is tonight...

Luffy got up without even touching his food and went towards the kitchen door.

- Luffy! Wait! - called Nami. - She's tired, we let her sleep. Talk to her later, okay?

Luffy didn't stop and left.

Nami sighed tiredly, and Robin smiled.

- I hope they work things out - Usopp said with his mouth full. - No one can contain Luffy like y/n, he's been hard to keep up with these days.

- But with the Empress here, suuuper not cool! - Frank was sincere. - Poor y/n... our captain is very oblivious.

- Yo-ho-ho-ho - laughed Brook. - The Empress Boa Hancock didn't leave him alone for a second.

- That idiot! - Sanji whined with envy.

Luffy was determined to find you and find out why you were avoiding him, he could be very distracted at times, but it had been a while since he felt that you were becoming more and more distant from him. He was a straightforward guy with simple conclusions, so he just waited for you to talk to him about whatever was bothering you.

The thing is, you didn't do that, you just smiled back at him as you normally did, and that made him think that you were better. But he realized that he was a fool to think that, of course you were faking it, now what he wanted to know was why you did it. Did you no longer trust him? Did you not like him anymore?

Luffy was not an insecure boy, in fact, he was quite confident. That changed a little when he thought he had lost his crew and after Ace died. But he managed to turn it around and focus on coming back stronger to fulfill his dream and protect his crew - and protect you.

However, at this very moment a small spark of insecurity arose in your mind, could it be that you had grown tired of him? I mean, he knows that he is an energetic and difficult person to keep up with, but you always seemed to enjoy his antics. Why then would you show that you were okay, if in fact you were not.

He felt a little betrayed, as if everyone knew what you had - except him.  

As he crossed the deck to head toward his rooms, a voice called out to him.

- Luffy! My darling! - Boa Hancock and her passionate eyes came toward him. - Good morning! How are you?

Luffy ignored it and went on his way - he had too much on his mind to listen to the Empress at the moment.

Boa Hancock froze, she seemed to have been deeply hurt.

- Luffy? - she called out in confusion.

As he turned the knob to go to the bedroom hallway one of Hancock's sisters shouted.

- IT'S THE MARINE!!!

And a thud hit Sunny - they were firing cannonballs.

Everyone came out of the kitchen and took their posts.

Luffy was annoyed, he would have to talk to you later.

It was two Marine ships, the Marines cornered them and soldiers stormed Sunny's deck. The Empress' ship was dealing with one and the Straw Hats with the other.

You woke up when the ship rocked and you rolled out of bed.

- Oh, shit! - you rubbed your lower back in pain. - What the hell was that?

That's when you heard Nami scream.

- Fucking Marines!

You ran out without even putting on your shoes, and when you opened the door to the hallway you found chaos on the deck. You joined Nami's side, knocking out one of the sailors who was trying to attack her from behind.

- Looks like you woke up just in time -  she said, smiling.

Another thud hit the ship, and you almost lost your balance.

- We need to get out of the crossfire, Nami -  you said.

She agreed.

- Frank! - she shouted.

One of the Marines aimed at you from a distance and fired, and you managed to dodge it just in time to knock him off the ship.

You looked directly at the bullet now lodged in Sunny's wood and thought it strange. You reached up and took the bullet by the fingers and were startled.

Kairoseki

You turned quickly and ran to warn Nami, but she had already changed position, everyone was scattered and with the cannon noises it was impossible for anyone to hear you.

That's when you heard Luffy's scream, he was about to take down a dozen sailors, but he didn't see when the navy captain had a gun pointed at his back.

Time seemed to have stopped, your throat knotted and your heart seemed to have stopped for those seconds. You didn't think for a second, your body moved on its own and your legs ached from the force you exerted on them, but you had to - you had to get to him in time.

When the sound of the gunshot reverberated, you screamed.

- Luffy! - throwing yourself on him.

- Y/N! - he smiled, thinking that you were happy to see him, but his smile disappeared seconds after he realized what had happened. - What did you-

Zoro watched as Luffy braked as he looked at one of his hands, he immediately set about knocking down the man who had tried to shoot his captain.

Luffy saw red, her blood now trickling down his hands as he tried to cover the wound on her back.

- CHOPPER!!! - he shouted. - FAST!!!

Luffy's chest filled with a fear he hadn't experienced in two years. He was terrified, you weren't opening your eyes and your breathing seemed weaker and weaker.

It was all over as quickly as it started, the Marines beat a retreat and the Straw Hat crew ran to see what had happened. Chopper picked up your unconscious body and ran towards the infirmary - everyone was left waiting for what would happen next.

- Why would she do that? - whispered Usopp. - After all Luffy is bullet-proof...

Everyone was silent.

No one dared to speak to their captain at that moment, not even the Empress, he seemed as angry as he was desolate. It had been almost an hour since Chopper came in with you, and no news had arrived.

Until the door to the infirmary opened and a gloomy reindeer came out.

- She's out of danger now... - everyone's breath seemed to have caught, as everyone let out a sigh of relief. - But there is no prediction for when she will wake up...

- Was it that bad? - asked Robin.

Chopper's voice came out apprehensive.

- The bullet passed close to the heart, if it was only a few centimeters to the side... - he swallowed dryly. - I couldn't save her...

Everyone choked.

- Another thing - Chopper stretched out his paws and handed a piece of cloth to Usopp - It's made of Kairoseki...

The relatively thick bullet was there stained with his blood.

Luffy stood up and stroked the reindeer's head.

- Thank you, Chopper... - he went towards the infirmary. - But I need to see her now.

Chopper agreed.

You didn't know how much time had passed, the last thing you remembered was your captain's panicked face and his voice calling you from afar, he seemed so far away - how tragic.

You felt your whole body burn for a few moments, and everything seemed to hurt. You opened your eyes and saw the clear ceiling that appeared to be the one in Chopper's ward, you tried to sit up, but the pain stopped you. So you just turned your head to survey the place.  

Your breathing stopped when you saw Luffy's body sitting on the other side of the floor against the wall, he appeared to be asleep. You smiled with relief, he was okay after all.

Your sigh of relief was louder than intended, as Luffy's head rose from his sleep - he seemed surprised to see you awake.

- You're awake! - he smiled. - I'll go get Chopper.

A few days passed, and Luffy never left your side. Apparently the Empress had been on her way from the time you crawled into the infirmary until you woke up. You had slept for two days.

You were doing better, although Chopper insisted that you remain under observation. So, to distract yourself you began to read the book that Robin had given you, and Luffy listening intently - he insisted that you read it to him too.

- In exchange for your help, he said, I offer you something very valuable - you read aloud. - My freedom? asked the man. - You paused to watch the reaction of the young man next to you, he was involved in the story. - Freedom can be taken away from us, as you well know. I offer you my knowledge.

Luffy wrinkled his forehead and made a pout with his lips that you found adorable.

- They shouldn't have their freedom taken away - he complained.

You laughed.

- Well, I guess you're right. - You closed the book.

Luffy stared at you for a moment.

- I'm sorry - he whispered.

You looked confused.

- For what?

- For letting you get hurt -  his voice came out so low you couldn't tell it was Luffy speaking. - I thought...

You touched his hand gently and your thumb made affectionate circles in his palm.

- Hey... - you warned him. - There's no reason for you to apologize, you know. I'd do it again to protect you.  - A loving smile appeared on your lips. - After all, I love you...

This made Luffy's heart leap and he smiled.

- Do you love me...? - asked Luffy as if he had discovered something incredible. - Really?

You laughed at his reaction.

- Of course I do, you silly... - you put your hands on his face and stroked his cheeks. - Why so surprised?

Luffy leaned into the touch of your hands.

- You were avoiding me... - he said. - I thought you didn't like me anymore.

  His hand stopped and you widened your eyes, surprised this time.

Your heart ached, he looked so desolate when he spoke. After all that had happened you had forgotten your insecurities, they had been replaced by the physical pain and worry that Luffy was hurt.

But now, all that came back again, the anguish you felt. You knew you should have talked to him about it, now he was the one who thought you didn't feel the same way. God, what a mess.

- Everyone seemed to know what was wrong but me. - he said in frustration. - I was going to talk to you that morning, but the Marines came, and - His voice broke. - And I almost lost you…

- Luffy, I...

- Don't you trust me anymore? - his eyes looked pleading, and it hurt your heart to see him so distressed. - You didn't look happy...

- Of course I do! - you answered immediately. - Of course I trust you, Luffy. I just... - you sighed. - This is so embarrassing...

Luffy looked confused.

- Then why didn't you talk to me? - he asked.

- Because I was afraid... - you replied, but before he could think it was his you answered. - Afraid that I was right.

- Right? - he turned his head in confusion, he was annoyingly cute.

- Luffy... - your voice came out fearful. - Are you my boyfriend?

He made a confused face and then shook his shoulders.

- “Boyfriend" is a stupid word, I'm not your boyfriend -  he said. Your heart seemed to break, and then he continued. - What we are can't be labeled with words like that, even friends don't come close.

Your heart raced with anxiety.

- We are much, much more than that! - Luffy exclaimed. - You are going to be my pirate queen after all.

He smiled. Oh yes, he smiled, and may God have mercy on you, ‘cause that man was your sun. Your eyes filled with tears and you began to cry instantly.

Luffy became desperate.  

-Oi! why are you crying? - he tried to wipe the tears from his face. - Did I say something stupid?

You laughed.

- No, it's nothing like that.

Luffy snorted.

- Don't scare me like that, y/n! - he crossed his arms as if in a tantrum.

- Sorry, Luffy... - you laughed as you dried your tears. - It's just, I thought you didn't want me anymore.

Luffy changed his posture.

- Why would you think that? - he said seriously.

- I thought you liked Empress Boa Hancock... -  you admitted embarrassed. - I felt so weak and ugly compared to her. She's so beautiful and you always paid attention to her, and...

Luffy was silent.

- I wasn't there for you when you lost Ace - you cried again. - I wasn't strong enough on Delta Island and you didn't seem to be attracted to me anymore. I thought I wasn't enough, I never would be, you are amazing..., but she.... She is, and...

- Stop - Luffy's voice sounded more serious than usual, his gaze was fixed on you. - I think you're amazing, y/n! You wouldn't be my person, my future pirate queen, if I didn't! I would never change my mind about that, well only if you didn't want to be... - he rambled.

You were silent, your heart beating so fast.

- I love you! - Luffy shouted. - And you're strong as hell! And well... - he scratched the back of his neck. - I think you're so beautiful, and your smile... I love to see you smile.

Your eyes widened, Luffy had never complimented you like that, you were embarrassed, your cheeks were probably red.  

- I chose you, I don't want anyone else, and I decide that I will love you! Always! - he said determinedly.

Tears again streamed down your face, but this time they were tears of joy. You smiled and agreed with your beloved captain.

After Chopper gave you your pain medicine, you lay down to sleep, but not before asking Luffy to join you. Now here you were, with your head resting against the chest of the man who owned your heart. You lifted your head to look at his face, and then your eyes met, and he kissed your forehead and smiled kindly.

You snuggled back into his arms and in a clearly harmonious, almost predestined harmony, your hearts beat as one, you closed your eyes and laughed to yourself - we are all fools in love. Whatever your insecurities were, they vanished like dust in the air.  In that moment in Luffy's arms, all you felt was how loved you were.

[sunshineonashelf]

"oh but it was satisfying! izzy went on a healing journey and got to die happy!"

again i'm very sorry for being feral about an old man named izzy hands. but i am NOT SATISFIED

(1) the whole point of izzy's healing journey is that he learns to be okay with being himself and being queer and being a part of a community that genuinely loves him. and learning who he is outside of who he has to be in a toxic relationship. he doesn't have to bear ed's burdens anymore and he SLOWLY learns that's okay and that he doesn't have to stay that same person.

only to die when he FINALLY internalizes all of it!! the whole point of his healing was that he learned to change and be loved for who he is!! and then he died after only getting to experience it for maybe 20 minutes!! i don't care that him sailing off into the sunset with the rest of them wouldn't have been closure, because it would have been a much better ending to his story.

(2) it is NOT SATISFYING that his LAST WORDS were basically to further ED'S story arc. he literally dies reassuring ed that his found family loves him when the whole point of the story was that the found family loves IZZY. it was a very sweet moment and yes ed deserved to hear it and yes i did cry over him calling them ed's family but damn. he STILL HAD TO CARRY ED'S BURDENS. his death scene was not about him at all.

it's very sweet that ed and stede stayed with him but the whole point of izzy's journey was that he doesn't have to be a piece in ed's story and now he has to be just a piece in ed's story forever??

(and yes i'm a slut for edizzy so i did appreciate what they were doing. yes it was very special. yes i sobbed. but JESUS was it upsetting now that i'm actually thinking about it.)

(3) he could have lived and it would NOT have undermined anything else. he could have been dying and telling ed the same things and it would have been just as meaningful if he had lived. imagine an ending scene where he's almost dying, says all that stuff, then is brought to a bed to recover. it cuts to the exact same wedding scene and stede/ed scene with the house and the crew being happy. then it cuts back to izzy waking up and smiling or something and that's the last shot.

stede and ed would still have their happy ending and it would have been JUST AS meaningful if izzy had lived and gone off on the revenge. if not MORE so because then there's the aspect of izzy finally being happy with himself and being okay with stede and ed's relationship and being okay with distancing himself from them!! when he says dying is what he wants it's literally that same sentiment, just cheap and rushed and UNSATISFYING.

(4) the entire beautiful fucking unicorn metaphor they spent the whole first part of the season developing is totally tossed out the window!! izzy becomes the literal figurehead and protector and guiding light of the revenge in a metaphor that could not have been more obvious. and he is HAPPY ABOUT IT. he GENUINELY SMILES and CRIES about it. it is what he WANTS TO DO and it made NO SENSE that he said he was ready to go. what was the point of all of that if they were just going to kill him and not let him actually do that duty in the way he wanted. he only got to be the figurehead when it meant protecting everyone from ed.

(5) this is maybe a silly argument but it literally would not have been unrealistic if he survived. like a week prior he got shot then got his leg cut off then shot himself in the head, then walked upstairs in the middle of a hurricane hours later. and was fine. by the show's logic he could have been fine from ONE bullet wound to the side. what the hell happened to "indestructible little fucker"!

tl;dr izzy was very special to me for reasons that would constitute another 700 word post and he was done so FUCKING dirty by that literal TEN MINUTE scene that went against everything we've been doing the entire season (AND SHOW AS A WHOLE) so far