𝔄 𝔅𝔞𝔩𝔩𝔞𝔡 𝔬𝔣 𝔖𝔢𝔞 𝔖𝔭𝔯𝔞𝔶 𝔞𝔫𝔡 𝔉𝔩𝔞𝔤𝔰; one piece fic

i; captain's successor

"Don't go, Captain!" A small girl cried into the jacket of a tall man. She sniffled and rubbed her eyes, looking at him through a blurry lens. "Hahahahaha," he laughed suddenly, causing her to pout, "Don't worry, Raye, I won't die!"

"But-" His hand fell on her head, causing her to stop crying. Raye wiped her runny nose, and stared at his wide smile. Even though she knew he was going to disappear from this world soon, she had a funny feeling his words were correct. "Don't be such a baby, Raye!" she heard from behind her. "I'm not a baby!" she screamed at her fellow apprentice, Buggy, who was also crying. Raye stuck her tongue out at him mockingly, and he growled at her in response. "Hahahahahaha! You three are always so bright," the captain, Roger, laughed at their antics. The third one shouted out defensively, "Don't include me with those two! They're too immature!"

"Shut up, Shanks!" Both Buggy and Raye screeched at him. "You're only a year older than me, y'know!" Raye crossed her arms, annoyed. "Tch," The round-nosed boy glared at his red-haired companion.

The playful atmosphere only lasted for a few more moments, because after less than an hour, their beloved captain was on his way to his end.

•—•••—•

"—ye. Hu—p b—it's t—e!" A groan sounded from a woman as she swept her hand over her face, trying her best to block out the blinding light peaking through her slim fingers. "Raye!"

She turned towards the voice calling out to her, realizing she wasn't in a bed and was in fact on the deck of a ship. She blinked her eyes, the flickering darkness bringing her memories of the previous night back. "How much did I drink last night?" she called out to her companion. He laughed at her and slapped her on the back, causing her to yelp at him, rubbing the pain at her back.

"Oi, watch it you old man!" Raye barked at him, annoyed. He stuck his tongue out at her and made his way to a plank connecting the ship and a dock. "Oh, come on, I'm only a year older than you. Besides, we need to hurry up before they drink all the sake!"

"Fine then," she scowled, taking out a pack of cigarettes from who-knows-where and lighting it. "I don't know why I even bother hanging out with you guys in the first place if I always end up this hungover. I could go to any damn bar and feel the same the next morning," she groaned, stumbling down alongside the man. "Aw, that's much less fun, though!"

The two make their way down the dock towards a small town. She hears cheering in the distance and sighs, already knowing what's coming. "Hurry up, Kitty!" the man jeers at her, somehow meters ahead of her already. A tick mark appears on her head as she hears the nickname he gave her. "I told you to stop calling me that, Shanks! I'm already 26!"

He cackles at her reaction and continues on, not at all threatened by her angry glare. Red-haired bastard, she cursed to herself, following after him reluctantly.

They arrive at a small bar in the middle of the village, and push open the door to be greeted by a large pirate crew. "Oh, Captain! Raye-chan! You're finally here," the group of men cheer. Shanks takes a seat on a bar stool and pats it, gesturing for her to sit as well. She rolled her eyes, but she still went with his will and accepted his offer.

"I can't wait for you to meet him," the pirate captain wrapped his arm around her playfully, tilting her into his embrace. "That kid you always talk about?" Raye asks him, raising a brow. "My expectations are really high now, since I hear so much about him."

She observes him as he laughs, but something weighs on her mind. "Hey, Shanks," she speaks out, making the man turn towards her, "since you gave him that hat, I thought you weren't gonna see him again until he became some great pirate." He grins at her and suddenly she has a terrible feeling.

"Hahaha! I never said I was gonna see him. Just go find him without mentioning me, and see him for yourself," he says cheekily, downing a bottle of alcohol after. Her jaw hangs open at the sheer audacity of the man, and she fights the urge to punch him. However, she loses that mental battle, and slams his head into the counter.

"Ow! What'd you do that for, Kitty?" he whines, rubbing the mark on his forehead sheepishly. "You're such a moron," she points at him with a giant vein bulging from her forehead, "why should I be dragged all the way out here just for that?"

She receive an unimpressed look from him which ticks her off even more. After a few deep breaths, she sits back down and sips on her water. "Come on, Raye-chan, don't you wanna see the boy? You were curious as to why I gave him the hat!" She couldn't argue with that. The hat that her fellow apprentice received from their captain was very precious, so when she found out that he not only gave away his arm, but also his hat for the boy, she was quite curious as to what his character was like.

"Fine, I'll take a look," Raye gave in, stirring the ice in her drink absentmindedly. She rested her chin on her hand and watched it swirl around by itself, concentrating on the way it spun clockwise. "Uh, excuse me, Captain-san?" a soft voice caught her attention. She looks up to see a small woman with green hair. "Luffy-chan isn't here anymore. He lives up in the mountains with Dadan-san and the bandits."

Raye listens to the feminine voice inform her of the boy's whereabouts. She hums at the new information and stands up, startling a few people with the loud crash of the stool knocking over. "Well then," she smirks, giving her friend a challenging expression, "I'll be on my way to find his little successor. I'll be back in a few days, so wait up for me."

Shanks snickers at her antics, already knowing she would agree to see Luffy eventually. He smiles thinking back on when he gave the boy his hat, making a promise to have it returned once he becomes the strongest. Even though he was poking fun at Luffy when calling him weak, he still believed in the boy.

"By the way," Raye interrupted his reminiscing, calling out from the doorway, "what's his full name?" Shanks grins at her question, and almost cries in amusement at her expression when she hears it.

"Monkey D. Luffy." She blinks once. The again. Monkey D Luffy, D, Monkey D., she repeats over and over, trying to grasp the familiar surname. Her eyes widen as she realizes where she heard it from.

"Eh?!"