Stolen Voice (Shanks × Reader)

Eight

Shanks' side

I watch in complete silence as her eyes gleam more and more while she listens, like melting pots of the most precious gold.

The sight takes my breath away, as her lips open slightly, her long hair falling freely over her shoulder while she sits up, her bright irises clinging to her brother, who sings quietly in the shadows of the prison, unaware of the reality around him.

My thoughts cease until only she remains, the memory of her warmth fading from me, and I reach for her face to feel it again, to feel that she belongs with me, to hear her heart beating until I can believe it to be my own.

I wonder if she knows-

If she knows she is the most beautiful woman I have ever seen.

But when I touch her, I shudder as I sense the wetness of her skin, and her tears almost burning my fingers.

Akagami Shanks scowls as he pulls his hand back, looking at her confusedly. She seems to be drifting far away, her shallow breath and the flowing waterdrops the only signs that she is alive.

"What is it, love?" he whispers, returning to her side, but waiting patiently not to disturb her. "Look at me. [Y/N]?"

She shivers when she hears her name, and he casts his eyes down as she turns to him slowly.

"Mom's song," she answers, her gaze wide, her voice lost and vulnerable as a forgotten, abandoned child's.

He wants to embrace her more than anything, but something stops him, as she looks back at her brother, not noticing how she cries. He doesn't dare to ask.

But she continues, closing her eyes to hide the last rays of light in the night of the cell.

"Mihawk was born to wield the sword," she says. "But I was always weak in father's eyes. I was weak because I needed twice the training to keep up with my brother."

She looks at Shanks, her fists clenching.

"Mom was different. She was kind and gentle, and dad only kept her around for her beauty. But he blamed her because I wasn't good enough. Once, when I was seven, I refused to fight. I kept losing anyway, so I told him I wanted a different future, one that I chose. He locked me here for the first time, and her voice was my punishment."

She pulls up her knees and huddles herself up, resting her chin above her legs as she rocks back and forth.

"Mom cut out her tongue that day after she visited me here," she quivers. "She thought it would make it stop, but it never did. After that, I never heard truly her again. I was kept here for one week, and day by day, she came here. She tried to reach me, but I was chained to the wall, and I was terrified. I didn't know Devil Fruits existed. I only heard her voice, day and night, screaming at me that I should die. I couldn't look at her. I didn't understand why would she tell those things to me."

Shanks' chest feels grave as he listens while she stops to inhale slowly, trying to rule her emotions.

"I only understood when the voice stopped," she says. "Somehow, I knew what it meant. And a few hours later, they threw in Mihawk, bloody, covered in deep cuts. He never told me what happened, and he seemed completely... hollow. I thought he would never smile again. We were left in silence, and I started to lose my mind. I wished I could hear her again, no matter what she said."

She smiles, and the man doesn't dare to move, afraid that even a mild waft could shatter her now.

"That night when I closed my eyes, I didn't want to wake up again," she continues softly. "But as I started to fall asleep, I felt his arms around me. He didn't let me go. And he started singing her song, our lullaby, to break the silence that tortured me. I still believe that he saved my life because that moment, all I wanted was to disappear into the ravine that her voice left behind."