A Different Journey (One Piece and Fairy Tail Crossover Fanfiction)

Chapter 8: Sanji and a Distant Friend

Chapter 8: Sanji and a Distant Friend

The whispers among the New World, surrounding the Whitebeard Pirates, took the age by storm. No one would ever deny that anyone who messed with one of Whitebeard's son, the Strongest Man in the World's son, would meet a terrible end. A world stood to crumble in the face of that father's fury. If unleashed upon the world no one dared to fight back, it seemed almost better, in the face of Whitebeard, to roll over and lay like a dog. So, as Shanks looked in his mirror that hung on the doorframe of the captain's quarters, he thought of the current events that took the New World by storm. The entire world possibly. And the storm those events birthed.

The scars on his face tingled, trembled with the tribulation to come. Even his own crew seemed at threat if one things got in the way of Whitebeard. Out of habit, Shanks grabbed onto that side of his face. In an attempt, however futile, to end the quivering he felt. Like always, it didn't help. His only good arm, the only one he carried anymore, fell back to the left. And the scars continued their motions. Turning from the mirror, he approached his desk where notes sat innocently, though they bellied information that was anything but.

The morning came, and with it tales of Teach, who called himself Blackbeard, and Thatch. Of Portgas D. Ace and his reckless resolve to chase the man who attempted to murder his brother's lover. Thatch seemed unlikely to live through the attack, and it fueled the co-commander of the Second Division to chase the wind in search of Teach. In search of a man who they believed their brother, but lied like the snake that lied still for years just to ensnare the perfect prey.

And the trap worked, the snake latched on with it brutal fangs and shook the body of the mouse. Though this snake hunted not for food, but for play. Sport. The scars tingled once more.

A pulse, stronger than the tingles beat, surged through the three scars, made the eye they covered twist and snap close. Sitting down, Shanks pulled the chair forward, towards the table and looked over the notes again and again. Kept that one eye closed and lifted the card with his hand, then placed one down and picked up another. For once in his life, Shanks resolved to kill a man. Yes, in the past he killed many a man in the name of his life and his nakama, for the life of a pirate and Yonko. But those came as casualties in his desire to live his life. Not once had Shanks ever thought to kill a man, personally and selectively. But Teach needed to die. However, finding him posed a problem. The snake hid well.

Despite the reports, Teach disappeared into the wind. And no intelligence unit picked up any news of his whereabouts. However, a number of the cards foretold information of units disappearing, those that vanished, mysteriously, without a trace. It seemed unlikely the two ideas separated from one another. And Shanks truly believed that, by following the pins on a map that charted those disappearance, Teach headed for Paradise. The first half of the Grand Line, where the man planned to grow stronger like all new pirate crews. Where prey dangled, and waited for the snake to bite.

Perhaps he already reached that sea, whatever reason Teach declared for his traitorous actions for to Whitebeard, the man understood he opened himself to vulnerability the moment he did. And hid, and hid well till the time he gathered proper strength and numbers. Ability too. Which meant, as Shanks dropped the cards and pulled over a bottle of sake from the corner of the desk, the sooner Teach died, the better the storm would settle.

Pulling out a cup he carried on the mantle of the desk, Shanks looked at the small cup, the placed it back. Uncorking the cap of the sake, he lifted it to his mouth and drank straight from it. The slightly bitter and sweet taste marveled his tongue. At times, Shanks decided a drink made thinking easier. And less annoying.