Rambly fic, sorry!
Title: Night into day
Theme: Set #1 - Punishment
Claim: Shanks
Words: 1911
Rating: PG
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
Ordinarily, Benn would never have chosen to come to this island of all islands and its village of puritanical prudes who hated music, hated dancing, hated laughter, hated fun - who were, in short, the very antithesis of everything the Red-Haired Pirates stood for. But they desperately needed to take on more supplies after three days of impromptu partying in which Lucky Roo had shown himself to be in fine eating form. So he contented himself with a very stern lecture to the crew, telling them the history of the town and warning them of the necessity of conducting themselves with propriety on the island - in other words, shut up and behave yourselves - and sent them off on their various errands.
He didn't bother to repeat the lecture to Shanks, knowing he was in bed nursing a bad hangover.
What he hadn't counted on, was his captain overhearing it anyway and hopping overboard with a bottle of grog in hand the moment Benn's back was turned.
Yasopp was the first to return to the ship with his assigned supplies at dusk, bearing news of his captain's latest predicament. It was hard to figure out what exactly had happened when Yasopp kept being overcome by giggles, but eventually Benn made out that Shanks had been arrested for drunken disorderliness and put in the village stocks.
Benn muttered something rude about people who didn't know how to protect the dignity of a ship's captain and a Yonkou, and strode off into town, leaving Yasopp behind to guard the ship.
It didn't take long to find his captain. Shanks knew how to make a scene, and Benn navigated the drab, colourless streets with ease, heading all the while in the direction of the greatest noise. He found his captain in the village square, trapped in the stocks as Yasopp had reported, apparently having the time of his life. It was lucky, Benn thought, that the villagers' idea of fun seemed to preclude the throwing of rotten vegetables and whippings and whatever other punishments were usually meted out along with the stocks. Instead, they looked utterly nonplussed at Shanks' lack of contrition, and were staring open-mouthed as he slurred his way through a vague approximation of a pirate ditty, so vague Benn could hardly call it music.
Shanks caught sight of Benn, and waved his one trapped hand. Benn wondered what the villagers' reactions had been when they tried to clap his empty shirtsleeve in the stocks. "Hello, Benn! You here to take over my watch?" Shanks asked, and burst into peals of infectious laughter, as if he'd just made a really good joke.
Benn rubbed his eyes tiredly, pondering whether to break through the stocks and carry his captain home to sleep it off, or surrender to the temptation to just leave him here till he'd sobered up and maybe, just maybe, learned a lesson.
That was when the magic happened.
A little girl giggled, releasing a trill of laughter that seemed to breathe life into this staid, oppressive little town. Immediately the atmosphere seemed less thick, the dull buildings seemed to brighten, even the villagers' faces seemed to lose some of their dourness. The girl laughed and laughed, Shanks laughing with her, and Benn could see some of the villagers beginning to join in, children and grown-ups alike, to the evident displeasure of a village elder, an old man who barked, "Quiet, girl!" as he hobbled towards her and raised his walking stick to strike -
Only to see the stick glance across Benn's shoulders as he dove in to intercept the blow, and then to cower as Benn stretched himself to his full, imposing height and confiscated the walking stick.
"She's just a little girl, and there's nothing wrong with laughing," Benn growled, glaring at the man. Then his voice went gentle as he turned to the girl and asked, "All right, there?"
She nodded back, eyes wide in fear, and Benn gave her a pat on the head, then cast a brief glance about him, taking in the rest of the crew dotted about the square, strategically positioned to fight or flee as the captain ordered. Even Yasopp was there, poised on a roof-top, ready to fire at Shanks' or Benn's signal. Benn looked back at his captain, and a look passed between them - of concern and reassurance, gratitude and dismissal. Benn shook his head when he realised the look in Shanks' eyes was completely lucid, reproaching himself for not sensing his captain's intentions earlier.
Not that he was a mind-reader, dammit. And Shanks always had been the most unpredictable of men. Benn watched as his captain's eyes did their own sweep of the murmuring crowd, gauging their mood in an instant, identifying who was on his side and who wasn't. This ability of Shanks' always amazed him, how he could throw himself into a chaotic situation and calm it in an instant. There was also his ability to throw himself into a perfectly peaceable situation and turn that upside down in an instant, but that was hardly a talent to be proud of, in Benn's opinion.
And though he wasn't a mind-reader, there was no question of what Shanks was going to do now, as he shot a meaningful glance towards Benn and his men, and they nodded slowly in response. The gesture was obvious even to the villagers, and the tension in the square rose dramatically.
Benn devoutly hoped that Shanks' judgment would be right, as it always was.
If it wasn't, at least the village didn't have enough sets of stocks to clap the whole crew in, Benn reflected, as Shanks began and the crew joined in a hearty rendition of Bink's Sake.
The villagers looked stunned at the unexpected and unaccustomed sound, but gradually the tension dissolved and their faces brightened as the happy tune caught them up in its joyous strains. The little girl began clapping in time with the music. For someone who had never heard a note of music in her life, she had a good sense of rhythm. She beamed up at him, and Benn saw a familiar look in her eyes, an eagerness to learn, to explore this vast new world they'd just opened up for her.
Being first mate to a man like Shanks meant Benn had had to wear many different hats in the past. He was a protector for the crew, a custodian who cleaned up after Shanks' messes, a counsellor who imparted wise advice...he was all this and more, and now he had a new role to learn.
He'd never thought of becoming a music teacher, but then he'd never expected to become a pirate either, until that day when destiny decided to cross his and Shanks' paths.
Benn shrugged at fate's latest whimsical use for him, sat down on the ground and began teaching the girl the basics of music theory.
.
Dawn found the Red-Haired Pirates staggering back to their ship in an even greater state of inebriation and revelry-induced exhaustion than they'd sailed in with, if that was at all possible.
"Next time you take it into your head to change the hearts and minds of a people, at least choose a more dignified strategy," Benn was admonishing, the only one of the crew not to look the least bit worse for wear after the long night. "And tell me beforehand!"
"It was kinda fun though! I've never been in stocks before! And we all had a great time, didn't we?" Shanks protested. "Well, except for Benn getting injured, that is," he added, inflecting his usual carefree tone with a note of apology.
Benn shrugged. "It was nothing, cap'n."
"Nothing? Really?" Shanks clapped Benn on the back, getting the expected wince in return. "Better have Doc look at that later. No, Benn." Shanks wagged his finger playfully when Benn rolled his eyes. "Captain's orders."
Benn grimaced, and Shanks grinned.
And grinned.
And grinned.
"What?" Benn snapped, when he couldn't take it anymore.
"You're a real softie, Benn, you know that?" Shanks teased.
"Am not," Benn grunted.
"Are too," Shanks riposted.
"Am not."
"Are too."
Benn decided he had nothing to gain by continuing this game of childish repartee. But when his silence was met with more, highly uncharacteristic, silence, he risked a glance at his captain. Surprisingly, Shanks wasn't gloating over his win; instead, he had a wistful look on his face, and was clutching his empty left sleeve in a gesture Benn hadn't seen for a very long time.
Benn snorted. "This is nothing like that."
Shanks looked slightly startled at having been caught. "Whaddaya mean? It's exactly the same!"
"Yeah, like a welt across my back is the same as having your arm bitten clean off."
If the memory of that moment passed through Shanks' mind at all, he didn't flinch at it. "Our intentions were the same," he grinned.
"Possibly," Benn allowed. He glanced back at the village, so different now as it basked in the orange rays of the rising sun. "Well, I can't say much for your tactics, but it worked. You gave them the most fun they've had in years. You showed them what it means to live."
"You mean we, Benn, we. We're a team, remember?" Shanks flung a friendly arm around his first mate.
"Ow! Dammit, cap'n, that goddamn hurts!" Benn complained, as he began organising the crew to load up the supplies on the Red Force.
The task was done quickly and efficiently, despite everyone's hangovers, and soon Shanks was ordering, "Raise anchor and unfurl the sail! We're off!"
"Aye!" the crew responded, rushing to their respective stations, and soon the ship was cruising smoothly out of the harbour.
Benn glanced backwards. "Looks like we have a send-off party, cap'n," he noted, nodding towards the shore, where the majority of the villagers had gathered to give the crew a fond farewell.
Shanks bounded over to the stern of the ship and waved enthusiastically. "Have fun, you guys!" he shouted. Benn watched with a twinge of amusement as the rest of the crew joined him in shouting their encouragement and goodbyes.
"Oi, Benn! C'mere!" Shanks yelled. "There's a special someone wants to say bye to you!"
Benn reluctantly made his way over to his captain's side, and Shanks pointed out the little girl, who waved twice as furiously when Benn came within view. Benn felt a smile tug at his cheeks as he lifted a hand to wave back.
"See? Told you you were a softie," Shanks said knowingly.
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
On that note, they sailed off into the rising sun, content in the knowledge they were leaving a very different, and happier, island behind them.
Then again, Benn thought, no town was ever quite the same after an encounter with Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates.
.....
Geez, is this a Shanks claim or a Benn claim? :-P
Theme: Set #1 - Punishment
Claim: Shanks
Words: 1911
Rating: PG
Disclaimers: I don't own One Piece.
Ordinarily, Benn would never have chosen to come to this island of all islands and its village of puritanical prudes who hated music, hated dancing, hated laughter, hated fun - who were, in short, the very antithesis of everything the Red-Haired Pirates stood for. But they desperately needed to take on more supplies after three days of impromptu partying in which Lucky Roo had shown himself to be in fine eating form. So he contented himself with a very stern lecture to the crew, telling them the history of the town and warning them of the necessity of conducting themselves with propriety on the island - in other words, shut up and behave yourselves - and sent them off on their various errands.
He didn't bother to repeat the lecture to Shanks, knowing he was in bed nursing a bad hangover.
What he hadn't counted on, was his captain overhearing it anyway and hopping overboard with a bottle of grog in hand the moment Benn's back was turned.
Yasopp was the first to return to the ship with his assigned supplies at dusk, bearing news of his captain's latest predicament. It was hard to figure out what exactly had happened when Yasopp kept being overcome by giggles, but eventually Benn made out that Shanks had been arrested for drunken disorderliness and put in the village stocks.
Benn muttered something rude about people who didn't know how to protect the dignity of a ship's captain and a Yonkou, and strode off into town, leaving Yasopp behind to guard the ship.
It didn't take long to find his captain. Shanks knew how to make a scene, and Benn navigated the drab, colourless streets with ease, heading all the while in the direction of the greatest noise. He found his captain in the village square, trapped in the stocks as Yasopp had reported, apparently having the time of his life. It was lucky, Benn thought, that the villagers' idea of fun seemed to preclude the throwing of rotten vegetables and whippings and whatever other punishments were usually meted out along with the stocks. Instead, they looked utterly nonplussed at Shanks' lack of contrition, and were staring open-mouthed as he slurred his way through a vague approximation of a pirate ditty, so vague Benn could hardly call it music.
Shanks caught sight of Benn, and waved his one trapped hand. Benn wondered what the villagers' reactions had been when they tried to clap his empty shirtsleeve in the stocks. "Hello, Benn! You here to take over my watch?" Shanks asked, and burst into peals of infectious laughter, as if he'd just made a really good joke.
Benn rubbed his eyes tiredly, pondering whether to break through the stocks and carry his captain home to sleep it off, or surrender to the temptation to just leave him here till he'd sobered up and maybe, just maybe, learned a lesson.
That was when the magic happened.
A little girl giggled, releasing a trill of laughter that seemed to breathe life into this staid, oppressive little town. Immediately the atmosphere seemed less thick, the dull buildings seemed to brighten, even the villagers' faces seemed to lose some of their dourness. The girl laughed and laughed, Shanks laughing with her, and Benn could see some of the villagers beginning to join in, children and grown-ups alike, to the evident displeasure of a village elder, an old man who barked, "Quiet, girl!" as he hobbled towards her and raised his walking stick to strike -
Only to see the stick glance across Benn's shoulders as he dove in to intercept the blow, and then to cower as Benn stretched himself to his full, imposing height and confiscated the walking stick.
"She's just a little girl, and there's nothing wrong with laughing," Benn growled, glaring at the man. Then his voice went gentle as he turned to the girl and asked, "All right, there?"
She nodded back, eyes wide in fear, and Benn gave her a pat on the head, then cast a brief glance about him, taking in the rest of the crew dotted about the square, strategically positioned to fight or flee as the captain ordered. Even Yasopp was there, poised on a roof-top, ready to fire at Shanks' or Benn's signal. Benn looked back at his captain, and a look passed between them - of concern and reassurance, gratitude and dismissal. Benn shook his head when he realised the look in Shanks' eyes was completely lucid, reproaching himself for not sensing his captain's intentions earlier.
Not that he was a mind-reader, dammit. And Shanks always had been the most unpredictable of men. Benn watched as his captain's eyes did their own sweep of the murmuring crowd, gauging their mood in an instant, identifying who was on his side and who wasn't. This ability of Shanks' always amazed him, how he could throw himself into a chaotic situation and calm it in an instant. There was also his ability to throw himself into a perfectly peaceable situation and turn that upside down in an instant, but that was hardly a talent to be proud of, in Benn's opinion.
And though he wasn't a mind-reader, there was no question of what Shanks was going to do now, as he shot a meaningful glance towards Benn and his men, and they nodded slowly in response. The gesture was obvious even to the villagers, and the tension in the square rose dramatically.
Benn devoutly hoped that Shanks' judgment would be right, as it always was.
If it wasn't, at least the village didn't have enough sets of stocks to clap the whole crew in, Benn reflected, as Shanks began and the crew joined in a hearty rendition of Bink's Sake.
The villagers looked stunned at the unexpected and unaccustomed sound, but gradually the tension dissolved and their faces brightened as the happy tune caught them up in its joyous strains. The little girl began clapping in time with the music. For someone who had never heard a note of music in her life, she had a good sense of rhythm. She beamed up at him, and Benn saw a familiar look in her eyes, an eagerness to learn, to explore this vast new world they'd just opened up for her.
Being first mate to a man like Shanks meant Benn had had to wear many different hats in the past. He was a protector for the crew, a custodian who cleaned up after Shanks' messes, a counsellor who imparted wise advice...he was all this and more, and now he had a new role to learn.
He'd never thought of becoming a music teacher, but then he'd never expected to become a pirate either, until that day when destiny decided to cross his and Shanks' paths.
Benn shrugged at fate's latest whimsical use for him, sat down on the ground and began teaching the girl the basics of music theory.
.
Dawn found the Red-Haired Pirates staggering back to their ship in an even greater state of inebriation and revelry-induced exhaustion than they'd sailed in with, if that was at all possible.
"Next time you take it into your head to change the hearts and minds of a people, at least choose a more dignified strategy," Benn was admonishing, the only one of the crew not to look the least bit worse for wear after the long night. "And tell me beforehand!"
"It was kinda fun though! I've never been in stocks before! And we all had a great time, didn't we?" Shanks protested. "Well, except for Benn getting injured, that is," he added, inflecting his usual carefree tone with a note of apology.
Benn shrugged. "It was nothing, cap'n."
"Nothing? Really?" Shanks clapped Benn on the back, getting the expected wince in return. "Better have Doc look at that later. No, Benn." Shanks wagged his finger playfully when Benn rolled his eyes. "Captain's orders."
Benn grimaced, and Shanks grinned.
And grinned.
And grinned.
"What?" Benn snapped, when he couldn't take it anymore.
"You're a real softie, Benn, you know that?" Shanks teased.
"Am not," Benn grunted.
"Are too," Shanks riposted.
"Am not."
"Are too."
Benn decided he had nothing to gain by continuing this game of childish repartee. But when his silence was met with more, highly uncharacteristic, silence, he risked a glance at his captain. Surprisingly, Shanks wasn't gloating over his win; instead, he had a wistful look on his face, and was clutching his empty left sleeve in a gesture Benn hadn't seen for a very long time.
Benn snorted. "This is nothing like that."
Shanks looked slightly startled at having been caught. "Whaddaya mean? It's exactly the same!"
"Yeah, like a welt across my back is the same as having your arm bitten clean off."
If the memory of that moment passed through Shanks' mind at all, he didn't flinch at it. "Our intentions were the same," he grinned.
"Possibly," Benn allowed. He glanced back at the village, so different now as it basked in the orange rays of the rising sun. "Well, I can't say much for your tactics, but it worked. You gave them the most fun they've had in years. You showed them what it means to live."
"You mean we, Benn, we. We're a team, remember?" Shanks flung a friendly arm around his first mate.
"Ow! Dammit, cap'n, that goddamn hurts!" Benn complained, as he began organising the crew to load up the supplies on the Red Force.
The task was done quickly and efficiently, despite everyone's hangovers, and soon Shanks was ordering, "Raise anchor and unfurl the sail! We're off!"
"Aye!" the crew responded, rushing to their respective stations, and soon the ship was cruising smoothly out of the harbour.
Benn glanced backwards. "Looks like we have a send-off party, cap'n," he noted, nodding towards the shore, where the majority of the villagers had gathered to give the crew a fond farewell.
Shanks bounded over to the stern of the ship and waved enthusiastically. "Have fun, you guys!" he shouted. Benn watched with a twinge of amusement as the rest of the crew joined him in shouting their encouragement and goodbyes.
"Oi, Benn! C'mere!" Shanks yelled. "There's a special someone wants to say bye to you!"
Benn reluctantly made his way over to his captain's side, and Shanks pointed out the little girl, who waved twice as furiously when Benn came within view. Benn felt a smile tug at his cheeks as he lifted a hand to wave back.
"See? Told you you were a softie," Shanks said knowingly.
"I am not!"
"Are too!"
"Am not!"
"Are too!"
On that note, they sailed off into the rising sun, content in the knowledge they were leaving a very different, and happier, island behind them.
Then again, Benn thought, no town was ever quite the same after an encounter with Shanks and the Red-Haired Pirates.
.....
Geez, is this a Shanks claim or a Benn claim? :-P