This is now on Ao3 we well
Shanks has been acting weird ever since he ate that stupid fruit.
"Are you angry with me?" Luffy asks one day when Shanks once again looks at him 'that way' and the stupid, sticky feeling in his chest just won't go away.
The pirate blinks and takes a sip of his beer before he answers. The sticky feeling grows bigger. "How is your picture coming along?"
Luffy scrunches up his nose so his tears won't fall. That's what Makino does when she doesn't want to answer his questions. Ask a question herself so he forgets what he was asking in the first place. But Luffy is smarter now, a big boy, and this is important. He pointedly puts the pencil down and doesn't forget.
"Is Shanks angry with me 'cause I ate the stupid fruit?"
Maybe he wasn't so successful about the tears because Shanks lowers his tankard and he gets this serious look on his face, the one he gets when he tells Luffy that the sea is a dangerous place and that he's not ready yet (he is he is he is).
"No Luffy, I'm not angry." He sighs and seems to look through the little boy for a moment and mumbles under his breath. "A little worried, maybe."
But Luffy has good ears. "Why?"
Shanks jolts as if he didn't expect to have been heard. After a second of indecision he grins and ruffles dark hair. "Worried you are gonna eat the hair off of our heads! Why would you eat a fruit anyway? I thought you only liked meat?"
Luffy shoves his hand away with a huff. He likes it when Shanks ruffles his hair, but he can't let the captain know that 'cause it's just another sign that he's still a little kid.
"I do! But the fruit told me to!"
Luffy is too busy smoothing down his hair to notice Shanks grow absolutely still beside him. The whole crew, who has had one ear on their conversation this whole time, freezes. Tankards pause midair, conversations break off abruptly, chewing stops. An unnatural quiet falls over the bar.
Shanks takes a deep breath. He runs a hand over his mouth, tries to gather enough spit to speak.
"The fruit told you?" he asks, careful, casual. He needn't have bothered. Luffy is already bent over his paper again, drawing himself as a member of Shanks crew, completely oblivious to the tension in the air.
(the picture will leave the port with Shanks weeks later and he will treasure it for the rest of his life but it will also always remind him of this moment, the moment he finally gets it, the moment it all falls into place, the missing puzzle piece he didn't even know he was missing)
"Uh huh! The box made a sound, like bump bump bump and when I looked inside the fruit told me to take a bite, told me it would be fun, we would have lots of fun together. But it wasn't fun, it tasted bad." He sticks out his tongue and makes a face. "Super bad. But I guess rubber power is kinda fun. So I'll forgive the stupid fruit for tasting bad."
Shanks is trying his hardest to breathe. He can feel Beck come up behind him, can feel him put a hand on his shoulder. The hand is shaking. "Kid, what-"
"It was dark in that box." Luffy says. He sounds absent, his voice flat and distracted. His red pencil moves over the paper in a slow, meticulous manner, as if on auto pilot. Shanks can't shake the feeling that they aren't really talking to Luffy anymore. Or at least not only Luffy.
"It was dark and you can't be free in the dark, you can't bring freedom in the dark. You need a light. You need the sun. There is a lot of sun on the seas, even in dark places. So we are gonna sail the seas and be free. And we're gonna have so much fun."
Beck is crushing his shoulder, the whole crew is holding its breath. This feels like something sacred, like a moment in time that will never come again, a conversation that could change your whole life.
Roger would know what to say.
Roger would laugh and know exactly what to say.
Shanks feels like crying. He has no idea what to say.
"I-"
The tip of the red pencil breaks off and Luffy flinches the slightest bit. He blinks at the paper as if he's seeing it for the first time before he grins and holds it up for Shanks and the others to see.
"It's done! Do you like it?"
Shanks isn't really looking at the drawing. All he sees is that boy and that grin and those eyes, bright and alive.
"Joyboy."
Luffy tilts his head. "What?"
Shanks puts a hand over his heart and tells it to stop beating so hard, tells his voice to stop shaking. "You are truly a joy, my boy."
It's a weird thing to say, nothing he's ever told Luffy before. But the kid beams and leans forwards as if Shanks has just offered him the world on a silver platter.
(You have, haven't you? The world in a box.)
"Does that mean you'll take me with you?"
Shanks laughs and it sounds normal, it sounds familiar again. He pokes a small forehead and grins.
"Nope. You are not ready yet."
'But you will be,' he thinks as Luffy pouts and the rest of the crew tease him. 'One day you will be ready. And just maybe the rest of the world will be ready for you as well.'
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I love how you do buggy and shanks. They are so beautiful! Your art is beautiful. Thank you for all these wonderful pictures. If buggy had been around when shanks had met child luffy. How do you think he would have reacted to luffy and all his shenanigans (taking a dagger to the face, eating the gum gum devil fruit, etc)
Buggy, discovering Luffy ate Shanks' recently obtained devil fruit while currently sitting next to Shanks' daughter, Uta, who also ate a devil fruit, using his own devil fruit powers that he has because of CERTAIN events: ...Shanks this is the third time you let this happen.
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Turn Back Time ~ Devil Fruit Reveal
Thanks to the amazing @apirateslifeforbudgie for helping bring this bizarre fruit to life! In my brain the design was more pretzel-like held together with a cherry stem, but tbh if I saw something like that irl I wouldn't eat it, much less make my girls eat it!
I call it the fuse fuse fruit but maybe I should call it the Rebecca Sugar fruit considering the concept is entirely inspired by Steven Universe :3 Like most devil fruits, it was destined to reach both Candy and Andrea, and even has the audacity to be dual colored exactly to the besties color schemes.
This weird lil thang gives its user (or in my AU - users) the ability to fuse organic and non organic items to other items to create something entirely new. It only works for organic x organic or non-organic x non-organic fusing -- so far anyways.
Additionally, it also has the power to defuse an item back to its base components. Think a pie - it can be reverted back to all the original ingredients used to make it.
Awakened - this fruit is fucking terrifying. It can fuse anything big or small to be whatever the user wants it to be. It defies the line of fusing organic and non-organic matierals together, going as far to even fuse different species together! It all depends on the image the user has in mind as the final result. That said, its de-fusing power is even more terrifying. Not only can it be used to reduce an item to its base components - but shit - AWAKENED? that shit will revert an item to fucking minerals and ATOMS.
:D That's all for now folks!
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Let's discuss the headcanon that devil fruit users heal quicker. It's not canon (that we know of) but I think it's a logical and fun thought.
We know devil fruit users are human but I personally love to think that there's benefits that we don't see. Higher stamina, quicker healing, sturdier bones, tougher skin, etc.
The human body is incredibly adaptable and I would think the devil fruits would alter the body in a way that would help the user survive. Plus I feel like it's not going to give you a badass power up without making sure that you can handle it.
So with that thought, how does it feel as a devilfruit user when you heal quickly and your crew does not?
Let's go a little further with the strawhat crew.
Zoro, Usopp, and Nami are human. They're not devil fruit users, they have no genetic advantages, and they have no modifications.
They are human in a way that the rest of the crew is not.
So I like the idea of Zoro, Nami, and Usopp having their own little bond. Taking a little longer to completely heal, more prone to bruises, more likely to scar, the ones that get sick easiest or most frequent, etc.
Like devilfruit users around the sea. It's nothing to be ashamed of, just something to be aware of.
Humanity is something powerful to bond over. Power and weakness are also, both very powerful things to bond over.
I think devilfruit users have an understanding between them all that comes from being a devil fruit user.
The feeling of losing the touch of the sea
The vulnerability of being surrounded by something beyond your control
The knowledge that you are a threat in a way someone without a devil fruit will rarely be
So it makes sense that it goes the opposite way too.
Non devil fruit users also have a understanding between each other.
They hold the promise of safety and of bearing the touch of the sea when devil fruit users cannot
They are familiar with the risk of being discarded.
For example: Luffy could learn how to be a swordsman if he wanted to. He may not have the training or natural talent but he could still be very good if he decided to really commit. Zoro can never learn how to be rubber.
Killer can never learn how to control metal
Penguin can never learn how to manipulate space
Thatch could never have learned how to be a phoenix
Tashigi can never learn how to become smoke
Deuce could never have learned how to become fire
So on like that.
I feel like that would be kind of scary sometimes...How easily you could potentially be replaced. How easily you could become obsolete.
Of course, that doesn't stop anyone. They all work to improve, to be needed and wanted. They all have dreams and motivation to be better. To be the best.
There's also that unrelenting trust between crew members that allows someone the safety net of being able to fail, get back on your feet, and try again.
With the strawhat crew, we know that most of the crew will be the best or is the best at what they do.
However, I think there's always going to be that feeling that someone is right at your heels and getting even closer.
There will be other swordsmen. There will be other navigators. There will be other sharpshooters.
Zoro, Nami and Usopp understand that. And the crew is close enough to know that even when they're old and the world starts to bring forth younger people to replace them, they will always be the best to Luffy and each other.
I just think this would be a fun trio to explore.
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In my headcanon, Kid gave himself the name "Eustass" after a character from a book Killer used to read to him.
Not really having a family or at least not having anyone who cared enough, Kid grew up without a name. So people started calling him "that kid from the scrapyard", "That useless kid" or simply "that scrappy kid"
Most of these monikers didn't bother him, because yes, he lived on a scrapyard and yes, he was scrappy himself, but "useless" always rubbed him the wrong way. So, once he heard the name Eustass for the first time, he decided that that was going to be his name as well.
So that he could correct people "It's not useless, it's Eustass" and that just stuck.
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