countryside feast

I think one day he does something really, really dumb. Dumber than usual. He sees Buggy walking over the railing of the ship once (he was born to be a clown. Part of the circus. He has a good sense of balance) and thinks that it's the coolest thing ever, and perhaps that if he does the same, his best friend will notice him. So he gets on the railing and yells "Hey Bugs! Do you think I can speed run to the end of the railing?!". Buggy, of course, is uninterested and also extremely tired of him already (besides, does he really have to always try and be better than Buggy at everything? Why can't he have this thing for himself???) and he just looks at Shanks deadpanned and says "Yes, and also fall and drown and kill yourself in the process". So Shanks starts running.

And he falls into the water. Because he's a fucking idiot. And Buggy was right. Buggy just rolls his eyes and calls for Rayleigh to help Shanks (the last time it happened he got really angry Shanks had jumped to save Buggy instead of calling him instead).

While Rayleigh is scolding Shanks for his stupid behavior, the young pirate isn't paying attention to him because he keeps staring at Buggy from a distance and hoping for him to turn around from the other side of the ship. But he looks like he doesn't even care Shanks almost drowns. Shanks just hugs his knees close to his chest and covers himself more with the blanket they've given him.

Rayleigh keeps talking, though. "How many times do we have to tell you guys not to pull shit like this, especially on calm days. And I get that you're young and dumb, but I'd appreciate a little bit of collaboration to fix the dumb part- I- Why would you even do that anyway? Shanks?" And he turns his head around to see Shanks' eyes following Buggy's every movement from afar. The man can just sigh and pat him on the head and say: "I get it, but putting your life at risk like this for-"

"I would do anything for him."