#arc. tbd

despite his warm smile, there's a hint of sadness in shanks' eyes as he watches the seemingly small frame of jc just get smaller and smaller, his heart aching for the man. all too easily he thinks back to his own time in the holy land, mercifully just a year, but far from easy to survive, and that was being treated as the prodigal son returned, not a prisoner.

even more easily, he thinks back to stealing argenti, small and thin and so sickly. jc isn't looking much better now- whether it's years in mary geoise, or months or weeks or days- the holy land has a way of stealing your life from you, your vitality. shanks remembers that much too, and it makes his heart ache for jc even more.

"maybe i didn't have to, but i was raised to help those who needed it, especially when it comes to escaping mary geoise." his warm smile weakens a bit at the mention of his brother, but all the same his heart swells with pride. even if shamrock is trapped in the confines of being a celestial dragon, he's still doing his best to help. shanks finds him nothing short of admirable.

"i'm glad you two found each other, and he could help. i know it's important to him too, to do what good he can."

his smile returns a bit finally, still warm, but with a hint of mirth in his eyes now.

"don't worry, you're not the first person i've helped out of the holy land, and they haven't been able to take him back yet. i'd almost say they're scared of me at this point." he winks, reaching over to pat jc's shoulder lightly, adjusting the blanket around him after, his hand falling back to his side as he sits back. leg's cross, as he rests his chin on his hand next, mischief turning soft again as he watches the younger man, the expression falling over jc's face making shanks frown a bit.

the question comes, and shanks takes no offense, shaking his head as he tries to backtrack.

"it's a fair question. it's a somewhat unique position we're in, huh? not a lot of celestial dragons dare breathe the air of the lower world, let alone choose to live in it. their loss, obviously." his expression turns wry, scratching his jaw thoughtfully, gaze turning upwards for a moment,

"it helps that i grew up away from all that bullshit, i'd say. i was raised by a good family who taught me how to care about others as much as myself. i think there's a balance you need to find, actually, when it comes to caring- care too much about yourself, and you end up like those bastard celestial dragons, but care too little, and you end up-" he pauses, biting his tongue to stop himself, wanting to choose his words carefully before he continues,

"and you end up becoming what the celestial dragons want you to be; submissive, self destructive, treating yourself as disposable." he's thinking back again to when he first saved argenti, the little regard they had for their own well being, the trouble they had believing in their own worth. it still happens sometimes, their trauma coming through, but shanks works hard to make sure they know how important they are in those times, how much they deserve to just be alive. looking at jc, he wonders if he could use the same reminder.

"when it comes to my blood, i may be a figarland, but i've never bore that name, and i never will. blood only means so much, what you do with yourself? your actions, your motivations? that's what really matters."

he reaches out with a foot, tapping jc's knee lightly.

"no." a brief pause in consideration, evergreen eyes widening a bit. “i didn't say i didn't believe you."

soft laughter bubbled in hai's throat, not mocking, just surprised.

"dreamy? is he?" okay, maybe he is teasing a bit, but the warm smile spread on hai's face did its best to convey the friendliness of it, not meaning to make nami feel bad.

on the contrary, hai is thrilled to see her friend and crewmate so taken with someone. and jackdaw? he's a good one, hai's decided. worthy of nami's affections.

if he wasn't, hai would have to make sure to do something about that. only the best for nami, of course.

"he does have such a sunny smile, and his energy is infectious. i'm not surprised he's caught your eye." nudging her gently, hai tucks his hands under him as he looks up in thought, a look of concentration replacing the smile.

"i hope not being on the same crew won't be an issue. though there is a certain romance to being parted. absence makes the heart grow fonder and all that. but-" the furrowed brow turns to more of a pout as hai looks back at nami,

"you're not gonna abandon us for the carmine pirates, will you? i'm not sure we'll be able to get anywhere without you." the pout grows more exaggerated, once more teasing. there's no doubt in hai's mind that nami won't up and leave them.

“ HEY, I’ve seen those legs before.” Kirk greets his fellow Fleet, two drinks in and feeling confident. He moseys up to her lefthand side from behind, shoulders curved toward her.

Make that three drinks in, the third of the metaphorical ( but no less satisfying ) variety, he takes of her long, aforementioned features. “ It’s nice to finally put a face to them! I’m Jim Kirk.”

complicated? that's putting things lightly. mihawk can't help the derisive snort he gives, eyes rolling.

"really? i never would have thought. my long-time rival has an identical twin he never spoke of, a celestial dragon no less. sounds simple to me." his voice is as dry as his wine, which he pointedly takes a drink from after, eyes scanning up and down the figure before him.

being tracked down by shamrock is not something he could have ever predicted happening, and yet there they are. mihawk is surprised a celestial dragon would ever deign to come to such a lowly place as a pirate bar, even disguised, but being the brother of red hair does lend credence to the idea that trouble is in their genes.

"is there a reason the commander of the knights of god is slumming it up amid pirates and sailors? are you here to speak with me about something? or perhaps you're itching to find out what the life your brother leads is like. we could have a duel, if you'd like. i haven't met anyone who kept me on my toes since red hair went and foolishly lost his arm. maybe you're actually on his level."

he smiles a tiny bit, but keeps it hidden behind his wine as he takes another sip. celestial dragon aside, shamrock could be some fun, perhaps.

shanks wonders if shamrock ever wishes things were different. he wonders if shamrock would be happier with shanks, growing up with the roger pirates. with buggy, with argenti-

but moments like these make it pretty clear that shamrock sees shanks as nothing but below him, despite them having the same blood, the same hair, the same face. shanks doesn't care if he was born to a celestial dragon, all he cares is that he was born a twin. a twin to someone who will readily try to kill him if he deems it necessary.

key word there being "try". shanks will not die by shamrock's blade.

"what you call filth, i call treasure. but i guess i am a pirate, there's little else on my mind, right?" he smirks a bit despite shamrock's clear disgust with him. it's truly bizarre, how so different two halves of one soul could be. still, shanks isn't going to let his smile fade, regardless of-

oh, what did he just say?

his hand moves to gryphon, the sharp sound of the saber being unsheathed filling the air, slicing through it like a blade through grass. shamrock finds himself at the end of the saber's point.

"now, why'd you have to go and say that? i wasn't going to get into a fight with you, not now anyway, but i'm not about to let that slide."

shanks flicks his wrist, the tip of gyphon flicking upwards too, threatening to catch shamrock's chin, though it stops short just before.

"i don't know if you know the meaning of the word, but no one threatens my family like that and gets away with it. and the fact that it was argenti-"

his easy smile is gone, replaced with something darker, much more sinister.

all these years and the silver-haired brat looks practically the same. it's as if he's barely grown at all, no more than a few inches taller, and his face looks young still, even if it's lost the baby fat (there's hardly any fat on them at all, actually). the scars, however, are new. buggy wonders if whoever that guy who was asking about them all those years ago gave them to him.

if buggy had a stay, he'd have finished him off himself. well, not too late for that.

"don't know what to say? you can't even muster a hello for your old pal, buggy? it hasn't been that long, has it?"

buggy has little idea of what the brat has been up to since they parted last, though the scar on his face is telling enough that it wasn't exactly fun (except buggy thinks he would have thought it was fun, but whatever). now, as they wait for shanks to return with drinks, he has no choice to make small talk with the little brat in the meantime. great.

with one hand still on the cart's handle, blue raps on smoker's door with a strange pattern to signal it's them, waiting for the door to be opened from the other side so he can enter; walking backwards into the office, they pull kampanà and the cart inside after them, both their smiles growing once the door has closed behind them.

" happy birthday, mōka—! " " happy birthday, papa— "

small hands hold up the large gift on the cart with her, head peeking out from behind it as she waits for him to take it; inside the box is a somewhat crudely made looking staff, with a little arm sticking off it looking suspiciously like a miniature version of his jitte. once he's opened the box, she waves her hands to get his attention back, the sound of bells accompanying the gesture. still silent, she continues to gesture, miming swinging the stick and imitating large plumes of smoke; somewhere, amidst the silent example, she conveys the gift she made for him, a jitte made of her own metal that he can superheat with his smoke, allowing him to mold the jitte into different shapes, giving him the opportunity to restrain opponents while fighting.

large, silver eyes hidden behind pink bangs watch for his reaction, the humming from before returned, this time with a slight anxious tune underlying it, calmed somewhat by blue's hand resting atop her head.

" d-do … do you l-like it, papa … ? "

the familiar knock at the door brings a small smile to smoker's normally serious expression, happy to have the distract. it may be his birthday, but work doesn't care about such frivolous celebrations. he's not about to ignore his family, though.

"hold on, comin'-" he calls, straightening his documents before setting his cigars aside in their ash tray, blowing the last plumes of smoke from his mouth, letting them drift up and away, as far from the door as possible, before going to open it, stepping aside as blue and kampana come in, the smile on his face growing a bit as he chuckles, hidden from anyone else in the base so only blue and kampana are privy to seeing it, as it should be.

once they're alone in his office, he steps back, raising his brow at the offered gift, brushing kampana's hair back before taking it, unboxing the staff carefully, a bit of confusion on his face at first. he almost asks if it's an art piece, before kampana explains with no words, just her acting, the smile returning to smoker's face, still small, and still sincere.

finally finished "listening", he does as instructed and heats the metal, bending it a bit back and forth before reshaping it back to match his jitte, looking delighted (or as delighted as he'll let himself look).

"look at that, that's a great idea." his eyes move from the staff to blue, then kampana again, setting it aside before leaning down to kiss the girl's head, finally letting his smile grow to something more than just faint and held back, hidden in her hair.

"i love it, little bell. thank you." he moves to kiss blue next, holding it for a moment, as long as he dares without getting flustered himself, before pulling away, winking at them just out of kampana's sight.