(hope calculated right this time)
Just a teaser, not gonna release chapters for next fey days for sure, maybe after that I will finish my projects at work and PhD.... or not...
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The meeting between one of the greatest pirates of the modern era, 'Red-Haired' Shanks — nicknamed so for his striking, almost crimson-red hair — and a seven-year-old boy named Monkey D. Luffy began with the former nearly killing the latter… Or rather, the latter tried to kill the former, which nearly resulted in the former killing the latter. Yes, that sounds more accurate.
All the events took place on a remote island in the East Blue, home to the Goa Kingdom. Naturally, the pirates of Red-Haired Shanks couldn't afford to dock at the kingdom's main port — well, technically, they absolutely could, but there wouldn't be a stone left standing of the port or the city afterward — so instead, they chose a small village on the opposite end of the island as their temporary base. Foosha, or the Windmill Village. A typical little village, just like the hundreds, if not thousands, the Red-Haired Pirates had seen in their long years of sailing. The only distinctive feature of the village were the windmills, after which Foosha was named. Numerous small fishing boats surrounded a modest wooden pier, tidy little homes, and, of course, the meadows around the village, where cows, sheep, goats, and horses grazed in abundance. The scenery looked so familiar and peaceful that the very first underwater mine they encountered almost sent Red-Haired Shanks's famous ship to the bottom of the bay. If the ship hadn't been built on the Grand Line, that might well have been its end.
Fortunately for everyone involved, the ship withstood the underwater explosion and stayed afloat. Again, if it had been any other pirate crew instead of Red-Haired Shanks's, even a sturdy ship might not have helped. The seabed of the bay was practically littered with underwater mines, and the first explosion would have inevitably been followed by a second, then a third, and so on until the ship sank. However, this crew had just sailed from the Grand Line — a sea not nicknamed the 'Pirates' Graveyard' for nothing — and could not be compared with the other crews, be they pirate, navy, or civilian, that sailed the East Blue. No sooner had the explosion echoed than the crew was on their feet and at the rails, opening a storm of gunfire on the water within seconds, detonating several more mines on the spot.
And just when all attention was focused on the water's surface, as the pirates scanned for more underwater mines, Shanks became the target. Only his ever-present Observation Haki allowed him to sense the muzzle aimed at him, but even so, the power of the blocked shot was incredibly greater than expected. On the Grand Line, a shot of such force wouldn't have surprised him at all — there, almost every shooter loaded their bullets with Armament Haki to such an extent that it was standard. But here? In the East Blue? The weakest of all seas? Moreover, Shanks could swear that despite the bullet's power, it didn't contain even a drop of Haki. And the bullet he picked up from the deck looked very peculiar — the kind he'd only seen in the New World.
After several more attacks, which Shanks, like the first shot, easily deflected with his sword, the unknown sniper shifted focus to other crew members. Unsuccessfully. Only a handful of Red-Haired's pirates lacked Observation Haki, and even they were well-covered by their crewmates, so the sniper had no luck there either. Even Yasopp — one of the world's best marksmen — failed to shoot the sniper in return. He knew where the fire was coming from, he 'heard' the sniper's location with his Haki — though the sniper's 'voice' was bizarrely strange — but the bastard had set up his position so perfectly that shooting him back was impossible… Unless they just blew the whole thing to hell.
"No," Shanks refused, as his crew suggested they 'level everything here.' "First, I want to see this sniper… and talk to the locals about those underwater mines. You've got to admit, this is all very strange for these waters."
Shanks had no idea just how strange it all really was. But he began to suspect something when his Observation Haki let him 'hear' several other 'voices' surrounding the sniper's 'voice' and then dragging him away. Naturally, the shooting stopped. Things only got stranger from there. By the time their ship docked at the wooden pier, almost the entire village population — children excluded — stood before them. The people were bowing to the ground, apologizing profusely, promising to repair their ship and punish the guilty party. The latter was something almost all of Shanks's crew wanted to do themselves, so soon the so-called 'culprit' was brought before them. And the moment the pirates saw him, their jaws hit the ground in unison. If they hadn't already 'heard' the sniper's 'voice,' they might have thought it was just some sort of prank… The person who had shot at them was a scrawny, black-haired, seven-year-old boy. And unlike the terrified villagers, practically dead from fear of possible consequences, the boy's eyes gleamed with such greedy hunger that one could almost see gold coins spinning in them. And, as Shanks suspected — for the boy's glowing stare was directed at him — if not for the gag in his mouth, he'd be drooling.
Such things could be expected from the Grand Line — a sea where, without exaggeration, anything is possible — but not from the calm and quiet East Blue, the weakest sea of them all. Weak in every sense! In this sea, aside from some harmless hazards like coral reefs and minor storms, there were almost no real threats to navigation. And of course, there simply were no powerful pirates in East Blue, which meant no high-level marines either. That's exactly why it was considered the weakest sea. On the other hand, the legendary Pirate King had come from this very sea, so the saying 'still waters run deep' fit East Blue perfectly. And now, Shanks's crew was staring at another little devil, without a doubt, and… seven years old, seriously?
As Shanks approached the boy, reaching to remove the gag from his mouth, the village chief — a spry old man in his sixties, with a cane and a straw hat — raised his hand warningly:
"Dear sir, I wouldn't untie him or remove the gag — it could be dangerous!"