157 The promise!

"I got to say*hic* man, you got a lot of spunk!" Shanks called out in his slurred tone as he leaned over my shoulder. Marco shot me an apologetic smile as he walked beside me, holstering two of the Red hair pirates over his shoulder.

From what he told me, the concoction that they had been given was a strong one that had been brewed specifically for Whitebeard. A strong concoction that most of the Whitebeards carried with them, it was the main cause of the old emperor's drinking problem, Marco informed me dryly.

Ben Beckman chuckled a little as he walked further in front, leading the way to the red haired man's ship. Under his shoulder, he nursed Lucky Roux, who had already passed out after he'd burned through half the taverns stores. Usually it would be Ben's responsibility to lead his captain forward, but under the childish insistence of the man there had been no choice but for me to drag him forward.

"You know you could just stay at the inn." Marco called out simply as he shot Ben's back a frustrated look.

"Nah, the ship's safer, it has more room and we won't be imposing on you lot" he replied cheerily as he took a deep swig from the fat cigar hanging from his lips.

"Ugh... Shanks groaned suddenly as he attempted to rise back to his full height, he had already shaken off most of the dulling effects of the alcoholic beverage. With a small sniff, he nursed his head a little as he hobbled off my shoulder.

It seemed that the constant life and habits of an abject alcoholic made it easier to stomach the fizzy drink, who knew?

As if on cue the rest of either indisposed, or thoroughly wasted pirates began to wake up, immediately getting off the shoulders of their more sober counterparts that had until then taken the position of their escort.

The sun still hung in the sky, now much brighter then it was when we had greeted the pirate crew, glowering down at us in the sweltering afternoon air.

We had made it out of town a while back, and with Marco's direction, we had chosen a more open and scenic path that overlooked the different rolling hills in the distance. The verdant patches of grass and shrubbery covered the step like mountains in a delightful spread of different hues of green as the scintillating smell of coffee hung in the distance.

This was a route that had been unknown to me, seeing as we had just entered the town when we had immediately been conscripted into the island's defence force. Now that Marco showed it to me, I could appreciate the name that it had been given -'The painter's path'.

In the crest of the pathway that we were, walking on a sole tree grew outward, its wide branches conveniently covering a sizable portion of the smooth and grassy fenced area.

Fortunately, Shanks was quick to veto the idea, opting instead to take a rest under the somewhat cool shade that the decent sized tree offered.

In a few minutes, the bulk of the crew had settled down, sitting either on the grassy floor or on a comfortable shaped stone. Then Shanks shot me a look.

"To be honest newbie, one of the reasons I came here was to inspect the competition, I mean you have a sizeable battle log under your belt." he said, the rest of his crew not giving him any mind as the settled down either playing a game of cards or just lying down for a quick snooze, a piece of long grass in their mouth.

I shrugged simply. "Now that you're here, what do you think?"

"A good man!" he said shortly firing towards me a warm grin.

"So what are your plans for the future?" He asked, changing gears quickly.

"My crew will be heading to paradise for a bit, I have a few loose ends to tie up and a ship to bulk up." I said simply. "You?"

"We'll be going to a few blues, probably ending our journey in the East. Yasopp's been feeling a little homesick and I've been feeling slightly out of it for a while. A few months of calm relaxation should do the trick," he said simply.

"Hoh~ East blue? We'll probably be making a trip there if we ever have some time for it" I said before looking down at the village.

Marco sat to the side, leaning on the base of the tree breathing softly. However strong the man was, he felt like he was unable to take part in this conversation, he had already sold his freedom. He did not regret it of course, after all he loved Whitebeard as a father, but as a crewmate to the strongest man in the world, he could not talk amidst those that he felt could change the world at a whisper of a word.

Neither Shanks nor Lorean were strong to the point of making him feel this way, it was more of their aura that made the exclusionist atmosphere grow. This was a conversation between captains. A mere commander could not intervene.

"Daha! Then if you ever come to the blues when we're there, why don't we meet up?" Shanks said taking the initiative to pass a piece of paper to me. On it as a long number scrawled with dirty handwriting.

"Sure thing!" I called out with an equally childish grin before pocketing the strip of paper.

"When I return to the New world, let's duel!" Shanks said glee in his voice as he shot out his hand. And as we shook on it, the sun glowered on as the chattering of the birds began in earnest.

Then with a swift chuckle Shanks pulled me to the edge of the wide overlook, raising a small shot bottle that he had snuck in his shirt when we had been drinking at the bar. (He had been drinking, I'd had a sip.)

With a jump he landed on the stump of the fence turning around with his hands on his waist.

"Crew! To Barnie! AND to Adventure!" With that the mirthful cheer of his crewmates began anew, their vigour lifted, and with it my blood began to boil. This was going to be the second arc of my journey! I could almost feel it.