Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Buggy feels like he’s drowning and he can’t get enough breath into his lungs to breathe as he and Shanks watches the Oro Jackson slowly disappear.

They had left them.

They had… left them…

They had left them not even a month after Captain’s execution! Shanks and Buggy, the two youngest members of the Roger Pirates, had been abandoned on the Suzume Islands without so much as a compass to guide them. The salty air stung Buggy’s eyes as he stared after the retreating ship. His chest tightened, and he couldn’t shake the feeling of betrayal.

He clutched the bags he managed to pack before he and Shanks had been ushered off the ship, his knuckles white. His heart hammered in his chest, a mix of anger and fear.

“BUGGY!”

The Blue haired boy was ripped out of his thoughts as he heard Shanks yell his name, shrill and panicked. Feeling a hand grab his elbow and yanked him, and Shanks started running like their lives depended on it.

Buggy stumbled after the redhead, breathing heavily and tears threatening to spill over as he somewhat came to, hearing shouts, curses, and yells. He looked over his shoulder to see people, some pirates he’s pretty sure the Rogers had run into once before, and they looked pissed. 

Shanks' hand was strong, almost painfully so, and the look on his face was something Buggy had never seen before. It was a heartbroken look, a look of fear, and a look of sheer anger. It was the look of someone who had lost something precious to them and wasn’t about to let anyone else take anything else.

Shanks just slammed into people, bearing them over when they didn’t get out of their way fast enough. He didn’t look back, didn’t dare to slow down. All he knew was that they had to get away, as far as they could from the angry mob chasing them. Buggy’s legs burned with the effort of keeping up, his breath coming in sharp gasps.

They had left them. They had… they had… they had… abandoned them! Rayleigh, Gaban, Crocus, everyone! They had left them not even a month after Captain’s execution, like they were nothing but discarded treasure.

Shanks felt sick, Ray-San, everyone had just… just… just left them on this stupid island with just enough treasure and cash to keep them going for, maybe, a few months tops. His heart felt like it was being squeezed by the vice of reality, and he didn’t know how to process it all. They had been like family to him, and now they were gone, just like that.

Shanks slammed his arm into a man’s side, shoving him out of the way as he and Buggy ran faster.

Was it only captain who truly cared for them? Wanted them around? Was that why everyone else just… just… just kicked them off the ship after the captain’s death?

Shanks really, really, really felt like he was about to be sick. He could taste and feel the bile rising in his throat as the reality of their situation began to settle in. His eyes were wild and wide, darting around the unfamiliar surroundings of the Suzume Islands. They were just kids. Kids who had been thrown into a world that didn't care if they lived or died, and now they were truly on their own.

He could feel Buggy threatening to split as he slid his hand down from the blue haired boys arm to grab his hand, his fingers at the joints disconnecting and reconnecting as Buggy’s Bara Bara no Mi tried to react to his fear and the panic that was coursing through their veins. He knew Buggy was scared, more than scared, he was terrified. And Shanks couldn’t blame him.

The Oro Jackson was their home, literally, their only Home they ever knew. Shanks doesn’t remember a time he ever lived anywhere other than the Oro Jackson. It was always the Oro Jackson, it was always Captain, it was always the sea. Never had Shanks or Buggy stepped foot on solid ground for more than a two, maybe three, but even that’s pushing it, at a time.

“Get Out Of Our Way!” Shanks shoved more people out of their path as the two young pirates sprinted through the crowded marketplace, the cobblestone streets blurring beneath their feet.

Shanks pulled both of them into a shipyard, looking around wildly. They needed a ship, now, they need a ship like yesterday.

Nearly slipping on a wet patch, Shanks ran towards the docks where ships were docked with price tag banners slapped onto them, looking for a ship he and Buggy could man with just the two of them.

Weaving in and out of the shipwrights that were trying to stop them, yelling at them that they weren’t allowed in this area of the shipyard, Shanks and Buggy reached the docks. The redhead’s eyes scanned the ships, looking for something small and fast that they could handle. They couldn’t afford to be choosy, not with their pursuers hot on their heels. His eyes fell on a small, two-masted, caravel ship.

She was fully painted in black, reds, and dark bronzes with crimson sails and a mermaid figurehead, just like the Oro Jackson. And Shanks Felt a lump in his throat at the site, but he swallowed it down. Weaving himself and Buggy through ship rights that were trying to stop them and to the ship that had the name ‘Black Pearl’ painted on the hull in curse.

He knew it wasn’t top of the line, but it would get them out of here, and that’s all that mattered.

The world seemed to spin around them as they somehow managed to steal the ship, the Black Pearl, and push off from the docks. Shanks could still hear the shouts of the angry mob fading into the distance as the ship picked up speed. His chest heaving, he turned to face Buggy, who was looking at him with wide eyes. "What... what do we do now?" Buggy's voice cracked with fear, confusion, and anger towards the ones who had abandoned them.

Shanks swallowed once, hard, twice, three times, and then started to cry. The world around him was spinning, the air was thick with salt and sweat, and he felt like he was going to collapse under the weight of everything. The Black Pearl was moving fast, slicing through the water like a shark on the hunt. But instead of feeling the rush of excitement, all he felt was dread and anger, and sadness, and fear.

“… they left us, Buggy, they just… just left us!” Shanks nearly tripped over his own two feet as he stumbled towards Buggy, reaching for him with shaky hands, grabbing onto the blue haired boy. He felt like he had been punched in the gut, the wind knocked out of him. They had no family, no home, no nothing! Just a couple months’ worth of treasure and the stuff they had on the Oro Jackson they managed to stuff into bags.

Buggy was crying too, had been since they started getting chased, but now, as Shanks' strong arms wrapped around him, the dam broke and he let out a wail of pure anguish and fear. “… they left us.” He repeated what Shanks said, his voice trembling. “They left us on purpose!… in the fucking New World!” Buggy sounded near hysteric as Shanks’ arms sneaked around him, holding him tightly. Buggy shoved the heels of his palms into his eyes, trying to keep the tears from escaping.

Shanks nearly gagged on a breath he tried to suck in, holding onto Buggy like the Blue haired boy would disappear. He could feel Buggy’s body still disconnecting and reconnecting to itself. He buried his face in Buggy’s chest, hearing bluette's heart beating like a rabbit getting hunted by a wolf. It was fast and erratic.

What were they supposed to do?! What in the hell were they supposed to do?! This was the New world! The New World of all goddamn places! Shanks thoughts raced through his mind as he held onto Buggy tightly, feeling the younger boy’s heart racing in his chest, echoing the panic that was coursing through his own veins. He felt like he was drowning in a sea of fear and anger, and just cried and cried and cried and cried.

He doesn’t think he’s ever cried as much in entire life as he had in the last few minutes. They had been betrayed, abandoned, and left with nothing but their lives. And now they had a stolen ship and a map to nowhere.

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By the time Shanks stopped crying, his Head felt like it was being split open by an axe, and at some point both him and Buggy had sunk to the floor and made their way to the helm, leaning against it.

Buggy wasn’t crying anymore, he hadn’t been crying for a while, but Shanks could still feel his trembling body. The ship, the Black Pearl, was quiet except for the sound of the waves slapping against the hull and the occasional squeak of the wooden planks.

Finally managing to untangle himself from the blunette, and pull his face away from Buggy’s chest, Shanks could see it was pitch black outside, the only light coming from the moon and the stars above.

Shanks wanted to cry again, his lip trembling as he buried his face in Buggy’s shoulder. "We need to get out of the New World.” He mumbled, his voice hoarse from screaming and crying. “The New World is not a place for only two people."

Buggy let out a shaky breath, swallowing hard. “… yeah…” He nodded faintly, his eyes still red from the tears.

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Meanwhile with Monkey D. Garp all the way in the grand line far away from the New World.

Garp paces back-and-forth through his cabin on his marine ship, The Hounder, about ready to rip his hair out, or kill Silvers Rayleigh.

And honestly killing the Dark King is sounding a lot more pleasing than dealing with this shit. Because for fuck sake Silvers! You had one job, bring the boys to him like Roger wanted.

But no, when he called the stupid son of a bitch to talk about a meeting place, he gets word that the old man had dropped them off at the first island he saw fit. Because apparently in Rayleigh’s words ‘Red and Blue would be safer far away from the Rogers’.

Garp has nearly bitten his nails down to the quick, pacing the cabin like a caged lion. "Fuck!" he roars, slamming his fist into the wooden wall, leaving a sizable dent. What the hell was Rayleigh thinking. Shanks was what? Barely fifteen, and Buggy was still fourteen for crying out loud! They were babies, thrown into the deep end of the ocean without floaties! And Rayleigh just Drop them off at some random island in the New World, the New World for fuck’s! The most dangerous place in the world, surrounded by creatures and pirates that could eat them for breakfast and not bat an eye.

“God fucking dammit!” He couldn’t be at two places at once, but he really wishes he could, because he needs to get to Baterilla, to Rouge, in the South Blue, but he also needs to go find Shanks and Buggy. FUCK! He was really going to kill Rayleigh, he was going to kill all the fucking Rogers!

FUCK! He really couldn’t be at two places at once, Rouge was being hunted down like she was a damn animal because she was pregnant with Gol D. Fucking Roger’s baby. But also Buggy and Shanks were being hunted down like goddamn animals because they were Roger’s apprentices, his pride and joys, but for some fucking reason Rayleigh can’t seem to wrap his head around that nobody don’t give a fuck that the two kids were apprentices and didn’t have a bounty on their head, people would still want to kill them because of Roger. No, Rayleigh, they will go after the kids too, no, they will not just go after the big names of the Rogers, they will go after anyone associated with Roger.

Shit, Garp had to get to them before some fucking psychopathic pirate gets their hands on them and turns them into some twisted mess of what they could have been. And that’s not even mentioning the goddamn Marines that were after their heads.

God, he felt his hair going gray!

FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK! FUCK!

He could call and ask Dragon to go after the boys or go to Rouge and the baby, Dragon would do it without a second of hesitation, and he wouldn’t tell Sengoku anything even if he was at knife point.

Walking, damn near stomping over to his desk, Garp picked up his white Den Den mushi and made a call.

Chapter Text

Ignis: Latin for "fire". (Dragon themed nickname! Whoop!!!)

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Dragon woke up with a start when his White Den Den started ringing, and he took a deep breath as he rolled over, peeling his eyes open to look at the snail.

Sighing, he reached over and plucked the receiver from the shell, placing it to his ear with a sleepy grumble. "What is it?" he mumbled, rubbing the sleep from his eyes.

“Ignis.” His dad’s voice came through the line, accompanied by the sound of pacing. “I need you to do something for me, boy.”

Dragon frowned, turning his head and squinting at the receiver, "What's wrong, dad?" He could feel the tension in Garp's voice, even through the muffled speaker.

“Do you… you remember the plan Roger and I made, right?” Garp’s voice was strained, as if holding back a tsunami of worry.

Dragon shifted in his bed, his blanket slowly falling off of him as he pushed himself up to his elbows. He blinked a couple times, slowly, before his gaze snapped towards his door. He took a deep breath, summoning his devil fruit powers and created a small storm outside so none of his men would overhear the conversation. He didn't know what Garp was going to say, but he knew it was going to be serious. "Of course, I remember," he said, his voice firm and clear despite the early hour. “I was there when he turned himself in.”

Garp let out a frustrated sigh, and Dragon could hear the sound of him running a hand through his hair. "Good, because something's gone sideways. Shanks and Buggy... they're out there in the New World. Rayleigh apparently thought it was a good idea to ignore his captains last orders and just dropped the boys off on some random island in the New World instead of giving them to me like he was supposed to. Said some bullshit that ‘Red and Blue would be safer far away from the Rogers’.

Dragon's expression grew serious as he listened intently to Garp's words. "The New World?" He repeated, his mind racing with the implications. "He dropped them off in the… New World?" His eyes narrowed, the corners of his mouth pulling into a frown. "Do you have any idea which island?"

“No,” the single word seemed to pain Garp as it left his lips. “By the time I managed to get a hold of Rayleigh he was so drunk he wouldn’t be able to tell you where his own ass was, let alone an island. It was a miracle I managed to get the words ‘New World’ out of him at all. It’s a damn needle in a haystack, Ignis. They’re just kids, they don’t know how to survive out there!”

Dragon's jaw tensed and he pushed himself to sit, his feet dangling over the side of his bed. “So… you need me to help you find them?” He asked, his mind already racing with all the connections he had in the New World.

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“… yes and no.” Garp murmured, “ how far away are you to the South Blue?” He asked, trying to gauge how quickly Dragon could reach the Blue.

Dragon licked his lips, trying to figure out where this conversation was going. “I’m about two weeks, maybe three out from the South Blue, why?” He replied, his mind racing as he wondered why Garp was asking about his proximity to a region that had nothing to do with the New World.

Garp took a deep breath, and Dragon could hear the older man shifting to sit down on something. “Rouge is pregnant, with Roger’s baby, and the higher ups are starting up a manhunt for her. They’re planning on… they’re planning on killing any woman that is pregnant and any child under the age of three in the South Blue because someone, somehow figured out Roger was stupid enough to knock someone up.”

The words hit Dragon like a cannonball. His eyes widened, and he felt his heart drop to his stomach. "What?" Dragon roared, his voice echoing through the cabin, the Den Den Mushi trembling in his hand. "They would do that?!"

“Yeah… they’re already calling… calling the baby a Demon that needs to be eradicated before it’s born!” Garp’s voice was filled with a mix of anger and concern. “… look, I need… I need you to go to the South Bule, do your revolutionary shit and have your revolutionaries save people, but I need you to go the Baterilla. Baterilla Is were Rouge is, she’s… she’s six months pregnant if what Roger told me was right. I’ll… I’ll find the boys, you go to Rouge.”

Dragon’s expression grew darker than a moonless night in the New World. “I’m on it, Father!” He said, the rage in his voice palpable. “I’ll send my fastest ships to the South Blue and get Rouge to safety!” He didn’t wait for a reply, just cut the communication, his mind racing with the horror of the situation. The very thought of the World Government slaughtering innocents over fear and spite was a disgusting act that went against everything he stood for.

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Garp stared down at the Den Den mushi for what felt like an eternity, just blinking at it before he forced himself to take a deep breath and started dialing another number.

The snail purred once, twice, three times, four times before finally connecting to the other line.

“Garp, long time no call, you usually don’t call me unless it’s too bitch about one of my children doing something or getting a bounty, and I'm sure neither of those have happened... right?” The voice on the other end was deep, amused, and unmistakably Edward Newgate.

“Not the time, Newgate.” Garp said through clenched teeth, shifting slightly as he scooted his chair closer to his desk.

Newgate paused for a second, and Garp could just imagine the man looking down at the receiver with pursed lips. “Not Eddie?” He asked, sounding a bit disgruntled that Garp wasn’t calling him by his nickname. “… well, sugar, please tell me what I did so I can fix it?” Newgate asked, his tone flirtatious.

“No flirting either!” Garp snapped, his eyes narrowing. He had no patience for Newgate’s antics tonight.

Newgate’s laugh boomed through the Den Den Mushi, echoing in the quiet room. “You know I can’t resist a pretty face, Garp!”

Garp grumbled, tapping his foot against the floorboards. “… I need your help, Eddie.” He said with a sigh, his tone dropping from stern to solemn.

The laughter ceased on the other end of the line, and there was a sound of shuffling. “What’s the matter, Garp?” Newgate asked, the playfulness in his voice now replaced by genuine concern.

Garp took a deep breath, his free hand coming up to rub his eyes. “… Rayleigh lost Buggy and Shanks.”

On the Moby Dick, Newgate’s eyes widened. He sat up straight, all semblance of joviality gone from his features. “What? How?”

“He… uhhh… he thought it was a good idea to drop them off on some random island in the New World.” Garp’s voice was thick with frustration as he recounted the events that led to the two young pirates being stranded. “Apparently Rayleigh can’t wrap his head around the fact that it doesn’t matter the two boys were only Roger’s apprentices, they’re going to be… they’re going to be hunted down like animals like the rest of the Roger Pirates, but he’s convinced they’re gonna be fine if they’re nowhere near the big name Rogers.”

Newgate’s hand clenched into a fist around the Den Den Mushi receiver, his eyes blazing. “Those poor kids. They don’t know the first thing about surviving without the Rogers backing. They’re as good as dead out there!”

“… that’s why I’m asking for your help. Help me find them.” Garp’s voice was tight, his usually jovial tone replaced with one of urgency. “… and if you see Rayleigh, punch him in the fucking face for me. Because he ignored his captain's last order, the boys were supposed to be dropped off with me, not the… New World.”

Newgate’s face grew solemn as he digested the information. “You can count on me, old friend. I’ll send my best men on the Moby Dick to track them down. We’ll find them and bring them home safely, no matter the cost!”