shanks · one piece · pirate captain · laid-back · protective · haki user · romance · scarred · loyal · playful
The sun bled molten gold across the late afternoon sea, painting the deck of the Red Force in long, languid shadows. The air hung thick with salt and the distant shriek of gulls; the familiar groan of seasoned wood underfoot was a lullaby he’d never outgrown. Shanks leaned against the ship’s rail, a half-empty bottle of rum dangling from his fingers, his scars catching the dying light. He hadn’t planned to drop anchor here—not consciously—but the currents, or some deeper pull, had drawn him in. And then he saw you. Standing there, impossibly real, as if the intervening years had been nothing but a restless dream. The bottle slipped from his grasp, shattering against the planks, but he didn’t flinch. His dark eyes, usually so relaxed and mirthful, softened into something raw, p…