Chapter 4: Friends
"It's the North!"
"The South!"
"Come on, everyone knows it's the North!"
"It's the - Hey you bastard, what did you say about my nose?!"
As her father became occupied with the coating of the Oro Jackson, which Lily had learned was the name of the ship from some of its crewmates who simply stood around, she heard two immature voices arguing.
She made her way through the busy working adults to find two children around the age of twelve.
One of them had red hair and wore a straw hat, and the other had blue hair and a funny red nose.
"What're you guys arguing about?" Lily walked towards them, interrupting their banter.
Shanks and Buggy stopped, eyeing the girl who spoke to them. Their eyes widened. She seemed so tiny, but her features seemed like those of an angel - delicate and pure.
It didn't seem like she was at the age where she should hold a coherent conversation, yet they both felt a strange uncanniness about her that they couldn't quite put their finger on.
"We were just talking about where it's colder," Shanks said with a shrug, then continued, "By the way, how old are you?"
Lily scratched her head, then said, "I just turned three." She then said again, "Why do you ask?"
"I'm pretty sure a three-year-old isn't supposed to talk like that…" Buggy said as he tilted his head.
"They're not?" Lily tilted her head in response. Truthfully, she didn't really know how children were supposed to behave. She could only pull on her own experiences, which she knew were less than an ideal template.
Shanks nodded, then looked at Buggy. After a few moments of silence…
""HAHAHAHAHA!""
They both erupted into laughter, rolling on the floor as they held their stomachs.
"HAHAHA, Isn't that a riot, Buggy! This one's a class act!"
"HAHAHA, 'They're not?' She says! Hahaha!" Buggy interrupted his laughter to do a perfect Lily impression before continuing his laughter once more.
Lily tilted her head again, confused. She hadn't really had much experience with laughter. Of course, her parents laughed and joked with each other, but she didn't really understand it all too well.
To her, who didn't even know what laughter was, it seemed like such a pointless thing. Something for other people, and something she would perhaps never understand.
She was snapped out of her thoughts as Shanks spoke again, "Aren't you an interesting little girl? I'm Shanks, and this red-nosed idiot is Buggy."
"Yeah, I'm - Hey, what did you say about my nose, you buffoon?!"
"Idiot ~ Idiot ~" Shanks made a funny face as he stuck his tongue out to Buggy, who tried hitting his head in response, failing miserably as he tripped.
Their antics continued for a while, and then…
"Haha…" Lily chuckled lightly, even surprising herself.
Why did she do that?
Shanks and Buggy paused their fight, looking towards Lily in silence.
"Hey Shanks, y'know…"
"Yeah, Buggy…?"
"Do you think angels laugh like that?"
"Uh-huh…"
"So, you know what we gotta do, right…?"
"Right…"
Shanks and Buggy silently communicated their thoughts with each other, then turned back to Lily.
They had to make this little girl laugh more!
"So, you didn't tell us your name yet," Shanks said to Lily who was still stuck within her own thoughts.
"Lily…" She started, then lingered for a moment, before saying, "I have a question actually."
She inhaled slightly before asking, "If you guys are pirates, does that mean you're bad guys?"
The animated duo were quiet for a moment.
"Tsk, Tsk, Tsk, you just don't get it, do you?" Shanks then spoke as he wagged his forefinger left and right.
"Right, you just don't get it," Buggy mimicked Shanks' mannerisms.
Lily looked at them both with confusion clearly visible in her adorable pale green eyes, "What… don't I get?"
"The adventure! The mystery! Do you know how big the world is?!" Shanks yelled as he stretched both of his arms in the air.
"Did you know there are even islands in the sky?" Buggy added, poking both of his forefingers upwards in the air, then said, "there's even so many of them!"
Lily raised an eyebrow, skepticism clear in her expression, but since she was a three-year-old, it only made her seem cuter.
"How can there be islands in the sky?" Lily asked.
"Dunno! There just are! If you ever become a pirate, you can go see those crazy places yourself. Isn't that exciting? There's so much out there you know!"
Lily's eyes shone for the briefest moment in excitement at the duo's stories, but then she reigned it in and said, "Hmph, I bet you're lying… If I become a pirate with a bounty on my head just because two kids told me there was an island in the sky, I'd be the biggest idiot that ever lived."
"Haa… we're not lying…" Buggy began to say, then thought of something and continued, "Hey, Shanks, do you have that? Saw you sneak around the ship to make one."
Shanks paused and then gave Buggy an accusatory look, "Oi, have you been sneaking around my stuff again? Told you that was off limits!"
"Oi, oi, don't worry, It's not like you're the only one with a p-" Buggy began to say as he shook his head, shrugging his shoulders, before Shanks shut his mouth with both palms.
"Oi you idiot, what were you about to say? There's a child here!" He whispered loud enough for everyone within earshot to listen.
"Hahaha," Lily let go of her body's inhibitions and began to laugh a little longer this time. She herself didn't understand why. She had no idea what the two were talking about, but the laughter simply came from their animated antics.
At that point, Michael was making his way to his daughter to keep her in his sights, only to stumble upon the scene.
He stood there with his mouth agape and pupils dilated.
'My Lily, she… she's laughing?' That was the first time he or Rose had seen their daughter laugh. They had been worried about their daughter's little idiosyncrasies for a while now, and her lack of laughter was one of those things.
Even a smile was difficult to get out of her.
But seeing her now, he only had a single thought in his head.
'Angel.'
Shanks and Buggy, who were in the direct line of fire of Lily's laughter, clutched their chests in an exaggerated manner.
When Lily stopped laughing, she realized something. There didn't really need to be a reason for it. She did it just because she felt like it.
Laughter wasn't something she had to force herself to do.
She hoped that the rest of the things she didn't understand would come as naturally for her.
Laughter seemed to ease her brows. Despite how at ease she appeared in this life, the scars from her past one were not so easily healed.
"So, you said you had something to show me?" Lily asked when the silence felt too long.
Shanks and Buggy snapped out of their daze, and the former spoke, "I'll go get it!"
He ran to the ship, where the coating mechanics were busy preparing to start their work, and dashed beneath the deck.
A minute later, he dashed back clutching a piece of blank paper in his hands.
"You see, if you think I'm lying, then…" Shanks said as he ripped a corner of the blank paper, handing it to Lily, who observed it with a silent question in her eyes.
Shanks continued, "Then feel free to come beat us up later if you don't find an island in the sky!"
Buggy was in the middle of nodding before he paused, "Hey what do you mean 'us', that's your Vivre card! Why would she find me?"
"I mean, you're gonna join my crew, right?" Shanks asked with a smile.
"Who's joining your crew, you red-headed bastard?!" Buggy grabbed Shanks' collar and started shaking him aggressively.
Lily observed the piece of paper in her hand with curiosity.
"What… is this?" she asked, flipping it over, and then holding it against the sunlight.
"Ah, that's a Vivre card. No matter where you are, it points you in the direction of the person it's from. In this case, it'll move towards me, look. Put it on your palm," Shanks explained, gesturing to her.
Lily followed his explanation and was intrigued by the movement of the paper. She moved her hand away from Shanks, but no matter what she did, it seemed to crawl towards him.
"So with this, I can find you wherever? Why did you give it to me?" Lily asked, puzzled.
Shanks shrugged, "I mean, they're easy and cheap to make…" Shanks said, then continued after a little hesitation as he scratched the back of his head, "...and if I don't give it to a friend, who else am I gonna give it to?"
Lily froze.
'... Friend?'
CREATORS' THOUGHTS 
LettuceB
LettuceB Hope I nailed the Shanks/Buggy dynamic in this one. Let me know how I did!
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