"No matter how much I try to remember it, it always ends in failure."
A quiet murmur came from a small black-haired child, he was crouching in front of a single flower; watching the butterfly perched upon it with intense focus, he rested his hands on his knees while his arms supported his chin.
His attention shifted when he noticed many people rushing toward the docks, He stood up, wondering what had caused such commotion. From where he was, he could hear a familiar voice. "Just let them dock here, Mayor."
One of his brows lifted, curiosity take over his thought as Lucas walked through the crowd, and the sight of a large ship with jolly roger flow among the winds along with someone familiar immediately greeted him.
Luffy caught a familiar scent approaching and his nose twitched as he turned his head. A wide grin instantly spread across his childish face. "Lucas!" he shouted, rushing forward until he stopped right in front of his twin.
Lucas eyes, which had been locked to the red-haired man figure on the front of the stranger group were blocked by Luffy's figure, his attention shifted to his older twin.
"Lu, who are they?" he asked, glancing at the group of stranger.
He felt a slight tug at his heart, there's something familiar about them, but his mind refused to cooperate, as if something was deliberately preventing him from recalling something important.
"They're pirates who want to dock here to restock their supplies. The Mayor wanted to drive them away, but I stopped him. What do you think?" Luffy explained before ended up asking for Lucas opinion.
He had been stubbornly insisting that the Mayor allow the pirates to stay, but the moment he saw his younger twin brother, he immediately reconsidered. As if Lucas enough for him to take back his words and refuse them once he showed a slight discomfort, trusting Lucas instinct.
Lucas blinked slowly, glancing at the Mayor who shook his head, and at Makino who offered a stiff smile. His gaze landed on the pirates with a calm expression, he inquired.
"This place is under the protection of Vice Admiral Monkey D. Garp. Do you truly wish to dock here?" Lucas stepped aside and passed Luffy that made him pout at getting ignored.
He walked closer, calmly staring at the red-haired man. Lucas stopped in front of the adult and tilted his head upward to maintain their eye contact. The voice of the seven-year-old was calm, yet carried a trace of warning—almost a threat.
Shanks was slightly impressed by the child's bravery. When else would he encounter someone bold enough to try threatening him? Especially when the other party was only a small child.
He glanced at his first mate. Ben returned the look, exhaling a stream of smoke from his mouth. Shanks soon gave a light smile as he replied with easy going tone.
"You can take my word for it, kid. We only want to dock. And if we truly intended to cause trouble, Garp wouldn't stop chasing us until the ends of the world."
Lucas caught the interaction between the two but said nothing about it. If they know of his grandfather reputation and still want to stay, then they must either powerful enough to face Garp or wanted to get a free ticket to the jail. Whatever that was, as long as they don't disturb the Village and caused a chaos then Lucas won't mind their stay.
He gave a small nod before responding.
"A wise decision. You may stay for a while, however it shouldn't be long before Grandpa hearing the news so I suggest you don't stay for too long." Lucas turned around, casting them one last glance before added.
"Welcome. I hope you enjoy your rest in Windmill Village."
He walked away, while the silver butterfly perched on Luffy's shoulder fluttered its wings and flew after him. Shanks watched the small figure's back until it disappeared into the crowd. Luffy puffed out his cheeks, staring at his now empty palm.
Everyone fell into silence after Lucas delivered his decision. The Mayor let out a resigned sigh, while Makino gently rubbed the old man's back to calm him, her smile sympathetic as Mayor Woodslap cast a sharp look toward the pirates.
"You'd better not make us regret this decision." After said that, he turned around and left.
The villagers slowly dispersed as well. None of them protested; instead, they seemed to respect the decision made by the two children. After all, the grandson of their protector had spoken. Besides, they knew Lucas—and they knew the boy would never make decisions carelessly.
It was a tremendous amount of trust placed upon the ruby-eyed child. But they had no reason not to, when Lucas himself always behaved so maturely that people often forgot his actual age.
The incident became nothing more than a brief disturbance before peace once again settled over Windmill Village. People returned to their routines, paying little attention to the pirates that now became a temporary resident on their Village.
Shanks and his crew were now sitting inside Makino's bar, drinking and celebrating without a care that the sun was still shining brightly outside. The captain was entertaining Luffy after getting to know the boy, he seemed to have quickly formed a bond with him.
Makino smiled as she watched their interaction while wiping the glass with a cloth, when Shanks appeared to be glancing around the bar, she finally spoke.
"Is something bothering you, Captain-san?" she asked and judging from Makino's expression, she likely already had a guess.
Shanks gave a goofy smile, not expecting his subtle observation to be noticed.
He paused briefly to arrange his words.
"I haven't seen that ruby-eyed kid—Lucas—his name right? Since earlier, where is he?" he asked, recalling the name amidst the earlier commotion.
Makino blinked and gave a gentle smile, but before she could answer, Luffy spoke first seemingly perk up when his twin getting brought up. "If it's Lucas, he's usually at the shore, do you want to meet him?"
"What's he doing at the shore?" Shanks asked, both confused and curious about Luffy's unexpected answer.
"Collecting shells. Lucas really likes collecting them. I usually accompany him."
Luffy paused before continuing to snack on his food without care in the world.
"He's mad at Lucas, Captain-san," Makino explained, drawing a protest that sounded both betrayed and unwilling from Luffy from getting exposed by the person he considered as sister.
"Makino…!"
Makino only chuckled softly. "You know that won't shake Lucas at all, right? It'll just make him happy to have some time alone," she added gently when she saw Luffy's sulking expression.
"Hearing that now just makes me want to go see Lucas immediately…" Luffy murmured under his breath and jumped down from his seat while looked up at Shanks.
"Want to go together?" Receiving the offer from Luffy made the red-haired man nodded without hesitation. After all, he was quite curious about Lucas' personality.
.
.
.
Elsewhere, Lucas crouched in front of a shell. A small red bucket filled with shells sat beside him. "This one seems quite good. Heh, though some people don't care about appearance—only how much value they're willing to spend." His red eyes gleamed as Lucas placed the shell into the bucket.
That's why they're an easy target to make money off, when reputation on the lines, it blurr the edge of the usefulness and the uselessness of the stuff they brought.
The sound of wings flapping pulled him out of his thoughts, he looked up and saw a rather large eagle landing on a rock staring at him with sharp gazes. "It's you." Lucas recognized it and slowly stood up.
When he noticed the eagle stare, response came easily from his lips. "I don't have any fish or food with me right now," he informed it, as if the eagle could understand him.
Although there was no response, Lucas thought for a moment, searching for another solution. "Do you want to go fishing together?" he suggested despite feeling silly.