-:5:- The Wavering Calm

As the news of Luffy's capture finally settled down throughout the seas, the two adversaries began to prepare for the devastating war...

One thing that both Shanks and Whitebeard had in common was that they hated asking for help. The pride that came with being a man, a pirate, and an emperor was too strong and powerful to allow any sort of help in a fight. But despite their unwavering manliness in any other situation, this time they knew they didn't have a choice. No one was stupid enough to challenge the World Government by themselves and expect to win, so the only thing left to do in order to save a special someone's life, was to ask for help.

Everyone had pride in themselves and their crew. But having pride and sheer stupidity were somewhat different.

So after internally struggling on a sleepless night, Shanks decided to ask his old buddy, Whitebeard, for some help, in order to save the straw hat wearing pirate. And even with the severity of the upcoming situation, everyone still managed to get pissed off with one unannounced meeting between Red-Haired Shanks and Whitebeard.

The Moby Dick (somewhere in the New World)

"CAPTAIN! Red hair's here asking for a meeting!"

The shout of a crewmate halted the deep discussion taking place on the Moby Dick. Whitebeard, Ace and all the other commanders were all bunched up around a table making plans to rescue the famed little brother of Portgas D. Ace. Everyone looked up from the sheets of paper spread out across the table towards the pirate that had suddenly barged in with big news. Whitebeard sighed out of frustration, not wanting to deal with the annoying brat when he had things to arrange. But despite his obvious dislike towards the situation, Whitebeard gave his 'ok' for the Red Haired brat to aboard his ship.

Murmurs of confusion sounded from the commanders who had also heard the news, except Ace, who knew damn well why Shanks would be there. The other commanders were wondering why now, out of all times, did Shanks need to meet with them? Certainly, it had nothing to do with saving Luffy. They didn't think that those two would have any connection, considering their status' as pirates.

Whitebeard stood up and walked outside with his commanders following, still whispering among themselves. Whitebeard sat down in his huge chair in the center of the deck, with his crewmates settling themselves around him like a shield, ready to attack or defend at a moments notice.

The aura surrounding the pirates would be enough to scare an entire army. But no matter how menacing they looked, there could have been no amount of bloodlust circulating the air in order to deter Red-Haired Shanks from boarding that ship. And that was proven when the first signs of the emperor's arrival appeared. The creaking footsteps, the sound of unconscious bodies hitting the deck, the splintering wood, and the strong bloodlust countering their own. Even with Red-Haired Shanks' presence causing so much trouble, their resolve hadn't weakened in the slightest.

Soon, a silhouette could be seen of a man with a cloak swaying behind him. Everyone already knew who it was without having to look at the person directly. A few steps later the gleaming red hair and the wild grin appeared before the Whitebeard pirates. Marco suddenly got pissed off at seeing that stupid face of his. He became more pissed than he already was!

"Yo Whitebeard!", Shanks said with his hand raised in a slight wave and a closed eye smile.

Whitebeard only scoffed in response.

Shanks looked up towards Whitebeard his expression feigning shock. "I thought we were drinking buddies and you treat me like this...you wound me Whitebeard"

Whitebeard wasn't in the mood to deal with such an annoying brat. He suddenly stood up and billowed out his thoughts."Cut the theatrics will ya? I ain't in the mood to deal with your shit brat, now tell me what the hell you came here for".

The only response he got from Shanks was his annoying laughter.

Shanks shrugged his shoulders. His mocking expression still intact. "Well, I guess your right. I should just come out and say it".

Whitebeard didn't like the tone of voice Shanks was using. It made him feel uneasy. Shanks' eyes didn't reveal anything and that put Whitebeard at the edge of his seat.

Shanks' amusement grew once he noticed Whitebeard's discomfort. The surrounding pirates were also growing curious and were anxiously waiting for an answer.

Shanks let out a sigh and held his hands up in surrender towards the questioning glares being sent his way.

"I'm here because of a recent event. Something happened to someone I am an acquaintance with and I know you assholes are gonna do something so I decided to help out". The words lingered in the air after they broke the silence made by the Whitebeard pirates

Marco's eyes widened. "You couldn't possibly be talking about Monkey D. Luffy?!" He exclaimed in surprise, voicing out the thoughts of his fellow crew members. The only response he got back was Shanks' amused expression.

"Why yes, I am. How did you possibly figure that out?"

Whitebeard stared into Shanks' dark eyes looking for any sign of him lying. He looked away sighing because he found no sign of dishonesty.

"What exactly did you have in mind?"

Shanks was having a hard time trying to hide his relief. He quickly composed himself internally and became serious. The Whitebeard pirates gulped and stared intently, not wanting to miss a word of what was going to be said.

Shanks closed his eyes and took a deep breath in and let it out. His eyelids opened up revealing his pitch black iris'. The air around him suddenly grew colder, sending shivers down everyone's spines.

"We break into Impel Down and try to break Luffy out of there, if that plan doesn't work then we should have pirates waiting at Marineford to attack the Marines head on."

Whitebeard quickly stood up, his face showing disbelief.

"Did you really just suggest those two things?!" Whitebeard's booming voice echoed throughout the ship.

Shanks' expression turned bored as he stared straight ahead.

"Why yes I did, is there a problem?"

"You're insane! You really think that it's a good idea to attack them like this!? You sure have a death wish...". Whitebeard's complaints fell on deaf ears as Shanks was already planning to do this. Whitebeard pirates were just going to be extra reinforcements that Shanks could make do without.

Murmers of agreements and outrage sounded out from the surrounding pirates. It seems like they all disagreed with Shanks' plan.

Amidst this confusion and anger, a voice broke through everyone's yells.

"I agree with Shanks..."

Ace's proclamations hushed the raging crowd. The silence was filled with looks of confusion and disbelief, no one understands the words that had come out of their commander's mouth. Even Whitebeard looked shocked at the boy's statement.

"We can trust Shanks", he continued. "He has the best of intentions"

Marco was the one who voiced out everyone's concern. "What the hell are you on about Ace? Why should we trust him?"

Ace still looked as calm as ever, perched up on the railing, his eyes closed and face filled with apathy. The Whitebeard pirates all stared at their comrade with questioning gazes and Shanks looked as happy as ever.

"The boy's right. Why would I ever hurt cute little Luffy?"

Everyone ignored Shanks and continued to stare at Ace, who sighed and finally opened his eyes. He rubbed the back of his head and jumped off the railing to the middle of the crowd. The pirates were patiently waiting for the answers to their multiple questions.

"Shanks met Luffy, he knew my brother even before I did."

The status' of the pirate's feelings changed once again. Throughout the all in all 10 minutes Shanks was on board, the pirates have had their brain fried multiple times. The feelings after the most recent proclamation were off confusion and surprise once again.

Whitebeard looked towards Shanks again who gave him another eye smile. Whitebeard sighed again trying to make up his mind about Shanks' proposal. He looked back at Ace, who stared back into his eyes, almost as if he was waiting for him to do so. Ace's eyes revealed nothing at the surface, but beneath it lay the raging fires he so desperately tries to hide.

He closed his eyes for one last time and looks away as he tries to hide his relief when his father declares their temporary alliance with the Red-Haired Pirates.

/終わり/

A/N: sorry i suck

I do not own One Piece (I wish), but please favorite, follow, and enjoy. Thank you for choosing Chained as your source of entertainment for today, I look forward to fucking with your emotions...Adieu!