Chapter Text
Roger was the first one to notice that the doctor always seemed to be humming something, he had seen the man do it when they picked him up at the start of the Grand Line. Had seen the whale he had been watching over look less depressed at the tune that followed.
Recognizing, he did not, however. It didn’t seem like any of the music he had heard in East Blue. Asking Rayleigh, who had been traveling longer revealed his first mate didn’t know the tune either.
The next time Crocus was humming it, Roger approached the man, asking about what song it was. It sounded pleasant, to say the least.
What followed was the story of the Rumbar Pirates, the little whale that they had accidentally brought along, resulting in a mourning little whale that hoped its Nakama returned to him.
“It was one of the reasons I joined your crew, Roger, I want to see if I can’t find out what happened to the Rumbar Pirates. If Laboon needs to keep mourning, or if it wouldn’t be easier and humane to put him out of his misery.”
Humming the melody again, the words came right after, letting Roger and Rayleigh hear what a jolly tune it truly was. A song very much suited for a pirate crew. Not that surprising as it had been written by another crew years before them.
“It was one of the first tunes the Rumbar Pirates wrote, and one they sang and played most often. It puts Laboon at ease, so learning it was an advantage I could use to calm him down. I guess now it helps to pass it on, to make more people learn it in the hope that it reaches whatever remains from the Rumbar Pirates so they know they music isn’t forgotten.”
Nodding at that explanation, saddened by the loss of the creators of such an amazing song, Roger asked Crocus to teach them. For now they were just a small crew, one only just setting out on their adventure. But in time, maybe they grew to the point that each and everyone on these seas knew their names.
“If anything, we can make sure that more and more people learn it. That those of our crew that ever switch, or leave to form their own crews can pass it on just the same. Even if we never find anyone of the Rumbar Pirates at least their song lives on.”
Wiping away a tear from the corner of his eye, Crocus had agreed. Teaching his captain and the first mate the lyrics and tune of the song.
A song which always made an appearance whenever the crew had a party.
Even their captain’s best friend and rival, Edward Newgate, asked for the lyrics of the song at one point. Explaining that Roger and his crew were always singing it.
They were treated to the same story, before being taught the song. Asked to keep it alive for the Rumbar Pirates, who were most likely not among the living anymore. Asked to sing it, whenever they wanted, to keep it in the hearts of sailors, just as their creators would have wanted.
When they defeated Rockx together with Garp, and found a child in between the treasure they took away from the island it had happened on. Bink’s Sake became a lullaby for the little lad that had been taken on board the Oro Jackson.
Shanks was a joy to be around, loving the song, and asking about it whenever he felt like wanting to hear it. It became more than a party song, or was it used as a party song still and was Shanks presence just that much more of a party? No one would know, nor minded, when the melody alone was enough to make a smile appear on the faces of the Roger Pirates.
Years later, after they sailed to the end of the line, their captain became Pirate King. The crew stopped singing the song when he went to his execution. Even knowing he had given himself up to save them. To give all of them a chance to keep on living, they couldn’t bear to sing or hum the song that had connected them all as a crew.
Shanks was the only one who started it again, when he first found a little girl he came to see as his daughter (more than once realizing what Roger and Raylaigh went through after finding him) and soon after a little boy who sounded too much like his captain to be a coincidence, singing it to them in the hope that a new generation would be keeping the song alive just the same.
Years passed, and when Luffy became Pirate King, Shanks was approached by a skeleton of all people. Thanking him for keeping his song alive, for letting Brook know there were still those out there remembering the Rumbar Pirates and willing to let them be remembered.
It all tied together, and once again became a party song. One that he took great care in enjoying, thinking about those lost at sea. Hoping they too would have their own party with the fallen Rumbar Pirates (he had a feeling Roger would get along great with them all).