Chapter Text
Reader pov
You woke up against your husband's chest, feeling content, sated, happy and relaxed. You had just left Fishman Island, which you were a bit sad about since this specific kingdom was so comfortable for you to be in, but you knew Shanks needed to roam around certains waters rather than others.
You snuggled against your husband's chest, content about the relative peace that would be yours to enjoy for the next couple of years, and the more familial projects you had together.
"Hey love," you mumbled against Shanks' chest.
"Morning babe," your Emperor replied, and nuzzled against your neck, which made you chuckle.
You cuddled for a while, Shanks bringing his arm around you while you basked together in the warm bliss of honeymoon.
Then your wonderful, amazing, beloved husband cleared his throat and spoke in a specific tone that definitely screamed please-tell-me-you-still-love-me-and-won't-ask-for-divorce.
"So, erm, is there any chance you'll agree to meet my brother and father before we go back to my territories ?" Shanks asked in an overly cheerful voice.
You stilled, then took a deep breath without looking at him, released said breath, tore yourself appart from the man you had married less than a week ago, and looked at him with a raised eyebrow.
"Shanks ?"
The idea that Shanks had close family he had not invited to your wedding was both making you furious and slightly worried about your relationship, even if his embarrassed expression and puppy eyes led you to think it might be more complicated than that. So you closed your eyes briefly, then tried your best to calm down and give yourself the necessary motivation to deal with that unexpected matter.
"Yes, my beloved Goddess, love of my life, light of my days, only-"
"You better give me an explanation and now," you cut him off sternly.
Your red-haired husband gulped and winced at your reaction, then hid between your breasts to mumble a reply.
"So I kinda was born a Celestial Dragon."
Your brain crashed and you pushed him away from you in horror.
"YOU FUCKING WHAT !?"
"Roger adopted me when I was a baby and I rejected it !" Shanks shouted urgently.
You turned away from him and attempted to calm your hyperventilation, your entire being focusing on that news that was smashing everything you knew to smithereens. Fuck, to think you had discarded this theory as a stupid rumour.
"Babe, love, please, I promise I'm not one of them !" Shanks pleaded from behind you while your legs were already out of bed. "I- I went to Marie Geoise after Roger's execution to meet my birth family but I'm a pirate, a man of the Sea, I've never once felt like I belonged with them, I swear."
Your mind was reeling, your feelings a mess, your very conception of this world swirling, and after a few more minutes battling feelings of betrayal and incomprehension, you inhaled deeply. You had vowed to love that man for the rest of your life, you knew he lived for the wind in his hair and the waves rocking under his feet. You knew he despised slave traders and laughed with random kids to make them smile. You knew who he was, and the family he was born into did not change that.
So you turned around, your eyes hard as you met his, and clenched your fists but armed yourself with patience.
"Explain."
Shanks explained.
It took a lot out of you not to send the seas in a fury.
One hour and a lot of calming breaths later, you looked at the man you had married out of love, doing your absolute best to keep your calm.
"So you have a twin brother who is the Commander of an elite force standing for everything we commonly hate, and a father who is his direct superior officer while also being right under the Gorosei in terms of authority."
"Yeah ?"
"And your father has extended an invitation to have dinner with him and your brother in the Figarland estate in Marie Geoise after hearing you and I got married."
"Well, yeah."
"And you want us to not only respond to that invitation, but actually go there, despite the fact that I will be away from the Sea and hate every single second of it."
"I mean… yeah," Shanks mumbled lamely.
"I'm way too sober for this," you sighed.
"It's just… Garling is a piece of shit," Shanks conceded with puppy eyes, "and I disagree with Shamrock on just about everything, but they're still family, and it would mean a lot to me if you agreed to meet them. Please sweetheart, I promise it'll just be this one time and then never again !"
You glared at your husband, who cowered under your stare, but the genuine hope in his eyes was tugging at your heartstrings, and in a matter of seconds, you could feel yourself cave. You sighed loudly and averted your eyes.
"Just one time. I meet them once, and then you and I never go to that wretched city ever again unless it's to raze it to the ground."
"YES ! I promise, this is the only awkward family dinner you'll ever have to attend," Shanks instantly agreed and jumped to hug you. "Thank you, I promise I'll protect you from anything up there and we won't stay long."
"You better," you muttered. "And I don't care what the Figarland estate is like, I'll need to be near a pool or fountain at some point or I'll go crazy."
"Of course, no problem, we can arrange that," your husband agreed with his head hidden against your hair. "Thank you so much for agreeing to this, babe."
"I'm going to make them hate me, you know that, right ?" you warned him.
"Fine by me, at least Garling won't invite us again," Shanks snorted.
You laughed against his chest for a while, then you finally relaxed against your husband and you both laid back in bed, cuddling and snuggling lazily for a while.
"This is going to be awful," you stated lightly.
"Yep," your husband agreed with an awkward laugh.
-o-oOo-o-
You stepped out of the Bondola in the early afternoon, feeling uneasy to be so far away from the Sea and already two seconds away from snapping at the sight of Celestial Dragons abusing people all around you. Both Shanks and yourself were wearing cloaks to hide your identities, but your self-control was fraying at the edges at the horrors you were witnessing.
"I hate this place," you seethed for the fifth time as many minutes as your husband guided you through the streets.
"Me too," Shanks replied in a clipped voice for the fifth time as well. "Just keep it together for a little longer, love."
"I'm trying," you said through gritted teeth.
Shanks gave you an apologetic look, and you tried to focus on it rather than your environment. Just his eyes, just your husband's presence, just the man you loved. Nothing else existed, nothing else mattered. It was either that or you would call upon every water source nearby and destroy the city.
When you finally arrived to a massive manor, you almost sighed in relief at the fact that you would no longer have to witness the atrocities committed like they were normal acts. Neither Shanks' father nor brother welcomed you, which suited you just fine.
"Welcome to the Figarland Estate. Emperor of the Sea Akagami no Shanks," a butler – or someone who looked, spoke, and acted like a butler – said to your husband, "please follow me. Goddess of the Sea Y/N, please follow the head maid. We shall guide you to your respective bedchambers."
"Uh, thanks," Shanks laughed, "but we're married, we'll share-"
"Saint Figarland expressively demanded those specific rooms be prepared for you," the butler insisted.
You raised an eyebrow at his polite yet inflexible tone, then smirked.
Oh, I see what's going on there.
"I dare hope our bedchambers are near each other and communicate ? We are newlyweds, after all," you asked in a sweet and polite voice.
"Of course, milady, your chambers are adjacent to your husband's, right in the family's aisle."
"Then it's perfect, please let Saint Figarland know we are grateful for his thoughtfulness," you said with a completely fake smile and watched Shanks look at you in shock, then in worry as he took your dangerously sweet expression.
"I will, milady," the white-haired man answered with a pronounced bow.
"You go, love, I'll be fine," you told your husband with a kiss on the cheek.
"Are you sure ? I can-"
"Babe, you do you," you assured him in a whisper with a dark smile. "I'll do me. They'll regret ever inviting me here."
Shanks' pupils dilated at the lurking promise of danger in your eyes, and his breathing shortened minutely.
"Or we could-"
"Nope," you said and kissed his cheek. "Go have fun, my beloved husband, I'll see you at dinner."
Your read-head pouted for a second and grumbled for a while, but ultimately followed the butler-who-might-not-be-called-a-butler, and you stayed there a while longer while trying to keep your shark's smile in check.
Then a middle-aged woman in uniform stepped toward you, four other women wearing more common maid uniforms behind her. None of them were looking you in the eyes, and they all bowed deeply.
"Goddess of the Sea Y/N, we are here to serve you to the best of our ability during your stay in the Figarland Estate."
You looked at the five women in front of you, who clearly looked scared, and let go of your devious thoughts and attitude. They had nothing to do with this situation and the least you could do for them was to be as polite and respectful as possible.
"Thank you, I greatly appreciate your efforts. Please feel free to raise your heads and look at me when you speak, I'm not a Celestial Dragon and will never ask for that kind of submission from anyone," you said softly, then as the shocked gasps it earned you and the few tentative eyes raising, you smiled gently. "Though I understand you may be more comfortable with a certain type of behaviour, and I won't berate you either if you prefer to maintain it."
The head maid seemed taken aback at your little speech, but composed herself quickly and coughed as all five women straightened, some of the women now looking at you with more curiousity than fear.
"Thank you for so much consideration, milady. Please follow me, I will show you to your rooms."
"Lead the way," you smiled.
You walked for a while in the corridors decorated with grand paintings of what you suspected to be family ancestors, and various statues or decorating elements that screamed luxury. In your humble opinion, it was still too much, but you could tell it was stopping just shy of tacky and gaudy. Which probably meant that by Marie Geoise standards, the estate would be considered rather austere.
You ultimately arrived in a massice corridor that only contained four doors, two on each side, and the head maid whose name you still did not know stopped in front of the one further from the stairs.
"These are your bedchambers. Your husband's are the one we just passed, and Saint Shamrock's quarters are on the opposite side of yours."
"Who lives in the last one ?" you asked curiously.
"No one for now, but when Saint Shamrock will marry, they will be occupied by his wife," she answered you, then opened the door.
Your eyes widened when you stepped inside the bedchambers, but a small chuckle quickly escaped you before you shook your head good-heartedly and grinned. The walls were a mix of sea-blue and white, most of the furniture was made of a much darker wood to add contrast, and the curtains and bed sheets were in a sea-green fabric with subtle wave patterns in gold.
The few paintings on the walls were all depicting various sea panoramics, and every detail of the moldings on the walls and doors leading to what you assumed had to be a bathroom and maybe a closet were sea-related, and in either gold or silver. A gold chandelier was also proudly hanging from the ceiling, and there was a massive mirror near the bed that you instantly knew Shanks would want to take advantage of before you left.
All in all, it was clear this room had been designed with you in mind, or rather, with the Goddess of the Sea in mind. The number of servants destined to attend you had not been a particularly subtle move to begin with, but this was about as subtle as Ketchup.
"Is the room to your liking, milady ?" the head maid asked you with a neutral yet careful voice.
"It's beautiful," you replied honestly.
It felt a lot like a room straight out of a fairytale, somewhere you figured a disney princess could live. And well, while you still hated the Celestial Dragons and their bullshit ideology, you were not going to pass up the opportunity to live in a fairytale for a day or so.
You felt the relief flow through the little group behind you like a wave, but did not comment on it. They were obviously under a lot of pressure to make you feel comfortable, and you fully intended to make their job as easy as you could while you were there.
"The maids will help you get ready for dinner," the head maid said with another bow. "I will come back to escort you when it is time."
She walked back until she was out of the room, and you felt tension run up anew among the four young women left alone with you. You rolled your eyes and sighed, then smiled.
"Relax, girls, I'm not going to bite you. I can't imagine the pressure put on you to make me happy while I'm here, but I promise I'm pretty simple to take care of. What kind of orders have you been given ?"
That seemed to jolt them out of their stress, and one of them, a blond woman with freckles and looked around twenty, stepped forward.
"We… we've received clear instructions to attend to your every need, milady. And ensure you would be ready for dinner."
"Then how about you all start by telling me your names ?" you offered gently. "Then you can tell me what exactly be ready for dinner implies."
"Slaves don't have names, milady," another one, with long black hair in a braid, whispered without looking at you.
You blinked in shock, then forced yourself not to get angry in front of them. You were furious at a deshumanizing system, not the people stuck in it. An idea came to you and you give them a conspiratorial grin.
"So… hypothetically speaking, if I were to decide to call each of you by a specific name because I wanted to, no rule would be broken ? And, still hypothetically of course, if you were to remember that name and thought of it as yours, it would be fine as long as you never introduced yourself with it, correct ?" you asked innocently.
All four women froze and looked at you in shock.
"That- that would not be proper, milady-"
"But no rule would be broken ?" you repeated.
"No," the blond one replied with what now looked like hope and want in her eyes.
"Perfect, because each of you remind me of a different princess of a fairytale I know," you said lightly, then came to take her hands in yours. "How do you feel about being called Aurora ?"
A bright smile lit up her face.
"It's beautiful, milady."
"Then it's settled, for as long as I'm here, I'll call you Aurora."
Thirty minutes later, you were retelling fairytales while taking a pretty divine bath while being surrounded by Aurora, Jasmine, Tiana and Ella, who seemed to have made it their personal mission to pamper you until you would become a puddle of blissed-out goo.
While you still dreaded the dinner to come, this amazing mix of spa day and girl time was almost making up for it.
-o-oOo-o-
Shamrock pov
While it was not unheard of for his father to call for him at random times of the day, usually to inform him of his next mission, Shamrock had noted a certain sternness in his voice. This specific tone tended to mean the subject they would breach would be particularly important and the pressure on his shoulders more consequent than usual.
The God's Knight knocked on his father's office, and was instantly invited inside. He opened the door and closed it behind him, noting briefly the presence of the butler and head maid of the Figarland Estate standing on the side. His father was sitting at his desk, hands joined in front of him, sunglasses hiding his eyes, and looking even more focused than usual.
"Father ?"
"You will join me and my guests at dinner tonight. I will tolerate no mistake or poor behaviour on your side."
"Of course," Shamrock replied confidently.
The Commander even allowed himself to relax slightly. Dinners with other royal families could be tedious affairs, but nothing he did not know how to handle with perfect composure.
"Good. Your brother and his wife will become precious assets for the family name."
Shamrock's mind crashed and he froze for a second. Surely he had misheard. His father would not have invited his good-for-nothing twin and a woman usurping the title of deity in the prestigious Figarland Estate. Those two were a shame, a stain on their immaculate name, and no amount of power could compensate for their mere commoner status.
"Father, they are-"
"Already in their appartments," Garling cut him off. "She seems to possess some manners and an easy disposition, swaying her to our side should not prove to be particularly difficult."
"Manners ? She's a commoner," Shamrock said, as close to a protest as he would dare to speak in front of Saint Figarland.
His father turned his head toward the servants, who both bowed, their eyes set on the ground.
"The Goddess of the Sea only asked whether the chambers prepared for her communicated with her husband's," their butler declared carefully. "Upon confirmation, she said, I quote, please let Saint Figarland know we are grateful for his thoughtfulness."
Shamrock stilled for a moment, his mind begrudgingly acknowledging the eloquence of the phrasing and perfect politeness behind the instruction to transfer her gratitude. It seemed the so-called goddess of the sea indeed possessed some level of education and manners after all.
"She asked that we did not treat her like a Celestial Dragon," the head maid stated just as cautiously, "but added she would not berate anyone for behaving the way they were taught. When asked whether her bedchambers were to her liking, she replied, I quote, it's beautiful."
The God's Knight clenched his jaw at the idea that his father had had a room prepared specifically for this woman, and possibly for his younger brother as well. He hated instantly that he could not find a fault in her behaviour.
"She also appears to have quite the influence on your brother," his father commented. "Do you understand what that means, Shamrock ?"
"If we win her to our side, he will follow," the red-head completed easily, then his brow furrowed at the idea that Garling would even consider the idea to grant them such an honour.
His father only nodded, then made a dismissive movement of his hand.
"You may go."
Shamrock left after a polite nod, but as soon as he was out the doors, his fists clenched in anger and he started walking in the direction of his quarters, his anger making his Haki flare up and get dangerously close to lash out.
How could his father do such a thing. How could he invite that drunken sleaze in their home and imply that he might take him back in the family, as if Shamrock was not already ten times the man Shanks could ever hope to be. As if this wretched, poorly-bred, commoner woman's power meant she could be more than a useful tool at best.
The images of the destruction and utter ruthlessness she had bestowed upon the convoy escorting a pirate came back to his mind, and Shamrock clenched his jaw. He could not deny her powers were challenging the very sense of reality, to the point Vegapunk had begged for a sample of her blood to experiment upon. But she still had the arrogance to call herself a goddess and the stupidity to align herself with vulgar criminals.
The Marines picked her moniker and she aligned herself with two of the most powerful men in the world, not just random sea dogs.
The reminder provided by his brain only made the Commander tense further. The picture of her bounty poster imposed itself in his mind, a balance of beauty and confidence wrapped in power. To think that he would have to show her any level of respect when she was the one who should be honoured to breathe the same air he did.
Shamrock was still angry and brooding when he made his way to his bedchambers, but the sight of three maids giggling a few steps further in front of him in the corridor made him pause for a second. They were almost running toward the door facing his, and he caught their words just before they walked through it.
"… so beautiful and kind !"
"… give me one too ?"
"… so lucky !"
Never, in all his life, had Figarland Shamrock ever witnessed slaves or servants looking so excited to attend to someone. He walked to his rooms, determined to step in and cool off, but his curiousity confusion got the better of him and he stopped in front of the door. The God's Knight turned around, stepped until he was facing the door in front of his, and extended his Haki.
Further down the corridor, the bright gold of Shanks' presence was plain as day, but the way it flickered seemed to show his brother was annoyed, and Shamrock barely refrained from rolling his eyes at his twin's inability to adapt to high standards.
But as soon as he discarded that brief flash, the sight in front of him caught his eye and captured his attention entirely. A powerful mixture of colours with a hundred shades of blue as its dominant theme, yet also comported nuances of greys and greens, even an occasional spark of silvery white, all colours harmonizing so well together it felt like watching the Sea itself.
The blue was predominant, exuding happiness in waves. That presence radiated a contentement and calm so intense that it could only put one's mind at ease and wish to partake in its simple and powerful joy. Despite himself, Shamrock felt his body relax simply by basking in this incredible feeling, his deep red essence calming down and going from a dark crimson to a light ruby.
Then he focused further, trying to get more of it, and faint hints of voices echoed from the other side of the door.
"… and they waltzed together all evening, losing themselves in each other's presence and the love blossoming between them," an enthralling voice said with a tone that even Shamrock knew belonged to the retelling of a story.
An excited squeal followed.
"So it really was love at first sight !"
The interruption belonged to a weak beige colour hovering at the edge of the blue, something dull and devoid of any interest, but somehow not drown into the much more powerful colours next to it. It almost looked like the blue was including it in its aura, protective and gentle instead of suffocating. When Shamrock focused further, he felt several other equally dull and weak colours surrounding the vibrant might of the blue, as if drawn to it.
He had better things to do. He was Commander of the God's Knights. He needed to prepare himself for the dinner to come. He was a Celestial Dragon. He was a god among men. He had no reason to linger in front of the door of his pathetic brother's wife's bedchambers.
Yet the bewitching, appeasing, soothing shades of blue and the tale of a woman born noble, then cursed to slavery, then helped by magic to reveal her true nature, and ultimately winning the love of a prince, kept Shamrock glued to his spot for a ridiculous amount of time.
"… and they lived happily ever after. The end," the mesmerising voice finished with a happy lilt.
"This was so beautiful !"
"Can you tell another one, milady ? Please !"
"Wait, we need to decide which dress you're going to wear !"
"And the jewellery ! And the make-up !"
The annoying yapping broke Shamrock out of the spell he was under, and he shook himself before turning heels and stepping inside his own quarters. As soon as the door closed, his hand shot to his face and hid his eyes. What an embarrassment. He could count himself lucky no one had walked in on him in such a humiliating situation.
The Commander looked at himself in the main mirror of his rooms. He looked as regal as usual, obviously, but there were some askew details here and there in his clothes and hair. His father had expressively asked him to be on his best behaviour for the dinner, which meant he had to look his best. And Shamrock had always prided himself on being the golden son of the Figarland family, after all.