Chapter Text
Shanks pov
One stupid mistake.
One unacceptable, inexcusable, barely-there split second of distraction that should never have happened in the first place because Shanks was better than that.
But it had happened, and now his first mate was on his knees with a hand on his right shoulder and his jaw clenched in pain, while the other Captain was laughing and claiming the poison would kill him by the time the next full moon rose.
The next instant, Shanks let his Haki crash over the rest of their opponents at the full extent of its might fueled with incandescent rage, a surge of asphyxiating power strong enough to kill the entire crew in a single second.
Only the Captain was spared, and the sudden fear in his eyes told Shanks he was seeing a monster walking up to him.
"The antidote," the Emperor stated darkly. "And I might kill you quickly."
"HA ! I'll never tell ! Even if I die, everyone will know I-ARRRRGH !!"
"The. Antidote," Shanks repeated after slowly impaling his sword in the guy's ankle.
"You're wasting your time," he seethed. "Not even you can get it !"
Shanks remained silent this time, his expression dark, and took Gryphon out of the ankle to pierce through the knee, cutting through skin, bone, tendon, and then turning the blade inside, making the piece of trash howl in pain.
"Wonderland !" he screamed with snot running from his nose. "The poison's from Wonderland !"
Shanks stopped the movement of his sword, but his dark glare and aura did not diminish.
"I don't have the antidote, don't know what it is, the poison's made wi- with sungrip roots !"
The Emperor took the blade out of the wound.
And then swiftly decapitated the man before turning around.
"Get whatever you can from that ship, then we're off to Wonderland," he ordered sternly.
"Captain," Hongo said from where he was kneeling near Beckman. "Wonderland is a labyrinth, brute force won't cut it. The only ships that come back from that crazy place are the ones who dock at the port and never venture within the land, and even then-"
"They don't always make it out," Beckman completed while sweating. "Heard it too. Goin' in blind will kill us all."
"I'm not letting you die," Shanks stated darkly.
"He said we had until the next full moon, that means we got almost a month since the last one was two days ago," Hongo countered. "I'll see if I can find something to mitigate the symtpoms until then. But if we're going to Wonderland…"
"We're gonna need a guide," the Emperor completed, and willed himself to get a grip on his emotions. "Hongo, do what you can. I'll call Shakky."
Shanks ignored the shocked looks of his friends and walked to his quarters, both to calm himself, down a bottle, and call Ray's wife. Shakky was one of the best informants in the world. One of the most exclusive, expensive, and secretive too, but if anyone knew where to find a guide to the madhouse made island that was Wonderland, it would be her.
The Emperor slammed the door behind him, his Haki barely kept in check while he was still furious at himself for letting his first mate and close friend get shot.
Should've been me.
The red-head picked the bottle of rum near his bed, and emptied half of it in one go, the harsh burn of alcohol just barely chasing the bitter feeling of failure for a moment.
Then he put it back, and picked his personal den-den mushi to compose Rayleigh's number.
Purupurupuru.
Purupurupuru.
Gatcha.
"Rayleigh."
"Ray, it's me. I need to talk to Shakky," Shanks said without bothering with chitchat for once.
"Well hello to you too, brat, I'm doing well-"
"Beck's been shot. Poisoned bullet. I need intel and I need it now," the red-head cut him off through gritted teeth.
There was absolute silence for a moment, then the voice of his father figure's wife echoed through the snail.
"Shakky speaking. What do you need ?"
"Beckman's been poisoned with sungrip roots from Wonderland, what do you have on that ?"
Another heavy silence answered him for a moment, which was not what the Emperor wanted to hear.
"I'm sorry, Shanks. There's no antidote for that, not to my knowledge at least. Wonderland is its own world, there's almost nothing known about it, much less about the kind of plants you can find there," she sighed. "Even if the people and things living there don't kill you, they'll make sure you'll never find your way out."
"Some crews trade with the island often enough to get poison," the red-head countered.
"Yes, but none of them dare to go further than the docks, and even then, not all of them manage to leave alive. It's a risky business, but the products they get out of it are so rare that some smugglers try their luck a couple times a year," Shakky replied. "They wouldn't be able to guide you on the island anymore than they could negotiate an antidote on your behalf."
Shanks felt his heart clench at the explanation. Shakky would not lie to him about something so important, but it basically meant the situation was hopeless.
"Shakky, it's Beck we're talking about," Shanks pressed, his stubborness refusing to give up, not when his friend's life was at stake. "There has to be a way, something, anything."
The snail gave another long sigh, then what sounded like a lighter clicking and a long exhale, which meant the info broker had lit up a cigarette. Shanks waited with baited breath, aware that it was Shakky's way to buy time when she hesitated to speak.
"I… might have something. Nothing sure, though, it's flimsy at best, more of a rumour than anything else, and I can't guarantee its veracity."
"I'll take it," the Emperor replied instantly, his whole body alert at the prospect of a solution.
"Only someone born and raised in Wonderland can navigate it," the former Kuja Empress told him. "I've heard faint whispers of a woman who's made a name for herself in the past six years or so. Not a big bounty, she's more of a chaotic nuisance than a threat by Marine standards, but she's got the reputation of being uncatchable. Some people pretend she's from Wonderland and left by sneaking on one of the few ships leaving the island. Like I said, nothing certain."
"I'll take her name and current location," Shanks said immediately.
Even a flimsy possibility was better than nothing. If there was a chance than this woman could save his first mate, then the Emperor was ready to do whatever it took to convince her to help him.
"Give me a moment," Shakky said.
The red-head nodded, knowing the snail would mimick his movement, and waited the couple minutes it took for the former Empress to find the specific intel she needed.
"You know it's a shot in the dark at best, right ?" Ray told him bluntly after a little while. "If Shakky tells you there's no guarantee, it means you might as well consider it a baseless rumour."
"I'll investigate anyway. I'm not letting Beck die, Ray. Not without doing every-fucking-thing I can to save him first," Shanks retorted grimly.
"Just as stubborn as your dad," Ray snorted.
The compliment made Shanks relax the tiniest bit and a small smile even spread his lips.
"Like you're any different. I take after both of you for that and you know it."
There was some noise after that, and the snail's appearance changed again to take Shakky's features.
"She was spotted in the kingdom of Kukania last week, she usually spends between one and four months in the same place, so that might be your best shot," she informed him. "By the way, I'm not charging you for all that, since it's intel I can't guarantee the truth of."
"I don't really care about costs at the moment, but thanks," Shanks snorted, but felt relieved it was an island not that far away from their current location. "What's her name ?"
"Y/N, better known as her moniker, the Queen of Illusions. User of a Mythical Zoan Devil Fruit, model Kitsune. Good luck."
Gatcha.
Shanks stared at the snail for a moment. So his only hope to save one of his closest friends relied on his ability to find a woman no one had been able to catch so far, and who could create illusions to disappear at will.
The Emperor took a deep breath, then his face set into determination. It would not be the first time he did something no one had ever done before, and when it came to protecting his own, there was no length he would not go. If this woman truly was from Wonderland and could save Beck, then Shanks would do whatever it took to convince her to do it.
He stepped out of his quarters, and looked at his crew, who were almost done transferring everything worth looting from the other ship to the Red Force. They all stopped what they were doing to look at him, Hongo and Beck included, and Shanks squared his shoulders.
"Set course for Kukania, lads. We're going to find the Queen of Illusions."
-o-oOo-o-
Beckman pov
Had it been a stupid move and a terrible life decision ? Yes.
Would Beckman do it again to avoid his Captain taking the shot instead ? Probably yes too.
Even if that damn poison was a right pain in the ass. The light burning feeling constantly present in his right shoulder had dimmed after the first hour to become little more than a bother at all time, but after the two days of sailing it took them to reach Kukania, it was obvious the sensation was slowly intensifying and spreading through his body.
Beckman had not needed Hongo doing research or making calls to other doctors to guess what was going to happen to him. The burning would keep getting worse, until his entire body felt like it was on fire by the time of the next full moon, and he would die.
Not a particularly pleasant prospect.
But Shanks' idea was almost worse, and that was saying something. Going to Wonderland on the off-chance there would be an antidote, and relying on the Queen of Illusions to guide them, was nothing short of insane. They had gathered every scrap of information they could on that woman during the past two days as well, and the result did not bode well.
She was said to be chaotic, unpredictable, mischievous, to only work for herself, to have more than earned her uncatchable reputation among Marines and bounty hunters, and the reason her bounty was only at thirty million berries despite roaming in the New World was because her actual crimes were on the lower end of Marine standards.
Light theft, insults to Marines and nobles, resisting arrest, partial destruction of public property, public disorder, this kind of things. Even the few accounted murders could almost be attributed to self-defense. Her bounty poster did not even show her face clearly, since green flames were hiding the area around her eyes like a mask.
In short, this woman was an unreliable wild card.
Yet Shanks was adamant he was going to find her and convince her to help them.
A fool's errand, based on a fool's hope.
Beckman had not vowed to follow Shanks to see him sacrifice everything they had built on a fool's hope. Unfortunately, he had also vowed to obey his Captain, and the first mate did not intend to break this promise. Not further than voicing his objection, at least, which he had done and Shanks had heard and dismissed.
The red-head came to him right before they docked.
"I'll go find her. You're in charge until I come back. Make sure to resupply enough for us to go straight to Wonderland after that."
What Beckman wanted to do was asking when his friend would simply accept that he would die in less than a month and that was that.
Instead, he lit up a smoke and nodded.
"Aye Captain."
Shanks put a black cloak around himself and the hood over his head, a half-baked disguise at best, but good enough to fool random civilians, half-witted pirates, and most Marines. He made his way to the docks, and quickly lost himself in the crowd and alleys in search of an elusive woman who was probably unable or unwilling to assist them.
"You think he can find her ?" Yasopp asked him as he stretched his arms.
"If someone can find her, it's probably him," the first mate shrugged. "But even if she's from Wonderland, she left it for a reason. I doubt she'd agree to go back."
Yasopp sighed loudly, then stretched his hands over his head.
"And since that island's a madhouse, we can't force her to be our guide anyway, she'd just lose us in a heartbeat and we'd be trapped forever," the sniper completed the reasoning, then looked at him with sadness. "We've still got time to figure out something else."
Beckman stayed silent at that. The reason Wonderland poisons were so sought-after was precisely because they were so uniquely weird that no one could create an antidote to them. Even Shanks' luck and stubborness had limits.