the hoof of the soaring dragon | ONE PIECE (discontinued)

Chapter 11 *

"Can Akira becomes the bookseller?"

"We are not selling books, Vance"

"I know but like she would take care of the library and all that stuff."

Benn turned his gaze to the young woman who nodded with a shy smile.

"I don't see why not."

The young man waggled his eyebrows, repeating to her that he had warned him: no one will complain. Her only answer to his cockiness was a small smile and roll from her eye. She hesitated "Should I start now?"

"Well, miss" started Vance as he put his hands on her shoulders to turn her around "if you want to be able to order that mess, I think you need to start as soon as you can"

"You are right" interrupted Benn as he patted his shoulder "I think you can help her though, right Vance?"

The nurse bite his lower lips and muttered "Of course, I can. Love the dust from a pile of antiques."

Akira let slip a chuckle at his uneasiness. Her friend was not a fan of what he would describe as 'boring activities'. He only came there to study, the other books didn't interest him.

"But first I need to talk to you," said Been as he grabbed the back of Vance's collar. He quickly pushed him towards the exit. "You can start now, Akira. I will be quick."

Clueless, Akira waved at them and turned to the mountain of work waiting for her. "I guess I need a plan first."

•••

"You can let go of me" stated Vance as he was brought into an empty room.

"Vance." his tone was severe making the youngster understood that the situation needed him to be serious "Don't forget that Shanks is our capitaine"

He didn't even need to elaborate. The moment he saw that the red-haired man chose his right man's cabin to get away from the young woman, Vance knew he was in deep trouble. Shanks had to explain at a minimum the reason for his change and therefore the part where Vance lost his calm.

"I didn't ask him to that."

"I don't care about that. I only wanted to talk to you to remind you" he straightened up and towered the nurse "that Shanks is our capitaine and there is certain respect you need to have for him. I understand where you were coming from but I don't believe he would have done something to harm her. And let her breathe a little. Protecting her from everything is not the solution."

At his words, Vance proceeded back to the library. He had no answer even less witty words to give. He knew that was a fact, the captain didn't intend to hurt her. But under that tree, his hand on her cheek, at that precise moment his feelings had clearly taken over his consciousness.

"And just so you know, he's not staying in my room!"

•••

With the workload and the little progress she had made, Akira had not realized the sun had gone down. Only Gaal's visit for lunch and dinner -organized away from the main hall and accompanied by her usual group- gave her an idea of how much organizing this bookshop was going to do much more than pass the time.

"Is it okay for you to do that?" asked Gaal

"Don't worry. For now, I'm only writing an inventory the actual tidying is for later. And I will be careful"

"I could help you. I think even Tenshi could"

"That would be nice of you"

No one had mentioned the incident of the day before which bothered her. At first, she thought they were hiding from her but she quickly realized that even among them, the discussion did not take place.