An Encounter With A Red Haired Pirate

[ Stussy POV ]

Hades

"We finally made it. I hope he finished what he left for," Ken remarked.

"He'll be alright; this isn't the first time he's up and gone for a long period of time," I remarked.

We had just managed to get into the New World. We stopped by Fishman Island to resupply and rest before returning to the New World. So far, the most they had encountered were some Pirates trying to move to the New World, and they thought they could compete with them.

"Let's just focus on meeting back up with the rest of the crew," I instructed as I gave a look at our navigators.

They both nodded immediately and headed back to the navigation station to set up a route we would take. Ken and Carla decided to spar on the deck of the ship. While Pato was working on a drawing, he said that he needed to create stronger clones so that he could join some fights whenever we needed to.

Stussy had already called Whitebeard and asked where the crew was currently settling in. So all that had been left was to inform Boris where we would be sailing as soon as possible. I didn't know when he would be free, but I would have to take a shot in the dark.

However, I had to put those thoughts on hold as I began sensing a formidable presence making its way towards us.

His Haki was very formidable; it reminded me a bit of Kaido when I had last seen him. That wasn't all. However, there were more people on that ship who also had a formidable presence as well. It wasn't up to par with the one I had first noted, but they weren't easy pushovers either.

Ken and Carla had already stopped sparring and were already looking at the incoming ship with a wary expression.

"I'm glad to see I'm not the only one noticing them," I teased as I readied myself for a potential fight.

The rest of the crew looked on wearily as they readied themselves for a long, weary fight. 

The Ship's bow had a dragon-shaped head, and standing on it was a young man who had a three-stripped scar across his eyes. His eyes flashed brightly as the ship slowed down right in front of us.

His smile was almost as wide as his eyes. However, I couldn't help but note the familiar red hair that handsomely fell across Roger's face; it reminded me of a boy who used to sail with Roger.

"Ms. Stussy!! It's been a while!!" The man waved as the ship came to a complete stop. He then leaped from his ship and landed on ours before walking up and giving me a tight hug.

However, I immediately stopped him by grabbing his face and stopping any following movements. 

He was trying to say something, but I couldn't understand what he was saying because of all the muffled sounds he was making. 

"Shanks! Quit tryna hug every woman you see; that's sexual harassment," A man smoking a cigarette stated. He landed on our ship along with a rather fat man and a man with dreadlocks and a small patchy stubble on his chin.

"Oh, c'mon! She knows I'm not being serious, right?" Shanks finally said after I pushed him away to create some space between us.

"It's been a while, Shanks. You've grown," I remarked kindly, "I take it that this is your crew?"

"Yeah, we just arrived in the New World a while back. I wanted to hang out here for a while before heading into the New World, but then we found y'all!!" Shanks remarked happily.

I turned to the rest of the crew before smiling and introducing myself and the rest of the crew. The initial tense atmosphere that had been occupying the ship before quickly turned upside down as we all began to discuss various things with each other.

Ken was busy chucking it up with the dread-headed man while the young smoking man and Shanks were busy talking with me.

"I can see you got a new ship. I didn't think you guys would be able to grab one," Shanks remarked.

"Well, the old ship was slowly beginning to break apart because of all the escapades we were undergoing. It was sort of inevitable," I replied as I slowly set up a table for a nice little tea party. 

Carla was in the kitchen making some tea for us while the rest of the crew was busy drinking some of the liquor that we normally kept for celebrating. 

Shanks didn't seem to mind drinking some tea while he was here, and neither did his smoking crewmate, who I would later come to learn his name as Benn Beckman.

"Speaking of which, where is he?" Shanks asked curiously.

"He's away tending to some matters. He had told us that we should meet up with Whitebeard, and he'd be following us as soon as he was done," I replied. I could feel that something urgent had happened for Olvia to call Boris in such a manner. 

I could only hope for the best, and things would blow over.

"I didn't peg him as someone to leave his ship that often. Are you sure he isn't out there causing trouble or something?" Shanks cackled as he took a sip of some tea.

"Well, he probably is. I won't lie to myself; there's no way he hasn't done something crazy," I replied calmly, enjoying the fragrance of a freshly brewed cup of tea.

"I heard he's a pretty passive person, except for when he isn't," Benn Beckman remarked.

"Well, for the most part, it's the opposition that normally starts these conflicts that lead to catastrophic results. It's rare for us to start something unless Whitebeard wants us to," I replied calmly.

"Say....how strong do you think he is at this point? You think he can go toe to toe with Roger?" Shanks asked curiously. 

"If you want to spar with him, you're free to ask him when he gets back," I sipped some tea after.

"Well, we're not here to start a fight with Whitebeard; if anything, we're trying to establish our own presence in the New World. Have any ideas of where we should be starting?" Benn Beckman asked.

"Benn, I thought we all agreed that we'd be taking things slow?" Shanks asked with a slight frown on his face.

"Well, you said that you wanted to create a large sphere of influence. What better way to do this than to ask people who already have this in order," Benn Beckman shrugged.

"Well, if you really want to establish a foothold in the New World, you'll probably have to head in a little bit deeper into the New World compared to where we normally are. Most of the territories over there remained untouched, according to my knowledge," I remarked.

Whitebeard had no interest in expanding his territory anymore. The man just wanted to be with his crew and spend his days partying and drinking.

As for Big Mom, she didn't seem to be showing any signs of expanding her influence anymore, and Kaidou had secluded himself in Wano, training in seclusion for all he knew.

"It's free game if you really think about it," I replied with a smile on my face.