We got back to the ship a couple of minutes after the rest of the clowns. Most of them had returned back under the deck to their sleeping quarters. The couple clowns standing around on the deck gave us funny looks. Buggy didn't seem to notice it - or maybe he just didn't care.

One of those clowns was Bozo. The hatred in his eyes was so clear that I felt it the second I met his eyes. I just clung onto Buggy, feeling safer in his arms.

I felt ten times safer once we were back in his bedroom. He placed me down gently on the bed.

"Do you want a change of clothes?"

"Definitely," I replied. "It was nice of the doctor to give me these but there's absolutely freezing."

The nurses outfit was that thin, almost papery material. Even though it was still during the day and hot where we were, I was so cold. Maybe it was to do with my injury, I wasn't sure.

"I could ask Dilly if she has some spare clothes," He offered.

That would mean he'd have to leave me. I didn't want that. I didn't feel safe without him here with me.

"Can't I just borrow some of yours?"

He looked shocked at that. "Sure. I don't have the best options, though."

In the end, he managed to find a white button-up top and a pair of cotton trousers. I laughed at the sight of them.

"You really don't have any pajamas?"

"No, sorry. I mostly sleep in my underwear."

I already knew that. I gave him my best smile. "Thank you."

"It's okay. It's just some clothes - "

"No, thank you for today. For saving me and... for stopping your crew."

"Oh, well... you don't have to thank me."

"I do," I told him firmly. "I owe you my life."

He grinned mischievously at that. "I'll remember that." I rolled my eyes but couldn't help but smile to myself. "Are you in any pain?"

I decided to be honest. "Yes."

"We took a bunch of pain medication from that village. I'll go and grab you some. That'll give you time to get changed while I'm away."

I wanted to argue with him because I didn't want him to leave me alone, but I also knew that I needed the pain medication. The pain I was feeling was only getting worse and worse.

"Okay," I whispered, and I watched him leave.

It took me a minute to get to my feet. When I did, I slipped the trousers that I was wearing down and slowly put on the pair that Buggy had given me. Every single small movement hurt like hell so this was basically torture.

Just as I was about to attempt changing my top, I heard the bedroom door open from behind me.

"Buggy, I'm still getting chan -" I started but stopped dead in my tracks when I looked at who had walked in.

Bozo, and he had a knife. I gulped down a heavy breath. There was no way I could defend myself against him. I could hardly move at all, never mind fight. All I could do was pray that Buggy would get back soon.

"What? Got nothing smart to say?" Bozo asked me, twirling the knife in his hand.

I didn't want to anger him. "I just want to go to bed. Can we talk later?"

"Later, Buggy will be with you. I need some alone time with you. There's some things we need to discuss, in private."

"Sure," I said meekly, biting town on my lip.

"You've changed our captain. I don't know how but in only a couple of weeks, you've changed him."

I was confused. "He doesn't seem very changed to me."

When we had originally walked into the village as his clowns were destroying it, he didn't say anything. It was only when I got hurt that he suddenly cared. He then threatened to kill that doctor, too.

"You don't know how brutal he used to be," Bozo told me, sounding almost nostalgic. "He never told us to stop when we were ransacking towns. You've changed him, for the worse."

That sent shivers down my spine. It shouldn't have surprised me.

"What do you want me to do about that?"

"He's only changing because he thinks it's what you want. Tell him you don't mind him hurting people, that you don't mind us hurting people."

"But I do mind."

"Of course you do. Because you're not one of us, you'll never be one of us. All you have to do is let us have our fun, you don't even need to join in."

Normally, I would have argued. But I didn't want to make him mad right now. Not when he was holding that knife and not when I was so defenceless. I didn't think he'd kill me, but I couldn't be sure.

"Fine."

"That easy?" He questioned, it being clear he didn't believe me. "No arguments?"

"No arguments."

Suddenly, he was advancing on me. I tried to back off but he grabbed my hair before I could escape, forcing me to look him in the eyes.

"I'm not stupid. I know you're bull-shitting so I'm going to be as honest as possible right now.

A lot of the crew isn't happy with Buggy. If you keep changing him, there's a good chance there'll be a coup. You can't change an entire crew of pirates, and if you don't stop trying to, your little boyfriend will be dead soon and so will you. People don't like his favouritism towards you.

You deserve to be dead, especially after trying to kill our captain. I've dreamed about spilling your guts more than I can count. Doing things that will make what happened to you today seem like nothing. But our Captain is a good guy, he doesn't deserve to die. Think about what I've said."

With that, he let go of me and I almost collapsed to the floor. Both from the pressure of him grabbing me and from the weight of everything he had said. I hadn't realised such animosity had grown.

Bozo left, and I felt like I might throw up.

🤡

I'm really getting into shanks I'm thinking of maybe doing a fic of him when this is finished! for now, does anyone have good shanks fics recommendations on here?👀

reads: 23k
published 8th October 2023