#tell me you don't see the barrels rolling and slamming against the deck

[swan2swan]

The other night at trivia, there was a question about Moby Dick.

While everyone considered their answer, the DJ played "Remember the Name" by Fort Minor.

The moment I heard those opening strings and the steady, solid, wooden cadence of the beat as my mind thought of a surging ship over a cold, gray sea broken by the white flukes of foam and leviathans...I need a new Moby Dick movie made As Soon As Possible, and I need that song over a whaling montage.

[stray-kaz]

First Blushes : a Monkey D. Luffy x f!reader oneshot

Summary: Shy teenage reader and Luffy are gently coerced into admitting their feelings for one another.

"You know, you could just tell him."

You jumped and stared up at Sanji, who had found you in your hiding spot, behind the mast but still able to see Luffy perched up high on the figurehead.

"Tell who what?" you blurted out, eyes wide.

He smiled gently at you.

"Luffy. Tell Luffy you like him."

You felt your face burn.

"I don't -"

"Honey" Sanji interrupted. "Everyone sees the way you look at him and listen to every crazy word that comes out of his mouth. We know. It's about time the boy does, too."

You bit your lip and chewed, thinking hard. Then you looked up at Sanji again, eyes big and wide.

"What if he doesn't like me?"

Sanji ruffled your hair.

"Only one way to find out, love."

"How do I tell him?"

"That's up to you. Sing it, shout it, vandalise his beloved Jolly Roger with it. Your choice."

You glowered at him.

"Well, he'd never believe me if I did that, genius" you retorted. "Or like me back."

Sanji grinned at you.

"Tell him. You might be surprised" he urged.

You snorted.

"Yes, surprised by how much heartbreak and rejection hurt."

Sanji rolled his eyes and gently pushed your shoulder.

"Are all teenagers so dramatic?" he sighed.

You sidled out of his reach and shrugged.

"Probably."

You blinked fast, something else suddenly occurring to you.

"Does Zoro know?"

"Zoro knows!" Nami called to you as she wandered past. "Zoro wants to lock you both in a room until you come to your youthful senses."

You dragged a hand down your face, groaning.

"Perfect."

You made a beeline for your bedroom, not even looking up when Luffy passed you on his way to the deck and smiled, his whole face lighting up. His smile fell, though, when you didn't look at him, your gaze fixed on the floor, and he stopped to watch you disappear, your bedroom door slamming at your back.

He made his way out into the light and bounded over to Sanji.

"Is she okay?" he asked, glancing over his shoulder again in case you had returned.

Sanji shrugged, one corner of his mouth quirking up slightly. From the opposite end of the ship, he caught Zoro's eye and raised his voice.

"I'm not sure, Luffy. Perhaps you had better go and check on her. I think she was heading to her room."

Zoro put down his sword and stood up, heading down to them and casually following Luffy at a short distance as he spun on his heels and hurried back to your room at a trot.

From inside your room, you heard Luffy calling your name and knocking hard on your door.

"Are you okay?" he hollered through the wooden barrier. "You seemed sad!"

"I'm fine!" you yelled back, face down on your bed.

On the other side of the door, Luffy turned to Zoro and shrugged.

"She said she's fine."

Zoro rolled his eyes.

"She's not fine. That's just what girls say."

He reached around Luffy, opened the door and shoved him through the gap, then locked it from the outside and leaned against the wood, looking bored.

Inside your bedroom, you glanced up, shocked, when Luffy stumbled in and the door shut with a loud thud. The telltale sound of the lock had you off the bed and on your feet in record time.

"Roronoa Zoro, let us out!" you shouted, barreling past Luffy and hammering on your own door.

His voice came back through muffled.

"Not until you confess!"

Luffy stared at the back of your head, puzzled.

"Confess what?" he asked, reaching out to touch your arm.

At the brush of his fingers on your skin, you recoiled and he stepped back, dark eyes wide. You stiffened, then turned slowly to face him again, your expression contorted with guilt.

"Luffy, I didn't mean to" you said, agonised. "I'm sorry..."

He shook his head and avoided your eyes.

"I don't get it" he told you, still not looking. "You're never...icy with me. Why now? What did I do?"

"Nothing" you sighed uncomfortably, closing your eyes. "You have done absolutely nothing wrong, Luffy. You are always good."

He blinked rapidly at that admission.

"Then...why?" he asked again.

You glanced longingly at the closed bedroom door then back at Luffy. You sat down on the end of your bed and beckoned to him. He caught the movement out of the corner of his eye and looked at you again, his mouth set in a slight pout. But he sat next to you, keeping his hands folded in his lap, careful not to touch you again.

On the other side of the door, you could hear Zoro's shoulders shifting against the wood, his shirt rustling. The air in the room felt warmer than it should be, clogging your lungs and making it harder for you to breathe.

"Monkey" you said quietly, addressing him by his given name.

His eyebrows rose at the sound of it; you never called him Monkey. He murmured your name and tentatively reached for one of your hands, clasping it loosely in his on the cloudy duvet between you.

You took in a deep breath, unconsciously squeezing his hand. Then you very slowly turned to face him.

"I like you, Luffy" you said solemnly.

A broad smile spread across his face, his sunny eyes brightening.

"I like you, too!" he exclaimed, delighted.

You bit into your lip, shaking your head, heart in your throat.

"No" you said softly.

His eyebrows furrowed and another frown replaced his smile.

"What do you mean, 'no'?" he asked.

"No, I like like you" you admitted at last.

Luffy's hand tightened on yours and your eyes closed again.

"Um. Like Usopp likes Kaya?"

His voice was softer than usual and trembled a little in your ears. You nodded and then stood up off the bed, leaving his hand behind, empty on the duvet. Without glancing back at him, his jaw loosened, you walked over to the door and banged on it with both fists.

"I did it, Zoro! I confessed! Now let me out!"

You listened for the click and bolted past him, barely affording him a glance at your face before you were gone. Zoro leaned in through the doorway and eyed Luffy still sitting on the bed.

"She finally tell you?" he asked, eyebrows arched.

Luffy suddenly shoved off the bed and slammed through the open doorway, his brown eyes burning. Zoro flattened his back to the wall and watched him run.

You might have been light on your feet, but Luffy was faster, much faster, and he caught up to you just as you stepped onto the ship's deck. He snatched at your wrist, but you were both still moving forward and the momentum sent you both tumbling down, falling towards the deck.

You shut your eyes tightly, anticipating the blunt impact, but it never came. Luffy stretched and wrapped around you, landing on his back, your forehead jouncing off his collarbone. You stayed there for a little while, allowing yourself to soak in the feeling of his arms around you and his breath in your hair.

Time whipped by, though, and you forced yourself to push away from him, cheeks burning as he stared hard at you, his beautiful eyes darker than usual.

"I like you how Usopp likes Kaya, too" he said quietly, his hands sliding from your shoulders to your elbows.

Your eyes widened again and you stared back at him, surprised.

"You do?"

Luffy nodded, biting his lip.

"I do, yes."

You just continued to stare at him for a while longer and he started to squirm, scooting slightly away. You shook yourself out of it and reached for him; Luffy eyed your hands warily as your fingers closed around the brim of his straw hat. Your grip tightened as you grabbed hold of every bit of courage you possessed and dragged him forward until your lips met.

It was quick and uncertain contact, a swift brush of lips and warm breath mixing, and you withdrew like you'd been burned, lips tingling.

You crawled back off Luffy and rose to your feet, aware now of your audience of crew members. Your whole face on fire, you turned your back, but a quiet voice and a hand on yours stopped you.

"Please don't go."

You turned halfway around, eyebrows raised, but before you could say anything at all, Luffy kissed you back, hat tipped up on his head so it wouldn't get in your way. His mouth was eager and warm, with all the unbridled enthusiasm he gave to everything. You grabbed at his arms, searching for something to keep you on your feet.

When he pulled back to breathe, there were loud cheers and clapping. You glanced around at your friends, feeling hot and embarrassed but thrilled down to your toes.

"About damn time" Zoro said from the doorway.

You smiled shyly up at Luffy and the corners of his eyes crinkled.

"Can we do that again?"

Tagging: @elizabeth-karenina @writingmysanity

[theviolentabyss]

Hot-headed Bugsy makes his mind up. Don't mess with Bugsy or you'll wind up. Wishing you'd left well enough alone.

:: Debut Solo ::

Part One

It maybe a new city, a new country and even a new set of targets, but the job, the goal and the aim was still the same. Regardless of where we were, the objective was to make sure that we were known and we took no crap from anyone. We believed we were above the law. Everyone has a price. Even the police, judges and jurors. They all had a price and they could all be bought to make sure that everything went our way.

Fat Sam’s grandfather had built his empire up in Chicago in the nineteen-forties, just after the second world war. Fat Sam’s father moved the empire to New York in the nineteen-eighties and now, Fat Sam himself has bought the empire to the United Kingdom. A new start. Of sorts.

After the show down with Dandy Dan six years ago, where a truce was called between both Fat Sam’s gang and Dandy Dan’s gang. Things went sour real big in New York after I left. Blousy and I headed off to Hollywood. She was destined for the great stage. Blonde, talented and beautiful. A modern day Marilyn Monroe. Hollywood wasn’t for me though, the straight and narrow life was not for me.

I wanted nothing but the best for Blousy. We just weren’t compatible. We were too different. So after two years, we went from fighting for each other, to fighting with each other. One day soon after I got the call from Fat Sam about moving to England and I didn’t hesitate to take him up on it. I begged Blousy to come but she had made it big in Hollywood, everyone knew her name now. That was the end.

That was four years ago. Four years. I thought of Blousy often. We never called, we never wrote and we never had any communication. I kept up with her ins and outs through social media but other than that, there was nothing between us. There was far too much here for me to concentrate on anyway and I spent more time in trouble than I did anything else these days.

So now, as I sat at the bar in Fat Sam’s Speakeasy club, I was rolling a ten pence piece over and under my fingers skilfully with one hand, while I swirled the brownish-orange liquid in the glass in the other. I needed to see Fat Sam before I headed to the Boxing Gym I owned in Kentish Town. A shipment of AK-47’s were coming into the Dover Docks tomorrow and I have had a tip off that the cops are all over it. So I wanted to re-route the shipment to Southampton, meaning we needed to get our men down there in time to receive the shipment before the cops got wind of it.

It was Sod’s law really that Fat Sam wasn’t here yet and the longer I waited, the more pissed I was getting. I stopped rolling the coin when I heard the door of the club open and I looked up to see Leroy Smith coming through the door. He joined Fat Sam’s gang the year of the truce and has stood by us ever since. Flicking the coin up in to the air and catching it, I shoved it into my leather jacket pocket and raised a finger to the bartender to signal a drink for Leroy as he sat down beside me.

“Hey Boss”

I glanced to him briefly, watching as he leaned up on the bar with a cheery disposition about him.

“What has you in a good mood?”

A knowingly cheeky grin spread across his lips, like he had some big secret to tell but wasn’t going to tell me unless I worked for it.

“Bugs; my man, why do I need a reason?”

I shifted uneasy on the stool. Once Leroy had his drink. I pushed my line of questioning once more, without very much tact.

“Cut the shit, Leroy”

He raised the glass to his lips and took large gulp. His deep throaty chuckle echoed around the nearly empty club. Only members, and visitors of members were allowed in here and it wasn’t even lunch time yet. So the usual suspects wouldn’t be rolling in until darkness fell.

“You’re no fun anymore, Bugsy”

He adjusted his cap on his head, before removing it and running his fingers through his messy hair. Dropping the hat to the counter top, I watched his every movement like a silent assassin ready to strike if need be.

“We got a sponsor for the fight between Trigger and Fingers Saturday night, he wants to meet with you tomorrow”

His grin widened as he spoke to me. Once a month. Every gang called a truce, and beat the shit out of each in the boxing ring. This week one of our own Trigger was fighting Frankie Randall’s guy, Fingers. He was dumb as fuck, but he knew how to fight, so it was going to be an interesting fight. I had been training Trigger myself and he was a force to be reckoned with. He was built like a brick shit house. Was also a few planks short of a decking but he was muscle and I had no doubts he would wipe the floor with Fingers this weekend. Picking up my whiskey glass and taking a sip. I cocked my head in Leroy’s direction.

“Who’s the sponsor?”

I eyed him inquisitively. It wasn’t unusual for a rival or local gang to sponsor the events. It gives them the access to be the only ones who could run bets at the match and monopolise the fight. Though I was strict as fuck and if I believed for one moment anyone was throwing the match I would shut that shit down and the person in charge would be blacklisted, if not dead.

We were all crooks, thieves and gangsters of the worse kind. We were deadly, we carried guns and we didn’t give much of a damn about anything that wasn’t business. But in my boxing club, on my property, you played by the rules and left your dodgy shit at the door because I had no issues putting a bullet in someone’s ass for trying to do over what was mine.

“Rusty Evans”

Leroy finally confessed after mulling everything over on how to tell me and my blood instantly boiled. My hand gripping around the whiskey glass. Rusty had been trying to muscle in on Fat Sam’s territory since we got here. Due to our New York connections, we were known before we even arrived. Reputation was everything and Rusty had made us his main target. The whites of my knuckles were straining around the glass, the tendons twitching with frustration. My lips curled up in a snarl and I kept my gaze forward. Focusing on the rows upon rows of bottled spirits on the back of the bar.

“Three quarters of a mill or he can take his rat ass business else where”

Barking my demand, as I raised the glass and knocked back the final contents of the glass. Slamming it back down on the bar. I saw Leroy jump in the corner of my eye in shock. He remained silent for a long time. Mulling over my terms. My club, my property, my price. People took it or left it. If we didn’t get a sponsor then I became the main bookie, so it wasn’t any loss for me. The stake was third quarters up front, or he could shove his sponsorship up his weak ass. It took all my will power to not stick a bullet in his chest and rip out his heart with my bare hands.

“Sure thing boss. Take it easy.”

He gave me a nod and slipped from his stool, my head cocked in his direction as I watched him replace his cap, tipping the front before leaving the Speakeasy club. Fuck this shit. I wasn’t in a good mood when I came in here, now my mood had gone to complete shit. Rusty was the lowest of the low. He got his men to play dirty and then ran like a coward. I wouldn’t put it past him to have tipped the Feds off on the incoming shipment. Looking across the bar to Louis.

“Another Louis. Thanks”

He gave me a nod and bought the bottle over. Nudging the tumbler closer so he could pour out another shot. Giving him a thankful nod. I picked up the glass and knocked it all back in one. I didn’t have to wait too much longer for Fat Sam to arrive. The door of the club came slamming open, smashing into the wall with such force. As usual he was ranting and raving about something but not making much sense. He was followed by his lackey Knuckles and his on and off girlfriend, and main lounge singer here at the Speakeasy, Tallulah.

“Ah, Bugsy; you here to see me? Course you are, sure, give me five, five and I’m all yours. Yo Louis, make sure my man has got a drink. Five minutes... five”

He was always all over the place. You could never get a word in edge ways and I wasn’t about to attempt to talk to him either until I was sure was going to listen. He disappeared into his office and I turned my head back around. My hand wrapping around the newly filled glass. I could smell the strong scent of Tallulah’s perfume before I saw her or heard her. I think she swam in it on a daily basis and it got right into the sinus’ and left a nasty taste in your mouth. As she now propped herself up against the bar. Her body turned directly at me. I didn’t bother to look at her.

Tallulah was a girl that you didn’t want to get involved with. Face piled with heavy make up, tight cocktail dresses that clung to every curve of her slender figure and purposely enlarged her ample breasts and cleavage to make sure that she got every man in eye line a chance to stare with their tongues hanging out. I was a conquest of Tallulah’s. But I’ve been there. Long before her and Fat Sam started dating and long before she was this high maintenance lush who would sleep with any man with money. That’s why her and Sam were on and off. She was too high maintenance for anyone to keep up with and I refused to be another notch of rich men on her bed post.

I could get my own women, whenever I wanted. I didn’t need to scrap the bottle of the barrel with girls like Tallulah who only saw pound and danger signs, to keep her interested. Her hand finally rose, to trail a red polished finger nail down over my arm slowly, causing me to finally turn my head in her direction.

“Not gonna buy a girl a drink there, handsome, it’s impolite to leave a lady hanging”

I snorted a laugh knocking back the entirety of my glass.

“I see no lady here though Tallulah, just you”

That fake smile she had plastered on her face faded quickly and she scowled at me. I kept my gaze on hers. Unwavering from her intense glare as I locked in her into this show down.

“Hey, Louis, give this girl her usual and put it on Fat Sam’s tab, will you?”

“Sure Bugsy”

Reaching into my pocket and pulling out my wallet, I grabbed out a few notes and dropped them down onto the bar to pay my tab. Leaving a hefty tip as usual. Replacing my wallet into my leather jacket. I slipped from the bar stool, closing the small gap between Tallulah and I. Looking down at her, I raised a hand, to hook my finger under her chin, and tilting her head to look at me.

“Never, Tallulah, never, and you can bet your Gucci heels on that shit too”

Giving her a wink and dropping my hand from her chin, I looked over towards Louis.

“Thanks man, see you later”

He gave me a salute and said no more as he made Tallulah’s drink and I headed towards Fat Sam’s office. It took a long time for Tallulah to shout back. Still stunned she had been shot down before she could even get started.

“You’ll be sorry Bugsy Malone, you will come crawling back to me one day, mark my words”

I chuckled under my breath but didn’t respond. I could hear her heels stomping against the wooden flooring before her screeching scream rang out through the empty club.