~Echo's POV~

I woke feeling like there was a tiny construction zone inside my head. Everything hurt, my head was pounding, the small amount of sunlight filtering in through my windows was too much. It looked as if someone had tried to block out the windows in an effort to comfort me, but it was still too bright for my liking. The smell of alcohol permeated off of me making me feel sick to my stomach.

Rolling out of bed, I crawled to the bathroom as it was too much effort to try to stand. I glanced down at my current attire to find myself in a simple nightshirt and nothing more and struggled to remember how I'd gotten home, changed and gotten into bed. As I crawled into the dark bathroom and quietly shut the door behind me, I vaguely remembered throwing up in the middle of the night and talking to Shanks. He must have taken care of me. My face flushed scarlet, I'd probably made a fool out of myself. Why did I let that idiot Sniper talk me into drinking?

I flopped into the tub and kicked on the faucet wincing as the pipes groaned to life, it sounded like everything was attached to an amplifier and at ten times the normal volume. Cold water rained down on me from above drenching my nightshirt. The cool water felt good on my hot sticky skin. I laid back and closed my eyes.

There was a soft knock at the door though in my currently altered perspective it sounded more like someone was trying to bust the door down and made my head throb. "Shhh!" I attempted to shush whoever was knocking.

"Echo?" Shanks' voice sounded from the other side of the door. "Are you okay?"

"Everything's too loud." I groaned and covered my ears.

The bathroom door swung open letting in a small sliver of light. I could feel it on the backs of my eyelids and cringed. Why did people drink? If this is what hangovers were like, I was never drinking ever again. Everyone else on the crew couldn't possibly be human with as much as they drank, I'd rarely seen any of them even slightly hungover. They were all monsters.

"What are you doing?" He asked with a smile in his voice as he knelt next to the tub.

I slowly opened my eyes happy to find he'd left the lights off and had closed the door. "This doesn't hurt." I said simply as I met his gaze.

"You'll feel better after you eat something and drink some more water." He smiled, "Did you still want me to punch Yassop?"

"I asked you to punch him?"

Shanks laughed at this, "You don't remember?"

I shook my head, "It's all kind of a blur. Did I do anything embarrassing?"

"You tried your hand at drunken teleportation." Shanks chuckled.

"What?!" I winced at the sound of my own voice, "That explains why I feel like death." I slid further into the tub and closed my eyes again.

Shanks turned off the faucet and managed to scoop me up with one arm and carry me out to my room. He attempted to set me on my feet next to the bed and try to find me some dry clothes. My body suddenly decided it was no longer going to support itself and I flopped onto the bed with a groan of pain as my head began to pound again.

"Echo?"

"Just leave me here to die and tell everyone to be quiet." I groaned as I flopped over onto my stomach pulling the blankets with me into an awkward soggy cocoon.

Shanks's soft warm chuckle sounded near the dresser. "You'll feel better after some breakfast." His voice sounded like it was getting closer and the next thing I knew he was gently tugging at my cocoon trying to unravel me.

I grumbled something incoherent and flailed aimlessly trying to get away. My flailing did nothing to deter him. He chuckled again as he easily unraveled me from the soggy cocoon. I stopped flailing as I felt his hand gently rest on my thigh near the hem of the nightshirt. Fire burned beneath my skin where his hand lingered and my breath hitched in my throat. My mind began to clear as I looked up at him breathless with anticipation.

"Sh-Shanks?" My voice shook unsteadily.

"You'll get sick if you don't change into some dry clothes." His smile made my heart flutter in my chest. He continued sliding his hand up my thigh, slowly peeling away the wet night shirt. My body burned as he pulled the sticky shirt away from me and I resisted the urge to cover myself with my hands. It wasn't like he hadn't seen it before. Even though we'd been intimate many times, I still felt embarrassed and self-conscious.

He somehow managed to help me into some clothes surprisingly gracefully before sweeping me of the bed. He held me against him with zero effort and carried me out of the room. I tightly shut my eyes at the sudden change in elevation and threw my arms around his neck to keep myself from toppling out of his hold.

Once we reached the kitchen, I spotted Benn and Yassop, who looked completely normal like our night of drinking did absolutely nothing to him, already eating breakfast. Most of the crew members who'd been with Shanks the longest hung out the most at the 'meeting house' which was just my old home.

"Hey brat! How you feeling?" Yassop asked at an obscenely loud volume.

I groaned and buried my head into the crook of Shanks' neck, "punch him, punch him now."

"Got it." I heard the voice of Lucky Roo reply softly before a loud resounding 'thwack' echoed through the kitchen. When did he get here?

I peered over to see the light leave Yassop's eyes as Lucky Roo struck him across the head with his slab of meet. There was a crunch of bone and I wasn't entirely sure if it was Yassop's skull or the bone in Lucky Roo's hand. Yassop slumped forward with a groan.

Shanks chuckled softly as he carried me to the table and sat me down next to Benn. There was a plate of horribly greasy food already sitting in front of me. Most days I'd find it repulsive but it looked like the most delicious thing I'd ever seen in that moment. Halfway through the greasy delicious breakfast, Yassop regained consciousness and swore loudly as he lifted his face out of his own greasy plate of food.

Now that I had some food in my system and drank more water at Benn and Shanks' behest, I was feeling relatively normal. Yassop's yelling didn't hurt anymore. My head was still throbbing but it was now just a dull pain I could ignore. I got up from the table with a stretch after finishing my meal.

"Where are you off to, little one?" Benn asked as I left the table. I paused as Travis burst into the room with a very fancy looking envelope that he handed to Shanks.

"I have to water the plants." I said distantly as I watched Shanks curiously, he looked at the fancy script on the envelope and frowned slightly.

Yassop grimaced as he caught the meaning of what I'd said, "I don't like those things. You shouldn't be making them."

"I have to...the Yami Yami no Mi is in the hands of an outsider, it's my responsibility to correct it."

Yassop frowned, "if you make this all-powerful fruit to get the other all-powerful fruit back how exactly are you going to eat them both?"

"I'm not going to eat the Yami Yami no Mi, I'm going to destroy it. It might be time to destroy all of them...people are abusing them now, they were created for balance, but now they're just tools in war...the world doesn't need them any longer."

Shanks looked over curiously looking away from the fancy envelope.

"This fruit you're working on...what happens to the user of it after it has served its purpose?" Yassop asked me with a frown, he'd learned to read me surprisingly well over the years.

"If there is no place in the world for devil fruit, then there is no place in the world for the devil fruit cultivators..." I replied softly. I'd already resolved myself; I'd known all along this was the only answer to put a stop to this. The Yami Yami no Mi was never to fall into the hands of an outsider.

"You'll die?" Lucky Roo gaped at me.

Shanks' eyes darkened, "no." Though his voice was quiet there was such an overwhelming commanding presence behind it I'd nearly toppled over. My knees weakened and I almost lost my balance. I reached out to catch myself against the counter and struggled to keep myself upright.

"What do you mean, no?" I asked him shakily.

"That's not an option." Shanks replied, his voice stern. There was hellish fire dancing in his dark gaze.

"It's the only option!" I retorted. It wasn't like it was what I wanted either, but it was my duty as the last devil fruit cultivator.

Shanks looked momentarily conflicted before finding his resolve, he got to his feet and tossed the envelope aside. "There is another option." He didn't look happy about whatever it was, "but first, I have something I want to show you." He extended his hand to me.

"But the plants..." I protested meekly.

"Are done." He wasn't budging. "If I had known what you were planning all along, I'd never have agreed to it Echo."

He was pissed!

I hesitated and looked to the fancy envelope, "what was that?"

"A wedding invitation, we're not going, you and I have other plans." He sighed. He was so serious right now, it was unsettling. I wanted the fun-loving carefree Shanks back. This serious Shanks, while hot, was also frightening.

I hesitated again feeling anxious.

"Echo." He beckoned me toward him and I reluctantly moved toward him. The others were quiet and exchanging wary looks amongst themselves.

Benn glanced over at the envelope on the floor, "you sure you want to refuse an invitation from Big Mom?"

"She doesn't concern me." Shanks shrugged as I slipped my hand in his. He gripped my hand gently before sweeping me off my feet and carrying me out the door.

"You're angry." I mumbled once we'd gotten far enough away from the house.

"A little." He nodded.

"I won't say sorry."

"You were only doing what you believed was right by your people, you don't have anything to apologize for." He smiled, though it was a little strained. "I'd just thought by now, you'd realize I love you Echo, and I will do anything in my power to help you. Blackbeard isn't your problem alone, he's OUR problem...he's the world's problem."

"...he only became the world's problem because of my people because we were negligent and allowed the Yami Yami no Mi to be taken out of our possession..." I protested.

Shanks offered me another strained smile, "he'd still be a problem, even without it. It just makes him a bigger problem that needs to be dealt with sooner."

I bowed my head as I was riddled with guilt. "Its not like I was happy about it...I wanted to give up so many times because I couldn't bear the thought of leaving you... and maybe the others too but don't tell them that."

Shanks smiled softly, "I know. I understand why you kept it a secret for as long as you did but if you think I'm going to let the woman I love sacrifice herself for someone like Blackbeard, you're delusional. I simply won't allow it."

My heart skipped a beat at the sincerity of his words and the commanding tone of his voice. "Then how do we fix this?"

"I need you to take me somewhere." Shanks still looked way too serious, he didn't like the idea of going wherever he wanted me to take him.

"Where?" I asked him curiously.

"I'll tell you later, first I want to show you something."

"Isn't this important?" I frowned.

"It is, but I'd like to see you smile before things start to unfold. I fear there are more dark times ahead, I want to savor this peaceful time I have with you for a bit longer." He smiled as he carried me through town. We headed toward the outskirts of town, to one of the many bluffs on the island.

I felt my breath catch in my throat as I looked ahead and spotted a house I'd never seen before. It looked newly constructed sitting atop the bluff overlooking the sea. It had a garden with a fence, a greenhouse off to the side. The house had a big wraparound porch that circled the entire structure with lots of seating. I could just imagine watching the sky change colors over the sparkling sea in the morning and evenings.

"What is this?" I asked him in awe as tears welled in my eyes.

"Our home." Shanks smiled warmly and carried me across the threshold with ease.

"You built us a house?" I asked completely mystified once he'd set me on my feet in a spacious living area.

"With a lot of help." He chuckled as I zoomed about to explore everything. It was so spacious and instantly felt like home. All the décor reminded me of the sea and the many exotic and beautiful places we'd seen during our travels.

It didn't take long for me to find the master suite upstairs, with a grand balcony that overlooked the ocean. The house was gorgeous and, in that moment, I selfishly wanted to stay here with him forever and forget all about Blackbeard and the problems of the world.

"Can we stay here, forever?" I asked with a dreamy sigh as Shanks joined me on the balcony. I couldn't stop grinning like a fool.

"I've thought about it." Shanks smiled, "and if you ask me like you mean it, I won't be able to say no to you." He kissed the top of my head as he wrapped his arm around me and held me close.

"I love you." The words left my lips as I leaned into his embrace.

"I love you too, Echo." He squeezed me tight.

"So, where do you need me to take you?" I asked him with a smile.

His smile fell and he paused for a long moment. "Mariejois."

My heart stopped. My blood turned to ice in my veins as fear and panic gripped my heart. What?

Video- "When It's All Over" By RAIGN