---
The bandits arrived on a Tuesday.
Ronald knew something was off before he saw them. He'd been doing his morning run along the coastal path when he heard it — voices carrying up from the village road below. Loud ones. The kind that weren't having a conversation so much as performing one. Making sure everyone in earshot knew they were there.
He slowed down and looked over the edge of the cliff path down toward the village.
Seven men on the road. Big, rough looking, the kind of men who'd decided a long time ago that being intimidating was easier than being competent. They were moving through the village like they owned it — kicking over a barrel outside a shop, shouting at a fisherman who got out of their way quickly, laughing at nothing in particular.
At the front of them was a man who was clearly the reason the rest of them felt brave enough to behave this way. Tall, broad, a hatchet on his back and a face that had been in enough fights to look like it had lost several of them. He walked with the kind of energy that said he was used to people moving out of his way.
Ronald had already placed him before he even got a proper look at the face.
Higuma. Mountain bandit. Wanted poster worth eight million berries. The man who was going to pick a fight with Shanks in the next hour or so and spend the rest of his short remaining life regretting it.
Ronald finished his run.
---
By the time he got to Party's Bar, Shanks and his crew were already there. They'd arrived the previous evening — Ronald had seen the ship at the dock and noted it without going over. He'd figured he'd see them in the morning.
The morning came sooner than expected.
He walked into the bar to find Shanks sitting at the counter with his crew spread across several tables, eating breakfast with the comfortable noise of people who were used to each other. Makino was behind the counter. Luffy was already there somehow, sitting next to Shanks and talking with a full mouth.
Ronald pulled out a stool and sat down.
Makino looked up. "Morning Ronald. The usual?"
"Please," he said.
Shanks glanced over at him. "Early riser."
"Always," Ronald said.
"I was just telling Shanks about Grandpa's visit," Luffy said. "Did you know Shanks knows Grandpa?"
"I'm not surprised," Ronald said.
Shanks smiled slightly. "Garp's hard to not know if you've been in this world long enough." He looked at Ronald with that measured look again. "He train you hard?"
"Hard enough," Ronald said.
"Good man," Shanks said simply.
Makino set a plate down in front of Ronald. He started eating.
The bar was warm and comfortable. Outside the morning was clear. For about twenty minutes everything was just — normal. Crew eating, talking, Luffy being Luffy, Makino keeping up with everyone quietly and efficiently.
Then the door opened and Higuma walked in.
---
He came in with three of his men and immediately took up more space than the door had suggested was possible. His eyes moved around the bar with the lazy assessment of someone who was used to being the most dangerous thing in any room he entered.
They landed on Shanks.
Ronald kept eating. He watched from the corner of his eye.
"Hey," Higuma said, pointing at the bottles behind the counter. "I want sake. All of it. Get it ready."
Makino kept her voice completely steady. "Of course. How many bottles would you—"
"All of it," Higuma repeated. He pulled out a wanted poster and slapped it on the counter. His own face stared up from it. "You know who I am?"
"I do," Makino said calmly.
Higuma looked around the bar. His eyes moved over the crew, over Luffy, over Ronald. They stopped on the empty bottles already on the tables.
"You already sold out?" he said, his voice dropping.
"These gentlemen arrived last night," Makino said carefully.
Higuma's eyes moved to Shanks.
Shanks looked back at him with an expression that was completely relaxed. Unbothered. The kind of expression that either meant you weren't worried or you were so far past worried that it had looped back around to calm.
"Sorry about that," Shanks said pleasantly. "We got here first."
Higuma stared at him.
One of Shanks' crewmates — trying to help probably — slid a bottle down the counter toward Higuma. "Here, you can have mine. I barely touched it."
Higuma picked up the bottle.
Then he smashed it over the crewmate's head.
The bar went quiet.
Ronald set down his chopsticks slowly.
The crewmate sat there with sake dripping down his face and the remains of the bottle around him. He blinked. He looked at Shanks. Shanks gave him a look that said very clearly — *let it go.*
The crewmate let it go.
Higuma seemed almost disappointed by the lack of reaction. He looked at Shanks with building irritation. "You're pirates?"
"We are," Shanks said.
"Then you know who I am means nothing to you."
"It means something," Shanks said. "Eight million berries is a decent number."
"I'm worth more than any pirate in this sea," Higuma said, his voice getting louder now. Working himself up. "And you're sitting in my territory drinking my sake and smiling at me like—"
"Like what?" Shanks said. Still completely calm.
Higuma grabbed Shanks by the front of his shirt and pulled him half off the stool.
Ronald watched.
The crew watched.
Shanks looked at Higuma from that position with the same expression he'd had the entire time. Completely unruffled. Like being grabbed by a mountain bandit was just a mildly interesting thing that was currently happening to him.
"Let go," one of the crew said quietly from across the room. Not loud. Not threatening in tone. Just — certain.
Higuma looked over his shoulder at the room full of pirates looking back at him.
He let go of Shanks. Stepped back. His eyes moved around the room calculating something.
Then he upended the bowl of food in front of Ronald onto the counter, turned, and walked out with his men.
The door banged shut behind them.
The bar was quiet for a moment.
Ronald looked at his food on the counter. Then at the door. Then at Shanks.
Shanks was straightening his shirt calmly. He caught Ronald's look.
"Don't," Shanks said.
"I wasn't going to do anything," Ronald said.
"You were thinking about it."
Ronald looked at the counter where his food was. "I was thinking about my breakfast."
Shanks held his gaze for a second. Then he laughed — short and genuine. He looked at Makino. "Can we get another plate for Ronald?"
"Already on it," Makino said from behind the counter, her voice steady as ever, like men getting grabbed by bandits in her bar was just an occasional inconvenience.
---
Luffy was furious.
Not in a loud way — which was somehow worse. He sat on his stool with his arms crossed and his brows pulled together and stared at the door like it had personally offended him.
"You should have done something," he said to Shanks.
"I did do something," Shanks said. "I stayed calm."
"That's not doing something."
"It's more doing than most people manage," Shanks said.
"He poured Ronald's food out," Luffy said, pointing at Ronald like that was the most serious part of the incident.
"It's fine," Ronald said.
"It's not fine," Luffy said. "He wasted food. That's the worst thing a person can do."
Ronald looked at Luffy. Of all the things to be furious about — the grabbing, the bottle, the intimidation — Luffy had landed on the food. Which was actually very Luffy.
"I'll get more food," Ronald said. "It's not worth it."
"Shanks could have—"
"Luffy." Shanks' voice was still easy but there was something underneath it now. Luffy stopped talking and looked at him. Shanks looked back at him steadily. "There are things worth fighting about and things that aren't. Knowing the difference matters more than being able to fight."
Luffy held his gaze. Still clearly unhappy. But listening.
"That man wanted a reaction," Shanks continued. "Giving him one would have meant giving him what he wanted. In his own head he'd have won either way — if we backed down he'd feel powerful, if we fought he'd feel justified." He shrugged. "So we gave him nothing. Which is the one thing he couldn't do anything with."
The bar was quiet.
Ronald's new plate arrived in front of him. He picked up his chopsticks.
"That's a very patient way to think about it," he said.
"Patience is useful," Shanks said.
"You're not always patient though," Ronald said.
Shanks looked at him. A slight pause. "No," he agreed. "Not always."
"So how do you know which situation calls for which," Ronald said.
Shanks looked at him for a moment with that expression again — the one that said Ronald was asking questions that didn't quite fit the age he appeared to be.
"Experience," Shanks said finally. "And getting it wrong enough times that you start getting it right."
Ronald nodded and went back to eating.
Outside through the window he could see Higuma and his men moving further down the road. Getting smaller. Disappearing around a corner.
He filed everything away. The way Shanks had absorbed the situation without reacting. The way the crew had followed his lead without needing to be told. The way Makino had stayed steady through all of it like a fixed point in moving water.
All of it was information. All of it meant something.
He finished his breakfast and set down his chopsticks.
"Thank you Makino," he said.
She smiled at him from behind the counter. "Anytime Ronald."
He stood up, nodded at Shanks once, and walked out into the morning.
He had training to get back to.
---
*End of Chapter 6*
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