( shanks' gaze is steady as luffy voices his concerns. it's strange to see him so ... uncertain about this, so used to the brash confidence of the boy he met all those years ago. but shanks remembers the first years of his own captaincy, how difficult it had been to balance what he thought he knew with the reality of command. )

The ship doesn't make the crew, Luffy. ( and as much as the ship itself often feels like part of the crew, too, a crew doesn't only exist because it has a ship to sail. it might even feel like missing an arm — shanks, of course, would know best of all — but the ship is as much a physical object as it is a metaphor. they don't stop being a crew without a ship; likewise, the ship doesn't necessarily have to be a boat. this house may as well be their ship, for now, until a real seafaring vessel presents itself. ) I know it's hard when things are out of your control. You can't fix or erase what happened, but you can help them move forward. It never hurts to remind them your door is open, so to speak.

( though a literal open door policy in this situation would probably do them all good. )

You never know what rooms you might find in this house, either. Exploring together could be an adventure.