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Chapter Text

Shanks didn’t want to admit it, but he wasn’t sure he was going to make it out of this situation alive. 

Don’t get him wrong, he would make the same choice of leaping into the water after Luffy a hundred times over, Sea King and small fry bandits be damned, but the blood flowing from the frayed stump that was once his arm was starting to make him dizzy and it was getting harder and harder to swim back towards shore. His haki was flowing out of him just as freely, keeping any other Sea Kings away as he held Luffy tight to his chest but that too was sapping his strength much more than it usually did. The full-body numbness that was starting to grip him wasn’t a good sign either, Hongo’s words about shock bouncing around his skull. 

He had to get back to shore, had to get the little Anchor that was clinging to him so tight crying into his shirt and apologizing over and over again to dry land before Shanks was allowed to die. 

Suddenly hands were on him and he felt his breath freeze in his chest before he recognized Lucky Roux and Benn frantically trying to pull him and his precious cargo onto a small sailing boat he didn’t recognize. 

Thank every god that he never believed in. He let himself be pulled on board as black spots started to appear in his vision. It didn’t stop him from hearing the oh-so-familiar voice speak in a language he thought he would never hear again. 

“Espèce d'idiot de fraise, qu'est-ce que tu t'es fait?” 

He managed to pull his eyes up towards the furious yet concerned brown eyes framed by strawberry blond waves and those freckles he could still count in his head even after all these years. 

Oh, he thought, I really am dying. 

He was a little surprised to see her coming to collect his soul from this plane to take him to the afterlife but he really shouldn’t be surprised Roger wasn’t the one sent. Captain probably had gotten lost exploring whatever afterlife he had been placed in, seeking out a new grand adventure. He hoped his old captain would allow him to rejoin his crew. 

Vaugely he could hear Luffy crying harder and Lucky and Benn rowing as fast as they could back toward the shore. He could only pay attention to Rouge and her demand for him to stay awake. 

Even so, he closed his eyes, unable to listen to her. A smile pulled on his lips as numb blackness pulled him under, not exactly excited to go but ready.

After all, how could he be scared? His Maman was here. 

When he woke up it was to a heavy weight around his torso, a dull ache around his shoulder, and the unfortunately familiar buzz of painkillers and blood loss.  

It took him a long second to remember what had happened, to remember the terror of seeing the little anchor trying so hard to stay afloat as the Devil Fruit in him demanded he sink, of the small-time bandits that knew nothing of the real threats a pirate faced and the real honor it took to face those horrors down. 

Trying his best not to shake, he reached his hand to his shoulder and bit back a wince at the empty space where his arm had once been. 

Gone, his arm was gone.

He felt the urge to throw up, to cry, to cuss out the world because it wasn’t fair. How would he be able to protect his crew with his sword arm gone? How would he be able to take care of the ship, to do the knots of the rigging, to help cook and clean with only one arm? 

The shifting around his stomach pulled him from his building frenzy of emotions. He glanced down to see Luffy, with his rubbery arms wrapped around him several times in a massive hug, blinking awake and suddenly his fear, anger, and panic were all gone, and all he was left with was acceptance. 

Luffy was okay. 

Luffy was safe. 

Shanks would give up a lot more than his dominant arm for that. 

He thinks it should scare him, the love and protectiveness he feels for the little anchor that he only met by chance, how easy it was for him to accept death if it meant that this bright little star would be allowed to live, but he couldn’t help but smile as he ran his fingers through the kid’s black locks. 

“Shanks!” Luffy said, smiling as blinding as the sun, “You’re awake!” 

“Hey, little Anchor,” He greeted, “Been keeping an eye on me for the crew, have you?” 

“Uh-huh!” He said, smile falling a little bit, “You were really hurt and sleeping for a looong time. Mama and Hongo said you might not wake up.” 

“They told you that?” Shanks asked, feeling a spike of anger at the thought of his doctor and the little anchor’s mother telling him such a damning fact. 

Luffy shook his head, “They didn’t know I was listening, but they said if you didn’t wake up soon you just wouldn’t. Ace and Sabo told me what that meant. I’m sorry.”

“I told you already, little anchor,” Shanks said softer than he realized he was able to, pushing himself to sit up, “As long as you’re safe that’s all that matters.” 

“Luffy I thought I told you to call me if Fraise woke up.” 

Shanks couldn’t breathe at the figure in the doorway. How was she here? He had been sure that seeing her again had been nothing more than a hallucination brought on by the shock of losing his arm, but there she was like a ghost of his memory. Was he still hallucinating? Was he even awake or was this a dream his comatose brain was creating? 

“But there’s no strawberries in here?” Luffy whined as he unwound his arms from Shanks to better sit in his lap. 

Rouge’s smile was just as bright as it had always been, little crow's feet that hadn’t been there when he was a teenager visible as she walked closer, “Fraise is Fraise, just like you’re petit soleil, little sun.” 

“Ooooooh,” Luffy drew out, giggling as Rouge booped his nose, “Well Shanks is awake!” 

“I can see that,” Rouge said before turning to Shanks with fiery relief in her eyes, “How are you feeling?” 

“Trying to figure out if I’m actually awake if I’m being honest,” He breathed out, heart much too loud in his ears, “Rouge… I thought…” 

Her gaze softened as she cupped his face, thumb running lightly over the stubble of his cheek, “I’m real, Fraise. I’m here. Gods above, look how handsome you’ve gotten over the years.” 

He could see the changes in her appearance now, soaking in the differences of the woman that he called Mama in the safety of his mind.

She was still the most beautiful woman he had ever seen but the changes brought on by aging were clear to see. She had smile lines littering her face as well as lines from stress and grief. Her hands weren't as soft as they once had been, instead holding far more calluses than just the thick one that had lay on her trigger finger so many years ago. Her hair was no longer waist length instead being cut to right below her shoulder blades with a few streaks of white littering the rosey hair.  

Her touch on his face felt like it was burning straight through his flesh, but he gripped her hand in his own, leaning as far into her touch as he was able. 

Later he would worry about how she was here when all reports had told him she was dead and gone, but right now he couldn't find it in himself to care, not when she was here and alive and so warm in a way he hadn't realized he was missing until now. 

Luffy looked between them, "Mama, how do you know Shanks?" 

"Mama?" Shanks questioned, eyes wide and mind whirling. Luffy wasn't old enough to be Roger's son was he? 

Rogue laughed at whatever his face was doing, "Luffy is mine the same way you and Buggy are mine, Fraise."

The squeak he let out was embarrassing but he let light as a feather at those words. He knew it was true to some extent but it was rarely said so blatantly like that.

Luffy looked curiously like that, "Shanks' is your son too? Just like me and Ace and Sabo?" 

"Yes, Luffy. Remember how I told you about the two little apprentices that were on Ace's dad's crew?" 

Shanks' mind screeched to a halt once more at those words. Ace, the brother Luffy had told him about hundreds of times at this point, was Roger's and Rouge's son. Just when he thought they were done dropping bombshells on him. 

"Ohhhhhhhhh," Luffy gasped before he pouted, "But that would make Shanks my brother too." 

And his heart which had been soaring through the clouds since he realized Rouge was alive just came plummeting down to earth, shattering into a billion pieces. 

Rouge also seemed startled by the news, looking down at Luffy with a raised brow, “You don’t want Shanks to be your brother?” 

“No.” 

Shanks bit the inside of his cheek. He really thought the Anchor cared about him just as much as Shanks cared about him. It hurt worse than losing his arm to hear the boy denounce him like that. He shouldn’t be surprised though Luffy was like a flame in the darkness drawing so many to him it wasn’t even funny, maybe he had overestimated how much the little boy cared for all of those he had wrapped around his little fingers-

“I wanted him to be my dad! He can’t be my brother and my dad!” 

His depressed inner monologue was cut off at those words and he could feel all the blood still in his body rushing to his face as it burned brighter red than his hair. 

Rouge’s laughter was deep and soulful, the kind he only remembered in his sweetest of dreams. He would be so happy to hear it if it wasn’t caused by his current dilemma. 

“Did I say something wrong?” Luffy asked as Shanks buried his face in the little boy’s hair. 

“…no,” Shanks managed out, voice only shaking a tiny bit as he struggled to get control of his heart that felt so full it might just explode, feeling more love surrounding him than he had since Roger had died, “I think you said the best possible thing.” 

Chapter Text

Rouge felt like she had been moving through a fog since she returned from the mountains with Ace and Sabo earlier that day. Luffy had elected to stay on shore as his ‘pirate friend’ was coming back again. Despite Rouge not knowing the pirate crew's names, Makino had reassured her multiple times that the crew was very tame around Luffy and were very polite and not causing issues on the island. Hell, the only reason she didn’t know the pirates’ names was because the Captain apparently made Luffy promise not to tell anyone not from the island who he was. Rouge was fairly certain that the captain had meant Marines and other Pirate crews but her little boy had made a promise and he wasn’t wrong about herself and his brothers not being from the island so Rouge hadn’t pushed it. 

Sailing her little sailboat around the coast back towards the town docks she saw the Jolly Roger instantly and took a moment to inspect it, ultimately deciding it wasn’t a crew that had been around when Roger was alive and she actively kept up with the news about Pirates. The two unfamiliar men on the dock frantically waving at her did catch her eye though.

“Ace, Sabo,” She said as they drew nearer, “Behind me.” 

Usually, the boys would argue but they could tell by her voice that it wouldn’t be pretty if they tried. Instead, they did as told, pipes clutched tightly in their hands. 

“Please Miss,” The shorter man with a rifle called, “Some bandits stole a kid from town. Our captain is going after them but something happened to the boat, we need to get to him fast.” 

Rouge’s eyebrows shot up at that, heart freezing as she heard a terrified scream she would recognize anywhere. 

“Luffy!” Ace and Sabo screamed in unison confirming her fears. 

“Boys, off the boat now! Go to Makino,” She barked not even waiting to dock. 

Ace looked like he was going to argue but Sabo grabbed him and yanked both of them into the water. She watched them only for a second to confirm they were swimming toward shore before shooting a hard look at the pirates as she pulled out the oars, “What are you waiting for?

The two pirates took no time at all leaping into the boat and taking the paddles from her as she swung the boat around. 

No sooner was the boat turned when she felt a gut-wrenchingly familiar wave of Haki come pulsing out of the waves, the Lord of the Coast vanishing quickly from sight at the intensity. It was strong, nearly as strong as Roger’s had been, but the comforting waves of willpower were almost gentle, and caressing as it recognized her own Haki.

She felt like she wasn’t breathing as the pirates got them to the rapidly growing pool of red. 

Seeing that face, that brilliant red hair, again should be joyous but Shanks’ skin is almost grey from blood loss as his crewmates pull him on board, eyes turning glassy as Luffy screams and cries. 

She in front of him in an instant, frantic French falling from her lips as she yanked an extra set of rope from the storage bin, wrapping it tightly around his shoulder, twisting it more and more even as Shank’s whined in pain. Crocus’ words on how to tourniquet for serious bleeds in an emergency echoed in her ears. 

What scared her more than anything was the way his gaze locked on her, no fear or confusion was present on his face, only resignation and acceptance. 

For two days he lay in her bed, unconscious with a mess of tubes in his remaining arm. Hongo, the doctor of the Red-Haired Pirates, had patched up Shanks the best he could, even going as far as to give his own blood to his captain until Benn had pulled the pale and slightly shaking doctor from the room with a scowl and she had stepped forward with her sleeve rolled up offering her blood as well. 

The Red-Haired Pirates knew she had a history with their Captain by that point but they pushed it aside while their captain was awake, if he did wake Hongo had revealed in the dead of the first night, voice choked in a way that spoke of what a truly good man her petite fraise had become.

Then there were her other boys. Sabo and Ace had been watching the newcomers like tigers stalking through the forest, looking for the slightest wrong move pipes never far from their grasps. Luffy on the other hand refused to let Shanks leave his sight, going as far as to wrap himself around the man in ways that had nearly made her heart stop beating the first time she saw it. Luffy, who had been loudly proclaiming for months on end that he would become an amazing swimmer so that he could join his Pirate Friends’ crew, had eaten a Devil Fruit, the Gomu Gomu no Mi, as Lucky Roux had kindly informed her. The one saving grace to her feelings on that revelation was how the three boys would talk excitedly about Luffy’s new abilities as they sat by Shanks’ bedside like the world’s tiniest bodyguards, coming up with plans on how to use Luffy’s rubber body to fight in ways only small children could.

The moment she heard voices inside her room, she was next to the door feeling like she could finally breathe once more. 

Her eldest boy was okay.

“Crew,” Shanks announced once he earned a clean bill of health from Hongo and was allowed to the beach for a traditional Pirate celebration, a wild party filled to the brim with more alcohol than anyone could drink and enough food to explode a sea king, “May I introduce Portgas D. Rouge.” 

He didn’t elaborate further, even as his crew whined and begged for an explanation. Instead, he turned his gaze to her, asking without words how much she wanted to tell them.

“Do you trust them with your life, fraise?” She asked, causing the rag-tag bunch to stop and stare. 

“Absolutely,” He answered without hesitation. 

“Then I trust them with the truth.” 

Shanks stared at her for another long moment before nodding and turning back to the crew, fingers playing with the brim of his straw hat as he smiled softly, “Rouge was my first Captain’s partner, she pretty much raised me alongside the crew.” 

Rouge raised a brow at the low hum that got, not nearly the explosion she had been expecting, “You never told them who your Captain was, did you?” 

“Nope!” Shanks said with a shit-eating grin that was all Roger, “Would you like to do the honors?” 

She rolled her eyes at him before she stepped forward, standing tall against the imploring looks, “My partner for nearly a decade, and Shanks’ first Captain, was Gol D. Rogers. He was also Ace’s father.” 

Ah, there was the explosion. Shanks was doubled over laughing at the questions and disbelieving shouts and Rouge couldn't hold back the information that she knew would send him into a whirl as well.

"The only reason I'm still alive after the Marines started hunting down anyone with a connection with Roger is Whitebeard and Garp were kind enough to smuggle me away from the South Blue and brought me here."

The noise grew louder and Shanks froze eyes wide as coconuts as he gazed at her.

"Whitebeard and Garp?!" He questioned in a strangled tone as if the words physically pained him to get out. Rouge decided she really had no choice but to go in for the kill. 

"Whitebeard was a surprise to me too. But of course, Garp helped!" She chirped, innocent tone ruined by the near-feral grin on her face, "He entrusted me with his precious grandson after all!"

"Gr-Grandson?" Yassop managed to yelp over the continuously growing cacophony. 

"That's me!" Luffy yelled out with a laugh, "Monkey D. Luffy!" 

Rouge finally let herself be taken over by her own gut-busting laugh as the majority of the crew fell over at the realization of just who the little boy who had them wrapped around his little finger was. 

 “Hard to believe that you and Roger actually had a kid,” Shanks hummed taking a sip of his drink, pausing as he saw the wide grin take over Rouge’s cheeks that sent a shock of panic through his system. 

“Want to see the treasure chest I found him in?” 

Shanks’ ears burned as his crew mates paused what they were doing to look at Rouge and him. 

“Of all the things you had to bring up…” He groaned, hiding his face behind his mug, “Why that?” 

“What does she mean treasure chest, Chief?” Benn asked with a raised brow. 

“Nothing,” He said, knowing it was in vain. 

“Nothing?” She asked, chuckling as he tried to silently plea with her to stop, “Aw,  fraise. Don’t tell me you’re embarrassed by this? When did Rayleigh finally tell you the truth again?” 

Shanks contemplated not answering but decided that the woman would only make this worse, “... when I was 13.” 

“You shouldn’t be embarrassed then!” She laughed harder, tears of mirth pricking her eyes, “You only believed Roger for 7 years!” 

“I feel like we’re missing the joke,” Roo piped up, a grin slowly climbing onto his lips, “What’s got Chief all flustered?” 

“Rouge, I will do anything to get you to shut up right now,” Shanks tried, but he knew it was far too late.

“Shanks was raised on the Oro Jackson from the time he was just a baby,” Rouge began, all attention on her, “The crew raised him after they found him abandoned in a treasure chest. Poor thing was dreadfully skinny, Crocus said it was a miracle he survived. When he was about six, roughly six months after Buggy joined the crew, the boys realized that while they occasionally saw babies at port they didn’t know where they came from.”

“No…” Roux whispered in joyous disbelief, “Don’t tell me.” 

Rouge’s smile somehow managed to widen, “Oh yes. The boys decided to go ask only they disagreed on who to ask. Buggy thought Rayleigh was the best to ask and Shanks thought Roger would know best cause he was the captain. So while Buggy got the ‘when a man and a woman love each other very much’ speech, Shanks on the other hand had Roger telling him all babies were found in treasure chests and even pulled out a picture of when they first found Shanks to prove it!” 

The laughter that followed was enough to make Shanks’ ears ring and his blush to take over his entire face. 

“He was my captain and I was a kid! Why wouldn’t I believe him?” He tried to defend himself only to make the laughter louder. 

“Wait,” Luffy piped up, popping his head out from where he and his brothers had hidden under the table with the food they had ‘stolen’ from the party, “If babies don’t come from treasure chests like Shanks told me, where do they come from?”  

It was Shanks’ turn to laugh as the blood rushed from Rouge’s face as the other two boys popped out with curious expressions. 

“Not sure, Anchor,” He wheezed out, “Why don’t you ask, Mom?” 

The evil glare sent his way as the three boys shoved past each other to beg Rouge for an answer to that very important question filled him with pure glee. Especially because he could see the way Ace tried to hide a smirk behind his hand, clearly the eleven-year-old already knew the answer. 

The party had petered out hours later. Most of the crew had stumbled back towards the ship to sleep off the feast and liquor, a few however lay scattered around the beach, much too drunk to make the walk back to the docks. 

Rouge watched Shanks sitting with his back to a tree, watching the waves, Luffy flopped on his lap, hands balled into Shank’s shirt as he fought off sleep. Ace and Sabo had passed out nearby but she could still make out the whispered voices of her eldest and youngest boys from where she was making sure the crew members weren’t going to choke on their tongues in their passed-out drunkness.

She watched as an expression of deep compilation and eerie calm overtook Shanks’ face before he smiled down at Luffy. His hand left Luffy’s back where it had been stroking nonsensical patterns traveling to his own head. In a smooth movement, he took Roger’s hat off his head and placed it firmly on Luffy’s. 

Suddenly she was thrust back in time, to one of the few times Roger had convinced her to set sail with him for a bit. To the parties the Roger Pirates threw after a successful raid, of checking over that crew with a grumbling Rayleigh at her side, the man’s actions tender in a way his words never were. Of one blue haired boy passed out near where his brother and their captain watching the sea. Of Roger and Shanks’ whispered conversations as the boy tried so hard to stay up just a few more minutes until Roger placed the hat that was slowly changing ownership onto Shanks' head, lulling the boy to sleep like a security blanket. 

She watched them for a while longer, chest tight, until Luffy was undeniably asleep. Only then does she walk closer, sitting down next to Shanks. 

“So you see it too then?” She said, not lifting her eyes from the content smile on Luffy’s face. 

Shanks’ voice was slightly choked but so fond it made her heartache, “He’s so much like Captian, the way he draws people in without even trying and yet seeming to know exactly how to care for them…” 

She laughed, it coming out weak and wet, “They’re all good boys, but they do make me miss the old crew.” 

Shanks didn’t answer for a long moment, “And your thoughts on Luffy’s dream?” 

She had to close her eyes, remembering the first heart-stopping time Luffy had proudly announced that he was going to be the King of the Pirates, head thrown back with a mighty laugh that was so similar to Roger’s. She remembered Roger, the bonfire of a man burning so bright and vibrant only to be snuffed out. 

Gol D. Roger, King of the Pirates, Her Nounours, Captain of the first crew to circumnavigate the world in who knows how many years, finder the legendary treasure, the knowledge of which none of the pirates that had been to Laugh Tale were willing to part with.

He was dead after only a few short years with the title. Dead before he could marry Rouge like he always promised, dead before he could meet his son, dead before he could watch Shanks and Buggy grow into fine pirate captains in their own rights. 

She couldn’t stop seeing the little boy she had been raising rushing head-first into that ending as well. 

And yet…

“If anyone can manage it,” She said with the type of reverence she really only heard others use when speaking of gods or forces of nature, “It would be Luffy.” 

“Yeah,” Shanks agreed, the same deep reverence echoing in his words, “Yeah it would.” 

Chapter Text

Shanks didn’t sit in the stands. He didn’t feel like it was his right to after so long, but he still smiled as the show went on. It was pretty spectacular even when the ring leader glared his way partway through the show before promptly ignoring him again. Once it ended and the rest of the audience filled out, Shanks continued to wait, letting his haki out just a little so that hopefully he didn’t need to wait all night. 

It took half an hour before the curtain to the backstage area opened and Buggy reappeared, grumbling as he glared at Shanks. He had ditched the orange captain’s hat and oversized jacket, hair pulled up into a simple ponytail. Buggy never let his hair get long before, always asking Gaban to crop it short and neat compared to Shanks’ shaggy mop. The scowl was the same though, laced with hidden worry as his eyes kept flashing between Shanks’ face and where his arm should have been.

“Hey Buggy,” He greeted, wishing he had a better start to this conversation twelve years in the making. 

“Hey Buggy,” The other parroted back, “We haven’t seen each other in twelve flashy years and that’s all you have to say?” 

“It’s good to see you,” He said instead, so much earnestness in his words it made Buggy squirm and look away.  

“What do you want Shanks?” Buggy questioned, refusing to look at him as he crossed his arms over his chest. 

“Do you think you can come with me for a few days?” Shanks asked with a slightly strained smile. 

If this had been twelve years ago Buggy wouldn’t hesitate, would somehow know exactly what was going on to make Shanks smile not come easily. Twelve years ago, Shanks wouldn’t have even needed to ask. 

But it had been twelve years since then, and Buggy looked almost annoyed at the request.

“No,” Buggy snapped, arms gesturing wildly, “Nope, Nu-uh, never in a million flashy-”

“S'il te plaît myrtille.”

Buggy froze and for a second Shanks was worried the other man had stopped breathing. 

“Bug-”

“Now that’s just not fair,” Buggy said, voice low with anger and pain, “Using that against me.” 

“You know I wouldn’t if it wasn’t important.” 

Buggy deflated, “Yeah… I do. Give me a minute to pack a bag.” 

It was almost bizarre how easy it was to sail with Buggy again, even just for the two days it took to get back to Foosha Village. 

It was still awkward, the air between them whenever they were near each other on the Red Force, but they both started to fall back into old habits almost without realizing it. 

At dinner, he didn’t even stop his conversation with Benn as he subconsciously separated the carrots and peas Lucky Roux had made, sliding his plate across the table without a word. Buggy didn’t look up from Shanks’ medical file that had been stolen from the Infirmary, reading through the info on the recent amputation, instead moving on autopilot to take the separated carrots from his own plate and dump them on Shanks’ and moving all the peas to his own. The room quieted down at the interaction forcing Buggy to look up and freeze as he saw what he had been doing. He grabbed his plate back and downed the food quickly before leaving the mess without looking at any of them. 

Neither commented when later a half serving of the chocolate cake that had been for dessert turned up in the guest bunk Buggy had claimed for the trip, plate showing the clear places it had been sliced in two, crumbs of the eaten half easy to see. 

Docking on Foosha, had Shanks on the bow, glancing eagerly to see the excitedly bouncing form of Luffy waiting. As he looked he could also see the gleam of steel pipes tucked carefully between the crates and barrels of the pier, no doubt the two older brothers waiting with Luffy, pretending to be disinterested in the pirates' return. 

“Looks like our greeter is back,” Yassop laughed, as he went about dropping the anchor. Buggy came up next to Shanks to look at what the crew was referring to only to freeze as he saw the little boy waving happily at them. 

“Shanks, what the hell?” Buggy questioned, eyes never leaving the end of the pier as the crew finished docking. Shanks had been vague on why he asked Buggy to follow him. All he really told his brother was that he wanted to introduce him to some people. 

“He’s not mine biologically,” Shanks said with a fond huff, “Apparently I’m the only man other than his grandfather who’s treated him like more than a menace. Last time I was here, he told me he saw me as dad.”

“You’re not…”

“He asks me every time I visit if he can go with us,” Shanks told him, looking Buggy in the eye with a steely look, “I’ve turned him down every single time, and I will continue to turn him down until he’s atleast 14 years old. I am not doing that to Luffy.” 

Buggy looked reassured at that, walking towards where the crew had just put down the gangplank, “Alright. Fine, let's go meet your brat.” 

“Shanks!” Luffy cheered, bouncing in place, and Shanks knew well enough to let his observation Haki out a bit more when the kid stayed in place instead of running towards the disembarking crew. Ace and Sabo seemed almost peeved at his ability to dodge their attacks so easily and had tried multiple sneak attacks to catch him off guard at this point. 

“Hey, bud,” He greeted, taking his hat off his head and placing it on the boy’s head, ignoring the way Buggy stiffened next to him, “What’s going on?” 

Luffy laughed, pulling the straw hat more firmly onto his head, “Mama’s mad at you!” 

Shanks froze at those words, almost missing the pipe that came swinging at his head, just barely dodging out of the way as Ace and Sabo popped out of their hiding spots. 

“What did I do?” He questioned, as he grabbed the top of both pipes with his hand to prevent any more immediate attacks. 

“You didn’t tell her you were leaving, asshole,” Ace growled, scowl firm and unyielding, “You made her cry you piece of shit.” 

Shanks flinched back at that, realizing with dawning horror that he hadn’t informed anyone on the island of his plans to go get Buggy. He wasn’t used to that, telling people his plans so they wouldn’t worry. He’d never really had anyone to tell before. 

“I told you guys he’d be back quick!” Luffy drew out, still smiling, “I told you!” 

“Yeah, Luffy,” Sabo huffed, yanking his pipe from Shanks’ grasp and lowering it, “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t shitty of him though.” 

“No,” Luffy agreed, “but he brought a new friend and I’m sure Mama will understand, she likes new friends!”

Ace didn’t look so sure, “Why’d she be excited to see some second-rate party clown?” 

“Hey!” Buggy growled, hand flying out to flick the boy on the head, “Who you calling a party clown, you brat?” 

Luffy’s smile grew at the flying hand, “You’re like me! You ate a devil fruit!” 

Buggy stopped, “What? You’re a devil fruit user, kid?” 

Luffy laughed, pulling his cheek out to arm's length, “I’m rubber, see! What can you do?” 

Buggy’s face softened slightly as his hand reattached, “I got the Bara Bara no Mi. I can split off pieces of myself and control them however I see fit. Also means blades don’t work on me.” 

“Cool!” Sabo cheered alongside Luffy, stars in his eyes, “What’s your name mister?” 

“Huh?” Buggy blinked before rubbing the back of his neck, “Oh yeah forgot a step. Name’s Buggy, kid. Who are you lot?” 

Shanks could see the spark of recognition in the boys' eyes and suddenly Ace’s glare and scowl were gone as he stepped up. 

“I’m Ace and these are my brothers, Sabo and Luffy,” He said before looking up at Shanks, “You want him to meet Mama right?

“Yeah,” He agreed softly, “Where is she anyway?” 

“She’s staying with Dadan,” Sabo said, looking at him imploringly, “She said she needed to let off some aggression.” 

“She took Dad’s sword,” Ace told him bluntly, smirking at the flinch that got from Shanks. 

“Well,” Shanks sighed, feeling like a man on the way to the gallows, “Can’t leave her waiting any longer.”  

“To the mountain!” Luffy cheered, arms shooting out to Shanks’ shoulders and yanking himself up for a piggyback ride. 

“Woah!” Shanks laughed as he caught his balance, biting back a wince at the pain shooting through his still-healing stump, “Careful getting up there, little anchor.” 

Buggy’s head whipped around at that, “What did you just call him?” 

Shanks froze at the furious tone, replaying the conversation in his head before his eyes grew large, and he winced, “Buggy-”

“Don’t Buggy me,” The clown seethed, stabbing an accusatory finger into Shanks’ chest, “Calling a devil fruit user an anchor, have you really gotten that heartless?” 

“It really-” 

“I know it’s been a while but I didn’t think you would change enough to suddenly be such a flashy asshole to a little kid you claim to think of as your own, I mean-” 

“Oi, Arts and Crafts,” Ace cut in with an impatient frown, “if you shut up for a minute you might figure out Luf’s nickname has nothing to do with the shitty fruit he ate.” 

Buggy’s teeth ground together as he snarled at Ace, “Why you-” The boy’s words seemed to register with him because he stopped and stared for a second, “Nothing to do… what the heck do you mean?” 

It was Luffy who answered, “I’ve been Anchor for a long time-”

“Eight months,” Shanks supplied softly. 

“-But I only ate the rubber berry-” 

“Gomu Gomu no Mi,” Sabo cut in.

“-Like yesterday.” 

“Two weeks ago,” Ace finished with an eye roll, “So can you get your panties out of the twist you worked them into so we can go hunt for dinner? If you don’t help get the food, you don’t get to eat any of the meat.” 

“I-” Buggy deflated with a deep sigh, “Yeah let’s do that.” 

“I hope she’s by the river,” Sabo mused as they started walking, the rest of the crew yelling out they would be at Makino’s bar, “It’s been a while since we’ve hunted alligator.” 

“Alligator?!” Buggy yelped. 

The walk up the mountain was mostly uneventful, other than Buggy’s clear shock as Shanks let the little boys deal with a tiger that crossed their path by themselves, only offering to drag the creature back to the bandit’s den after it was already dead. 

“Is this normal?” Buggy asked eyeing the massive tiger like he expected it to get up and swallow the boys whole. 

Shanks shrugged, “More or less. The rule of the Mountain Bandits is if you don’t help catch dinner then you don’t get to eat what was caught. The boys have been doing this for a few years now, even Luffy is expected to help out if they’re staying up with the bandits.”

“Though if Mama’s hunting she’ll let us eat whatever she brought down!” Sabo chimed in 

“Who the hell trusts kids with bandits?” Buggy grouched only for Luffy to smile up at him sweetly. 

“Gramps does!” He told the clown, “He gave Mama and Ace to Dadan to keep safe and then he gave me to them so I could stay safe and when we found Sabo in the dump we brought him to Dadan cause she’s really good at keeping people safe.” 

Ace snorted, “Yeah right, that old hag just likes the free labor.” 

Luffy pouted at him, “You’re just mad Makino didn’t have time to make us bentos today!” 

Ace’s face burned as he snarled, “Why you-” 

The bickering duo earned a snort from Shanks and a pinched expression from Buggy. 

“What’s that face for?” Shanks asked as Sabo joined Luffy in teasing their older brother. 

“I…” Buggy looked almost pained, “Is this what we looked like to the crew?” 

That startled a laugh out of Shanks and Buggy was hiding his mouth behind his hand so Shanks knew he was trying really hard not to follow suit. 

“God I hope not,” Shanks wheezed out. 

“Reste à terre, putain de gros lézard!”

The group all froze as the scream cut through the air, a large splash followed by a pained bellow 

“Mama’s by the river,” Ace said with a smile, “Sounds like we’re getting gator tonight!” 

“Not if I get it first!” Luffy screamed running towards the noise, “MAMA!” 

“Hey!” Sabo yelled after him, Ace on his heels, “You can’t just eat everything!” 

“Welp time to face the music,” Shanks huffed, turning his head to look at a shell-shocked Buggy. 

“Why did…That was… Shanks why…” Buggy couldn’t seem to finish his sentence, voice barely audible over the sounds of shouts in front of them. Shanks offered a reassuring smile, dropping the tiger to grab at the other man’s hand. 

“Come on Bug,” He said leading the way through the underbrush. 

Once he broke the treeline he could see Rouge ankle-deep in the water, Ace the sword dripping with blood, her pale green dress spotless and neat despite the two large gators that lay butchered at her feet. She was breathing heavily but her face was soft as she watched the trio of boys bouncing and chattering around the river bank. 

When she looked up to see him standing just on the edge of the trees her eyes suddenly went cold as ice and he could feel her haki pulse with undiluted rage. Every single cell in his body was screaming at him to run away, to get back to his ship and sail all the way to the New World if that’s what it took to get away from the stalking predator in front of him.

“You have some nerve,” She hissed standing in front of him, just out of reach, her knuckles white from how hard she was holding Ace, “I find you after all these years, you almost die, and then you just vanish one morning?! No note! No word! No anything to tell me when you're coming back or if you're just gone forever! Espèce de connard stupide, idiot et égocentrique. Je pensais qu'on t'avait mieux élevé que ça, fraise!"  

“Well yeah that was shitty of me, I should have said something but I did bring a surprise back,” He tried lifting his hand up, showing where it was linked, only to groan as he saw that at some point Buggy had left his hand behind, “Come on Bug. Don’t do this now.” 

The hand lifted slowly to flip him off. 

Rouge's breath caught in her throat as she saw the disembodied hand move, Ace clattering to the rocky bank at her feet, "Myrtille, ma petite Myrtille." 

Shanks glanced back to see Buggy frozen about ten feet behind him, eyes wide and glassy, shoulders shaking, "Come on Buggy, can't leave Maman waiting now can we?"

Rouge didn't even give him the chance to snap out of it, sprinting full force towards Buggy, nearly knocking him over as she embraced him, "Mytille! Oh look at you, you've grown so much! Look at your hair, it's gorgeous this long."  

"Maman," Buggy whispered, hand flying back to stroke through her hair as she cupped his face so gently, "This... how the flashy fuck..." 

"She's been here for the last eleven years," Shanks said, "Raising a family." 

"Raising a..." Buggy's eyes looked back to the trio of boys still bickering as they worked together to pull the alligators out of the water, "... Red, I hate you so much right now."

Shanks laughed, because he could see the way Buggy looked so relaxed, so happy that the venom in his words wasn't real in the slightest, could never be real if he had the honor of being Red to his brother again, "Love you too, Blue." 

Dinner with the bandits was as chaotic as it always was. Shanks had only been here once prior, but the screaming and literal fistfights over the spread were intense and chaotic, and honestly, Shanks liked it a little more than he probably should. Watching Rouge and the boys go near feral during the meal was a definite bonus as the bandits struggled to keep up with the sheer force of the four. 

Buggy fit in perfectly too, smiling wide as his hands snuck around stealing whatever he pleased from the plates and platters around the room. His body and head plopped down next to Shanks, turning an eye to the other man, "Who thought this meal style was a good idea with D's around?"

Shanks snorted into his tiger brisket, watching as Luffy somehow managed to mistake Dadan's head for a piece of meat and latched on like a leech, "Pretty sure this started before the blood Ds got here and you know Rouge is shy about showing her will of D off in front of new people." 

"Yeah but still 3 blood Ds and a bonded D, and you make dinner a free-for-all, no-holds brawl?" Buggy questioned.

"3 blood Ds and three bonded Ds with us here," Shanks corrected. 

"Shut the flashy up."

"Make me." 

"Why you-" 

Before their bickering could get worse suddenly a dark presence made itself known from the doorway and their hands were on their weapons before the grizzly bear of a man stuck Luffy and Ace over the head yelling about them needing to be Marines not stinking pirates. 

Buggy was pale, "That's Garp the Fist, vice admiral."

"Yup," Shanks agreed

"He knows the boys." 

"He's Luffy's grandfather and the one that got Maman and Ace out of the South Blue." 

"He's pissed they want to be pirates." 

"Sounds like it." 

"We're pirates." 

"Great observation skills you have there." 

Buggy nodded grimly, hands reaching down and removing his feet, holding them out to Shanks, "Run before he sees us?" 

Shanks took the offered appendages, tucking them one at a time into the deep pockets of his cloak, "Run before he sees us." 

"Wait a second," Garp growled as he spotted the pair of them edging towards the door, "What the hell are you two bozos doing here?! Are you the ones filling my grandsons' heads with nonsense!" 

"RUN RED!" 

"NO SHIT BLUE!" 

Chapter Text

This by far wasn’t the first time Shanks and Buggy had met Garp. There had been many meetings with the man on the Oro Jackson when he had allied himself alongside them against the Rock Pirates, though quite a few of those meetings had turned into play time/training with Garp and the apprentices instead of him talking anything over with Roger and Rayleigh. They could remember laughing and screaming as he chased them down and lightly socked them with Haki-covered fists, but it had nothing on being his actual prey.  

No the way Garp chased them through the forest with an efficient ferocity gave both the pirates distinct flashbacks to watching him and Roger fight every time they crossed paths.

Holding his Haki up enough to even block Garp’s hits was also proving tricky as Shanks was still figuring out how to fight without his dominant hand, though with Buggy’s aerial support he was fairing better than he thought he would. Still, they were very much on the defense and he was half convinced the only way out of this was to get back to the Red Force and set sail. 

“Do we have a plan?” Buggy’s head asked as it appeared next to him, “Please tell me you have a plan, Red.” 

“Paradise is supposed to be lovely this time of year,” He offered mildly as he raised his sword again to block an incoming fist, ducking behind a tree as Buggy threw a knife at Garp only for it to be redirected into a tree trunk.

“I can hear you brats!” Garp growled, reaching a hand towards the floating arm near him, nearly grasping the limb before Buggy directed it skyward. 

“Purple Code,” Buggy called out, words changing over to a language Shanks had long since thought he heard the last of, “You still remember it right, Red?”  

Shanks couldn’t keep the grin off his face even as Garp nearly knocked him off his feet, “Of course, I do Blue. Do we think we’re close enough to the River to pull off that thing we did to Oden?” 

“The time when we sent him over a waterfall or the time we convinced the flamingos to adopt him as their king?” 

“The waterfall. Garp with an army of Grandline-sized gators is terrifying.” 

“Yeah, we’d be mince flashy meat if we did that.” 

Still sprinting around the forest with Buggy and him yelling plans back and forth in the coded language they had made up over the years on Oro Jackson was exhilarating in a way he wasn’t expecting to feel outside the Grandline. Honestly, he hadn’t had this much fun since he had been in the New World with the Roger Pirates. He didn’t realize how much he had missed the trill of the Grandline until now. 

He wondered if the Red-hairs would be okay with going to the New World...

Almost as quickly as the thought formed he shoved it away. 

No matter how the sea called him and the adventure seemed so tantalizing he couldn’t go now, not when he had just gotten Buggy and Rouge back, not to mention the three little boys who had worked their way into his heart so quickly it honestly made his head spin a little just thinking about it. No, even if he longed for the waters that had been his childhood home, he was staying right here. 

Before they could make it to the river to hopefully trick Garp into going over the waterfall Buggy had scouted out, a shot ran out and Garp toppled like a downed tree. 

“Goddamn bounty hunter,” Garp growled as he sat up, rubbing his shoulder as Rouge appeared in the treeline with her rifle, Reine, slung over her shoulder. 

“It’s a rubber bullet, bête,” She said with an eye roll. 

“Covered in Haki!” 

“Just like you struck my fils with! Imagine that!’ She gasped as if shocked by the realization despite her face staying bland and unimpressed, “Will you stop chasing my eldest two around the forest like a rabid dog now?” 

“Thanks for the save, Maman!” Shanks chirped watching the muscle in Garp’s jaw jump. 

“Yeah, Yeah,” The Marine muttered climbing to his feet, “Tell your brats to stop filling my grandsons’ heads with this nonsense about pirates.” 

“Oh, so they can be flashy Marines instead?” Buggy grumbled as he reassembled. 

Garp struck out without looking and knocked both Buggy and Shanks over the head. 

“Hey!” Shanks groaned, feeling a lump form from the man’s so-called Fist of Love, “I didn’t say anything!” 

“No, but I saw the hat Luffy was sporting, and I ain't stupid, boy.”  

“Oh yeah forgot I left that with the little anchor.” 

“Is it save to come out now, or is Gramps gonna try and kick our asses some more?” Luffy’s voice echoed from above them. 

Rouge looked up and smiled, “He’s done until reasonable training hours. Right, Garp?” 

The ice in her voice and her hand on her trigger was enough for Garp to back down. 

The three boys dropped from the treetops with curious expressions on their faces. Instantly the boys are surrounding Buggy and Shanks. 

“You guys were awesome!” Sabo said, stars in his eyes, “You were moving so fast and you were talking but I couldn’t understand you and-” 

“You were beating Gramps!” Luffy cheered, “I didn’t know anyone but Mama could do that!” 

“Maman still had to save them, so she’s still the only one that can beat the shitty old geezer,” Ace countered but Shanks could still see the sparkle of amazement and wonder in the little boy’s eyes, “I guess they were pretty cool though.”

Buggy was puffing up like a big peacock at the praise, trying to keep a cool smirk on his face even as a dopey grin threatened to break across his face.

Shanks hoped he didn’t look nearly as stupid as he felt like his heart was doing a happy dance in his chest. 

Garp narrowed his eyes as he looked them over. 

“Where’d the blond one come from?” 

The trio of boys froze in their excitement to stare at Garp before sharing a look as if silently debating what to say.

“Grey Terminal,” Ace finally offered. 

“He’s our brother and gonna be a pirate too!” Luffy added even as Sabo and Ace tried to stop him. Garp hummed for a second, before delivering a Fist of Love to the blond as well. 

“Welcome to the Family, brat.” 

Rouge just groaned and rubbed a hand down her face, “Garp, I will go get live ammo if you keep hitting my boys.” 

“Got to toughen them up somehow.” 

“Pretty sure the Grandline-sized flashy fauna is doing that just fine,” Buggy added in his two cents, “I’m still questioning how this all happened.”

Garp and Rouge both made faces at that as if they’d rather talk about anything else but still Rouge took a deep breath before turning to the young trio.

“Petite étoile, petite lune et petit soleil,” Rouge said softly, each of the boys smiling softly at their given nickname, “Bathtime and then if you’d like to sleep in your hideout you can, the weather looks nice tonight.” 

Ace and Sabo just nodded as Luffy shrunk in on himself slightly. 

“Do I gotta?” He grumbled, pouting. 

“You fucking reek, Lu,” Ace snapped earning another Fist of Love from Garp. 

“Watch your damn mouth, brat.” 

Buggy just smiled sympathetically as his hand detached to ruffle the boy’s hair, not willing to move the rest of himself closer to Garp, “Yeah bath time sucks as a devil fruit user.”  

“What?” Rouge questioned with a raised brow, “What do you mean?”

“You know the whole water issue, being submerged in it makes us feel weak and helpless and all that flashy stuff.” 

“...I thought that was just salt water,” Rouge breathed, eyes wide and looking upset at the realization.   

“Shanks…” Buggy trailed off in question, an accusatory look on his face. Shanks threw up his hand, not letting the blame be pinned on him for the lack of knowledge. 

“He ate his devil fruit about 12 hours before this happened,” He said, gesturing to his stump, “Then he got kidnapped by some bandits cause he was mad I didn’t start a fight when they ‘insulted me’ and I had to fish him out of the sea with a sea king attacking then I was in a coma for 2 days, then I discovered Maman and Ace and Sabo. Honestly walking the anchor through the basics of being a Devil Fruit user slipped my mind at that point.”

“What the hell do you mean an attacking Sea King?” 

“They got a baby sea king that lives around the island.” 

“It’s called the Lord of the Coast!” Sabo told Buggy, Ace and Luffy just laughing at the dumbfounded look on the clown's face. 

“How… Nope, not gonna ask,” Buggy decided. 

“That’s probably for the best,” Shanks said with a cheeky grin, “So Devil Fruit crash course?” 

Buggy’s gaze softened, “You’re still a flashy idiot.” 

“Thanks for the reminder.” 

“Okay,” Buggy drew out, turning back to the group, “Red and I are teaching the boys how to help Luffy out so bath time isn’t as much of a flashy ordeal, then the adults can talk about how this,” He gestured to the room at large, “Came to be. Sound good?” 

Bath time turned into a lot more of a splash fight than first expected but Sabo and Ace were almost deathly serious when Buggy and Shanks ran over what to keep an eye on when their brother was washing up to counteract the worst of the water aversion that plagued the majority of Devil fruit users. By the time they were done the men just simply finished up their own brief showers and changed as the little hellions ran naked and soaked through the hut much to Dadan’s chagrin. 

Hair still damp and changed into spare clothes, Buggy and Shanks made themselves comfy in the hut while Garp and Rouge got the boys settled in the tree house nearby. 

Finally, the bandits made themselves scarce and Garp pulled up multiple bottles of various liquor, popping the cork off of the sake he chose. 

"So who's starting this shindig?" Shanks asked taking a mouthful of the rum he had claimed as his own. 

Garp sighed, looking at the wall behind him, “It started the night before Roger’s execution. He had asked after me, which given our track record wasn’t shocking. Him telling me he was having a child that he wanted me to get away from the other Marines was. The World Government already had eyes after Baterilla by then though so I needed to find… non-marine aid.”

“You’ve reached the rejection hotline. Please hang up -yoi.”

“I need you to put Newgate on the phone, Pigeon.” 

Garp’s knuckles on his desk were white, refusing to even pick up the Den Den in front of him that had morphed to have a lazy smirk and tufts of blond hair on its head. 

“Gaaaarp,” Marco drew out, “Looking to fight Pops again -yoi?” 

“No,” Garp ran a hand over his face, “No I’m not, but I need to talk to him. Now.” 

Marco’s smirk fell at his voice, seeming to catch the tension this conversation was going to bring, “Private conversation, or should I get the other commanders too -yoi?” 

“Just you and Newgate. Fewer ears are better for this.” 

“Understood -yoi.” 

The line went dead for a long minute, forcing Garp to try in vain to detangle the mess that was his thoughts. 

“Garp,” The Den-Den growled, morphing into the mustached form he had seen countless times before, “Marco said you needed a private line with me.” 

“Pigeon still there?” 

“I’m here -yoi.” 

Garp took a deep breath, guilt eating away at him but knowing what Roger had said was true, he was bound by honor to complete the task handed to him, “I have a job that needs done, and the government and Marines can’t know about it.” 

“And why should I help you?” 

“Answer me this. Do you believe a child should die for the sins of their father?” 

The line went quiet, “...Is this about Roger?” 

“Answer the damn question.” 

“Never. We’re all the children of the seas and we make our own paths.” 

“Good because I was told about a kid that the Marines would really like to get their hands on the second he’s born. Can you help me, Eddie?” 

“Tell me what I need to know.” 

Buggy hummed around his bottle of Sake, "Surprised the old flashy geezer didn't adopt Ace if he agreed to save him. He's always looking for more sons." 

Rouge huffed lightly before downing the rest of the bottle of Brandy in her hands, reaching for a second bottle, "He was a little... surprised by the time I was on his ship. I'm not sure he thought of adopting us until I was on Garp's ship." 

"Suprised?" 

"Well," Rouge said, hand falling down to her stomach, "The marines came looking for 'the one that stole the Pirate King's heart'. Baterilla wasn't going to turn on one of their own, not when Roger had been so kind to them, nor when they realized the plans they had for the children that they couldn't confirm weren't his children. Even so I was already several months pregnant when Roger gave himself up." 

"Several months," Shanks breathed slowly, brows furrowing, "But I thought Ace told me his birthday was in June?" 

"It is." 

"But Captain was killed in September," Buggy realized, eyebrows furrowing, "How..."

"Conquer's Haki," Rouge said solemnly, "I held Ace in my womb for 13 months and would have held him in even longer if I hadn't been rescued. The moment I was safe though..." 

Buggy snorted, "Oh boy. You mentioned it was a small crew that came, how small exactly?" 

Rouge's lips twitched, "Just Eddie, Marco, and a few of his men." 

Shanks could feel the laughter bubbling up, as his mind corrected the pieces, "How did Marco react when he realized he was gonna have to deliver a baby?" 

Garp's belly laughter took over the room, "Kid was still shellshocked when I met up with them two days later. Looked like he just recently stopped crying too." 

Rouge's laughter was next, "Oh you would have thought the idiots on the ship had been the ones to go into labor with how much they screamed when they realized my water broke. Poor Eddie almost went overboard when he fainted!" 

The air shook with laughter at that and not for the first time this month Shanks wished he could bottle the feeling in his chest up and keep it forever.

It was late at night, or maybe it was early morning, when Garp finally got up to leave, empty alcohol bottles scattered about. Apparently, he never stayed long on Dawn, not wanting to draw the attention of the Marines toward the peaceful island. Even if it was his home island visiting too often or too long might have the wrong person checking up. 

"You two better not cross my path once we get back to the seas," Garp warned, "If I take you in Rouge will force-feed me my balls." 

"You know it Garp," Rouge agreed, from where she had been talking with Dadan, "They're family and you know it."

"Yeah, Yeah," The man huffed, waving a dismissive hand over his shoulder.  

"We'll keep an eye out for the hellions then when start sailing under their own jolly rogers!" Shanks snarked back instead of looking too closely at the man's lack of denial, not moving from where he lay with his head in Buggy's lap. 

“Those boys are never going to be pirates. They’re going into the Marines!” Garp barked, glaring at the group surrounding him, as he made his way out of the hut. 

“That’s as likely as Shanks joining the flashy Marines,” Buggy huffed with an eye roll making Shanks gag. 

“Ew, why did you have to put that image into my head, Blue?” 

Garp froze in the doorway, and suddenly Shanks saw every grey hair and wrinkle that hadn’t been there twelve years ago, the age of the man in front of him suddenly so prevalent it hurt. 

“Can you really fault a man for not wanting to face his family on the battlefield?” Garp asked lowly, “If they’re Marines, I can keep them safe as long as I’m alive.” 

Shanks bit his tongue as Garp finally left because he knew there was nothing he could say that would make the thoughts running around Garp’s head any quieter. 

He could tell Garp to lie, to tell the boys they would be even freer as Marines than they ever could as pirates. He could tell them about the adventures they could go on and the places they’d be ordered to explore. All those who had sailed knew that would never be the case though, Garp would never lie to his family and as much as he loved the Marines, even he knew that freedom wasn’t something the average Marine was given rights to. 

He could tell Garp that not even he could keep the boys safe if their secrets got out. A Royal (because no matter how much the boy claimed to be just another Grey Terminal orphan, Shanks could see the manners and elegance breed into him and the fine stitching of his clothes even if they were worn from the jungle adventures the boys' were fond of), the son of the Pirate King, and the adopted son of Shanks weren’t people that a vice admiral could guarantee the safety of, not if the Elders learned the truth. Sabo would be returned to those who hated him, Luffy would be used as bait to lure Shanks into their clutches, and Ace… Shanks can see all too vividly the young boy being led up the same steps his father had to the execution platform. The image of Ace, at various ages, being led up the very same steps his father had died above had plagued his dreams more than once since he learned about the boy’s existence. 

But… Garp would never take the choice of the boys’ futures away from them, not for even his own mental well-being. He wouldn’t be happy if they became pirates but he knew he’d be proud that they chose to follow their own path either way. 

Maybe… Just maybe Shanks could understand why Captain had trusted the Vice Admiral to keep Rouge and Ace safe. 

The next morning he was awoken to the smell of fish frying and a warm pressure against his back. The pressure was familiar, Buggy and him had a habit of sleeping side by side or back to back when on the Oro Jackson and it seemed that that was just another aspect they were going to continue when together now that their bond was slowly mending. He contemplated staying there for longer but chose instead to investigate the tantalizing smells before the trio of black holes came scampering down their tree. 

He found Rouge setting up breakfast and without saying a word took over the porridge as Rouge tended the fish. He enjoyed the calm quiet, could almost feel the Oro Jackson rocking under his feet and Mr. Momora trying once again to convince Maman that she was a guest and didn't need to help cook.   

“You hear it don’t you?” Rouge asked breaking the silence. 

Shanks couldn’t meet her eye, but still, he asked instead hoping she wasn’t asking what he thought she was, “Hear what?” 

“The call of the Sea,” She said with an unreadable expression, “More specifically the call of the New World.” 

He felt his heart lurch. He wanted to deny it, to laugh it off as a joke. He had been content in the East Blue for years now, even gaining a quite staggering bounty of  ฿1,040,000,000 though his less then hidden past with the Roger Pirates played a decent part in that. Then again it only made sense that his Maman would know the second the thought crossed his mind to go back to the most dangerous stretch of the world. 

“Would you believe me if I said no?”

“It was more believable when you and Buggy tried to blame Rayleigh for leaving seashells and fish guts all over the crow's nest.” 

"Hey, Captain almost bought it!" 

Both of them laughed at the memories, enjoying the easy air they could make even during a serious conversation. 

"Do you ever miss the sea?" Shanks couldn't help but ask. He knew she hadn't sailed as much as the Roger Pirates did, even as a bounty hunter she usually stayed on one island for several months at a time, never staying away from home for longer than a year. Even the trips she took on the Oro Jackson were usually brief and often made from necessity rather than choice.  

“Here’s how we’re going to do this,” Rouge said instead, reaching out and grabbing his hand, “When you take Buggy back to his own ship you’re going to find Den-Den Mushis, encrypted ones if you can manage it, you’re going to have one on your ship, one on Buggy’s and one with me. You are going to call every time you reach an island or so to give me an update so I’m not worrying too long about if you’re doing okay or not, fraise” 

"Okay," He said, chest tight in a way he hadn't expected. He had never had someone so worried about him that didn't travel with him. Even when the Roger Pirates disbanded he never had anyone worrying after him, all of his old crew mates had seemed to trust that he and Buggy would be fine on their own even at fourteen. 

"You're going to take Yassop to go visit his family too before you go to Paradise," Rouge continued, "Heavens knows if I knew either of you boys knew where I was and had been this close but hadn't come to say hello I would be heartbroken. I can't imagine how Banchina would feel if she ever figured out you had been here for eight months."

Shanks' smile was a little bitter, "Honestly, Yassop was worried about giving her and his son too much hope that he would stay when he's too attached to a life at sea." 

"They'll understand," Rouge said with a wicked smile, "And if he wants to protest I can always go down and knock some sense into him." 

Shanks threw his head back and laughed, "The crew already have the same rule as the Oro Jackson: Captain orders can only be overridden by an irate first mate or Portgas D. Rouge."

Chapter Text

Meeting Luffy’s pirate friend only to find out he was also Mama’s other kid she had told him story after story of, left Ace feeling weird.

The man was basically a legend in his head. The two cabin boys of the Oro Jackson and the crazy adventures they went on only for Mama, Papa, and his Uncle Rayleigh to swoop in when things got too out of hand had been his, and later Sabo and Luffy’s, favorite bedtime stories. He clung to those stories, the wilder the better because if those two brats, as Mama proudly claimed, were loved by Papa then Papa would have loved him too, right?

Mama always told him Papa would have loved him, would have doted on him even more than she does but he wasn’t so sure. 

Mama was proud of Ace, but she was Mama, she’d be proud of him no matter what. Same with Luffy and Sabo, they’d be proud of him as long as he followed their dream. He remembered the warnings though, the fear in Mama’s eyes when she explained he could never tell anyone he didn’t trust with his life about who Mama and Papa were. Gramps had told him with an air of seriousness that felt oh so wrong coming from the man of how the Marines wouldn’t care how old he was if it came out, how the world would hunt him and Mama just like Nico Robin if they were ever found out. Whenever he was in town he couldn’t help but ask people what they thought of the Pirate King having a kid and the responses were always the same. 

Everyone outside of his family thought he was better off dead. Everyone outside of his family thought his Papa to be a monster, and he knew Mama would be sad if she knew but he really wondered if he had been. After all a good man wouldn’t leave Mama all alone to raise a monster like him, right?

Now thought of the legends made him feel uncomfortable because he was expected to accept these two men into his little family circle, and he wasn’t sure how.   

Mama was clearly Mama, and Luffy and Sabo were his little brothers. Gramps was intense and mean but his spot was already carved out. Even Makino and Dadan fit squarely in their little family as Aunts, even if Dadan yelled and raged at the title when Luffy had told her (they all had to pretend like they didn’t see the touched tears in her eyes as they ran away). Now he had two more to add to his sphere, maybe even more if their crews were gonna hang around too much too. 

Mama had called them her sons, and they called her Maman in return. Luffy on the other hand called Shanks ‘Dad’ and Buggy ‘Uncle Bug’. Sabo just called them by their names. Gramps and Dadan just called them brats, like they were equal to Ace and his brothers. 

He didn’t know what to call them, let alone how to treat them.  

He was the big brother, the one tasked with keeping Luffy and Sabo safe when they went on adventures through the jungle after Mama was certain he was strong enough to keep them safe. Sure he was only eleven and Mama said she wouldn’t teach him how she turned her bullets black until he was thirteen, but he was the eldest child of the mountain. He was the one who had to be strong when Mama couldn’t, the one who kept his brothers in line, the one who made sure even with Mama’s, Luffy’s, and his appetite that there was enough food on the table. Now though with Shanks and Buggy here, Mama kept asking them to ‘keep an eye on the boys’, as if they were in charge even if they didn’t know about where to hunt, or the 100 spars a day, or even about Mama’s bad days. 

It was the day before Shanks and Buggy were supposed to leave again when Mama had another bad day. 

He could tell the instant he woke up, the sun had already risen and yet there was no smell of breakfast being made, no sounds of Mama singing as she cooked. He was up in an instant barely pausing long enough to shake his brothers awake before he was off to find Mama. 

She was in the bandit hut, in the little corner she had claimed for herself and no one else dared to touch, the curtains around her swaying ever so lightly in the breeze. He ducked inside and found Mama laying there with dull eyes and her arms smushing her stomach as if trying to hold all her guts inside. 

He knew better than to try and talk to her right now, not when her eyes were that glassy, not when her legs trembled like that. Instead, he took his spot at her head, moving her just slightly so he could rest her head in his lap, and slowly started running his fingers through her hair. A few minutes passed until Sabo and Luffy appeared, Luffy quickly wrapped himself around Mama’s front, helping her add pressure to her aches while Sabo placed the jug of water he had brought down and laid near her legs, gently rubbing the twitching muscles. They had a routine by now and he knew it didn’t fix the bad days but it did make Mama smile by the end of the day usually so that was worth something right?

He finished the braid before looking at Mama’s face again, finding her eyes closed instead of open and glassy. That was a good sign, that meant he could go make something for breakfast while his brothers kept Mama company. If they were still glassy then Sabo would have to go. 

“I’m gonna go make breakfast, Mama,” He spoke softly, “Do you think you can eat?” 

Her eyebrows scrunched a little, and her mouth made a thin line before she gave a tiny shake of her head. 

“Okay,” He told her, grabbing the extra pillow Sabo held out, “How about some tea? Or Sabo’s already brought some water?” 

“One tap,” Luffy relayed from where he could feel her hands move just slightly to poke him. 

“Alright, I’ll be back quick,” 

He wasn’t very good at cooking, neither was Sabo and the less said about Luffy’s abilities in the kitchen the better, but no one else was going to take care of Mama so it was up to him. Dadan and Makino and the bandits offered sometimes but he knew Mama hated to have others see her like this, knew she hated feeling like she was being a burden so he always told them to fuck off whenever they started trying to help. He was more than capable of taking care of his Mama. 

He managed to make some cornmeal mush and even climbed a tree to get some extra fruit to make it taste a little better along with Mama’s tea. It smelled okay and he’s pretty sure he made enough for all three of them but he’d let his brothers eat first just in case. Normally he loved to fight them for every bite but there was no fighting on Mama’s bad days. 

He ran into Buggy and Shanks as he tried to balance the bowls along with the teapot. 

“Need a hand there, kiddo?” Shanks asked, wiggling his single hand with a little bit of a laugh. 

Ace was going to snap at him but took a deep breath instead and just kept walking, “It’s for Mama.” 

“Oh is she sleepin-” Shanks’ voice trailed off as he opened the curtain for Ace and saw the scene in front of them.

“What’s going on?” Buggy asked lowly, concern dripping from every word. 

“Mama’s having a bad day,” Luffy whispered the best he could, which wasn’t very quiet at all, “So we can’t fight until she’s better. Nice words only!” 

“Like you know how to be mean,” Ace grumbled, earning a squinted-eye look from Luffy. 

“I can’t tell if that was supposed to be mean or not.” 

“Pretty sure Ace is just worried about Mama,” Sabo reassured while shooting a mild glare at Ace. 

He ignored him instead pouring Mama’s tea, adding in some sugar he had pinched off one of the bandits a few days ago, “Mama do you think you can drink your tea now?” 

Mama blinked open her eyes slowly before trying to sit up.

“Hey, easy,” Buggy said, arms flying off to support her more. 

“Thanks, bébés,” She managed out as Luffy repositioned himself, wrapping his arms several times around her middle. 

“Woah, Anchor let’s not,” Shanks started only for all three boys to turn bone-chilling glares on him, and he had to blink because it almost felt like there were two, maybe even three different flares of Conquorer’s Haki but that would just be ridiculous. 

“It helps Mama,” Sabo explained with a judging sneer, “Her muscles twitch really badly on her Bad days, pressure and warmth help a lot.”  

“We know how to care for Mama,” Luffy reaffirmed. 

The older men shared a look before taking a seat. 

“Alright,” Buggy said as Ace helped Mama sip her tea, “Tell us how we can help.” 

He blinked, eyes darting towards the other boys who also looked a little confused. Whenever the bandits tried to help, they just did what they thought was best, and when Makino tried to help she usually tried to take the lead because ‘children shouldn’t be dealing with this’ which maybe they shouldn’t but they have been and they do a pretty good job at it. They’ve never been asked to explain how they help Mama out on her Bad days before. 

“Mama gets lots of snuggles,” Luffy started, “cause it makes her tummy muscles stop jumping so much.” 

“Her hips and legs usually hurt a lot so we usually massage them,” Sabo continued quietly, “We also make sure she drinks lots of water or tea cause usually she’s nauseous on Bad days.” 

“She can’t talk much either,” Ace said, “Limit asking questions to only yes or no questions or give her a choice. If she can’t nod she’ll tap, once for yes or the first option, and two taps for no or the second option. And someone always stays with Mama so they can help her if she needs anything. If her eyes go glassy she needs it quiet but you can still touch her, she likes her hair braided.” 

The men nodded and somehow they worked their way into the boys’ routine almost flawlessly. By the time it was midday, Ace felt like he could leave Mama to Luffy and Shanks while he went fishing. Sabo and Buggy tagged along with him to go fishing. It was red snapper season and Mama said red snapper was the closest to her favorite fish from the South Blue. 

They almost made it to the river with their poles when Buggy stopped and eyed a bush critically for a second. 

“Look here,” Buggy said, plucking some of the bright red peppers off the bush. 

“What?” Ace questioned, “We’re supposed to be fishing for Mama.” 

Buggy just rolled his eyes, “These are Cayenne peppers. If you dry them out you can ground them up into a powder that’ll keep for up to a year. It’s pretty spicy but you can add a little to most dishes to make them taste better.” 

“Okay,” Ace huffed, “I didn’t ask for cooking lessons, dumbass.” 

“It’s not a flashy cooking lesson,” Buggy said, “Cayenne peppers, while yeah they’re used in cooking, are often used as a muscle relaxer, which can help out a lot with muscle spasms.”

That caused both of the boys to stare before rushing over. 

“You mean this little thing can help Mama?” Sabo said, eyeing the pepper with a critical eye, “How do you know?” 

Buggy just shrugged, “When you’re on the sea you can’t always guarantee the next island you’re gonna stop at will have all the chemical medicine you need to restock with, even if it usually works a little better. Knowing common plants that can be used to fill in the gaps can mean the difference between life and death sometimes, or just extreme discomfort and being able to actually get some rest. I’ve always had a pretty good eye and a knack for finding useful shit so Crocus taught me a lot of the plants we’d find in each sea.” 

“Can you show us more?” Ace found himself asking, even as his gut squirmed with those weird feelings again. He never asked for help when it came to Mama’s Bad days, he didn’t need to cause he could handle it, but… if it could help Mama more if he knew more then it wasn’t really giving up right? 

Half their time out was designated to fishing, while half was to learning the various plants Buggy managed to scout out with his weird disembodied parts. 

By the time they got back, they had Cayenne Peppers for muscle spasms, Cat’s claw bark for joint pain, Fennel for stomach cramps, and Buggy had even told them to start stealing the rosehip Hibiscus tea from the shops for Mama instead of just the Hibiscus to help out too. 

Ace didn’t want to admit it but this was one of the first times he had gone to bed with a full stomach and a sense of calm after one of Mama’s bad days. 

It was nice, he guessed. 

Mama was well enough the next day to walk down to the docks to see the Red Force off. Ace stood at her side, ready to take any of her weight if he saw her falter as they waved the ship off.  Sabo and Ace both had to lunge forward to grab Luffy as he nearly tipped himself into the water trying to keep the oversized straw hat Shanks had given to Luffy on his head. 

He wondered if the hat was more special than what the redhead had told them based on the way Buggy had frozen and Mama’s eyes pricked with tears when he had placed it on the boy’s head and told him to keep it safe.   

Everything went back to normal after that for a little and the confusing feelings grew easier to deal with. Shanks said he would be back soon for a small trip and something about snails, though Mama said it would be easier to explain when Shanks got back. 

But then came Bluejam, and Outlook and Sabo trying to run away only for him to just be gone and the fire and by the time the ash settled all he was left with was anger and fear and a huge gaping hole where Sabo was supposed to be. 

Ace couldn’t help but snap more at Luffy, and push away Mama as she tried to comfort them both. 

It wasn’t fair. 

Ace was the one with cursed blood. He should have been the one to die for his birth, not Sabo. 

Only days after did Shanks come back, strolling through the forest whistling without a care in the world, and Ace couldn’t even look at him. He had been smiling broadly, teasingly asking where his greeters had been when he got into port, starting to spill stories about his trip around the East Blue since he left only for his words to dry up when he saw Dadan bandaged up, and Luffy huddled with Mama, tears dripping down his face as he tried to be strong and Mama’s own defeated expression. 

Ace wanted to be mad at Shanks. He wanted to hate him for not being there and not saving the precious people to Ace. 

But… 

Shanks hadn’t thought twice about turning around and only coming back after he and his crew had hunted enough food for the entire hut. The crew cooked up the meal and even brought up some of their own booze to share. They didn’t push, didn’t try and make any of them speak or interact with them. Once it had gotten late the crew just bid their goodbyes and left and Mama tucked Luffy and Ace into their little made-up corner since they hadn’t been able to brave the tree house since… He could see the way Mama broke as she clung to Shanks late at night when she thought he was asleep. He could see the way she crumbled and barely held back her wails to not wake up Luffy and Ace. 

Where Ace himself could only feel anger and rage, Shanks could bring the calm understanding of grief, he could be there for Luffy and Mama in ways Ace couldn’t. 

How could he possibly be mad at Shanks for being strong enough when Ace hadn’t been?

Chapter Text

In all honesty Buggy’s internal monologue had faded into incomprehensible screaming long before he stood on the deck of the Big Top watching the slaver ship burn with the dozen of slaves he had just freed from the World government crying and celebrating around him. 

Two years ago he wouldn’t have even bothered, wouldn’t have even noticed as he kept his head down and searched for whatever latest treasure caught his eye. He had been content with the life he had built, the crew and adventures he had that were just so safe compared to what he had grown up with but enough to keep him from dying of boredom. He kept off the radar and didn’t give the World Government a reason to look at him. 

Even with all his precautions he sat in the top five of bounties for the East Blue now that Shanks and his crew had officially gone off to the Grandline. Just enough of a threat that bounty hunters sometimes got in their head to test him out, but low enough that the Marines left him alone for the most part unless he gave them a reason. So what the flashy hell was he thinking taking on a slaver's ship?

Logically it made no sense but logic had never really been on his side had it? Logically he should have died before he ever tried and failed to pickpocket Rayliegh and gotten pulled along by the Roger Pirates craziness. Logically he shouldn’t have survived the adventures they pulled him into as a child. Logiacally everything to do with Roger had been snuffed out when Buggy was merely fourteen. Logically the closest thing to a Mother he ever had should be dead and Logically he should still be pissed at Shanks for the devil fruit and putting their dream on hold, but the last two years had been anything but logical. 

Maman was alive and so very proud of both Shanks and Buggy as well as the three little hellions that were running around Dawn Island. Captain had a son, a little firecracker of a kid who was more aggressive than Captain and Maman had been on a day-to-day basis but with the same fierce loyalty and compassion buried under the sneer and blood-crusted nails. Shanks and he had traveled together again, even if only briefly. They talked on the Den Den too, calls coming in at all hours, and rarely were their conversations short. He had gotten the chance to really talk to his brother for the first time in years and it really started to make everything clearer. 

The hatred he had for Shanks giving up on their dream had been so ill-founded. Buggy had been so incredibly angry for years that Shanks had run from their dream, from being in his shadow as Shanks shone so brightly. Only he had been so blinded by pain that he never realized how much Shanks had been hurting as well. He never realized that his rejection hadn’t been giving up but fear after watching Roger die for finding Laught Tale and knowing they were nowhere near his level. Hell, they weren’t at that level now after twelve years. 

But… But Shank’s Shadow wasn’t as looming as he once thought it was. Maman was just as excited to hear him on the other side of the Den Den as she was to hear Shanks. The tiny terrors that were Luffy and Ace were just as excited to hear his tales from around the East Blue as they were to hear about Shanks sailing around Paradise. Luffy, the little boy Shanks had all but crowned as the next Pirate King, was clearly a special force and every time Buggy visited he begged and pleaded for tips on how to master his Devil Fruit despite Buggy’s devil fruit being so entirely different than Luffy’s own. Ace all but demanded for fighting tips and survival information acting like he didn’t have stars in his eyes almost as badly as Luffy. 

So when he saw the slave ship he wanted to turn away, wanted to pretend like he didn’t know exactly where it was going and what it was carrying only… he could see Rouge’s face when she had seen them when sailing with Roger. They never attacked them with Rouge on board as she didn’t want to confirm her ‘entanglement’ with the Captain, but there had been more than a few raids on the ships alongside the Sun Pirates when she had been off on her own. He pictured Ace, the son of his Captain, Buggy’s little brother , and how the World Government would gladly brand and beat and kill just like the people on that ship. He saw Luffy’s wide smile and cheerful voice asking for stories and tales and how easily he trusted Buggy despite everything. 

He didn’t think he actually moved before he found the Big Top turned towards the Slavers and was firing its canons. It had been easy, far too easy to issue the orders he remembered Captain and Rayliegh calling during raids like this and his crew didn’t hesitate. He didn’t think they would be so easily convinced to help but… but maybe he miscalculated on the character he had brought on to his ship.

“Captain there’s another ship!” 

He tried not to curse as he turned because there were actual little kids around, not the gremlins that were his family. 

He wasn’t sure how he missed it earlier or if this ship was just faster than most but they didn’t have long until they would be hailed. The ship didn’t bare any signs of being another Slaver’s ship, nor was it a marine ship but Buggy still didn’t like it.

“Take our friends below deck and be ready for another fight,” He ordered and watched his crew scatter. He ushered the newly released group below deck with words of reassurance that it would be okay despite his instincts screaming at him to get the flashy fuck out of there. The other ship was too fast, they’d never make it. 

It wasn’t until the ship got closer that Buggy could make out the figure standing at the front of the deck and his brain spiraled between relief and panic. 

He was more or less frozen until the ship was close enough to hail. 

“Permission to board?” Dragon the Revolutionary called cordially. 

That was a good sign, at least Buggy hoped it was. The revolutionaries were well known for freeing slaves and sending Davy Jones a care package of their captors, so the man wouldn’t be mad at the Buggy Pirates for doing their job for them. On the other hand, the man was branded the World's Worst Criminal for a reason even if Buggy didn’t believe the smear campaign the Marines were running any more than he believed the one they led against the Roger pirates. 

Either way Buggy didn’t think he had much of a choice.   

Honestly, it went way better than expected, Dragon was impressed with the number they had done on the Slaver's ship once he was certain Buggy wasn't just taking the slaves for his own gain. He instead over to help care for the newly freed people until a safe location could be found for them to be relocated to. He wasn't certain he should just hand the people over, he didn't want to stress them out more after all and he knew firsthand how quickly one got attached to those that saved them. He did agree to show the group to Dragon so supplies could be handed over for their needs. 

Arriving below deck Buggy froze seeing a new form already mingling with the youngest children, chatting excitedly to the three school-aged children while a few of the adults were watching with amusement.  

Dragon sighed, looking like he was barely suppressing the urge to rub a tired hand over his face, “I do believe I told you to stay below deck.”

“Uh huh,” The boy agreed as he bounded over, “But you didn’t say which deck! Plus I wanted to see if I could help the petits out. Oh hey is this the guy that did the rescue mission before us?” 

The boy in front of him gave him a wide smile opening his mouth to say something but Buggy couldn’t hear anything over the rushing in his ears. Because the boy in front of him was missing the gap in his teeth, and his blond hair was longer than it had been and there was a large angry scar turning one of his eyes from blue to grey and stretching down beneath the boy's perfectly pressed cravat and the boy in front of him that he had been told had died was so clearly alive. 

“Sabo,” Buggy breathed, mind moving too fast and too slow at the same time. Sabo froze for a second before he was in Buggy’s space and the clown realized he was a good head and a half taller than he had been the last time he saw him, he was probably an inch or two taller than Ace right now. 

“Do you know me, mister?” Sabo said with wonder and Buggy suddenly realized there wasn’t any recognition in the boy’s eyes. 

“You don’t remember?”

Sabo shook his head and all Buggy could do was stare at the new scar, his chest hurt but Sabo was there and he’d be damned if he let him get away again.  

“Of course I do,” Buggy said, trying to convey as much reassurance and care he could muster out of his messed-up emotions as he knelt down to look the kid in the eye, “ I’d be a pretty shitty brother not to.” 

Sabo’s eyes widened under his tophat, face breaking into a grimace as he rubbed his forehead. He opened and closed his mouth several times as he tried to find his words and Buggy waited patiently, searching the boy's face for any spark of recognition.  

“Brother?” Dragon broke in, voice level while his eyes betrayed the slightest hint of distrust, “Your records might not be as easy to find as Red-Haired Shanks but they are still there.” 

Buggy rolled his eyes, waving a hand, “Yeah yeah, Orphan cabin boy for a pirate crew with no known blood ties, never really put much into blood anyways. I do have a woman I claim as my mother since she did more for me than whatever woman gave birth to me, and she’s got three little gremlins, Ace, Sabo, and Luffy.” 

Dragon stiffened at the names, “They’re from Dawn.”

Now it was Buggy’s turn to be suspicious, “And how would you know that?” 

“Prove to me what you said is true.” 

Buggy squinted but something about the man made him give in. 

“Follow me,”  Buggy said, turning on his heel.

The walk to the Captain’s quarters was tense between Dragon and Buggy, Sabo glancing between them the entire time he followed along, wincing each time his eyes landed on Buggy. 

“Here,” Buggy said as they entered his room and he grabbed the picture he had kept safe since Maman had given it to him. It was from that first trip, when he had been so reluctant to trust Shanks again but seeing his brother so hurt and begging in every way they knew how to for him to come forced him to give in only to feel like Shanks had personally brought him the One Piece once he came to the full realization on why. 

In the middle was Maman, standing proud with a glow of happiness that emanated from the picture, Shanks to her right and Buggy to her left. Luffy was hanging off of Shanks’ shoulders while Sabo had politely asked Buggy if he could sit on the man’s shoulders as well. Ace was in front of Maman with his pipe and a wicked grin that might have looked intimidating for an eleven-year-old if not for the bunny ears Luffy had managed to give him with his Devil fruit powers. Buggy had laughed hysterically at that after the fact, especially since he had had the same thought and used his own power to do the same to Shanks.  

He turned the picture around and showed it to the pair, “This enough proof for you?” 

Sabo took the picture, fingers carefully ghosting over each face. Buggy was startled as he realized tears were slowly rolling down the boy's face. 

“Mama… my brothers” Sabo whispered, and Buggy rushed to catch the boy as he toppled over. 

“Shit,” Buggy groaned, “What the hell?” 

“His mind needed a break as the memories reorient themselves.” 

He definitely didn’t almost jump out of his skin as Dragon spoke, no siree. It wasn’t like he had forgotten about the man as he focused on his little brother. 

“Good… That’s good. The others are going to blow their flashy lids when I tell them.” 

Dragon wasn’t looking at them as Buggy scooped Sabo up and laid him gently on his bed, placing the top hat on the side table. It was only when Buggy turned back around did he noticed Dragon was still staring at the picture with an unreadable expression. 

“You… You are going to let me bring him back to Dawn aren’t you?” Buggy questioned. He heard stories about Dragon, the whispered ones told where people knew the World Government wouldn’t hear, not the propaganda that told the world how the Most Wanted Criminal was out there eating babies and hanging grandmas. They all told of an honorable man, a man who was simply tired of the way the world catered to those of high status and let them abuse those deemed weaker than them. Still, he had had Sabo for two years now and never tried to figure out where the boy was from. 

“When I rescued Sabo,” Dragon told him, finally dragging his eyes from the picture, “He couldn’t recall anything once he woke up, not even his own name, we got that information from the inside brim of his hat. While he was unconscious however he kept repeating over and over again how he needed to get away. Do you have any light to spread on that?”

“Running from self-entitled noble blood,” Buggy explained after taking a deep grounding breath, “Despite not giving a shit where he was for nearly six years, his birth family figured out Sabo wasn’t actually dead in a ditch somewhere they demanded he come back. He had other ideas.” 

Dragon looked the barest hint relieved before nodding, “Then yes, I'll allow him to return. I suppose its best that we let my son know his brother’s alive."

Buggy was pretty sure Captain was laughing his mustache off from where ever he was watching Buggy from because this kind of chaotic fuckery was just Roger's brand of psychological torture.    

"Welcome to the family, I guess," Buggy sighed as he pressed his face into the wall, "I hope you know your kid calls Shanks Dad."

"... he what?"   

With a shaking hand, he picked up the Den Den and dialed a well-used number. 

“ ‘ello?” 

“Are you seriously drinking already, Red?” Buggy questioned, doing the mental calculations of where Shanks had told him he had been last. It should be just after midday for the redhead. 

“No,” Shanks whined, the Den Den mimicking his pout, “I’m just hung over.” 

“Sure,” Buggy huffed, no real fire in his words despite his usual tendency to pester the other man to cut down on the alcohol for his liver's sake, “I got a surprise. How soon can you be at Dawn?” 

There was silence for a second before Shanks said in a slow condescending tone, “Buggy, I’m in Paradise.”

He really wished he could strangle his brother through the phone sometimes, “No shit. I also know that you can easily make it through the calm belt and back into East Blue because we’ve been doing that since we were eight. So how soon can you be there?”  

“Can I atleast know what the surprise is?” 

“I know you’re drunk but I figured you wouldn’t forget what the meaning of the word Suprise was.” 

“Not Drunk,” Shanks corrected, “and give me a second, OI SNAKE!” 

There was some grumbling and calls of mutiny on the other end of the line before Shanks returned. 

“Building Snake says if I actually know how to get us through the Calm Belt we can be there in just over a week, give or take a day or two depending on if we can keep the wind and currents.” 

“You tell them that the crew has to row while you blast Conquerers yet?” 

“I haven’t been thrown overboard so…” 

“Meh, I’ve always thought Benn would be a better captain anyway.” 

“HEY!” 

Chapter Text

Shanks managed to arrive at Dawn without being thrown overboard by his irate crew. Truely he hadn’t realized how exhausting crossing the Calm Belt would be for himself. He had rowed across before while withstanding the pressure of either Captain’s, Maman’s, or Rayleigh’s Haki bore down on him but to push that much Haki to keep the Seakings at bay was exhausting. 

Even so, he docked just in time to see the Big Top appearing in the bay. 

“Dad!” Luffy cheered, bouncing on the dock as Ace held onto the back of his shirt to keep the Devil fruit user from taking a dip in the swirling waves below.  Shanks grinned, not having realized until that moment how much he missed seeing the two boys. 

“Anchor!” He greeted just as excitedly as he disembarked quickly, eagerly grabbing the boy up in a hug. He twirled himself around laughing alongside his son before placing him down on the ground so that he could greet the others. 

“Ace,” He offered with a ruffle of hair, earning a small smile that made his heart light. The boy had come a long way from the angry little hellion that he had first met. Sure the boy was still a hellion but the anger wasn’t so all-consuming anymore. 

“Maman,” He said as the woman pulled him into a long hug. 

“Welcome Home, Fraise.” 

“It’s good to be back,” He agreed softly, before pulling back and looking over the group as the Big Top came to dock next to the Red Force, “So any idea what was so important Buggy wanted me home?” 

“Not a clue,” Maman said, frowning slightly, “Honestly I’m a little worried.” 

“Come on up and find out,” Buggy yelled out from somewhere on deck. Shanks raised an eyebrow as no one made a move to lower the gangplank. 

He was about to comment when he felt a rubbery limb wrap around his chest. 

“Gomu-Gomu no Rocket!” 

He didn’t realize he was flying through the air until he had already been slammed into the deck of the Big Top with a resounding thud, the breath being thoroughly knocked out of him. 

He could make out the laughter around him and he looked over to see Rouge and Ace climbing up the gangplank that Buggy had put down despite the way he cackled. 

“You’ve got better at aiming, squirt,” Buggy wheezed knocking the straw hat off of Luffy’s head to scrub a hand in his hair. Luffy was smiling widely and bouncing on his heels as he giggled at  Shank’s downed form. 

“That’s a new move,” Shanks said as he finally caught his breath and forced his arm to push him back up to a sitting position. 

“Uh-huh!” Luffy cheered, “Isn’t it cool, Dad?” 

Shanks felt the tiniest bit of ire that he had dried up in an instant in the face of his son’s joy. 

“Very cool, you’re like a human catapult!” He laughed, pulling the boy closer to tickle his sides earning squeals and inhuman wiggling, “still got to get those punches up to bullet level though!”  

“As amusing as it is to see petit soleil send others flying,” Rouge cut in as Ace offered Shanks a hand up, “What was so important that you called Fraise back from the Grandline?”  

“Well…” Buggy trailed off, gesturing back only for the doorway to stay empty. He rolled his eyes, hand flying towards the opening as he called, “What happened to looking forward to seeing everyone?” 

“Ace is gonna hit me!” 

Suddenly the deck felt like it was devoid of oxygen because that voice… they knew that voice but there was no way that voice should still be around. 

Buggy simply huffed, “Yeah yeah I know. The betting pool’s over-under is three broken bones.” 

“Three!? That’s- HEY!” 

Buggy’s hand came floating back to the open deck, pulling along a kicking and fighting preteen, depositing him before the group easily. 

“That’s cheating!” Sabo snapped clutching his pipe like he was thinking of shoving it down Buggy’s throat. 

“Too bad, Sabo,” Buggy said, “Now say hello to our family before Ace and Luffy explode.” 

He glared at Buggy again before turning with a nervous smile, “Uh Hi?” 

As predicted Ace was the first one to break out of his shock and to fly at Sabo, a glistening black fist connecting with Sabo’s nose with a resounding crack.  

Sabo yelped but managed to block the next hits even as blood dripped down his face, “Was the Haki really necessary?” 

“You’re supposed to be dead!” 

“I’m sorry! I came back as soon as I could!” 

“What the fuck, Sabo?” Ace yelled, only to stop as Luffy’s arms wrapped around the pair and they got pulled to their little brother’s side toppling the trio to the deck in a pile of limbs. That seemed to be all it took for Ace’s anger to leave him and hiccuping sobs to take over as the trio of boys dissolved into a massive sobbing hug pile. 

“When Sabo’s boat got sunk,” Buggy explained to Maman who had tears in her eyes, and Shanks whose grin was so wide it was sure to hurt his cheeks in a little bit, “He was rescued, but he lost his memories. He’s been with the people that saved him since. I ran into them and managed to kickstart his memories again.” 

“Oh myrtille,” Maman whispered, reaching out and gently cupping Buggy’s cheeks, “I don’t think you’ll ever understand how proud you make me. This… This is… Thank you for bringing your brother home to me.” 

Buggy couldn’t stop the blush from rising to his cheeks, “I had to, I couldn’t just let you guys keep thinking he was gone.”

“You’re a good boy, Buggy,” She said patting his cheek before she turned to her youngest sons and inserted herself into the hug pile.  

“Who was he with?” Shanks asked, “I need to thank them properly.” 

“Oh don’t worry I brought him here too,” Buggy said, grin pulling at his cheeks, “You’ll never guess who it is.” 

“Who?” 

“Did you know Garp’s kid is a rev?” 

“A Rev seems a bit demeaning for my position,” Dragon said, from behind the pair making them jump, “I prefer THE Rev if that’s the path at which you want to identify me.” 

“Flashy Hell,” Buggy groaned, rubbing at his jumping heart, “I’m going to put a bell on you at this rate.” 

Shanks took in the smirking man before turning to look at Luffy still being an octopus to encircle his brothers, “The hero of the marines, the leader of the revolutionary army, and a kid that dreams of being the king of the pirates. What the hell did they feed you Monkey D’s?” 

“Tigers and alligators,” Dragon deadpanned. 

“Ah right,” 

Buggy just huffed before turning back to the group on the floor, “Oi, Hellions.” 

Sabo perked up when he realized Dragon was already on deck, pushing at his brothers to get up. 

“No,” Luffy whined, tightening his constrictor-like hug more as Sabo wiggled. 

“You don’t have to let go of me,” Sabo said shoving Luffy’s head away harshly, “Just get up I got to introduce you to someone.” 

Maman laughed, pulling at the ball of boys before her like she was undoing a knot, “Come on, bébés. We need to thank Sabo’s savior.” 

“There is no need-” 

Rouge set a hard look on Dragon, though her smile is soft, “You have returned ma petite lune to me. You have made my family whole again in a way I had long since accepted would be impossible. That is more than deserving of thanks.” 

“I believe we're about even,” Dragon said, eyes flashing down to Luffy, “You’ve been raising my son for years now.” 

Luffy’s face was blank at that as he looked over Dragon with wide unreadable eyes that always made the person they were trained on feel like the boy was dissecting their soul. 

“You’re my bi-Bicycle dad?”

“Biological,” Sabo and Ace corrected as one, grinning as they heard the echo that had been absent for far too long. 

“Yes,” Dragon said, “I know I haven’t been around and that you already have claimed Red-hair as a parental figure and I don’t blame you, nor do I expect-” 

Dragon didn’t have a chance to finish his little monologue as suddenly little arms wrapped around him. Dragon seemed to be the only one surprised by this.

“Thanks for saving Sabo, Papa,” Luffy said, smiling up at Dragon with a blinding grin that never failed to make those it was aimed at melt. 

Dragon was no exception as he gladly wrapped his little boy into a hug, “I’ll always keep our family safe.” 

At some point their reunion had migrated to the Party bar, the crews happily drinking Makino dry as the children, parents and captains feast and celebrate in their own ways at a large table.  Luffy had yet to let go of Sabo, though he had unwound his rubbery limbs and was merely clutching onto the hem of his coat. Ace likewise was refusing to let either of his brothers out of arms reach. The boys had plopped themselves on the floor next to where the adults sat, pushing and shoving each other as they tried to fit as much food in their mouths as possible, much more light-hearted fights than in the past.

“You red-haired brat,” The call caused the group, barring Rouge, to stiffen before Garp even opened the door to the bar, “What the hell are you doing in the East when you’re supposed to be causing issues in Paradise? If I find that you’re poisoning my grand…” 

The grumbling titrate trailed off as the old marine took in the entire group, eyes widening when he saw Sabo on the floor, cheeks puffed up like a chipmunk, and Dragon lounging in a chair near him. 

Before the silence could be broken, Dragonrose from his seat and marched out of the back entrance of the bar. 

“You ungrateful brat!” Garp roared, tearing after his son, “Come back here and face me like the man I raised!” 

Dragon did not turn around or say anything as he sped up his retreat. 

“MONKEY D. DRAGON YOU ANSWER ME WHEN I SPEAK TO YOU!” Garp yelled from the bar, fist raised and shaking. 

“I’ve never seen Dragon run away before,” Sabo whispered to his brothers causing Ace to snort. 

“Yeah, but running from Gramps is just common sense.” 

“Should we stop them?” Shanks questioned while making no move to do so, 

Buggy shrugged also not moving to get up “I mean Garp is basically a one-man Buster Call and Dragon is supposed to be close to that. What the flashy fuck are we going to do?” 

“No need,” Makino waved off the concerned pirates, “Once Dadan gets wind they’re both here she’ll sort it out.” 

Shanks raised a brow, remembering the bandit struggling to keep the three hellions in check, “Dadan?” 

Makino smiled knowingly as she slid him a new pint, “She doesn’t like getting physical with children, but she was Dragon’s best friend growing up for a reason. If you ask around town you’ll hear loads of stories of her putting the Monkey family on their asses.” 

The sun was setting by the time Dragon and Garp gave up on their chase, lounging on the beach nursing a scarce few injuries between them.

“Was it you or one of your criminal friends that saved Sabo?” 

Dragon paused in rubbing the lump on his head to look at his father who pointedly kept his eyes on the ocean. 

He huffed and held back the urge to roll his eyes, “I did. Though those ‘criminal friends’ were the ones that saved the people in Grey Terminal.”

“So that was your group's handiwork?” 

“Yes. We are known for that more than just the smear campaigns the Marines like putting out, you know?”

A hand reached out and Dragon braced for a Fist of Love only for his dad's fingers to run lightly over his scalp.

“We might be on opposite sides, but I will always be your dad,” Garp said, “and I will always be proud of you helping others even if I can’t openly support you.” 

Dragon knew. He knew his father’s love for him wasn’t as weak as to break over a little thing like him trying to overthrow the very system his father had dedicated his life to serve. Hearing it however made him feel so young, like he was just the puny little kid being carried away from danger by his dad. 

Instead of answering, he just leaned into his dad’s side. 

“Sabo is a real good kid,” He said instead, “I’m glad Luffy has such a good family here.” 

“Heh,” Garp huffed but Dragon could hear the fondness in his tone, “You should hear him go off about his own dream while you're here. Those pirates really corrupted him!” 

“You love all of them, even the pirates.” 

“Good luck proving it.” 

There was silence between them for a long minute before Garp cleared his throat. 

“I have been… more open in recent years to using contacts outside of the Marines,” Garp told his son, not meeting his eye, “Purpously spilling stuff I know I shouldn’t.” 

Dragon knew how to read between what his father was saying, “Is this one of those times?” 

“Maybe,” He admitted, “Don’t get it twisted, I don’t expect you to do anything if you don’t want to but… it’s about Rosi.” 

Dragon straightened up, turning to look at look at his father completely, “Is he okay?” 

Rosinante was one of Dragon’s closest friends before he went off to start the revolution. It wasn’t much of a choice to be fair, Rosi was the son of Garp’s best friend, and they had both been dragged to so many parties and charity events together that it was either become friends or try and murder the other. Even if the other man was almost ten years his junior he knew that Rosiante was a good man and a good friend. 

“He went undercover,” Garp told him, “He pretended to join the Donquixote pirates.” 

“Who’s idea was that?” 

“Rosi’s,” Garp told him firmly to stop his spiraling anger from properly forming, “Both Senny and I tried to talk him out of it, but he’s just as stubborn as you are.” 

“Like you and Uncle Sen have any room to talk.” 

“Either way,” Garp continued as if Dragon hadn’t interrupted, “He was doing a good job sneaking out information to us about once a month, but after they went to the North Blue he went silent. It’s been almost four months and Senny is about to pull his beard out but we have no leads and if he’s just busy we don’t want to blow his cover.” 

“I’ll find him,” Dragon told him without a second thought. 

Garp relaxed at that, but he didn’t thank his son. He had no need. 

“OI YOU DICKHEADS, WHERE DID YOU DISAPPEAR TO?” 

The pair winced but started climbing to their feet. They knew better than to try and hide from Dadan. 

“WE’RE COMING, WE’RE COMING,” Dragon called back as they moved towards the treeline, “WHAT’S THIS I HEAR ABOUT YOU LEAVING MY SON IN THE TIGER DEN?” 

“BLAME THE OLDEST BRAT YOU BASTARD. WHAT’S THIS I HEAR ABOUT YOU TRYING TO BLOW UP WORLD NOBLES?” 

“THEY DESERVED IT!” 

“STOP ACTING LIKE BRATS, YOU BRATS!” 

“SHUT UP GARP!” 

“SHU UP DAD!” 

Chapter Text

Mihawk was bored. 

Not an unusual feeling for him. 

To be quite honest it was a feeling he was far too familiar with. 

He had been adrift for a few days now, having no real motivation to go anywhere, or to see anything. Even heading home to Kuraigana felt like too much of a chore. 

He needed a challenge, something to really give him a chance to move, a chance to think. 

He could go after a Marine base but he was in the East Blue and couldn't be bothered to learn which bases were under Garp's chain of command. He might be one of the best swordsmen in the last fifty years but even he didn't want to test the Hero of the Marines without a good reason. 

A familiar Haki signature just barely grazing his own had him switching course, however. He followed the trail until he saw the Red Force anchored at a quaint-looking island. It had a small village on the side that the Red Force was docked at, much more fitting for the rowdy party crew than the large gated city on the other side. It wasn't hard to tie off his boat and suppress his Haki as he made his way closer to the section of the beach he had last felt the Haki signature. 

The moment he spotted the familiar head of red hair, Yoru was in his hands and he was darting across the beach, avoiding Shanks’ crew with barely a thought. 

"Woah! Who the fu- Mihawk? WAIT WAIT" 

The frantic tone was not one he was used to especially since he had greeted Shanks as they always did. They both knew they'd end up crossing blades whenever meeting up, so after so long they had both agreed that wasting time for pleasantries was useless. That could wait for whatever extra activity Shanks could convince him to join. 

Hearing... well not fear, but as close as he had ever heard from the man, had him pausing midswing. Yoru froze a hair breath away from Shanks' throat as he actually looked at him. 

Shanks' face still held a smile like always, though it was sheepish instead of cocky. 

His clothes were still a travesty to anyone with eyes, though the straw hat was missing, oddly enough. 

His hair was still that bright blood red, whipping ever so slightly in the breeze. 

There was a bottle of booze by the log Shanks had claimed as his throne for the night, already halfway empty. 

What wasn't normal was the fact that Shanks had yet to draw his blade. 

What wasn't normal was that on his hip sat a small boy, staring at Mihawk with wide black eyes and a familiar straw hat too big for the tiny skull head that claimed it. 

What wasn't normal was that where Shanks' left arm usually was, all that was left was an empty shirt sleeve, tied off in a knot just above where his elbow should be. 

“Hey, Hawks. How have you been?” Shanks greeted, sounding way too calm for the state he was in. 

“Dad, who’s that? Should we get Mama?” The little boy asked, turning a glare on Mihawk that was laughable at best, he might have even found it cute if the words the boy had said didn’t feel like a bullet to the chest.

“Who gives a shit? He nearly took your head off, Lu!” Another young voice growled, and Mihawk saw two more boys, only a few years older than the one Shanks held. The boys held thick metal pipes as if they were adequate weapons, glaring at Mihawk in a much more intimidating fashion than the little one. Mihawk felt something was familiar about the freckled boy’s look but it hardly mattered.  

Without even thinking about it he resheathed Yoru and turned on his heel. 

“Wait, Hawks,” Shanks tried, setting the boy, his son, down to grab the back of Mihawk’s coat. 

“What is the point?” He said, ice and venom dripping from his words, “Your sword arm is gone. My journey seems to have been pointless. I’ll allow you to continue your day.”

“Mihawk, please just listen.”

“If you do not release me then you’ll be relieved of your remaining hand.”  

“Yeah, this is painful,” Another voice drawled out and a man Mihawk hadn’t seen in over a decade was suddenly in front of him. 

“Come on, hellions,” Buggy said, limbs detaching to corral the boys towards where the rest of the Red-haired pirates had moved to, “Let’s let Red explain himself to his boyfriend.” 

“Blue…” Shanks growled, face turning nearly as red as his hair.

“I hardly believe that title applies,” Mihawk huffed. He never liked placing such words on his relationship, but now it felt like acid in his veins. Shanks had a son, a son who was far too young to be from before whatever had been between Shanks and himself and whose mother was nearby. 

Buggy gave the pair of them a tired look, “Red, you’ve been mooning over Mihawk since he threw you off the Oro Jackson’s deck and tried to take Captain’s head. Mihawk, you let Shanks hang off of you like a flashy limpet. If you haven’t figured it out yet, then you’re both a lost cause. So either bang each other or kill each other. I don’t care which and refuse to get in the middle of it either way.”

“What does bang each other mean?” the blond boy asked, eyes alight with mischief of a child who already knew the answer but wanted to see the fall out anyway. 

“Ask Shanks after he’s done with old Hawkeye.” 

Mihawk watched as the clown led the trio further down the beach, despite his words he was still watching with as much attention as he could spare while also minding the hellions as he put it. 

“You have two minutes to explain,” He said, only offering that much time as he knew the redhead had a bad habit of rambling. 

“Luffy’s not mine,” Shanks said instantly, scrubbing his hand through his hair, “Not biologically. Hell, I only met the kid less than a year ago and he only told me he wanted to call me Dad like two weeks ago. His bio parents aren’t in the picture as far as I can tell. Ace and Sabo are his brothers but I only met them like two maybe three weeks ago.” 

Something in Mihawk’s chest released as the pieces started to make sense. 

The boy was a foundling, one that had endeared himself to Shanks of all people. He felt like he should be surprised, but he really couldn’t. Shanks may be a manchild who spent more time than not drunk off of cheap booze and life, but his heart had always been big and soft and accepting of even the roughest individuals. Him claiming a child as his own was hardly the oddest thing Mihawk had seen the man do.

“The arm?” 

Shanks simply gripped his shoulder, looking down at it with a resigned smile, “Luffy was in trouble.” 

Normally he’d wait for Shanks to elaborate, but honestly, he didn’t need to for this. 

Shanks was feared around the East Blue for the same reason his captain had been feared on the Grand Line. Not because of the smear campaign the Marines loved running so much but because of the honest stories told by each passing ship of the lengths the men would go to if someone they had claimed as theirs was harmed. 

If Luffy had been in danger then Mihawk knew that Shanks would have been willing to lose much more than his arm. 

“This Mother, your son mentioned?” 

Shanks had relaxed some since Mihawk had stopped to listen, but now he glowed as his usual cocky smile slipped onto his face. 

“Maman not Mother,” Shanks corrected, words easily bouncing from the stiff syllables of Grand that they so often spoke with to the flowing near musical tones of Southern French that Shanks had used so sparingly since he had been forced into starting his own crew, “Maman is right over there, talking with Dadan and Yassop.” 

His eyes scanned over the crowd, stopping quickly on the pair of women listening to whatever story Yassop had concocted this time. 

He didn’t have to ask which one was Maman. Not when he met those brown eyes that he had seen oh so many years ago gazing back. 

He didn’t say anything, but he didn’t have to when Shanks was involved. 

“Party is about to begin. Care to join us?” Shanks asked with an offered hand

He fought the urge to roll his eyes, Shanks already knew his answer.          

It wasn't long until he found himself sitting on a log by the campfire that the crew had built. Not the first time, mind you, that he had been roped into partaking in whatever celebration the Red-haired Pirates threw. It was however the first time he had three hellions fighting over the food like wild animals not three feet from him. Having defended his plate from attacks while not simply stabbing whoever dared to steal from him was also a first. He wasn't used to rubbery limbs whipping around, or lead pipes being used to either smack people away or hook choice pieces of food. He wasn't used to starry-eyed looks being pointed at him as he's asked for stories of his travel, of gruff crass compliments and hidden begging for him to teach the art of swordsmanship, of intelligent eyes reading him easily. 

He wasn't used to seeing Shanks so at ease without being near black-out drunk, either. Usually by now, there would be glass bottles scattered over the sandy shore, waiting to be picked up the morning after. Instead, Shanks still held the same bottle he had since Mihawk had arrived, and even the other Red-hairs were drinking at a snail's pace compared to what he normally saw them consume. 

His eyes kept darting back towards the two new adults, unsure of how to feel about them. He had seen Shanks shed more than a few tears over the years for the pair of them, for the mother who had died and the brother who ran. He could see how easily they seemed to mesh together again, recalling feeling similarly out of place when he had been invited to join the Roger pirates after attempting to take their Captain’s head. Roger had been tickled pink by the challenge that had been leagues above what Mihawk could handle at the time all those years ago, only being offended when Mihawk had tried to leave without being looked over by their doctor and stuffed full by their cook. He had watched Rouge and the cabin boys then too and wondered not unlike he was now, how those three could work so easily off of each other without making anyone, even someone like himself who preferred to stay quiet, feel excluded.   

"You good, Hawky?" Shanks asked, gazing at him over a bottle of rum. The redhead was leaning into his arm heavily. Normally his arm would be moved by now, the red hair attaching himself to Mihawk’s side without asking permission. It took a moment to realize that it was because the arm Shanks usually used to move Mihawk’s own was no longer present.  Instead of pointing this out, Mihawk gave in to their game just slightly and moved to allow Shanks the space to cling to him if he so chose. \

The blinding grin Shanks gave him as he quickly draped against Mihawk. He tried not to frown as he realized the hand that usually rested on his knee and had to be slapped when it tried to venture higher was no longer there to do so. 

"I'm not entirely sure what's happening," Mihawk admitted after a long moment of just gazing over the group. 

“You’ve been adopted,” Buggy said, hand floating closer with a bottle of wine, offering to refill Mihawk's dwindling cup, “Accept your fate, it’s a lot easier when you do.” 

“Do I not get a say in this?” 

“No!” Shanks sang alongside Luffy Sabo and Ace. All four of them had wide smiles and looked so damn pleased with themselves. 

Mihawk tried to remember when he started finding pure uncontested audacity charming.

Even so, it was hard to find an excuse to leave when Ace was asking to see Yoru, and Sabo was asking about how much control did it take to stop midswing before cutting Shanks and Luffy was plopping himself on Mihawk’s open side giggling as he kicked his feet through the sand. 

He supposed staying a little longer wouldn’t do any harm, it wasn’t like he had anything better to do.

“But what should we call him? I can't say goodnight if I don't know what to call him!” Luffy had moaned, as Dadan rounded the little ones up to take them to bed. The Bandit woman grumbled but Mihawk could see the nearly gentle way she corralled them and the trust the whole group had in her, “He’s Dad’s special person. Should he be Dad too? Or Mama? But Dad is Dad and Mama is Mama so that’ll get confusing.” 

“Well,” Rouge hummed, a glint in her eye that Mihawk saw in Shanks’ before the man did something entirely too foolish for Mihawk’s enjoyment, “There are a few different names you could use. Traditionally men would be known as something along the lines of Father, Dad, Pops. In Southern French, we’d use Père or Papa for a masculine parent.” 

“Maman!” Shanks whined, sliding away from Mihawk slightly as his face burned. Mihawk tried to ignore the way his own ears burned slightly under the laughing eyes of the crowd. Children had never been something Mihawk had ever thought about, never holding much interest to him even when he himself had been a boy. Discussing what name a child should refer to him as, as if he mattered to a little child’s life seemed laughable merely a day ago. 

“Of course,” Rouge continued, acting like she hadn’t heard Shanks’ outburst, “If we aren’t sticking to gender norms he could be mom or Mother. Then again he could be step-dad or Beau-père if Fraise ever grows the balls to give Canéton a ring.”

Shanks laughed at that, but it sounded wrong, “That’s taking it a little far. I’m pretty sure Mihawk wouldn’t even want a ring from me.” 

Mihawk felt his brows inch upwards. He never recalled a conversation discussing such matters with Shanks. Then again he supposed their relationship was a tad one-sided in that regard. Shanks was always the one to make the move to further their relationship, and Mihawk had thought that was a fine system. Did Shanks really think so little of him to think he’d say no?  

“Rings would be impractical,” He said, not enjoying how Shanks’ smile became even more strained, “We’re both swordsmen, anything worn on the hands could lead to issues down the line.” 

“See-” 

He didn’t let Shanks continue, “Though I suppose we could simply wear them on chains.”

Shanks blinked at that, face turning blank as his drink slipped from his fingers. 

Mihawk caught the nearly empty bottle, swirling it around idly, “Those might be a little obvious however, easy for any of our foes to spot and possibly try to exploit which sounds bothersome. Perhaps earrings then? Then again who says we must be limited by the scoop of jewelry.” 

The starry-eyed gaze Shanks had as his mouth hung open like a dead fish was charming to see again. Mihawk didn’t normally manage to pull that look out to the vibrance it was now. 

“Are you…” 

“No,” Mihawk said plainly, “I’m merely saying that when you, as your mother so eloquently put it, ‘grow the balls’ to ask me yourself then you know my answer. I do have one caveat, however.”

“Anything,” The word was breathed out so willingly felt better winning than any battle. 

“I will only agree to be tied to my equal,” He said, tracing a light path down the stump that was once Shanks’ sword arm, “I expect that this will not hold you back for long?”

Shanks laughed, full-bellied and warm, reaching up to grab Mihawk’s hand with his own, “Just long enough to come up with how I’ll go about doing this.” 

Mihawk didn’t try to stop his lips from twitching ever so slightly up, “Excellent.” 

He didn't care about the hoots and hollers the Red-haired crew graced them with, didn't care about the soft knowing look that Buggy and Rouge shared or the gags from Ace and Sabo. What he did care about was Luffy staring up at him with eyes that suddenly seemed much too wise for the child he had seen nearly drown trying to get a pretty rock out of a tide pool not even ten minutes before. 

Something about the gaze was far too intense, far too knowing for him to look away. 

After a moment, Luffy grinned widely and announced with a giggle, "Take care of Dad for me okay, Père?" 

For some reason, no one laughed at the declaration like they had when Rouge had listed off the options and Mihawk didn't even have to think before answering with his whole soul, "Always." 

Rayleigh was expecting to see Shanks again. He always had been waiting for the day he heard the tale of one or both of the little boys he had helped raise making their way up the Grandline once more and the trail of mayhem they’d no doubt leave in their wake. He had closely followed Shanks’ unorthodox path over the past three years or so, wondering idly why every once in a while the redhead would disappear for one of the Blues. As Shanks grew closer and closer, he couldn’t stop waiting at Shakky’s bar, acting like he wasn’t anxious to see the boy after so long. 

He hoped their meeting would go well, hoped that Shanks wouldn’t hate him for not being able to help him and Buggy any more than he already did after Roger’s death, hoped that Shanks would seek him out in a way that Rayleigh could never do for the boys. 

When the door opened, Rayleigh was overwhelmed with the proud figure Shanks cut. He soaked in each difference he could see, from the missing arm he had luckily been warned about, to the stubble, to the way Shanks carried himself. The scar over his eye was new, as were all the men that followed him confidently like the man in front of them was someone they trust with their lives. 

“Well, Well, Well,” Shanks said first, eyes sparkling in the way Rayleigh knew fourteen years ago would have had his Haki flaring looking for what chaos the two brats had created this time, “You’re starting to go grey, old man.” 

“Charming as always,” He simply offered, cheeks already starting to ache under the smile he couldn’t hold back, “You’ve been causing quite the stir recently, brat.” 

“I did learn from the best.” 

Before Rayleigh could offer to buy the man in front of him a drink the unmistakable chirp of a Den-Den ringing caused both of the men to pause. 

“Hello?” Shanks greeted and Rayleigh wondered who it could be on the end. Maybe he’d be lucky enough to be able to hear Buggy in this visit too, or maybe he’d have a friend to ask Shanks about. 

The features the Den-Den formed were unfamiliar, dark hair and a smiling scar under the eye, except for one thing, one thing Rayleigh had been questioning where it had been since Shanks had entered the bar. A well wore straw hat.  

“Dad!” 

Rayleigh froze at that, watching the fond smile split across Shanks’ cheeks. 

“Hello, little Anchor,” He greeted his son, a son, the boy Rayleigh helped raise had a son, “Is everything alright?” 

“You didn’t call,” The Den-Den pouted, “You said you’d call at lunchtime and it’s almost dinner!” 

“Luffy,” Shanks soothed gently, “I said I’d call when I was eating lunch, we talked about the time zones before remember? Plus I told you I’m meeting with an old friend.” 

“Ohhhhh!” The boy drew out, before the Den-Den smiled brighter than the sun, “Tell Jiji Ray I said Hi!”

Shanks desperately tried to keep his laughter in as he locked eyes with Rayleigh, “You just did.” 

Rayleigh wasn’t sure what his face or insides were doing right now. He hadn’t been this caught off guard since Roger had gotten them both accidentally married to a pair of giants while Garp had ended up in that cocktail dress and the crew had nearly rammed the Oro Jackson into a flying island. That had been a wild afternoon. This was not at all how he had pictured reuniting with the little boy he had helped raise going.  Shanks had a son, a SON, A son that he loved and trusted to the point of giving him Roger’s old hat like it wasn’t one of their last ties to the man that defied all logic. 

Not only that the little boy was claiming Rayleigh as a grandfather, a title Rayleigh had long since accepted was never going to be his to claim.

“Please tell me someone got a picture of ma moitié’s face just now?” A different voice, a voice he knew all too well echoed over the line, and suddenly he couldn’t move, couldn’t breathe, couldn’t even think because this had to be a dream, simply had to be.

“Maman!” Luffy and Shanks cheered in unison, which didn’t make any sense because Rayleigh knew that there was only one person and one person alone Shanks would use that title for and she was dead. One of the Red Hair pirates laughed and leaned closer to the Den-Den. 

“Don’t worry, I got it covered, Mrs. Rouge!” 

“Thank you, Gab,” The Den-Den parroted, features shifting to a familiar pattern of freckles and soft rosy waves. 

Shanks’ grin faded down to a soft smile, eyes swimming with understanding as he squeezed Rayleigh’s shoulder, “It’s not a dream, and I’d hope you’d think better of me than to think it’s a joke.” 

“Then…” He managed out of his airless lungs. 

“Then I’m real,” Rouge laughed in the way that made Rayliegh sure she was too damn pleased with herself, “I’m alive, Ray.” 

He lost track of time after, brain awhirl and heart lighter than it had been since his Captain told him he was sick. His mind could hardly wrap around everything. 

Rouge was alive. 

Rouge and Roger had a son, Ace who was nearly fourteen.

Rouge was alive. 

She took care of two other little boys, Sabo and Luffy, the latter had adopted Shanks as a dad as well. 

Rouge was alive. 

Buggy knew too, he was there on the other side of the Den-Den too it turned out, he had just been out helping Ace (his captain’s son, his best friend's son, his brother’s son) robbing some uppity nobles, and didn’t that just make Rayleigh beam with pride. 

Rouge was alive.

Rouge was alive.

Rouge was alive and happy.  

He wasn’t sure how he managed to hold the tears at bay until he had climbed into bed that night with Shakky and she had held him as he shook. 

He had given up on ever having anything from his old life back, figured he had lost the right to be in his boys' lives any more than they allowed, the other Roger pirates either in similar states of semiretirment or followed Roger’s lead once more towards Davy Jones. 

His last hope was that the boys wouldn’t hate him, that they would find him when they were ready to return to the waters they were raised on. He had been content with that reality, no matter the outcome. 

His heart couldn’t process the idea of more, and yet more was offered and Rayleigh knew he was a greedy son of a bitch but even he didn’t know if he could take all that was being offered. 

He wasn’t sure if what he wanted, now that he dared to hope, was even being offered. 

Several days later when it was finally time for Shanks to continue, to enter the New World once more, Rayleigh found himself hugging the boy tight to his chest, ignoring the twinge he felt at how tall his little boy had gotten, feeling so entirely old at having to look up to meet his eye. 

“You know,” Shanks said as he pulled away, “Ace’s birthday is only two weeks away. He’s been asking for a sword since Mihawk first visited. Maman has said no since we had no one to teach him.”  

He didn’t even try to bite back the laugh that the remark brought on, seeing it for the olive branch it was, “Is that so?” 

Shanks only shrugged, “He’s already a terror that more or less runs Dawn, so why not?” 

Rayleigh watched as his boy disappeared under the waves before he moved. He didn’t usually use a boat anymore to travel. It was hard to stomach the feeling of waves rolling under his feet now that Roger was gone, but he supposed he’d just have to manage. After all, he wasn’t sure how he’d manage to swim with an extra sword and tree in tow. 

Chapter Text

Usopp was sitting on the coast as the sun started to climb higher into the sky, gazing across the horizon for any ships coming towards Syrup Village. If one didn't appear soon he'd have to make up a new story for Mom, but that was okay he was really good at making up stories. Making up stories was a lot of fun and always made Mom and Kaya smile. Even if the townspeople get annoyed sometimes and Merry and Klahadore try to kick him out of the manor, it was worth it to see them smile. Plus he just knew Dad would be back soon for him and Mom and he couldn’t wait!

The breath caught in his throat as a ship appeared on horizon and he knew it couldn’t just be another merchant ship. 

It had to be pirates, it just had to be. All he needed to find was…. 

“There!” He cheered as he scrambled for the sketch pad his mom had gotten him for his birthday, carefully copying down the flag the best he could with how it flapped in the wind. 

“Usopp?” 

He jumps turning to see Mornin standing down the hill, “Mornin, look look pirates!” 

The man laughed, walking a bit closer, “Yes, yes pirates. Though you’ve been sitting here a lot longer than normal. Usually, you would have gone running through the streets by now. Is everything alright?” 

“I’m telling you!” Usopp whined he knew the town thought him nothing more than a liar by now, but the ship was almost to harbor, “Look!” 

Mornin took the spyglass thrust at him with a good-natured chuckle, “Oh pirates are really here this time? Well, let me loo…” 

Mornin blinked pulling the spyglass away from his face before looking through it again, “I’ll be damned.” 

“See! I told you guys! I told you!” Usopp yelled, bouncing around, “I even drew their Jolly Roger! I got to go show Mom that Dad’s back!” 

“You… you do that,” Mornin told him distractedly, “Let the town know as well, alright? I’ll… I’ll go greet our guests.”

Usopp didn’t need to be told twice, gathering up his supplies and sprinting down through the town, “PIRATES! PIRATES ARE COMING! PIRATES! ” 

He dodged around the town folks with barely a thought, he had to get back to Mom.

When he finally reached his house he found Mom sitting up in her bed, and he grinned even wider. Mom was having a good day it looked like. 

“MOM! MOM!” He cheered as he got closer.

“Shhhh,” she soothed, patting the open side of her bed, “what’s gotten you so excited this morning?” 

“Pirates! They’re in the harbor!” He told her as he crawled up onto the bed, flipping through his sketchbook, “I saw their Jolly Roger and everything! Dad’s come home!” 

“Oh honey,” She started only to stop as her eyes landed on the sketch he made, “That’s… Usopp where did you see this?” 

“I told you,” he whined, getting tired of repeating himself, “It’s from the ship in the harbor.” 

“I…” She was frozen for a long second, tracing the scar over the skull’s eye with her finger, and Usopp felt something in his gut twist. 

“Mom?”

Her eyes snapped up and she was smiling wider than she had at any lie Usopp ever told. 

“Help me up, dear,” She said, going to stand, “I want to be able to greet your father properly.”

He cheered as he carefully helped her to her feet and into the clothes that had been hanging in the closet untouched for months now. There was no reason to get out of pajamas if you couldn’t make it out of bed most days. 

Banchina was just smoothing down the front of her dark green shirt when there was a knock at the door. 

“I’ll get it,” Usopp announced racing to the front door, only to pause. Dad had left almost four years ago, and Usopp hadn’t been very old, Mom hadn’t even been sick yet when he left. He wondered if he’d recognize him. He wondered if he’d like Usopp now, or if he’d be upset he didn’t do a good job taking care of Mom. He hoped Dad would be nice. 

Slowly he opened the door and looked at the two men on the front porch. One was tall, taller than anyone Usopp had ever seen, with hair the color of Mom’s favorite roses, he smiled easily at Usopp, waving with his only hand but staying back. 

The other was just like Usopp’s foggy memory got plucked out of his mind and brought into sharp focus. His face was a little more scruffy, and his skin a little darker. His hair was out of the blond dreads he remembered now black and loose, tied back by a bandana not unlike Usopp’s own. 

He had a slightly unsure grin on his face and Usopp had no problem returning it with his own blinding grin. 

“Dad!” He called as he launched himself into his dad’s arms. Yassop caught him, a little unsure at first but quickly wrapped into a tight hug. 

“Hi baby,” Yassop whispered, cupping the back of Usopp’s head with a large hand, “You’ve gotten so big…” 

He laughed, pulling his head back slightly to look up at his Dad, “Mom says I’m her big man now!” 

“Where is Banchina anyway?” Yassop asked. 

“In the kitchen. She’s having a good day so she wanted to get up and look all pretty for you!” 

Something in his Dad’s and the other man’s face clouded at that. 

“A good day?” 

He nodded at his Dad’s words, “Uh-huh! It’s always good days when Mom can get out of bed.” 

The men shared a look then the redhead took a step closer and gave Usopp a big grin. 

“Hey Usopp,” He greeted, offering out his hand, “I’m Shanks, your Dad’s captain.” 

He was glad Mom had taught him about shaking hands. If this was Dad’s captain he wanted to make a good first impression, so he grabbed Shank’s hand just like Mom had shown him and made sure to make their joined hands go up and down twice before letting go. 

“It’s nice to meet you,” He told him, “Thanks for taking care of my Dad!” 

“Of course,” Shanks told him, “I’ll always take care of my crew. Now your Dad needs to talk boring adult stuff with your Mom for a bit. Do you want to come take a tour of our ship while we wait for them to finish up?" 

"Would I!" Usopp cheered, "Let me ask Mom first." 

Shanks chuckled, "Good answer kid, it's always good to ask your mom before you run off." 

Yassop rolled his eyes with a fond smile, "You've been a Dad for less than a month and you're already sounding more responsible than I've ever heard you."

"Hey!" 

Usopp giggled as he led them into the house. 

Mom had tears in her eyes as she gave permission for Usopp to go down to the harbor with Shanks, her smile blinding in a way Usopp hadn't seen since she got sick. He eagerly skipped along behind Shanks as they left, giggling with pure glee as he caught a glimpse of his Dad and Mom hugging as he left. 

"How long has your Mom been sick?" Shanks asked him and he tried to bite back a frown. He had tried so hard to take care of Mom, they wouldn't be upset that he couldn't help her get better, would they?

"Almost a year now," He said, "I... I tried to help her with everything. I've gotten really good at cleaning and cooking! Oh and helping Mom take care of herself like brushing her hair and helping her change her clothes on really bad days." 

Shanks' smile twisted funny at the edges, "It sounds like you've been doing a mighty fine job of helping her out, bud."

"Dad... He's not upset with me for not being able to help Mom, is he? I really was trying really hard but the Doctors don't know what's wrong with her and-"

"Woah easy there," Shanks said, kneeling down to make eye contact with Usopp, "You're Dad has never been anything less than proud of you. Ask anyone on my ship, Yassop is known far and wide for going on and on about how amazingly bright and wonderful his little boy is."

"Promise?" He asked, voice tiny and afraid in a way he always tried to not be, he was going to be a brave warrior he couldn't be afraid. 

"Promise," Shanks said with such sincerity Usopp just had to believe him, "As for your Mom. I got a really good Doc on my ship. He'll be happy to take a look at her and if Hongo can't help her out then well..." 

Shanks looked around before leaning in with a conspiratorial grin and whispered, "If Hongo isn't up for the challenge then I have it on good authority that the Pirate King's personal Doctor owes me a favor or two. I'll have him come take a look." 

"You'd... You'd really do that for Mom?" Usopp asked, trying hard to hold back his tears. This was his Dad's captain, he couldn't have him thinking he was a crybaby. 

"Moms are the best people in the world. I'd be honored to help you keep yours safe" Shanks told him, before reaching out and scooping him up onto his shoulder like a bag of rice, "Now come on, the days only so long!" 

He laughed as the captain ran through the town. He was happy his Dad had found kind people. 

Since Dad had left again, Ussop waited patiently for the Den-Den to ring, excitedly waiting his turn to talk to his Dad and whatever crewmates were near enough to overhear the conversation about the cool adventures he had on the island. They didn’t even seem to mind when he twisted the stories to be even more amazing than they were in real life! This time though he decided to try to call his Dad first. 

He waited and waited as the Den-Den rang but when it was answered it wasn’t any of the crew he had met before. 

“This is Monkey D. Luffy,” The small voice said through the Den-Den, “and I’m gonna be King of the pirates!” 

Usopp furrowed his brows, “You sound too little to be the King of the Pirates.” 

“Hey! I’m already eight! Plus I said I’m gonna be the King not that I am the King, duh!” 

“Well, that’s cool,” Usopp says, “I’m eight too, and when I’m bigger I’m gonna have eight thousand men under my command!” 

“Really! That’s amazing!” Luffy cried and Usopp preened over the star eyes the Den-Den mimicked.

“I know! But… Why are you on my Dad’s Den-Den?” 

“Your Dad’s? But this is my Mama’s Den-Den?” 

“Your Mama? But Dad gave this number to me so I could call him.” 

“Oi, Lu,” Another voice yelled from somewhere on the other end of Den-Den, “Ask him who his Dad is, moron.” 

“Ohhhhh, good idea, Ace! Who’s your Dad?”

“Yassop.” 

“Ohhh you’re Usopp! Nice to meetcha!” 

“Stupid Shanks must of mixed up the Den-Den lines. We’ll give you the right one, ” Ace offered, appearing to move closer to the call, “I think Mama said that Shanks and his crew were busy at Water 7 today though so you might have to wait until tomorrow to call Yassop.” 

Usopp frowned, “Really? Okay… I guess.” 

“What did you want to tell him anyway?” Luffy asked. 

“Well I caught some cool new bugs and-”

“What do they look like?” Luffy cut him off, excitement streaming through the Den-Den. 

“You… You wanna hear about them?” 

“Duh! They’re bugs! I caught one the other day that was like soooo big! It was practically the size of my hand and-”

Usopp couldn’t help but giggle as Luffy continued to ramble. He never had a friend other than Kaya before.

Chapter Text

He did it. 

Rosinante had done it. 

He had gotten the Ope-Ope no mi to Law, the boy would be able to heal himself and finally live free of sickness. Free from Doflomingo. 

He couldn’t even slow his descent into the snow as his body finally acknowledged the pain it was in. 

Law was upset by the blood he was dripping into the snow, his voice small and frantic. It took all of Rosinante's willpower to not pass out as tiny hands flipped him over. He would never have the overwhelming willpower of Conqueror's Haki users but he was no slouch when it came to being a stubborn asshole he knew. 

Law’s fear-filled scream made him wince worse than the pain did. 

“I got clumsy,” he tried to joke but the fear in Law’s eyes didn’t weaver. He watched as the kid held his hands over him trying to will his newly gifted abilities to fix the bullet holes, to put the crimson blood back into the veins it belonged to, and off the shredded shirt that was slowly changing hues. 

He suddenly remembered Devil Fruit practice with his Dad, of pranks on Uncle Garp when the man would come bursting into his Dad’s office to ramble for hours about nothing important only to realize after one tangent or the next that no one could hear him. He remembered getting chewed out in Grand and in Sign so that his fruit was useless to save him from the scoldings for whatever indeed he had been pulled into again. He remembered the smell of ozone clinging to him as another one of his fires was silent put out by tiny clouds. 

He couldn’t help but laugh, patting Law on the head just like his Dad used to do to him. 

“Don’t be silly,” He echoed the words that used to comfort him so long ago when he couldn’t do anything but scream and cry and beg the Marines for safety, for no more pain, for love. He wished he could follow it up with the same ‘of course I’ll keep you safe’ Sengoku had given him, but he couldn’t, his part was done. Law was going to live, and Rosinante was content if that was as far as he got to see Law’s story go. He would try and hold out until Law could bring back aid but he wasn’t sure how much longer he could force his body to keep functioning.

So instead all he offered was what the boy always seemed to thirst for, explanations, “Like I said, you need knowledge to make the Ope-Ope no mi’s powers work.” 

Law was crying now, anger, at the world, at the situation, maybe even at Rosinante for being so clumsy, waged war on his face with unbridled guilt and fear. 

He needed to reassure the boy, needed him to understand that there was still more to do if they were going to stop Doflomingo and guarantee that Law wouldn’t be shackled to him, wouldn’t be forced to die just when he was going to be healed. 

Before he could force his voice to work, force his body to sit up so he could stop the bleeding the best he could before he’d sent Law for help, there was a crunch in the snow. 

He shot up, only to almost instantly collapse with a pathetic whine as his vision whited out. When he managed to blink away the spots, the figure that was standing just inside his silent bubble was still there. He could feel Law shaking next to him and could practically hear the boy’s thoughts spiral into what level of danger they were in now. If Rosinante was being honest with himself he wasn’t sure himself despite the fact he knew the man in front of him much too well. 

“What the fuck,” Rosinante managed to wheeze out through gritted teeth, “are you doing here?”

Dragon pulled out a roll of bandages from his clock and knelt beside Rosinante on the opposite side of Law before answering, “Dad told me how worried Uncle Sen was about you. Thought I’d check in.” 

Blood loss was clearly messing with his senses. It had been over a decade since he had seen Dragon’s face anywhere other than a wanted poster. Hearing that Dad had told Garp about his worries wasn’t unusual, as much as Sengoku liked to complain Garp was one of his closest friends, but Garp going to Dragon of all people with those concerns?

“Since when are you talking to your Dad again?” He asked the delusion because honestly, it was easier to just hope the man was simply that instead of thinking about the why of Dragon coming to his aid after so long.    

Dragon gave him that stupid Monkey D. grin that always lead to a headache for Rosinante, “It’s a long story. One I’ll be happy to tell you when you’re not bleeding out. Help me out here kid,” 

“I…” Law looked confused, “Cora-san?” 

Rosinante weighed his options and closed his eyes as he realized he really didn’t have a choice. Dragon was here, no matter how much he wanted to deny it, and willing to help no matter what side they both were on. He could worry about the clear treason he was committing by simply talking to Dragon when he wasn’t actively bleeding out. 

“He’s a friend,” Rosinante settled on, not voicing the prayer that he wasn’t unknowingly lying to the boy, “Law meet Monkey D. Dragon. Dragon, this is Law.” 

“Hmmm yes, the boy my Dad is betting your Dad 5000 berris on if you adopt him or not.”

Rosinante would have blushed if he had any blood to spare so instead he flipped the older man off, “Shut up.” 

Law was blushing on the other hand, “Adopt? What? But- I don’t-”

“It’s okay kid,” Rosinante sighed as Dragon finally managed to get him in a sitting position, “They’re just being idiots, I’d never make you stay if you don’t want to.” 

The scowl this got was hesitant and Law’s cheeks even turned slightly pink, “Don’t go putting words in my mouth, shitty Cora-san.” 

The words alone were enough to cause tears to rise to his eyes and a sob to tug at his chest. Did… Did Law want to stay with him? He had thought he had been taking the kid around against his will, trying almost hopelessly to save him because what else could he do?   

Dragon gave him an unimpressed look, “You have a dozen bullets in you, but you’re crying because the kid you saved actually likes you and wants to stay around you?”

“Shut the fuc- AH,” He whined as Dragon applied pressure to one of the still bleeding bullet holds, “Son of a bitch.” 

“Pretty sure we’ve talked about how bastard would be a more accurate insult for me, Rosi.” 

“Well maybe if your dad didn’t prance around in that dog hat at any chance he got…”

Law couldn’t seem to decide where to look as Dragon and Rosi kept half-heartedly snipping at each other and Dragon patiently explained to the boy how to properly bandage the multitude of wounds Rosi had gained in his escape with the Ope-Ope no mi. 

Before he realized it, Dragon was scooping Rosi up without a word causing the man to frail about. 

“I don’t know why I put up with you,” Rosi groaned as he realized Dragon had no plans of putting him down until they were off the island. 

"I'm a convenient fire extinguisher." 

Rosi rolled his eyes, "Silence."

Dragon scowled down at him but didn't even try to speak as Rosi's power fell over him. Rosi’s head was getting fuzzy with each passing second as the adrenaline slowly faded, but that was okay. Law was safe and Dragon would keep him that way no matter what happened to Rosi now. 

"Too tired for lectures," He cheeked, trying to ignore the way his words felt heavy and awkward in his mouth, "No talking for you, and no sign 'cause you're carrying me." 

"Sign?" Law asked as Rosi yawned. 

"Huh," Rosi asked blinking away the fog that was slowly descending, "Oh yeah. The whole mute thing was kinda half true. When I was younger I would go selectively mute, so Dad taught me Sign, a language made of gestures instead of sounds. Dragon and Garp learned too. Really helpful for missions." 

"Could you teach me?" 

He let out a sound not unlike a deflating balloon, "Law, kid, you're gonna kill me by being so kind. Where's the kid that stabbed me?" 

He could feel Dragon shaking with unhearable laughter as Law’s cheeks turned red once more. 

“Stupid Cora-San of course I want to know how to talk to you.” 

He couldn’t but smile, even as blackness descended upon him, “…Love you too, Law.” 

“I’m not buying it,” Rosi said. 

“Rosi, since when do I lie?” 

“Oh never, your whole family sucks at it. No this is clearly some weirdass blood loss dream, 'cause there is no way you off all people have a kid.” 

“His name is Luffy, he turned ten a few months back.” 

“No,” Rosinante repeated flopping back on the bed he had woken up in almost half an hour ago, Law having set up a little blanket nest in the hammock hung next to him. He was sure he’d have a lot of thoughts on how cute Law was and of being on a Rev’s ship if Dragon weren’t trying to feed him some bullshit story.

“You can’t just deny my son's existence forever. You’re going to meet him.” 

“Until I hear it from someone other than you, yes I can.” 

Dragon rolled his eyes but went over to the corner of the room and picked up a Den-Den Mushi, placing it on the side table before dialing a number.  

“Salut,” the soft feminine voice greeted and Rosinante could hear small voices in the background bickering back and forth. 

“Hello Rouge,” 

The Den-Den smiled wider as the features changed to a spackling of freckles and rosy waves, “Dragon! I was starting to wonder if you had gotten caught.”   

“Papa?” A small voice yelled. The sounds of bickering stopped as tiny feet ran closer and the Den-Den’s features shifted to ones that looked almost identical to all the baby pictures of Dragon and Garp Dadan had slipped Rosi for blackmail purposes, “Hi Papa! Are you coming back for Ace’s birthday party?” 

“That’s the plan, squirt,” Dragon said with a soft smile, “I’m bringing a few friends along if that’s okay.” 

“New friends!” Luffy, Dragon had called his son Luffy and who else could this be, cheered, “Is it Koala? Cause Sabo says Kaolo is our sister now so I got to meet her!” 

“No, it’s… Well, I suppose we can stop and pick up Koala on our way to Dawn, but no it’s my old friend and a kid he saved who’s about Ace’s age.”  

Dragon glanced over at Rosi who was still a little stupefied that Dragon hadn't been pulling his leg about his son's existence. Still, he had been raised to be polite.

“Hey Kid,” Rosi greeted, “Your dad has been telling me all about you.” 

“Dad? You’ve been talking to Shanks? Why not just ask Papa about me?”

“What?” 

Dragon snorted before he explained, “Luffy has a knack for adopting parental figures. He has a Dad, Père, Papa, and Maman. I’m Papa.”  

The younger man raised an eyebrow but decided against commenting. All the Monkey D’s had a strange charisma to them that had them claiming people left right and center with no real reason behind them, but he knew well enough that once you’ve been claimed there was no escape. Hearing the little boy was already starting the family tradition by claiming parents? Not even close to the top of the weirdness Rosi had grown used to surrounding the family. 

“Sorry,” Rosi sighed, “I meant your Papa has been telling me all about you. I’m Rosinante, an… old friend of Dragon.” 

“OH! Roc-Ros- Rosie! You’re my Uncle Rosi!” 

“It’s…” He trailed off as he remembered a near-identical conversation with Dragon years ago about how it was Rosinante, not Rosi. In the end, it hadn’t been worth the time or effort nor did he actually care like he did back when he was 9, “Uncle Rosi… I like that kid.” 

“Not a kid!” Luffy huffed, “I’m already 10 and I’m going to be the King of the Pirates!”

“You can’t even beat me, Luffy,” Another young voice broke in, “You’re still just a baby!” 

“No, I’m not Ace! Just because I don’t know how to do your magic super strong punches doesn’t mean I’m not strong!” 

“It’s called Haki you idiot,” 

“I don’t need it to kick your ass!” 

“Is this normal?” Law hissed towards him, as Luffy told Dragon how he had apparently been winning whatever sparring match he had been part of not long ago despite the other three young voices yelling over him with corrections.

“With the Monkey D’s? Unfortunately yes,” Rosinante sighed, “If you’ve been claimed nothing short of death will get you free from them. Hell, even that might not be enough.” 

Law frowned, “I don’t think I want to be claimed.” 

“Unfortunately,” Rosi said, “I think it might be too late for that. The option of running for the hills and leaving me here to deal with them is still on the table.” 

Law’s scowl returned, “I’m not leaving. You’re my Cora-san. I claimed you first.”

Rosinante’s breath caught in his chest at the finality in the boy’s words as he remembered since Dragon had arrived that the Monkey Ds weren’t the only Ds Rosinante knew anymore.    

“Technically,” Dragon said with that wide Monkey D. grin, “I claimed him first, back when he was just a little awkward shrimp.” 

“Don’t start,” Rosi growled, focusing on the teasing instead of the way his heart swelled with Law's declaration, “I got just as much embarrassing shit about you.”

"I will pay you for embarrassing stories about Ma choucroute," Rouge cut back in. 

Rosinante blinked for a second before breaking down into giggles, "Sauerkraut? You're calling Dragon your sauerkraut?" 

"A little salty and acidic, but still trying hard to be helpful and healing," Rouge listed off, "Seemed as fitting as any nickname. I'll have to start coming up with some for you and your petit."

He just sighed, "Let me guess, you're another D?" 

"Oh, this one's clever. I can see why you're friends with him Dragon."

"How many Ds are in this group exactly?"

“Oh, where’s the fun in telling you before you get here? Speaking of which Dragon the party got moved to Syrup instead of Dawn.”

Dragon raised a brow, “Two questions: Why and since when do you leave Dawn?”   

“Boys wore me down,” Rouge sighed, “Syrup is only about two days sailing and well… I have missed sailing after all these years. As for why the change of island: Long story short the ‘know thine enemy’ lessons you gave Sabo ended up with the boys saving Usopp’s friend Kaya from her caretaker who was trying to kill her and she wants to thank them with a big feast for Ace’s birthday, some old historical documents for Sabo and she’s still planning out a reward for Usopp and Luffy since they’re the ones that lead the whole rescue mission.” 

“I have so many questions,” Law whispered making Rosinante bark out a laugh. 

“Welcome to the family,” Rouge offered up instead of an explanation. 

"You're gonna catch a cold at this rate," Law grumbled as he finally spotted Rosi on the deck. They had been traveling with Dragon for a week now, three days since they picked up the addition of Koala who Law found himself getting along with better than any of the children enlisted in the Donquixote Pirates. Rosinante could see some similar traits to the kids in Doflomino’s care, the ones he had tried so hard to run off. He wondered what her story was, how hard her life was that she ended up with the Revs so young.

They had just entered the East Blue, avoiding Marine detection using one of Dragon's storms, courtesy of his Taifū-Taifū no mi. He had missed his friend's swirling winds and thumping rain, it was comforting in a way normal storms weren’t. 

"Needed a smoke," Rosi offered with a smile, consciously holding the lit cigarette away from his clothing, he did not need another lecture from Dragon, "Everything okay, kid?" 

Law was staring at him again before he looked away again, "It's weird seeing you without your makeup." 

Rosi huffed, tracing a finger over his cheek where his lipstick used to lay. He hadn't really had the energy to apply it while he was healing, nor did he have a reason now that he was away from Doflomigo, "The makeup and clothes were part of my undercover persona. They were Corazon. Right now I'm just Donquixote Rosinante, Marine Commander, or well ex-marine maybe? I hope that’s okay?"

"You're still my Cora-san, even without the makeup or the clothes or even the name," Law said and it hung in the air like a decree from a king daring anyone to speak against it. 

Rosi laughed, chest light and mind free in a way it had never really been before, "Sounds good to me."

“Was it all a lie, though?” 

Rosinante felt like there was more to that question, something just barely below the surface that he wasn’t sure if he could fully grasp what. 

“No,” He answered easily, “I liked my outfit and the makeup even if I won’t wear most of it if I go back to the Marines. I think I’ve already told you everything I lied about while undercover.” 

“And… What you said on Swallow Island, did you mean it?” 

“What I said?” 

“Forget it,” Law quickly said at Rosi’s confusion, “You were basically unconscious anyway.” 

He thought back and startled as he remembered the words his brain had been too tired to hold back. 

“I meant it,” Rosinante said, even and low causing Law’s eyes to fly up to his, “I really really do Law.” 

“But… why?” 

How could he possibly start to explain? 

“Do you still want to learn sign?” He asked instead. 

Law looked a little confused at the shift in conversation, but nodded, “Well duh, you said you needed it sometimes.” 

“The first thing most people learn is the alphabet,” Rosi said, remembering Sengoku bringing home books from all over as they poured over diagrams together to try and figure out the motions they were showing, “Let's go over a few.” 

He started slowly walking through each letter, smiling as Law studied his hands and copied them over and over until he only needed minor adjustments. 

“We talked before,” Rosi said as they practiced their letters, “ about how we can understand each other’s pain. I’ve also never seen you lose that fire in your eyes, you were convinced you were going to die but you never wanted to. You’re a very curious kid, always with a million questions and the unending thirst for all the answers, not to mention you’re already so smart it makes my head spin sometimes thinking about it.” 

Law was beat red, “Stupid Cora-san, why are you…” 

“My pain stole my voice,” Rosinante continued, “Stole it away completely for days or even weeks at a time in the worst cases. I don’t have them very often anymore but on my very worst days, it's still like someone just snatched my vocal cords out of my throat. I was a quiet kid, didn’t add much to the conversations even when my voice did work so most people just threw a pad of papers and pen my way in case I really needed something. Only six people ever wanted to put in the effort to learn sign for me.” 

Law froze, hand half raised where it had been going through the letters, stuck on S as he stared up at Rosinante with confusion, “Why wouldn’t they make the effort?” 

“Why indeed,” He huffed, remembering the long hours he had stayed up over the years wondering the same thing, “The next sign is pretty straightforward. It combines three of the letters signs to make a new one.”

He held up his hand, the pointer and and pinkie sticking straight up and the thumb pointed off to the side as he traced the letters out on his fingers, “I, L and Y.” 

Rosi smiled widely as he held it out pointed straight at Law, “It means ‘I love you’.” 

Law flushed bright red, pulling his hat down over his eyes, “Shitty Cora-san. You can’t just say things like that out of nowhere.” 

Even so, the boy was peaking up at the sign and after a second he looked away, but his hand now matched Rosi’s perfectly. 

He grabbed Law up in a hug, tears barely at bay and the boy didn’t even struggle to get away like he usually did, instead balling his fist into the front of Rosi’s sweater, careful to avoid any of the still-healing wounds. 

Rosi was content to just sit there, holding Law until the boy demanded to be let down but something pinged off the very edge of his hearing, always hyper-sensitive since he had eaten his devil fruit. It was faint, quiet enough that most would wave it off as the wind or a hallucination, but he knew better. Something out here was screaming. 

"Dragon," He called, sticking his head back into the cabin, "I need you to kill the storm." 

Dragon was quick to join him on the deck, counting heads as his eyes quickly found Koala poking her head up from below deck and Law still in Rosi’s arms, “Why?” 

“I heard something, something screaming but I can't figure out what with all this wind and thunder,” Rosi explained fidgeting a little, “It might have been nothing but…” 

Dragon gave him a dry look, “We might not have worked together recently but I know to trust your ears. If you say something is screaming, then we should check it out. Take the kids below, will you?”

Rosinante nodded, carrying Law quickly over to where Koala still stood on the ladder, ushering them down. 

“Trust me, ” He said as they started hounding him with questions, “You don’t need to risk your vision over this.”

He remembered when Dragon first tested out this technique, the way the lightning had danced over Dragon’s form with deadly intensity before it grew brighter and brighter, singeing the image into his retinas as the resulting clap of thunder made his ears ring as the clouds broke. 

“It’s safe to come up,” Dragon called after the thunder shook the entire ship. 

Quickly Rosi clambered back to the deck, the screams clearer now without the other noise and he spun trying to pinpoint where it was coming from. 

“There!” Koala yelled spyglass pointed out towards the horizon, “Look over there on the big rock!” 

They all turned to look and Rosi could just barely make out a tiny blond figure on top of the outcropping, frantically waving, begging for them to notice they were there. 

Dragon was already running for the helm, “Koala do you remember where we store the nutrition IV bags?” 

“Yup,” The girl called, sliding down the ladder, “I’ll get the medbay set up.” 

“Rosi, do you remember the shipwreck survivor food requirements?” 

“As if your dad didn’t punch it into me? Yeah, I’ll go get something ready.” 

“I’ll make sure Cora-san doesn’t burn down the kitchen.” 

“Law!” 

Dragon just chuckled as he swung the boat around. Looked like they were bringing home another friend. 

Chapter Text

Sanji was sure the boat that had rescued him was much safer than the barren rock that he had started to think might end up being his grave, but he had to admit the rock made more sense than whatever was happening on this ship. 

On the rock he was dying because he had been useless when the Orbit had been attacked, he had been useless when the storm had destroyed both ships. On the rock, he was cold and starving, living out his father’s predictions of never surviving alone. On the rock, he had believed that for the 62 days they had been stranded that the old asshole had been surviving better than he had with his large bag of food. 

He was ecstatic to see the ship in the distance, the storm breaking in a blinding flash. He had cheered when he finally blinked away the spots to see clear skies and the boat turned towards the rock. He watched as a person on deck dropped the anchor at the bottom of the rock and suddenly a tall intimidating man, almost as large as Father, with a red tattoo and a wild mane of black hair rose through the air on a strong gust of wind. The man’s voice was soft despite the hard look on his face. The man, Dragon he told him, carefully offered a hand to him, promising food and medical care on the ship below. 

“Wait!” Sanji said, pulling back slightly, despite his body screaming at him to go, “We got to get the old man first!” 

“Old man?” Dragon asked, eyes sharp as they gazed over the area.

Sanji nodded, “He’s a pirate, he attacked the Orbit and they both sunk but… He’s the one that got us both up there even with all the sharks. We got to get him, he was watching the other direction.” 

Dragon nodded, “And he’s…” 

Sanji frowned, he was sure if he had any fluids left in his body he’d be crying, “I don’t know. I never checked.” 

Why hadn’t he checked? The man was a jerk, hoarding so much food to himself and being so mean, but he had saved Sanji when he really didn’t need to. He could have, and probably should have, let him drown. Hell, he could have killed Sanji in the kitchen where the pirates had found him. He could be dead and Sanji wouldn’t have ever known if not for a ship finally arriving. 

“Okay,” Dragon said, no judgment in his voice, “I’ll go get him in a minute. Let’s get you settled first.”

“But…” 

“Kid, I know you’ve been through a lot and you’ve been very strong to make it this long so let’s focus on getting you taken care of and then I’ll go back up alright, it’ll be at most two minutes to get you to the infirmary?” 

Strong, Dragon thought he was strong? 

“I’m not strong,” 

Dragon gave him a soft smile, “You’ve been exposed to the elements after a shipwreck for how long?” 

“62 days,” Sanji whispered looking down at the ground, unable to keep staring at the kindness in front of him, not understanding how someone could look at him like that, “I tried really hard to ration the food the old man gave me but that ran out on day 25.” 

There was a sharp inhale, and Dragon’s voice had a pained edge to it when he spoke again, “Kid that takes more strength of will than most people will ever have. I’ve traveled the seas for a very long time, and don’t know many that would still be alive after that long, let alone coherent and worried about their fellow survivor.”

Sanji didn’t understand, but he was tired and the man had promised him food. It would be so easy for him to just let the man take him down and to let him deal with the old coot instead of Sanji having to do it and yet…

“I’m going to let him know,” Sanji told the man with no room for argument, “I got to see him before I go down.” 

Dragon looked at him with a hard searching gaze before he rose to his full height, dwarfing Sanji almost as much as Father usually did, the tiny voice in the back of his head was screaming at him to hide, to run from whatever punishment the man was about to give him for refusing his generous offer, but all he did was lay a large hand on Sanji’s head and gently brush his bangs back.

“I’m not convincing you huh, kid?” He asked with a small smile. 

“No,” He told him, “And my name’s Sanji, not kid.”

“Alright, Sanji,” Dragon said, offering him a hand up, “Show me where you left the old man.” 

It was a lot harder walking than he ever remembered it being. Not even the time Ichiji had broken his leg halfway through an obstacle course and Father had demanded he finished it before the medics could see him was as hard as this. He refused to be carried though, he could make it to the old man himself.  

The old man was still on the same rock Sanji had last seen him on. He was still in a way that made Sanji’s stomach swoop. 

“Oi, Geezer,” Sanji called, pausing next to the large bag the old man had kept. How did he have so much food left? Sanji’s hadn’t been that small compared to the large one, and yet this one didn’t even look slightly smaller than it had been.

"Didn't I tell you not to come over here?" The man said without turning around,  "Unless you saw a ship."

Sanji didn’t answer because Dragon had knelt down next to the bag with a grave look, only to reveal mounds of gold. 

“There’s no food…” Sanji breathed, confusion swirling around his head, he didn’t understand.  Where was the food the old man kept? 

“You gone deaf, kid?” The old man asked. 

"This is all treasure!"

"Strange, isn't it? We have all this money, and we're gonna starve."

The man sounded so flippant about it, like it didn’t matter and it burned through Sanji. Anger he had been too hungry to feel since the first week bubbled to the surface. He ran over and grabbed at the pirate's coat. "What's going on?! Where's all your food, old man? Come on! You have to be eating something, so where is it? Answer m…"

Sanji suddenly cut off when he noticed something was off. Just below the pirate’s knee, a rope tied the ends of his black pants over an obvious stump.

He couldn’t keep on his feet in his haste to scramble away from the man because it didn’t make sense, where was his leg? Why was it just gone?  "What- What happened? What happened to your leg?"

The Man didn’t look at him or answer his questions, but Sanji could see the haunted look in his eye and the brown stains around his mouth and mustache. It didn’t make sense, but there was no other option. 

"You…gave up your leg…" Sanji managed out, mind awhirl, "…in order to save me?"

The man’s eyes finally looked down at him with an unwavering intensity, but he didn't hesitate as he said, "That's right." 

It didn’t make sense. 

None of this made sense. 

Why would he do such a thing?

Why would anyone do such a thing, let alone for Sanji?

“Sanji,” Dragon said, moving around to kneel next to him, placing a steady hand on his back, “Breath kid.” 

Oh, he was doing the too quick-breathing thing that Yonji thought was hilarious again even as it made Sanji’s head swim and his vision grow even more spotty. 

The pirate startled, and barked out a weak laugh, “So you did listen to me pipsquak.”

“Red-Leg Zeff,” Dragon greeted as Sanji’s breathing evened out, “Reports said your ship went down over 20 miles from here.” 

“Hard to tell,” He answered hoarsely, “I’m hoping you’re willing to give us a lift, especially seeing as my Red-Leg days are clearly over.” 

“I couldn’t care less if you were an active pirate,” Dragon huffed, “I’ll need to take you down one at a time.”   

“The kid first,” Zeff pushed and Sanji wanted to scream and rage at him because why was he putting Sanji first still? Wasn’t the food enough? Wasn’t his leg enough? He couldn’t understand but Dragon was already looking at Sanji expectantly, clearly taking Zeff’s side.

He should fight, should try and prove that he wasn’t some weak little failure that couldn’t handle the situation, not when Zeff had had it so much worse.

But neither man was backing down from the staredown he found himself in, and he knew how easily things could go wrong if he was defiant. So he finally took Dragon’s hand and didn’t even have the energy to yelp as the man lifted him into his arms easily. Walking back to the other side of the island swiftly, Sanji tried to not think about how small he felt in Dragon’s hold, a voice in the back of his mind that sounded like his Maman told him he was safe. With a breeze that barely ruffled his hair, they gently floated down to the ship below.

The next person he met on the ship was a girl who greeted him on deck with a grin, probably only a few years older than himself. Her orange hair was almost cut the same way as Reiju only it was carefully tucked behind her ears. 

“This is Koala,” Dragon introduced as he ducked into the infirmary, “She’s going to keep an eye on you for a little bit while I go get Zeff. Koala, how’s the food coming along?” 

“Rosi and Law are still making it but they should be done shortly,” She chirped, eyeing Dragon with a critical eye, “Two survivors? I can get another IV ready.” 

“He’s going to need a little more than that,” Dragon told her neutrally, sitting down next to the bed he placed Sanji in, “Have you ever gotten an IV before?”

Sanji tried hard not to shake, to hold himself still just like when he had been carted off to the labs, “Yes but… why do I need one?” 

“It’s simply a hydration and nutrition supplement. After going without food for as long as you did, your body needs a little more help than just reintroducing food into your system.” 

It didn’t feel like a lie but he couldn’t help but hold his breath as he held his arm out, watching every move the man made as he wrapped the tourniquet around Sanji’s arm and wiped it down gently with disinfectant, mind flashing back to all the IVs Father had told him he had to have no matter how much they burned his skin or made him feel like his very bones were trying to break out of his body.  

“Hey,” Koala said from his other side making his eyes snap to her in an instant, “What’s your name?” 

“I- what?” 

“Your name,” She asked again patiently before leaning closer to him with a conspiratorial kind of whisper, “I bet Dragon forgot to ask. He’s really bad about names. It took him like two weeks to remember to ask for mine.”    

“Really?”

“Uh-huh! So what should we call you?” 

“I know his name, Koala,” Dragon corrected with a roll of his eyes. 

Koala looked unimpressed, “He told you unprompted didn’t he?” 

“I’m Sanji,” He told her with a weak smile, “And I told him 'cause he kept calling me kid.” 

“Ha!” Koala declared pointing a triumphant finger at Dragon before turning back to Sanji, “Either way, nice to meet you Sanji. I’m Koala, Assistant Fishman Karata instructor for the Revolutionary Army!” 

“The Revolutionary Army?” 

“Yeah,” Koala said, “Though we’re off duty for this trip. We’re heading to Dragon’s nephew’s birthday right now, though I think Sabo said they’re adopting me as their sister when I get there.” 

Sanji wasn’t sure he understood but it was hard not to smile back at her when she was being so nice. 

“Alright,” Dragon said, rising to his feet, “I’ll be back with Zeff in a moment. Koala when Rosi and Law are done with the food can you tell them to meet me in the surgical theater.” 

“Gotcha,” She said, though her smile thinned, “Is he going to be okay?”

“From all accounts, he’s a stubborn old man,” Dragon said, “So I’m sure he’ll be fine once he gets the right medical care.”

Sanji's brain was moving sluggishly as he watched the man leave, wondering why they had given up on the IV thing so quickly only to look down and realize it had already been placed, “When did…”

“Sorry for distracting you,” Koala said as she moved around the infirmary with a practiced ease, “But it really is just to help and I know needles are pretty scary.” 

Sanji gazed down at the line feeding clear liquid into his veins without understanding. It hadn’t hurt when Dragon had placed the IV, nor did the fluid burn his insides like the scientists always insisted was normal, if anything this IV was soothing with the coolness it was spreading throughout his insides.     

“Here,” Koala said offering him a glass of water that was sopping with condensation, “Be careful to sip it. It can make you nauseous if you drink too fast." 

He was too weak to hold it himself, so Koala had to help him sip the water with a careful hand. 

"I'm sorry," He whispered after the glass was empty. 

"No problem," Koala said, "I really do like helping people out, that's why I'm part of the Revs." 

Father had always said that the Revolutionary Army was filled with barbarians and heathens who were filled with greed and hatred for those lucky enough to be born into good status. He couldn't see that with Dragon and Koala, but then again maybe it was because he wasn't enough to be seen as good.

"So who's the other survivor Dragon's going to get?" 

Sanji blinked, taking a moment to realize Koala was talking to him, "Oh uh... he's a pirate that attacked the ship I was on. Dragon said his name was Zeff?" 

Koala frowned at that, "Oh. Well if he makes you uncomfortable we can keep you away-"

"No!" 

Both of them jumped as Sanji screamed and he winced back from her. 

"I'm sorry! I didn't... I just..." Sanji didn't know how to explain. The man had attacked him, had kicked him until he was bruised, had robbed the ship but he had also saved him, had shown kindness in his actions far past anything Sanji had ever experienced even as his words stayed cutting. Sanji didn't deserve the kindness, didn't deserve the food, and certainly didn't deserve the man giving up his leg and his way of life for Sanji of all people. Plus now Sanji was already ruining their chances by yelling at Koala when she had been so helpful and-

Fingers curled under his and carefully pulled them from his hair. It was Koala, still smiling though now it was slightly sad instead of joyful. 

"It's not good to pull your hair so hard," She told him gently. 

"I'm sorry," He whispered. 

She looked at him for a long second, hand on the small of her back, "Before this... you weren't in a nice place were you?"

He didn't understand, "I mean the rock was really awful." 

She shook her head, "Not the rock or the ship Zeff found you on but before that. Did something bad happen?" 

"I-" His voice wouldn't cooperate. 

"You don't have to tell me," She continued, "But no one on this ship will think less of you for it. Most of us haven't had easy lives either."

He paused as what she was saying struck him. Was he not the only one? He was treated like trash for being weak and useless nothing like his brothers and sister, but Dragon wasn't like that, big and hulking as he was, nor was Koala with her easy knowledge of the infirmary and fancy title in the Revs. "You didn't?"

He didn't like her sad smile, it looked too much like his mama's, "No we really haven't. Dragon, Law, and Rosi all had really bad things happen though it's not really my place to say, though before I was here I had to be saved too by the Sun Pirates. Before they saved me I could only do as my masters told me and I was scared to death of failing. It took me a long time to learn that the way my masters saw me wasn't my only worth. The Sun Pirates and the Revs and everyone on this ship taught me that." 

The words echoed around his head and he knew he should be able to tell what she was saying, to piece together the picture she was creating but his mind was working too slowly. 

"So..."

"So whatever the mean people from before said, you're safe now and we'll take care of you no matter what okay?"

Her eyes were too soft, too kind. Kindness he didn't earn, Kindness she was telling him didn't cost him anything. 

"I don't understand," Sanji finally managed out, dropping her gaze, "The old man gave so much to me, and you're all too nice. Things don’t work like that, not for me.” 

“You’ll have to ask the old man why he did what he did yourself, but I promise you everyone else on the ship wants to help, no strings attached. Can you let us prove it to you?” 

He was too stupid to get it now, too weak, too useless, but she was offering him time at the very least. Time to figure it out, time to prove himself worthy of the kindness given to him by these strange people. 

He’s supposed that was good enough.  

He could relax a little and give his overtaxed body a break after the hellish ordeal he just escaped. 

Atleast until the lanky man that dwarfed anyone Sanji had ever met came stumbling into the room, feathered cloak on fire. A boy Sanji's height wearing a spotted cap came bustling in behind him and quickly put him out with a bucket of water. 

Koala shot them an unimpressed look, "Really Rosi?" 

The man, Rosi presumably, squawked, "Hey! It wasn't my fault." 

The boy rolled his eyes, placing down the bucket to grab the bowl Rosi had somehow managed to not spill, "Yes it was." 

"LAW!" 

The boy, Law, merely handed the bowl with a flat expression, "I'd apologize for our entrance but if you're gonna be here long you're going to have to get used to it." 

Sanji decided the questioning on whether this was some type of weird test like Father used to run could wait until after he ate.  

Chapter Text

The first few years after her Nounours had died Rouge felt like she was moving through a fog more times than not. 

Her Petite étoile was the brightest part of her foggy existence for too long, his smile and grey eyes so like that of Roger’s it made her heart ache, his freckles and nose marking him as hers as much as he was the Pirate King’s. 

Between Whitebeard arriving, the delivery of Ace at Marco’s hands, and Garp taking them to his home island her memory is hazy at best. She remembers the relief of being safe, of finally giving into the pain and letting her baby come, of a bloody and goopy baby being placed into her arms by a trembling Marco, of holding her baby, her Ace, close to her heart and giving him a name she knew he might never be safe enough to use. Still, she’d be damned if he didn’t know of his father, his real father, not the boogieman that the Navy had paraded around before leading him to the top of the scaffolding. 

On Dawn, Garp gave her two options for where to stay: his home in Windmill Village, a large villa decked out in all the grandeur the Marines tried to push on their Hero despite his preference being anything but, or a spot in the Mountain Bandit hut where he said an old friend was willing to take her in.  She took the villa that rarely saw use, not wanting to burden herself and Ace on anyone else just because Garp was kind. 

The haze of days melded together, her mind somewhere her body couldn’t follow as she only got up to answer the cries of her little boy, barely registering anything else. She had done this song and dance before in another context long ago, her mind escaping as her body stayed stuck, going through the motions as easily as breathing as she did the job she was assigned. 

Garp came around as often as he could in the beginning, helping her in every way he could. His bandit friend, Dadan, made trips down the mountain every few weeks to make sure she was alright as well. Even the young teenage daughter of the barkeep checked up on her, offering to babysit Ace if ever she needed it. 

Days turned into weeks into months until five years passed. Her baby grew into a grinning toddler with so much energy and excitement for adventure and a thirst for freedom. It hurt to look at him some days, hurt to see her Nounour’s smile on Ace’s face knowing Roger would never be able to see. 

Then Garp showed up, a bundle dwarfed in his massive arms that he held so carefully. Another grinning baby that babbled and talked excitedly despite not knowing any real words, gazing around the world with love and care that took her breath away with its pureness. 

Luffy, Garp had told her, his grandson. She didn’t ask where the boy’s parents were, didn’t ask why Garp had Luffy, clearly close to a year old, but so bright and well taken care of. He was hesitant to give Luffy over, promising up and down that she didn’t have to, that he could find someone else if he had to. She didn’t realize then what a poor picture she made, wasting away with vacant eyes. It wasn’t until a month later when her pain had made her all but bedbound, carefully listening for her boys in case they needed her. 

It was quiet. Far too quiet, and she wasn’t sure for how long when she finally managed to pull herself from her bed and to the kitchen because it had to be time to feed Luffy, his little D body already insatiable. 

She found her boys together. 

Little Ace was steadily holding a bottle for Luffy, shushing him quietly even as he wrinkled his nose in disgust at the slobber the baby was getting all over the bottle and Ace’s hand. He was still so small, Rouge could barely remember when Ace stopped drinking from bottles and switched to the outrageous amount of solid food as all D’s needed to keep going. 

“Mama’s having a bad day,” He whispered to Luffy as he rocked him gently, “You’re annoying but we can’t bug Mama today so I’m going to take care of you okay? Grandpa says you’re going to be my little brother, I don’t know if I like that yet but Mama already loves you so we got to take care of her.” 

Luffy grinned around the bottle at that, muffled babbling earning a tiny smile from Ace that nearly broke her heart. 

“You’re not too bad, huh?” Ace asked as he set Luffy on the little rocker they owned to carry the bottle to the kitchen, no doubt to wash the bottle just as Rouge did after every feeding. Luffy’s eyebrow wrinkled slightly, reaching a hand out towards Ace. 

“Ase,”

Both Rouge and Ace froze. Never had Luffy’s noises been so clear, never so pronounced even when he grew excited. 

“Huh?” Ace questioned turning back to Luffy. Luffy’s face lit up in a dazzling smile at seeing his big brother again. 

“ACE!” Luffy squealed, louder and clearer than before, no mistaking what had him so happy. 

“Y-yeah!” Ace said, bottle dropping to the floor as he scrambled on his knees to get back to the little baby, “I’m Ace, I’m you’re big brother!” 

“ACE!” 

Her Petite étoile laughter had her biting back a sob as she snuck away from the gleeful children. 

She couldn’t remember ever seeing Ace so happy before… 

It was the wake-up call she needed. She was surviving, just as she always had before the Roger pirates had come into her life. Her boys deserved better than that, deserved a Maman that wasn’t merely surviving, deserved a Maman that was present and there for them in every way not just the most basic ways. 

The next day she packed up her and the boys' things and made the hike up the mountain, finally ready to ask for the help she had turned down for so long. 

It wasn’t easy, letting these people into her heart, the rough bandits reminding her too much of the rowdy crew she never really managed to join but were her family all the same. Slowly it became easier, the boys helping to bridge the gap. 

She thought back to the woman who first held Ace, exhausted and trembling as Whitebeard’s large hand helped prop her up. Thought of how broken she had been at his first cries, how bittersweet seeing his wrinkly face blink up at the stars. She doesn’t think this woman would believe all she has now. Didn’t think she’d believe the three little boys that were growing up too fast, wouldn’t believe she’d see her eldest boys grow into the fine captains they were now, could never believe she’d been happy waiting at the dock for so many ships that she could see coming to harbor that weren’t the Oro Jackson but seeing their flags made her heart pound with the same love and adoration. 

And yet, there she stood, side by side with Dadan on the docks of Syrup as Bachina and Merry watched all the boys that had helped save little Kaya’s life. The unmarked boat which could easily be a merchant boat was closing in on the dock first, though the blinding flash of lightning that had chased away the storm that had been rolling in told her who had to be at the helm, a ship that flew Buggy’s jolly roger right behind it. Just past the harbor, she could see the Red Force sailing in.   

There was a tall lanky man at the rail of the unmarked ship gawking at their group with unabashed confusion. It was odd but who in their group wasn’t? She supposed that was probably the man Dragon had gone to pick up, though the man had a habit of bringing strays with him on any trip he made. As the ship grew nearer the man, hopefully Rosinante, called out, “Did they drug you?” 

“Fuck off, Rosi,” Dadan snapped back. Ponding feet brought Dragon to the railing, face equally as confused. 

“Did you drink yourself into a coma again?” He asked just as worried as the blond next to him. 

“I’m going to launch both of your asses into the Calm Belt, so help me,” Dadan growled, ears burning red, “I came on my own violation and I don’t want to hear shit from either of you.” 

“Holy shit,” The blond said, “You weren’t kidding about her going soft. I didn’t think it was possible to get her off Dawn. ”
Dragon nodded solemnly, “I hadn’t realized it had gotten this bad.” 

“That’s it,” Dadan growled, stalking towards the boat. 

“Hey,” Dragon soothed, “None of that. Rosi’s hurt worse than normal, I had to pull eleven bullets out of him. Plus there’s three little ones on board.” 

Dadan stopped, blinking up at them before groaning and running a hand over her face, “How the fuck did you manage that one? Don’t tell me you were smoking near the ammo storage again.” 

“Did you really blow yourself up while smoking, Cora-san?” Law piped up, appearing next to Rosi, brow raised in judgment. 

Rosi squawked and frailed but ultimately just pouted, “...it was one time.” 

Dadan rolled her eyes, “Well come on then,” She huffed as Koala dropped the gangplank, “Rosi needs to get D-bonded with all the kids, and I’m guessing those little shits aren’t going to be far off.”  

“Can Ds adopt other Ds?” 

Dragon and Dadan stopped as Rosi realized what he had said. Law looked panicked for a second before Dragon cackled, pointing at Law as he smirked down at Dadan. 

“Told you trying to run away from Ds just leads to you gaining more Ds.” 

“Like I didn’t already know that,” She grouched, “My mountain is filled with them and all their Bonded Ds.”

“There’s not that many of us,” Rouge laughed “The petit makes six blood Ds now.” 

“And like a dozen bonded ones,” Buggy called as his ship (not the Big Top, never the Big Top, a small ship with that flew his flag garnered far less attention)  pulled up next to Dragon’s, “Don’t act like you’re not a bonded D, Dadan.” 

“I’ll find a way to remove your dick at this rate, clown. Permanently.” 

“Yeah, yeah,” He called lowering his gangplank, “Where’s the terrors?” 

“They’re up at the manor,” Rouge told them, “Dadan and I thought we’d come direct people up towards Kaya’s since most haven’t been to Syrup.” 

“We might have a few more than I said,” Dragon hedged out, earning a groan from Dadan. 

“Please tell me you just picked up some shipwreck survivors instead of some crazy animal you decided to adopt again.” 

“He does,” Rosi said leaning down to pick up Law and offering his hand to another small form. When he stood a sickly thin blond boy was staring at them all with weary uncertainty on the opposite hip that Law clung to so easily. 

“I-I can stay on the boat,” The little boy offered quickly, not meeting any of the adult's eyes, “I don’t want to be in the way.” 

“Sanji,” Koala called, as she took off down the gangplank, “ We’re here to have fun! You might need some help to keep up but we want you here.” 

“Okay,” He said, hand curling with a little more certainty into Rosi’s shirt. 

“This is Sanji,” Dragon said, “We saved him and Zeff on our way here.” 

“Red-Leg Zeff?” Buggy asked, blinking in surprise as a short man appeared with Dragon falling into step at his heel. 

“Stop hovering, you ninny,” The man growled at Dragon as he limped towards the gangplank, crutch framing the lack of limb he was named for. 

Rouge's smile grew larger at the man despite the rough shape he was in. They had crossed paths with the gruff dreamer of the captain only a few times but he was always so kind to her even if he was just as uncouth as every other pirate when he was dealing with the men, “Hello, Mon râleur.”

Zeff’s mustache twitched as he straightened, a small smile pulling at his cheeks, “Madam Rouge, as lovely as last time we met.” 

“How you doing, ya old fart?” Buggy asked as he disembarked, bringing the scowl back onto Zeff’s lips. 

“You grew up, ey tomato?” 

“You need a better nickname,” He said with an eye roll and as blunt as the Captain who raised him asked, “How the flashy fuck did you lose your leg?”   

The man huffed, eyes flashing towards the little boy who was in equally rough shape, “Found something more important to worry about.” 

Sanji fidgeted under the gaze, refusing to return it, but the adults could understand all the same.  

“Great,” Buggy said, eyes soft, “You can bond with Shanks about losing limbs to save brats you’ve adopted.” 

Zeff just raised an eyebrow, “Didn’t know the brat was mature enough to have a kid.” 

“Well he didn’t get much of a choice, you save a kid from getting eaten by a Sea King that lives by his island and suddenly you’re being called Dad,” Rouge laughed. 

“Wait,” Dragon said slowly, “Shanks lost his arm to Susana?” 

“Susana?” Buggy and Rouge parroted back in unison. 

Rosi nearly choked on his cigarette as he laughed, hunching over slightly as he wheezed, “Dadan did say he had a bad habit of adopting anything.” 

“You’re no better,” Dragon shot back, arms crossed as his cheeks flushed lightly, “I distinctly remember Uncle Sen frantically trying to explain to Dad how you guys suddenly ‘acquired’ a goat.” 

“Feliciano is nothing compared to Susana and you know it.” 

“THE FLASHY SEA KING THE BRATS CALL THE LORD OF THE COAST IS YOUR PET?!” Buggy screamed, torso flying off to grab the front of Dragon’s cloak shaking him back and forth, “AND YOU NAMED IT SUSANA?!” 

“It should be Lady of the Coast and she was abandoned for being the runt. What did you want me to do?” Dragon explained, not seeming concerned by Buggy’s actions. 

“Assez! Vous êtes tous les deux des hommes adultes, agissez comme ça,” Rouge said, pushing the two apart, “We have a party to get to and a teenager to entertain. I don’t have time for your childness as well.” 

Buggy stared at her for a second, a sad smile playing on his lips, “Actually, I have a tag-along on my ship too. Mind going to get him, Maman?” 

Her eyes flashed to him in shock towards the ship Buggy had brought and her second eldest. 

He just shrugged, “Shanks left Sabaody before we moved the party, so I tracked him down to make sure he got here on time.” 

“I…” The words died in her mouth. Her heart thumped in a way that made her stomach turn to knots. She was excited to see Rayleigh. She was so very excited that after she heard his voice on the other end of her Den-Den for the first time since before her Nounours had told her his plan, had told her what he had to do for a reason he never shared she had laughed and laughed until her boys had gone to bed and her laughs turned to sobs filled with relief and joy at knowing, truly knowing, that her best friend was still around. 

So why was she hesitating?

Buggy seemed to figure out her emotions better than she could because he wrapped an arm around her shoulder, “He got spooked the second we got close to the island. I let him hide in my quarters. I don’t think he understands why he’s hiding either. Red should be another fifteen minutes or so. If you guys aren’t ready by then I take everyone up to the manor and get the party going and you can join when you’re ready. You know Ace will understand. ” 

Somehow that brought calm to her torrent of emotions. Her petite myrtille always had a way of bringing all of them back down to earth.  

“You’re a good boy, myrtille,” She said cupping his cheek and placing a light kiss on his nose. 

Three years ago when they first reunited such an action paired with genuine praise would have been met with dramatic sputtering a look so full of hurt yearning it broke her heart. Now all Buggy did was huff and laugh and shoe her on as he turned back to the group, announcing the festivities that awaited in his flashy style that had the haunted shadows from Sanji’s and Law’s eyes receding ever so slightly, once more playing the fool to distract and redirect just as he always has. The last few years had healed far more than just her heart.  

Her steps were slow at first, haki reaching out with a tremble of emotions, before brushing against an equally weak response that had her speeding up her steps, not even noticing how she was running, running all the way to the captain’s quarters.  

Opening the door she was met with the sight of Rayleigh standing with his back pressed against the wall, one hand on his sword and the other fastened tightly over his mouth as if he could physically shove the pained whines back down his throat. His haki was reaching out like a broken and bloody prisoner reaching out to their savior. 

She reached out too, first with her arms and then with her own bleeding haki that oozed with grief and sorrow, desperate from the years apart, from not knowing for so long how her best friend, her closest confidant, the only one other than Roger that ever knew her very soul was. Was he injured? Was he safe? Was he hungry? Was he wasting away from the pain and sorrow of losing his other half with Roger gone? 

She could feel their Hakis moving together checking over his very soul for every new scar, every still aching injury to his psyche, and feeling him check her the same as tears and grief made it impossible to fill the air with anything other than guttural noises of loss and agony. 

“I never thought I’d hear your voice again,” Rayleigh whispered into her hair as they clung together, “You and Captain…” 

“I’m here, ma moitié,” She told him, hands nearly ripping the back of his shirt from how hard she clutched him, like if she let go he’d just be gone, “I’m so sorry. I didn’t know how to find you, not with Ace.” 

“Doesn’t matter, none of this matters. You’re alive, you’re here.” 

She had never broken down so completely in her life. Not when Roger died, not when Ace was born and she had to face the trials of reality alone, not when she thought she lost everything, not when Sabo died, not when she had told Roger and Rayleigh about before and they threatened to wage war against the world. She was so used to losing and losing and losing. How was she supposed to process anything else? 

It felt like hours but she was sure it was only a few minutes based on how she could still feel her boys and friends standing on the dock when her and Rayleigh’s breathing evened out and the tidal wave of emotions was once more pulled out towards sea instead of crushing her with its weight. 

Pulling back she gazed over him, inspecting his skin as her haki had done with his soul. 

“Does Shakky like the beard?” She asked, poking his cheek, “It’s a lot longer than you kept it before.” 

He huffed, stroking his jaw, “She finds it dashing, I’ll have you know.” 

“Good,” She hummed, much too worn out for their normal banter, not here, not with just them, “I’m glad you weren’t alone.” 

“She’s so excited to see you again. Whenever that may be,” He smiled at the furrow in her brow, “Don’t worry, we all remember your feelings on sailing. Shakky’s willing to wait.” 

“Well, I know someone that’s not nearly as patient,” Rouge said, dislodging herself from Rayleigh, pretending like she didn’t notice how his finger reached for her until she was firmly out of reach, “Ace takes after his papa in that regard.” 

Rayleigh’s eyes shone, hesitating as she tried to lead him from the room, “Is… Are you really okay with this?” 

Her heart stung at the uncertainty coming from one of the proudest men she knew, so foreign and wrong. She grabbed his hand, squeezing it tight. 

“Ace, mon Petite étoile, is so very excited to meet you. His favorite character in his bedtime stories was always the quick-witted first mate that kept his Mama and Papa safe.” 

“Okay,” He whispered, voice filled with so much care and love that the man never really knew how to show properly, never really had anyone that loved him and he loved in return, not before Roger. 

“Okay,” She said back, for she knew exactly how he felt, knew exactly how Roger had to teach both of them what love really was. 

There would be more tears later, more emotional turmoil as they tried to handle the raging storm of emotions that seemed so close yet so far away at the same time. 

Now, however, now was the time for family.

Chapter Text

Shanks couldn’t wipe the smile off of his face long before the Red Force docked in Syrup, ecstatic to see his family again despite the mere days since he last spoke with them. Seeing Buggy’s large gestures at a grouping of unfamiliar children just made the smile bigger, especially as Mihawk moved to his side, a bag with presents from them both on his shoulder. His smile only grew as he felt the surge of Voices on Buggy’s ship cry out, Voices he knew far too well. 

“Are your Maman and Rayleigh going to be able to join us?” Mihawk questioned as they lowered the gangplank, “Their reunion seems to be a little…” 

“Not everyone can bottle up all their emotions and keep a stony mask up 24/7, especially after 15 years of thinking the other was dead,” Shanks said with a cheeky grin earning an eye roll from the man next to him. 

“You’re well aware that’s not what I’m commenting on. I simply want to know if we must play distraction for the brothers.” 

Shanks listened to the voices for a moment, taking in the way they rose and fell, “Maybe for a little bit but they’ll be making an appearance before long. They want to see the whole family together.” 

“Well then,” Mihawk hummed as they walked down together, “Let’s see the strays Dragon picked up this time.” 

Seeing Zeff again was a surprise, the old cook had run across them only twice. Finding that he had acquired himself a kid around Sabo’s age was even more shocking, little Sanji was timid and demure in a way Shanks was honestly unused to. Law was sulky in a way he only remembered being after Captain had died and Buggy had run off after their fight, before he met Beckman and reconnected with Mihawk and the blotches on his skin told a tale Shanks was not familiar with but the guarded look in his eye was the same one Shanks tried to bury in liquor any time he saw it in the mirror. Koala was just like Sabo had described her to them; she was a spunky and charming girl with darkness held just behind her smile. Rosinate was tall and imposing, shoulders curled in a way that spoke of him wishing he could shrink but bickered in with Dragon and Dadan in a way that spoke of a closeness few openly showed on the Seas. 

Buggy was silent as they went through the motions of greeting everyone but he was far from distracted. 

He could feel his brother’s eyes flash between them, taking in every speck and crease on their clothes, every scruff and faded bruise on their skin, landing on Mihawk’s new necklace as an understanding washed over his face, and a smirk pulled at his lips.

“May I?” Buggy’s hand flew over, floating in front of Mihawk with a slight wave at his chest. Mihawk raised a brow but bared his neck without a word. 

Buggy grasped the cross gingerly and unsheathed the hidden blade without a fuss and brought the blade close to his face.

“ Stealing Captain’s words, Red? ” Buggy asked, switching to their old code. 

Shank’s eyes twinkled, “ Never met truer love. Thought it would be good luck .” 

“ No matter the seas that separate us, trust the stars will deliver my love to you, ” Buggy read the inscription off softly, remembering the nights he and Shanks would overhear the promises Captain Roger made Maman, the sweet moments between the pair that were always sickly sweet and they’d pretend to gag over if their parents acted like that in front of them. He grinned wider at the pair switching back to grand, “Congrats, you two. About time if you ask me.” 

“Congrats?” Maman’s voice sounded from where she appeared on the edge of the railing to the ship with Rayleigh on at her side, “What are we congrats Fraise on, ​​Myrtille?” 

Shanks huffed a little, “Well, we weren’t going to tell anyone until after Firecracker’s party. Didn’t want to steal the spotlight-” 

“We’re engaged,” Mihawk cut in, “Shanks chose a necklace with a custom-made blade instead of a wedding ring to give me.” 

“Come down and look, Maman,” Buggy called at her excited scream, waving the blade in the air. 

The group watched as she wrapped an arm around Rayleigh’s waist and leapt off the side of the ship. Several surprised noises sounded while Shanks and Buggy just laughed, having seen her eager nature drag him around after Roger’s or her own interests without a thought many times back when they were young. Rayleigh’s own smile and belly laughter were so very different from the exasperated grumbling off the last time this happened. 

Rouge gently took the blade from Buffy’s flying hand as Rayleigh clapped Shanks’ shoulder, leaning over to gaze at the blade too. Shanks could see the way Rayleigh’s breath caught in his throat as he took in the words, Maman’s eyes clouding with she’d tears. 

She pulled Shanks and Rayleigh into a tight hug, “Nous sommes si fiers de toi, Fraise. Il le serait aussi.” 

He huffed a wet laugh, “Je ne pensais pas que je serais à nouveau heureux depuis ce jour-là, et encore moins aussi heureux. Je vous aime tous les deux.” 

Rouge pulled back cupping his cheek and rubbing her thumb through his scruff, “Tu le mérites, bebe”

She turned with a grin to Mihawk, “And you, Mon futur gendre. I’m so happy you decided to stick with the family instead of to your loner shtick, Canéton!” 

Mihawk rubbed the bridge of his nose, ears turning pink, “I was under the impression that I had been adopted and my ‘loner shtick” was no longer an option.” 

“Correct,” Buggy laughed, “Just glad to see you gave in so easily. It's way easier than when you acted like a feral cat after fighting Captain.”

Mihawk huffed, turning on his heel, “I believe we’re supposed to be attending a party not harassing me about my engagement and previous actions?” 

“Come on,” Rouge laughed, “I’ll show everyone the way to the manor.” 

“Wait,” The little voice had everyone freezing only to see Law gesture for Rosinante to lean down and whisper in his year. The tall man did and smiled softly as he heard what the boy had to say. 

“Buggy did say there would be face painting,” He mussed, “Do you miss my old get-up that badly?” 

“I like Cora-san always,” Law said matter-of-factly, “But I’m used to your makeup.” 

“Alright, we’ll go grab my makeup before-” 

“Room,” Law said cutting him off and everyone who had not been traveling with Law previously were shocked to see a transparent blue bubble incircle them all. He pointed at a pair of stones by the base of the dock and squinted at them as he moved his hand over, “Shambles.” 

As quick as they could blink the stones were replaced by a heart-covered bag and a red hood. Law trembled slightly in Rosinante’s hold as he dropped his hand, the bubble disappearing as quickly as it came. 

“You’re getting better at your powers,” Dragon commented as he stooped down to grab the items, plopping the hood over Rosinante’s shaggy mop. 

“Another Devil Fruit,” Buggy huffed, “That makes four.” 

“Five. Rosi has one as well,” Dragon commented, “The Nagi Nagi no Mi. Very helpful when pr-” 

“Calm,” Rosinante said without looking at Dragon’s rude gestures at being silenced, “I’m not having you embarrass me this early into the day, Dragon.”

Dadan snorted turning back to lead everyone up the hill, “Not like you need any help with that. I’m surprised you haven’t tripped over air yet.”  

“First time I see you in a decade and this is how you treat me?” 

“If you didn’t want to be bullied you wouldn’t have been friends with me,” Dadan countered, “Between me, that red-headed marine you befriended, and your undercover work I’m starting to think you’re a masochist.” 

“Rude.” 

“Oh almost forgot,” Buggy muttered hand flying back to resheath the Kogatana around Mihawk’s neck. 

“Honestly I’m surprised you’ve never had a smaller blade on you before, so Red did good on a practical wedding gift,” Buggy said, seeming to notice the way Mihawk’s eyebrow rose, “Not that Yoru isn’t a wonderful weapon but honestly she’s a bit overkill for anything less than a small fleet or an upper-end Vice Admiral the way you use her. A smaller blade lets you showcase your skill more to those who believe you’re only powerful because of how large your weapon is, not to mention that overuse of a weapon as large as Yoru will eventually wear on your joints, and switching to a smaller blade when Yoru is overkill will allow you more range and stamina for longer.” 

Mihawk just blinked at Buggy’s rambled explanation before shaking his head, “I will never understand why you hide such intelligence behind your… flashy nonsense.” 

“Hey,” Buggy protested with a whine, “I like my flashy nonsense!” 

Rayleigh laughed as well as they came to the manor, “He’s always been like that, got it from Roger mostly. The man couldn’t keep himself from making a show if he tried.” 

Buggy blushed bright red, trying and failing to come up with a response to that. Shanks felt laughter bubbling up, knowing what his brother was thinking. Everyone compared Shanks to Roger; their love of the sea, freedom, and loving a good party more than control always shown bright in everyone’s faces, not to mention the insane levels of Haki that made even the waves bow to them. The Oro Jackson crew knew differently. Shanks and Buggy were equal parts Roger, Rayleigh, and Rouge. While Shanks had Roger’s joy, Buggy had his ways of being underestimated and his showmanship. Shanks had Rayliegh’s style and insightful nature, Buggy had his cunning and grumpy demeanor. Rouge gave Shanks her quicksilver tongue and rage while Buggy gained her eagle eye and ability to remain unnoticed. 

It’s been a long time since either of the brothers had been compared to the people who raised them in such a positive light. 

Shanks didn’t waste any more time, entering the mansions and following the sparks of Haki he could feel coming from the courtyard. Arriving he couldn’t help but laugh at the scene before him. 

Poor Merry was trying to bargain with Ace and Sabo up on the Balconly where they had Luffy dangling over the railing, each holding one of his feet. Ussop was standing next to a laughing Kaya, a blindfold on his eyes as he aimed his little slingshot at the boys, the barest spark of untrained observation Haki coming off of him as he tried to launch tiny balls of food into Luffy’s gaping mouth. Banchina watched on with amusement, not feeling the need to intervene. 

His, and most of the other’ behind him, laughter caused the children to freeze. 

“Dad!” Luffy screamed managing to wiggle out of his brother’s grasp and start falling towards the floor head first, sending his arms up to grab the railing and managing to land on his feet before running at Shanks with a wide grin, nearly knocking him off his feet. 

“Hey, Anchor,” He greeted, swinging his son up onto his hip with practiced ease, “Looks like you were having fun there.” 

Luffy didn’t answer right away just gazing up at him with that blank look he got on occasion. He swung the look towards Mihawk before breaking into a blinding grin turning to his brothers, “Ace! Sabo! Dad grew his balls! Père’s gonna be my Père even more!” 

“What!” Ace cried jumping down from the railing as the adults broke down laughing around Shanks, even Mihawk was chuckling, “No way!” 

“Ha!” Sabo cried following after his brother, “I told you he’d ask him before they got here. Pay up!” 

“It’s my birthday I don’t have to pay shit!” 

“Did you really bet on when I was going to propose?” Shanks asked with a groan, cheeks turning red as his hair. 

“Duh,” The teenagers said in unison looking up at him like he was stupid. 

“I didn’t think you’d get your act together this quick,” Ace said, “Usually you get even stupider when Mi’s involved.” 

“An astute observation,” Mihawk hummed, moving up to stand at Shanks’ side lifting the hat from where it hung on Luffy’s neck to place it on his head, earning a giggle from the boy, “Unfortunately for your wager, he found a lovely deserted island in the calm belt between the Grandline and the East Blue and managed to disarm me after a three-day battle. It was a very thrilling proposal but if I remember correctly we’re here to celebrate you, not mock my fiance.” 

“Heh, you called me fiance, Hawk,” Shanks sighed, silly love-struck smile pulling on his lips as he leaned closer to Mihawk only to get his face shoved away. 

“Ace’s birthday,” Mihawk reminded even as his lips twitched upwards. 

“Brats,” Dadan cut in, “Did you forget every ounce of the manners Rouge and Makino taught you? You got lots of people here.” 

“Oh!” Sabo perked up as he saw Koala standing in the group, darting forward and pulling her forward, “Guys, this is Koala! Our little sister! She works at the revolutionary army with Papa and me.” 

Dragon was left stuttering at the address eyes wide as Rouge just leaned over with a raised brow, “Did you really think he didn’t see you that way?” 

“He’s never said anything,” Dragon managed out, gaze soft and watery. 

“He told his brothers you’d be Dragon-san at work and Papa when home,” Rouge told him, “Something about ‘not giving away potential weak points’.” 

As he ducked his head, hiding his overwhelmed emotions behind his mane of hair, she turned back to the group and started introducing the children to the new arrivals. 

“And finally,” She said as the introductions drew to a close, she placed a hand on Rayliegh's shoulder, feeling them tremble slightly, "Ma moitié, Silvers Rayleigh."

Luffy waved at Rayliegh with a soft smile, "Hi Jiji Ray!"

Shanks raised an eyebrow at his son, whispering to him, "You aren't gonna give him a hug, anchor?" 

"Nope!" Luffy said voice barely lowering as he 'whispered' back, "Ace wanted to talk to him first. Plus Merry just went to make sure the dining room is ready with all the food!" 

Rayleigh's breath caught a little as Ace stepped forward, metal pipe held in front of him almost like a security blanket. Still, Ace's smile was wide and bright as he spoke, "Hi Uncle Leigh. It's nice to meet you." 

Rouge gasped as Rayleigh's knees nearly gave out. 

"Uncle Leigh?" He repeated weakly. 

Ace's smile grew a little unsure, "Well yeah. I know Lu calls you Jiji but that's cause you basically are one of Shanks' dads, but you're my Papa's brother so that makes you my uncle... right?" 

"And Leigh?" Rouge asked softly, wondering where the nickname came from. Rouge handed out French endearments like candy to those that were hers, but Rayleigh rarely earned nicknames from anyone else. Most stuck to his whole name or called him Ray, only one person had ever called him Leigh. 

"I don't know," Ace mumbled, "It just sounded right. I won't call you that if you don't want me to." 

"No, it's alright," Rayleigh said around the lump in his throat, kneeling down in front of Ace to meet his eye better, "It's just been a long time since anyone's called me Leigh, but I'd be honored if you called me that, just like I will if you call me Uncle. I got a lot of time to make up for to earn that title though, don't I?" 

Ace's smile was back as he shook his head, "You love my Mama and my Papa so you're already great, Uncle Leigh." 

"Okay," Rayleigh allowed, voice wobbling slightly as his smile held true, "if you say so." 

"I do say so," Ace said confidently in a way only teenagers can be before offering his hand to Rayleigh, "Now come on, we got to get the feast first so Luffy doesn't eat it all. He's a damn black hole when he gets going." 

Rayleigh laughed until he could hardly breathe as he took his nephew's offered hand in one hand and Rouge's in his other, remembering making similar complaints about his Captian so many years ago, "Sounds about right for a little brother."