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The sun peeked through the curtains, warming his face, as Rayleigh slowly woke up, his eyes fluttering in the soft morning light. He shifted slightly in the bed, Shakky unconsciously moving beside him. She tightened her grip around his waist, pulling him closer to her with a playful smile.
“Happy birthday Ray, you're getting old.”
“What does that say about you then?” replied Rayleigh.
“That means,” Shakky drawled, trailing her fingers up his chest to grab the collar of his t-shirt and pull him even closer to her, their faces only inches apart, “that I'm waiting for you to die to inherit all your wealth.”
“Jokes on you, all my money will go to the boys,” Rayleigh joked back.
Rayleigh kissed Shakky, the vibrations of her laughter spreading through him, bringing a smile to his face. He would never have imagined, ten years ago, that he would wake up every morning in the arms of the woman of his life. But that's what he'd been doing for years, and he wouldn't change it for anything. The silence of the morning had such a special flavor, like a moment of paradise.
“UNCLE RAYLEIGH!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY !”
The door slammed open and into the wall as Ace jumped into bed screaming. Shakky moved out of the impact zone at the last moment, leaving Rayleigh to intercept Ace alone. Ace landed in his arms with a wild grin on his face and his eyes bright with excitement.
"Happy birthday, Uncle Rayleigh," Ace repeated more calmly.
“Thanks Firefly,” replied Rayleigh, hugging Ace.
“Did your brothers advise you to do this?” Shakky asked, ruffling Ace's hair affectionately.
“Yep,” replied Ace proudly. “Shanks told me to do it. Did you like it?”
Ace, the little boy he had sworn to protect and love until his last breath to his dying best friend, looked at him with full puppy eyes. And Rayleigh, like the fool he was, couldn't refuse him anything.
“It was perfect,” replied Rayleigh.
“But what would you say we save this kind of wake-up for special occasions?” Shakky tempered.
Rayleigh didn't think he could be more in love with someone than he already was but Shakky proved him wrong every day. Ace nodded enthusiastically, always agreeing with his Aunt Shakky. Smart boy.
“Let's go have breakfast”, Rayleigh suggested getting out of bed, Ace still in his arms like a koala.
“But first,” Shakky intervened before whispering in Ace's ear.
“Great ! Thank you, Aunt Shakky!” Ace exclaimed before running out of the room.
“What did you say to him?” asked Rayleigh curious.
“That it was a special occasion for everyone and that he could also go wake up his big brothers,” replied Shakky with a mischievous smile.
“I love you,” said Rayleigh, kissing Shakky.
“I know,” replied Shakky, breaking away from Rayleigh and heading towards the kitchen.
Rayleigh followed his wife, laughing when he heard Shanks being woken up by his gremlin of a little brother. In the kitchen, Buggy was already at the stove cooking pancakes, singing and dancing to the music playing on the radio. Shakky, leaning against the doorframe, silently observed him with an affectionate smile on her face. The fact that Buggy still hadn't spotted her proved, once again, how comfortable he felt in their home, something Rayleigh would never take for granted again.
He had failed Buggy and Shanks as children and was fortunate that they forgave him, that they were still in his life even though they had become powerful pirate captains in their own right.
Buggy turned around, still dancing, and froze when he saw them at the door. Shakky waved and Buggy gave her an embarrassed smile.
“Hi Rayleigh, hi Shakky.”
“Hello little blueberry, did you sleep well?” Shakky asked, sitting down at the kitchen table.
“It was terrible,” Buggy replied dramatically, flipping a pancake in his pan. “Shanks snored all night.”
“I don’t snore,” Shanks protested as he entered the kitchen, Ace in his arms.
“I'm sorry to break it to you like that Shanks,” retorted Buggy sarcastically, “but you snore louder than the Sea Train.”
Shanks and Buggy began to bicker, more for the sake of it than anything else, but Rayleigh had long since learned to tune them out. Ace took advantage of the attention being occupied by his big brothers to eat, to not say slurp down, a dozen pancakes. When Rayleigh noticed him, Ace smiled cheekily at him, his mouth still full. Added to the freckles that dotted his nose and his mischievous eyes, Ace had never looked so much like Rouge.
He missed his friends every day, and even more during those moments when he would have liked to share with them how much Ace had grown, how much he looked like them. Rayleigh knew how much Roger and Rouge would have loved, had loved their little boy and he didn't fail to remind Ace of that. His parents had loved him more than anything in the world.
It was hard raising Ace sometimes, not because he was a turbulent child or difficult to love, far from it, but because he felt like he was stealing that happiness from Roger and Rouge. It should have been them in his place, fighting with Ace for jam, teaching him to ride a bike and hiding berries under his pillow when he lost a tooth.
They should have been there. And he hurted every fucking day that they weren't.
(Rayleigh knew what he would have become if Ace hadn't come into his life. He would have been a miserable drunk, lashing out at everyone he loved and hurting them in the hopes that the pain tainting his soul diminished. But he had become a better person for Ace, a person capable of raising a child and giving him all his love Ace had saved him from himself, allowed him to rebuild his relationship with Buggy and. Shanks.)
As if she knew what he was thinking, Shakky slipped her hand into his under the table, forcing her to switch hands when eating. They exchanged a smile that only they had the secret to and Rayleigh hoped that his eyes were enough to express all his love and gratitude.
“Uncle Rayleigh? I have a question,” Ace asked once Buggy and Shanks had finished bickering and everyone was seated around the small kitchen table.
“Of course,” replied Rayleigh. “You know you can ask me anything.”
Rayleigh had promised himself that he would never lie to Ace about who his parents were, about who he was. Ace deserved to know the truth. All the same, he couldn't help but fear his nephew's questions.
(“Uncle Rayleigh, why don't I have wings like birds?”
“Uncle Rayleigh, how do we make babies?”
“Uncle Rayleigh, why does everyone hate my dad?”
With Ace, anything could happen and Shanks took great pleasure in fueling his little brother's overflowing imagination.)
“Shanks said that having white hair was a mark of wisdom, you must be very wise then, Uncle Rayleigh?” Ace asked with an angelic look.
Shanks cackled, almost choking on his cereal and Buggy patted him on the back to help him breathe. Shakky, more distinguished, hid her amused smile behind her free hand.
“Don’t listen to your brother too much,” advised Rayleigh.
“Does that mean you're not wise?” Ace insisted.
“I'm very wise, I kept your father alive for decades. As well as your brothers, something they would do well not to forget anytime soon,é Rayleigh replied with a pointed look in Shanks' direction.
“Don't look at me,” Buggy defended himself, pointing at Shanks. “He's the idiot.”
Shanks looked like he was going to protest but Buggy immediately cut him off.
“Who at this table left a child unattended with a knife long enough for him to stab himself in the face?” Buggy reminded him with a triumphant smile.
“Shanks,” Rayleigh chided.
“I didn't think he would do it!” Shanks defended. “And he's perfectly fine now.”
Although it was almost imperceptible to people who didn't know him, Shanks exuded guilt and regret. Rayleigh had raised Shanks, he couldn't fool him. Shanks cared about this kid.
“Who is he?” asked Shakky, who had come to the same conclusion as him.
“He's a kid I met in a small village in the East Blue, he reminds me of Dad sometimes,” Shanks revealed with a fond smile. “He dreams big with an even bigger smile and appetite. He's already given me several heart attacks with his stupidity.”
Shanks didn't seem to have realized it yet, but it seemed like he had already adopted, at least mentally, this kid. He wondered if that made him a grandfather, or a great uncle perhaps.
“He looks like an idiot I know, “Buggy intervened.
“We should send Benn-chan a basket of fruit,” Shakky suggested.
“Shakky!” Shanks moaned. “You're supposed to be on my side.”
“Sorry darling,” replied Shakky, patting Shanks' hand. “You know I love you.”
Rayleigh smiled into his coffee cup so Shakky continued to tease Shanks with Buggy's help. It's been a long time since they've all been together in one place, with Buggy and Shanks sailing the seas and having their own adventures. But the boys did everything they could to be present in Ace's life, returning several times a year to Sabaody for Christmas or birthdays. Soon, when Ace was old enough, Rayleigh was thinking of taking him to East Blue, a well-deserved vacation in the most peaceful sea.
“Uncle Rayleigh, can you help me peel my orange?” Ace asked, handing him an orange.
“Sure, come sit here,” Rayleigh agreed, patting the empty spot next to him.
Rayleigh took the orange from Ace and peeled it expertly, handing the quarters to Ace as he went. Ace was ten years old now, he was old enough to peel his orange by himself but Rayleigh dreaded the day when he would stop doing it. It was a little moment that he loved to share with his nephew.
“Hey, could I go to the amusement park with Buggy and Shanks today?” Ace asked. “They are strong enough to protect me.”
Rayleigh hesitated for a moment. Their decision to stay in Sabaody even after Ace's arrival had not been taken lightly but that did not mean that the proximity of Marineford and Mary-Geoise did not worry him at times. But they were at the center of the underground network here, no information about the Marine's movements went unnoticed by Shakky. In the Blues they would have been cornered, here they were ready to defend themselves.
Still, Ace rarely left Grove 13 and certainly not alone. But Rayleigh knew this situation couldn't last forever. Ace was bigger than their little bar and the apartment he lived in above it, hidden in the heart of Sabaody.
Rayleigh sometimes wondered if that was what Roger and Rouge would have wanted for their son.
It was this thought, more than the pleading eyes of Ace, Shanks and even Buggy that made him give in.
“Okay, but the Straw Hat stays here and everyone disguises themselves, especially you Shanks,” Rayleigh agreed. “And if you are not back before 6 p.m., I will personally go looking for you.”
Immediately Ace and Shanks took off running, throwing a “thanks Uncle Rayleigh, you’re the best” behind their shoulders. Buggy stayed in the kitchen for a few more minutes as the sound of Shanks falling was heard. Ace had to push him off the stairs to win their race.
“Don't worry, we'll be very careful,” Buggy reassured him.
“I always worry, brat,” retorted Rayleigh. “This is what kept you alive for this long.”
Buggy laughed, dodging the punch Rayleigh planned to land on his shoulder. Rayleigh was left alone in the kitchen with Shakky, Ace's half-eaten orange still on the table.
“These kids are going to kill me one day,” Rayleigh sighed as he started to put away breakfast.
“But isn’t that the best way to die?” replied Shakky.
Roger had died in front of the whole world to protect his family and friends. Rouge had died alone in Baterilla, holding Ace in her arms, her body the last line of defense between her son and the world. Dying for your children didn't seem like such a bad way to die.
But the really difficult task wasn't dying for the people you loved, it was living for them.
“Not right away then, I hope,” replied Rayleigh. “I still have plenty to experience alongside them, alongside you .”
Rayleigh approached his wife, placing his hands on her waist to pull her close and kiss her. Shakky pretended to think, finger to her lips, that Rayleigh couldn't wait to ravish.
“I don't know,” said Shakky playfully. “You are pretty old.”
“I'll show you what an old man is capable of,” replied Rayleigh, trying to tickle Shakky, in the back of her neck where she was most sensitive.
Shakky escaped, quick on her feet, and Rayleigh chased her around the kitchen like they were twenty years old again. Rayleigh caught Shakky just before she came through the door, their breath short from laughing and their eyes sparkling.
“I caught you,” Rayleigh whispered, his breath against Shakky’s skin making her shiver.
“Maybe I let you catch me,” Shakky replied, challenging him with a look.
“Really? Then you won't mind if I kiss you,” Rayleigh said, looking for approval in Shakky's eyes.
“We’re pirates, since when do we wait for permission before stealing anything?” Shakky asked.
Rayleigh kissed Shakky's neck, slowly moving up to her jaw and mouth. He stopped for a second to look into her eyes, black, magnificent and mysterious like a starless night. It was Shakky who broke the distance between them, her hands behind her neck to pull Rayleigh closer to her.
“Gross!”
Ace's voice made them break apart, but Rayleigh's hands remained on Shakky's waist. Behind Ace, Shanks cackled, very proud of himself. One day, Rayleigh was going to drown that brat.
“Sorry,” Buggy apologized. “I tried to stop them.”
Buggy, Shanks and Ace were all in disguise, blonde wigs, hats and large sunglasses to hide their faces. Someone, probably Buggy, had put makeup on Shanks' scar, making it almost invisible. They looked more like three brothers than ever and Rayleigh's eyes welled up when he saw Ace, blond hair and freckles that looked so much like Rouge's.
“Perfect, no one will recognize you like that,” said Rayleigh, his voice tight with emotion.
“Buggy wouldn't let me wear my cowboy hat and purple wig,” Ace complained, crossing his arms and glaring at Buggy.
“That kinda defeats the whole purpose, Firefly,” Buggy tried to console him.
“I like my hat,” Ace continued to sulk, unconvinced by Buggy's argument.
“We can dress up again tonight and have a parade,” Shanks promised. “I'll even let you have my sword.”
“Really? So cool!” Ace exclaimed.
Yes, Shanks was definitely going to end up in the water before his stay was over. But Rayleigh didn't worry too much, Ace would probably have forgotten that Shanks had promised him his sword by the end of the day. And Rayleigh was going to make sure Shanks didn't remind him.
“You are all very handsome, let's take a photo, “proposed Shakky.
Buggy took Ace on his shoulders and sent one of his hands hovering behind Shanks' head to make rabbit ears. The photo, where Ace burst out laughing when he noticed what Buggy was doing, joined all the others on the fridge. Right below Ace's first day of school photo.
“Before you go, I think Ace has something to give you, “said Buggy.
“Oh yes, what is it?” Rayleigh asked.
“I couldn't wait until tonight,” Ace revealed, handing him a meticulously wrapped gift package. “It's for your birthday.”
Rayleigh unwrapped the gift, letting the gold ribbon and shark wrapping paper fall to the floor. Inside was a copy of the latest book in a series that Rayleigh loved but never got around to buying.
“And look, the author signed the book!” Ace exclaimed as he opened the first page of the book.
“Thank you very much Ace, that really makes me happy,” said Rayleigh, taking Ace in his arms.
“Does that mean we can stay until 7 p.m. at the amusement park?” Ace asked.
“Nice try but no,” Rayleigh laughed. “But you'll have a great meal when you get home.”
“I guess that will be enough,” replied Ace.
“I'm delighted,” said Rayleigh. “Now go before I change my mind.”
Ace took Buggy and Shanks by the hand and ran out of the house, the door slammed as he passed and Rayleigh sighed. This kid costed him a lot of money in doors.