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The dining room of the Oro Jackson was packed and chaotic as always. Everyone was laughing and talking while enjoying dinner. Shanks had just asked Rayleigh to put more mashed potatoes on his plate and, like always, he’d called Rayleigh mama.
This prompted Gaban to ask a question he’d had for a while. He turned toward Roger and Rayleigh and asked, “Ray, why does Red call ya mama?”
Rayleigh immediately turned several shades of red, trying to sputter out a response. Roger burst into a fit of laughter at his husband’s expression. After two or so minutes of laughing so hard he started wheezing, he finally told Gaban, “It’s actually Garp’s fault that Ray is ‘Mama Ray’ now. We were gonna have Red call me baba or papa, and Rayleigh would be dada, until he could pick what he wanted to call us.”
Shanks looked between Roger, Rayleigh, and Gaban while kicking his legs, smiling and enjoying the chaos. He threw in the occasional nod as Roger began telling the story of how their little red-haired ball of energy started calling Rayleigh mama.
Sometimes Roger and Garp would have friendly little competitions instead of fights. Well, one day, when what they assumed was ten or eleven–month-old Shanks was sleeping in his parents’ room with Rayleigh, Roger and Garp were having a drinking competition—unbeknownst to Rayleigh.
It had taken Rayleigh a while to get Shanks asleep without Roger there. He knew Roger was with Garp; he just didn’t know what they were doing, which was why he was suspicious about why it was so quiet… that is, until he heard booze bottles being moved around on the counter. Garp was not a quiet drinker.
Rayleigh slipped on his robe and slippers and walked to the door. Just as he reached for the handle, Shanks let out a shrill little cry—almost as if he knew Rayleigh wasn’t sitting two feet from him anymore. Rayleigh immediately went back to the crib. As soon as he picked Shanks up, the baby stopped crying, snuggling into Rayleigh’s chest.
Rayleigh sighed, knowing he was going to have to yell at his husband while holding their baby. He decided it’d probably be best if he put Shanks in his baby wrap so he could smack the great pirate and the navy hero simultaneously. Once Shanks was comfortable and wrapped correctly, Rayleigh shook his head at him and whispered, “Come on, little one. Let’s go get the big oaf.”
He made his way down the hall, shuffling his feet on the floor while Shanks looked up at him and cooed. When they reached the room Roger and Garp were drinking in, Rayleigh opened the door, walked in, and calmly closed it behind him.
“Gol D. Roger, what do you think you’re doing?” Rayleigh asked, one hand on his hip.
Roger tensed up, shoulders raising. He knew he was in trouble. Garp turned around, raising an eyebrow as he asked Roger, “Roger, is your mom here to get you?” while staring straight at Rayleigh.
Rayleigh answered for him. “No, Garp, I’m not his mom. I’m his first mate and husband, in case you forgot. If I really wanted to, I could have you off this ship in less than ten seconds, so maybe stay out of it until we ask for your input.”
Roger snickered at the scene—his husband with one hand on their son’s back, bouncing him from hip to hip to keep him sleepy, and his other hand planted firmly on his hip. Roger couldn’t help the comment he made:
“Ray, you do kinda look like someone’s mom right now.”
Rayleigh turned back to Roger. “And you, mister—what in your right mind makes you think you should be drinking while I’m trying to get our son to sleep? You know if he can’t see you, he has a hard time falling asleep! And what about me? Maybe I wanted some time with my husband, ever consider that? Huh? I’m tired, all I wanted was to lay down with you—and why is it so cold in here?”
Garp groaned. “Gez, Mom, stop nagging him. He’s a grown man.”
Rayleigh was about to snap back when Shanks looked up at him, smiled a pure little smile, and said, “Mama.”
Everyone froze.
“Did he just say his first word?” Roger asked in shock.
Rayleigh only nodded. Garp followed up: “Did he just call Rayleigh mama?”
Before anyone could answer, Shanks reached for Rayleigh’s hair, repeating, “Mama! Mama!”
Rayleigh stood there in shock—his son had just said his first word, and it was mama. He and Roger had spent months calling each other baba and dada, and all it took was Garp saying “mom” once to undo all of it.
Roger was on the floor laughing while Garp casually made his way out of the room.
Once Roger finished recapping the night Shanks called Rayleigh mama for the first time, Gaban asked another question. “Ray, how’d you feel about him callin’ ya mama instead of dada?”
Rayleigh waved Shanks over and patted his lap, inviting his son to sit. Shanks happily pushed away from the table, slipping out of his seat and climbing into Rayleigh’s lap. Rayleigh adjusted him until he was settled, then wrapped his arms around him and rested his chin on Shanks’s head.
“To be honest, at first I wasn’t a big fan of it. I tried so hard to get him to call me something other than mama. But when he learned what a mom traditionally is—and with Roger’s constant encouragement—it stuck. So I eventually just accepted it.
“But now? Now it’s something I look forward to. Hearing him say ‘good morning, mama’ in his sweet little morning voice, or the excited way he says it when he wants to show me something, or when he’s proud of himself… Him calling me mama is one of the greatest joys of my life. I love hearing him say it. I never would’ve imagined I could love the word mama so much. I love it when my little boy calls me mama.”
Rayleigh squeezed his son in a tight hug, kissing all over his face. “I just love you so much,” he whispered.
“I love you the most, Mama,” Shanks replied.
Shanks ended up finishing his dinner while sitting in his mama’s lap.