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Dragon doesn't know how long he's been here.
He's sure, if he asked, that Imu would take great delight in telling him. In sharing exactly how long they've had Dragon. The weeks, days, hours. They all stretch into a victory that Imu believes they will hold forever.
Dragon does not want to give them that satisfaction. So he will not ask. And there are more important things to remember than the days.
(Every snippet of information he gains. The identity of every slave he fails to save. The fact that he can escape, that he must not surrender to despair.)
So Dragon does not know how long it has been when the door opens and a child walks in.
Dragon recognizes him at once. He looks just like Shanks, aside from every way that matters. He is not smiling or laughing. His body is controlled, not carefree. His clothes are pristine.
And he looks at Dragon without a bit of recognition or fondness.
That hurts. To see such familiar eyes look at him so coldly. To know that it's his fault that they are, that Dragon's first failure years ago are why Shamrock is like this. So different from Shanks, from everything that a child should get to be.
He carries a sword at his side, too big for someone his age. Dragon has no doubt that his lessons haven't been nearly as joyful as Shanks'.
"You took him, it's your fault." He is trying to be intimidating, obviously, but that is ruined by the way that his voice cracks partway through the sentence. By the way his ears go slightly red.
Shamrock is a child. It's heartbreaking, to see him dressed as a soldier.
He knows what Shamrock is talking about, who he is talking about. It can only be a single person. And this is not some big secret, for all that Garling blames Roger more for keeping Shanks from him. The man has made it more than clear he also knows who first got Shanks away.
So he gives a small nod. "I did. Your mother asked me to."
Dragon doesn't even know her name, only that she trusted him with what was most important to her and Dragon was not strong enough.
Shamrock has gone startlingly still at the words, before he raises his chin up. "Liar. I have no mother. Father said that he could find no one worthy."
"She loved you." Dragon tells the boy firmly. Because it was true. "Enough that her dying wish was for you to be raised by a good man. I am sorry I failed, for you."
"I have been raised by a great man." Shamrock snaps, defensive. "Father is powerful and strong and important, and training me to be all of that as well."
"Are you happy with your training?" Dragon questions him. Not sure what answer he wants to hear. That the boy is, that he is completely unaware of how wrong it is that he describes his relationship with his father that way. Or that he isn't, is miserable with his life completely.
(Dad trained Dragon, of course. He also taught him and encouraged him. Not once did Dragon ever think that Dad's greatest wish was for him to be well-trained.)
Both choices are awful.
"What does that matter?" And that answers that question. "Not that I'd expect the likes of you to understand. Now where is my brother?"
Dragon makes a show of looking around. As awful as this encounter is, it's also the most normal conversation he's had in so long.
"Not here."
"I know that, idiot!" If it were Shanks, he'd be stomping his foot right now. Shamrock, of course, is far too well-trained for such a thing. "But where is he? What's happening to him?"
"I assume he's with his crew." Lie, Dragon has to lie here. Shanks doesn't need more attention than is already on him. Already, the Rogers have to fight off God's Knights. If Imu finds out that Dragon cares out him, that will be another target on his back. Dragon cannot allow that. "I've only encountered him a handful of times."
"You left him with pirates." Most marines don't pack as much venom into the word as Shamrock does. "You stole him and gave him to criminals to raise."
"Yes." Dragon cannot deny any of that. He is too proud of it to even try.
"You had no right. He was supposed to be my little brother. He is my little brother." Shamrock grabs the sword at his side. Hopefully, he won't draw it. Dragon isn't scared of him, but he doesn’t want to see what Imu would do to the child if they ever found out.
Thankfully, he doesn't. Instead he just keeps glaring at Dragon. Apparently wanting some sort of reply.
"You don't own him." Dragon tells the boy. Who won't understand, he knows, but Dragon still has to try. "You can't. Whoever Shanks is, that's his own choice."
"I don't want to own him." Shamrock sounds disgusted at the idea. "He's my brother, not a slave. I want him with me, where he belongs."
Dragon hopes that such a thing never happens. It would kill the boy Dragon knows, as surely as a sword to the heart. The very idea of Shanks being here is wrong.
"If you are looking for an apology, you will not get it. Not for saving your brother. I have many regrets from that day, but he is not one of them." Will never be. "I am not sorry that he was kept out of your father's hands."
But that is obviously not the answer that Shamrock wants to hear. His face twists into a scowl. "You should be."
Shamrock turns, fists clenched at his sides, and almost runs from the room.
Dragon breathes a small sigh. Every moment in this place is a challenge. Unexpected and sharp in different ways. Dragon cannot say this has been the most painful of them.
Just one more person here Dragon can't save.