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Sea salt in her blood

Summary:

Under the right circumstances, not even death can stop her.
Calypso isn't as defeated as they are lead to believe, and given the chance she will rain holy hell on those that try to take her boys away from her.

Notes:

Krypton and I were talking about how utterly gorgeous Tia Dalma is.
Leading to a comment along the lines of, what if Makino IS Calypso and here we are!

Work Text:

There was a reason the Party Bar was located so close to the shore, and it has nothing to do with Fushia being a fisher's town.

It had everything to do with the way Makino felt drawn to the ocean. Even as a child, to the point her parents had told her she came to them out of a spray of foam. At the time she hadn't believed it, thinking it was a way of telling children how babies were born; like the story of the stork or the cabbage. Yet, once her parents passed people did tell her she has been there all of the sudden when there has been no indication that her mother had been pregnant. No one commented on it knowing how much they wanted children. But the older Makino got, the more they too saw just how connected she was to the sea.

There was a certain pull there, something that made her connect with others who felt that same pull. More often then not this includes Pirates or Marines, those that took to her waters and didn't want to leave unless for a small time.

Others, like Luffy, just seemed to fit in the greater whole. She couldn't quite explain it but once Garp placed the baby in her arms something clicked on place that told her, yes, this is mine. She loved that baby with the whole of her heart, looked over him like a mother would even if at the time she's been little more than a child herself. It didn't matter, it wouldn't matter. He belonged there with her and that was all that mattered.

However, it was when Shanks arrived. This Pirate Captain who seemed so familiar. Like she knew him even if that was impossible. Something inside of get recognized him and she liked what she saw.

Giggling when he flirted with her, leaning in close and seeing the shades of red in his eyes and hair. She loved the color, even if she couldn't quite explain why. But it was enchanting, which is when her heart broke when a vague memory surfaced.

Frowning, she remembers a vibrant, lovely woman, with the same red hair. She had called Makino, but the way that happened was fuzzy as she had no recollection of ever being somewhere else but Fushia and Dawn. There was a connection there and as the memory faded, she allowed Shanks to charm her. He was good at that, getting her giggling.

Luffy liked him too and really, that settles it for her. The way he reacted to Shanks triggered her, in a good way, able to find some comfort in a man she was certain she recognized even if she didn't know where. The Red hair really did make her think of that off memory, but she couldn't quite place it.

Except, things did come to a head when Luffy acted out against a bandit and the man took her son to sea with him. Even if Luffy had eaten a devil fruit at that point, not that it mattered, something seemed to fit with him eating it. But that didn't take away that the kid was susceptible to the sea now and he'd sink.

With her hands in front of her mouth, she watched as the seaking in front of the shore lunged at Luffy. She had senses Shanks in the water, could feel him moving towards both the seaking and Luffy. Before the beast could close its maw, she called out, "Stop!"

Her words seemed to resonate over the water, the sea reacting to her words and the seaking stopping before bowing. A voice in her head calling out to her, calling her Mother. Trembling at that, she didn't quite know what to do. The Redhair Pirates were looking at her in awe, even if Beck and Hongo acted as soon as Shanks came back to shore with Luffy in his arms. She took a hold of her little boy, before turning and running back to her bar.

Lips trembling as certain memories started to come back. What had happened to her, why she was caged in a human body. Why Red hair had been so mesmerizing.

Magnolia had been a woman born and raised on God Valley, in the West Blue. A spitfire of a woman, much like her red hair suggested, raised on the religion of the Old Gods and praying to her, to Calypso, most often. Makino had been there, listening in as Magnolia had been praying for health for the children she was carrying, before moving on to having their father come back for all of them. Which he did, only to strike at his lover, and for Makino to step in to protect the twins that her follower had bore.

Figarland Garling was everything she hated, everything her darling Nika had fought against. One of the False Gods on the Red Line, who took one look at her and grinned that sinister smile most of the Celestial Dragons had. He crooned that he would take her out, would kill an Old God and make sure Lord Imu was able to keep his place as ruler of the world.

Makino Calypso hadn't been willing to let that happen. Leading one of their former priests to the site. Monkey D. Dragon took the twins, which left her to deal with the False God and make sure he would never rise again. She kept her eye on Dragon all the time, only to have her attention deviate when he was hurt. Which is when Garling struck and wounded her.

Stepping close to make her bleed, and to whisper words in her ear she had never wanted to hear. Not since her first lover betrayed her like that, binding her in mortal form and slicing her throat for good measure. Leaving her to die.

Except, she hadn't died. For Magnolia had left a small stream of water to run through her courtyard that lead to the sea and she escaped through it. Had managed to use the last of her magic to make herself smaller and disappear. She would be a part of the ocean for years, slowly growing until she was the size of a human infant and she was found on the shores of Dawn.

Tears ran over her cheeks as she gasped, "Ooh…"

The red hair was so vivid now, of her devoted follower and the sons she had been given. Shanks was one of those sons and a part of her was overjoyed at the prospect. But the other part, the one that recognized the divinity in herself, wondered what it would mean. She was Calypso, but she was also Makino. Just like Luffy was both Luffy and Nika. Something had to be done, but she had no idea how to go about it.

A knock on the door took her out of her thinking, to see Shanks standing there, "Maki, can I… Can I come in?"

Placing Luffy on the bed so he could sleep, the poor boy having passed out from all the excitement. Makino nodded, "Of course, Captain."

He hesitates just for a second, before entering and closing the door behind him, "Maki… Out there, that seaking listened to you."

Biting her lip, she shook her head, "No, it didn't. You must have been imagining things, Captain."

She was scared, of what would happen now. Of what would make it back to the False Gods and if she had to run when she was in no position to do so. Luffy needed her here, and a part of her heart was already lost to Shanks. But remembering what his father had done, she hesitated.

To her surprise, he knew, as his eyes softened. Looking away as he shared that he had been there, at Marigeose. Wanting to meet his twin brother and father, "Let's just say my old man is a disappointment and I will always see Roger as my dad more than I'll ever let Garling take that place. My brother on the other hand, Shamrock, he is gathering information. Having found some journals of our mother, keepsakes my father took of his precious conquests and he read of her religion in there. He practices and he has every intention of leaving as soon as he has a chance. We keep in contact and I know he'll be overjoyed to know that despite what Garling sprouts, Calypso did survive."

Makino doesn't know what to think. What to say, except that Roger was a very fine choice for a father-figure. The man oozed freedom, and loved to make sure others had it too. He and his crew, and later his wife, brought so much good to the world. When he was killed, even if she didn't know it at the time, his body was dropped into the ocean to be part of her once more. Rouge, his wife too, and it filled her with joy.

"He liked that, Roger that is, knowing he's your father," She choses to say. Keeping an eye on Shanks at all times, and seeing the way he lights up at hearing that.

It opens the flood gates and all of the sudden Makino is talking. Trying to string together memories and thoughts, to make sense of what was happening. Shanks helped there, his hand warm of her side, his smile gently coaxing more out of her. It was wonderful.

Still, he was a Pirate at heart, so the time did come when he had to leave. Pressing a kiss to her hand, and to her lips, promising to be with her always. Leaving his hat with Luffy, ruffling the kid's hair before he was off. Leaving her alone, even if she could feel an echo of his presence in the waves she started to feel more and more clearly.

Luffy, Nika, her little boy. He was taken from her, by his paternal grandfather when he found out that he wanted to be a Pirate. It didn't make any sense to her how Garp could want someone as Free as Nika be a Marine and be restricted. But he didn't feel that, wasn't at all connected to the role their forefathers played as D's in ancient times as Priests of the Old Gods.

She had begged and pleaded, only to eventually let him go and follow the pull towards where he was as soon as Garp left the island again.

Finding Ace and Sabo was a surprise, a welcome one, even more so when she realized who Ace was. Telling him his parents loved him, and it hurt his mother to know he even entertained the thought that he was the reason she died.

"She did what she did with love, wanting you to have a place in this world and she succeeded. She and your father are watching, from the Ocean, ready to make sure that once the Old Gods ask for it, they can rise and wreck havoc." Her voice had been strong, with the wind blowing behind her and the sea's waves rough and unyielding.

Explaining to the three boys what she had pieced together and how it was all connected. Pulling Luffy into her lap and grinning as she added that regardless of what happened now, in a way they were her children too. They were all children of the sea, after all.

Of course, things took a turn for the worst when Sabo's father found out he survived and tried to get him back. Doing so at a time when Makino was unable to be there for her boys, and fearing the worst as she felt a little ship taking to the water at the same time a Celestial Dragon arrived.

Her heart bled, as she called out for Sabo.

Except that he wasn't alone, two men came to his aid. One she knew, as he had listened since they met at God Valley. Monkey D. Dragon came to Dawn to protect the people of the Gray Terminal as the Nobles tried to burn it down. He had been nearby and fished Sabo out of the water.

On the other hand, there was Shamrock, who had been on the ship of the Celestial Dragon and used his haki to defuse the situation and give Dragon enough time to get to Sabo. Waiting for her on the shore, telling her his brother had filled him in and joyous at the chance of meeting her. He was a little colder than Shanks had been, still trying to find his way in the world after everything he had been told by his father. But he tried, and she couldn't help but admire that in a different way than Shanks.

Dragon, also checking in, seemed on edge that the little girl he had once known was someone as magnificent as Calypso. Whispering to her that he remember that day in God Valley and how, for one, he couldn't help but believe.

"Thank you, for taking care of Luffy for me." He had also shared. Which is when she had laughed and mentioned he was her son too, Nika reborn, and slowly getting ready to take the world by storm.

Her reveal came at Marineford. Where Ace had been tied to an execution platform and Luffy was moving heaven and earth to get him free. Calling on her, calling for his mother, and she couldn't help but answer.

The storm that she brought with her would kill. She made sure of it, starting with the Admiral that tried to attack her as soon as she was named as the (foster) mother of both Ace and Luffy. Sabo should be around too, but he was a lot better at keeping a low profile, in Dragon's care as a Revolutionary as he was.

"You will not touch them," Her voice carried over Marineford. With Ace and Luffy both gaping before the younger of the two started laughing. It was clear he was channeling the Godling he didn't know he carried inside. But Makino couldn't care right now, these people had taken her children and she was not having any of it.

A blast of haki puts Shanks besides her. With Shamrock no doubt making his way down too. Last she had heard he was getting quite fed up with everything on the Red Line and things could just take a turn for the better if he did snap.

Shanks rests a hand on her waist, "You heard the Lady, Fleet Admiral, let Ace go or Marineford won't be left standing after she's done with it."

 

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