Archive of Our Own

Shanks was in big trouble. The Roger Pirates had just hauled a mysterious treasure chest out of the sea, and Roger had ordered everyone to keep their hands off it until they had finished checking it for curses. So naturally, Shanks and Buggy had snuck into the treasure hold. To be precise, Buggy wanted to see if there was anything shiny inside, and Shanks simply couldn’t leave Buggy alone.

But that didn’t matter, because Rayleigh always punished them both to keep things fair, which might not have been entirely fair considering Buggy was usually the one getting them into trouble. But Shanks never complained, because it meant more time with Buggy, even if that time was spent scrubbing the deck. 

So, Rayleigh wasn’t what Shanks was worried about. The trouble was that he had touched a weird stone that practically screamed do not touch, and a second later he had landed flat on his ass on an unfamiliar island.

The good news was that he wasn’t hurt, so the stone was probably just some kind of teleportation. Even better, after asking around, Shanks realized he was still on the same island where the Oro Jackson had been docked for the past week. Everything looked completely different, but Shanks figured he probably had just been teleported to the other side of the island or something. So he ran back as fast as he could before Rayleigh noticed he was gone, and maybe, Shanks giggled to himself, Buggy would even be worried about him.

“Good, no one on deck.”

Shanks nearly sagged with relief when he spotted the Oro Jackson, too excited to notice it wasn’t at the same spot and that the dock looked completely different. He quickly snuck around to their cabin window, only to find it locked. Huh? Shanks and Buggy never locked their window. But he didn’t want to make noise breaking it, so Shanks carefully made his way around to the main deck instead.

The moment Shanks stepped onto the deck, he almost thought he had boarded the wrong ship. It was definitely the Oro Jackson, with Roger’s Jolly Roger flying overhead, but everything on deck was arranged all wrong. 

“WAAAAH!”

Slowly, Shanks turned toward the sound of a baby crying coming from inside the ship. Without thinking, his Conqueror’s Haki flared on its own to conceal his presence as he crept toward the sound. It led him to the captain’s cabin, which Shanks was one hundred percent sure had not contained any babies since he and Buggy were babies themselves twenty years ago.

“Ray, he keeps crying!”

“We just fed him. Does he want another nap?”

All of Shanks’s unease disappeared the moment he heard Roger and Rayleigh’s voices. His hand raised to knock…

“Shanks, stop!”

Shanks stopped. But after a moment, Roger and Rayleigh still hadn’t acknowledged him.

“Shanks, you can’t bite that!”

The baby only cried louder.

Shanks stared blankly at the door, then reached out with his Observation Haki instead of opening it. Inside, Roger and Rayleigh were crowded around a crib. Roger was trying to pry something out of the baby’s mouth. And when Shanks pushed his Observation Haki closer, he finally got a clear sense of the source of all that noise. A tiny baby. And a shade of red Shanks couldn’t have been more familiar with. 

“Who?!”

Shanks barely had time to duck out of sight before the door swung open and Roger stepped out, his presence cold as he scanned the corridor. Shanks held perfectly still around the corner, heart pounding. He had been so confused that he had shoved his Haki right under Roger’s nose.

“Huh. Guess I imagined it.” Roger gave the corridor one last suspicious look before turning back inside.

Shanks caught enough of a glimpse of Roger to realize something was wrong. He had no mustache, for one thing, and he looked much, much younger. 

“Huh, Ray. What did you do to make him stop crying?”

Shanks didn’t dare use his Haki again. The Roger he knew had spent years practicing against his unique skill of blocking Observation Haki with his Conqueror, but this younger Roger had probably never encountered it before. But Shanks decided not to push his luck and listened through the open door.

“I just gave him this stone. Looks like it can keep him occupied for a while.”

“Of course! Why didn’t we think of that? The boy crawled into a treasure chest full of gold to get to us!”

Then Roger’s head suddenly popped back out through the doorway, making Shanks jerk behind the corner again.

“Let me go buy him the shiniest stones!”

Shanks pressed himself farther into his hiding place as Roger came barreling out, thanking his luck when he took off in the opposite direction. A moment later, Rayleigh’s chuckle followed.

“Well, little menace. Try not to chew on anything while I get you some snacks.”

Shanks stayed rooted to the spot for a long moment after Rayleigh walked to the room next door, with only the baby’s babbling spilling into the hallway. His brain was still struggling to make sense of any of this, but eventually curiosity dragged Shanks out of his corner and toward the captain’s cabin.

Shanks locked eyes with the baby through the open door, and he knew immediately. Maybe you just recognized yourself. The baby watched him curiously through still-wet eyes as Shanks approached, but luckily didn’t start crying.

“Ugh, time travel? Now even Roger would kill me.”

Shanks groaned as he stepped closer to the crib. Apparently deciding his older self wasn’t all that interesting, the baby went back to playing with the stone clutched in his tiny hands. 

Shanks’s gaze fell to it. Blue, just like Buggy’s eyes. That was when he realized what had been missing. In every picture Shanks had seen of himself as a baby, Buggy had been there too.

“Already know what you like, huh?”

Shanks snorted as he took the stone from baby Shanks’s hands. His little face immediately crumpled, his mouth already opening for what promised to be an impressive wail. But Shanks just calmly opened his necklace, where he kept a picture of himself and Buggy that had cost him a big treasure chest to make Buggy stand still.

Baby Shanks stopped fussing immediately at the sight of the picture – or rather, the sight of Buggy, since he didn’t spare his older self so much as a glance – his eyes lit up as tiny hands reached eagerly for the necklace. Well, good thing Shanks knew what he liked better than Roger and Rayleigh did.

“Don’t worry. You’ll get your own Buggy.” Shanks grinned as he lowered the necklace enough for the baby to pat excitedly at Buggy’s face.

The last traces of tears vanished as baby Shanks broke into a delighted laugh. Now that was the same smile Shanks had always seen in his baby pictures.

“You don’t look more than two years old. Has Roger not found Buggy yet?”

Shanks murmured to the baby still playing with his necklace, expecting no answer. All he knew was that Roger had found Buggy not long after he had found Shanks. Roger had never told them the details. Whenever they tried to ask, the mood of the entire crew would turn cold, because they had rescued Buggy from a group that kidnapped babies and sold them.

Shanks shot to his feet. If they hadn’t found Buggy yet, then Buggy was still in those bastards’ hands. Every concern about his own situation vanished from Shanks’s mind as his blood ran cold at the thought of baby Buggy still trapped with them. Time travel things could wait. He needed to find Buggy and make sure he was safe first.

“WAAAAAH!”

Baby Shanks immediately burst into tears when Shanks turned to leave.

“Shanks? I’m coming!” Rayleigh’s voice called from down the hall.

“Shit.” Shanks turned back and quickly shoved the stone back into baby Shanks’s hands. “Here, here. Don’t cry.”

But this time the stone didn’t work. Baby Shanks immediately tossed it aside and reached desperately for the necklace instead, his tiny hands grasping at the air as his wails grew deafening.

“Hey, I can’t give you this. Do you know how hard I had to work to get Buggy to smile for this picture?”

“WAAAAAAAAAAH!”

The moment Shanks heard footsteps approaching, he completely panicked. At the exact same time, baby Shanks’s eyes narrowed angrily before he suddenly launched himself out of the crib with ridiculous strength. Shanks barely managed to catch him before Rayleigh reached the doorway. His eyes darted to the open window. 

***

“Damn it. Damn it.”

Shanks paced back and forth behind a stack of crates near the docks. Baby Shanks was giggling happily in his arms, both tiny hands still firmly clutching his necklace.

“I just kidnapped a baby. I kidnapped myself!”

Shanks groaned and reached down to pinch baby Shanks’s cheek. “Now I know why everyone always said I was such a pain in the ass as a baby.”

“Bah! Bah!”

The baby babbled unapologetically around the necklace as he tried to chew on it. Shanks tried to pull it back, and immediately duck behind the crates when he heard distant shouting from the direction of the Oro Jackson.

“Shit. The crew’ll tear this whole town apart if they can’t find you.” Shanks looked down at the baby and tried his best to reason with himself. “Come on, help yourself out. You’ll be quiet when I sneak you back to them, okay? I still need to go find Buggy.”

It would be easier if he could get the Roger Pirates to help. But Shanks wasn’t sure how well “Hey I’m actually this baby and I traveled twenty years from the future” would go. And he had sat through enough time-travel dramas with Buggy to know what could happen when the past was changed. So unless he had no other choice, Shanks wasn’t going to show himself to them.

“Bah?”

Baby Shanks just stared up at him with wide, innocent eyes, a little drool gathering around the necklace in his mouth... Okay, maybe Buggy wasn’t exaggerating when he said Shanks was especially annoying when he put on that ‘stupid grin.’

Shanks gave himself a mental shake and stood up. Why was he trying to talk to a baby anyway? If he made a sound… Well, Shanks would never knock a baby out, obviously, but this was himself, so technically Shanks had his consent…Right?

When Shanks turned toward the Oro Jackson, though, baby Shanks suddenly grabbed his arm with both hands, hard enough to hurt. The sudden distress on his little face made Shanks stop.

“Hey, hey. What’s wrong? I’m taking you back to your dads–”

“Blu–”

Shanks blinked and held baby Shanks up in front of him. “Did you just say something?” He had already been about a year old when the Roger Pirates found him, so he should have been able to say a few words. But Shanks hadn’t heard him say anything until now, so he just assumed ‘bah’ was about as far as his vocabulary went.

“Blu–Bue—”

His little arms now stretched insistently in the opposite direction.

Shanks blinked at his own eyes, then glanced down at the necklace and pointed to Buggy’s face.

“Blue?”

“Blue! Blue!”

Shanks was starting to think he was losing his mind. He was taking directions from a baby. Then again, everything about this time-travel mess was already insane, so he crouched down again and stretched his Observation Haki in the direction baby Shanks was pointing.

“Blue! Blue!”

Baby Shanks grew increasingly agitated when Shanks didn’t move. Shanks frowned at him. He couldn’t sense anything useful. There were too many people scattered throughout the town for him to pick out when he didn’t even know what he was looking for. But Shanks always trusted his instincts, and his own self counted as an instinct too. Probably.

How, though? Shanks hadn’t awakened his Observation Haki until he was fourteen. But he hadn’t learned it through training. It had come to him naturally, and Rayleigh had said that could mean Shanks had been using it unconsciously long before he realized. But as a baby? 

When baby Shanks’s face scrunched up again, now with fear written all over his little face, Shanks didn’t hesitate any longer and stood, heading in the direction he hadn’t stopped pointing. He could check it out quickly and bring the baby back. Because if there was one thing Shanks trusted himself, it was about Buggy.

***

Shanks followed baby Shanks’s pointing all the way to the edge of town. He looked up at the sprawling mountain. The island was much bigger than Shanks had realized. Luckily, he didn’t have to search blindly with baby Shanks pointing the way. He didn’t even know which island Roger had found Buggy on. Better to finish checking this one quickly in case he needed to track down every baby-selling group on the surrounding islands.

“Relax, we’re close. Just keep pointing.” Shanks gave baby Shanks a small pat as the little boy squirmed anxiously in his arms, and launched himself toward the remote mountains beyond the town.

Now that there were fewer people around, Shanks could sense others much more clearly. There were a few scattered throughout the mountains, probably hunters or woodcutters, and it didn’t take him long to pick out one unusually large group gathered in the same place. Shanks narrowed his eyes and shot toward their direction.

Shanks stopped on a tree branch overlooking a large, rundown warehouse, relaxing slightly when he sensed that no one inside was particularly strong. Probably just ordinary mountain bandits. There were more than twenty of them, though, which meant this was no small operation.

“Can you be quiet?” Shanks glanced down at baby Shanks. Bringing a baby into what was looking like a child-trafficking operation was probably not one of his better ideas. But if he took him all the way back now, it might be dark before Shanks returned. Besides, the tiny fist twisted stubbornly into his shirt and the anxious look on baby Shanks’s face made it pretty clear he wouldn’t cooperate if Shanks tried to take him back.

“Bah… Blue–!”

Baby Shanks seemed to understand, his babbling dropping to a whisper even as his little finger continued pointing urgently at the warehouse.

Shanks huffed as he gave one chubby cheek a pinch. He had always been confident in his strength, surely he wasn’t completely useless even as a baby.

“Okay. Let’s go find your Buggy. Then you can stop stealing mine.”

Shanks carefully peered through one of the small windows. The men he had sensed outside were gathered around a long table, covered in scars and all armed with swords and pistols, trying too hard to look dangerous. Then again, anyone who kidnapped defenseless babies for a living couldn’t be as tough as they wanted to look.

Beyond them, tucked against the far wall, Shanks finally spotted a big wooden crate lined with blankets, no fewer than ten babies crammed inside. His blood boiled when he realized they had all been gagged to keep them quiet. They weren’t hurt, thankfully. The kidnappers were talking about how much they could sell them for, so apparently they couldn’t ‘damage the merchandise,’ but that was as far as their concern went. The babies were all filthy, exhausted, and squeezed together in the cramped space. 

When Shanks shifted for a better view of the far corner, his Conqueror’s Haki almost burst out of control when he caught a glimpse of bright blue hair.

“BLUE!”

“Shit–”

Shanks lunged for him, but baby Shanks slipped through his fingers and launched himself straight through the open window. He was about to jump after him when the little menace landed safely with a soft thump on the blankets.

“What is that?!”

Shanks ducked back out of sight once he saw baby Shanks hadn’t hurt himself… Well, he might actually owe Roger and the others an apology. They really had had their hands full with his baby self.

“What the fuck? Was there a red-haired baby in here before?”

One of the men looked over as baby Shanks crawled toward a smaller baby tucked into the corner. The little boy looked even worse than the others, thin and filthy, his blue hair tangled around his face as he lay curled against the blankets with half-lidded eyes. Shanks’s blood boiled. He was already preparing to knock every bastard in the warehouse unconscious, consequences to changing the past be damned, when another voice cut across the room. 

“How else would a baby get in here, moron? Jumping through the fucking window? Be quick. We still need to pick up the rest from the other warehouse.”

Shanks pulled his Conqueror’s Haki back at the last second. There were more babies somewhere else. If he attacked now, the other group might flee before he could track them down.

“Bah… Blue.”

Baby Shanks finally reached the little blue-haired baby and immediately started fussing over him. He patted clumsy little hands over Buggy’s face and hair, babbling worriedly then grabbed at his blanket and tried to pull himself closer. Baby Buggy barely reacted, only blinking sluggishly up at him.

“Why isn’t that one gagged? Dumbass, what if someone hears him? Cover his mouth!”

Shanks clicked his tongue as one of the men reached for baby Shanks. He had no choice but to finish them and track down the other warehouse before anyone could warn them, then. But just as the man’s hand hovered over the crate, baby Shanks twisted around and let out an ear-splitting scream.

“BAAAH!”

The man staggered backward, his knees buckling as he crashed to the floor. Baby Shanks glared fiercely at him from where he sat with both arms wrapped around baby Buggy. Shanks blinked as the man couldn’t get back on his feet. That burst had been too weak to knock a grown man out completely, but it was still undoubtedly Conqueror Haki. Shanks had never thought much of it when people called him gifted, but well, being able to control Conqueror’s Haki before he could even talk properly was pretty impressive, he had to admit.

“Hey, quit fucking around! Are you drunk?”

The others didn’t seem to realize what had happened. Shanks made a quick decision and silently slipped in through the window, ducking behind the crates while two of the men dragged their dazed companion away. In the commotion, they completely forgot about gagging baby Shanks.

“Hey, hey… Shanks.” It was pretty weird calling his own name. Shanks raised a finger to his lips when baby Shanks looked over at him. “I’m gonna go get your dads so they can deal with all these assholes. Can you protect Buggy in the meantime?”

Baby Shanks’s arms tightened around baby Buggy. Those tired little eyes turned toward Shanks too, and his heart nearly broke on the spot at how small and helpless he looked. But Shanks knew he was in good hands, there was nowhere safer for Buggy than in Shanks’s arms, baby Shanks included. He gave them both a quick pat before slipping away. He could go back and forth in ten minutes now that he didn't have to carry a baby with him.

***

It didn’t take Shanks long to find the Roger Pirates. Just as he reached the edge of the mountains, he could already hear explosions coming from the town. Shit, hopefully they hadn’t blown up half the place looking for their baby.

Shanks didn’t dare get too close this time. Roger’s Conqueror’s Haki covered the entire area, wild and heavy with anger, even the animals stayed far away. Only Rayleigh was with him, the rest of the crew had probably split up to search. The two of them were currently beating the hell out of a group of bandits, but their clothes and weapons didn’t look connected to the baby-selling operation.

“I’m asking you one fucking last time. Where is he?!”

Roger hauled a bloody, badly beaten man into the air with one hand.

“P-please… we don’t know! We don’t kidnap babies… only women–”

That was probably the worst thing he could have said. Roger slammed him straight into the ground beside the rest of his men, hard enough that the man was dead before he hit the ground. 

“Damn it!”

“R-Roger.” Rayleigh stumbled over to Roger. “I-It’s been an hour already… if he–”

“Ray. Calm down.” Roger quickly caught him by the shoulders. “Gaban is watching the docks. No ship could leave without us knowing. Shanks is still on the island.”

Shanks had never seen Rayleigh like this. His face was pale, his eyes red and his hands were shaking nonstop. 

“I-It’s my fault–I was in the room right next to him… I–”

“Hey, hey. Ray.” Roger pulled him into a hug and gently stroked his back. “It’s my fault too. I shouldn’t have left the ship. But you have to believe in our boy. He’s a tough little brat. And if they’re planning to sell him, they won’t hurt him.”

Rayleigh still looked sick with worry, but he took a shaky breath, forced himself to straighten, and nodded firmly at Roger. They quickly released all the women chained up nearby.

Shanks’s stomach twisted with guilt. He needed to lead them to the warehouse. But with Roger this on edge, showing himself would probably end in a fight, and he really didn’t want to reveal himself to people he knew in the past unless he had to. How else was he supposed to point them in the right direction, though? If only he had something that belonged to baby Shanks…

Shanks’s gaze caught on a strand of red hair falling across his face. 

***

“Hey! What are you doing?”

One of the men left behind to keep watch shouted when he noticed the red-haired baby from the crates trying to reach the table piled with food.

Baby Shanks completely ignored him and kept stretching for a berry. The man cursed out loud before stomping over.

“Greedy little shit. We just fed you. Be grateful you’re getting anything at all–”

Right when the man got close enough to grab him, baby Shanks snatched a spoon off the table and threw it straight at his face.

“FUCK!”

The man stumbled backward with a yell and nearly fell over. When he straightened again, an angry red lump was already swelling in the middle of his forehead.

“Fucking brat!” The man completely lost his temper and raised a hand.

“Hey! What the fuck do you think you’re doing?!” Another man caught his wrist. “That one’s the biggest of the lot. Do you know how much we could sell him for?”

“I-It’s–” The man pointed furiously at baby Shanks, who was glaring right back at him. Apparently unable to bring himself to admit he had just gotten beaten by a baby, he lowered his hand. “Tch, whatever. I’m going to check the road.”

The other man waved him off and went back to drinking, leaving baby Shanks to finally snatch a handful of berries. He quickly crawled back to baby Buggy, who hadn’t moved since.

“Bah! Bah!”

Baby Shanks clumsily pushed a small berry into baby Buggy’s mouth, trying to copy the way Roger fed him, but he couldn’t get Buggy to open his mouth. Shanks grew more distressed when Buggy still didn’t react. He looked around frantically before reaching for the table again, trying to grab anything else, only to pull too hard and send the whole thing crashing to the floor.

“What the fuck?”

The man nearly dropped his mug as he looked over. When he saw baby Shanks dragging a bottle of milk out of the mess, he shot to his feet.

“You little shit! Look what you fucking did!”

He didn’t get to take another step before he dropped unconscious to the floor. Baby Shanks didn’t even look over, already crawling back to Buggy with a bottle too big for his little hands.

“Okay, okay. He can’t eat like that.” Shanks let out a huff as he stepped out from behind the crates and carefully picked baby Buggy up.

Baby Shanks immediately started babbling at him, reaching both hands up toward Buggy. Shanks gave him a reassuring pat on the head before taking the bottle from him. 

“You did a good job. Now let me help.” 

Then he settled baby Buggy against his arm and brought the bottle carefully to his mouth. Buggy barely reacted at first, but after Shanks coaxed a little milk between his lips, he finally started drinking. Slowly, but that was enough. Shanks felt some of the tightness in his chest ease as he watched him swallow, while baby Shanks clung to his arm, staring up at Buggy the entire time.

After a few sips, Shanks carefully put baby Buggy down and propped him against the folded blankets 

“Come here. Just do what I did.”

Shanks let baby Shanks crawl into place beside Buggy and helped him hold the bottle at the right angle, keeping one hand underneath it until Buggy started drinking again. Once baby Shanks seemed to have the hang of it, Shanks let go and quickly moved over to check on the other babies.

“I led your dads to the other warehouse. They should rescue all the babies there and come for you soon. Don’t worry.”

Shanks said as he picked up another hungry baby and started feeding them. Baby Shanks, meanwhile, didn’t look worried for himself in the slightest, too happy to finally be able to feed Buggy.

Shanks gave each of them a small portion, not knowing how long they had gone hungry. Baby Buggy had also finished his bottle and was looking much more awake, finally warming up to baby Shanks and even letting him hold his hand.

“Hey,” Shanks laughed as baby Shanks practically draped himself over Buggy, patting his face and checking him all over. “Don’t crowd him. Give him some space–”

Shanks nearly bit his tongue. If there was one sentence he had heard every day growing up on the Oro Jackson, it was “Shanks, give Buggy some space.” Well. Maybe the crew had a point.

Some of the babies had already fallen asleep. Shanks wanted to clean them up, but there wasn’t even a clean cloth anywhere in the warehouse. He had already alerted the villagers, though, so the babies should be properly taken care of soon. Shanks carefully settled the sleeping ones into the cleanest blankets he could find before heading back over to where baby Shanks was still trying to make Buggy smile.

“Hope I didn’t change too much history. Would Roger believe baby me did that?” Shanks glanced at the unconscious man on the floor, then just shrugged. It didn’t matter, as long as Buggy ended up safe with them.

Shanks dug through his pockets. He never really carried much besides Gryphon and all the little trinkets he picked up for Buggy.

Baby Buggy was still watching baby Shanks quietly, but the moment Shanks pulled out a small shiny trinket, his eyes lit up. Some things really never changed.

“Here. I’m sure Buggy wouldn’t mind his baby self taking his present.”

Shanks crouched down next to baby Buggy and let him play with the trinket. The little boy finally let out a weak but happy laugh as he turned it around in his tiny hands. Shanks smiled softly as he tried to wipe the dirt from his face as best as he could. He wanted to give him all the other shiny things in his pockets too, but he wasn’t sure leaving stuff from the future behind was a good idea.

“Don’t worry. Your future dads will buy you everything shiny you want.” Shanks laughed as baby Buggy tried to put the gem in his mouth, looking much more energetic now.

Then he paused when he felt a deadly glare burning into his back. Shanks turned to find baby Shanks staring daggers at him, though on that chubby little face, he only managed to look like an angry little tomato. When his little eyes dropped to baby Buggy in Shanks’s arms, happily laughing in a way he hadn’t when baby Shanks tried to cheer him up, his bottom lip started to wobble.

Shanks raised an eyebrow, then grinned mischievously. He pulled baby Buggy closer and pressed a kiss to his cheek.

“Ah. I spent my whole childhood watching the crew smother Buggy. It’s actually pretty fun being on the other side for once.”

Baby Shanks stared at him in complete betrayal. Apparently all memory of this grown red-haired man helping him and saving Buggy earlier had disappeared. Shanks was the enemy now.

That only made Shanks burst out laughing. He pressed another kiss to baby Buggy’s other cheek. The baby didn’t mind at all, not even looking when baby Shanks tried to reach for him, too distracted by another trinket Shanks had given him.

“What are you gonna do about it, huh? You’ve got a few years before you’re strong enough to stop others from touching Buggy.”

That did it. Baby Shanks’s face crumpled, and a second later he burst into the loudest, most heartbroken wail that could probably be heard halfway across the mountain.

“Okay. Hey. I was just messing with you–” Even Shanks felt a little guilty and immediately handed baby Buggy back. He knew firsthand how much he hated other people touching his Buggy, himself included apparently.

“Roger, I heard Shanks!”

Shanks jumped slightly. Shit. He quickly set baby Buggy down, and baby Shanks immediately scrambled in front of Buggy and spread his little arms as wide as they would go, trying to shield him from Shanks. 

Shanks pressed a finger to his lips, before ducking behind a nearby stack of boxes just as two figures appeared in the warehouse doorway.

“Shanks!”

A second later, Rayleigh was in front of the crate and dropped to his knees.

“You’re okay. You’re okay.” His hands shook as he quickly checked Shanks over. “I thought–I almost–”

Roger followed right behind him and reached down to check on Shanks too, though he paused when he realized he couldn’t pry a blue-haired baby out of Shanks’s arms.

“He’s not hurt. Just dirty.” Roger let out a breath. “Lucky bastards. I’d skin them alive if he had a single scratch.”

Then Roger wrapped all of them in his arms, holding them close for a moment. His arms trembled slightly despite how calm he had forced himself to stay earlier, his own fear finally showing now that Shanks was safe. 

“Gaban will lead the villagers here soon.” Roger composed himself just as quickly. He stood and went to check on the other babies. “We should go finish off the rest of those bastards.”

Rayleigh nodded as he tried to pick Shanks up. “I’ll kill them myself. I don’t trust the Marines. No other parent should have to go through this.” 

Then he paused, finally noticing how tightly Shanks was holding onto the blue-haired baby. “He’s even smaller than Shanks. His parents must be worried sick too.”

Roger sighed and leaned over to help, carefully taking baby Buggy from Shanks’s arms. “I’ll put him with the others. They look like they’ve been fed, at least.”

Both of them looked a little surprised when Shanks suddenly started squirming wildly in Rayleigh’s arms, bursting into tears when Roger carried baby Buggy away.

“I know. I know. It must’ve been scary.” Rayleigh rubbed his back soothingly. “It’s okay. We’re here now.”

“WAAAAAAAAAAH!”

Baby Shanks suddenly twisted so hard that Rayleigh, caught completely off guard, lost his grip on him. From behind the boxes, Shanks wasn’t surprised at all. The little menace had been escaping his grip all day and had already taken down two grown men by himself, but apparently Rayleigh had never seen him use that ridiculous strength before. 

Rayleigh bent down to pick him up again, only to freeze with wide eyes. Because baby Shanks had pushed himself onto his wobbly legs and was taking one unsteady step after another after Roger.

“Roger…” Rayleigh breathed. “He’s walking!”

Roger whipped around, and the moment he saw Shanks toddling toward him, his entire face lit up. He quickly put baby Buggy down on the crate and crouched.

“F-Finally! He’s fast too, Ray!” Roger spread his arms wide. “Come on! You can do it! Come here, son!” 

Roger was grinning so widely his eyes were practically closed, then slowly opened again… when baby Shanks walked straight past him.

From behind the boxes, Shanks’s eyebrow twitched. His probably first use of Conqueror’s Haki had been because of Buggy, and now his first steps too? Shanks had never seen anything wrong with being a little attached to Buggy, but… fine. Everyone else’s complaints seemed a little more reasonable now. 

Meanwhile, Roger and Rayleigh both stood and stared as baby Shanks reached the crate and immediately tried to climb over the side to get to the blue-haired baby.

“…He really likes that baby,” Rayleigh said. “He must’ve gotten attached to him while they were stuck here together.”

Roger blinked, then pulled out a bag and opened it to reveal a whole pile of blue stones just like the one baby Shanks had been playing with.

“…Hey, Shanks. Look! I got you all the shiny blue stones you like!”

Needless to say, baby Shanks didn’t spare them a single glance. The moment he reached the blue-haired baby, he immediately wrapped himself around him again, apparently determined not to let anyone separate them this time.

Roger and Rayleigh looked at each other.

“If Shanks likes him that much...”

“Roger, we can’t kidnap a baby.”

Roger frowned. Then something seemed to occur to him as he marched outside, grabbed one of the men he had beaten unconscious earlier, and slapped him awake.

“Wake up, shithead. Where did you get that baby?”

The man blinked at him through swollen eyes, clearly having trouble understanding what was happening. “W-We’re sorry… We’ll never do it again…”

Roger clicked his tongue loudly before slapping him again and pointing toward the crate. “That blue-haired one. Where’s he from?”

“…P-Please don’t kill–Blue hair? Red nose?” The man’s eyes widened. “Please, sir, I remember! We stole him from an orphanage!”

Roger’s expression darkened enough that the man immediately started trembling. 

“An orphanage? So he has no parents? If you’re lying to me…”

“No, no, sir! Please! We mostly take kids from orphanages so no one reports them to the Marines… But that one stands out, I even remember he’s from the orphanage east of the village–”

Roger slammed the man back down, his neck breaking with a sharp crack.

“The villagers are close.” He stood and dusted himself off. “Let’s go check out that orphanage and see if there’s anyone looking for him.” 

Rayleigh nodded quickly before scooping both baby Shanks and Buggy into his arms. This time, with Buggy with him, Shanks didn’t squirm again. Despite his earlier objection, Rayleigh had looked just as eager as Roger when he heard ‘orphanage.’ Apparently, both of them were willing to give their baby boy whatever he wanted, even if it happened to be another baby.

Roger and Rayleigh made sure all the babies were safe before the villagers reached the door. Then Rayleigh wrapped his coat around baby Shanks and Buggy before leaving with Roger.

“His hair looks fine.” Rayleigh ran a hand over baby Shanks’s head. “I was scared they’d hurt his head after all that red hair we found along the way.”

Behind the boxes, Shanks touched the uneven spot where he had cut off a chunk of his hair. Buggy really liked running his fingers through it, hopefully saving a bunch of babies was a good enough excuse. Then Shanks suddenly went still when he felt Roger’s gaze land directly on his hiding place after Rayleigh’s comment.

“Yeah.” Roger said after a moment and turned away. “Let’s go. The others are worried about Shanks too.”

Shanks didn’t dare to breathe, then quickly slipped away when the villagers rushed inside and found the crates full of babies. He jumped onto the roof and watched the direction Roger and Rayleigh had disappeared in.

Honestly, he had been a little surprised Roger hadn’t sensed him when he had gotten too close. He had assumed this younger Roger just hadn’t learned how to get past his ability to block Observation Haki yet. But thinking about it now, maybe it had been the exact opposite. Roger was probably so used to baby Shanks’s presence that adult Shanks didn’t set off his Haki.

Shanks rubbed his chin. That was something worth testing the next time he sparred with Roger. He glanced through the window one last time, making sure all the babies were being taken care of, then stretched and turned away. Well, baby Buggy’s problem was solved. Now Shanks had his own problem to deal with: figuring out how to get back to his time before his own Buggy got mad at him for disappearing.

***

Shanks had absolutely no idea how he was supposed to get back to his own time. So after wandering around the town and getting increasingly hungry, he gave up for now and snuck back onto the Oro Jackson. At least he didn’t have to feel guilty about stealing food from his own crew.

Shanks quickly snatched some bread from the kitchen and followed the sound of laughter coming from the deck. Baby Shanks’s laugh was the loudest. Needless to say, they had checked the orphanage and after finding no parents, they had brought baby Buggy aboard.

“A toast to the new member of the Roger Pirates!” Roger’s voice rang, raising his cup before crouching down in front of the two babies. “And now you have a friend your own age! Isn’t that great?”

“Bah! Bah!”

Baby Shanks answered with a delighted laugh, one hand holding baby Buggy’s. Buggy, meanwhile, looked a little overwhelmed by all the unfamiliar faces surrounding him 

Rayleigh gently rubbed his back to comfort him. Baby Buggy had been cleaned up by now, with a tiny smear of milk at the corner of his mouth and some color finally back in his face. “It’s okay, boy. We’ll be your family from now on.”

Gaban came over. He had already changed his clothes, though there was still the smell of blood from dealing with the kidnappers. “Does the kid have a name? We can’t just keep calling him ‘boy.’”

“Right.” Rayleigh looked baby Buggy over again. “He doesn’t have his name stitched into his clothes like Shanks did. And the orphanage only got him last week, so they hadn’t registered him before he was kidnapped.”

Roger immediately perked up. “I didn’t get to name Shanks. But this one–

“Blu–”

The whole crew turned abruptly toward Shanks.

“Is that?”

Roger launched himself forward and grabbed baby Shanks by the shoulders. “D-Did you just say a word? Was that ‘Roger’?!”

“Roger… that sounded nothing like your name.”

“Blue…”

Baby Shanks wriggled out of Roger’s grip and reached for baby Buggy again.

“Blue?” Rayleigh repeated, then gently combed his fingers through baby Buggy’s hair. “It is a beautiful blue. How about we call you Blue for now, until we decide on a name?”

From the rigging above, Shanks snatched an unattended mug of rum. Oh, this was going to be fun when he got back and told Buggy who had given him his name. And as for the fact that his first word had been about Buggy too? At this point, Shanks wouldn’t even be surprised if his first tooth had somehow involved Buggy.

Shanks drank along with the crew from above, watching his family twenty years younger than he remembered but still every bit the same people he loved, with baby Shanks and Buggy right in the middle of them. Baby Buggy had a small smile on his lips now too, slowly relaxing under all the loud but surprisingly gentle attention. Shanks grinned when baby Shanks glanced up at him and gave him a teasing little wave. Baby Shanks immediately tightened both arms around Buggy and glared at him like a tiny guard dog. Shanks muffled his laugh against his mug. Damn it, he missed his Buggy too.

***

Shanks landed hard on the deck. Shit. He must have gotten too comfortable and dozed off in the rigging. Shanks quickly looked around, but luckily, the deck was already dark and empty. Everyone had probably gone to bed already. Shanks was about to find an empty cabin and sleep there for the night when a door suddenly swung open, and before he could hide, someone crashed straight into him.

“IDIOT! Where have you been?!”

Shanks’s arms wrapped around the familiar body on instinct. And at that volume, there was no mistaking his Buggy for the shy little baby.

“Buggy!” Shanks swept him up into his arms. “I was just thinking about you–”

Buggy grabbed him by the collar and shook him hard. “You disappear for an entire day, and that’s what you have to say?!”

“Shanks?”

Roger and Rayleigh appeared in the doorway next. The moment Rayleigh saw him with Buggy wrapped around him, he rushed over and immediately started checking Shanks over. Shanks almost laughed at how familiar this scene was. Twenty years later and a head taller than Rayleigh, and he was still being fussed over like baby Shanks.

“Oh, you’re in big trouble, boy.”

Once Rayleigh was satisfied Shanks wasn’t hurt, he stepped back and crossed his arms, his expression turning stern.

Roger came up beside Rayleigh and looked at him disapprovingly. “Sneaking into the treasure hold was bad enough, but then you disappeared without telling anyone. Do you know how worried you had the whole crew?”

Shanks opened his mouth to explain, but quickly realized that none of the words ‘time travel’ or ‘the past’ would come out.

“Couldn’t think of an excuse?” Rayleigh’s eyes narrowed. “You’ll be scrubbing the deck for a month–”

“It’s my fault…”

All three of them turned to Buggy, who was still dangling from Shanks’s arms.

“…I dragged him into the treasure hold with me.” Buggy buried his face deeper into Shanks’s neck. “You can punish me instead.”

Shanks blinked at him. Usually Buggy would have happily blamed everything on Shanks if it meant escaping Rayleigh’s punishment. But looking at how openly Buggy was cuddled up against him now… maybe Shanks should disappear more often if this was how clingy Buggy got afterward.

When Rayleigh looked like he was about to lecture Buggy too, Shanks quickly cut in.

“I had a reason I couldn’t come back right away, I promise!” Shanks was unable to keep the pleased grin off his face as he hugged Buggy tighter. “I was helping rescue a bunch of babies.”

Rayleigh’s mouth tightened. He knew Shanks well enough to know his son didn’t lie, but they were in the middle of the ocean.

When Shanks met Roger’s eyes, Roger studied him for a moment before putting a hand on Rayleigh’s shoulder.

“It’s okay, Ray. He’s back.” When Rayleigh looked ready to argue, Roger patted him on the back and started steering him toward the door. “They can both scrub the deck tomorrow. The boy’s been gone all day. Let them get some sleep.” 

Rayleigh pressed his lips together, clearly still displeased. But when he took in Shanks’s messy hair, he sighed and let Roger pull him toward the door.

“On deck at sunrise. Both of you.”

“Roger!” Shanks said cheerfully, with Buggy giving a small nod against his shoulder. 

Rayleigh shook his head and finally headed inside. When Roger was about to close the door, Shanks suddenly called after them.

“Dads, thank you for the past twenty years!”

Both of them stopped. Rayleigh looked back over his shoulder before his eyes narrowed suspiciously.

“Don’t think that’s getting you out of your punishment.”

“I don’t!” Shanks grinned brightly.

Rayleigh pressed his lips together again, clearly trying not to let a soft smile through, then turned away. Roger gave Shanks a wink and whispered, “Just sleep in,” before closing the door.

Shanks let out a yawn, then shifted Buggy a little higher in his arms. He weighed practically nothing to him, but compared to the tiny, underfed baby Shanks had held earlier, Shanks almost couldn’t believe they were the same person. 

No one looking at that quiet poor thing would have guessed he had grown into the loudest, most spoiled brat on the ship, openly clinging to Shanks and having no trouble demanding everything from his family. The Roger Pirates had taken that tiny, frightened baby and given him too much love to grow up anything but loud and fearless.

“What the hell are you giggling about?” Buggy snapped. “They might’ve fallen for that, but I’m not letting you off that easily!”

Shanks only grinned wider. He leaned down and tried to kiss his pretty blue hair. This part hadn’t changed, except now it was long enough for Shanks to run his fingers through. Buggy dodged the kiss and started squirming in his arms as Shanks laughed and carried him like that back to their cabin, which had apparently just been a storage room twenty years ago.

He sat down on the bed with Buggy still on his lap, planning to apologize and sweet-talk him until he smiled again, but the little pout on Buggy’s face reminded him so much of baby Buggy that Shanks couldn’t resist leaning in and kissing his cheek loudly.

“Hey!” Buggy jerked back. “I’m still mad at you–”

“You’re still my favorite Buggy!”

Buggy seemed to short-circuit, his cheeks immediately turning red. “W-What–You… Don’t change the subject! Where have you been?!”

Shanks laughed and cupped his cheeks, running his thumbs over them before letting one hand slip into his long blue hair. Baby Buggy might have been the cutest thing Shanks had ever seen, but he realized he still liked his own Buggy best. At one year old, twenty-one, or eighty, it wouldn’t make a difference.

“I mean it!” Shanks grinned. “My first word was you, my first steps were for you. And my first kiss and first time–”

“L-Liar!” Buggy slapped a hand over his mouth, now his whole body going red. “How would you remember any of that?!”

Shanks just laughed and tipped them both over, rolling Buggy beneath him before leaning down to kiss him. Usually, he would have happily spent the next hour smothering Buggy with shiny trinkets and sweet-talking him until he forgot why he was mad, but Shanks had spent the entire day running around after two babies. He needed sleep.

“Cheater,” Buggy muttered against his lips.

And Buggy was actually pretty easy to win over once he had been kissed enough. Shanks pressed one last kiss to his forehead before rolling onto his back and pulling Buggy with him so he could settle on top of his chest.

“Night, Blue.”

Buggy muttered something unintelligible before shifting around until he found his usual comfortable spot.

Shanks smiled softly before closing his eyes, one hand resting in the bright blue hair he had apparently loved since he was a baby.

“I’m glad I found you.”

Shanks was already halfway asleep when a soft murmur came.

“Me too.”