I can't find my notebooks!!!!!!! All of my updates are in there. It's not fair!!! Oh well I got permission from Clarobell to write this cause it's similar to her Pets story. I hope you guys like it and once again Clarobell thanks. R&R. By the way I would suggest reading Pets it's a very well written tale.

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Disclaimer: I do not own the One Piece characters. If I did my head would be swelled up with pride.

Paint in the Wind chapter 1: Meet The Family

Shanks sighed happily as he plopped down in his favorite chair. The soft black velvet rubbing against the exposed skin on his arms and the old wood creaking its protests. He glanced around his large house and smiled with joy as he caught sight of Luffy chasing a string that had attached itself to his back paw.

The little Jack Russell ran in circles barking at the white string that was always one step ahead of him. Shanks looked towards the window to see Nami grooming herself on the sill. The Maine Coon was one of the most beautiful creatures he had ever had the chance to behold. She was a bright orange color but what made her unique was the lighter orange swirled throughout her slender form. Her chest remained a pure white blending in nicely with the rest of fur. She looked up at him with her bright orange eyes and meowed softly.

Her eyes were another thing that caught him. Nami's eyes were especially striking. They were a bright orange, similar to her fur, but dappled with a golden brown giving her a fierce gaze.

She was soon joined on the windowsill by Sanji, the Egyptian Mau. He was another uniquely colored cat. He had short blonde fur that was spotted with black. The tips of his ears and tail were black as well as above the eyes giving the appearance of swirling eyebrows.

He began puring loudly as he rubbed against Nami affectionately. Nami gave a low growl that Sanji either did not hear over his purring and Luffy's barking or just ignored. She raised her paw and batted at him, knocking him off the windowsill and onto the floor.

At this Shanks let out a loud laugh at which Robin lifted her head. He looked at her as she got up from her rug and moved over to sit next to him.

The German Shepard was among the oldest of his pets but she was not the first. Luffy was the first. He had found the energetic Jack Russell Outside his door in a bad storm. He could not have been over a week old. How the small puppy had gotten there still remained a mystery to him.

A caw sounded out from the other side of the room drawing Shank's attention yet again.

"It's alright Usopp." Shanks said to the timid Conure parrot.

At a surprisingly loud noise the Conure would caw and flap his wings in alarm until he was told everything was alright. Usopp was a bright green in color with the exception of the top of his head and by his eyes. That area was a bright red and shaped like fire.

It was never a dull day around his house with all these animals. They had become more that just pets, to him they were family. There was only one member who was not allowed indoors. That was Chopper. He had found the poor baby reindeer by the side of the road one day during one of his walks. Shanks took at least one walk each day. It had become a habit that he could not nor did he want to give up.

It had taken all his strength to lift Chopper and bring him home. He was small and very clingy but had since grown in both height and independence. Instead he had a large amount of land that was fenced in. It was well over five acres and gave the reindeer lots of room to run around.

He kept all of them away from the forest when he wasn't willing to go with them though. It was well known that mountain lions lived in the forests around the small town.

Soon Luffy collapsed on the floor, his prey still attached to his foot. Sanji settled for grooming himself in a corner after being knocked from the windowsill a few more times. Robin was enjoying the scratching she was getting from Shanks as he watched the rest of the group. Usopp's head was tucked under his right wing in sleep and Nami sat on the same windowsill napping. Who knows what Chopper was up to.

Every one of these family members had a story behind them.

He was simply walking down the street one day when he heard a frightened caw. He looked up to see a Conure Parrot being terrorized by a particularly mean squirell. It had flown down and perched on his shoulder, poofing its feathers up in his panic. The large bird had stayed rooted to his shoulder the entire day so he took him home and managed to get the still shaky bird off of him. He later named him Usopp.

Nami he had simply adopted from a nearby residence. The family already had too many pets so Shanks took her in. On the way home he found Sanji asleep in a restaurant trash bin.

Sanji was one of the most finicky eaters he had ever seen. He went through so many different foods before he found one Sanji would actually eat. He would not tolerate dry food at all. In fact he would dump the whole bowl on the floor and usually cause Shanks to slip. What baffled him most of all was that even though Sanji only accepted the best kinds of food he still caught him chewing on a cigarette one day.

Robin had followed true to the usual children's tale. She followed him home.

He was truly happy that he had yet to run across any horrific cases of neglect, abandonment, or abuse. He loved animals of all kinds and valued them for their personality.

But even with all of these pets he still felt as if somehow in some strange way something was missing. But for the life of him he could not figure out what. Whatever it was it would eventually come to him. One of these days he would find whatever was missing.

He sighed again put his prized straw hat over his eyes as he leaned back in his chair. A grin spread its way across his features as he thought about how lucky he was to have such an amazing family.

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There we go. Hope you enjoyed it. More to come soon.....hopefully. Tell me what you thought. That means review people!!! Please?