Um . . . hi?

I am working on the rewrites of DiNtE and UA, I promise, it's just . . . slow going at best. But when you're trying to juggle work, study, moving house, babysitting and a dying Aunty, Fanfiction tends to sit on the backburner for a while.

Anywho,

As said in the summary, this fic is an approved spin-off of Death's BlackOut's fanfiction 'A Hawk's Freedom' (story ID: 9605750). It's a Peggy Sue-type Harry Potter/One Piece crossover, wherein Harry dies and gets spat out into the One Piece universe as Dracule Mihawk and ends up unofficially adopting Ace and Luffy and co-raising them with Shanks. Give it a go—it's awesome.

Death gave me the go ahead to write a drabble/oneshot series focussing on different character's (mainly the Strawhat Crew's) reactions to finding out who Luffy's 'Dad' is.

However, since Mihawk has only in recent chapters adopted the boys in A Hawk's Freedom, we have yet to see whether or not the two of them call him 'Dad' or not. Also, Sabo has yet to enter the picture, so we don't know what Death has planned for him. As a result, Sabo probably won't be making an appearance in this series, or at least not yet. Regardless, I'm going to be working on the assumption that Luffy and Ace call Mihawk 'Dad', but Shanks stays as Shanks, since Luffy knew Shanks and got used to calling him by name before he met Mihawk.

Anyway,

Onwards Ho!


Of Bombshells and Mystery Hats

(Set somewhere between Shells Town and Orange Town)

The only difference Zoro could find between sailing alone and sailing with Luffy was the constant chatter interspersed with somewhat off-tune humming coming from the aforementioned, self-proclaimed Captain from his perch on the bow. (Their shoddy excuse of a boat didn't really have a figurehead, so to speak.)

However. One thing he had learnt very early on was that Luffy had one rule: Never. Touch. The Hat. Unless it's about to go overboard and Luffy can't reach it. Then as long as Zoro gives it right back, it's okay. Ish.

. . . Speaking of . . .

"Oi. Luffy."

"Mm?" Luffy bent his head back in a move that should have been humanly impossible. Zoro ignored the minor break in the laws of human physiology and ploughed on.

"Why is that hat of yours so important?"

Luffy pointed to it. "What, this hat?"

What other hat do you have?

Luffy blinked and spun around to face the ex-pirate hunter, one hand reaching up to hold the brim in a seemingly unconscious gesture, "This hat used to be Shanks' hat. He gave it to me."

Zoro blinked slowly and felt his mind blip when he processed the bombshell that the guy sitting in front of him grinning like a loon had just casually (and, knowing him, probably even unwittingly) dropped on his head. Proverbially. Even in the small amount of time they had known each other (roughly, a week or so), Zoro knew that when it came to Monkey D. Luffy, there was always a chance that a so-called figure of speech could turn literal. But, just to make sure, "Shanks? As in 'Akagami no Shanks'? That Shanks?"

"Yep. That Shanks. Why do you keep saying his name, anyway? He helped my dad raise me. Kinda. For a year. And a bit. He visits sometimes too. I haven't seen him since I left the village, though."

Zoro pinched the bridge of his nose and exhaled hard. "Right. Okay. So Akagami no Shanks—one of the Yonko—helped your dad raise you. Whatever. . . . Wait, what about your mum?"

"Never knew her. Dad wasn't always there either, since he's a really important famous guy, so whenever he was gone I usually stayed with Makino or Dadan or played around in the forest. And stole stuff from the stingy rich people, but dad doesn't know about that part. Shanks does, but he promised not to tell."

"Really?"

"Yep."

"Huh . . . wait, why are you telling me all of this?"

Luffy gave that ginormous grin of his that Zoro was partially convinced was only possible due to the guy's Devil Fruit. "A First Mate's gotta know his Captain, right?"

For the second time in less than ten minutes, Zoro felt his mind blip at how many layers that single comment held. What made it somewhat worse was the fact that it was likely unintentional. Nevertheless, ". . . Aa, guess you're right, Captain."