Thank you so much for all the nice feedback on the first chapter! I'm glad you liked it. There will be a twist in the story in this chapter but I hope you will like it! If there's anything you are confused about, don't hesitate to ask. However, some things are meant to be revealed a bit later on so don't worry!

Enjoy!

Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece

Chapter 2 - Appear! "Red-Hair" Shanks

The seagulls cried loudly and flew about a certain harbor as a big Marine ship was preparing to raise its anchors and leave the safety of the marine base G-14. The sun was shining – though it was unclear how long the fine weather would last with the ever-changing weather the Grand-Line offered. Still, the members of the crew seemed to be in high spirits, knowing that instead of a mission, they were just going to have a safe transporting task. The docks were bustling with life – supplies getting carried inside the ship while some prepared the ship. The only time the working men stopped was when the ship's captain – Vice Admiral Garp appeared, though the man himself wasn't the reason for halting their work. It was because of the small figure that walked beside the big man, holding the old man's hand while looking down at his feet, that the men stopped.
All of them had heard rumors about the boy's existence but it was the first time any of them saw him. The men started to whisper among themselves and kept staring at the boy as if he was some kind of strange animal as the two walked towards the ship.

The boy kept looking down, his small shoulders looking like they were carrying the weight of the entire world. He tightened his grip on the much stronger hand guiding him and kept walking. The old marine next to him kept looking around the dock, completely ignoring the strange looks the boy was getting.

"It's a fine day to head to the sea!" the man told, clearly feeling happy. The boy didn't answer the marine, but was encouraged enough to take a quick peek at the ship they were heading towards.

It was not before the two had boarded the ship that the rest of the marines had stopped staring and returned to their tasks. But even with the lack of eyes staring into his back, the small boy could not relax. Taking a note of this, the elderly marine let go of the boy's hand. "Come, Luffy. I'll show you something," the man simply told before he started to head towards the bow of the ship. The child wasted no time in following him, clearly not comfortable enough to stay there alone. "Gramps!"

The two of them walked all the way to the figurehead before the boy's grandfather finally stopped. He stared at the horizon ahead that seemed to go on forever. He glanced down at his grandson to see him switching his gaze from him to the ocean. Luffy's tired and emotionless expression changed immediately after he saw the scene. His mouth fell open and his eyes widened slowly – as if not daring to believe what he was seeing – before he took in a big breath as a big, excited grin appeared on his small face.

"Wow!" he breathed, as if he was too afraid to make too much noise. He raised himself on tiptoes to look at the blue waters, but didn't take a single step to move closer to the railing where he could have seen better.

Grinning at the child's actions, Garp lifted him up by the scruff of his shirt before walking to the railing, where Luffy had clearly wanted to go, before setting him down to sit on the edge. He kept a cautious hand next to the child's frame just in case he would get too excited and fall over. And boy, was that a good precaution to take.

Right after Luffy could really see everything, he took in another excited breath as his eyes seemed to almost sparkle as he threw his hands up and shouted, "WOW! What is this?! It's so big!" The sudden movement caused the little boy to lose his balance and if it wasn't for his grandfather's big hand that supported him, Luffy would have been making one grand splash below right about then.

Garp was too pleased to see Luffy's reaction to even bother scolding him for being so careless. Instead, he smiled and kept his hand against the child's back. "That's the sea, Luffy."

"The sea? It's huge!" The boy exclaimed, never turning around. "Does it go on forever?"

Garp grinned at the boy's questions. "Some say it doesn't. However, I have never sailed all the seas so I wouldn't know!" he admitted with a laugh.

Luffy turned around to look at his grandfather. "Someone has sailed all the seas?" he asked in awe.

Garp met his eyes with the much younger and curious ones. "That's what they have claimed," he told and gave another laugh.

Luffy stared at the old marine for a long while, clearly thinking deeply about something. Then, he closed his mouth that was slightly open and turned his gaze back towards the horizon.

Garp couldn't help when his smile kept getting bigger. It had been a very long time since he had seen the boy so excited and happy – since he had seen him be a child like he was. It was too often that the boy was emotionless or sad instead of the child Garp knew his grandson was truly.

Luffy stayed silent as his eyes were fixed ahead, expression slowly melting back into the somber one. Still, Garp could recognize the longing in his eyes.

A seagull flew past the ship, crying out loudly as it seemed to enjoy its freedom. Luffy watched as it flew into his range of view, his mouth once again opening slightly.

"...I wish I could fly away like that," he then whispered. His tone was so heavy and filled with hopelessness that Garp felt his heart break. No five-year-old child should ever have to say things like that. But Luffy was trapped, his freedom ripped away from him before he even had the chance to experience it. Garp knew it all, but he couldn't do anything about it. So he gritted his teeth, all his earlier good mood wiped away once again as the realization hit him hard once more; Luffy would never be free.

Two days passed and Luffy enjoyed his days at the ship fully. He loved how he was allowed to run around the ship and no one would get angry at him no matter what he did or broke when he got clumsy. And he got to eat with his grandpa every day! Not only was the food yummy, but his grandpa also seemed to be in a good mood. It made Luffy happy as well.

He still needed to see the mean nurses every morning and evening so they would inject him with something and feed him medication. Luffy didn't like it, but at least he didn't have to go through anything painful.

Still, no matter what kind of bad things Luffy would have to go through, he knew that what he got to see every single day made it all better. The sea around them was so big and amazing that he almost couldn't believe it. Not only was it big and tasted salty (he had secretly stretched his hand to scoop up some water for a test taste) but there were also so many things that lived in it!
He had seen big school of small fish right next to the ship and then some really big fish. There had been one really, really big fish too, one day. It was very long – at least twice the ship's length, Luffy estimated – and it was brightly colored. His grandpa had called it a 'sea-king', but Luffy didn't really understand it well.

"There are kings in the sea?" he had asked his grandpa.

"Yes, the sea-kings are so big and powerful that they rule underneath the sea," his grandpa had explained.

"But... I thought that the sea didn't belong to anyone?" Luffy had asked, his voice telling about how disappointed he was feeling.

His grandpa grinned, "you're right, it doesn't! But that's why it belongs to everyone and everything!"

Honestly, Luffy had just become more confused about his grandpa's explanation. How could something belong to no one and belong to everyone at the same time? It made no sense.

Maybe it really was like those old marines sometimes said; his grandpa was a bit strange in the head.

Confident with his thought process, Luffy once again made his way to the bow of the ship like he did every day. He didn't know many people on the ship, so he didn't feel like greeting any of them as he walked across the deck. None of them gave Luffy any attention, so he didn't give them any.

He walked up the stairs and to the railing. He would have desperately wanted to sit on it but after almost falling in the day before, he was strictly banned from climbing anywhere where he could fall off the ship. Luffy pushed his lips in annoyance as he had to just settle with peeking over the tall railing with a little help of his rubber-powers. He stretched his legs and felt an annoying pain run through his stretching parts. The pain kept growing stronger the longer Luffy kept stretching his body, but he didn't want to leave his spot yet. He could handle this much. After all, he got to look at the sea again!

Suddenly, something appeared in the horizon that hadn't been there before. Luffy was surprised to see anything disturb his perfectly clear view and so he tried to squint his eyes to see what the small spot was.

Just as he was about to give up and go ask his grandpa, he heard a shout from the crow's nest. "An unknown vessel 12 o'clock!"

Luffy was surprised when at least ten marines ran right next to him to look at the small spot too. One of them had a long metal pole (which Luffy had yet not learned to be called a 'telescope') that he peeked into.

"It has a black flag! It's pirates!" the man with the pole suddenly shouted so loudly that Luffy got startled and fell on his butt. He knew that the men needed to shout information loudly so everyone could hear but still! They were so loud!

Heavy footsteps approached them and Luffy turned to see his grandpa. He had his usual grin on his face and his figure was powerful. Feeling a childish surge, Luffy got up and ran to his only family before clutching onto his leg tightly.
Garp rested a comforting hand on his head, his gaze never tearing from the object far away on the sea.

"What should we do, Vice Admiral Garp?" one of the soldiers asked.

Garp seemed to think about it for a while before looking down to his grandson who had hidden his face into the white fabric of his pants. "Luffy," he began, making the child look up to his face. "you remember what I told you about pirates, don't you?"

Luffy looked surprised at the question, but nodded. "They are bad people," he answered simply and with certainty.
"Yes. They are bad people. And you remember what I told you about my job?" Garp asked, earning another nod from the child.
"You told me you catch bad people."

"That's right. Now, Luffy," he said and moved the boy so he could get on one knee. "Tell me – are you afraid of pirates?"

Luffy pushed his lips and thought about an answer. "I don't know. I... guess? You told me they are bad people. Are they scary too?" he asked innocently.

"They can be very scary. But that's why I have to catch them so they won't scare anyone anymore."

Luffy looked at his grandpa before looking at the pirate ship again. "You're going to catch them too?"

Just as Garp was about to answer, a soldier informed, "It's the Red Hair Pirates!"

The name meant nothing to Luffy, but it made his grandpa grin even wider than before.
"That kid, ey?" he said to no one in particular before he looked back to at his grandson. "Yes, Luffy. We're going to catch those pirates. It might be a bit scary for a while, but you can handle it, right?"

Luffy seemed to be happy with his grandfather's answer and so he nodded. "Yeah! Catch those bad pirates, gramps!"

Garp laughed before he got up again. "Men! Prepare for battle!" he ordered.
The marines began to run around, everyone going to do their jobs as Garp stood at the bow with confidence.

Luffy felt his tiny heart beat both in fear and excitement. He wasn't sure what to expect, but he knew it involved guns and cannons. He wondered if his grandpa would let him try to shoot a pistol too, but quickly dismissed the thought as he knew he would just get a hard hit on his head for asking something like that.

Still, it was really exciting – he got to see a real battle!

...At least that's what he thought until the next moment.

"You!" Garp suddenly shouted to a nearby marine. "Take Luffy below deck and make sure he stays there! It's too dangerous for him up here."

"No! Gramps!" Luffy shouted in defiance. He really, really wanted to see! However, his grandpa was having none of it.

"You will be safer there, Luffy! You might get hurt here or worse! Just listen to my order this once."

Luffy was lifted from the ground before he could say another word.

He gritted his teeth in anger as he watched his grandpa disappear from his view as the marine holding him was starting to descend the stairs. "IDIOT GRAMPS!" he shouted once more in anger before he could no longer see the old man.

...If only he had known that he wasn't going to see his grandpa in a very, very long time after that, he might have chosen his words differently.

Luffy could feel how the ship rocked when the battle went on.

The cannons not only made a huge noise but also made the floor and walls tremor in a strange way.
Luffy decided that he had been wrong about the pirates. He was definitely scared of them. He had heard their shouts when they had got on the their ship and it had scared Luffy so much that he had taken his blanket and crept underneath his bed to hide. It made him feel the tremors of the cannons more, but he felt slightly safer there. Hidden, small... unnoticeable.

Suddenly, there was a violent jolt and a sound bigger than any cannon. The whole room shifted into a strange angle and Luffy found himself sliding away from under the bed to the middle of the floor before the room went back to normal.

"W-what was that?!" he shouted to himself and stood up even though his knees shook violently. He clutched his blanket tightly, trying to gain comfort from it, as he slowly crept closer to the door. He could hear men shouting loudly – some in pain – and he found himself holding his blanket tighter.
The ship then once again rocked violently and Luffy was thrown back on his bottom. Before he had time to even wonder what had happened, he felt something wet under him. He looked down to see water everywhere and raised his gaze up slightly to see how the water was coming in from under his door.

Luffy jumped to his feet instantly. He knew he needed to get out of there or he would drown! Running to the door – which was a bit difficult since the ship was in such angle – Luffy stretched his arm out to open the door. It burst open, sending much more water in than the poor boy had imagined, sending him flying back inside the room.
It took him a while to gather himself since the water had made him feel weak, but he managed to do it with some struggling. Then, he threw his hand out towards the door-frame before grabbing it and letting his body snap towards it.

Luffy was glad that he had managed to escaped his room, but he knew that he wasn't out of danger yet. There was water everywhere and he knew that if it got up to his ankles, he would fall into a boneless heap to the floor. Deciding that he wasn't going to die in such stupid way, Luffy gathered his courage before reaching up to the ceiling boards where he could monkey his way outside instead of risking his feet getting wet.

As Luffy got closer to the door leading on the deck, he could hear the shouts getting louder. He couldn't deny that he was feeling scared about going up there, but he felt like there wasn't really other options. Maybe he could hide on the deck somewhere? There were some big barrels gathered in one corner, maybe he could hide himself behind them?

Before Luffy could think another thought the ship lurched once again, making him lose his grip and fall. Fortunately, he didn't fall on the floor, but on the stairs leading outside. He quickly thanked his luck before pushing himself up.
He was surprised to find that even the steps were wet even though the water came from under the ship. He then noticed something different about the liquid. It wasn't water. This was something much thicker and much more sticky. Luffy lifted his hand up to examine what he had fallen into and was startled to notice that he was soaked in something dark and red.
"W-what is this?" he asked to himself as he looked himself over. He then registered the strong smell the liquid had. Yes, the strong metallic stench... Luffy suddenly knew what it was.

"No way... This is all... blood?" he whispered as his body started to shake. He looked at the steps once again and saw how the liquid traveled down them like a river. He then lifted his gaze towards the slightly open door and saw that it was where all the blood was coming from. Someone was lying on the deck right before the door.

Luffy felt scared. Really, really scared.
But when he once again remembered the water closing in on him, Luffy forced his legs to move. He felt disgusted when he felt the how sticky the blood was becoming on him, but tried to focus on his task; go outside, find grandpa.

Luffy finally reached the doorway and saw a scene he could never forget.
The man lying in front of the door wasn't moving and he was covered in blood. Luffy could recognize the uniform he wore, however. It was a marine soldier. There was a deep, long wound on his back, clearly done by a sword. The wound was no longer bleeding.

Luffy felt like he couldn't breathe when he slowly raised his gaze up to see the deck more. There was so much blood.
Men were lying on the floor, lifeless, as some were still struggling against the unfamiliar men invading the ship.

Luffy couldn't move. He could only stare ahead.
He saw a marine fighting against one pirate with a sword and black cape. Unfortunately, the marine stood no chance against the pirate and he was quickly cut down. His blood sprayed as he fell on the floor with a pained shout.

That was when Luffy's knees gave out. He couldn't even breathe anymore.
But then the worst thing happened. The pirate turned to look at him. His stern eyes suddenly widened as his mouth fell open in shock. "A child!?" he shouted.

Luffy was sure that he was going to get killed by this man. His heart was beating so strongly against his rib cage that he wondered if it would pop out.

However, neither of them had time to do anything as another pirate ran behind the black-caped one. "Captain!" he began. "This ship is going under, we need to get out of here!"

The man, apparently the pirate captain, asked, "did you get him out?" Once he got a confirmation from his crew member, he nodded. "I understand, tell everyone to retreat."

Luffy didn't have time to see the other pirate turn away as the ship once again lurched, sending the boy flying against the dead marine at the doorway.

The movement caused his trance to break and his survival instincts to kick in. He ignored the blood that he had fallen into and stood up quickly before running away from the pirate. He had time to meet the pirate's gaze and was surprised to see him looking at him with startled and worried eyes. He was a pirate, right? Why would he look at him like that? And he had just killed so many marines! Why were his eyes so kind?

Luffy didn't understand it, but he didn't want to. He wanted to find his grandpa.

Unfortunately, luck wasn't on his side this time. The ship suddenly made the most violent lurch by far, almost turning the ship completely sideways. Luffy had no chance of staying upright and so he started falling. He could only scream as he flew past the pirate captain, right over the railing.

He had barely enough time to register he had fallen overboard when he already hit the cool water and instantly knew that he hadn't taken a deep breath before falling in.

Due to his long fall, Luffy kept sinking quickly. His strength was immediately robbed from him and he couldn't even try to save himself. He felt how his lungs were starting to scream for air already and he knew he couldn't hold on for long.
He opened his eyes to look at the surface, wishing that he would see his grandpa diving to rescue him. However, only pieces of wood from their ship floated there.

'I don't want this...! Gramps... help!' he silently wished. However, he could feel how his head was starting to hurt really bad and see how his vision was blurring. His limbs felt so heavy and useless.

He squeezed his eyes tightly shut in pain before he finally had to let go.

He felt water rushing into his lungs and he felt pained and sick.
Then, his head started to feel strangely light. He couldn't think straight anymore. He opened his eyes and stared at his limp arms in front of him, they looking alien in the pale lighting.
Then, in the middle of those useless limbs, he saw the water being disturbed as a dark figure slowly seemed to sink after him.
No, it wasn't sinking. It was someone swimming towards him.
'Gramps?' Luffy wondered before his vision went completely dark and he passed out.

The next time Luffy woke up, he was in an unfamiliar place.

His head throbbed as he slowly opened his eyes to look at the room and quickly decided that he wasn't on his grandpa's ship. Still, Luffy recognized the faint sway. He was definitely on a ship.

He pushed himself up on the bed -taking a note on how warm the blanket he had been sleeping under felt - and looked around.

The room was quite big. There were big windows on one wall, though it was too dark to see anything out of them, and a wooden desk placed almost in the middle of the room. Someone had lit candles to light the room in a gentle glow, making Luffy feel calm and comfortable.

He was just about to scan the rest of the room when a voice interrupted him.

"Did you sleep well?"

Luffy almost jumped when he heard the unfamiliar voice. He quickly spun around to see the pirate from before sitting on a chair, leaning his elbow on a table next to him.

All the calmness Luffy had felt was instantly wiped away and he went rigid in fear. He saw quick flashbacks from what had happened on his grandpa's ship and he felt himself unable to breathe once again.
He had been captured by pirates.
"Y-you are that pirate from before!" Luffy stuttered, his eyes wide and scared.
However, the red-haired man only smiled softly, in a comforting manner almost. He then waved his hand slowly. "Now, now. No need to get yourself worked up. I'm not going to hurt you."

"B-but you killed all those marines...!" Luffy said fearfully.

The smile on the man's face lessened. "Yes, I did. But it was because they had taken one of our friends."

Luffy pushed his lips and clutched the blanket on his lap tightly, wondering if he should speak.

"What's your name, kid?" the pirate then asked.

Luffy lifted his gaze to meet those dark and kind-looking eyes once again and somehow didn't feel so scared anymore."Luffy," he answered.

The pirate smiled even wider. "Luffy, huh? My name is Shanks."

Luffy stared at the man, somehow finding it hard to believe his was the same man he had seen hurting that marine. "Shanks..." Luffy tried out the name, making the said man smile softly.

There was a short silence before Shanks took a sip of his drink he held in his other hand. Then, he locked his eyes with Luffy's again. "Tell me, Luffy, what were you doing on that marine ship?"

Staring into the pirate's eyes, Luffy found himself unable to lie. "It's my grandpa's ship. He wanted to take me outside to see the sea."

"Outside..?" Shanks wondered before he focused on something else. "Your grandpa's ship? Luffy... are you saying that your grandfather is Monkey D. Garp?"

Luffy's eyes went wide. "You know my gramps?!"

Shanks ran his hand through his red hair, his face twisted into a look of discomfort. "I've met him a few times."

Luffy seemed happy about the news before all his positiveness seemed to fade away. A sorrowful look replaced his faint smile. "But the ship sank, didn't it? Did gramps sink too?" he asked softly.

Shanks opened his mouth to answer before closing it again. He wasn't really sure what to say. He wasn't really good with children and was uncertain if he should lie.
He knew it was highly unlikely that anyone on the marine ship survived the battle, let alone swam for long enough for a rescue ship to arrive. Still, looking at Luffy's sorrowful eyes, Shanks was unable to tell him the hard truth.

"Don't worry!" he said instead and gave a big grin. "Your grandfather is really strong! He wouldn't die because of something like that, right?" Shanks felt a bit weird talking about a marine in such manner, but when he was rewarded with Luffy's happy smile, he was glad of every word he had said.

"Yeah! Grandpa is really strong!" Luffy exclaimed before seeming to remember who he was talking to and sinking back into the bed a bit.

Shanks was satisfied when he noticed that Luffy was much more relaxed than when he had opened his eyes, although he still remained cautious.

The man rose from his seat. "Now, how about I get you something to eat? You must be hungry," he offered. Luffy seemed to consider it for a moment before giving a small smile and a nod.

"Good, now wait here and I'll be back soon," Shanks said and left the room.
From the crack of the door, Luffy could faintly see the deck of the unfamiliar ship and felt himself growing curious. What did the pirate ship look like up close? And they had a black flag with a jolly roger on it, right? What kind of flag did these pirates have?

Though Luffy wanted to go on an adventure very badly, his fear of the unfamiliar men kept him from moving.

He thought about his grandpa for a while, hoping that he was okay, before he thought how he had been about to drown. He could still remember how he sank deeper and deeper and when he was just about to lose consciousness, he saw someone swimming towards him. Who had it been? Could it have been Shanks?

Luffy wondered again why the pirate was so nice to him. He cheered him up and even offered him food. He hadn't even tried to hurt Luffy, not even once!

Still, he couldn't ignore his memory of Shanks hurting the marine on his gramps' ship. The man had said that it was because the marines had their friend, but Luffy felt like it was still a horrible thing to do.

But when Shanks returned with a tray of food and a wide smile, Luffy couldn't help but to think there was more to pirates than what his grandpa had told.

"So, Luffy," Shanks started the next day when he and the child sat outside on the deck, Luffy sitting comfortably on the wide railing next to him. "-you said you were traveling with your grandfather but what about your parents?"

Luffy munched on an apple as he stared at the clear waters. "Gramps said that my mom died when I was a baby and that my dad is a bad man. I have never met him though," the child answered without care, obviously not too interested about the subject.
"So you live with your grandfather?"

Luffy shook his head. "No, I live in a pretty weird place. Gramps comes to see me whenever he can."

Shanks frowned. "A weird place?"

"Yup," Luffy nodded before his small smile was gone again. "I don't like that place. They do these weird... ex-experiments," Luffy carefully pronounced the word before continuing, "on me. It really hurts sometimes," he admitted sadly and ran his hand over his arm.

Shanks' frown deepened. This child was a test subject? What in the world did the marines want with a small child like Luffy? "Why do they do those test on you, Luffy?" Shanks asked carefully and never looked away from the boy's arm where he saw the small scars.

Luffy pushed his lips together. "I don't really know. They said it was because they needed to see how my powers worked but I don't know anymore..." he said and sighed sadly.

"Your powers?" Shanks asked.

"Yeah. They told me to eat a fruit one day and then my body became weird. They said it was a Devil Fruit."

"They fed you a Devil Fruit?!" Shanks almost shouted. He was shocked. Forcing someone – a child – to eat the fruit and change their life was so very wrong. It made Shanks feel sick.

"Yeah. The Gomu Gomu no Mi. I'm made of rubber because of that, see?" he said before stretching his cheek to an inhuman length.

Shanks could only stare at the sight with his mouth wide open. Luffy let his skin snap back to its original place before rubbing the spot, as if it hurt.

"What's wrong?" Shanks asked the child.

"It just hurts a bit every time I stretch. They gave me some weird medicine so that it became like that."

Hearing that, Shanks knew that Luffy could not be returned to the marines. If this was the 'justice' they seemed to love so much, then that justice had never been more wrong. Hurting an innocent child like this was so wrong and cruel.

"Hey, Shanks?" Luffy then started, causing the man to look up to him. The child seemed a bit nervous about asking the pirate, but was thankfully brave enough to do so. "Why are you a pirate?"

Shanks was taken back by the question at first, but then he thought about it. "Let's see... It's fun, for one."

Luffy frowned. "It's fun to hurt people?"

"No, it's not like that," Shanks laughed. "And there's much more to being a pirate than just hurting and robbing people."

The child cocked his head. "What's that?"
"To choose our way of living," Shanks told with a powerful, confident voice. "We are free men. We sail these seas and go on adventures and there is no one to tell us otherwise."

Luffy's eyes widened and Shanks could see a new emotion emerging from inside of them that he hadn't yet seen from the boy.

"Freedom," the boy stated silently, clearly in admiration and desire.

Shanks nodded. "Exactly. All of these men are free," he said and moved his hand to indicate his men on the ship, all more or less busy with something.

Luffy watched them all, how they laughed and joked happily like they had no worries in the world. Like... they could do anything they wanted, go anywhere they wanted. And Luffy realized; they could. Just like those birds he watched every day from his tiny window of his room that felt like a cell – they could.
"I..." Luffy started, making Shanks look at the boy. Luffy stared at all the happy faces on the ship and gulped down his words at first as if they were a bad thing to even think about. Shanks patiently waited until the child had finally gathered enough courage to say the words he had probably wanted to say for a long time now. "-I want to be free too...! Like Shanks; like pirates! I don't want to go back to that small room anymore... I want to sail the seas too!" he bravely said. His voice still sounded pleading, as if he was afraid, but Shanks could already see the kind of child Luffy was truly meant to be.
A child of sea.

Shanks put a hand on his trademark straw-hat and smiled. "Is that so..." he then stood up, startling Luffy a bit, before grinning at the boy. "Then, Luffy..."

Like Shanks would forever remember Luffy's plead of freedom, Luffy would always remember Shanks' next words:

"How about you become a pirate?"

"Men! Gather around!" Shanks shouted loudly that evening as they were preparing for their almost daily banquet on the deck (which more than a few men thought to be a bit too often).
The crew gathered around their captain, who was now standing on a crate for him to be seen better. The red-haired pirate wore a satisfied grin as he held his hands on his waist. "Listen up! I have an announcement to make," he started. He then leaned down before grabbing something and pulling the thing up – making whatever it was yelp – before lifting it up for all of the men to see. "This here is Luffy!" Shanks told, his grin still present on his face even as the boy, who he was holding up by his shirt, was struggling wildly against his grip. "He's going to stay with us for a while! Be nice to him!" the man told and laughed.

It took the crew a moment to react. After all, the boy in front of them was just a kid! Living with pirates wasn't really safe for a child like him. Then again... it was pretty darn fun.

"Yeah!" some men cheered in unison and joined Shanks' laughter.

The first-mate, Benn Beckman, sighed at his captain's sudden decision before chuckling to himself. He could always count on Shanks to come up with new ways to surprise his crew.

Shanks finally let the struggling Luffy go and watched as the boy crossed his arms and pouted. Watching the kid, the pirate captain seemed to remember something as he quickly raised his hand and turned back to his crew.

"I forgot to mention this, but make sure you are on your best behavior! You see, Luffy here is going to be looking up to all of you from now on, because he has told me that he will be a pirate one day. Isn't that right, Luffy?" Shanks told before turning to look at the child again.
Luffy's bad mood was quickly washed away by the sudden silence that fell at Shanks' words. He looked at the crowd of pirates that stared at him expectantly and understood that they were waiting for him to speak. Suddenly feeling really shy and a bit scared, Luffy took a step back, his shoulders rising high as he tensed. He then looked up to Shanks for support. The man was smiling kindly at Luffy, telling him that it was alright.

Feeling a bit better, Luffy looked back at the men. He was going to say his dream. It was different from wishing it inside his head or telling it to Shanks. When he told it to these people, there was no going back. He would admit of wanting to be free, which he was never allowed before. But there were no marines there. There were only pirates here; free men. No one would tell him not to wish anymore.
Luffy swallowed once and opened his mouth. He felt himself trembling but he steeled himself. He let his strong will guide him and so he was able to speak. "I...I want to be free. I want to sail the sea without anyone telling me not to. I want to be a pirate!" Luffy shouted the last part, the words rising from deep inside his small body, full of meaning and strength.

Shanks smirked at the boy's guts as the crew broke into loud cheers, everyone accepting the small kid as one of their own. After all, Luffy already had the most important feature a pirate needed; a strong will and a heart yearning for freedom.

Shanks is here! Awesome!

I hope you liked this chapter as much as I liked writing it. Please leave me a review if you did! It would make my day!

Extra note: I want to remind you that Shanks is no saint (like Benn says in the original story). He is a pirate and like we have seen before, he kills people. Though Shanks and his crew are all seemingly good people and don't like meaningless bloodshed, I won't be trying to hide the fact that they would still kill or injure others in order to continue to live the way they want to.