SkyGem: Hello loves! Just wanted to say thanks bunches for the lovely reviews! And to those that pointed out that Shanks was originally from West Blue, I appreciate you taking the time to let me know. However, I'd just like to say that that (along with a few other minor details you'll see in future chapters) was actually a deliberate divergence from canon on my part, in order to make the story flow better. So, that's all I've got to say for now. I hope you guys enjoy the chapter!
"Ace, stop shoving me!" hissed a six-year-old Luffy, digging his elbow into his brother's side to get him to stop being obnoxious.
"Then move your big, fat head so I can see!" replied Ace in a loud whisper, shoving his little brother's head down so he could see who Makino was talking to.
"Shut up, you two!" whispered Sabo, smacking them both on the head. "I can't hear what they're saying!"
The other two immediately stopped hissing and shoving, but continued to glare at each other, causing Sabo to sigh and shake his head.
The three of them had been sleeping soundly upstairs in their shared room until just a few minutes ago, when they'd been awoken by an obnoxiously loud and unfamiliar voice down in the bar.
Upon noticing that it wasn't even time yet for the bar to open, all three had hurried downstairs to see what was going on.
When they'd arrived, they saw their new mother standing in the middle of the bar, facing down a bunch of men that were obviously pirates.
They were looking at her with shocked expressions, especially the one with the red hair and the straw hat, who seemed to be the captain.
"You did WHAT?" he demanded, and Makino flinched away slightly at the volume of his voice.
Luffy, not appreciating his tone of voice, ran out from his hiding place, his brothers following right after him.
"DON'T YELL AT MAKINO-SAN!" he yelled, standing protectively in front of her, his brothers on either side of him.
Surprised grey eyes turned on Luffy, who just glared back, baring his teeth in a growl and looking adorably like a lion club trying to be intimidating.
"Oh dear," said Makino's voice from behind him, and Luffy felt a gentle hand come to rest on his shoulder. "It's okay, Luffy, Shanks and the others weren't being mean to me."
Confused, Luffy turned to look back at Makino, who was kneeling so she was eye level with him, and smiling. "They weren't?" he asked.
"They weren't," she confirmed, pulling him closer and sweeping his messy black locks out of his eyes. "They were just surprised. I promise."
"Oh, okay," said Luffy, the distrust immediately clearing off his face to be replaced by a goofy smile.
Sabo and Ace still looked a bit suspicious, but relented when Makino's gentle fingers turned their faces towards her, expression still warm.
The two boys looked down, still not used to seeing such open affection directed towards them, and shuffled closer to her, leaning into her warmth.
Makino smiled and pressed kisses to both boys' foreheads.
Luffy, on the other hand, was no staring at the newcomers, his eyes wide and lips pulled into a delighted smile.
"Are you guys pirates?" he asked, voice hopeful, and the red-haired man smiled.
"That's right," he said, kneeling down. "I'm Shanks, the captain of the Red Hair pirates."
Luffy's lips dropped into a small 'o' shape, stars in his eyes.
"The captain? Wow! That's so cool! I'm Luffy, and those two are my brothers, Sabo and Ace!" he said, pointing to each of his brothers in turn. "When we get older, we're going to be pirates too! I'm going to be the king of the pirates!"
There were good-natured chuckles from the rest of the crew when they heard this, and Luffy was momentarily distracted.
"That's quite an impressive dream," said Shanks, claiming Luffy's attention again, and when he looked back ,there was a fond expression in Shanks' eyes. "What makes you think you have what it takes to be a pirate?"
"I'm not afraid of pain at all!" exclaimed Luffy. "My brothers and I train rigorously all the time! My punch is as strong as pistol fire!"
"Oh really?" asked Shanks, raising an eyebrow and not looking the least bit convinced.
"It's true!" insisted Luffy, his brows furrowing.
"Stop exaggerating, Luffy!" snickered Ace from where he was still snuggled into Makino's side. "You couldn't hurt a fly with that punch of yours!"
"I CAN TOO!" Luffy roared back.
Reaching around Makino, Sabo slapped Ace on the arm, saying, "Don't be so mean to him, Ace! He's pretty strong for his age!"
"Yeah!" shouted Luffy. "I'm only six! When I turn nine, I'll be even stronger than you!"
"When you're nine, I'll be twelve!" Ace retorted, sticking out his tongue. "Stuuupid!"
Snarling, Luffy ran at his older brother, as if to attack him, but the older boy just blew a raspberry at him before pulling away from Makino and running right out the door.
Luffy was hot on his heels, shouting such horrendous insults at him as "doodoohead" and "dummy".
The last of the boys, Sabo, sighed in exasperation and followed right after them, but not before bowing towards the adults in the room and saying, "I apologize for my brothers' rudeness."
Shanks watched the three little boys run out of the bar like hurricanes, a smile tugging at his lips.
"Well, I can certainly see how they charmed you," he said, voice light as he stood back up and turned his smile on Makino, who was looking after the kids with a warm smile on her face.
"I've only had them for a few weeks now," she admitted, "But I wouldn't give them up for the world."
"Mm," hummed Shanks, stepping up to her and wrapping his arms around her waist. "You seem happier. Motherhood suits you."
And it was true. She was absolutely glowing with happiness, especially so when she was with the children.
"You're sweet," she replied, giving him a quick peck on the lips before removing his arms and stepping out of his embrace. "Now you guys make yourselves comfortable. I'll go get you your drinks."
"You're the best, Makino!" shouted one of Shanks' crewmates as she walked away, and the men all dispersed to find tables for themselves.
Most of them seemed to have gotten over their shock, though Shanks was sure he could still here two or three conversations about the boys.
"So how's it feel, being a dad?" asked Benn, lighting a cigarette as they both took seats at the bar.
Shanks rolled his eyes, saying, "Just because they're Makino's kids doesn't make them my kids too."
Benn raised an eyebrow. "I would've thought you'd jump at the chance to be a dad," he said.
"It's not that I don't want to," replied Shanks, taking his hat off to run a hand through his hair. "It's just that…I don't really have a right to just claim myself their father. I mean, for one thing Makino and I aren't even married and – don't you give me that expression, Benn! You know I can't propose to her!"
"Sure you can," replied Benn, blowing smoke in his stupid captain's face. "You're just too much of a wimp."
Waving the smoke out of his face, Shanks just glared at his friend.
"Shut up! Anyways, we don't even know if they would want me as a father! Maybe their real father is still in the picture."
"He's not," replied Makino, coming back with a few of Shanks' crewmates, who had gone to help her roll out some sake barrels. "None of them are."
"Them?" asked Shanks in a confused voice, leaning forward to snag a bottle of sake for himself.
"The boys aren't related by blood," replied Makino. "Only Luffy is Garp's biological grandson. From what I understand, Ace was adopted by him after his mother died in labor, and Sabo was a friend of theirs from when they still lived with Dadan."
"Dadan?"
"The leader of the Mt. Colubo bandits."
Hearing that, Shanks nearly choked on his drink.
"W-why the hell were they living with bandits?" he asked, still coughing. "Isn't Garp a damn marine? Doesn't he have time to spend with his grandchildren?"
"It's not my place to say," replied Makino, her lips pressing into a thin line of disapproval at the thought of what her boys had been through. "Shanks…those boys, they've been through so much. Especially Ace. When they first got here, he wouldn't talk to anyone but me or his brothers. And the way they acted…it was as if they'd been raised by a pack of wolves. I've been trying to teach them some manners, but…I just…I feel so out of my depth. I couldn't bear to part with them, but I just don't know if I can be everything they need."
"I'm sure you can," replied Shanks, taking her hand in his. Neither he nor Benn mentioned her shaking. "And while I'm basically useless with children, I'll help in any way I can, alright?"
"But you guys have to leave soon, don't you?" asked Makino, fiddling with a tea towel. "I'd hate to trouble you guys so much."
"Don't worry about it, Makino," assured Benn. Waving his cigarette in the direction of the rest of their crew, he said, "These idiots have been complaining about taking some time off anyways, and since things have been pretty calm in the New World recently, now's as good a time as any for an extended shore leave."
At the words "shore leave," the rest of the crew perked up, turning towards their captain.
"Oi! What's this about shore leave?" asked someone.
"We staying in East Blue after all, cap?" asked another.
"We gonna be visiting the other Blues too?" asked someone else. "Been meaning to check up on my folks."
"Well, looks like that's settled," said Shanks with a grin, brushing a kiss across Makino's hand, still held in his own. "We'll set sail every once in a while, but we'll be using Fuusha as our base. Sounds good?"
It was nearing lunch time when Makino's three little monsters returned to the bar, all three of them looking noticeably more scruffy and beaten up than they had when they'd left.
Alarmed, Shanks shot up from his seat at the bar, interrupting his conversation with Benn to approach the kids.
"Are you guys alright?" he asked, kneeling down in front of them. "Did anyone bother you? What happened?"
"Why would you think anyone bothered us?" asked Sabo, eyebrows furrowed in confusion.
"Wha…you're covered in bruises!" exclaimed Yasopp.
"So?" asked Ace, looking at him and noticing that the whole bar was now watching them with varying expressions of worry on their faces.
"How did you get them?" asked Shanks.
The boys turned bemused expressions on him.
"Sparring," they replied slowly, as if it was the most obvious thing in the world, and Shanks felt his eyebrows rise into his hairline.
"I…see…" he replied slowly. "Do you guys spar often?"
"Yeah!" replied Luffy enthusiastically. "So that we can get really strong so we can be pirates when we get older!"
"And do you guys have a teacher?" asked Shanks, an idea suddenly popping into his head.
The boys shook their heads.
"Would you like some of us to teach you, then?" he suggested. "We have lots of different fighting styles on our crew, that you can learn from."
"Really?" asked Luffy, stars in his eyes as he stepped forward.
"Sure," replied Shanks. "Swordsmanship, marksmanship, hand-to-hand combat-"
"What about pipes?" asked Sabo, looking excited as well.
"Sure," replied Shanks. "Quite a few of our members use bo staffs actually."
"I wanna learn!" shouted Luffy, jumping around excitedly. "Teach me how to fi-"
"Wait, Luffy," interrupted Ace, grabbing his brother's arm to stop his bouncing.
The younger boy looked as if he were about to shake him off, but one look at Ace's expression, and he immediately froze, his expression turning serious.
"Is there something wrong?" asked Shanks, meeting the suspicious child's gaze.
Crossing his arms, the boy asked, "How do we know we can trust you?"
"Ace, he's a friend of Makino's," said Sabo gently. "We can trust him."
Ace didn't reply, instead continuing to stare coldly at Shanks.
"Ask me anything you want," replied Shanks, holding his hands out in front of him. "I've got nothing to hide."
His brows furrowed, the freckled boy asked, "What's your relationship with Makino?"
Shanks didn't even hesitate. "She's my childhood friend, and the person I love most in this world."
Sabo's eyes widened in realization.
"How did you meet her?" asked Ace.
"I was born in this village," answered Shanks. "Everyone knows everyone here."
"How come we've never met you before?"
"My crew and I spend most of our time on the second half of the Grand Line, in the New World."
"And you don't have any other women there?" asked Ace, expression severe, as if he was ready to castrate Shanks if he didn't like his answer.
"I don't," said Shanks, holding his gaze willing the child to see how serious he was about this. "I'd never even dream of it."
"Why do you want to teach us? What's your motive?" Ace was starting to look a little less unfriendly, but he wasn't ready to give in just yet.
"I just want to get to know you better," replied Shanks honestly. "You're an important part in Makino's life, and she's an important part in mine. I want you to know you can trust me too."
Ace seemed to think hard about that for a moment, and Shanks wondered if he'd finally made it through to the kid.
After a few minutes' contemplation, Ace seemed to make up his mind about something.
"Alright," he said. "One last question."
Shanks nodded in encouragement.
"What would you do if Gold Roger had a kid?"
SkyGem: And CUT! That's it for today's chapter! Did you guys like it? Please do leave a review and let me know what you thought!